《Be happy with sports》 Chapter 1 A Normal Day 1 He found himself pushing his wheelchair through the park, today was his day off and he just wanted to get a rest for his head. Normally Jake would be practicing his pitches more today was a special day, it was Jake''s 40th birthday. More like he had lived alone since his mother died when he was 25, he was not going to celebrate, after going through the graveyard Jake just wanted to push his chair and spin around. He had some friends from the small office where he had worked since the 22 plus they would do more harm than good me one day like this, he did not want looks of pity today. Jake has always been a positive person in his life, never depressed and always accepted everything that fate gave him. Plus he could be considered a person with no luck. He was a healthy person and loved running before he was 20, always very good at his studies and popular with the girls. With his 1.85 in height while he was in school, he was always called to participate in sports activities, especially basketball. More like he only lived with his mother and he was not talented, Jake did not like to play and always did part-time jobs to help with the expenses of the house. His father died when Jake was only 2 years old and his mother worked as a waitress in a restaurant near the house. When his father died his mother who was only 20 seemed to wither with the sadness and pressure of having to raise Jake alone. So Jake was always sensible and did not ask for many things and had no way to pay for college. After finishing high school Jake decided to try a scholarship to help her mother more while driving home by bus, a runaway truck ended up hitting the bus right in the middle at high speed. Many people on the bus died the most Jake survived, but ended up with broken and crippled spine for life. After months at the hospital Jake was very depressed but always forced a smile in front of his mother, who got even worse after Jake''s accident. A few years later Jake mentally recovered from his accident and started working at the small company that works to this day and for a while things went well. More after a few years her mother died sleeping, then found that she reached the peak of depression more in front of Jake looked good. It seems that Jake''s paralysis was the fatal blow to her. Jake had to continue living and as always was positive ended up finding a way to live happily. His company friends in the beginning after his mother''s death tried to get some dates for Jake, who despite being wheelchair-bound was still considered handsome with his blond hair like his father''s and brown eyes like his mother''s. The more they discovered by Jake that the accident had left him powerless, so even the chance to marry and build his family was taken away. Chapter 2 A Normal Day 2 More that makes Jake sad, it''s the fact that his talent is wasted. After his mother died, Jake was much sadder than when he found he could not walk. Especially when I heard it was from depression. Just so Jake found that his mother was great at hiding what she feels, she normally smiles at him and he has never seen her cry since she was a teenager. More in fact she was saving everything for her. After that to try to cheer on Jake, one of his friends who played basketball in college told Jake to play with him. When Jake played at school he tried to play basketball for a while, but for always having a great time they made him play center, or other positions of strength, and he scored only a few points and did not defend well. Although he knew that he lacked training, he realized that he had no talent for the position he played in and after that he never tried again. More without being able to use his legs, what he could do in basketball was to just throw and pass. What his friend and even Jake realized was that he actually had a great talent for pitching and passing, which he did not do in high school because of his tall stature. Because you have to have a lot of talent so that without training, you can shoot 3 points without jumping. Still, he liked the feeling of scoring 3 and continued training. So Jake kept pushing his chair across the park, he was satisfied with his life, he is still alive, had his house paid, a good job that does not pay much more, he does not spend much either. He had a whole house furnished and could even buy a car more like he could not drive he had stored in the bank, on his vacation he would sometimes make a trip to other countries. As he was very alone at home he tried to learn other languages, he spoke in addition to English, French, Spanish, German and Italian, everything he learned alone. Then on every vacation he went to a country, which he dominated the language to visit. He too enjoyed the stock market, he studied many past trades a lot and made a lot of money by investing. He also liked to cook, as he ate alone he did a lot of research on cooking and nowadays he prefers to eat his own food at other restaurants. He enjoyed acting, too, although he did it himself, you would do several plays like a monologue. Whenever he finished learning something he would go to another, he did not want to sit still to think about bad things. But today was his birthday, instead of celebrating today he took the day to look at the past and glimpse a possible future. Today he had already gone to the graveyard to see his mother, had also gone to the restaurant where his mother worked to eat his favorite waffles that he always ate when his mother worked there. Then he went to the community center to see the children and young people playing basketball. And he got to the park, now that the sun was up, it was time to go home. "Tomorrow starts the second half of my life," Jake said decisively. Chapter 3 The acciden As Jake pushed his chair off the path of his home, he began to think what to do for the rest of the year. His birthday was at the beginning of the year and the vacation from work at the end, so since his mother died, Jake decided how he would spend the year with the end of his planning for the holidays. In recent years Jake tried his best to learn a new language so that by the end of the year he could go to that chosen country to travel and complete his apprenticeship. This year he wanted a challenge and decided to learn Japanese and go to Japan on vacation, as the format of the letters was different it would be challenging to learn the language in a year. Plus this was like a mental breakout, and a kind of focus on one thing not to get depressed. And also, when he could learn the language a great sense of reward would be felt by Jake, since he started with this, Jake learned that he was very competitive. As he pushed his chair distracted along the sidewalk, suddenly a car came at high speed and off the lane went toward Jake. When Jake realized the danger was already too late and the car hit his chair and sent it flying out the window of a nearby store. The driver of the car seemed to be dead before hitting Jake, had a heart attack while driving and the car lost control. Once again the lack of luck crossed Jake''s path as he adjusted his life. The store that Jake entered when he suffered the accident seemed abandoned and the street that was near his house was empty at this time of day, so no one noticed the accident that happened. Jake who had been thrown was still alive and did not feel pain, was numb, he could not believe that he had suffered another accident like this in the same life. When Jake turned his head to the side he saw that it was full of blood where he was and he did not feel pain perhaps for losing the senses. "Really a bit of luck, to die on one''s birthday yet for an accident like that," said Jake discouraged. "In a way this is a form of release for me, and I have no one to worry about even." As time passed Jake was staring at the street, even a deserted street like this someone should have passed by and called an ambulance, it seems that fate really wanted him to die. "Could it be that after living a life like this I could really say that I was happy?" Jake said as he stared absently into the street. "I can say that I lived fully while I could, I did what I wanted as allowed by my limitations, and I had a good mother." Still while awaiting his death Jake did not resent the life he lived, he only knew he had to accept his fate, if he had one thing he resented was his bad luck. "But can I say that I was truly happy?" Chapter 4 A Second Chance 1 "I can say no, there''s so much I wanted to have done more I could not, I wanted to have my mother with me for a longer time, I wanted to have friends who really liked me and did not stay with me just for pity, I wanted to have much more money only if I had things that I wanted to have and people I could spend with. I wanted to go to more parties, I wanted to have a car, I wanted to have a motorcycle, I wish I had a boat. I wanted to meet more girls, I wanted to have someone I loved and loved me back, I wanted to be married, I wanted to have children, I wish I had a family. I wanted to have run, I wanted to have played more sports, I wanted to have played basketball with other people normally, I wanted to have played real games, I wish I had won a lot of titles and prizes. I wanted to have my legs ... " When he was close to death Jake finally saw that he was not totally happy, he broke that barrier that had around his heart and his mind and blew. Jake knew that what he lacked for him was something that the harder he tried in this life he could not have. [Then you finally saw what was missing for you, which left you incomplete], Jake heard that robotic voice in his head. "Who are you?" Jake asked, startled. [I am the will of this world, well a small portion of it, what you call destiny]. "Fate, and what do you want with me?" At this moment near death Jake did not care to ask if fate was real or not, if he was going crazy he would die anyway, at least he had someone to talk to and not just expect death alone. [I like the will of the world I saw you Jake, I saw a man who like you said no luck, and your luck is so bad that it even affected the people close to you, but you were always optimistic and never blamed fate. In fact I eat the will of the world I do not decide anything, each one decides his own way, and that makes a karma. In your case your karma is incomparably good, you have never hurt anyone and suffered for things you did not deserve.] "What do you mean?" [You paid for a karma of a life that went beyond what you did, and if you decided that you were happy anyway I would let it go, but in the end you realized what was missing from you, a wish, a wish that could never be accomplished.] "So you came to explain to me that I have had an exemplary life and can die happy and peaceful?" [Not for everything you did I decided to give you a chance, a second chance.] "A second chance like that?" [I''ll send you back to the past, 30 years when you were 10 years old, and I''m going to send a little piece of with your soul, you''ll remember everything you''ve lived and that piece of me will help you carry it out .] "Is this like a system like that of stories?" [You could say yes.] "Thank you thank you very much." Jake thanked fate crying, this was an opportunity for him to have everything he wanted. [If it''s a system as it will be called] Asked the system curious, the whole system of stories had a name that showed the ultimate goal of the user. So Jake replied with a smile. "To be happy." [It''s a wonderful goal, now go and be happy.] After that a great light cleared the store and then Jake disappeared, into his past and the beginning of his new story. Chapter 5 A Second Chance 2 When Jake opened his eyes he felt very strange, it seemed that his vision was better, his body smaller and he felt a vitality that lost much. After calming down Jake realized that what the "will of the world" said was not a lie, he had returned to his body when he was 10, so he really went back in time, so Jake cried in silence for a while. After he stopped crying, Jake realized that he was in his room in a humble neighborhood in the city of Miami. When it comes to Miami, people who do not know think that everyone who lives there has a lot of money, this was far from the truth, the house Jake lived with his mother was a house that Jake''s grandfather father''s father bought when he was old. When Jake''s grandfather died he left the house for Jake''s father who was going to marry his mother. This was a house that left Jake nostalgic; after his accident, his mother had sold this house to pay for Jake''s treatment and buy a smaller house, and after Jake''s mother died he left that other house because they had many memories of his mother, he had even left Miami. As he remembered that Jake was immediately anxious, the two things he most wanted and could not have had now, his legs working and his mother, Jake looked at his watch and saw in it was still early in the afternoon and his mother would arrive It was only after six. So what he could do was run and remember the emotion that was when he had his legs working, so Jake ran out of the house, then began to run to the nearest park. The more Jake ran, the more excited he got. Just having this feeling of running and knowing that he was going to see his mother already compensated for having gone back to the past. In this neighborhood that Jake lived, basketball was not very popular. They did not have many blocks open and the ones that were open were occupied by the older boys and adults, and the schools had only a weak basketball team, which was one reason Jake had not discovered his basketball talent. Plus the neighborhood had some parks, the bigger ones were used more by the adults, the smaller ones only had children, thus was born the taste of Jake by running. After Jake arrived at the park he kept running, running until he fell and when he tired he collapsed on the ground laughing, the feeling of running was very good, plus Jake had only a body of 10 years so of course he had no resistance to it. After resting Jake ran longer until it was late afternoon, so Jake came home, he took a shower, put on a good outfit, cleaned the house, made dinner and sat waiting. Today was meant to be a day full of emotions for Jake, he had to calm down and talk to his mother that he loved very much and had not seen for a long time as if he had seen her this morning, otherwise she would think it strange. After a while the door of the house opened and appeared a woman who looked 30 years older looked tired, she had black hair and more than 1.70 in height. When Eve looked into the living room and saw Jake sitting there she opened a smile on her tired face, "Hi, son, did you spend the day well at home?" When Jake heard his voice he could not stand it ran and gave her a hug and said crying "welcome back mother." Chapter 6 Preparing for the Future 1 After Jake spent a lot of time with his mother to nostalgia, Jake found another problem, as he had lived to be 40, Jake did not remember many things at the time when he was 10, so whenever his mother tried to talk about things that happened to her recently he had to change the subject so that she did not notice anything strange. Then Jake was very sleepy and slept. The other day after Jake ate breakfast with his mother she went to work and Jake stayed home alone again. After spending a joyful day Jake had to start thinking about what he would do for the future, in fact to change the future, he did not want to waste his talent for basketball in this life let alone get crippled again. So Jake decided that he would try as hard as possible to avoid bus and car rides, to run to where he had to go or go by subway. More after thinking about it soon enough Jake realized how stupid he was saying, many of the places he needed to go were long distances, it was impossible to go through life without cars, besides, the accident that almost killed him at the end of his life past was when he was on the sidewalk, not to mention that if you have to live in fear it was better not even live. As for the studies Jake was not worried, he would have gotten into a good university in his past life had it not been for the first bus accident, and even more Jake had always studied alone after starting work and he was always smart, at least he would not need to study. So the only thing he had to prepare really was how to be a basketball player, with his talent he would certainly have a chance and in the United States, opportunities would not lack for a talented person. More like he trained his pitches and befriended a coach, this coach said the base is the most important in basketball without proper training when new even a talented player would be outdone by an ordinary with training. That was Jake''s problem, the neighborhood he lived in and the neighborhoods nearby did not have many people his age practicing basketball, and local public schools also did not excel in basketball. So Jake would have to train himself, it was nice that while he was walking with his friend coach, he saw many techniques to improve the bases in basketball, and also many training to improve the resistance, when Jake grew a little more he could train with the guys on the local courts. So Jake left to run again, of course not as yesterday as more training to improve physical endurance, with his age was the only proper training for a child to do. After Jake returned in the late afternoon to do the housework and make dinner with his mother, when his mother arrived they had dinner together more today his mother was too tired to talk and Jake went early to his room. While thinking about doing the same thing tomorrow, Jake remembered that before returning to the past fate would send a small part of him with Jake, but as he was very excited he forgot it. "Fate, are you there?" Chapter 7 Preparing for the Future 2 [Yes, Jake, I''m here.] "Fate, if you were with me the whole time because you did not talk to me, I''ve been wanting to thank you for this chance you gave me, just to be able to walk and see my mother again was worth going back to the past." [I did not talk to you because you did not call me, the will of the previous world already told you, I came here to help you, but I will not bother you with anything if you do not need me, I''m like a system only a part of what I was, but this is more than enough to help you, as to thank you, you do not need I already told you that the reason you take this chance now is that you deserved, what happened to you was a mistake that the world has committed, and as I represent the will of the world I have an obligation to correct this error.] "Yes, you''ve said that before, but I want to thank you, as to why I come to the past, besides doing what I want you have some mission or rule for me?" [No, as your personality has already been analyzed before we give this chance to you to go back to the past, we know that you will not do anything like destroy the world or make wars, in addition, this world in the next 30 years will have many bad things happening if you change that, only makes things better for everyone.] "So I can do whatever I want? But will not that change the future? " [It does not matter, when we see what happened to you, we find that the world is very distorted and many people have had their destinies changed like yours, none of them as serious as you, so when you were sent back to the past with me I already solved this, then the future has to be changed, but the most striking things that have happened are still going to happen.] "I understand you told me it was now like a system, so I have a statistics panel or something?" [you have, let it show you.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Job:] [Height: 1.31 m] [Weight: 35 Kg] [Force 3] [Agility 4] [Resistance 2] [Intelligence 45] [Luck 99] --------------------------------- When Jake saw his stats was shocked, he did not even care what was written, he felt like he was in a game, once Jake was called by his friends to test a virtual reality glasses at a university near where he lived and the RPG game had a status window anyway. More when Jake saw the data again in the statistics window he was intrigued. "Fate, how are these statistics calculated?" [With your body as a base, of course, when we go back to the past, I''ve integrated into your soul so to make an estimate of your body for me is easy, your strength you should know what it is, a normal adult human has 7 in all stats as a base, you are still a child then 3 strength is already good, the strongest man on earth must have 60 strength and has to do with many exercises and martial arts, agility is a mixture of body speed, speed of thought and a little dexterity, the world''s fastest human must have 50 agility, endurance is the strength of your body, flexibility and how much your body can handle at maximum performance, resistance also has to do with speed recovery. energy in your body, the person with the most resistance in the world must have 45, intelligence is ability to think, speed of reasoning, memory, creativity and studies, this is the most difficult to measure, because it has to do with talent, te what the person has learned, what the person has learned, and some other things, the most intelligent person in the world must have intelligence. [As I said 7 is the average for all adult statistics, only the intelligence is different 20 is the average, a healthy adult person has the average statistics of 10, an athlete is at least 20, and a good athlete has on average 30, 70 is usually the maximum that people can reach and 99 is the absolute maximum, plus that is just the strength of the body, this is fundamental only in fights in other sports, training, skills, techniques and many other things can make a person better than you.] Hearing this explanation Jake understood everything else, the fate explained everything else and the luck? Chapter 8 Preparing for the Future 3 "Fate, what''s this luck, you did not explain." [I left that last of all, Jake, luck is not a statistic that an ordinary person has, or rather, everyone has more is impossible to measure, this is one of the so-called hidden statistics, there are others like charm, perseverance, talent among others, everyone has these statistics no one else knows how much, the more your case is different, I put your luck to the fullest to correct the mistakes of the past, you had an abnormal luck you should not have and this has changed your destiny , you should have up to negative this statistic, the problem is that as I saw, it was for you to be happy and have much success in your life, more happened the opposite with you, so you caught my attention, so you accumulated a lot of karma in your past life, so much that it gave you back in the past, to have me, to have 99 of luck statistics and still have left.] [The only thing I ask you, is not to play games that require luck like the lottery, because if not the chance you win several times is too big and this will bring problems for you.] "You can leave, I''ll play only sometimes to have fun and I will not bring trouble." Jake always wanted to know what it felt like to play and win at a casino, so it''s impossible that he did not want to play a few times, but he also understood that it could bring a lot of trouble for him and even his mother. In fact, Jake still had no idea how terrifying it is to have a luck above human standards, to get an idea if a stray bullet shot was certain to hit Jake, it was possible that a piece of meteor fell into the earth the size of the bullet alone so the bullet does not hit him, in a way, luck is a kind of super power, but you have to know how to use it and Jake does not know how. "Part of luck I understood, more and this job I saw in the statistics window, because it is blank and what does it mean?" [As I have said before for you, my sense of coming to the past with you, is to help you accomplish all the things you want to do, then this system will depend on your decision to be able to adapt and help to accomplish what you want to do, you said that you want to be a basketball player, if you are determined to do this then one of your jobs will be basketball player and the job title will change according to the level you reach you can have multiple jobs and the system will show you the skills you need to be the best and most successful at what you want to do, plus I warn you that although you may have multiple jobs and multiple skills, you have to train your skills to level up and the more you it will be harder to get to the top.] "So it''s settled, my first job will be basketball player." Chapter 9 Preparing for the Future 4 Jake in his soul was already an old man, and after many disappointments in his life he hardly had dreams or desires, what he often did was set goals, that''s how he studied a lot, learned about the stock market and talked several languages, in his goals he gave himself rewards like making a trip on his vacation, so when he said he wanted to become a basketball player before he almost died and won a lot of titles, that became a conviction in Jake''s mind, so even without remembering the system Jake was already making plans to play basketball, especially when he was still young and had so much talent for basketball. A basketball player''s career is not very long, he would play at the most until age 35 and then look for something else to do, so Jake wanted to do his university, plus the money he can earn in 15 years of career is very more than many win in a lifetime, if he is to play for an NBA team. Even more so after the system said that he could choose other jobs later, so he became more motivated, what he wanted in this life was to be happy, so with basketball he would fulfill many of his desires, use his legs to the maximum, successful career and would give a good life to his mother who suffered so much. [Okay, now your first job will be basketball player, I''ve already swept through your body and discovered all your talents and put in a window called skills, these skills usually start at level F and increase rank the more you train this skill, the maximum is SS, so try to learn as many skills as possible to increase your quest skills.] "Understood, can you show me my skills table now?" [Of course, what position do you intend to play?] "I thought about it, I have a lot of talent in pitching, balls 2 and 3 for me are not a problem, but in the short time I played despite not having training, I realized that I have no talent to play near the bottle and neither in the defense, and because at the time I could not walk I never trained in other things that did not skills with the ball and pitches, in passes I think I have talent so the ideal position for me is Point Guard." [I agree with you, now I''ll show you your total statistics.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 10 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: Primary School Player] [Position: PG] [Height: 1.31 m] [Weight: 35 Kg] [Force 3] [Agility 4] [Resistance 2] [Intelligence 45] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling SS] [Body Control D] [Man to Man F] [Dribble F] [Layup F] [Set Shot SS] [Block F] [Goes by] [Rebound F] [2 Points C] [3 Points C] [Free-Throws SS] --------------------------------- "I did not like the elementary school player''s title, am I at a much higher level than that, and why are my abilities so weak compared to an elementary student?" [This data is compared to the best elementary school player in the world, think how many parents out there were not great players, coaches or wealthy families and want your child to be a great player in the future, these children train since the age of 6 , your skills are low because you have never trained, anyone who has trained knows more than you, you are great and control ball, jump without jump and free throws, but in passes you did not learn to walk with the ball and never had to feeling of how other players move, then your passes are not perfect, as for the pitches of 2 and 3 you did not learn to throw jumping or throwing with the prey of taking a stump, then you only have one C.] Hearing what the system said Jake actually realized his flaws, he still had a long way to go in the basketball world, but now he could see the path with many arrows, this was the right way to go and the easy way out of all the other players had, if even he did not become a great player, then he would admit that he chose the wrong way. Chapter 10 Training Time 1 The next day, after breakfast with his mother Jake returned to his running training, he had to make the most of this school vacation time, because later he would be arrested at school, Jake would just sit in the room and pretend to listen, because he knew everything that was being taught, plus he would still have to go to school. After the opening of the system Jake finally found his goal, the system as he had already said could easily scan Jake''s body so he would know how much time he had to do how many pushups among other things to be able to gain statistics points. So Jake felt more motivated because he could see his effort bearing fruit in numbers, moreover, he could train to the maximum without worrying about injuries because the system would warn him when to stop, yet the system said that even with this training of great effort would take 10 days to gain a point in his physical statistics, as for the intelligence he gave up, he would read some books from time to time, because with the large amount of intelligence he has the system said it would take months to raise a point , and Jake did not want to waste time on it for now, he needed to improve his physique to be compared to an adult to be able to train the real basketball, so he was grateful that he was sent back again, so it would give time before he got old to play on a good basketball team. ... While Jake was struggling in his training his mother Eva looked at him with concern, she knew it was not right to leave Jake alone at home while going to work, even if the restaurant was close to home his son could run some kind of danger. Jake was never a boy to make friends and the few friends he had separated after they had finished the old phase of school, so Jake usually stayed home on his vacation, but now these days Jake has left more home, at the beginning Eva was very happy to see her son leaving home and going to the park, she thought that Jake was making friends, but later some gossiping friends of her said that Jake always runs alone, he runs until he falls out of fatigue and that sometimes he does pushups , this is not a normal thing a boy his age do, the worst of it is that they said that sometimes when Jake looks at him to the void and laughs like a madman. Eva was really worried that Jake was crazy, although she did not stay home much, she was still his mother, so of course she had noticed that her son had changed in the last few days, but that change had been for the better, he was cleaning the house , was less rebellious, made food and was much more affectionate. More after hearing what he was doing made her worried, although it was good to help him at home and be more obedient he was still a child, he should not mature so early, he might be missing his father. When Eva thought about Jake''s father she started to cry, she loved him a lot, and he died so soon, so suddenly, she was heartbroken, it was as if her world had collapsed, if she had not Jake, she would probably have died of depression, but for her son she had to be strong, she buried this pain deep in her heart, Eva never looked sad or would cry in front of her son, so Jake never discovered that she was like this until the death of her mother . Eva''s dream was to see Jake be happy and succeed, her son''s accomplishment was hers, as to her old dream of having a restaurant of her own she forgot, not even Jake knew about it. So Eve decided it was time to have a good conversation with her son. Chapter 11 Training Time 2 When Jake was back in his tired home, and wanted to go take a shower to rest, he lifted his head and saw his mother sitting on the couch looking seriously at him. "Hi Mom, I did not know you were back home, how was your day," Jake said as he ran to sit with his mother. "Jake, I think we have something to talk about," Eve said as she looked seriously at her son. "Has something happened, Mother?" At this moment until Jake realized that something was happening, his mother rarely called him to have an argument, because he did not do anything wrong. "Jake, my son, is there something going on with you, is there something you want to tell your mother, something you''re ashamed of or did you think it would be better to hide?" When Jake heard his mother say that his heart almost stopped, ''Mothers know their own children'' he thought, Jake of course was different from before because his mind was too mature for his age, plus he thought his mother would not notice nothing, but he underestimated his mother''s attention, of course Jake never thought his mother knew anything about the system, because the more creative a person of imagination was, he would never have imagined it existed in the real world. "No mom, nothing happened, I''ve been acting different because I saw how busy you were and wanted to do something to help you," Jake said without changing his expression. Jake had done some acting classes, so faking emotions or calming down was a key part of his acting training. When Eva heard Jake say that her heart ached, she was also proud to see her son growing up and paying attention to what she did, but she did not want to see him lose his childhood. "My son, I thank you for thinking of me, but you''re just a child, I do not want to see you as an adult, I want you to have fun, play more, I''ve been busy, can not do some homework. " "I know mom, I''ve been joking, I go to the park every day, these things I do quickly at home." "Speaking of playing in the park, I''ve heard that you''ve been running alone and doing exercises until you get tired every day in the park, Jake does not seem like a normal kind of joke to do." "How do you know, mother?" "My friends saw you in the park, they got worried and came to talk to me." ''These gossipers,'' thought Jake, of course he knew that when she talked to her friends she meant the other ladies in the neighborhood who had nothing to do so they lived by paying attention to the lives of others. "Mom, I wanted to wait a while and say that later, but I think the time has come, I''ve been thinking those days, and you should not know anymore. I''ve really enjoyed watching basketball on television, and when I saw it, I found out that I wanted to be a basketball player, more talked on television that to be a basketball player has to have some fitness and a lot of training since I was young, so I decided to start training now to be a great play in the future. " Eva was a bit shocked to see her son talking so seriously about her future, of course she thought it was just a phase and that he would change her mind in the future maybe, but still, she saw that he did some research before speaking , and he was even training alone, so at least he''s excited about something. "Son, I think it''s nice of you to want to be a basketball player, your dad loved basketball too, why did you say you wanted to tell me that later?" "Because I wanted to wait until near my birthday, then show you how serious I am at learning basketball, so as a birthday present, I wanted you to build a basketball court in the basement, only one table is good." When Eva saw what Jake said she was impressed, it seems that he was thinking seriously about it and was also very intelligent and knew to have patience, if it was for this much she was willing to give that gift to her son, she had seen in a great a sports store that cost $ 300, a table, and they gave her two balls of toast, that much money she''d saved, not to mention that at age 10 Jake had never asked for a present from her mother. When Jake saw his mother think he sighed, he knew his mother had that money, but it was money from his savings for emergencies, and he did not want to ask his mother anything, but that was more important, they did not have basketball courts available for children and he would have to wait 5 years at least if he wanted to play with others on the courts, before he did not care, more after receiving his system skills, now he had to train them, and 5 years of training would make a great difference in the future. As for the basement, it was very large, their house had a basement and an attic, as they did not have many things and their mother did not like going to the basement at night they kept everything in the attic and the basement that was more than 4 meters below of the ground was empty, 8 meters wide and 12 meters long, this was almost half of the measurements of a normal court, so with a treatment on the floor, and a table, was enough to train in those 5 years. What Jake would do is create a line of 3 equal to the professional''s measure and the table to train leyups, so he could train all his basketball skills minus those that need other players. "Okay son, I''m going to give you this gift as a vote of confidence, although it''s not necessary for you to be a professional player, at least I want to see you using this block that I''ll do for you, if I see you Do not go there, I''m going to be very disappointed in you. " When Jake heard this he flashed a big smile, "You can be sure Mom, I will not stop using this block." Chapter 12 Training Time 3 As Eva promised, she quickly bought the table and some materials to make a simple basketball court, when it is paid things run fast, 2 days later Jake looked at his court in the basement, with the line of 3 points at 7,24m as used in the NBA, the other markings also in the official measurements, this gave almost half a block, which was more than enough for Jake to train until he reached adulthood, today is also the day the system said that if Jake did the exercises which he does every day would gain 1 attribute point on each main attribute except intelligence. More now, Jake no longer needed to run into the park and be called crazy, now he could do his strength, endurance and run training in his basement, so Jake started his daily workout, training was simple, running from one side of the Jake was able to take only 30 minutes at his maximum and then he had to rest, and the push-ups he was already 6 without getting tired, but Jake was thinking about his future, if he took 10 days of exercise routine to increase 1 point, then probably the amount of time he will have to exercise increased in the future when he reaches 20 it will take close to 1 per point plus he had to accept because he was better than others who did not have a goal to reach and a system to measure their capacity in numbers. By the time he reached the end of his training Jake was totally exhausted, it was no wonder that the gossipers in the neighborhood thought he was crazy, not even professional athletes train up to that point. "And, Fate, did I get a point already?" [Yes, you will, I will show you.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 10 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: Primary School Player] [Position: PG] [Height: 1.31 m] [Weight: 35 Kg] [Force 4] [Agility 5] [Resistance 3] [Intelligence 45] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- "Really increased one point each, now I feel it was worth everything I did, when will it give to increase all 3 attributes again Fate?" [The 3''s, if it''s 3 it''s going to take 12 days.] "12 days just, not much I thought it would take much longer." [It does not take so long because you train on the limit every day, if you trained lighter the normal would be 1 month.] "I have to train like this in 1 month will start the schools, I''m glad that this year starts in September, if it was in August I would not have that much time, when classes start I''ll only have a third of the time I have now to train." [That''s true, plus you do not have to be so rushed, 5 years from now when you start competing with the other boys in basketball your advantage will be huge, if it''s just 3-point throws when you''re 15 with your talents could compete in the NBA, of course, only in that requirement, in the others you will still be very far.] "Speaking of a 3-point shot, do I really have to wait until my strength reaches 7 to start training? My hands are already itching for so long that I do not make a pitch." [I can not do anything about it if you have the strength of less than 7 to throw your ball nor reach the rim of the throw distance of 3 meters, and the force for this type of throw is mainly a very important factor , the more strength and control of that force you have, the more chances you will have to hit the pitch, because once you have the strength you just need to adjust the accuracy, not to mention that the amount of strength you have plus the amount of resistance greatly influence for how many pitches you can do in a row, when you were 40 years old before you came back, after a lot of pushing your wheelchair and a lot of strength training you did, your strength was 18 and you could do several pitches in a row, for you to have a good example the best 3-point thrower of the NBA today has 35 strength and 28 resistance, much more than you have ever had in two lives together, and yet he has a an average of just over 50% of pitches, if one day with your talent you have 50 strength and 40 resistance you can hit an average of 80% and so on.] When Jake heard 80% average 3-point pitches his mind went blank, if he tries 20 pitches in a game with that average he ranges around 39 points per game if he only tosses 3, that''s how the system spoke , if he achieves this only with pitches of 3 he would be one of the best players in NBA history, not to mention other skills. After that Jake got even more excited to start training again, just to train the physical skills if he had time he would become a good basketball player, this shows how important training is. When he saw the time, Jake rose quickly to start cleaning the house and cooking for his mother, on those days he had been frustrated trying to cook in the most normal way possible, if he cooked as he knew his mother would definitely find it strange as a child who just learned to cook, cooks better than her, so he has to strive to maintain a normal taste. After her mother arrived and saw that everything was tidy as always and the food was ready she just smiled, after she confirmed that he was not crazy, it was great to have an obedient son who helps the mother at home, and in fact later of the open conversation she had with her son, Eva felt much lighter, she no longer had that tired look she had since her husband died now her life was her and Jake and he was becoming the man of the house. Chapter 13 Training Time 4 So the 12 days of intensive training were over, Jake did not notice, because he always trained until he fell, plus the time he exercised to get tired totally had increased and so he also recovered faster, so in those 12 days you can say which he trained almost twice as much as he had before. In fact, not even the system thought that Jake was going to continue this intensive training, he thought that after a few days he would reduce the training load, which is normal for every athlete, more obviously he underestimated the will and determination of Jake. What actually happened was that most of the resistance training and speed was running, and only in a small part of time did he empty force drills, and Jake always loved running above all else, thus taking away the fatigue, that training was as a joke to Jake, and they say that as long as you have fun, you can handle more difficult things. Not to mention that Jake knew that this was only temporary in 20 days was going to start school, and could not do all this training, so Jake had to struggle while he had time, what he was trying very hard was to gain the amount of strong enough to start training their basketball skills. Her mother was also used to Jake''s training routine, even more so when it was her mother''s day off, Jake would give up training to stay with her for a while, and sometimes he would take her for a walk. Eva of course was very pleased with this, and over time she felt less and less lack of Jake''s father and his vitality and beauty came back to her, Eva was still a young woman, she always seemed a little older and had a face tired, more for the depression she felt and also that she had no one to vent, in Jake''s previous life, as he was a normal child and then a normal teenager, it was normal for him to ignore his mother a little and even feel ashamed of to be near her and he tried to make friends. In fact, Eva and Jake were actually very similar on this side of making few friends, so if one ignored the other they would stay the 2 in a house living as isolated. More after Jake lost his mother and learned that she was always depressed and hid it from him, now that he had another chance he wanted to stay with his mother as much as possible and ensure that she was happy. And the two of them could actually be talking to each other for hours, Jake''s mental age was much older than his mother so naturally they could have a conversation on the same level, now that it had been a month since he''d gone back in time, Jake did not have to more hide her mature personality, her mother gradually became accustomed to it, and as she thought he still "played" playing basketball every day he was a normal child. Funny that his mother one day after seeing that Jake spent all day training, said that if he did not get good grades this school year she would not let him play more basketball when she said it Jake almost laughed at how ridiculous that was, for him who could enter a university at any time, go well to school, more when he saw the serious face of his mother decided not to laugh. After the end of training day Jake was totally exhausted, he was breathing unevenly but he had a smile on his face because he knew that today was the day to harvest the fruit. Of all this training. [Boy, I''ll have to say that I''m impressed by you, I found that at that time, after training a few days you were going to decrease more I was wrong, so until you''re old enough to play with others your stats will be unmatched.] "Fate, you know I''m doing it like this because soon I will not have that much time to train, besides, I''m crazy enough to be able to throw again." [You can rest easy the way things will even if you decrease your training time when you are over the age of 11 and you will be ready to train.] "Hey Fate, there''s one thing you did not explain right to me, this elementary school player title, I''ll only be able to change when I reach age?" [No, there''s another way for you to move forward so that you can consider your statistics with older people, but it''s very difficult, actually, although it''s a lot harder this path I recommend to you, the way you get to SS in less 5 skills and B in all other skills, this should not be considered difficult for you.] "It''s not very difficult, it''s going to have to take a long time, I do not know when I''ll be able to play with other people, so the skills that an opponent and a teammate require are the most difficult to train." [It should not be so, after you can practice you will understand despite what I said that your statistics are compared to the best player of the primary school age trained to the extreme, because it also has the same limit as you, age and physical strength , more in your case when you are training with ball your body should have the same statistics as an adult taking off weight and height, and this no matter how new he started to train are things he will not be able to do before 13 .] So Jake understood, he was a little embarrassed to look at his skill statistics being compared to that of a boy his age, moreover, in the pitch of 2 and 3 points that he was so proud he was a C compared to a boy of his age, willing or not he trained for many years in his past life, yet he was no better than a boy who had trained for 5 years, of course he understood what the system said, as soon as he learned to shoot by jumping him will definitely go to the SS, more for what the system said now depends only on him and his abilities to take that shameful title. Chapter 14 The Importance of Resistance 1 "So Fate, show my statistics, I''m looking forward to seeing the points change." [So here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 10 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: Primary School Player] [Position: PG] [Height: 1.33 m] [Weight: 35 Kg] [Force 5] [Agility 6] [Resistance 5] [Intelligence 45] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- As Jake saw this he was very excited, this is kind of a reward for him for his efforts and hard work, in addition, it is a step closer to being able to practice with the ball, in fact the system had already told Jake that he could already practice with the ball, he just could not do 3-point layups and pitches, the rest he could, more like Jake learned from that friend of his coach, the fundamentals training he''s going to have to start doing occupy much of his time, so he thought it would be best to just start when he could leave a little aside that training he is doing now, more as the system said his stats are only going up so much because he is giving up as much if he has to split time of training to train the fundamentals, then it may take much longer to have the strength to start firing. Now there are only 2 points to have enough strength, but as the holidays are going to end, it will not be enough for him to reach so fast, 20 days should increase to another 1 point and after classes start it should take another 3 months to win the last Stand. After Jake focused on his strength statistics, he started looking at other details of his statistics window, he saw that he had grown a few inches and his agility had increased by 1 point too, only after he looked at his resistance and was shocked, he had increased 2 points in those 12 days, he remembered that his stamina was the smallest of all his stats but now it was along with strength, while another had increased 1 only resistance increased by 2. "Fate, why only my resistance increased by 2 points while the other statistics increased by only 1?" [I thought you''d already noticed, Jake think you got too obsessed with your strength, in fact I can tell you that your most important statistic for you in the future as a basketball player is your stamina.] "What you thought I had already noticed in this training I did not notice anything different, and because the resistance is the most important to me, when you said that the person who had the most resistance in the world was only 45 much less than the other 3 statistics I already had a little given up trying to train the resistance. " [I see, then you did not realize the importance of resistance, I will explain to you the uses of your statistics, strength statistics is the strength of the body, muscle strength, when you increase your strength in points all the muscles in your body if also strengthen, after the muscles the tendons, arteries and bones will also have more strength, the strength you gain through me and your training that I put in numbers is different from the others, in strength you will have much more advantage than any world with the same strength statistics as you. Agility is the same as I explained to you, has to do with thinking speed, dexterity and speed, for example, a large car racing runner should be around 39 agility, more if he wants to bet a race as the others he would surely lose, because his agility is focused on the speed of thought and his dexterity, in that you are also advantageous because every point of agility that you increase, increases also in all aspects of agility not only in one, if you have 40 agility in the future and you want to be a professional rider you will surely win from anyone with a little training and experience. Intelligence has a less important role in some sports, as I said is too broad, reasoning, memory and knowledge form intelligence, plus a chess master would lose all discussions with an academic plus they could have the same number of intelligence, you have the upper hand because when your intelligence increases your thinking, your perception, your memory and your knowledge increase equally, as you are now in intelligence there must be only about 20 people in the NBA who have more than you, and they are geniuses, so your advantage in organizing moves and passing choices should be huge. Now the resistance as I said is the most important to you now and in the future you have the flexibility that goes, improve and you will be able to make difficult moves more easily, the body defense also increases causing you to make more contact plays or of power struggle and can win, and the most important is the stamina, which is the energy of the body, the more stamina you have the longer you can endure in a game, and also the faster your energy will recover, so now your training speed has increased and the time to gain statistics has not increased so much because you have increased your stamina by 3, and the stronger the more resistance exercise you will be able to gain, which means more time training, so it is a win-win situation. ] When Jake heard the system explaining so he finally understood, in fact if so, in basketball and in many more sports resistance is the most important, but as he needed strength to be able to make his pitches he neglected the importance of others, and hearing the system speak he recalled that once he heard that the more resistance the player has also helps to resist injuries, if his body is much stronger the less chance of suffering an injury in the future, and this is something that still gave Jake some fear, after all in his other life he could not use his legs and did not want to be the same at his second chance. Chapter 15 The Importance of Resistance 2 [And there was something else that you did not realize, that''s your advantage that others can not have as talented as they are and that''s also why I said that the maximum of statistics is very difficult to achieve, and your advantage is I, although you have to train the same amount of time as others and spend the same effort as others, the resulting you and the others will have is different, as I said every point you earn I increase that points in all the aspects and possibilities that this point may have, when an athlete who has 45 points of resistance, his body can not stand the effort anymore and his statistics of strength and agility do not follow, so this resistance also requires much of an athlete''s body, so the human limit is around 75, plus you will not have that kind of problem, these statistics points you have are not entirely physical points, they are also a kind of karma, my help to you It is giving you karma points instead of a muscular body, so even if you have 60 strength you will not have muscles jumping all over the body but an asymmetrical body, so you can with great effort pass that barrier that is the 75 points with a lot of effort.] As the system said this became much clearer to Jake, in fact, he should have realized that these stats are not all pure, because the system had already said that it was impossible for a child under 13 to conquer, in addition, the system had already said that his fate of 99 had been given by him, so it is normal that he could change the others. Jake was really a bit worried that when he had many points of strength he would have a very muscular body and was happy that this was not the case, now he only had to strive to reach the 7 points of strength before returning to classes. "Fate, I''m going to get the 7 strength points before the classes start ?, Before I did not think it was possible anymore now that I learned the usefulness of the resistance I think it might be possible, but it''s only 20 days left that I go get?" [I think if you continue with the same pace of training that you are going through now is very possible, even if you do not achieve will still be lacking very little, your resistance will increase one point in 12 days, your strength will increase in the next 6 days and his agility in the next 18 so I think that may be possible.] "Because the time the statistics increase is not the same?" [From the beginning it was always like this, I only show the statistics points and not how much to increase the next, when you reached 5 agility your statistics seemed to have increased equally, but it was only because 1 day is missing for your resistance statistic increase and a few days to increase strength, now that it took for his agility to reach 6 his resistance managed to raise 2 more points more did not give time for his strength to rise, because the difference of a point gets more and more difficult, if your resistance would not increase and you could train more, it would take much longer, not to mention that your resistance is very different than for normal people, so only you in the world can train like that.] So Jake understood more about his own body, it was nice to know that he had a greater advantage over others, so his path to success would be smoother, the only one Jake did not understand was about his luck, the most useless of all, the good thing was that Jake was optimistic and he thought that this high luck would help more to throw balls of 3, if the system knew that Jake would think only in the most basic of the resources of luck he would spew blood, Jake perceived nothing different in his luck because he never left home and normally his luck did not affect much the system so it was impossible for his luck to attack and suddenly increase a point of strength, so, for now, it did not seem useful, Jake seemed to forget that for his lack of luck in his past life his mother died young and he was paralyzed and almost died, and that was only because Jake did not venture very alone, so his good fortune could do the opposite, for example his mother is now in much better health now and is much less depressed, this can be considered the way Jake treats his mother plus also involves luck, the clients of his mother''s restaurant and his boss are always very good humor, so she has less stress at work and earns more tips, more in her past life, Eva was often treated badly for no reason and her boss is in a bad mood she had to do overtime. Luck can in an invisible way mess with the ways of fate, so the will of the world only realized that there was something wrong with Jake that his bad luck was so much that he twisted fate to the point of the world''s will to perceive its presence. So without knowing how his successful life would be guaranteed by a statistic that Jake considered useless he continued training to the extreme, after realizing his resistance Jake finally realized that he really could cope much longer and also needed to rest much less, so he was able to spend better all the little time she had when the days went by Eva also realized that her son really seemed to be struggling a lot in this dream of being a basketball player more did not understand why Jake despite having a new block and balls If she knew that Jake was trained for less than three months to have a body compared to an adult she would be shocked, so she saw that Jake was not hurt and did not overload herself. She did not disturb him, she thought when he tired of training or when he saw that short training did not make much sense, he would give up and go and get the ball to practice, what she did not expect was that what her son was doing that she considered joking was perhaps the most effective training that everyone has ever done, so the days before school were ending. Chapter 16 The Body of a Man And so Jake continued training, on those days of training he acquired a habit, did not look at his stats until he met the goal he had set, he hoped he would get the 7 of force before he spent the 20 days, more if he could not it would do no good to keep looking every day, it was just like cooking, if you stare at the pan while you''re doing it seems like time does not pass, yet still he realized that his resistance had increased and that he could train more and more time and needed restless time. And after 19 days of training after lying exhausted on his court in the basement, the system finally spoke to him. [Congratulations, you did Jake, you reached 7 stats after today''s practice.] "Seriously, how cool I was afraid of not being able to, after yesterday I was starting to get anxious, show me then Fate." [Here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 10 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: Primary School Player] [Position: PG] [Height: 1.34 m] [Weight: 35 Kg] [Force 7] [Agility 7] [Resistance 6] [Intelligence 45] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- ''It really came to 7 and agility too, just lacked more resistance should increase soon'', Jake was thinking while looking at his new statistics, in 3 months he had a great change and improvement, so it would probably take much longer to increase these statistics. [Now you have a normal adult body, actually as I improve the efficiency of your statistics you have a better body than a normal adult, as this is the potential that everyone has up to 7 is relatively easier, then up to 10 still can be considered easy, then up to 15 is difficult, and up to 20 is quite difficult, after 20 each point is a barrier, after reaching 30 you can be considered a top-level athlete in any sport, plus people more talented and dedicated people reach that level at age 25 and that''s because they focus on one statistic more than others, so now it''s no longer just about training, up to 10 you can get by doing those exercises you''re doing now more after 11 If you want to be efficient you should start using professional equipment, but your mother may not approve, so I recommend that you slow down the physical training and start and to train your skills that are lagging behind.] Jake listened seriously to everything the system said, and in fact he had already thought about it, he was running almost non-stop just resting enough for almost 10 hours a day yet still took almost 18 days to increase his agility at one point and strength in 2, even if the resistance increases and allows him to train more he will not be able to improve fast and will waste a lot of time, people who practiced exercises had visible improvements in 6 months of gym even being a person with a normal physical, and without the system to help, it just shows how useful the exercise machines can be for Jake now, but as the system said it is impossible for him to convince his mother to give equipment like a 100 kg weight to a 10-year-old kid professional supervision. Just as Jake was thinking of starting his training with a ball, now he was forced, but even so it was good enough, until the 17 even with training runs he should be able to reach 20 in all statistics, it can be difficult more it is necessary, he should have all the possible advantages before playing with the professionals, because when they arrive at that time everyone would be training as well, no one wants to be back in their profession. [Jake, if I could speak I would recommend you take a break this week of your training before you start playing ball, your classes are already starting and you are still 10 years old, you better get acquainted with your teachers and classmates this week, stay longer with your mother, this is good to give your body a breather too, you are almost 3 months training non-stop, even if I find it difficult for you to get an injury, it''s still not good to exaggerate and even your mother seems to be worried, she may start to think you''re crazy again.] Jake thought and realized that the system was right, he also saw that his mother was worried about him, but he was so focused on increasing his strength that he could not stop training, but now that worry is gone, and so should he good memories at school on his second chance, after all his goal was not just to be more basketball player be happy, and someone obsessed with something and leaving aside family and friends cannot be happy. "You''re right, Fate, I''m going to take this first week of school to get used to classes and my classmates and take some time to rest my body, I do not want to end an injury for no reason, scheme of exercises with the ball, I saw some more I have to get the most useful for me now, which are the for the player to train alone, this gives more time to improve my skills, I want until the end of this semester leave that title player of elementary school basketball, I''m going to enter Middle School now, it should at least be like that, but it''s good for me to improve on my own. " So with the finished training, Jake finished his first vacation back in the past, he ended up just training, but that will not be a waste as it will improve his bases for the future, Jake wanted to be the best NBA player in the future, and in a time when there are geniuses everywhere, all the effort is short. Chapter 17 The Beginning of Middle School 1 After deciding to rest in the first week of class Jake can really realize how much his body was worn and his mental state too, he was completely exhausted, and after fulfilling that sense of duty he had to reach 7 points of strength, he can relax much better afterward, after all, normal training is like this, until rest can be considered a kind of training. And so came the day that would start Jake''s school year, his 6th grade through 8th grade he would be in this public school, it''s the same one he studied in his past life, the school''s name is Southwood Middle School, has a lot of fame in sports more in the cultural and artistic areas she stands out a little, maybe has a little influence of this school Jake''s willingness to study acting, but that''s not important, Jake did not intend to participate in the school basketball team, this would be an experience with very little challenge for Jake, and he would stand out a lot, maybe if the school team was good he could train a bit the basics of basketball and his skills in teamwork, more if the team is bad he can even get worse. So Jake got ready and went to breakfast with his mother. "Good morning mom." "Good morning, Jake, you start your classes today, you''re already turning into a teenager, I hope you study well and do not get in trouble all right?" "Of course mother, I''ll pay attention in class, respect the teachers and try to make new friends." "Very well, this is my son, now hurry to eat not to miss the bus." After that Jake went to school, it was a good school, with big buildings, gymnasiums for various sports and theaters, very good for a public school, then Jake went to the coordination and picked up his school schedule, the time was 9:10 am - 3:50 pm, then had 1 hour for clubs, just as Jake already knew the school well went directly to the classroom, arriving in the room he sat close to background, his vision was now very good and also he just needs to listen to the class just to remember their content, all of Jake''s teachers were men in their forties, making Jake lose even more the urge to pay attention in class, next to him had a little boy smaller than Jake plus he was very chubby, he wore a goggles and looked smart, since he started classes some small groups had formed since they should have known each other for years, in his past life Jake was assigned to another room so he did not I met to no one here, not to mention that he had no close friends at school, but still this chubby kid caught his eye. Jake was a person who believed in fate a lot, especially after everything he went through and knew his destiny, so for a boy that interested him even though he was over 40 years of mental age and also did not seem to have many friends sit down his side in the classroom could be considered a kind of destination, in addition, Jake had promised his mother that he would make a friend so he was the perfect candidate. When it was time for the break the students were saving their books to go to the next room after lunch, Jake had already put away his books and approached to talk to his colleague. "Hi, fine, nice to meet you, my name is Jake, I do not know anyone at our school and I feel like I can get along with you, can we talk?" Jake had not lived much for anything, as he worked at a company he had to know how to talk to someone out of nothing and make a good impression. "Hi, my name is Joseph, I do not have any friends either, so I''d like to talk to you." When Joseph spoke he had a small smile on his serious face, his father had sent him to this school without telling him and he lost the few friends he had as he was somewhat antisocial, he thought he might be without friends, more this boy that was sitting at the bottom who seemed uninterested during the class actually pulled conversation with him, that''s great luck. "That''s great then, let''s get out of here and find someplace to eat." After Jake said that he got up and left, Joseph got a little lost the sooner recovered and followed Jake, as Jake had already studied at this school before, he knew the best places to eat, and places that no one went, was a good place to talk too. Then they talked for a while and saw that their class schedule was the same, so they could sit together all classes, and so after the first day of school Jake and Joseph became friends, Jake liked Joseph very much, he seemed mature to his old and really smart, his goal was to make the most of all the tests, he did not want to go to any club like Jake, although Jake liked the theater he could not spend much time in the club activities, he needed to improve his skills first basketball, this week off Jake would learn all he had to learn about this new school environment and deepen his friendship with Joseph, because then when he comes back to train he will not have time for anything. So after his first day of school, Jake went home, he cleaned the house and made dinner as usual and waited for Eva to tell him how his day was. "Hi Jake, my son, how was your first day at school, did you make some friends?" "Yes mother, I made a friend, a boy named Joseph, he seems to be very smart and sits on my side in every class, he also does not go to any club and then we become friends." "Good, Jake, that makes me very happy, but this is about not going to any club, are not you going to join the basketball club?" "I think not mother, this year even if I join the team I will not be able to play because the starting team must be 8th grade, and I''m still not good enough to get a place, so for now I''m going training alone at home when I get better I enter the team. " Jake had really thought of it and it was like he said to his mother, in basketball now he was really bad and training in the club with a rhythm for kids will decrease his training, so he had better train his skills at home and when he had good enough he went to the team, just to train his team plays, so he helped the team and himself. Chapter 18 The Beginning of Middle School 2 And so the days went by slowly in the first week of Jake''s class, it really is normal for the first week to be a little stuck as if it were even made for some students to adapt to their new school or class, so the classes do not have much content , as Jake said he would do it he would take a look at what would be spent for class of the day and if he knew what he would be taught he would not pay attention in class, just watch if the teacher called his name to answer something, Joseph was the Contrary to Jake, he was totally focused on the teacher''s lecture, so it''s normal for him to do well in the exams. After they ate lunch together and talked about everyday things like what happened in class or the sports of the week, Jake was a bit of a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, who won the NBA 88-89, and the conference in 89-90, but as he knew the most important results in the games it was very enjoyable to watch, not to mention that Fate said that his return to the past could change some futures, so betting could be his defeat, in football he was a fan of Miami Dolphins more who won this year was the San Francisco 49ers, he did not like hockey and in the Major he was a fan of the Boston Red Sox, more than he won was the Oakland Athletics, so they talked about their teams. So the weekend came as his mother had to work and Jake was still in the last days of his week off, he decided to call his new friend Joseph to go eat in a diner, Joseph cheerfully accepted in the first few weeks he did not have what studying and had no close friends so he was bored at home, so the two met at the diner. "Jake gladly you called me, I was bored to death at home, there is nothing good to watch and nothing to study, I thought I was going to have to review some more things to study what you already know does not have the same grace." "I understand you, but you really like to study, I see that you will have a beautiful future ahead of you, I also study more just to pass the exams and what interests me." "I really like to study and that was my luck because my father and grandfather have high expectations for me so I have to study anyway." "Expectations like that?" "Well ... I wanted to tell you before, but my father insisted that I not tell anyone before I knew the person''s character, but now that I know you this week, I''ve learned that you''re not the kind of person my father said , the truth Jake is that my family is very rich, I have been to school so because my grandfather also studied in public school and my father who studied in private school according to my grandfather was very alienated, so they wanted me to go to school publishes as my grandfather and is the best possible in the tests, and after I get to college that I can keep up with others, my grandfather owns a camera company and my father is a lawyer, just like my father is a son unique and I am my father''s only child, it is for me to inherit my grandfather''s company after finishing college. " Jake quietly heard Joseph''s story and sighed, he did not really have that his friend was from a wealthy family, he must have been raised well, Joseph was humble and did not care much what he ate or wore, so even Jake who had experience of life did not notice, but what made Jake sigh was not it, Joseph said that he was heir to a very rich company, so he spoke may be up millionaire, but had to be a camera company, Jake had studied once that when it came to the digital platform and cell phones taking pictures, more than 90% of the film camera companies had gone bankrupt, it is not easy for a businessman to have a revolutionary vision and especially for large companies that had their businesses in the stock market make a change from the film to the digital platform is almost impossible, only the biggest did this and not because they had given up the film more because they wanted to follow the two platforms, companies had the capital to invest in two fields, and that was what saved the businesses of these big companies. Now a friend he did by accident was actually an heir to a millionaire company that maybe just Jake with his future knowledge could help save, that certainly has the hands of fate, Jake was really thinking about how he could get into the market Joseph was at the door, but now it was not time to help Joseph, even if his friend believed him, his father and grandfather would never believe a child''s predictions, but Jake still had plenty of time to change that. game, Jake was not going to get involved in Joseph''s business but he would ask him to help in the future so that Jake could make his moves in the stock market, so using some of his knowledge of business and future knowledge Jake could make lots of money in the future, but now also was not the time, after his conversation with his friend Jake was going home, tomorrow will be the day that ends his week of rest and it was time to start Jake had not made a throw-in of 3 for a long time, it can be said that Jake had a strong will to endure so far, especially that despite the system suggesting that he rest for a week, he never said that he he could not fling once more Jake did not like to start things in half, if he held out to wait 3 months what was 1 week, in addition, Jake realized how this week of rest did well for his body and his mind, he was at his best and his mother did not care as well, as Jake stopped without her having to say anything she realized that he knew what he was doing, so she started to trust him more, it can be said that for Jake the confidence of his Mother was an unexpected gain. Chapter 19 Training Skills 1 On Sunday morning Jake descended excitedly to the basement, today began his training with the ball, he first warming up and went to the corner of the court where the balls were kept, he took a basketball in his hand and stayed a while with her in his hand with his eyes closed remembering the feeling of playing, then he went to the corner of the court passing in his mind the training routine that he would have to do from now, although Jake wanted to shoot very much, the pitches were for the end of the training since it took most of the time, in the beginning he had to do a training to improve his dribble and ball control, which was to stay a good time bouncing with the ball quickly in a low distance, and trying to do if you look at the ball, this gives an unconscious control of the body how to keep the ball close to the body, which is the essential of basketball, try to do this exercise with both hands, and after a good time start doing the exe the ball to the court, walking from side to side and with the base of the body lowered and sometimes with the other hand raised as if defending the ball of a defender, thus Jake would make the bases to have the ball in motion that you can not have in your previous life, then train moving the ball around the body and changing the position of the hands quickly, so you can do it quickly in a game if necessary, this Jake also did a lot then had the ability, the ball quickly across the court running, to be able to do this in the game, all walking exercises with the ball Jake still had difficulty on his first day, this is one of the reasons he did not want to join a team, they would think that he was an amateur, and then they would be surprised at his quick improvement that would be caused by the system, so it was better to come in after being a little good. After the dribbling exercises and ball control and movement by the court, Jake was already a bit tired, so the system said that it was good to have the attributes of a normal adult to start training, it is an exhaustive training the basketball, more had to be done, no skill can mask the lack of training, so now Jake would train the pass, Jake was already considered very good in his passes plus the way to give a foot pass and moving around the court is very different than sitting in a wheelchair, so he had to train a few moves, more over time the pass training that consisted of trying to pass a chest height, over the head, underneath and then bouncing was done easily, to be able to Making things difficult Jake decided to use a place on the court that had a piece of iron in the corner of the court so it was more difficult to give a pass and make the ball come back, but even then it was very difficult after this training Jake was finally going to start his throwing training, first he was going to try to layups, to have more reality approaching the game, he had to walk around the basket area and then run from the Free-Throw throwing area and run towards the basket and make the move with his hands to put the ball in, to have a better performance in the game, Jake had to try different types of layups already thinking about how the opposing player would try to give a stump in him, he would also try with the ball touching the table, so to have many varieties, as Jake had never done this training he missed a lot more still hit some because he had a good control of ball and over his body, yet still after he finished this training he was exhausted, these exercises they had to take several laps on the court and also had to jump. After he went to training pitches in the 2-point line, he made the same move than for the layups but did not run into the basket and rather threw, he had to try several positions from the 2-point line and out of the car , in the beginning he still made a lot of mistakes because he could not execute well the movement of throwing jumping, more then he started to hit more, more maybe because of fatigue he still missed a lot and lastly he went to the training of pitches of the area of ??3 points, when he started to try it looked like he was less tired, at first he tried to fling without jumping like he did to try to remember the feeling, he hit some, still more missed most, maybe it was how the system said how now he has less strength statistics points, seems more difficult to throw, loses stability a little, then he threw jumped, and it was worse, but he still hit some, after all he was to the last part of the training that was Free-Throw, when he started he was exhausted, more like he did not have to jump or run before throwing and the distance was not great, he still hit most pitches, if someone who knew basketball would see that they would be shocked, he hit 7 out of 10 pitches, this besides the fact that he is exhausted and have only 10 years and not have enough strength, you can imagine how much he would hit the future in a game, really had that being said that Jake had a great talent for pitching, when the system said he had flair for 3-pointers this was that he is much better in the 2-pointers and much better at Free-Throw, so he is a talent for the basketball, penalty that he is not very good in defense otherwise he would be a great SG, this could be tidied up in the future with the help of the system, more has to be said that with his high vision of game and his talent for the pass leave if r a SG is a waste of him that is a better yet PG, Jake just thought he could be a better SG because he did not play group matches, he does not know how important a team has to win, so he thinks he being good is enough, the system did not fix it because in the case of Jake that''s right, he would definitely enter the NBA in the future and there who is not good in his position? Chapter 20 Training Skills 2 After a good day of training came to school, Jake took classes normally and talked a lot with Joseph also in the breaks, they already became great friends, especially after Joseph saw that Jake had not changed his attitude even after knowing that he was rich, Joseph also did not live very luxurious despite having a wealthy family, as he told Jake, his father and grandfather are training him and to pass high school without much money would show him how a normal family lives clear his father does not force him to do anything if Joseph wants to give up he can and they would go back to live before, Jake no longer knows in his previous life where he and Joseph did not know each other, Joseph gave up this test after a year, not for lack of a rich life, or because he could not get good grades, but because he did not have a friend in his first year of school, he was still 11 years old and he was a child and could not stand solitude, then in the future Joseph always resents and in addition, actually the camera company he inherited from his grandfather went bankrupt, Joseph did not have the vision to switch from film to digital, luck that he was very good at his job and sold the company. ... In the Monday Jake returned to train after dinner with his mother Eva and went down to the basement to train, while Jake trained Eva looked at him secretly, she was very happy when she saw that Jake was finally using the court he asked for and playing with the ball, before he just ran and did not even catch the ball, so Eva did not understand how Jake wanted to be a basketball player in the future because he just ran and exercised like crazy and neither took the ball or used the table she bought him she did not care too much about the money, but it was because it was the first expensive thing Jake had ever asked for in her life, she knew Jake as every normal child had the things he wanted, but how did he know his situation was not good and his mother had to work hard to be able to take care of the house so he did not ask. And Eva also wanted to give something to her son, but Jake did not seem to have any dear interest, and he did not like expensive clothes either, and he almost did not rip one up after he won, he could be considered the perfect child for many more mothers for Eva not, she wanted to give everything to her son, her greatest happiness was to see Jake smile and see him so taking care of everything hurt his heart, more these days he finally said something he liked to do and even asked for a belated gift to that, so what Eva most wanted was for Jake to have fun with the first gift he wanted. ... Jake had not really realized that his mother was looking at his training, he was very focused, today he had much less time to train so Jake was giving everything in his training, he still made some mistakes in many things more could see his improvement, it came from the talent Jake had for basketball, he could use his body in the best way possible to do the exercises, then Jake was again to the pitches and really like today he trained less and was more energetic he missed much less, more he was still wrong and he knew why it was the way he jumped and positioned himself to shoot, he had to take some of his body habits that he took when he threw without leap, but he could still see the improvement, only the Free Throw still they were still the same, Jake had already reached the maximum technique for the Free Throw, which diminished his percentage of correctness was his lack of strength as the system had said ago Jake saw why even players considered to be great had an average 40 percent hit rate, a normal athlete, even an NBA player would have an average of 30 strength and those who had a lot more than that were the ones who focused more in defense or buried, it is clear that even with the help of the system it would still take a long time for him to have more force statistics than these. "Fate, with training like that, I think we''re going to have to give up physical training, every day I do not have much time and on weekends training time increases, and I get a lot more tired with this training than with training. other." [I was already hoping for this, it was good that you reached the 7 force before the holidays are over, you do not have to worry about it, when you see that your skills training gets very slow you can start to switch between training of skills and physical training plus this training can also increase some points in your speed and will increase many points in your endurance, strength training was meant to be behind because you do not have the necessary equipment when you have will increase quickly, not to mention that with normal growth of your body because you are a child will increase some points of strength and endurance, only speed that does not increase more by natural growth, the important thing is you do not relax in training, you have to have a great advantage among the other young people before you enter college, because then scouts do not care much about their potential at that time they will only care about what you can show on the court, there the time to grow is over.] Jake heard everything the system said and saw that it was true, the increase in physical statistics can only increase greatly when it comes time to use equipment, plus the skills he can improve now, and in the future even if he does not have many team skills he can enter through his individual abilities, but this is what takes more time even with the help of the system, and he has many F skills even when compared to a child, so this may be good for Jake, after all these skills would improve well faster than the pitching that comes to S when he learns to jump jumping, and with Jake''s talent this will be very fast. Chapter 21 Training Skills 3 And so over a month has passed since Jake started his training with the ball, his mother was happy and Jake was also he was motivated with his possible improvement, but intentionally did not look at his stats chart, he wanted to see a table most complete of its evolution after a good training time. At school all was well too, Jake still talked a lot with Joseph and did not pay attention in almost all classes, at the beginning the teachers did not notice more then they ended up noting by the great contrast formed by Joseph paying close attention and Jake pretending, then the teachers began to ask questions to embarrass Jake and to show that he had to pay attention in class, sorry that he hit everything that was asked and most of the time with different answers than the teachers taught so they stopped paying attention to him, which the teachers want is that all students understand their classes if they have some student who is already advanced in some subject or has already learned, so teachers pay more attention to others who have more difficulties, Jake, of course, knew that too what he intended was after seeing that the teachers were not paying much attention to him, he would start to study his language books and business management that are what he will most need to learn in the future, and also he has to start at some time pretending that he was learning some languages because he could not just start speaking four new languages ??out of nowhere without explaining how he had learned so he could to do this gradually in the future by his ''ease'' of learning a language he could be called genius more was better than having his secret uncovered. Now it was the weekend and Jake had all day to train, after a month had passed and he had a better practice to do the exercises and also was not as tired as before, at this point in training Jake had improved a lot his pass and was able to hit the iron bar in several ways with passes and the ball came back to him most of the time, he was also improving his position when jumping, his body did not get crooked, able to make the pitches with more easily, his dribbles mostly improved a lot, certainly had to do with his high control of the ball, he hardly released the ball as he walked with her around the court bouncing with his eyes closed, when Jake learned to fully use his legs and improved balance of his body in block his body control also improved, Jake also trained much his layup and also the rebounds, which he had more difficult to train alone was Man to Man and his Block because he had no opponents, but at least he could improve his positioning. "Finally it''s been a month, Fate shows me my window of statistics and skills, please, I''m anxious to know how much I''ve improved." [Sure here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 10 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: Middle School Player] [Position: PG] [Height: 1.35 m] [Weight: 36 kg] [Force 7] [Agility 7] [Resistance 7] [Intelligence 45] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling SS] [Body Control B] [Man to Man C] [Dribble B] [Layup C] [Set Shot SS] [Block D] [Pass S] [Rebound D] [2 Points] [3 Points] [Free Throw SS] --------------------------------- When Jake saw his statistics window he was a bit happy and a little annoyed, happy because he had seen that his stamina had improved, and also that his pitches of 2 and 3 were also much better now that he learned to jump jumping, is far from the NBA level even more thinking that he was only 10 years old now this was more than excellent, even with the help of the system the skills still relied heavily on the player himself, and he was sad that for him his Dribble, Layup and Body Control were even lower than he thought, for Jake compares to a primary player these skills should not be so bad, but as the system said should be correct, if one day he started to doubt the system would not help him look for your statistics. [And, Jake, you should be happy with what you see, this month of training you gave the most despite the short time you had, and you had a great improvement, if you are now in this school team for sure you already would be the captain of the team, plus taking the statistics as pass and pitches that you already had a great training and is only adapting to the fact you have legs now, the others have not grown so easy, when I show the statistics for you from now on it is the best of all positions, which means that when you have SS in defense you will really be the best player in defense, at this stage I even think it is possible for you, more from the next it will be impossible, the geniuses have been discovered by your coaches and will be trained to the best of your ability, and you do not have much talent for defense unless you train more defense than the other skills you are good only when you have a 26, and so if you find good players to play against you every day.] Jake understood well what the system was saying before he was compared only to the best player and even a great player has his weaknesses more now he would be compared to each statistic the person who was better in her, Jake certainly knew that he did not have much talent for defense, plus he was still good, before he just did not play well as Center because he never trained the skills of the position anymore now he was training with what he learned from his coaching friend and what he researched alone, so he can say that is better now than when he was 16 or older and was called to play, unless the height is clear. [But you still do not seem to be so satisfied with your growth Jake, I thought you''d be more excited now just to change that title.] Now that the system mentioned that Jake realized, he was very focused on his skill levels and did not realize that he was being compared to a perfect player in all skills of his age at Middle School now, and no more in primary, if so then the system is right, your growth far exceeded your expectations. Chapter 22 Training Skills 4 As soon as Jake was very happy and satisfied, a person at the height of Middle School was 13 years old and Jake still had 10, it may not seem like much more is this time that boys grow faster in physical, then a 13-year-old with a good genetics could be 1.60 m while Jake at age 10 was 1.35 m, and usually the bigger the body the more strength he has, then Jake is way above those of the same age, actually Jake started to wonder if all the players did not they would not be better. More like the thought of Jake, the system soon spoke. [Jake, I think you''re misunderstanding something, you can not in any way compare your training to someone your own age in the physical part nor the best computers can do what I do that is to let you train to the maximum without risk and your stats do not grow the same as others, if a child your size, we are not even talking about age, had the same strength as you, then that child would be full of muscles and could no longer increase his strength without damaging the your body, until you have a training limit that can do with your age, and as far as training of abilities what takes more to learn for the normal players is the Ball Handling, the Body Control, the Pass and the pitches of 2, of 3 and Free Throw, all this to master at your level takes years of training, not to mention they have to trill the other skills too, plus you have trained this for more than 10 years in your past life, and with your arm strength that was very good you can focus more on your aim what young people often do not have the strength to throw at their age, in addition something else that you may not have noticed that makes the results of your training improve much faster is your intelligence, no genius of the world would have an intelligence like yours before 20 at least so it is impossible for young people to have their training speed, you have the times that understand the movement you will do in the best exercise to power runs it better without high intelligence takes months or years to understand moves that take few months to you, and as I said you will train fast to the next level after you will take like the others.] Jake understood later that the system explained, his rapid training is due a little to his talent, a little to his effort, a little to the system and much due to his great time of life that increased his intelligence and also gave the time that he already had trained, for example, you can not doubt that if a star like Michael Jordan came back in time like him, before he was in college he would have returned to his peak in skills because he would be like training again or as a student remember what you''ve studied is different from learning from scratch. "Fate, you were talking about the next level, what''s the next level and how do I get there?" [The next level is obviously high school, and for you to reach that level is different than to get to the level you are now, because now you are at the correct age, so to pass on to the next level you will have to have at least S in all your skills, or reach 13, then you could already pass immediately because you already met the requirements, I recommend you train more without opponents to play it will be very difficult you can achieve the S just training alone, more continue training as you are doing now because even if your skill level reaches SS at High School level it would probably be C, after all the best of the best of all skills of players up to 18 would be the comparison, there are 18-year-old players who in a specific skill could play in the NBA more in college basketball, so do not loose in your training, do as I told you before, change from physical training and skills training, so you can improve on both.] Jake knew that the system was right, he wanted to raise the level of comparison of his skills because he liked to see after a training time his skill level increase in his system window, it''s like a reward for Jake, more maybe in those more than 2 years even if he trained a lot did not get to S in defense skills, it is difficult to improve without opponents, Jake wanted to join the school team but he thought it best to wait, it would be very difficult for him to be able to play on the team in his first year , and he could not make his pitches from 3 to 10 years, according to the system he would have to wait until the 12 to not draw much attention, he really did not want to draw attention before getting to high school that is when they would have the scouts of the colleges watching his games, then it was time to show himself, and surely there he would find opponents worthy of improving his defense skills, Jake even thought of playing in a more defensive position now at school, but only by the difference in physical statistics would it be difficult for someone to force Jake to be serious. So Jake continued training as usual, and going to school, soon would be the first test, Joseph was a little nervous more Jake was calm, impossible to go wrong in the tests because they always drop questions related to the classes they had and after Jake remembered the content would be difficult for him to miss. Three days after Jake talked to the system was coming to the end of another day of training and Jake was throwing his balls of 3, he already hit 2 out of 10, which would be a good average in a game, after another cast the system called him. [Congratulations Jake, you''ve earned your first reward from me for your efforts, as today you completed 1,000 pitches of 3 you''ll earn a reward, this is a hidden quest, from now on every 1,000 pitches you make you''ll earn that reward.] "Because you did not tell me before I would have done the 1,000 several days before." [I can not tell you these things because although the rewards are good, you will be disconnected from your training, if you made 1,000 pitches of 3 several days before many exercises would not be done, you will not leave your goal because of the missions otherwise you may regret it, your ultimate goal as a player is to be the best.] "I understand, I just wanted to know beforehand to program me better, but I did not know I was going to have missions." [I''m going to act almost like a system, I''m just not going to try to affect your growth with missions that leave you better quickly, you''ve gone back in time at a younger age so you can have time to improve your life if I improve your skills with just some missions this would not make sense, and the missions will be for your future jobs also in addition to basketball player, so I told you not to pick several start jobs, because to improve you have to focus on one first.] So Jake understood, it seems that with this system he just would not be the best if he did not want to. "Then show me what the reward is." [Stamina Bar] [This is the stamina bar, you eat one and it recovers all your energy, it is great to use to improve if training, more is better if you use during a game, in the meantime you eat and back like at the beginning of the game, so you can run more than the others.] Chapter 23 Training Skills 5 Jake was very pleased with his first reward, this Stamina Bar would really be very useful for most workouts would be a waste too big to use for now, street resistance is still very low so even if she fully recovers all her energy would be wasting a product that could be used better in the future, so Jake did not plan to use his reward for now, as being very good to use in games, was certainly true, but it was better to use only in important games, because it is normal in a team all players always have time to rest in the game, even in the NBA players play almost always less than 40 min, and get to do 1,000 pitches of 3 with your current resistance without disrupting your training would take about a month even, Stamina could be considered a rare product. After that Jake completed his normal training and went upstairs to stay with his mother for a while, he was very happy because it seemed like Eva was no longer as depressed as before and was much healthier, she was doing less overtime than he remembered and it seemed that with her beauty returning her mother was getting a lot more tips on her job, and she was already completely accustomed to Jake''s training pace and did not think he was crazy anymore, even being a bit proud of how much his son was struggling to fulfill his dream, Jake, of course, knew all this and whenever he had time he talked to his mother. "Mother are not you tired today?" "What is it Jake you think your mother is getting old, no I have not gotten tired these days, the other waitresses are getting more time at work and customers are not causing problems so the bargains at the restaurant are fine, so I''m not doing much overtime, usually most waitresses are just temporary and just want to work for a while until they live as an actress or singer or give up and go home, it seems like the restaurant was lucky and they got several waitresses who are like their mother who wants a steady job, so the boss is not having trouble with the shifts and even his mood is better. " "That''s a good mother, I''m happy for you, I was thinking, it''s going to be that weekend you could take me to the movies, there''s a movie that I really wanted to see." "At the movies? of course, it''s been a long time since we''ve been watching a movie, I think it''s a good idea to have fun and relax. " "Thank you, Mom, you''re the best." Of course the excuse of wanting to see a movie was a lie, Jake who came from the future has seen all these movies several times, but he remembered that sometimes when he talked to his mother after growing up he said that he regretted not doing more stuff with him when Jake was younger like going to the movies, going to see games in stadiums and going to the amusement park, and of course Jake knew that if he did not say he wanted to go and see his mother he would never go alone to see a movie in the movies, mothers, mostly single moms are able to abandon everything for their children, so without Jake his mother would not have a social life and would watch a movie to relax, and the movie that was on was good even was Michael Keaton''s Batman and Jack Nicholson, one of the best films of this decade. So the week went by and over the weekend Jake and Eva went to the movies closer to home, Eva bought two popcorn and two soft drinks, tickets, and some sweets, she was excited to go out with her son in the family after so long , and in the late 80''s things in the movies were not as expensive as today, after they went to see the movie, the queue was still great even if it was not the movie''s opening week, many couples and few families were in it, it seems that the film had an age rating, there was no problem as his mother was with him, and Jake was not really any kid he already had the soul of an old man, they saw the movie and it was really cool even though he had already watched several Sometimes, especially the role of villain, was the high point of the film, after that film in the opinion of Jake the other several films gives series Batman would not have a good until the 2000s, but was a good source of income for Warner, mother liked bastant and the movie, he remembered that his mother was not like the other women she loved action movie and did not like romance movies, maybe because when she saw romance movies she would remember her father and be sad, before I did not think about it , but now that I know she hid her feelings from me I had to stay tuned, I did not want to lose my mother again. After we went home talking about the movie, I explained things she had not understood from the movie, and she smiled when she could understand, as I have seen this movie several times and even read several reviews I was talking like a pro. After I went to spend the rest of my day in training, I could not miss a day even though I wanted to stay with my mother. Really just as the system said I felt that as I trained my ability did not improve much, I was improving fast because I was learning the basics, but now that the level of skill increased I had to think about all the exercises, what I was doing wrong to be able to improve, in the pass I could no longer improve unless I had thought partners, however much I could imagine the players moving, it would never be equal to the real thing, the defense I improved my positioning the most, without an opponent I would not improve, now the only improvements I was making were in the Dribble, the pitches, and the basket moves, because I already had a good base with my high level of ball control. So I would train this way and after the end of the year I''m going to start alternating training as the system said to increase my physique on vacation is a great idea, I''ll use all the Stamina Bars I can to improve my stats to the maximum that I can, now that I have proved in my training that the points of strength, agility and endurance help in the duration of my training and even in the executions of my abilities I can not leave behind. Chapter 24 The First Christmas After Return 1 And so a few more months went by, during those months Jake did not relax from his training and kept trying his hardest, plus he insisted on not looking at his statistics window until winter holidays started, but he still could feel that he was improving, in his pass training he almost always got the ball back to him after trying several types of pass hitting the ball in an iron bar, in the training of layups and balls in the table Jake also managed to hit almost all even making several moves with his hands before releasing the ball that would be useful when the opponent tried a Block, in his training of Dribble he could now run the whole court hitting two balls on the ground while his eyes were closed, but despite this he did not know how much this would be effective on his opponents when they were on the move, and what progressed most was his shooting training, he could not find any more no clear flaw in his pitches with jumping, his positioning when he jumped was good and he kept a steady average of hits, was not as good as in his past life plus the system said it was because of his lack of attributes, this could only be resolved with time, plus his Free Throw average reached 90 percent, he would miss one in 10, of course this only when his condition was very good plus was good enough, plus the system reminded him that in the game the pressure of the fans could make the average drop quite a bit. In those months Jake also spent a lot of time talking and going out to have fun with his mother and sometimes going out to play with Joseph, but as Joseph seemed much more interested in studying it was difficult for him to find himself out of school. Speaking at school the tests passed, there were two in this semester, Jake got first in the two and Joseph was in the top ten, the teacher was impressed by Jake''s performance and even praised him for his mother who was very happy, she was very proud of her son who was good at home, and still good at school and even practiced a sport. Joseph was also shocked by Jake''s grades, he thought several times to give advice to this friend of his who was not paying attention in class but did not because he was afraid Jake would find him annoying and did not want to be his friend anymore, but now his he was ashamed to have thought of it, but was also very happy for his friend, even more, so that he could show this result to his father and grandfather who were complaining that Jake could be a bad influence on him, now they would have to accept that friendship. Jake was also very happy, not with the grades because it was what he expected, but with the teachers, now that he had gone so well the teachers will not care what he does in the classroom, and now he could bring business and language management books to start masking his knowledge with his age, and Jake was also happy because his mother was happy. And so it was winter break, it would only be 3 weeks at Jake''s school, and he had already accumulated 6 Stamina Bars, so he would have to do everything he could to improve his stats, he got with the assistant gymnastics class some weights to put on their arms and legs, they weighed 5 kg each, so putting on both arms and both legs would be 20 kg more in weight in their exercise routines would increase their strength and endurance would not normally be indicated to use those weights more with the system warning Jake did not run the risk of having injuries so he made that risky move, so Jake came back with the exercises of running and of pushups and the times he made bars, now Jake did not know what his current statistics were like but he could run 1 hour at a speed of 5 km per hour until he got tired and did 40 pushups and 20 bars, all this in 2 hours he rested, all this with the 20 kg body weight, the rest was 1 hour, so on a training day of 10 hours he did 3 training sessions, of course in the second and third sections the average result fell, but it was still incredible, Jake decided that every 3 days he would use a Stamina Bar so to fully recover, so he could have a better result yet, and so he did, he spent the whole vacation running and after 3 weeks he was looking forward to the result, after two weeks of training Jake had to give a stop because it was coming Christmas, he had already spent Thanksgiving with his mother more with there were only two in the family and it was a holiday that was usually lively when one had a large family, was passed in a less festive, just one dinner, plus Christmas was special, Eva would do anything to see Jake happy that day, so a few days before they would go together to pick a Christmas tree, her mother would put various ornaments all over the house, they decorated the tree and his mother made several desserts, Jake knew early that there was no Santa Claus so he did not have to go through the shame of pretending to know, so it was a lively day at Jake''s house, and he took these days to give a rest to his body, even with the Stamina Bars Jake''s body was in high load, if it was not the Jake system would already have an injury, then those days were great too, Jake ended up going out with his mother on Christmas day, they went to several cool places in the city, the best ones were on the beach more Jake did not like going to the beach at Christmas, it was better to go near the summer, but still had many beautiful places to see. After Christmas day, Jake received an invitation to go to Joseph''s house, his friend wanted to see him more this invitation was mainly to meet Joseph''s father, his grandfather lived in another house in a more noble area of ??Miami, but Joseph lived in a big house too, it looked like a mansion, it had more than 10 rooms on three floors, but it was not very luxurious, it had only two cars in the garage and the furniture was old and beautiful but it was not those that cost a fortune, it was then that Jake understood that this one that was already a huge house was the only temporary house of Joseph while it studied. Chapter 25 The First Christmas After the Return 2 Just as I was looking around at Joseph''s house the maid who had left to announce my arrival had come to guide me to the place where Joseph''s father was the householder, so the servant took me to an office at the end of the first floor was an office similar to what I had seen in movies, had a typewriter, several documents on the floor near the large table that Joseph''s father was sitting looking at me, the table was now cleaned with no documents and with a set of tea on top, the maid led me to sit in the chair in front of Joseph''s father who was not in this room. "Thank you for coming to my house today Jake, I''ve heard a lot about you from Joseph, my name is Oliver and I''m Joseph''s father." So presented Oliver, he was 1.73 tall was not as big as Joseph more appeared to be overweight, he was wearing a pair of glasses just like Joseph and a sweater that looked suitable for the time of year, he had by he was 30 years old and already started to have wrinkles on his face, it seemed that his work was exhausting, Joseph had told that his mother had already died when he was 5 years old and his grandmother also so the family was now only three men, Joseph seemed to like his father more he was very afraid of him, and looking at him now he really seemed to be always serious. "It''s a pleasure to be here, Mr. Oliver, Joseph is a great friend of mine and always speaks of you as well." "You''re very polite Jake, I called you here because I wanted to meet this friend of my son that he talks so much, you really should not know more Joseph always had a few more friends had some still in his previous school, plus what he did not he knew that some of these friends he had were people his parents told him to approach Joseph because of his grandfather, and although the children are innocent, that''s only when they''re kids, with a family so I''m sure the personality of them could become distorted too and when I arrived breeze maybe Joseph would already be too close so I could interfere, so I wanted to meet you to know if your intentions are good or how theirs I ask you to apologize if I offended you. " Seeing Oliver being so sincere and making everything clear as soon as he saw me amazed me, I think something like that is not what you should say to a child, more like I had an adult mentality I realized, he wanted to see my reaction when told me this, if I had someone send me here to approach Joseph''s family for his money, as soon as Oliver said that the child would be scared and might try to run away, of course, he did not expect a child to act in front of him who is a lawyer who is accustomed to dealing with lies, but for me who had no plan against Joseph, this sincerity of his could help me clear things up at once with his father, although I think of needing the help of Joseph''s family in the future, this is just a convenience because Joseph would surely help me find someone else''s trust even though I could not count on your help I could still do the same But if he can believe in me and change the way he works for his company, he can get richer, if not more, if he has someone who could help himself. they will fail for sure. "Mr. Oliver, I really have no other intentions as I approach Joseph, actually I did not know that your family was rich until he told me, I think he''s cool and a good friend and I hope I can count on him in the future, said he did not have many friends, but I do not have any other friends beside him, if I could I wish we could continue like this. " When Jake told all of this to Oliver he was very shocked to be a bit shocked, as Jake had thought he had said all this to scare a child who was sent by someone else to approach Joseph, he would never expect a kid to respond with so much firmness, and from his experience as a lawyer he could see that Jake was not lying, just hiding something, it seemed that this thing did not have much to do with his son. "I heard you were smart picking the best grade in the class plus I did not think you were that mature, Hahaha, plus that''s good too at least now I know my son made a real friend, I just hope you do not deceive my son in the future, he may seem strong but he is very fragile. " "You can believe Mr. Oliver, as a friend of Joseph''s, I''ll try my best to take care of him." "I can see that you are sincere, so I''m sorry for all this interrogation, Joseph is up there you can go with the maid she takes you there, I hope I can talk to you when I have more time, I feel you It''s very interesting." "Yes sir, when we have more time we''ll talk, I''ll see Joseph now." I liked Oliver, he was not as stiff as he looked, he was a bit like my mother someone who would try to do everything for the happiness of his son, he came to this house with Joseph, must have left a little work maybe had missed a few opportunities just to be able to see his son grow up in a better environment than he did when Joseph said that his father and grandfather had sent him to a public school to go through some difficulties a child would not have in a private school, although I think they had a certain reason I thought they had been a bit harsh with Joseph''s creation, but now I have seen that what happened may not be so simple when he had thought it was like I never had children despite living a long time I only saw things from the perspective of how I was and I am a child more now I think I could see a little the difficulty that has to face my mother or a father like Oliver, have qu and by someone first and you no longer be the priority, this is the vision of a father. Chapter 26 The First Christmas After The Return 3 I went up with the maid to the second floor, we went to the last room down the hall to the left, when I entered the room I saw Joseph sitting on the bed looking down, he seemed to be thinking about something, probably he was worried that his father was going to talk to me that he could not be present, of course I will not tell him about my conversation with his father, Joseph''s room was large, almost three times bigger than mine, he had some team posters and athletes he likes, had an autographed baseball and a television in the corner of the room, had a small table in the corner with a lamp, should be the table Joseph studies, as they had several books on top of it. "And Joseph, will not you even greet me after I''ve come to your house?" Only after he heard my voice did he seem to get out of his thoughts. "Jake, Merry Christmas to you, that I wanted to meet you downstairs plus my dad said that I wanted to talk to you alone, I''m sorry for that." "This is normal Hahaha, your father had to be worried about you, and I think he just wanted to meet me, he just introduced himself and then he already sent me up here." I had to lie, otherwise, I felt that the mood between Joseph and his father would grow stranger. "So that''s good, I was worried that he would do an interrogation with you and you could be scared of it." "You have such an imagination." In the background I was a little surprised he guessed exactly what his father did even though he did not know why his father was doing it, but I''m sure he''ll understand in the future. "You have to study more on this vacation, Joseph, you did not say you were going to be the first in the class, I''m waiting, I''m saving the place for you Hahaha." "You know how to hit where it really hurts, I confess that I underestimated the students of a public school, and to think that neither the first nor the other I only managed to be among the ten, and soon for you I was bragging, at least I learned to be careful with my mouth, and I was thinking of giving you the advice to pay more attention in class, but you''ll see that it will change next semester, I''ll still be the first. " "The most you can do is tie me first, try not to miss any that you can take a chance Hahaha." After talking to Joseph for a long time, I declined Oliver''s invitation to dinner and went home, as I had to go alone did not want to leave too late and leave my mother worried. After all this, I did my last week of training and spent all my Stamina Bars, now I was anxious to know how much I had improved in all those more than 3 months. "Now Fate shows me my statistics window that I''m crazy to know how much I''ve improved." [All right here] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 10 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: Middle School Player] [Position: PG] [Height: 1.40 m] [Weight: 39 kg] [Force 9] [Agility 9] [Resistance 11] [Intelligence 46] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling SS] [Body Control S] [Man to Man B] [Dribble SS] [Layup A] [Set Shot SS] [Block C] [Pass SS] [Rebound B] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] --------------------------------- I was very happy when I saw how much my stats and skills had improved, a lot of it was in S or SS now, and the ones I had never trained before were in A or B, what made me happy was my Dribble, I never thought it would increase so much, I know I was doing well in training, but according to the system these skills reflect more what I can do on the court compared to the best of my age, as I never did a dribble before I did not think I would punish the SS, and from what I saw the other skills also reached the limit I could do alone, I needed opponents to improve, more could not have new opponents so far, and my stats I did not expect it to increase 2 each one, until the intelligence increased by 1 and was already very high, according to the system said it was going to take a lot to improve, and the resistance then shocked me increased by 4, I had not done exercises until the exaust these then the day before the holidays did not think it would increase a lot, as if he saw that I was in doubt the system began to explain. [I see that you are impressed that your physical statistics have increased so much, do not stay, for training it took up enough to increase, those 3 weeks of intense training that made them increase, the truth is that by the natural growth of your body all statistics increased one point, and the other was for those almost 4 months of training so it''s not so fast, your resistance has increased because every time you do physical or physical training you''re improving your endurance, do not think you have to stay every time exhausted for it to increase a point, because if it was so when you reach 50 points of resistance you would have to train to the maximum for 3 days to be exhausted, since the resistance also increases your ability to recover energy, so sometimes while you spend you also recovers, and the way of increasing both is also due to the Stamina Bar, because as you re fully quit you can exercise more. How much skill statistics you''re certain will not increase no matter how much you train until you have adequate opponents, the dribble you do not need to be unsure, training is the foundation of the game, if in training your skill is high in the game she too will be, the only difficulty you will have will be to adapt to the moving opponent to dribble over in two games you must get accustomed, and the other thing that makes this SS skill is your agility stats, as I said statistics influence the execution of skill, now probably there should be no one faster than you at all Middle School so how speed is part of the dribble hardly anyone can stop you, the defense is different, have to have techniques also if you use only your strength will be lacking, plus you cannot stop training although several of your stats are SS when you get in high school will be D at most.] As soon as I heard this I calmed down a bit, the system had already said that when my body grew some statistics would also grow, the resistance made me very happy, with a little more if I get 15 points, according to the system I could already to play a whole game with only a few minutes rest, that''s my other goal, of course it will probably not be easy, maybe it will take a year or two, the strength to increase now is profit, and I was not that arrogant to find who would be better than a 17-year-old player, his body at that age would already be fully developed and he would have much more training time than me and more experiences, not to mention the impassable barrier that is the height, I''ve heard of someone with 1.70 m that could win against a 2.00 m using much more speed and techniques, more with 1.40 m that I have now I can not even make a table near the basket if a face of 1.90 m I can only taste air pass the ball, neither throw, I can think that I would definitely take a Block, so I have to be patient and next year when I join the team I will start to gain experience in games and polish my skills, my goal is that when I get to 16 I can play with professionals, then I will feel that my training was worth it. The holidays are over and after a few days I''ve made my birthday for 11 years, my mother had a small party just for us and was very happy when Joseph appeared at the party, it''s the first time since I was a small child that a friend appears at a party of mine, so it was a lively day. Chapter 27 The Result of a Year 1 And so 6 more months went by, with training all was well, Jake was alternating between physical training and skills training, after the resistance became 11 Jake hardly got exhausted, of course since most of the time he trained was less as he had to go to school, but even so it was a great evolution compared when he started training, and as far as training skills was much more ungrateful, although Jake felt the improvement in his skills he just had to believe in system because he could not see everything on court or against an opponent, when you are playing any improvement is visible, more to Jake mainly that after discovering his talent never played basketball as it should then in the season could not use his legs could only imagine, even more his defense skills training, that he knew that although he practiced almost every day would not have any improvement, the other s abilities he still felt an improvement in those 6 months plus the defensive ones, so in order to train like this one had to have a strong mentality, Jake was already practicing also some movements of more elaborate dribbles to deceive the defense, but still it is difficult. With his mother everything was fine, they were getting closer and he could not see any trace of depression on his mother''s face, his face was already blushing and she was extremely healthy, it seemed she had already forgotten her pain. when she lost her father, of course she had not forgotten her love for her father or her memory, only the pain of losing him, that Jake could understand how difficult it was when in her past life Eva had died a part of her heart had died with her, even someone happy as he almost got depressed and it took a while to recover, yet still he never forgot the pain of losing his mother, and yet he had a mentality much stronger than her, plus Eva had Jake to tell and get rid of her pain more Jake was alone in the world. Even though they were much closer as family, whenever he had time Jake asked his mother to take him out and have fun and in that time they did several things, Jake even used the camera that won Joseph''s birthday gift to save all those moments, he was thinking of making an album and giving it to Eva, Jake had to admit that the camera of Joseph''s grandfather''s company was very good. Jake and Joseph also got much closer in those 6 months, they were improving their friendship the way they did, after all, they did not go out much to talk and play, Jake had his basketball training to do and Joseph was always using his free time to study, to tell the truth the happiest person with this friendship was Joseph''s father Oliver, he repeatedly called Jake to his house for lunch on weekends or even for tea, he had to admit that even he already considered Jake as his friend not only as a friend of his son, he could talk about various subjects and was very mature, Oliver sometimes thought that if he closed his eyes and forgot his age it seemed that he was talking to someone older than him, even in chess is a game he liked a lot he could not beat Jake, chess was a game of patience and he is the one who lost first and falls into Jake''s traps, so at first he was ashamed Jake also liked to talk to Oliver he was a friend to him too, that year after his return he used several moments to go changing his personality and way of talking to everyone and everyone including his mother accepted that he was different from the other children his age and so with the people who were close to him, Jake no longer pretended that he was a child, and this was very well accepted by everyone, after all, anyone preferred to talk with a normal adult than with a child impatient and had no business to speak. The reason that Oliver was happiest in the friendship of his friendship with his son was the school, Jake was always the first in all the tests and the teachers already used him as a model to inspire other students, and Joseph as his friend was what he was more struggling to get better at school, and was giving results, he was already second in the whole room that year and if he could get all the questions out of the test as Jake would tie in first, the reason Joseph really was trying so hard is that while he was struggling to match Jake in his grades in the classroom Jake kept reading language and finance management books, the teachers discovered that too, they did not say anything, they were just impressed, as well as studying for normal classes Jake was also studying other things, there is a teacher who would not be happy to see a student who was very intelligent and above all is modest and does not cause problems in the hall the first book that Jake was studying was about the Spanish language, once a Spanish-speaking teacher became curious and also happy with Jake''s thirst for knowledge and tried to speak with him in Spanish and the result surprised all the teachers he actually managed to have a simple conversation with the teacher, then he meant that he was seriously studying these books, then the subject came up to Eva, they asked if Jake had already done some language lessons or if Eva taught Jake to speak Spanish , and she said no, she knew a little speak Spanish because she learned a little from a relative of hers more as much as she spoke was less than Jake, Eva was also surprised that Jake was trying to learn a new language and was still the Spanish one which she liked so much, so Eva said that Jake was not doing classes and learned alone all the teachers were shocked, and so many teachers said that in addition to the Spanish books Ja Ke also studied business management books, but as they could not test their knowledge they did not know how much he was learning, so Jake became known as a genius at school, he already hoped for it and did not think it was a great thing, a title of genius is only more important shortly before university, and this is much harder to achieve, but what he did not expect is that his mother would be so happy with it, she would boast of it to everyone in the restaurant that she worked, and how he knew he could not afford a university for his son, but it was always his dream that Jake could get into one, so she was very happy for her son, of course Eva did not know that Jake was guaranteed in a university with his talent for basketball, she just thought he was joking, especially after Jake did not join the school team. So whenever Jake was not training and Eva was not at work she always asked to speak in Spanish with her son to try to help him get accustomed to the language, which she did not realize was that Jake was purposely trying to decrease his pronunciation to talking to her and without Eva realizing who was improving her Spanish was her and not Jake, but with him saw that his mother was happy to help him practice he was also happy, and that''s how things went for Jake in those 6 months, he could not even remember how he had spent that time in his past life more certainly was not as good as now, and so Jake was not realizing how much his high luck was gradually changing the lives of people closest to him , a lot of problems and illnesses that people would normally go through were not happening to Jake''s friends, so life seemed great to everyone, it''s normal for people to tend to forget the bad things that happened in their s lives. Now Jake was just days away from a summer vacation that would last for 3 months, he was scheduling what his training would look like and how he was going to use the various Power Bars that Jake was saving in those 6 months, and also a few days to complete a year that Jake came back in time for a second chance, he was grateful and always talks to the system, he gave Jake the opportunity to do everything he wanted and to end all the regrets he had, and the system even helped in his training, it made it much easier and gave a great motivation to see the numbers change in their physical statistics and their abilities, the system would give Jake a future, but what he did not expect and even forgot was that the system was very powerful and could do almost everything, the system was what made Jake different from the other players, it was his advantage to improve his life and soon Jake would realize it. Chapter 28 The Result of a Year 2 So the holidays started and Jake started to train, he still wore the same weights, Jake thought of increasing the weight plus the system said that if he did that he could actually have some injuries so he continued to wear the 5 kg on each arm and each leg adding 20 kg, he just needed to increase the intensity of the training a little, so after a few days training when the day was over and Jake was wondering if he was going to use the first Energy Bar the system spoke to him. [Jake tomorrow is the day you''re going to complete a year since you''ve gone back to the past, I remember you said you wanted to see the results of your training when you completed a year so I''m warning you.] "So, about a year ago, I was going to ask you to look at the statistics to get an idea of how much it has increased in a year and also to see how much it will increase on this vacation, so please show me." [All right here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 11 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: Middle School Player] [Position: PG] [Height: 1.46 m] [Weight: 44 kg] [Force 11] [Agility 11] [Resistance 14] [Intelligence 47] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling SS] [Body Control S] [Man to Man B] [Dribble SS] [Layup S] [Set Shot SS] [Block C] [Pass SS] [Rebound A] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] --------------------------------- Jake was analyzing how much he grew up this year, his height increased a lot, he did not realize why the other students were growing too, and the people closest to him were already too tall to compare, the weight also increased more as if he were too thin , who looks at his body does not imagine that he already has the greater strength than many adults who do not exercise, his speed is also still being maintained, it must be because the training that Jake does also serve to increase dexterity, is increasing a lot, it was the smallest statistic a year ago but now spent the other two. His skills are also of another level, before he was an amateur who only knew how to throw and some things, now he had the firm base, his defense he already knew that was not going to increase in those 6 months, the statistics that are SS Jake feel that they are still increasing, according to the system layup is a skill that can only reach SS with increasing height, the sooner he will join the school team and may increase some of those abilities. His intelligence is also increasing should be related to the books he has read about the Spanish language and trade. "It really has increased a lot this year I feel like a different person than I was, sorry that my abilities have stagnated, I hope that when I join the team to improve my defense to the rank S so that I can see how my ability is compared to students I find it difficult to wait another two years to see. " [You''re in too much of a hurry, sure enough, training your skills alone has a limit to improving, plus you have more than 6 years to try to get a scholarship to university, that was one reason I brought you into the younger you can hit all the things you have to do in the future, make friends, take care of your mother and be able to enter a university quietly, I''m here to improve your whole life not just with basketball, when you do what you can do and see that you can not improve more by training try to do something else, after all I know that the reason you want to get into a university is not to depend on basketball for a lifetime, after all your career will end at a point.] "You''re right I still have time, I just do not want to have to look at the past and regret not having done enough as in my past life, I already know what I''m going to do besides basketball in the future more still is not time to think about it, I''m still far from my limit in basketball. " [You''re straight, you still have a long way to go and what are you doing tomorrow?] "I think I''m going to take the day off to rest, I''m going to have to do 3 months of intense training on these vacations, it''s better to have my body relaxed before I start." [This is a good idea.] So Jake did what he said he spent all day resting and talking to his mother who was also off duty, they were always talking and hiding nothing from each other (apart from the system), so they seemed more friends than mother and son , and at the end of the day the system called Jake again. [Congratulations Jake, now you''ve completed a year of training in your first job basketball player, and now it''s time for your reward for your effort, this reward always seeks to give you something you need and analyzing if you deserve it, in your case you do not need to be trained can be playing too, as you have trained enough you will receive the maximum reward by analyzing what you need most.] "And what I received shows me." Jake told the animated system, although it was annoying not to know what to do or when it will reach the rewards more was also exciting the unknown. [Here it is.] [Imagination Training.] Imagination training? No matter how Jake thought of it he could not see what it was if he wanted to imagine he would figure it out he did not need the help of the system. [Really Jake this time I can say that you used all your luck, that''s exactly what you needed and the best prize the system could give you.] Jake was still wondering what this award was plus he did not think that something he thought was useless would receive such a system appraisal, it must be said that he had not seen the system compliment anything, and the system would not win anything fool it then it must be something very good indeed. "Fate, explain to me what this training of imagination is, I do not know what it means." [You do not know what it is? I thought you would know, this imaginative training equals Shadow Boxing that you may have forgotten to mention, the difference is that it''s not for boxing but for basketball and with the help of the system it turns almost into a game of virtual reality, the only thing is that this can not train your body, but can greatly improve your skills and give some experience to you in a basketball game.] "Like a virtual reality game I still do not understand explains me better." [Ok, you should have seen some basketball game is not, think it''s a basketball game, in this game there is a 10-player block with 5 on each side and this block has the same specifications of one in the NBA, with the same NPC rules, the players on your side and the opposing team will be like NPC in an RPG game, they will have a very high artificial intelligence plus they will not talk yet, so you will be a player and have another 9 controlled by artificial intelligence, you will be the coach of your team and you can make changes in your team, and you choose how the skills of the players of your team and the opponent team and their heights, only your physical statistics that you can not choose, they will have faces of dolls and this everything only serves to improve your technique and your experience in a game, you choose the position you play and if you play with a weak team or strong as teammates and also if your opponent will be strong or weak, all this is at your skill level, meaning that your teammates and opponents will all be between F and SS of a Middle School player skill, you can not play with opponents or allies of the high school level or below, and to activate this training you just have to sit cross-legged and close your eyes, then you think about starting the training and can go to that dimension with your mind, if someone calls you while you are training you will be warned and will leave inside moments.] After listening to the system explain the skill he understood, this ability is very OP, he was worried that he could not find opponents to train his skills and was thinking about what he would do if his opponents were too weak, and also allies to train his passes , was also worried about his lack of experience playing a game and this ability solves all his problems. It''s like giving a glass of water to someone who''s dying of thirst in the desert, a virtual basketball game, that''s what came to Jake''s mind when he heard the explanation of the skill, it really is how the Shadow Boxing Plus system would help improve your imagination multiplied by a thousand, in boxing you imagine an opponent more in basketball are 5 opponents and 4 allies besides imagining the court, the rules, the judge, and the time, it is impossible the more system makes it possible and still allows you choose the level of skills of opponents, of course Jake would never choose opponents weaker than him, but he could put them only a higher level, which he could train to reach the same level as his opponents, and when they had rank SS Jake would already be in the S rank and could move to the next level, like the height, if all were a little higher than it would be great, and the allies could also have a level of ha He could also order everyone to pass the ball to him and could only pitch when he allowed, so he could train various skills and game schemes, he could see how much he could handle in a match with his endurance, since his statistics and skills in the image would be the same as his in the real world. Now he was excited to begin. Chapter 29 A Different Game 1 So Jake sat in the middle of the court and closed his eyes, whoever looked at him thought he was meditating, so Jake thought to start Imagination Training. In front of him appeared a large court, it was like a gym and had no crowd, in front of him had 10 players and one that looked like a judge, he could not see anyone besides them, nor the technical opponent. It had 5 players in totally yellow uniforms and 5 players in purple uniforms, the judge had a black uniform, all 10 players had the same height and the same body shape, and all had a face without eyes and mouths and no nose, a mannequin''s face. It looked a bit like a horror movie when he saw more after he got used to it, so a window appeared in front of him to choose a team, he chose the purple shirt team. So in the window sent him to choose the positions and heights of the players of his team, he gave a different position for each one, for Center (C) he gave a height of 1.70 m, for Power forward (PF) he gave a height of 1.65 m, for the small forward (SF) he gave a height of 1.60 m even for the point guard (PG) and the shooting guard (SG). When the window told him to choose the heights of the opposing team he chose the same heights as his team. After all, Jake was already 1.46 m tall and would continue to grow in a short period of time, he could not adjust everyone''s height before each workout, it would be a waste of time, so Jake saved his selection and asked not to change until he wanted to. When the window told him to choose the abilities of the players of his team he chose to always be a level higher than him, be his teammates or opponents, so he always had to try to improve, the system warned that SS skills they could not be increased so everyone would have the same skills as Jake in which he had SS. So after he hit all the details the player who had the position that Jake wanted to play the point guard (PG) went to his team''s reserve bench and the game started. Everything was equal to an ordinary game the judge whistled, the electronic table on top of each basket marked the time of possession of the ball, the score of the game, the playing time and the period in which the game was. In the beginning the ball was sent to the top and the centers of the two teams disputed the possession, the first possession went to the yellow team, ours was the purple team, that''s how the big screen was, it was a normal game, the only thing I heard was the sound of the sneakers on the court. Their team and mine was well organized, the artificial intelligence that commands their thinking should work as a professional player and with a lot of experience, their PG passed the ball to the SG who walked towards our basket, I realized it was the only one out of position on the court and I went to score the PG of the opposing team. So the SG stopped for a while thinking about the move and made a nice pass to the PG of them who made a Layup and scored the first score of the game, that''s when I realized that they must all pitch well and have SS passes plus the defenses are quite bad, because mine was, it seems like it was going to be a frank game with many points, but what matters most to me was to train my skills and not the result of the game. I soon went to the corner of the court to restart the game, I passed the ball to the SG of my team and we started to advance to the opposing court, when the marker of my SG came I asked for the ball back and the ball was quickly passed for me, what is the good thing about being the coach of the team whenever I asked for the ball or had them do something they would do. Soon my marker also appeared so I soon came on top of him to test my dribbling training, I hit the ball from one side to the other waiting for an opportunity, then I made a left turn and I passed the right, and I passed through the opponent , it seemed that my training was effective, this gave me more confidence, as soon as I reached the 3-point lineup the two teams were in position. I saw an opening and then I gave a pass inside the area of the car to the Center that received and soon made the basket. So playing the game I understood what the system meant by the difference of making a pass with players on the move, it also depends a lot on the ability of my team to play not only my pass ability. Soon the yellow team began its new attack, I understood with this that the difference of the result of the game would be my actions, if I were well we would win and if I were badly we would lose, after all, all the other players are very equal in ability. So I went to the tight marking on the PG of their team, as I marked a lot on top he did not have space to dribble me, so he gave a pass to the SG of the team that came back to receive the pass, so I gave space for the opponent''s PG to receive the pass so he could score him again, and that''s what happened. When the PG received the ball and I went to mark it, he gave a dribble to the right and he threw 3 points, when I looked back the ball did not enter and the C of my team took the rebound, so I realized that my plan to make room for the opponent was not a good idea. Soon I received the C pass and ran to the opposing court, when I ran I realized that they could not reach my speed so I ran faster and did a layup to score 2 more points for my team. As I was faster I thought that using speed was a good strategy the sooner I gave up the idea if I ran every time I hit the ball I could not take two periods of play without getting tired. So what followed was a fairly balanced game, as this was the first time I was doing this training I was trying to understand the processes of the game, more like I saw, they had a basic pattern of game and did as you teach the manual. Another thing I noticed was that the opposing team tried quite a few pitches of 2 and 3 whenever they had space, my team did not do it because I had to pass the ball, if the pitch was 2 I had them tighten the mark more if was 3 I had to give space, they averaged 1 of 20 pitches, so it was guaranteed that they would miss, and so my team was increasing the advantage on the scoreboard. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 20 to 12 for our team, my team lost only 1 attack and their team lost more by trying 3-point pitches, I saw that they did it because they were behind the scoreboard and because my team pressed the mark. I managed in that first period to see how a real team worked in a game, and also how to give passes, so I understood that I could choose different positions in my team to train different skills, I did not want to train layups and my defense by the height difference between I and the opponents, so I understood why I could choose the height of the opposing team, I could train in that space several times so I had no reason to hurry. In the second period we continued trying the plays in the bottle, an interesting thing was that this opponent team did not commit fouls, so besides me sometimes pushing too hard in defense was a very clean game. I tried several different types of pass and also sometimes forced an advance to the basket and did a layup, and when the advantage between us was too great I tried a 3-point throw, I hit 2, I missed 1 and in another I went blocked, was difficult because if I did not create too much space to throw the opponent blocked me by the difference in height. So at the end of the second period, the game was 48 to 30, in that period the opposing team made fewer mistakes and we made more mistakes, but the baskets of 3 made up, so I saw it would be difficult to see the opponent hit a pitch and 3 in that game. Chapter 30 A Different Game 2 While I was resting in the interval from the second to the third period I went to talk to the system. "Fate this training of imagination is really incredible, I feel like I''m playing here with my real body, and it''s also very cool to see how they think, it''s hard to imagine that they are not real people playing with me but controlled by the system." [You are underestimating human intelligence, the problem is that humans can not use 100% of their brain capacity, if they could, this would be a child''s play, but with me helping is very easy, there are many people who have thoughts on this is just an enhancement of this.] "But there''s one thing I think is strange, their passing skills, dribbling, and pitching are so much worse than mine, was not it for us to have the same skills?" [So you noticed this, that''s why I told you not to stop training, when you get to the SS level of a skill you start to outdo the best, plus your opponents will have a skill equal to a SS at Middle School level , so it''s normal for them to be worse than you, a good example of this, even the best 3-point pitcher at 13 years or less would be much worse than you are now, so it''s very difficult for them to hit a basket in a game in that are being well marked, more like in this training your opponent in fewer points than you and everyone has the same ability, they have to take a chance.] Listening to the system talk so Jake understood how he can not control the thinking of the opponents, they have a mission to win and in their view the two teams are equal so they have to risk a 3-point pitch, of course with Jake in the team purple, their chance of making more mistakes increases, and Jake has much better passes and pitches than everyone on the court. After a good rest a good deal of Jake''s energy had returned, then he figured he could play until a part of the 4th period before he got tired, so he went with his team of puppets for the third period of the game, 48 to 30 was a good advantage then Jake saw that he could slow down and take advantage of the ball possession. Without realizing he was thinking more and more like a PG, so the game resumed with a much slower pace, Jake tightened the defense and tried to force the other team to throw since they had difficulties in invading the bottle, so it was a good opportunity for Jake to train his defensive rebounds, he could get some, but when the rebound went to the area of the car he had no chance with his height. Jake did not take off and slowed his speed as much as possible, he wanted to save energy, yet he realized that everyone, being opponents or allies still had a lot of energy left, so he understood why there was only one substitute, for him, Jake was the only one who would tire in this game. After a while Jake realized that the opponent had changed strategy and was defending more the bottle, so Jake was having difficulties to pass or attempt an infiltration, he also could not ask his team to throw because otherwise it would be the same as the opponent and would miss enough, so Jake made a substitution and put the PG on the court and replaced the SG, so now he would no longer make the frames of plays of the team and focus more on scoring, when Jake made a change of positions received the free ball and tossed the 2 points, most of the time he hit his shots even when he missed was lucky and his team took the offensive rebound, so his team did not lose any attack and the advantage only increased on the scoreboard. More like he had to try hard to throw it ended up getting tired at the end of the third period and was replaced, as the coach he gave the order for the team to only trying to throw if it is ending the possession of the ball. So he was watching the game of the reserve, it was very different from watching on television mainly because as he was in the game he could feel the skill of opponents and teammates, his team now without him lost much more possession of the ball and I lost more attacks, but the game was more balanced. When the third period ended the game was 70 to 50, his team scored fewer points because he held the rhythm of the game and the opponent scored more because he was time off the court. Jake did not care about the outcome of the game because he knew that this was training, if he trained in defense they would lose and if he tried to throw more, they would lose too. It was not as much fun as Jake thought, despite being a virtual reality game, because there is no cheerleader, more players or competitions does not have much grace, lack voices, music and stories to be funny, more training was everything well, it was a lot better than training alone on a court in the basement, so Jake watched in silence the rest of the substitute bench game, after another period the game finished 85-65, the two teams were really very similar they did 15 points each. Jake made 36 points and gave 15 passes, meaning that 66 points went directly through his hand, it was a Double-double plus Jake was not so happy because it was natural since he had ordered everyone to pass the ball to him and could only to throw when he left without saying that all the allies were very skilled than to hit a good pass was to make an assistance because they would always hit in the bottle. Plus he was more than satisfied with this reward from the system, that''s exactly what he needed, so long as he continued training he would certainly improve his skills if he had not already decided to join the team in that second year of Middle School he would give up on this idea, more so if he would stop to think, although this is a great training, the training players had defined patterns of play, but real-life opponents would think different things, not to mention that it was good to play with several opponents. Jake''s plan was to play very well and win some prizes to fulfill one of his dreams and also make his mother happy, and see if he could get a sponsorship. He recalls that in his past life he heard that sometimes some sponsors watched National Middle School tournament games and selected some young and talented players to sponsor, and that''s what Jake wanted most, he needed money to help his mother and when he had to make some investments in the future, after all, he had to use some of his knowledge of the future to ensure his mother''s stable life, after all, they would still wash for several years for Jake to earn a lot of money as an NBA player. After Jake left his imaginary training he immediately felt dizzy, as if his brain were overloaded, and it took him a while to get back to his senses. [The first few times you do this training you will feel this dizziness when you leave, so it is best to use once a day only, although you have won this reward by luck is also by your high intelligence that is able to withstand this effort, after all, humans never use their brains.] "Do you have any side effects?" [Not at all, it''s even good for you, after a month when you stop feeling nauseous when you quit training you''ll realize you''ve gotten faster to use your brain, it''s almost like boosting your intelligence.] "So instead of a side effect will get a bonus, that''s fine, it''s really the reward I needed, thank you Fate." [You do not need to thank everything that happens to you because you deserve it, after all, I use your karma to help you.] So after leaving the basement, Jake said he would not want to eat and went to bed because he was feeling very tired. When he woke up Jake saw that he had slept more than 13 hours and was impressed, he really exhausts his mind this training, it was good to use every two days, so Jake began to change the schedule of training of this vacation, although he earns less physical statistics on those holidays he would gain a lot more from this training, so when he joined the team he would not be a newbie, and would have the chance to even play earlier than he imagined. So Jake came down to breakfast with his mother, now Jake was much more excited, this year was already much better than the past, and he saw that soon could make his mother stop working as a waitress. Chapter 31 The Vacation 1 And so he continued on Jake''s holidays, In Vacation past, as Jake knew he was short on time and also very excited after going back to the past to do something, he spent all his vacation time training. Plus this year he could not do the same, now Jake had to split his training time into 3, physical training, skills training, and imagination training, so each one would be done in a day until Jake got used to it and not get tired of using imagination training. In addition, Jake has to use a vacation time to go out and play with Joseph and another time to relax with his mother, he had already agreed with Joseph that he would sometimes go to his house and also that they would go to the beach, after all, Jake lived in Miami, it would be a shame for him not to go to the beach when he lives in a place that one of the best beaches in the world. As for spending time with his mother, Jake could go with her again at the movies or go to the city aquarium, or just stay home talking, so from the start, it would be impossible for Jake to spend his entire vacation training. So also with this lighter training routine Jake would not have to use his Stamina Bars, he already had many saved and as he discovered in the game in his mental training his current resistance would not give him a whole game, especially one with the fast pace. So it was good for him to save some for when he has important games, after all in an important game having a Stamina Bar was like having a new one for the lungs, he did not want to stand in a game like that. Jake began his physical training on the first day and would move on to skill training in the other and when he used the imaginative training he after resting could go out with his mother or his friend Joseph. To tell the truth Jake was already anxious for this vacation to end so he could join the school team, he sometimes talked to some of his colleagues who accompanied the basketball team last year. At Middle School the basketball team has several tournaments, but only teams with good ability can participate in these tournaments, have the regional tournament that is done with only the teams from the south of Miami, the champion of the south plays with the champion of the north of Miami and the winner of that game goes to the state tournament, which has a representative from every city in Florida, then the winner of that tournament goes to the national championship. So Jake was sure he could get some titles and so he could stand out among the other players, and get some sponsorship, it would not be easy anymore he was not training hard for over a year for nothing, and with that imagination training it was like he could always play with a team with a high level of skill. So after a few days of training Jake was going out with his mother, he told her that the other week would go a day at the beach with Joseph and so she decided to take him to the mall to buy some shorts for the beach, some new sneakers and clothes for him to train, Jake always ran a lot and with his size growing fast his clothes were bothering, so it was a necessary visit. "Mother did not have to come to the mall, we could go to the store near our house, they have clothes for me and they are much cheaper, so they are very expensive." "Do not talk bullshit my son, some ordinary clothes we can even buy there, plus the clothes and sneakers that you need are sporting goods, if you buy there will rip with as much of the exercises you do, then we will buy at the sporting goods store that I bought your table for by in the basement, they have good things and also I already have a card there, as we have to buy many things is better to get a discount. " When he heard his mother Jake fell silent, she was right, he was in the growth phase so he had to buy clothes. It would not be a waste of money and her mother seemed to think of everything, it was much better to buy a better outfit a bit more expensive than to buy a cheaper one and she rips it. And Jake also knew that her mother enjoyed shopping at the mall, she did not buy anything for her but just to see the clothes in the window she was happy, that''s one of the things Jake never understood in women. After they bought everything they needed they went to a fast food in the food court and ate while they chatted after they went home slowly, Jake was carrying most of the bags, it was because he was strong plus his mother thought he was showing off and was ready to pick it up when he got tired. As they headed back home Eva chose a path that could see the beach, and when they were looking at the beach, Jake saw a poster that was hanging on the wall of a gym, when he stopped to see what it was he was impressed. What was written was that they were going to have a youth competition on an open court near the beach that they were passing, will be limited from the age of 10 to 15 years, and would have several competitions, such as the 3-shot competition, Free competition Throw, and a 1-on-1 and 3-on-3 competition. The prize for each competition would be a trophy and also a cash prize of 500 dollars, all were great prizes, Jake could compete in 3 categories and earn up to 1,500 dollars, he did not want to participate in 3 to 3, because he would have to find more two players and even if they won they would have to split the prize, for he did not compensate. This competition would be in a month and would be sponsored by a private school in the region that is one of the best to teach athletes, it would be a good advertisement and as the local radio was going to transmit they would split to not have the burden of paying $ 2,000. "Mom, I''m going to want to participate in this competition." Jake said pointing to the poster, the poster said the location and time and that only needed to sign up for the day, so that would not be a problem. "In this competition? If you want you can try, I was thinking that you had already given up on this dream of being a player if I did not see you training so much. " "To give up of course not, I told you, mother I was going to join the team this year, it''s just that since I knew I could not play last year I did not want to try." "And this competition do you think you can win?" Eva said jokingly, of course, she did not think her son who only trained in the basement and was 11 could win from 15-year-old boys who had been playing for years, but what Jake said afterward stunned her. "If it''s just one I think I can win, but there are two that I can not be sure of." ''So he''s sure of one, I''d better tell him not to be too arrogant. ''Eva thought of saying this but changed her mind, some things the children have to go through in order to learn. Of course, when Jake said that he was only certain that he was being modest, what he was sure of was Free Throw, even though he did not average 9 hits in 10 pitches as in training, he did not think there would be someone under 18 who could pitch better than him, in 3-point pitches he was not sure about luck, sometimes if someone was luckier than him they would hit more pitches if they had similar abilities, he knew his skill was SS up to the Middle School more like would have people of 15 years also, could have someone better, as to 1 to 1 his problem was the difference in height, if he found someone with 1.70 m would have nothing to do. More like he would have to participate anyway because of what he knew he would win, it would not hurt to try the other two as well. So Jake went home with his mother, he was quiet nothing was going to change in his training or his plans for the holidays, he would do the same things, he would not be nervous about a tournament in a month, not to mention his fort mentality that did not allow him to be anxious, he knew better than anyone that in a month his physical attributes and abilities would not improve much even if he doubled his training, and if he did not win he would have other chances, he got much calmer later of having that system conversation, he was still 6 years old, everything he trained six times he could not imagine the improvement he could make up until then. Chapter 32 The Vacation 2 So another week passed the training was not so heavy now that he was alternating, he rarely got exhausted, and his brain seemed to be getting used to his training imagination, he did not stay so much and did not need to sleep anymore, but he still did not see the improvement that the system said it would do to his mind. As long as he did not feel pain, Jake also made a change in the height of the player who was marking him, was placed a height of 1.73 m, that was the highest of the game until then, with this difference of height Jake could not the more you stop your pitches, the more you could stop your opponent from going into the basket. Another change he made was that the player who marked him had all of his abilities at most, SS in all his defensive skills, so he can see the difference from that game they had, they won more Jake had to spend a lot more energy, because he had to use his speed to score points, the luck is that while the opposing team did not change the defense to prevent his team from going to the bottle, Jake could always use his passes to break the defense. More when he arrived in the middle of the third period Jake always had to replace so he learned to make the best score while he was on the court to be able to win after he left, after all, he could use his speed to break the SS defense of the opponent plus his substitute could. So the next day it came time for Jake to go to the beach with Joseph, his friend was excited because he had not been to the beach in a while after all his father did not have time to go with him and his friends only liked to do things that waste their money. Jake also did not go much to the beach, when young in his past life he did not want to disturb his mother, who was always tired of work to go out for a walk, he was not as smart as in this life that he realized that his mother liked to go out with him, and instead of tiring his mother, these outings would help take the stress out of the work of the week. And when Jake grew up he was always doing a part-time job to help at home, after he got older Jake did not see much fun going to the wheelchair beach so he was not going. So now he was doing something he had never done before, he was going to the beach with a friend. "Thank you for coming with me to the beach Joseph, I know you would rather be at home studying today but always wanted to do this." "No, thank you, I''ve always wanted to do this with a friend, but I could not either, and I know you also prefer training." After laughing together for a while, Joseph asked. "Are you really going to try to join the basketball team this year? I do not understand why you did not come in last year, so now you would have learned to play and could even enter the starting lineup. " "And who said I do not know how to play?" "Have you played on a team before?" "Not" "Have you ever done street basketball?" "Not" "Have you ever trained with a coach before?" "Not" "So I do not know how you''re so cheeky, you dare say you know how to play." "I trained alone this time because I did not know it now, I know." "If it were like that, it would be full of players in this world." "More is already full of players in this world." "You understood what I meant." "When I take the test for the team you will see." While they were talking they walked along the beach, although they said they were going to play on the beach they were just walking along the beach and enjoying the sun, the sand and the feeling of being on the beach full of people, it was a shame that Joseph did not know how to swim and did not practice any sport. One good thing is that Joseph was much thinner than before, Jake knew after talking to Oliver that Joseph used to be stressed out because of the school and his few friends who only exploited him, so as to get fat from stress Joseph also ate a lot for cause of his nervousness, so he ended up getting very fat, Oliver thought about putting his son into some sporting activity plus Joseph had asthma and because of his weight, could not do even a time of exercise that he already had to use the asthma pump . Now at least he''s eating a lot less and he''s not as stressed out either. So they talked for a while then just sat still, taking advantage of a moment, Joseph was thinking how lucky it was to have a good friend but what Jake was doing was seize the now, Jake knows that people change, he would not change because he had already changed what had to change, his mind was not of a boy anymore, but he did not know how Joseph would be in the future. Joseph was now a loyal boy, but this was because now he is very pure, and he was so because his father and grandfather protected him without him knowing, sometimes he even had some clues about what was going on around him plus he pretended not to know. More Jake knew that more than time, money also changed people, Joseph would have to run this company in the future so he could not do without hardening his heart, some decisions like closing a factory and laying off hundreds of people who relied on his salary and employment to survive was normal to prioritize profit, and sometimes with money came the desire, desire of all kinds, whether power, women or even more money, sometimes people changed. Jake did not think his friend would be like that anymore he did not meet Joseph in the future, especially after his family company had failed so Jake did not know if this friendship would last him just wanted to take advantage now, now it was real, now they were best friends. So after spending the day with his friend Jake went home to rest, tomorrow was starting another round of training, and also the day of the tournament was arriving only missing a few weeks. Eva was also anxious, she was already talking to her co-workers to change shifts so on the day of the competition she would be off duty, things in the restaurant were improving, her boss was not even going to the restaurant, now he could hire a manager to able to relax and enjoy the money that was coming in. He was even thinking about opening another spot for his restaurant to take advantage of more success his analyst and accountant was against it, he said he had not like a new restaurant to work out, he was even surprised to why this current restaurant is making so much profit. Of course, even graduating from the best college he would never think that the reason the restaurant was making a success was that the son of one of the waitresses was very lucky. Plus that was something even Jake himself did not know, he was still not convinced of the effects of having such a high fate, so far was only functioning passively, without Jake wanting, as the system asked Jake not to try to play the lottery he was not doing it. So in a new training section of imagination Jake tried to play in another position, he was like Power forward (PF) a position that he has played in the past more hated more this is because he did not have the training, now the only position he does not could play was the Center because he did not know how to play with his back to the car, and did not want to learn it since he probably would never have to use it in a game. His opponent who was scoring him directly Jake gave him all SS defense and also a height of 1.75 m, he knew he would lose in all disputes at the top plus he had to do this to prepare for the tournament, despite have an age limit, did not have a height limit, and in America tall people generally seek to play basketball as their choice of sport, because even if they are not very skilled they can still play before the professional basketball. In the NBA height helps more skill is everything, no one can play there just because they are tall, but before it, technicians prefer a High Center than a lower skill Center. So in his training Jake was for the first time to see his team lose, and many points were made on him, of course, because Jake was trying not to throw and just go to the basket, and also because today was not who was giving the passes, when he gives the passes he can use his ability to force a point, plus he had to admit that the opponent''s defense is very good, the system made their positioning perfect and not that opening. Chapter 33 The First Competition 1 To tell the truth, at the beginning of the training Jake was using as an excuse the fact that he was having to train himself and neglected his defense training, after all, he knew when he saw since training a good defensive player takes much more time than an offensive. As Jake ended up taking more interest in basketball when he was already disabled he ended up not having many experiences with a team, and only interested in making points, how after 2010 the best teams were very offensive and always celebrated the buried, the dribbles and the baskets of 3, and in defense only the locks were celebrated, Jake thought the attack was much more important. More after he came back and had a chance to be a great player, he did not want the defense to be his weakness, so he figured he should raise his skills just a little, and it got better, then when the system said he could only see the next skill level when he had all S skills, he got really angry plus decided to join the team to have an S defense, he did not want to wait until he was 13 years old to see his skills being updated. More only when he started doing this Imagination training that he saw the big difference between having a good defense or not, on television when he saw the games he goes that all were well marked and rarely had a very big mistake in defense, so he could not see the difference between a good defense and a bad defense, the biggest defensive player he saw was Tim Duncan, but he thought he only got 2 NBA MVP for also having a good average points and not so much for being a great defensive player. When Jake played with friends they were all amateurs and the defense was not that important, so much so that the taller ones like Jake always had the positions of Center (C) and Power Forward (PF). More like he was playing a training putting all the players besides him with SS defenses and with SS attack, although it was only in the novel Middle School, he realized that it was the fault of the defense, all the opponents tried to attack by his position, and not it was only because he had the smallest height but because he did not have the right positioning and did not know how to score as well. It was there that he sounded an alarm in Jake''s head, glad that he was still young but because of his lack of judgment and because he did not have a coach to guide him, he might have missed a chance to have a career in the future. After all if at a Middle School level your defense is already a flaw when playing in the NBA would be like the defensive team having one player less. In addition, the best player Jake has ever seen and if idol Michael Jordan besides being considered a genius in the attack was also a great defender, only if he can become a player so it is also important in defense he could become a great player in the NBA. While training with his new resolution, the weeks were passing and finally arrived the day of the tournament, when the day of the tournament was coming and mainly this morning Jake finally began to feel the pressure of having his first competition, although he is confident of winning the categories he was going to participate in yet the nervousness did not disappear. So Jake went down to his breakfast, when he came down he saw his mother finishing preparing the breakfast table, there were several things Waffles, bacon, pancakes, cakes, bread, cheese, ham, eggs, orange juice, and some more things. It was already beyond a normal breakfast, it was turning into a banquet, and Eva had already arranged to take Jake to the tournament, she was wearing a beautiful purple 60s style dress, her hair was tied like a ponytail with a rubber band. "Mother I think you exaggerated today, I''ll have to play later, I do not think I''ll be able to eat enough." "I did not make you eat everything, and I''m going to eat too, this is to celebrate your first tournament, and to be lucky, who knows you can win with that, now as a little of each, I will not play outside even in the afternoon you eat the rest to celebrate if you win. " His mother always had an answer to everything Jake was talking about, he was glad she had woken up earlier just to have a breakfast banquet for him to cheer up, but Jake was also a bit sad because he realized she did not have much hope for him to win. But it was normal for her to think this, after all, unless she has a very talented genius, usually the older ones always win those tournaments, and Eva has never seen Jake play, in fact beyond him no one has ever seen him play after training his skills, after all, the training of imagination was something that happened inside his head. So it was normal for his mother or his friend to question his ability, but as Jake had the system to be sure of the level he was in, she was angry at his lack of confidence. "Mother you look very beautiful today, your hair and dress are very beautiful." "Look at you, already knowing how to praise at this age, do not tell me that my son is going to be a Casanova at school, I do not want to have a daughter-in-law so soon." "With you that way, anybody would praise you if you were not blind, and your daughter-in-law is still going to be a long time, I have to study and play basketball now, I''m too busy to think about it." "It does not have to be that serious it was just a joke, but I''m happy to know that my son already has his priorities in mind, for me while you study well you can do whatever you want you''re still so young, you do not have to be so mature , let Mother take care of you for a long time and just enjoy playing now as much as you can. " "No need to worry, I have a lot of fun playing basketball and when I want to play I have my friend Joseph, so more than that I can not enjoy it." "I like this friend of yours, Joseph, he is a very good boy, some friends like that can become like a brother when you grow up, and a sincere friendship like yours, a lot of people are not lucky enough to spend all their school time, I did not have for example. " Jake knew what his mother was like. She had always been very responsible in everything she did, and for her, Jake was the most important responsibility she had ever had since his father died she had to be both mother and father at the same time. So she wanted him to have everything but she did not want to spoil him, Eva wanted to be stern when Jake did something wrong but also wanted to comfort him when he was sad. That''s why when Jake became disabled in his past life Eve became depressed until she died, after all, as a mother she thought she was responsible for everything that happened to Jake until he left the house. More in this life would be different, Jake wanted to be the only reason for her pride to his mother not of concern, the only reason for happiness not of sadness. So since they had a happy talk and a very full breakfast, they went out to go to the tournament, on the way it was full of people, it seemed like everyone was going to the same place as them, Jake had never heard of a competition of young street basketball, so he thought he was not very famous, and it looks like Jake was wrong. As it was sponsored by a famous local school and local radio, it was normal for the tournament to attract a large crowd as they reached the open court that now had several people inside, Jake realized how much they moved the venue to the tournament, the organization made some temporary bleachers for the public to see the game, and also near the place had several food stalls, a festival instead of a tournament, so when they located the place of registration had a very large queue in the more than 3,000 young people. The inscriptions had not started yet, it was now nine in the morning and the first competition would start only at noon, so Jake decided to come early to do his registration, but he did not think he had come late, so when there were only a few minutes left for the registration was put up a banner on top of the registration desk that gave everyone at the site read. When people saw what was written on the track a commotion happened at the tournament site, many people went to the venue of the tournament organizing team to complain, only Jake was calmer and now he finally realized why he did not know that tournament, probably today was the last time it would be held. Chapter 34 The First Competition 2 What was written on the banner above the registration desk that caused the claim of all the people who wanted to participate and also of their families was [To participate in any competition today and run for the $ 500 prize, who sign up will have to pay a $ 10 registration fee.] In fact, Jake was calm because he was already expecting it, and what was happening was not entirely because of the people gaining from the organization, but came from a need caused by the negligence of the people organizing the tournament. Jake had already asked his mother to bring in $ 60 if the application was 20, Eva agreed, as she thought Jake had seen somewhere on the poster that she had a registration fee. Jake guessed this because he had already participated in several tournaments, not sports more than other things, sometimes they charge a fee to be able to give a bigger prize and many people accept this, but when this happens generally the tournament has few participants, because only people who have some confidence to win or just want to have fun and do not mind spending a little money for it want to participate. That''s why Jake analyzed that the private school and the radio were dividing up the expense of the 2000 tournament prize and also the organization of that because he only saw tournaments that participation was free when big companies did to promote themselves. And Jake was right, that was the intention of the organization, to make the registration fee and the tournament would be an advertisement for the companies. No one but Jake predicted that the prize would be very good and also because all the youngsters had a chance to win, that so many people would try to participate, so Jake was surprised when he saw that he had several participants. With the almost 3000 youngsters Jake saw participate and more that will come later, if everyone decides to participate in the 4 competitions and having only one court, the tournament would last more than a month until a winner was decided. When the organizers realize that they have tried to create ideas to have fewer people participating, if they only decide to have a last minute limit, several people will complain that the tournament was armed, so someone greedy from the company must have had the idea of charging $ 10 registration so fewer people could attend and they could still have some money invested back and maybe even make a profit. What this person should not have thought is that if they did this the idea of doing an advertisement for the school and the radio would have the opposite effect, that would undermine the name of the companies because they did not warn in advance that would have a registration fee. So Jake was thinking that there would never be another tournament like this, of course with the situation with this and the pressure to have a solution for the tournament to be completed today, companies would not think about the future now. Even after people complained for a long time, it was still decided that those who wanted to participate would have to pay 10 dollars, many people became angry and left, and very young people who still wanted to participate also could not get the last minute money too they''re gone. And the few people who wanted to participate yet and also had the money in place went to make the inscriptions, of course very few people had the money and confidence to participate in various competitions like Jake. So Jake made his entry to participate in three competitions, when many saw this, realized that Jake was young and disdained him for wanting to participate in various competitions despite having to pay 30 dollars. Of course Jake could not bother with these people, he went to the place his mother was and waited with her for the first competition to begin. So with just 10 minutes to start the competitions the registrations were closed. The first competition of the day would be Free Throw, this was a competition that was not seen in many places, but as this tournament was for young people up to 15 years of age, Free Throw is a skill that every player of any position had to have after all everyone could suffer faults in a game. And according to the view of the competitors, because they are very young, many people would find it hard to hit several pitches. The rules were that each person would have to make 10 pitches on their first chance, 10 seconds of time to make each throw, those who got more than 5 hits would pass the next round, so until they had to hit 10 of 10 pitches, no one else thought that would come so far. Just over 200 people still paid the $ 10 to sign up for this competition, so they would have to make the draw, the organizers had to prepare more than 200 papers with a number in each to decide the order based on the fate of each. Jake was the tenth to draw and got the number 223 that was the last one that had to hurl, ''lucky'' Jake thought. He always forgot that he had a 99 attribute for that, Jake wanted to be the last one to know how many balls he had to hit so he could pass and win, after all, he could hit 9 in 10 pitches if he was lucky. So the competition of pitches began, people of all ages were there and tried to make their pitches, despite giving to know that some were younger and others were older only the organizers knew the exact age of them, when it was coming the turn of Jake make his pitches, only a little more than 50 people of more than 200 managed to hit the 5 pitches to pass the next stage. The one who had hit the most, he had gotten seven shots out of 10 and it was clear that he was lucky for the happiness he was showing, these people who managed to appear to be 15 years old by his height and had some training in basketball. So Jake hit 6 shots of 7 and then purposely missed the other 3. It seemed that as the system said nervousness even affect the hit rate of the pitches, he did not miss one in 7 because he wanted to, he wanted to hit 6 and then miss the rest do not show. After that Jake received a lot of applause because he was one of the only ones to hit 6 shots and then Jake went to his mother who was smiling and applauding a lot, I could see that she was proud and happy. Then in the second round of pitches everyone had to hit 6 of 10 to move on to the next round, so only 13 hit 6 throws and no one hit 7, when it was Jake''s turn he hit the 6 in a row and missed 4 on purpose, still the audience applauded more excitedly, Jake was the only one who seemed to be the youngest of all 14 finalists, the other 13 seemed to be around 14 and 15 years old. Now came the round that could be the final, taking out a nobody had hit 7 pitches, so it was difficult to have the next round, whether hit 7 went. This time the luck did not seem to smile for the young man who had hit 7 the first time, and none of the 13 hit the 7 balls too, some hit only 5, and when it came to Jake, the radio narrator began to show all competitors of that round before their pitches, only 2 of the 13 were 14 years old and the other 11 were 15 years old. When the narrator introduced Jake, he said he was only 11 years old, 3 less than the youngest of the others, and now Jake had the chance to win, everyone in the crowd cheered and whistled for Jake, after all, it''s cool to cheer for the person who seems to be at a disadvantage. So Jake went to the Free Throw, he knew he was going to win now, and so he was much more anxious and nervous, this would be the first time Jake had ever won anything in his life, it would be his first basketball trophy after his more than a year of training, had many people cheering for him now and also his mother, he wanted to leave Eva proud and also prove to her that he had talent, that he knew what he was saying when he talked about being a basketball player. He made his first pitch and missed, he was very anxious and ended up putting a lot of strength and hit the back of the rim, then he made his second pitch, this time he hit, Jake was calmer now. The crowd seemed to be throwing him, when he missed they lamented and when he hit they celebrated, although Jake was in the final and hit twice 6 shots, no one in the crowd did not even think Eva was going to win. He was only 11 years old and was 3 years younger than everyone else, everyone thought that Jake had only been lucky so far he had some skill, so ale made the third pitch and missed again, everyone complained and thought it was over and he would have than having another round. So Jake made the fourth pitch and hit it, everyone celebrated, Jake was sweating through his whole body of nervousness, this must be the worst time Jake was throwing, he was getting more and more nervous at the thought that this time he would not win. Jake made the fifth pitch and hit again, it seemed he had found the right way, so he made the sixth and then the seventh and hit the two. Now Jake had hit 5 and wrong 2, he was 3 and he had a real chance to hit 2 more and win the prize. The crowd became more anxious and Jake hit the eighth also, now he had already hit six and had two more chances to hit one, he really could win. The crowd got more excited and Jake more nervous, 10 seconds to throw before were enough more now seemed few, he threw the ball with his hands shaking and missed the ninth pitch. Everyone regretted, it seemed that he was not going to win, that pitch was too bad, Eve started to gnaw her nails, So Jake became even more nervous and forced his mind to calm down, confidence in his ability he had he just needed to calm down and win in that last pitch. Now it seemed that his high intelligence and the side effect of his training imagined were working, he was calming down by force, his body was more nervous his mind was clear, so he threw himself if he said pitch, everyone looked to see if he was going to win or do not. And the ball came in, Jake had won with a dramatic end that was unnecessary to him, he had more skill than that, the good thing is that now he understood what the system said that the pressure affected the accuracy, if in a children''s game already that''s how the NBA thinks. When Jake went to his mother Eva ran and hugged him, she was crying with happiness, all the audience was standing applauding it seemed that they had gotten more involved than Jake thought, it was cool to see a young man in adversity doing incredible things. And so Jake''s first competition was over. Chapter 35 A Star Is Born 1 So Jake''s first competition in the day and in his life also ended he won first, picked up a trophy and $ 500 reward, plus he was not so happy because he showed poor performance in his opinion. Of course, if those who lost to him knew that he thought he had a poor turnout despite having won and being 3 years younger than the other finalists he would be beaten to death. Her mother mostly did not stop smiling, she even forgot that when Jake told her that she was confident of winning a contest she wanted him to suffer not to be arrogant, after all her son was not arrogant he was even very humble. That''s how life is just getting results for people to know if someone is really capable or just into it, especially in sports. So it took a while for the audience to calm down and meanwhile the event organizers took pictures of Jake with the prize and started organizing the court for the second competition. Everyone thought that with Jake winning the advertising that the company was preparing and even invested heavily so it was going to work very well, of course, they did not realize that when charging the fees they had already damaged the image of the companies. The second competition was for 3-point pitches, as now everyone had to pay a fee of $ 10 to participate, only a few people aged 14 and 15 enrolled, so the total number of participants was only 80 people, which already was enough for the difficulty of the competition. The rules and format are very similar to those of the NBA All-Star, for the competition of 3-point pitches. They would be in the beginning because there were many participants and would have to have rounds of eliminations that all would throw 3 balls of five different positions in the court, two in the sides, two in the diagonals and one in the center of the line of 3 points, similar to the one of NBA, each one would have 1 minute and the 10 that would hit the most would go to the final, each basket was worth one point, if there was a tie, all that would tie would go to the final. So each competitor could make a maximum of 15 points, of course, everyone thought that at most 7 balls would be right. Just as all the contestants went to draw their turn Jake went up again, at first everyone was shocked the sooner everyone cheered a lot, it seemed like a celebrity was going to participate. After all it is normal to understand everyone''s reaction, for an 11-year-old boy to know how to do Free Throw with such a high hit rate was already incredible, now imagine that he also knew how to do 3-shot was unbelievable, after all, it is difficult for the most Jake was the only one who dared to participate at age under 14 years. If it were before, many would mock him for trying harder and being arrogant, but since he was the champion in the Free Throw, no one would dare to underestimate him. Jake again showed his luck defying the sky and was among the last three, so the young people started to climb on the court to start throwing with everyone feeling the pressure brought by Jake, after all, although it is obvious Jake should be a basketball prodigy yet it was a shame to lose to someone much younger when one should have the advantage. Soon the competitors were making their pitches one by one, as expected by all of them this was the most time consuming and boring competition to watch, it had already been over an hour and a half and Jake had not yet come, and the competitors were not very good so that the eliminatory phase was not very lively. After everyone had just missed Jake and two more, the one who had made the most points and hit more pitches of 3 was a 15-year-old, he was down for his age seemed to be 1.50 m, and he had done 8 points , he hit everyone from the right corner of the court and all from the center of the 3-point throwing area, and hit a ball on each of the diagonals. It must be that because he was new he trained more in these places, his pitches in the left corner of the court were horrible to see neither hit nor the rim, so he should never train from that position. Another 3 youngsters made 7 points and 6 others had 6 points, so Jake and the other two competitors had to make 6 points to go to the next round, after all, who draw fewer points after completing ten people also goes to the final Jake started to make his throws from the left corner, as it was not a game and he did not score and this competition valued more the speed of pitches, Jake made his pitches without jumping that was his specialty, so he hit two of the three pitches of that corner left. When Jake hit his first shots the crowd began to cheer because they knew that since he hit one he had the talent to be the champion, after all, he would not go to court just to be ashamed after he won a trophy. Her mother was also more and more excited in the audience, when she saw that her son was the only young woman participating she became more worried after her son hit one she trusted him, after all in spite of the others calling him a prodigy only she knew that he trained every day in his basement for over a year to reach the level he is today. When Jake went to the left-hand corner of the court he hit two more of the three pitches, he was not trying to make a mistake, it was difficult to hit even, then in the middle position he hit three of the three pitches, that was his preferred position after right corner of the court. Then he threw all the last six balls quickly and erred all, at this point everyone in the audience already began to suspect that Jake just tried to hit enough to move to the next stage or to be the champion and then miss the rest of purpose, after all, he did this also in the Free Throw competition. In fact, they had already suspected before but did not dare to believe that an 11-year-old would have the mentality of not wanting to show too much and not show all their strength. And that was the truth, but what Jake made to miss on purpose was not only to not stand out, but also to save energy, after all he was going to participate in 3 competitions today and all these competitions had several stages, and to hit a pitch requires a lot of focus as well as physical effort. After Jake went to his mother''s side, the two who threw after Jake was unlucky and form eliminated so only 11 people went to the final, taking Jake all the others were 15 years old. So now it was around 4 o''clock in the afternoon and the organizers paused in the competitions so that people could rest for a while and go eat too. Jake ate with his mother some food Eva had brought from home, they went to a corner and as the people were educated no one approached to greet Jake who had been the champion, after all, everyone should have their right to privacy, and mainly because Jake was going to have a little rest before attending another final, could be his second trophy, for young people with him was an incredible achievement. So after half an hour of rest, the finals resumed, the competitors were going to pitch in the same order as before so Jake would be the last one again. The rules of the final were the same as the NBA this time, it would be five balls in five places of the court and the last ball of the five of each place would be a Moneyball equal to the NBA, and that ball would be worth 2 points. As competitors would still have one minute each had less time for each pitch, the maximum points that could be made in that final were 30, and the one who made the most points would be the champion, only in case of a tie would be made another round. So the mood of the competition was also more lively, everyone in the final had skills to make the crowd cheer, and of course everyone''s imagination already had a favorite, Jake, how he won the last competition and also everyone saw that he missed pitches by the way everyone thought he was going to be the champion, it was different from the Free Throw contest that he was the underdog, everyone had recognized his abilities. In addition, some of those finalists pitched their last balls in the last second last round, and now they would have a lot more balls and the time was the same, plus Jake had thrown his last ball before half the time pass by to throw without jumping. Chapter 36 A Star Is Born 2 Jake was much calmer in this competition than in the last, actually after hearing from the system that the strong force was needed to make good pitches Jake already knew that it would be very difficult to find someone of his level in the 3-shot category. He was training a lot right now just because in a game it is very difficult to throw without jumping and not taking a block, so now he is just going over what he already knew, after all in his past life he had more than ten years of shooting training, in this court today nobody trained more than him although he is the youngest. So his confidence came from his training and not without foundation, not to mention that in the competition he could pitch without skipping what was his specialty, he just did not tell his mother that he was confident of winning in that category just because he did not know the rules of the competition and he did not want to underestimate his opponents. More now that the first round was over he knew he would win, especially as he realized that the distance of the 3-point line from this court was much smaller than his home using the official NBA measures in 2018. So everything was easier for him to win, the first competitors made their pitches and as everyone expected they could not make all the pitches in time, and because they were trying to hurl faster, many mistakes were made. When it came to Jake that was the last one who had hit the most had made 14 points, that''s because he was lucky to hit 4 of the Moneyball, the second only had 11 points, and no one was able to throw all the balls in a minute. Now Jake was crying still, he also was not going to throw all the balls, not because it did not give more time because he would not need. When time began to roll Jake also went to make his pitches, he again started throwing on the left side of the court, so calmly and quickly he hit 3 of the 5 pitches with Moneyball too, so he made 4 points. Then he hit two of the five pitches and went to 7 points, in the middle that he was better he hit 4 of the five pitches including the Moneyball thus reaching 12 points after he hit 3 of the five on the right diagonal including Moneyball and went to 16 points, and since he had already won the competition, he purposely missed the last 5 balls and 5 seconds left. So the audience was silent for a moment before starting to clap frantically, several people whistled and some shouted his name until his opponents began to applaud him. Because it now became obvious that he actually made some mistakes, although he did not know the reason or how brilliant his performance would be if he gave the maximum many thought it was not to humiliate his competitors and liked his humility. Many people thought he was not seeing a young man plus an NBA professional because of both the correctness and him had in this competition, after all they had no way of knowing that the measures of this court are completely different from the official, even those who knew also found this, after all, Jake was still seven years old at least to be able to play for the NBA so they saw him as a new star. Only her mother could not applaud much because she was crying with happiness if before she could tell that Jake was lucky now everyone was sure of her skill, and Eva was happy and wondering if her husband was a blessing and seeing what his son was doing the sky. Eva did not care much like Jake, who had now earned an extra $ 500 and put together everything that gave $ 1,000, to say that Jake had already returned the investment he had asked Eva to make. His mother had spent less than $ 500 on the basement remodel and some clothes for Jake and now he could make a double comeback, and it had only been a year since he started. Eve had not thought of that and did not even care anymore. Jake wanted to show his mother that basketball could bring a better life for his family and also pay for Jake''s university, what he wanted to show his mother was that she did not have to work so hard and hurt her health than Jake did in the future could help her. After Jake received the trophy and his prize money, the organization took even more pictures of him and the crowd applauded him as well, so they cleared the court that was going to start the 1-on-1 competition. For this competition there were a lot of people participating despite the entry fee and they were all over 13 years old, the youngest ones who just wanted to participate in something have already participated in the Free Throw competition, now only the older ones were trying, most of them still I was 3 on 3 and not this one. Only those who came alone were in this competition, yet the total was 400 people. The rules of this competition were that the game would last until someone made 10 points or 5 minutes later. The rules were different, but the organizers had to change to finish today. Then the people would begin to make the raffles to determine who would compete against whom, each one would make 8 games until deciding the winner, it was now 5 o''clock in the afternoon this tournament was going to take until 11 at night probably, so the raffles were being made until Jake climbed the court again, everyone applauded him again, now Jake was the favorite to win, no one cared more for the difference in height or age, in fact many thought the others were at a disadvantage now. Of course, Jake''s opponents did not think so, they thought that with their height difference as long as they did not let Jake hurl they would win, they also thought he might have other cards up his sleeve but could not give up for fear of someone younger before to compete. Jake really had a card up his sleeve, it was his speed that would surely be superior to anyone from here so he could use his top speed together with his dribble and good ball control to run into the basket and do a layup, and if the opponent of space not to let him go to the basket he would just throw. Of course, he was not too confident about winning this competition, he has little experience in games with real people and also Jake had seen some people over 1.70 m that would compete with him. So Jake could only hope these players were eliminated before playing with them, he preferred to play a very skillful opponent with a height similar to him than someone much taller than him, after all the only problem he had now was his height. The games would be played on both sides of the court in order to reduce the time, but it would not really take 5 minutes each game before reaching the last 100, so the first round would have 200 games, plus many games would end in 2 or 3 minutes when someone made 10 points quickly. The games passed faster to the joy of the organizers and soon came the turn of Jake his opponent was 1.55 m, then only slightly higher than him, and did not seem to be very skillful, his opponent began with possession of ball and soon tried to leave for the basket using his body, it seemed that the opponent had no confidence in his pitches. Soon as it seemed that he was going to try a layup Jake prepared to defend and stepped forward, but it was a feint of his opponent who took a step back and made a pitch making his first point, then when his opponent started with ball possession again Jake soon tightened the mark, after seeing that he could not move forward, then tried a pitch and missed. Jake ran weighed the ball and went to the three-point area to start his attack, then soon turned around to face his opponent, Jake was trying in that competition a typical street basketball dribble style, he hit the ball quickly in low pitch close to his body and sometimes between his legs, so the opponent could not take the ball, so the opponent closed the distance to not let Jake throw, Jake made a feint to the right and ran to the right, when his opponent realized that it was a fake Jake had already passed and when he tried to run to score Jake accelerated and went to the car, soon made a basket with a layup, so his opponent soon realized as well as the public also that Jake was very well in dribble and was also very fast. When Jake''s opponent realized this, he gave a small space to take time to react to his advance, as soon as he did, Jake cut to the right and flipped without jumping, then made his second point, so now his opponent was in a dilemma , if he gave space Jake would fling and if he scored closely he would dribble. Soon all his competitors had a serious look on his face, Jake was now really the favorite. Chapter 37 A Star Is Born 3 So the game continued with Jake''s total domination by his opponent, he made a few points with 2-point shots, but did not try to make 3-point shots, although Jake was fairly confident in his 3-point shots he knew in one game and with markup his hit rate was very low and with him winning the game had no reason for him to risk losing possession of the ball. His opponent had also realized this and as he knew he would lose at this pace he tried to force Jake to stay out for the 3-point line, plus if he tried to force it too much would be missing and if he gave Jake some space would pass with his speed , so he managed to stop Jake from scoring for a while and Jake did not force the pass either because he knew that his opponent would soon tire. As soon as his opponent began to make mistakes and Jake could do the 10 points soon, Jake finished his first game and was as tiring as he hoped, competing in 2 categories before Jake was a little tired and if he reached the final and did the 8 games Jake could not stand. Good thing Jake still had many Stamina Bars, so this extended tournament would not be a problem, so Jake had his second and third games plus those matches were much easier it seemed that his opponent in the first game could have gone far to the competition if not had faced Jake in the first match. In his fourth game Jake found his first most feared opponent, he was 1.68 m, it was the opponent Jake else thought would be difficult, but Jake soon realized that it might not be so despite his opponent being tall and having some skill he was very slow and his marking was not very strong, it seems that he counted on the mistakes of his opponents and with his height to achieve victory in his previous games, so Jake used his speed to dribble his opponent and make his shots of 2 points, he still did not try to go into the basket because he was afraid to take a block but the shots from far away were not problems. After that Jake won 2 more games with some difficulty and reached the top 4 of the competition 1 against 1, all the other 3 were 15 years and an average height of 1.72 m, the largest was 1.74 m, and different from before all 3 looked like they were very skilled, someone who was tall, fast and knew how to score well as the most feared opponent for Jake, as he only missed 2 games and would finish soon and without much rest Jake ate his Stamina Bar to recover his energy, so he turned what everyone thought was his biggest disadvantage became an advantage, his 3 opponents were tired after 6 games, after all, they depended on his height and always had to score and run to basket to make his points while Jake alone had to take possession of the ball and make his 2-point shots to win. Everyone watching the last four thought Jake was the favorite. Jake was actually much more skillful than the other 3 who had difficult games so far, but everyone who understood the game knew that Jake should have been exhausted by now and also that his opponents would use his height to try to gain the advantage. Soon Jake had his first game his opponent looked tall and strong, he did not seem to be the fast type and was more of a type that uses his body to score as a Center. "Boy, when I first saw you on this court, I never thought you could compete with me in a match, but now after all you''ve done I''d have to be an idiot to underestimate you, even though I have to use my height to win you do not think it''s unfair after all this may be the last time I win you after all next year the height should not be more of a disadvantage for you. " "You talk like you''ve already won, do not worry I will not find your height unfair because I''m going to beat you, it''s just going to be more work than the others." "Being overconfident is already boyish arrogance, you should be satisfied getting two awards should not be too greedy." "If I win hands it''s because I have the ability not because I''m arrogant." "I like you, lad. I''ll let you know the name of the person who taught you a lesson, CJ, that''s the name for you to remember." After CJ said what he wanted, Jake just laughed as if he thought it was ridiculous, he admitted that he thought it was going to be a difficult game, but he did not play several games in his Imagination Training with opponents much taller than him for nothing , he learned several ways to punctuate such people, he just finds more annoying as he said. The first possession of the ball was going to be CJ, it seemed that even the organizers thought that Jake was going to win and they were giving CJ a chance to win, of course, CJ also realized he did not care to be underestimated, despite everything he said to Jake himself knew that he was much inferior to Jake in everything, but that was not only why he was going to give up, he wanted to win that prize in cash and also the trophy. In addition, he had a feeling that Jake would be a great NBA player in the future, so if he could win even having to use his advantage at the time he would have something to boast for the rest of his life, win a game over a future professional player just thinking about it increased the energy of CJ. The game started and CJ soon put the ball up and tried anyway to bounce the ball as far as possible so that Jake could not take the ball while he was down, on top he knew he would not lose his way forward the basket was slow and when he got close to the basket he stood with his back to Jake protecting the ball, it seemed that he was very afraid of losing possession of the ball, then he turned and makes the basket. When Jake saw what CJ was doing he was shocked and irritated, when he heard what CJ was talking about before the game he thought CJ would make the best game of his life and was even thinking that it would be a difficult game. Plus he never thought CJ would make such a shameless game, the crowd was also booming more Jake had to admit he had no idea how to get the ball in that situation. After CJ made the third point, in the same way, the crowd was booing, even more, the audience had never seen this style of play either, they even thought it was illegal and they were looking at the judge. The judge was helpless despite being an ugly game was not illegal, no one did it because it only worked for the difference in height, and it is difficult to find someone who is much taller than another opponent much inferior in ability, if Jake was a little the higher he could steal the ball with ease. When CJ went to make the fourth point Jake could not stand and made the mistake, it seemed that CJ also did not think Jake would appeal to the dirty game and fell soon he tried Free Throw and missed and lost possession of the ball. So Jake figured out how to regain possession, he had confidence in making the points after that, CJ also found that what he was trying to do was not going to work out anymore, so he regretted not having trained Free Throw any more. Jake started the ball and soon felt the pressure of marking, it seemed that CJ also knew how to play and was not only shameless, so Jake tried a race more CJ kept the distance and ran along, Jake felt that if he attempted the shot miss or would be blocked. This was the first time that Jake was in a really difficult situation on the court, it seemed that CJ was well on losing time because he had the advantage on the scoreboard and when the time was over he would win. Jake also noticed this and thought it was time to use the skill he learned in his training, Jake changed his style of dribbling to a faster type and that got the ball higher, so CJ was also confused for a while and soon changed to Marking stance with this new dribbling style Jake could react faster and use his speed to the maximum, so he cut to the right and when CJ was going to follow Jake made a crossover to the left and CJ lost his balance and fell on his butt in the ground so Jake made his first point in the game leaving the audience silent. Chapter 38 A Star Is Born 4 It was a very quick move and with a very natural movement of the body, and it was unexpected that Jake could make this move, it was a very complicated move to learn to do so naturally that could deceive the defender, just as CJ did not expect he ended up in the floor. The public did not expect it either, for a person as young as Jake to be good at one thing, it was just incredible, but Jake seemed to be skilled at various things, he knew how to do Free Throw, mid-range and outside scoring shots, plus inside scoring. Now, in addition, with his high speed, he also knew several moves of dribbles, and it seemed so natural, of course, that Jake did not look good in defense anymore if he was good at everything he would already be in the NBA now. After that the morale of CJ fell to the ground, forcing Jake to make shots of 3 was just to be in trouble, CJ knew that even then would not have much chance to win, especially now that he appeared to have several types of dribbles, players who always made shots was much easier than those who made dribbles for the basket. So Jake varied between crossovers, several types of size-up and even spins, after Jake made 4 points CJ had already given up the game, at least he did not want to lose so ugly, so he continued to force the score and even made a foul that Jake converted easily, so when he was 6 to 3 and Jake saw that the time was running he made a 3-point shot and hit, so ended up 8 to 3. CJ was sad to have lost more consoling himself thinking that he had been the only one he had not lost before time runs out so far, and he was right, no one else cheered him despite him playing well because of the ugly game he tried to do in beginning. So Jake rested for a while watching his opponent''s game in the final, one was 1.71 m and the other 1.74 m, both were too high for him to play freely than by height Jake did not care who his opponent was. As soon as the game progressed everyone could naturally see that the tallest was the most skilled, he knew how to use his height well to do indoor scoring and also had the ability to do mid-range scoring, in defense he was also very good against his opponent he managed to make 2 blocks in his game, his opponent was also good but managed to make only 4 points, and the highest was with 7 points now and the game still had a time to finish. While Jake watched the game he tried to think of ways to beat the taller guy, it would be difficult for him to be able to do inside scoring and he also had to be careful not to lose possession of the ball because if his opponent went to the inside scoring him did not know how to stop it. So Jake decided that the only way he could win was with his speed and his dribbling moves, he might even have to use his outside scoring despite being too risky, and he did not think his opponent would make room for him. "Fate, what do you think your skill is compared to other high school players?" [I think in attack he''s just C more in defense would be B, he has good stability for a defensive player and will still get much louder than he is now, I think until he can become an NBA player in the future with his talent.] "Seriously? I do not think I remember such a player in the NBA so he may not have trained enough, it''s a shame for you to speak so well of him I think he has talent. " [It is not always just lack of training, it could be a cause similar to yours or other circumstances, without a player or an athlete in any sport does not only require more skill also a bit of luck and also persistence if he is not lucky, suffer some injury or think it is not good enough to risk his future he could try to do something else.] "You''re right, although I find it a pity each person has their own circumstance if my mother had problems and I had to make quick money or stay home to take care of her I think I could give up basketball too." So Jake finished seeing the game in silence, as he needed to focus this time he was not the audience to stay with his mother but stayed close to the court to watch the match. When the game ended with the highest guy''s victory he immediately glanced at Jake, he had seen him while he was playing more could not divert his attention until the end of the game. So the referee called Jake to the court and said that the final would start in 5 minutes to give them time to rest. "So you''re Jake, it''s amazing what you did today, and although I find you more talented than I am, your age only gives me more pressure, I did not want to be mocked by my friends for losing someone so much new and smaller than me. " "You''re also very good, if you keep working hard I think in just a few years you could be in the NBA." "I do not want to go to the NBA, my dream is to be a doctor and not a player and since neither me nor my family has the conditions to pay for a college I''m going to try to win a sports bag playing basketball, so I''m only going to play until I finish college . " "I imagined something like this, it''s good that you want to follow your dream, and also you can always play in your leisure time, so it''s good too." "You''re the first person who is not surprised when I said I do not want to be a player, I liked you more and I will not go easy on you in the game, after all, I want the 500 dollars too, my name is David happy to meet you, it. " As soon as Jake shook David''s hand he went to the corner to rest and focus on the game, just like the system said David should have a situation not to be in the NBA and that reason seemed like it was because he would be a doctor in the future, also a bit must be because he was not confident in doing much success in the NBA, after all just being able to play does not mean you can be rich playing. After a while the game started, again Jake did not start with the ball possession, David calmly hit the ball and tried to fool Jake, but Jake did not move so Jake went to the basket and after reaching within range basket turned on his back and protected the ball. Jake really was not very talented in defense, his opponent did what he wanted in front of him and he could not get the time to catch the ball, this was one of the skills Jake had to learn that was one of the most fundamental of all basketball the steal. As it was a skill that Jake had never done in a game before Jake could not learn and so was not on his skills list as the others, but this was still unacceptable, it was impossible for him to be a good player without mastering steal, plus he had no way to learn or train because he never played with other people, and in his Imagination Training his opponents could not use steal either because they could only use skills that Jake had so the games were more open and less lacking and more points. More Jake tried a lot this last month in his training of imagination and got the way to use the steal, now only needed to use in a game, David also should have realized that Jake was not very good at using steal otherwise he would not do that type movement in front of you. So after David made the basket he seemed more confident that Jake did not know how to do the steal, and he was right, so he was trying to make the same move again, sure that Jake would not catch the ball this move was better than the move without shame of CJ from before and would give the same result. This time it would not be like this, Jake purposely never used any defensive technique before, just by waiting for such a chance, and also because he did not need it, Jake wanted his opponent to lower his guard in front of him and so he would make an obvious move with David was doing now, a pity that no one had ever realized that such a skilled player as Jake did not know how to make such a simple play that was taught in every school. As David repeated the play and Jake saw that the opportunity was certain he made the move and stole the ball from David''s possession, and at that moment Jake learned one of the most important skills he needed to become a more complete player. Chapter 39 A Star Is Born 5 Of course David did not know that he was responsible for Jake becoming more complete as a basketball player and that this move he used in him now would be one of the moves that would make Jake known, and if he knew that it would not necessarily make him happier anyway nobody liked to be the wheeled stone of someone. The only thing David thought now was that he was wrong and Jake knew how to use the steal for a long time because the weather was perfect, if Jake was not so meticulous he would have learned that movement for a long time after all his ball time was always great. More so Jake regained possession of the ball and as David was shocked Jake tied the game and continued with the possession of the ball. This made David very bitter, as he had seen that Jake was very bad at the defense he had thought of making as many points as he could before he lost possession of the ball and would try his best after losing to regain possession again, so it would be a tight game more he would win. Plus he could never have thought that Jake only allowed him to make a point and soon would draw, and all this by a mistake of judgment of him, but he was also impressed with the talent that Jake was showing, for him Jake looked like an onion when you peeled one layer had another underneath, and if you could peel several, you would cry. But he soon recovered and pressed in the defense to try to recover the ball. Jake also had to calm down, he was very excited now, the real motive of Jake trying to participate in the 1-on-1 competition even though he could not win was to try to achieve this ability, and for Jake to achieve this skill was the most important win the trophies or prize money. After all, now that Jake learned the steal even if it''s F rank now, it could develop rapidly in his Imagination Training, and there too the games would be more complete and more challenging than before. So he would not be embarrassed when he joined the school team and would not have to ask someone to teach him. So Jake was trying to get a way through David, but David was a good defender if Jake was the best in the attack of this tournament, so David was the best on defense. After a fake attempt Jake brought the ball closer to his body again, unlike before, Jake was hitting the ball at the height of his waist and this is because he could not make the ball hit lower as before to be able to change direction and get their dribbles. More Jake did not do this from the beginning not because he was hiding his talents more because he knew that with this style of possession the opponent would have the opportunity to steal his ball. So just when he saw that he could not do it any other way Jake started to play like that. So David saw an opening and tried to steal the ball, but this opening was a trap for Jake, so David stretched his arm Jake threw the ball over David''s head and ran to the basket to do the layup. This is not a move that anyone has to do because it has to have a great precision of judgment, good reflexes, and speed of muscle explosion to make the move before the opponent reacts. And when David realized he was cheated, the ball was already in the basket, of course now David was not going to allow a play of this to happen again, but Jake did this just to ensure that he would be ahead of the board so David would have the highest pressure as time went by and made more mistakes. The game continued to play and whenever David made a mistake Jake quickly dribbled and would make the point, so soon the game was 4 to 1 for Jake. The time was passing and David was already sweating nervously, so he made another mistake and Jake went to the basket to do another layup, when David saw that Jake was going to make another point and increase the advantage he ran and without caring to make a foul tried to block Jake''s layup and succeeded, Jake did not expect a block at that time and lowered his guard. This was an important thing that David achieved with this block, in addition to preventing Jake from making another point and regaining possession of the ball he left Jake apprehensive in trying to do inside scoring because he could take a block by the height difference. So David did 2 points with layups and then Jake managed to steal the ball again, this time Jake did not try so actively to go to the basket and thought if he was going to try to make room for a 2-point shot, but David was tightening the mark and not space. So Jake stopped hesitating and took a few steps back and tried a 3-point shot, David did not expect that either he did not try to stop, the only chance he had to win the match was for Jake to try to shoot from the outside and erase some. More like he was thinking about it Jake hit his first shot of 3 and got a 3-point lead, so now that it was less than 1 minute before the end of time he could only manage the ball. Although he could only pass the time as David hoped Jake saw that the mark was far away and did another shot of 3, and hit again, now having done 8 points and with a 5-point lead it could be said that the game was over. And David accepted it too, Jake just wasted the time and David did not try to steal the ball either, it''s important to know how to lose in the sport if Jake had not won anything David might even have been ashamed of losing to an 11-year-old boy more like Jake won two competitions before that was no shame. Everyone who understands basketball and came to watch today knew that Jake was a genius, of course they did not know how much Jake struggled in his training every day too, more than a successful person does not have to strive to be the best, the important to all was just now and his future, what happened before only matters to the fans that Jake would do after being famous, then what he did to train would inspire the young in the future. So Jake received his third trophy and another 500 dollars, thus having received to the total 1500 dollars, after taking several photos the organization asked Jake to take another photo with the three trophies and Jake accepted since they gave so much money for him because to deny one more photo. So Eva brought the other two trophies and as Jake could not hold the three together he asked his mother to take the picture with him too, everyone accepted and Eva took the picture with a big smile on her face. She never imagined that after only a little more than 1 year of training Jake would dominate other young people up to 15 years in her area, of course, she knew he could not be the best, more than 11 years she had no doubt that no one was better than Jake. And Eva knew that because Jake was so skilled in basketball he could easily get a sports bag to study whatever he wanted in a college and get a good job in the future. Eva had no idea that Jake planned to play professional basketball in the NBA in the future, of course despite seeing her son perform well in this competition for Eva the NBA and what he did is like comparing a person who knows how to sing a bit well with a singer professional, for these things not only have capacity but also very lucky. As soon as Jake finished taking his photos he was ready to go home because the hour was already approaching ten o''clock and Jake would not compete in the last category of the day, but when he went out with his mother he saw that David was approaching. Jake told his mother to go ahead to have space to talk to David, after all, he was the toughest opponent Jake ever faced. "Congratulations, you deserved to win, I came here thinking that I would win easily but I did not think I would find someone better than me and even younger." "You also played very well, forced me to use everything I had, if I did not have to make that money I would have let you win." "It was me who would not be happy about it, I do not need that much money like that, I wish you would let me win." "I think we all have our own pride." "I guess so, you asked me if I wanted to play professional basketball before and you''re going to be a pro." "Of course, yes, you will still see me playing in the NBA in the future, although I agree with you that sometimes it is good to have a profession that you like, fortunately I like to mess with stocks and companies so I can still be a professional player and finish college and have a good job in the future. " "That''s a good idea too, I hope I can see you in the future on television, then I can even be proud to have lost you. Good luck." "Good luck to you too." Chapter 40 The Vacation 3 Jake and his mother stopped at a pizzeria on the way back home to celebrate Jake''s huge success, Eva was very proud and would definitely brag to her work friends tomorrow at the restaurant. After they were full Jake asked to pay the bill to celebrate his first prize. He gave 1,000 dollars to Eva so she could use whatever she wanted, Jake wanted to give all the prize and Eva did not want to accept anything, in the end, they granted and Jake gave 1,000 dollars that Eva said she would put into Jake''s savings that she was going to make, and Jake got $ 500 to use on his first investments. When they returned home, there was all the food Eva had made in the morning and they forgot that they promised to eat when they returned home, so they laughed for a while and went to sleep. The next day Jake went to meet Joseph and told his friend that he had won the 3 competitions that took part in a tournament with young people up to 15 years old. Joseph, of course, did not believe Jake''s fanciful story at all, but Jake was very happy to see the shocked face of his friend when he showed the pictures taken to Joseph. So Joseph finally saw why Jake was sure he would join the school basketball team even though he had never played on a team before, that was because he had talent, so it''s harder for people to believe that someone close to you is talented. Especially Jake who is also so good at school and is the best at school, Joseph has seen many talented people in sports at his old school, the more the player was better at sports, the worse he was usually at school. And so the final days of Jake''s vacation were over, he would sometimes stay with his mother, sometimes train and sometimes go out with Joseph. "Fate, now that the holidays are over, show me what my stats are like." [Here it is] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 11 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: Middle School Player] [Position: PG] [Height: 1.51 m] [Weight: 48 Kg] [Force 13] [Agility 12] [Resistance 16] [Intelligence 47] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling SS] [Body Control S] [Man to Man B] [Dribble SS] [Layup S] [Set Shot SS] [Block C] [Pass SS] [Rebound A] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] [Steal E] --------------------------------- So Jake looked satisfied to his statistics window, especially in the skills part, although his other skills had not changed at all, he now had a new ability being shown and it was the steal that Jake had learned in his final game against David. And he was already in rank E, Jake was very happy especially when he made his first game in the space of his imagination training, his opponents and teammates were much better and more complete after being able to use steal, and the game was much more especially after Jake put the skill of everyone in the SS rank, even he had some balls that were stolen in his possession, but only in the beginning, after he got used to it he did not lose the ball anymore. Plus this was just because his ball possession ability and dribbling was much higher level than his opponents, once he enters the high school level will be much more difficult than now. His stats have also greatly improved after the natural growth of his body and also of his intensive training, he after a time could equal the body of a well-trained athlete, and when that time lasts to play a whole game should not be more so hard. "Now I''m not afraid of anything else with people my age, I just have to get the team to win a few tournaments and if I''m lucky I can get sponsorship before I go to high school." [I think you''re underestimating somewhat the difficulty of winning tournaments on a team, I admit that you alone are the best at Middle School only in your 1-on-1 skill, with two talented scorers marking you would already be nullified in one game, then you have to rely on the talent of your teammates too if you want to be champion, that''s the beauty of team games, individual skill is not everything.] "So you mean that if my team is not good I do not have the chance to win, that''s not fair." [Of course this is fair, you just have to play for a better team, so many great NBA players end up changing teams, it''s because they want to win and they know they can not alone, you alone can be able to take a bad team for the national competition, but when you get there all teams will have skilled players that you can not defeat alone.] "So I have to hope that the team at my school has at least two more skilled players, with me too 3 should be enough to be the champion." [If there are 3 players of your level it may be possible, but I find it very difficult, you have to cheer more to have a balanced team than a few skilled players, even if the ability of all your players are just above average as B by less, with you on the team you can be able to win the national championship, but if you have only one bad player, you will not have the chance because that player will be the weakness of your team that can be used in an important moment.] Jake knew that what the system was saying was right, but he could not choose the skill of his teammates, it was his mistake to choose a school that was not famous for basketball, of course, this happened only because this was the old school of Jake and he had some emotional attachments for her, and yet Jake is fortunate enough to meet Joseph in his first year of school. Jake also did not want to think about playing basketball for a team until he entered high school, but as he had to train his skills and team play, he could not run away from it forever, in the worst case Jake would show his talent for everyone to see and even if he did not win now he would win in high school. The important thing was to find someone who could sponsor Jake to help his mother get out of this job, and for that, his individual ability was enough. If it were necessary, Jake would draw attention from the big private schools and try to get a scholarship at a school that was good at basketball. [This is a good idea, Jake, but you can not be satisfied with just a scholarship to enter a private school, try to get a sponsorship for you to play for this school, so they would pay you as a club pays a professional player, so you get everything you want and still win the championship next year.] "I could do that, but let''s hope because we''re still just assuming that the ability of the players in my school team is not good enough to win the national basketball championship title, if they''re good enough I do not need to worry anymore to change schools. " Jake really was hoping to be like that, he did not want to have to leave this school so, besides Jake having a fondness for this school he still had to think about his friend Joseph, he had heard from Oliver that after a year had passed Joseph wanted him to be able to move to a private school and end this experience of living a more humble life, more perhaps because of Jake, Joseph decided to continue in the school he was now, and so Jake also did not want to leave school and leave Joseph back. [I think you do not really need to worry about your friend Joseph, as you heard from his father, he''s already passed his test and no longer needs to stay in a public school if you have to go to a private one because of basketball , I''m sure Joseph will also want to go with you, and Oliver''s father will also like this, because a private school has a far more superior teaching than a public school, and the reason he placed his son in a school where no one knew he was rich was just to let you out of concern, and you can help look at Joseph in that.] When Jake heard what the system said he was a little more relaxed, he was actually more worried about his friend than the school, so if Joseph could go with him Jake would be much quieter in changing schools. Then at the re-start of classes after the holidays, Jake would go to the basketball team to be tested whether he could enter or not, but what no one knew was that Jake would also be testing the basketball team that day. Chapter 41 The Basketball Team 1 So Jake''s vacation ended he went to school normally and as the school was a little away from school and further away from the place that the basketball tournament was held only Joseph knew how Jake had excelled in those holidays. Jake thought of just pretending to be reading the Spanish book because he already knew how to talk, but later he discovered that even reading this book again there were many things he had to learn. Then he turned one day he read the Spanish book and the next he read the business management book, this was much harder for Jake because he had not yet studied anything he was reading in those books. So after the school ended Jake did not go home as usual to train, he went to the basketball club, and today he had heard that it would be made a selection as if it were the first year to see if it would enter the team 1, team 2 and team 3. Team 1 is the starting team, team 2 is the reserve and team 3 only watches from the stands and only play when all of team 1 and team 2 cannot play whoever does not go either to team 3 can help the team to catch the ball and administrative work or they could only train in physical education classes. Today would be the selection for the 3 teams as the veterans of last year had now graduated, more generally the newcomers went into time3 and at most for team 2, to enter the starting team they had to be good at everything, which Jake did not it was last year, but now he had the confidence. So Jake introduced himself to the coach named Roy Carter, coach Roy was once the star of the basketball team at a Texas university, but he can not be a professional player because he had to take care of the family business after he got married and his wife asked to take over the business, coach Roy became coach to stay close to the sport he likes so much. Even though he graduated from physical education and coaching because he was not as well-known as a player and wanted to be trained close to home he agreed to train a team at a not very good school in sports. After all, his dream was not to be a national basketball champion with his team, more than just one of his players for the NBA, so he could say that he made some contribution to the spore, but in 10 years of work, he never found a player with potential. In today''s training Roy was not in a very good mood because he thought the team of last year was very good even more were eliminated in the second round of qualifying for the state tournament, which he thought could go at least for the national team was a disappointment, and all the best players of the team formed last year, despite having a few good players from the second year to be holders is still not enough. Those who signed up for the basketball team this year make up as little as 15 people, as usual, the team had 6 spots open last year, and he would be lucky if he found 6 good enough to fill the vacancy. So he started calling the names of the new players one by one, the lowest and most overweight were 4 and all were below average and were eliminated, plus 3 had the right weight and height for Middle School also played down and were eliminated. So now he had 8 players to fill 6 spots, when he started looking at those 8 he saw someone in the corner, was a young blond who had striking eyes and a well-defined body, he was looking calmly at the situation different from others 7, when Roy looked at the plug to see who it was he was surprised. He was surprised by two things, this young man was in the second year and he has never played in a team before, and was not even interested in signing up last year, when he read the reason he laughed, the reason was because he knew he would not have chance to play for being the first year. He was right, hierarchy rules are very strong even in basketball in schools, a first-year player hardly ever plays, no matter how good he is. And the other reason that Roy was surprised was that he knew the face of Jake, this was the young man called by a genius by the teachers, they said that he made a high note in all matters and also that in the meantime he studied Spanish in class. Roy never imagined that the genius of the school would like to play basketball, in his day those who took the highest marks did not like sports very much, and by the height and his body he has the right way for a sophomore basketball player. So the other 7 did their test and 4 passed 1 failed and two were left waiting, if there was no one better they would enter. Jake finally came, he was tired of waiting and was very disappointed with the level of the new players of the team, all were very bad and only went through because the requirement was low and yet only 4 of 14 passed. The test requirements were to get 5 in 10 Free Throw, run 10 laps on the court in minutes and hit 6 in 10 balls from the 2-point area, and then dribble well a 2-team marker that was almost stopped. Even with such easy requirements many still did not meet, Jake, of course, did it all very easily by taking praise from everyone who was watching the selection. After Jake entered the team 2 as the others entered some for team 2 and others for team 3, and now coach Roy asked if team 3 wanted to challenge team 2, no one raised his hand, and when asked if team 2 wanted to challenge the headlines Jake raised his hand and three others as well. Thus would have a game with the starting team and team 2, the game would be in 2 times of 8 minutes each, and the 5 that improve to play in the opinion of the coach Roy will be of the titular team. As the teams were getting ready, seeing what positions they were going to play, what the tactic was, coach Roy was seeing everything from outside, he was paying attention mostly to Jake, he felt that Jake had the ability to be the starter of that team and maybe even the captain, because it looked like he was from PG position, it was the position of the old captain who also went out to go to high school, and the reserve of that position also went to high school. What was playing in the starting lineup today was the 3 in the position and was the first year and now the second year, this player does not have much confidence in the court and does not play very well also, he is the opposite of Jake who overflows confidence and took over the lead of team 2, and the captain of the starting team is now Center, who said he does not want to continue like this. So after the two teams were ready the game started, the ball went to the side of team 1 who soon passed the ball to the PG who seemed not to have caught the ball but a hot potato when he tried to calm down Jake was already in his marking, he had told his teammates that they could leave the other team''s PG for him to score and worry about the others. After playing a lot of time in the space of his imaginary training with his opponents at ever higher skill levels, and also after winning the 1 on 1 competition, Jake was now much more confident in his defense, he could not do anything if I opponent was much taller on the ground he had confidence he would not be dribbled. And his opponent seemed to have no confidence in his dribble either when he saw the good posture of Jake he immediately passed the ball, his pass was good plus he only passed to the closest teammates which made the move more predictable and easy to defend. So when he was going to give another pass Jake stepped forward and stole the ball running to the court of the other team now empty, some tried to follow in the markup but realized that Jake was very fast and soon Jake did the layup and the first two points. So everyone soon realized that Jake was very skilled and also that he had already gained the starting position in that move. After that the PG of the other team seemed to be afraid of Jake and soon passed the ball, after a while the titular team changed the game posture and who was setting the game now was the SG of the other team, this SG was now a veteran of the third year and also started last year, he was the highest scorer of the team and also was the vice-captain last year, he had said that after losing several important points last year because of pressure and made the team be eliminated that not he was mature enough to be the captain. More was undeniable that he deserved to be the starter and respected, moreover, that defeat made him much more mature and humble, so he would not make the mistake again. This SG soon picked up the ball made the dribble on his marker and after entering the mid-range makes the 2-point shot. Jake soon realized that this was the leader of the team and asked his teammate to let Jake mark this SG, the companion was very happy about it and soon accepted Jake did not want to lose this game, he wanted to establish his authority in this block. Chapter 42 The Basketball Team 2 So team 2 started with possession again, Jake soon received the ball and was advancing calmly to the court of the opposing team looking for to control the rhythm of the game and to calm his teammates. Coach Roy also realized this and praised Jake in his heart, the reason that the PG was often the captain was so, PG''s job is to organize the team without their attack and to control the pace of play, Jake learned this while playing in the dimension of your imagination training. It was very remarkable to be able to lead their teammates when they played together for the first time, but the youngsters always respected the best, and Jake gained his authority making that move. Soon he was in the line of 3 points and all his companions were marked, this served to remind Jake that this was a real game and not as in his training of imagination that he had only to think and his companions moved as his will. Here he needed to combine the plays and talk with his teammates, he soon made a signal to the SG of his team that realized he unsealed and soon received the Jake pass, then the SG left for the bottle and when another player of the team opponent went out to mark it he passed to his mate who was free and that scored the 2 points. This was the way of the teams without much training if you find a small space to pass the ball to the defense of the other team dismounts, so the good pass and the vision of the players were important. Still, the starting team did not shake, they had experience and they would not be agitated just for losing so little, so the SG that was now setting up the ball received the ball and Jake soon appeared to mark it. Jake on the spot noticed that this player was different from the other and he could not steal the ball so easily, then the SG tried a dribble to escape the mark of Jake but he could not get rid of the mark, this is one of the things that Jake learned well in the 1-on-1 tournament, when you''re away from the basket a little space for your opponent, so you run less rich to be dribbled, and close to the 3-point line you tighten more on the markup. Jake had confidence in his speed so he could give some space, he did not expect his opponent to risk a shot of 3 and even if he did he probably would not score the 3 points. The SG seeing that he could not get rid of Jake looked for a good pass option, the teammates who were in last year''s starting lineup with him on the court now were Center and small forward, among them Center was not very good at attacking only defending and small forward was skillful and fast. The point guard and Power forward had already graduated and the two on their team were not very skilled. Then his only option was the SF so he made a signal to his partner who soon understood and easily got rid of the mark and received the ball and gave a 2-point shot. Jake was a little disappointed with his teammates, they were passed very easily, so it was no use defending him well and the rest being a weakness. So Jake understood even more than what the system had said was a fact, without skilled teammates he would never have a chance to go to the national championship with only his ability. Even if he only made shots of 3 and took the team away in the back would have times that every time he caught the ball would be marked by more than 2 opponents or would miss every time he was shot. This is the reality of a team sport, now if your teammates were a little good it would be enough to win the tournament because it would not be just him who would make all the points of the team. So when Jake restarted the attack he realized that the SG of the other team was his marker now, not that it made a difference for Jake, he had confidence that he could pass anyone on that court, but that is not his goal what he wants is to show a little of your skill and find companions with skills. So the game was gone and the first half was over, Jake''s team was losing by 4 points, as he was not trying to score many points and only gave passes and organized plays, a pity that his teammates could not hold on to the defense. So Jake had already figured out who should be the starting team after the end of the game, he should be the PG, what was marking he should be SG, the other team''s Center should also be the starter, plus the team 2 Center as well showed potential, perhaps with a year of training, next season he would be the starter. The SF of the other team was very skillful as well, he does good mid-range shots and also knows how to get on the pitch, and is also good at dribbling. The PF was only the weakest position, the biggest candidate should be what is playing in the starting team, although he is only average in both the attack and the defense, he could become the team''s weak spot. Just as Jake had already analyzed all the players he would use the second half to establish his superiority, although he did not like to show it was important for his teammates to know of his ability and for him to become the captain and team leader. So in the second quarter, he used all his speed and resilience to dominate the match, he totally disregarded his marker and just ran around the court until he hit the car or made 2 and 3-point shots. When they were only two minutes away their marker was already exhausted and ended up butt on the ground twice by Jake''s crossovers, so when the game finished the second team won by a difference of 11 points, this because the defense was not as good as the attacking, and the home team did not allow the lead. When the game was over everyone was dripping with sweat and very tired, only Jake was breathing normally, after all, Jake was preparing his resistance to bear in the future a game of 48 minutes, for him 16 minutes was nothing now. So everyone on the court including the coach were looking at Jake as if they had seen a monster, this ability was not something for an 11-year-old to have, and even more so because everyone knew that Jake had never played on a team before, that it means that everything he knew he learned alone. Of course, this is not the truth though he actually trained himself alone what Jake had learned was with the coaches who were his acquaintances in his past life, he learned several coaching methods and also saw many games between youngsters so he was able to learn to do everything that does not require other people to train. And this was also partially solved when he learned ''imagination training'', with which he can train all abilities. "Well that was a good game, now I''m going to decide who goes to the starting team and who goes to team 2." Coach Roy decided to talk to end the strange weather that was left after Jake''s incredible performance, at the end of the first half everyone noticed how he was a skilled PG who knew how to lead his teammates and boom passes and even defend well. More in the second half he showed all his skills, as he was able to do whatever he wants on the court and even give 3 point shots, he showed the difference between him and the others and how he was the star of the team. It was as if he had two different personalities, in the first he was a good player for the team and in the second he was the player who did everything by himself. "Well then in PG''s position Jake will be the starter and then if everyone agrees he''ll also be the captain." So everyone agreed from the headlines last year no one wanted the position and as he showed, Jake had the ability to lead the team. "Good then for the position of SG Lucas Garcia, for the position of SF Aiden Lewis, for the position of PF Luke Allen and for Center Owen Turner." So the team was formed after everyone complimented the training ended for the rest of the day and everyone went home, Jake was a little upset because now that he saw the team he knew it was impossible for him to win the national tournament. Some were even skillful, but this was just for school and maybe some were good for the state level, more for the national nobody was, what he expected was the more he trained and played they would get better, after all, the experience is also important for judge the skill. Jake did not expect much, just which his teammates were good enough to hold the defense and make a few points when he needed them, so the other teams could not focus all the way on him. Chapter 43 The Basketball Team 3 So Jake came home and went to dinner with his mother. "And my son, how was your day today?" "It was a very good mother, in class everything was the same as always and what I wanted to tell you is that I joined the basketball team and I will be the captain." "That''s great, my son, now you can do more what you like and make new friends." Jake told his mother that he would be the captain just to make her proud and happy of him, he did not even care about it, this team for him is just a passing thing he had decided that if he did not win the tournament this year he would speak with Joseph to choose a school that had a better basketball team. So Jake went to his room and was thinking about today''s game, he still could not take any hasty conclusions because he had not yet seen how the titular team would play together, and he also did not know what the level of the other teams'' players was. After all, he seems to have heard that the team last year had a good chance of reaching the national championship, this could mean that the other teams are not that good either. They still had 3 of the top players last year, he did not know how the PF was anymore thought impossible that the PG was even better than him, so he was sure he could take the team at least to the national championship, so he would have a chance of being called by some sponsor. "Fate, can you tell me what is the average ability of my team players compared to the best of Middle School?" [Of course I''ll tell you, just for you to have referenced your average is S, and you''re just not SS for your defense, after all, your position is geared more towards the attack, your team''s SG has an average A plus almost B, he has some ability and his defense is very good, but he is not good at 3-point shooting and his pass and dribble are average.] [Your team''s SF has average B, has good dribble and ball control, his mid-range shot is good and his layup too, plus his pass is bad and his 3-point shot too, his defense is weak.] [The center of his team is almost C-B, he''s very good at defense and rebound, medium in the pass is very poor in attack and dribble.] [The PF is D is bad at defense and attack, I think he can improve, but it will be at most B in a year.] The skills of his team is as he thought, the PF will be the weakness of his team in the competitions, even if he can improve it will be the only medium, and that is to say that he will not have anyone high in the bottle that can score this is another disadvantage, at least his defense is not too bad, he can send his PF to score the worst opponent and so not lose many points because of him. It''s not that bad, but according to the system he said it is not enough for him to win the national championship, yet he will have to try to take his team as far as possible, in order to be able to be seen by someone. He was in a hurry to get a sponsorship now because Jake wanted to get his mom out of the restaurant as fast as possible, as he knew she had died of stress in her other life, he knew her mother had a fragile heart, and now it was the only time he would need to, because when he is close to 16 and starts investing in the stock market he will not have to worry about money anymore. The other day Jake went to school normally, classes passed quickly and soon came the break he met with Joseph. "So you joined the basketball team and became the captain, I would have been a bit surprised if you had not told me what you did at the street tournament, now this is what I expected for you." "It''s annoying how you get used to things very fast, it was very funny that you surprised me when I showed you the photos." "I think nothing you do more will amaze me so much, you seem to be good at everything, in studies, at sports, leave something to us mere mortals." "There''s a lot that I can not do, go there and be the best in one of them." They played for a while and after school, Jake went to his first basketball practice, so after two hours the training was over. Jake went home disappointed with the level of school training, it seems he did well at home training last year, the first half hour is warm up, then half an hour of basic training that is worse than what he does at home only in a team, then a tactical and positioning training, at least one good thing in that, and then the last half hour of a lightweight game for the players to do what they just learned. As he was disappointed he went to ask if it was always so with SG Lucas. "Is it always like this? Almost always, only on weekend days, we have the whole day that is much more intense, we train everything we did today for a longer time and is well pulled in the physical part, I do not think we have much to train, after all, we already learn the basics before. " "What if there''s someone who does not know the basics?" "If you have someone like that you will not be able to join the team, the most basic training is often done even in physical education, so it''s rare for anyone not to know." So Jake understood, he had thought wrong, if he had tried to join the team last year or pass the test he would pass so he would not have a chance to improve, it seems he had the right decision to stay to train in his basement. In addition, after today he completely lost hope that the PF will achieve a level of power to help with the team in time to play the championship games. So spent a few weeks of training, as Lucas said on weekends the training is better, more often than not training 3-point shots, so everyone on your team is bad at it, if he did not train as much he would be too. Jake also learned a few things in these training, such as tactics and strategies that can be used in a game, and whenever he could he would go to Center Owen to learn some things about defense and harnessed and taught some things about how to attack. Plus he could not teach much, just how to make baskets in the bottle, because the way that the Centers play in a game is a different way he does not know the coach Roy also seems not to know, so it''s not Owen''s fault to attack more than he had no one to learn. When Jake told Owen that he could try to learn by watching others play he almost picked up from the center, only Jake is able to do something like that, normal people do not just learn by watching, they have to be taught step by step, and then train a lot to finally learn. Jake always talked to other players and tried to make them combine signals to make at the time of the game, after all, he can not tell the game to play in front of his opponents. Jake was also trying to combine signals for more complicated moves that involved several moves of his team players and even many passes so they could score more easily. When Jake heard that Owen could not score, he wondered how coach Roy could let such a player play in his team, after all, it would be like having an attacking player less on the court, but how the training went through Jake learned why. Owen did all the other roles that a Center had to do, he was a good reference center to pass the ball quickly in the bottle and he could give more possibilities of pass that Jake would not have in his position, also Owen was very good in rebounds , he would take the majority of what he disputed in the training, so it gave more security to those who wanted to risk a shot from further away. So he was a good player, if they had a better PF they could have more chances to go further to the championship. One day when the training was over Roy saw Jake sighing in the middle of the court as he looked at the players, the coach did not understand that the workout had been good and his team was even better than last year with Jake in the team. "What you''re sighing at, Jake, your teammates are looking so bad." Roy asked jokingly, but Jake did not respond and just smiled. "You really think the team is bad, boy you''re very demanding, you''re much better than last year, and if nothing goes wrong to go to the national championship, it''s not good for you." Jake glanced at his coach and decided to speak his thoughts. "It''s not that coach, it''s not that they are bad, I think that besides Luke everyone is above average only that for what I wanted is not enough, and in two weeks the regional tournament begins, I do not think they get better. " Roy also agreed with Jake''s vision, taking out Luke everyone was above average, especially Jake, yet he did not understand what he was not satisfied with. "And what did you want me to think these good players are not enough?" "To be champion of the national championship" Chapter 44 The Regional Championship 1 So Jake responded to the coach without even looking at him and then left. Roy was frozen by shock for a while and when he recovered Jake was already gone. Roy really did not expect Jake to be so ambitious, he even thought coaching would be great if his team entered the national championship, the more he won, he knew it was impossible. Now he understood what Jake said the team was not enough, really to be the champion was still a long way off, and Luke would be the big flaw of his team in the national championship, until the state they could let Luke score the worst player of each team, but the national team did not have a bad player, everyone had to be good. After thinking a little he understood why Jake dreamed of being the champion, after all with his talent he could even be elected MVP of the national championship, being the champion is normal for him to expect this. More Roy knew that his school team was not enough, so he also wondered why Jake went to study at his school and not another famous for having a good basketball team. Of course no matter how he thought about it he could not imagine that the reason was that just over a year ago Jake not even know how to play basketball knew how much more to think about choosing a school that was famous in that, in fact, Jake really did not expect to improve so quickly , he was hoping to reach the level of others in high school, but the system greatly accelerated his plans. Roy was also glad that Jake was wise enough not to tell the others that he wanted to be the champion, it was too bad to give false hopes to his teammates, then they would be more depressed when they could not. As weeks went by quickly and the day of the first regional championship game arrived, there would be 32 teams from the city of Miami and the county as well, and the winning team would go to the Florida State Championship, then another 64 teams would pass and the winner would go for the national championship, that another 64 teams would dispute the champion trophy. Today''s game was with a team from a not very well-known school, so they should win today so they were pretty calm, the Western School team always participated only to complete the numbers. Still, all the players who were having their first game were a bit nervous, Jake was also a bit nervous, although it is not a very important game for his future career can be said that he will always remember this game throughout his life. The other team seemed more nervous still, last year Jake''s school team was a very strong team at least for the regional games, they won that championship and were eliminated in the state, of course, that''s the mentality in sports, always someone wants to conquer more than it has before. Jake''s team wants to get to the state more for this adversary team to reach the state already would be a great glory, besides, when playing with young teams the strong and weak team is never very defined, if the entire team that is strong Middle School way the team in the other year may be weak. And if a player like Michael Jordan joins any team, that team becomes strong, of course, Jake''s team this year was stronger because he had him. The league rules are four periods of eight minutes each and an interval after the second ten minute period, Jake could easily play the four periods without slowing down the pace but he knew his teammates would not hold out. Another thing is that no matter how much of a score they score more than their opponent, they would play the same way because they were already prepared to lose and were only playing for fun or gaining experience, so their minds would be different. So Jake''s work as PG was to control the pace of play so that his team did not have to run the whole game, in defense they had the confidence to mess up the other team''s plays so they were not afraid of a defeat. In the beginning, Jake''s team gained possession and the ball was sent to Jake to organize the play, so he went calmly to the opposing court, 24 seconds for possession of the ball in a quiet game is a long time. So he advanced to a three-point line and the other team''s defensive line seemed well posted, but that was the basics trained by all teams, they would have to make a play to test the waters. The PG of the other team was marking Jake at some distance as he did not know if he was good at throwing or dribbling us into the basket he had to stay in the middle. Jake soon signaled for the team to change positions they had practiced in training and the team changed positions, the defenders did not wait for it and Jake found SF Aiden free to receive the ball. He made the pass quickly and Aiden straightened and shot 2 for the basket, so Jake''s team started in front of the board and Jake saw that his opponents had many problems in the scoring. Soon the opposing team came on the offensive, their PG came with the ball and Jake was already on him for the marking, after all, he was not afraid to suffer a dribble with his speed, the opponent was a little surprised, he did not expect a marking so tight. He tried to pass for Jake soon felt the pressure on the marking and realized that it would not be so easy to pass him, so he looked at his team to see who he could leave the ball. Jake had agreed with his team that only he would make a tight marking and the others could give space for the opponents to pass the ball, so the weaknesses in his defense would be masked and his team would tireless. Soon the SG of the opposing team received the ball and made a feint that Lucas fell and he passed finding space to shoot and tie the game. That was the problem for Jake, his team was lacking in game vision, simple feints so should not fool the defenders, not to mention that getting a dribble and scoring gives more confidence to the opponents. More Jake did not complain as capital he had to know when to complain, and the game was only at the beginning, the next Lucas should not make a fault like that again. Jake started another attack for the team and began the rotation of passes in the attack that he had combined with his team, he was going to give passes to all his teammates in the attack, and some would score and others would make another pass or return to the ball he. So his opponent would not know who was the weakest or strongest in the attack and could not change the type of marking, and more importantly, Jake would try not to score much in this game to hide his strengths, after all this was only his first game and they did not have to go with everything. So the game was passing and soon ended the first period, as Jake continued to do a rotation of passes in the first period, as expected the opponent team did not know who to tighten the defense and Jake''s team almost did not lose attacks finishing the winning period by 16 to 8. Although in defense Jake did not try to steal a ball, he did not give space to the opponent who appeared to be the best player of the other team, when the defense tightened he had to risk the shot on the strong marking and hit a few of them. And he did not have the confidence to do a 3-point shot, which made Jake''s pressure easier, as well as PG, SG was the other with good attack skills, but as it became more obvious after a while the defense concentrated and the other team had fewer options. And so the game continued in the same way, until the end of the third period that the opposing team realized that Owen and Luke had not made any point, but with Jake''s organization, they still helped in the passes so they could not be left alone. It was an easier game than expected, at the end of the fourth period the opposing team was exhausted and Jake''s team that had let some players rest with Jake controlling the pace was more relaxed. The game ended up 56 to 30 in favor of Jake''s team, it was an easy win with Jake making only 8 points and with a hundred percent advantage, so his team kept him as a card up his sleeve for another round of the championship. So at the end of the day, only 16 teams were left to the next stage, so would have four more games to discover who would be the regional champion who would go to the national championship. After coach Roy released the team, Jake called only the starters in a corner and pointed out the mistakes they had in that first game, he gave some tips on how to correct those mistakes and said that the strategy the team used had worked very well and that they should continue like this. Jake did this just to show his authority and maintain the unity of the starting team, he wanted to show that they could improve and that he was watching the plays of the back, in fact everyone had a lot of respect for Jake to sacrifice himself not scoring many points for the team have a secret play in the other rounds, after all that young player does not want to show up in a competition. Chapter 45 The Regional Championship 2 And so after the day of the first game of their first school league championship finish, Jake was back home to dine with his mother. In fact, Eva was anxious all day, she knew that today was going to be Jake''s first game at school and despite seeing how well Jake played in the street basketball tournament, she was worried because she had seen that her son was very confident to be the winner. Her fear was that Jake would lose the game and his team would be eliminated and Jake would be depressed about it, Eva knew how dangerous it could be for someone to get a little depressed, after all, she was depressed enough after her husband died. And that depression followed her for more than eight years until she got better, and Eve knew depression was lurking for an opportunity, for her to be shocked again and end her life. And for young people, everything is more intense when you end up with a boyfriend, or if you lose a friend, it is like yours the world would end at that moment. Although Eva knew that Jake was more mature than others at her age, she also knew how much basketball was important to him and how much time he invested in it, so losing a game that he thought would be easy to win could end with his self-esteem. So just when Jake came home saying that they had won that she calmed down, she knew that her son was very skilled in basketball, more for what she knew this was a game if 5 people on a team, if only Jake was good and his companions would not arrive an hour that they would lose. "So you guys won that game, very good, my son, I''m very happy for you." "Thank you Mom, I knew you would be worried about this whole thing, now the next game will be in a week, so you should calm down, I''m confident our team can win at least this regional." "The more you must know my son, I know how skillful you are, but this is a team sport, no matter how good you are it can not get the whole team behind." "I know mother, plus the team also has some good players, everyone has their weakness no one else is perfect, as I am the captain the best I can do is try to enjoy all their good points and try to cover their weaknesses." "I''m very proud of you for working so hard on what you do, no matter the end result as long as you give your best." "I do not need to be very worried, the goal of the team is just to enter the national championship, although we have no chance to be the champion this I can try to achieve." "It''s already a great result, you''ll have won two trophies by then." Jake just smiled and ate his food in silence, he wanted to win that national champion title no matter how difficult it was because he knows he had the potential for it, plus he was bound by the circumstances, he should now know what big players who were the best in the NBA most did not have the best teams and so they always lost. Of course, when you are a professional you get used to the defeat, after suffering a painful defeat a very large check can relieve your pain, plus Jake did not even have the check. So more now was not the time to think about a defeat that had not yet happened, he would have a game next week and should win. So Jake spent the week doing only a few lightweight training sessions and a few plays with his teammates, during the intervals of the classes he always talked with Joseph, at that time they talked about other sports and also school and even television programs. So it was an hour that Jake could relax. So the day of the game arrived, the school team he was going to face had the name of the mascot of the Tigers school. The Tigers were a much stronger team than the team from the first game, they reached the fourth place in the last championship losing to the opponent of Jake''s team in the final. So this game was a good opportunity for Jake to estimate the level of his opponents in the finals of that championship, of course, that the team of Jake was confident to win, in an analysis of his game in the first match of that championship, the best players of that team seem to be 2, the PG called Xavier who is in the place of the previous PG that was formed and was the captain, which was not a problem for the team of Jake, since it would be marking its adversary. The other four players were already in the starting lineup in the past, and they were better now after a year, the other good player of that team to pay attention was the Center called Jay. So he was a good opponent to test Jake''s team and there was no need to worry too much because the best players in their team would be marked by the best supporters of Jake''s team that was himself and Owen. The game began and the team of Jake got possession of the ball that was soon sent to him to arm the move, Xavier soon went to the marking more Jake used his speed to take advantage of the cover of Lucas to reach the line of 3 adversary, so he soon found a fault in the defense and sent the ball to Luke who understood the sign of Jake and soon passed to Aiden to score the first two points. This had been Jake''s order and his strategy, as Luke and Owen did not have the ability to score, at least they had to know how to give the passes to improve the team''s attack, so Jake taught them both several signs and also trained them passes, because when Jake was tagged and had no choice he could arm the plays through them. Because if Jake was so scared that he could not move, it would have to have more than one person marking him, so someone would be free to make the points or at least the passes. Jake also trained the two to do at least one simple layup, so if they were totally free it was just walking to the basket and making two points, after all, no matter how bad a player is it is impossible that he can not make a basket without marking. The two were also very grateful that Jake spent so much time with them, even if it was only because he wanted the victory, because as they say he knows not only speaks but also sets an example. Other players, even his captain last year just complained and put them aside on the attack rolls, he did not spend time trying to teach them, as Jake had seen, it was not that Owen did not know how to attack, he was not taught properly how to do. Xavier was annoyed that Jake had fled his marking, he wanted to force Jake with a heavy defense to know if he had good dribbling abilities, after all, he just as many others had realized that Jake was hiding his true abilities. And what Xavier wanted to know was how good Jake was for the team to take appropriate action, because if they knew they could score, the more they were afraid of the unknown, it was not normal for a player to hide their skills. Jake of course also knew this, he made it clear that he was hiding something because he wanted to leave his opponents in the dark if they thought he was very good and be very careful with him, they were right, but if they underestimated him they would pay the price. Soon Xavier commanded his team to the attack, he also tried to use his speed to escape the marking of Jake but could not Jake always kept the same distance on the defense. After he tried a few more fights Jake neither moved, when he really did the dribble Jake was behind, was not an easy opponent, helpless Xavier can only make the pass, so he threw the ball to the PF of his team. They had noticed watching the last game that the PF was a weakness in defense Jake''s team, of course, his team already expected this to happen so there was always a player near the SF in case it was passed. If they made the point it would be a maximum of 2 points, and Luke was instructed to always stay close to his opponent to disrupt his mid-range shot, it was not the perfect solution but it was the best Jake''s team could do now. So the opposing team made the 2-shot and tied the game, Jake calmly started the attack again, this time Jake made a sign and so all advanced together for the attack, as an army troop. Jake had already realized that Xavier would try to force the defense to see what Jake was capable of, but as they attacked slowly they could all advance together passing the ball between them, so unless the opponent wanted to make the fault they would have to give space. Soon Jake received the ball and gave a long pass to Aiden who had the free way to the basket to make two more points. As they wanted to tighten the ball, the Tigers had wanted to come up with Jake''s team, but they forgot that their court would be unprotected in that way. It was a good way that Jake created to open a gap in the opposing defense, they had trained this and Jake wanted to see if it would work out in a game and gave. Chapter 46 The Regional Championship 3 So the Tigers'' team had no choice but to wait for Jake''s team on the defense court and give them room to advance, so it also killed the idea of ??Xavier pressing Jake, they could not risk taking a ball back again, so the idea of Jake was successful and the team was advancing calmly. Of course, it just happened this way because Jake''s team was not stuck to attack, if they wanted to attack faster it would not work. So Xavier started another attack on his team, Jake was now giving Xavier a little more space to choose his options better, he could move back to his PF plus he was not the best player on his team either, so he tried to pass the ball to Center Jay. Jay was the main player in his team last year, he was very good in his attacks more a little deficient in his defense, but most of the centers of the region were like that, the technicians even preferred a Center that could attack better than one that he could not, even if he defended well. Because defending in the pitcher was complicated, even a skilled defender could not stop the other team from scoring, it was a safe ball of attack in basketball. Jake''s team was no longer the coach''s choice, Roy had also preferred a Center that knew how to attack Owen who was better at defense, but his reserve was no better as well as Owen was more complete he could stay for another year, not team owner. Of course, Jay acknowledged that Xavier was more important than him this year in the team, but he still wanted to show that he had quality, helping to eliminate the team that was the champion last year. So he turned and thought of going straight to the court to make the points, plus Owen was in his way, they knew that Jay would play a major role in this game, now it was up to Owen to defend his tank. So Jay tried to pass Owen more unsuccessfully, when he saw that another opponent came to steal the ball he hit the ball back and two-point shot. So the game was tied again, and so the two teams were attacking attack, and when the first period ended Jake''s team was leading by just two points, yet despite appearing to be a tight match in the score to the truth was that the pressure was all over the Tigers. When Jake''s team attacked they had plenty of time and Jake knew how to control the rhythm of the game, with the strategy of advancing all together the Tigers had no more how to press the ball out if they did not want to risk a play in the back. And Jake''s team attacked calmly and Jake was still spinning his attacks, so they did not lose an attack in the game. Plus the Tigers'' attacks were not so smooth, they were under pressure because they were always behind the board, and everyone knew that their opponents had not given the maximum yet, in addition, all attacks defenders pressed the attackers who failed to advance no time for the key, they got stuck in the mid-range. And with an error, they ended up behind the scoreboard in that first period, so the Tigers'' players got tired faster and Xavier had more pressure at the time he had to organize the play. The second period continued almost the same, this time the Tigers tightened more in the score, but it was useless when Jake made some signs the whole team moved in a way that the opponents were lost, but Jake knew where each one would go. Other times after making a simple signal Jake gave a pass from scratch and the player only moved later to receive the pass, it seemed that this team played that way years ago, but what happened was that only Jake had to remember all the signs, his teammates had to decorate only four or five each. As soon as the Tigers got tired, and Jake''s team attacked softly, in the middle of the second period Jay decided to risk and advanced to the basket of the team of Jake to do a layup, more Owen was on top of him and gave a block in the move, thus increasing the morale of Jake''s team and with the Tigers getting discouraged. In the third period when the starters had come back from the reserve bench they were behind the scoreboard by 12 points already and could hardly win that game, Jake had been the only one standing on the court all the time was still overflowing with energy. So with the downtrodden adversary, Jake''s team slowed down and only managed the advantage, the end of the game ended up 64-36 with a score higher than that of the first game. This showed for all teams that Jake''s team was the favorite to win after all the Tigers were better this year than in the past, and yet Jake''s team won easily, moreover, Jake had not yet given all he had This game. So everyone went to their homes, Jake had nothing to say as a captain besides praising the team, especially Owen who had the hardest part today, as Luke did not have much to say, everyone knew that his level was lower than the rest of the team plus everyone can see that he struggles in training and games. Jake also felt that he was getting better, he was making the right decisions faster and faster, it seems that what he needed most is to try more games like this, so now he was using the maximum of his statistics, mainly the intelligence to organize the plays. This was not as easy a game as it seemed, just that they did not make mistakes and the opponents were too hasty for not being able to make the plays they had trained and ended up losing the game. If Jake''s team made a lot of space or made several mistakes, the opponents would pass the score and gain confidence, of course, Jake would not let that happen, but he was happy to hide his skills as much as possible. When Jake got home he saw that his mother had not been so worried after the first game, of course, if she knew that the game would be much more difficult than the first round, she would not be so calm. After that another two weeks passed and Jake''s team won the other two games and now only the final game was missing, these two opponents were much weaker than the Tigers team and whenever they played they entered the court with morale low. So the games were dominated by Jake''s team who did not overdo it and kept the advantage on the score of only 20 points, not to humiliate the opponents, although Luke is his fault, all teams also had a weak player for Luke to score. In addition, Luke had also improved with his training and experience of the matches, now he could do more accurate point shots and do better layups until his defense improved, he learned to use his height advantage to set pressure on opponents. Jake also knew to hold and did not score more than 10 points in any of the matches, but always all the points of the team passed through his hands, not all were assists but he sent through the signals. So after these four games, coach Roy just needed to watch the games because Jake was the boss, and he did well, Jake knew the time to scold and comfort and always praised the plays well executed. So many rival coaches looked on him with envy, it''s hard to find such an independent player who is not arrogant yet if they knew that the idea of ??the signs on the court to pass the balls out of Jake could not tell what face they would do. And also Jake did not know any more had some companies and also other private schools in the area that were paying attention to him, they were just waiting for him to play everything in a game to see if it really was worth investing, or if he was not quite as capable and was just making some mind games for his opponents. More everyone hoped that unfortunately they could not see it in this regional championship and they would have to wait for the state because the team that Jake would face in the final was the same one they faced last year and won. Because this year''s Bears team was weaker than last year''s team because most of those who stayed were not adequate substitutes for those of last year. And it was clear to everyone that Jake''s team was much stronger this year, many already said they were favorites to win the state championship too, so everyone had an easy win. Jake''s team was also confident of the victory, so everyone spent the week waiting for the eager match, Roy was a little concerned that the players were very relaxed and made mistakes in the game but he did not want to lower the morale of the game. Chapter 47 The Regional Championship 4 Only Jake was treating this week like everyone else, he was more thrilled with his first trophy even being street basketball because he was the first, and he was facing opponents who were up to four years older than him. So it was really an achievement to win this trophy, but this school championship is different, not really an achievement, although the trophy is for Jake another qualification for the next championship, and the same until winning the national championship, then yes it would be anxious, because he could say that he was part of the best team in the whole country. If he could win the MVP would be even better, he wants to win something he could be proud of when he was joining the NBA, being the state champion should be the minimum for them. You can tell that Jake is not as excited as his teammates because their target was another, his teammates know they will not be professional so they just want to have a medal, or a photo of them holding the trophy to hang on the living room shelf. when they have a regular job in the future. It''s like a team that has just climbed into any major football championship, such as the Spanish championship, for example, there in the first year they get fourth place in the league and qualify for the UEFA Champions League, all players and fans would go celebrate. But if Barcelona were in the same fourth place they would be ashamed and the fans would be angry because they did not get the first place and the champion. The point of departure between them is another so the expectation is also another, of course along with his teammates Jake also smiled as if he was very happy about it. So the day of the game has arrived. "Look at my colleagues, today is a very important day for all of us, our families and some colleagues from our school are here today to give us their fans to be the champion, today we will forget the possibility of playing the state championship from here two weeks and we''ll do our best in this game. " When Jake began to speak everyone would be quiet and listened to every word he said, so he paused and continued his speech. "I also know that many of you are excited and think that we have already won this game, I tell everyone to be very careful about it, I know that we are the strongest team and that we deserve this title, but that is not why we will despise our opponents, they are also good and they have also arrived in this final like us for two years in a row, our team only won every game with ease because we gave our best and I hope we do the same today and be the champions." So everyone will be excited by the captain''s speech, Jake took a long time to think about the words he could use that would increase team morale but also put everyone down with his foot on the ground and focused on the game, and from what he saw it worked. Coach Roy just had to stand around and watch everything without having to say anything, it was great when the players did everything without the coach having to say anything, after all the coach''s job is to prepare the players and correct their mistakes, if he did not have to say anything it was because everything was fine. So they saw their opponents the Bears team, it was an easy opponent to win over they had a well-balanced team, none of the players had big differences in their performances, that was the good part of the team, they had no weaknesses anymore it was also the defect in the team. Because as they all played in the media, they did not have any players like Jake that made the difference in the matches, although a single player could not do it all alone, with a good team supporting him they immediately became favorites. So the game began and their team started with possession, the Bears'' PG soon picked up the ball and started to organize the first attack of the final, the Bears team quickly positioned themselves on the attacking block and soon afterward the team Jake on the defense. Thus Jake''s team lost in the positioning efficiency, so the Center the Bears were already in good position received the pass and scored the first points of the final. Jake took the ball and calmed his team, it was good if they did not make that mistake again but there was no turning back time, so Jake advanced to the opposing court. The Bears were already well positioned in the defense too, but that did not matter, Jake made some signs and then opened an opportunity to pass the ball, Lucas received the ball in a good position and made a mid-range shot to equalize. Soon the Bears started with the ball calmly, they were probably trying to set the pace, so Jake''s team would tire and all opponents realized they did not have good substitutes on the bench. So Jake always tried to keep pace slower, just as PG accelerated the pace Jake soon appeared on the marking, so he tried to continue at high speed plus Jake kept the distance when he stopped to try to make a fake Jake took advantage of the mistake of opponent to steal the ball from the hands of the PG, soon as the Bears team recovered from the shock Jake was already distant running to the opposing basket, and then made 2 more points with a layup. So Jake''s team took the lead on the scoreboard and Jake showed a little of what he was hiding as a warning, that only he could control the pace of play, otherwise he would get the ball back. Although it was a bit of a lie because it was a stroke of luck that he managed to steal that ball because the opponent lowered his guard, it worked because the PG resumed the attack at a slower pace, and Jake also continued giving more space. The Bears'' team could not be guilty of being frightened, they had wondered why no one before the game in the final tried to break the rhythm Jake was putting out so as not to tire his players, and then Jake made a show of strength like this , no one wanted to test whether it was a coincidence. After all the teams knew that Jake could do more than he did on the court, but did not know how much more he could. And the Bears team already started the game not hoping to be the champion, they just did not want to suffer a humiliating defeat, and no one wanted to piss off that evil star that was Jake. And they were right, that the opponent was too hard and Jake had to stand out, he would give his all in that game to make as many points as possible. So the Bears attacked calmly and Jake gave space, after a play so they passed to the PF who made the two points. Then Jake''s team attacked and he passed the ball to Lucas who scored the points as well. Then the time passed and the final was so lukewarm, as Jake saw that the opponent had no thoughts about winning the game, he also instructed his teammates did not open many advantages in the points, and so the game ended up more annoying than all they thought it would be. In fact, if someone entered the middle of the game they would see a game that seemed to be played, point to point, plus those who saw Jake''s demonstration of strength at the beginning of the game and the team of the Bears calming down afterward realized that the game was the only appearance. In fact, even Jake''s team players were fooled, they were struggling thinking that the other team had come with everything, and they thought that Jake signaled for them not to attack much to not spend a lot of energy, so much so that they managed to play the game everything. So the game ended in 48 to 42, a game that looked at the score thought it was point to point, and the players of Jake''s team celebrated and shouted for having been the champions, until the cheer cheered livelily, only Jake that was to tighten the hands of his opponents and the Bears who had a proud face on their faces were not jumping. Anyone who understood basketball knew what had happened on the court and had strange looks on their faces, it could be said that this was a unique game, some thought until the game had been combined before by the teams, only Jake the Bears and the future they would say that this was not a meaningless ending. The players felt at that moment that Jake made that basket, that the game could not be won, and Jake also knew that they had made a certain decision not to force, and that anyone to see the games of the team of Jake in the state also would understand that when Jake gives as much as the game becomes, if the opponents just wanted to have respect, Jake did not mind to respect. And only a few in today''s game would see something strange in that, in the future everyone looked at the records just on the scoreboard and not what actually happened on the court. But that does not change the fact that Jake won his first trophy with a team in an official game, he was happy too, especially when he saw the smile on his mother''s face in the bleachers, she had worried about this game much more than he who already expected the result. So Jake was voted MVP of this regional tournament with justice, and this was not questioned by anyone, the best player of the best team, seems fair for a short championship like that. And so in Jake''s mind was already the state championship. Chapter 48 A Break 1 After winning the championship although before Jake did not think that was great, the truth after he understood that in fact for others was. Jake''s school called all team players and coach Roy to take a commemorative photo with the champion trophy and also put that photo on a school mural along with other champions. This trophy for the other year would call more youths who wanted to play basketball to enter their school that was known to be the best in the region for two years in a row, so this victory would also serve as an advertisement for the school. The students at Jake''s school were also very excited about this championship, being a two-time champion was a good thing no matter the age or sport because it shows that his team can do more and not just once, so everyone was happy and bragged to their friends and told their parents. The city newspaper also made a note about the team''s victory in the league and even mentioned that Jake was the MVP, so it turned out to be a bigger issue than Jake expected. After all in his past life beyond school Jake did not care much about basketball, his schools also never won the champion trophy, so Jake did not think it was a big deal. His mother and Joseph also seemed to be happier than he had been the winner, so after a while, Jake abandoned his mentality that winning a minor trophy like this was not important, if it were not for the various schools they would not have decided that way and just would give the vacancies to the state. The only thing that made Jake sadder is that there were no sponsors who came in contact with him after the first trophy, he had heard that there were some people watching the game no one else seems to have liked. Of course, since this game is important to win, Jake still would not have tried his best to show himself in the final game just to please the people who were watching, he would only do it when it was necessary for the state championship, and then it would not be too late to them they see what Jake was capable of. Now that it was nearly two weeks before the start of the state championship Jake decided to relax before the state, he realized that although he was almost sure he would be the winner Jake was still very stressed in the regional championship, maybe because it was his first time as captain that he did not have to just take care of him. So in the Jake school that was now more famous, he still kept his grades first, even though he was also busy with basketball, which left his teachers amazed at his diligence, and he was used as an example to many other students who complained about not having time to study. In the classroom, Jake was still seen with his business management books and more economics now the language book he is seeing is another, it was a French book, many thought that Jake had tired of studying Spanish plus some knew that Jake already spoke his language fluently. The Frenchman no longer had any teacher in the school who knew how to test Jake''s skill, but as he had a precedent with Spanish, no one doubted that he was taking it seriously and learning. Jake''s goal was to make it known until university that he spoke all the languages ??he learned in his past life and then learn Japanese he had decided to study before returning to the past. When it was the weekend that was also Eva''s day off, Jake was thinking of doing something different with his mother, no matter how Jake was busy he always talked to his mother every day, he was taking great care emotions of Eve and also with her stress. Eva was also very happy to be well cared for by her son, but even this sometimes made her angry, like the time she was in her period and Jake was bothering her because her emotions were very unstable. Jake did not forget that Eva had died of depression and would never forget more because he blamed himself for not realizing that something was wrong with his mother. So Jake asked Eva so they could go to the mall together, just to eat some candy and maybe also go and watch a movie at the movies. Eva did not know Jake was doing this because she took Jake to the mall and decided to give him everything he wanted to celebrate that Jake had won the champion trophy with his team, she did not think Jake would also win the state championship so she found that this was the best time to celebrate. If Jake knew that his mother still had no confidence in his victory and was planning to make him happy before his possible defeat, he might lose heart to go out with his mother this weekend. So first Jake wanted to go to a well-known ice cream shop that was in the bottom of the mall, this was something that Eva liked more Jake was making this stop because he wanted, he liked ice cream mass and because of all this training, he had not eaten in years past. For Jake ice cream it''s like those things that you love to eat or do most are not so important to you and he only remembered when someone else was commenting. And Jake just remembered that he wanted to eat ice cream when he saw the store at the entrance of the mall and did not want to miss the opportunity, who knows when he would remember again. Afterwards, he went to see the movies that were in the film on that day, as soon as he saw the name of a movie Jake immediately took his mother to watch. The movie Ghost, this was one of the classics of the 90''s that even Jake who was totally out of the way of the novels liked it a lot. Her mother did not like novels much, she preferred more movies and action and adventure but just the most classic novels she liked more than all, it was funny until she saw that the list of the top ten films that someone who said she did not like novels had two of them on the list. But in addition, he remembered that when this movie went on television his mother had watched and liked it so much that he remembered Eva saying that she felt very sad that she could not have seen this movie in the movies because she was a Lovely movie plus her mother had lost half the excitement because her friends from the restaurant had talked in conversations several times about how beautiful the end was. Just as Eve already knew the ending before the movie started she lost a lot of the thrill of seeing it for the first time. So Jake asked Eva for a little money and ran to a nearby place and bought tissues and put them in his jacket, he knew that his mother would cry a lot to see this movie so far. After they came in to watch the movie, it was really a very romantic storyline of the movie, after all the main actor dies at the beginning what is not normal in movies, but he stands around like a ghost, the person himself at first does not realize the why, even more, tries to help his beloved even knowing that he could not stay with her on earth. Just as the whole self-respecting movie succeeds in the end, Jake had once heard that much of the success of this film was for the choice of music that gives a special feeling to the viewer. As the film continued Eva had already begun to cry, so Jake handed the package of tissues to the mother who earned her the admiration of the women nearby for the consideration he had with his mother. And so some of these women sent reproving looks to their boyfriends and husbands who could not think the same as a child. Of course Jake did not know that he''d sparked a small fight between couples and even distributed some of the scarves around just to put more fuel into the women''s rage fire. Eva was already accustomed to the consideration of her son who had been much more attentive in the last year, she even thought with pride the luck that her daughter-in-law would have in the future and that she had created Jake very well. This film was a good indication to Eva that she was forgetting the pain she felt when she lost her husband, this movie made her remember him, more just with affection and no longer with the pain and sadness of losing him. So the movie ended and Jake went with his mother home while doing a summary and explanation of the movie as always, he liked to make it sound like he knew more than he really knew from his knowledge of the future. Chapter 49 A Break 2 So Jake returned with his mother home who was very happy after crying a little in the movie, this was what he would never understand how women were happier the more they cried in a movie. After Eva made her dinner, despite the fact that Eva still could not cook better than Jake, he himself liked to eat his mother''s food. So they reeled, in the days that Eva had to work and late night at home Jake cooked, and in the days that Eva was at home she cooked. Eva herself was very pleased with this arrangement because it showed that her son really liked the food she made, and it was good to cook for him to love himself. Then Jake went to sleep because the other day he had agreed to go to Joseph''s house because his grandfather would show up and it looks like he wanted to meet Jake who was the closest and only friend of his grandson. So when dawn Jake ate breakfast with his mother, they still talked about the movie they watched yesterday and Jake told his mother to tell his friends how the movie was, so he thought his mother could take revenge on his friends without to know. After a car appeared at the door of Jake''s house, it looked like he was the driver of Joseph''s grandfather''s car, Jake quietly said goodbye to his mother and got into the car. He was much calmer this time in meeting his friend''s grandfather than when he met Oliver because that time it had not been too long that he had known Joseph, and he knew that his family might be thinking he was a mere wanted to stay close to Joseph because of his family''s money. More like how he had cleared things up with Oliver, Jake thought he would not have much trouble with Joseph''s grandfather. Even more so Jake was a bit anxious, because he had already heard who Joseph''s grandfather was, his name was Matthew Jackson, and he was a great businessman who was very successful in this industry, now he was a little old so that should be why Jake has never heard of his name in the future. Even more so Jake admired Matthew a little because he had heard that the company Focus and Flash as it was called, had an approximate value of 320 million dollars, and was one of the leading companies in the market. In addition, Matthew still had 80 percent of the entire company on his behalf and the other 20 percent was in the stock market. That said that Matthew alone created a $ 320 million company, as Jake had long invested in the stock market and had not yet managed to make his first million in the past even though he was still considered successful. He knew how hard it was to make much money in a bargain, and when he heard all this from Joseph he was both happy and sad. Sad that since it was a company with a value of 320 million, the only reason Jake had not heard of the company''s name was either that they had been sold or that they had not switched to film time for the digital model and went bankrupt. And the part that made him happy was that Joseph''s grandfather still had 80 percent of the company, which means that if he could convince Joseph''s family to change the type of camera in time they could do it without having to ask to other shareholders in a meeting, after all, they still had the majority. And as Jake had come from the future he could "speculate" on several benefits that having a digital camera company was a lot better than having a film camera company. And if they have the right business vision they could instead fail or have to sell their company, be one of the market leaders. So Jake came to each of Joseph''s, the maid led Jake to the same office he came to visit Oliver, this time he knew he would have to see someone different this time, and as expected when he walked into the office, whoever was there was not Oliver, but Matthew. "So you''re Jake, Joseph''s friend, I''ve heard a lot about you from Joseph and Oliver, which surprised me a little bit, I did not expect you to become my son''s friend in spite of the big age difference. " "It happened to me and Mr. Oliver we have a lot in common that we like, and I also like to play chess so we got along really well." "You really are an interesting young man, the best student in the school, learned alone to speak more than one foreign language, won the regional basketball championship as the captain of the team and still not arrogant." "You praise me a lot, I happen to be lucky to have a little talent for basketball and I have to study hard to give my mother a better future, and circumstances have made me mature faster." "Actually, if I did not know about your family I could say that you were an heir to a noble house because you have a certain size of someone who has already gotten very involved with people like me." Really a great life experience makes a difference, although not sure Matthew almost made up what happened in Jake''s past. Actually as Jake already worked in an accounting firm and also already had to get involved with some people from the stock market, Jake had already developed a method through experience to deal with rich and intelligent people like Matthew. Plus he understood that as if Jake had been taught as a child, after all, he could never imagine that Jake had lived many more years than he looks. "I really liked you, it also seems that the friendship between you and my grandson is quite sincere, it really is a shame that my company does not have much to do with sports because a brilliant young man that certainly is worth a sponsorship." "Even though my company does not have much to do with it, the daughter of a friend of mine had started a sportswear company aimed at the young audience, so I''m going to call her and recommend that she see her files and maybe she can use you as a publicity boy for your business." "I really thank you if you can do that, I was really looking for sponsorship after this championship ends because I want to give my mother a good life until I can make money on my own." "It''s good to see that you care about your mother, and I''m happy to see that you''re not very proud and accepted my help, very proud people do not tend to gain anything in this life, because without help nobody gets anything, a lot of help before you get rich." Jake really was not ashamed to get help like that, especially as he did not get money but rather an opportunity, what more he wants are chances of proving, and Jake really thought he could help any company that would reach out to him when he was underneath, after all, it is during these hours that you most need friends. As for Joseph''s family, he was less ashamed still because he knew that if they listen to his advice their hundreds of millions of dollars company will escape from bankruptcy. What bigger help could Jake offer? So after Jake finished Matthew''s conversation he went up to the stairs without waiting for the maid and went to Joseph''s room, when he entered his friend was sitting there with a book in his hands. "Jake you finally finished the conversation with my grandfather, you do not need to be scared of him, my grandfather just has his face it would be so because he is accustomed to making that face when he is doing business, but he is even quieter than my father, even befriended my father with it will be even easier. " "I was not scared, your grandfather is really cool, he even helped me with a problem that I was worried about a long time ago on our first date." "What problem is this you had and did not tell me?" "It was just that I wanted to find a company that could sponsor me and then I could take my mom out of the waitress job and give her a well-deserved rest." "And because you did not tell me, I could have helped you with that too long before." "That''s why I did not tell you, it just happened this way because your grandfather offered it first because I would not ask him otherwise, you could not help me, it has to be a company that really needs someone to be a boy advertising, so I can help the company too, if it is not a sports company it would not work. " So Joseph understood the idea of ??Jake, then Jake spoke with his friend for a while and at the end of the day, the driver of Matthew took him back home. Chapter 50 Sponsorship 1 As soon as Jake went home he found his mother who was in the kitchen preening dinner, he stayed in the kitchen for a while looking and his mother had not noticed him because he was concentrating on the kitchen, she was struggling harder after seeing that Jake was getting better at his cooking. In fact, Jake was not really improving, he was just slowly cooking the way he did in his past life, after all, Jake cooked better than some restaurant chefs if they were just ordinary food without much sophistication, but for Eva, he was improving fast. Jake thought Eva was just proud and was being competitive, so he wanted to wait a while and teach her the things he knew or pay a cooking course for his mother, but what he had not yet realized was that his mother had a dream of having a restaurant of her own, although she did not expect that dream to come true was still a dream. "Son you already arrived, if you were there, I should have said something, you almost scared me." "I saw that you were concentrating and did not want to disturb you, I''m sorry." "Not all right, so how was the day at your friend''s house?" "It was okay, I talked to his grandfather a bit, he was a really nice person and he told me something, I''ll tell you more about it at dinner time." "Okay then, go take a shower and change clothes and then we''ll talk over dinner." So Jake went to his bathroom, this news about the sponsorship Jake had to talk to his mother calmly, she should not think it was just about making a donation, because if it was so she would not accept, he had to explain that it was an exchange and that Jake could help the company with its image and its performances. So after putting on the new outfit Jake came down the dining room and went to eat with his mother, the table was with several different things and Eva seemed to have been struggling at that dinner. "So Jake, what did you expect to tell me until dinner?" Eva knew her son well too, she knew it should be something important, or he would have said it all at the kitchen door, but she knew Jake was mature and would not cause problems, so she was not worried. "Mom, what happened was I talked to Joseph''s grandfather, his name is Matthew and he''s a really nice person, he heard that my school team had won the regional championship and I was the captain and the MVP and that we could also win the state and said that a friend of a son of a friend of his was interested in me. " Jake mixed Matthew''s words with the reality he knew and made the words a bit ambiguous to get Eva''s attention from the point, so when he spoke on the patronage, his mother would be relieved and forget the importance of the situation, this was a technique of negotiation that Jake learned to use in his past life. "What do you mean, she''s interested in you?" As Jake hoped Eve fell into her bait and shifted her attention from the main subject. "She has a company that makes sportswear for young people, they must have shoes too, so she was interested in sponsoring me to promote her brand." "Sponsorship do you mean she''s going to give you money?" "It''s almost like that, it''s not her that will give me money, but her company, so I could just talk about her company in some interviews, or play in the state with some sports article that her company does, or could even make a commercial for television or a magazine wearing and talking about your brand." "So you mean this is not a charity and that her company is going to win something with you, too?" "Exactly that, in addition, she may be investing in my future as a basketball player, if after a few years I get into college basketball or even in the NBA, even though I still do not wear the clothes of her brand, her company could declare that I wore while I was younger, they can earn a lot from it. " So Jake convinced Eva to tell him all the possibilities of sponsorship, as the company was from an acquaintance of his friend''s grandfather, they may not want Jake to do anything, but he himself knew what he said was true as he saw it happen several times. And he had the confidence to enter the NBA in the future if they did not use that opportunity who would lose it was them, but it was not his business. Of course Jake also thought that if the brand was really good, and they had a future it could help them in a future crisis, and could even be a partner of the company, but that was for the future, after all, Jake even needed to sponsor them now for not having more money, the more help the company with money. So a few days later Jake received a call from the company that Joseph''s grandfather spoke of, so he decided to go to that first date alone, after having negotiated everything correctly, he could call his mother just to sign the contract. Soon a car appeared in front of Jake''s house, and soon he saw that it was the company car so he went in and went to the restaurant that he would meet with the company representative. As soon as he entered the restaurant he went to the waiter for this to take him to the representative''s table, the waiter took him to a table which is in a separate place, it was a good place to talk business. As soon as he got close to the table he saw a beautiful woman who had gorgeous long black hair and a face that resembled the actress from the movie Ghost he saw with his mother at the cinema the other day, she was a little smaller than Jake''s mother and not it seemed to be the serious type. "Hello, you must be Jake Matthew told me the other day, I thought your mother would come with you." "Hi, I''m Jake, my mom is working today and as the matter today I am and we''re not going to sign any contracts today, I thought I could figure it out." "You''re right, Matthew even said that you were more mature than your age, my name is Clara, and I am the company''s representative in this negotiation." Jake realized that this woman seemed to be hiding something, but she could not figure out what it was, yet he did not think it would cause a problem so he did not care. "So Matthew told me about you and I heard that you were the captain of your team and had been the regional championship champion and also the MVP, so my company was looking for a young man to be the face of our company in America and so we thought you might be suitable, I wanted before I decided on this to ask a few questions for you. " Jake was relieved that she seemed to take him seriously and get right into business, and it seemed to be more or less what he expected. "Sure, you can ask whatever you want." "So I would like you to be honest with me, I do not speak what we say to anyone today, how far do you think your team can go in this season and what do you think of your team?" "I believe we can win the state championship and qualify for the national championship, plus I think we can not go very far to the national championship, about my team, some of them have skills to play the state championship and others less than that, nobody but me has the ability for the national championship. " Jake said the truth was what he had already thought before starting the regional championship, after all, it was impossible that other teams that have won their respective state championships have flawed players like Luke, unless they have a player of the level of Jake, what can be possible plus is bad anyway. Clara was a little surprised at Jake''s honesty, many young people were very attached to their colleagues and often lied or were hypocritical and did not want to speak ill of others to pretend to be cool, but Jake spoke without problems as if talking about another person. "And you have the thought of going to play in another school after you finish that championship this year?" "I have, I wanted to play in a team that had the ability to give me the national championship trophy, and also I would have to leave my school anyway after more than a year if a private school offered me a purse I could transfer there and play the national championship on a good team and stay there for high school too, I would just have to talk to my friend Joseph before. " Now Clara was more surprised because it seemed that Jake had already thought about all this for some time, it was good to do business with someone determined, things went faster. Chapter 51 Sponsorship 2 "If you do not mind, I''d like to ask you some questions about your company as well." "Do you want to ask about my company? Sure you can ask." "I''d like to know what kind of products do you work with?" "We are a company that manufactures and sells more basic sports materials and also clothes, uniforms, cleats, tennis shoes, racquets, golf clubs among other things." "So you have factories and stores too?" "Yes, we have several factories and shops, including shops in some malls, we started 5 years ago and we are looking for a person to promote some of our products to the young audience, and Matthew recommended you." "And what''s the name of the company?" "The company is called Sports 100." Jake was not only asking those questions to be the advertising kid, but also because he could invest in that company in the future, so he wanted to know if they also made their own products and did not depend on outsourced companies so they could spend a little more, but they also had more control over their deliveries. "So, did your company decide if I was going to be her advertisement boy?" "Yes, I really liked you, and besides, I found that you were honest in your answers, if you were just the regional champion and the MVP you would be qualified more I would not be sure if you would be the chosen but win the state championship is enough if you win the MVP even better." "And how much will the sponsorship be and what will I have to do?" "The sponsorship will be $ 5,000 a month, and then if your achievements improve the value also increases you will also receive the products you need for free, what you need to do is to participate in the games you participate in as the state championship using our products like sneakers and socks, if you attend interviews it would be nice if you mention the name of our company." "And if you really win the state championship, let''s do an advertisement with you by participating by using our products in some magazines and maybe even on television." "Okay, I think I''m good at doing the things you told me, so have someone take a copy of the contract to my house and I''ll tell my mother to sign it." "Then I''ll take it, we''ll meet us next time, it''ll be a pleasure working with you." "The pleasure will be all mine, I hope to be able to help promote your company as well." So Jake left home in the company car, he really liked this Clara, and after some time talking to her, Jake realized what was bothering him, this Clara should not only be the representative of the company in this negotiation, it should be the owner of the company or at least one shareholder with great power, she must be the daughter of Matthew''s friend, so she would say his name without adding lord. Jake was thinking this because he has also worked in this business and he knew that Matthew must be highly respected in this business sector, after all, he has a company worth $ 320 million, despite Clara''s company being able to earn $ 100 million. should be beyond that. So she has to be a person very close to Matthew to be able to speak his name with such intimacy, in addition, Jake was thinking that maybe the company of Clara a Sports 100 must have been bankrupt or sold until the time of Jake in the future, because he remembers that while working at the accounting firm, he once had to survey the best sports companies in Miami for a client, and the name Sports 100 was not on the list. It was amazing that two companies that Jake got involved in this would be two companies that were big plus did not succeed in the future, should be the effect of their lucky statistic that the system said that it would not be too obvious anymore would still help in their life. So he was wondering whether or not to be a partner of this company seems like the decision would be easier to take now, the hard part was figuring out why this company would have failed? After all the company of Joseph''s grandfather was because of the change in technology, so it was normal, plus a sports company was a mystery. After he got home Jake did the housework and prepared dinner for his mother, after all, he had good news for her, even if Eva did not want him to make his mother leave the restaurant now that he had that patronage, after all, her mother''s health was more important, and Eva received just over $ 1,000 working every day and doing overtime sometimes. Jake would win with this sponsorship almost 5 times more than his mother, and if he was the state championship champion he could win even more, not because his mother would suffer, it was better that she stay at home and take care of him that would earn more, of course, that if her mother had a better job and that she liked Jake she would not mind, but it was a job Eva was forced to do. As soon as she got home she went to take a shower and then put on her clothes and went to dinner with Jake, Eva was used to getting home and having the house ready and dinner ready, so she totally relaxed after getting home. "Mother I have something I would like to discuss with you." "And what''s my son, seems to be serious the way you''re talking." "I think it really is a serious matter and it should not be delayed any longer, and I hope you mother will agree to my request." So Eva realized that this was really a serious matter for Jake, she saw how serious her son was at all, studies and sports, he was struggling and she was proud of her son, she wanted to support everything Jake did that was not something bad for his future. "And what is my son you can tell me." "So Mom, what happened was this, I went to meet today with the company representative that Joseph''s grandfather recommended to sponsor me, the name of the company is Sports 100, they are reliable, so I went to talk some details of what I would have to do." So Jake took time for Eve to think about everything he said and then went on. "This company wanted me to think that I used some of their products in the championship games and also that I would mention them if I were to do an interview, also if we won the state championship I might have to do some magazines and television advertisements." "As I get better in competitions it can increase, more at the beginning I''m going to receive $ 5,000 a month and I''ll also be able to receive several products with which they work for free, so it''s a complete sponsorship and I accepted, they''ll bring a copy for you to read and sign." "So that''s what you wanted to tell me was very important? Although I do not like that you did not talk to me before accepting, how are you going to receive the sponsorship, no problem, when the copy comes I''ll read it and if everything is as you said I''ll sign it." "No mother, what I wanted to talk about important was not this, that was just for you to understand the situation." "So what was it you wanted to discuss with me." "So Mom, now that I''m going to win this sponsorship that may be over $ 5,000 in the future, I want to ask you to please quit your waitress job, that''s for mine and for your good." "Jake this is not something to discuss, I need that job to sustain the house and you should take that money and save it to use in the future, I do not want a penny of that money." "I knew it would be so why I said I wanted to argue, Mom I understand what you''re saying, this is money that will be for my future and you who are the adult would have to work and earn the money for the house." "I''m so proud of you to have taken that job and sustained us both for all these years, I know you needed, plus I want to tell you that it does not have to be more like this, I know mom you were suffering in silence all these years thinking she was hiding from me and even depressed because of her father''s death, and also that you faced a lot of pressure from having to raise myself." "I also know that you suffered and felt guilty about having to leave me home alone all these years because you needed to work, but now it does not have to be this way anymore, Mom, I want to get the money I earned with my talent and work for that you can stay at home with me longer, I do not want to see you suffering for a boss who offends you or clients who do not respect you, or the fatigue of having to work overtime." "I want you to stay at home with me, now that I have the condition I can no longer see you suffer, I also suffer thinking about what you go through, I mean that doing this I will also invest in my future." "The nightmare I said I had the day you saw me crying when you got home was that you had died from stress from working so hard, and now that I can, I do not want that to happen." "The way you help me make more money and in my future, you''re staying home and helping me so I can think about basketball on the court." Chapter 52 Sponsorship 3 While Jake continued to speak in a loving voice, Eve had been crying for a long time in his arms, Jake did not know if it was shame for her son to know everything she felt in her heart that she thought she had hidden so well, or it was relieved that now that he knew Eve would have someone she trusted to vent. It was the same situation that Jake cried all before his possible death before returning to the past, a feeling that all the things that were buried in the heart had been released and his heart that before was heavy now was light. Eve did not realize she already considered Jake that it was a child the man of the house, someone she knew she could trust now to the bills of the house he wanted to pay, Eva did not want to accept because she did not want to mess with her son''s money, but after hearing what Jake said she did not hesitate anymore, it was true that she blamed herself so much for leaving Jake at home alone when he was still small, even knowing that she was doing something that had to be done she could not forget. And if what Jake said was right then it was a bigger reason, if it was true that he was feeling anxious for fear that she had been going through something bad at work and could not concentrate on doing what she likes Eva did not want to see it happen. "Alright, then my son, when I see if the contract is right and sign I''ll get out of my job." When she heard that her mother had agreed to her selfish request, Jake just hugged her and did not speak anymore, he knew his mother was proud and it was hard for her to give up a job so many years just to hear her son. More Jake who came from the future knew that this was the best possible situation, he could only have a happy life if his mother was in his life, Jake knew from experience in his past life that having lots of money and no one to share with was not as good as it sounded. So the next day, Clara sent someone to Jake''s house to deliver the copy of the contract for Eva to sign, after reading and seeing that she was in the way Jake said she would sign, she also said that the contract would be for three years with the possibility of renewal depending on Jake''s performance. After that, Clara had the first payment deposited to show sincerity and told Jake to just wait until the time was right so he could start recording some advertisements, he also received some sneakers and socks that he should use in the next matches of the championship, day of the first state championship game Jake was free. As soon as the person who brought the contract went away Eva went to the restaurant to ask for her bills, she received a little money and just that, not a farewell and a thank you for her working there for the last eight years. So Eva left the restaurant with the right mind that had made the right decision to leave work, she had gone through a lot of hassles there and never received a compliment for her job well done. Jake, of course, was very happy about it, it was very important to him that his mother should be well, and one of the first goals he had set for him was to get his mother out of this job, and he finally got it, it may have seemed just a little more than a year more for Jake was more than twenty years to get his mother off work. Now it all depended only on him, if he continued to do well, Jake could even get another sponsorship after finishing the state championship, and he had to try harder to play better and be more sought after. So Jake was free from training and just having to go to school. Taking advantage of the fact that the sponsoring company had said that he would give away all the sporting goods Jake wanted for free, Jake asked for some basketballs and some more advanced training equipment to train the dribbles and passes, and also finally a high-performance treadmill and some weight machines. The company delivered everything Jake wanted in just two days and Eva questioned why Jake had bought a bodybuilder that he should not wear at his age and he said it was to take advantage of what was now free to save for the future. Eva, who thought that Jake would not have the strength to use these gadgets, now thought for a moment and saw that what her son said was reasonable and accepted. This time Jake had to lie, he needed the bodybuilder as soon as possible to improve his strength and play better, and with the system helping him he had no possibility of getting hurt, so Jake did not care. So missing a week to the start of the state championship to start Jake would just do weight training and also as he always does, he would train in his imagination training spit. Now it was a time that Jake was saddest in his imagination training, he was adjusting the difficulty to the maximum putting all his teammates and opponents at the maximum level of abilities, so it had been a while since Jake had not won a game in his training of the imagination. More like Jake had great talent and could also learn just by watching, he was growing in his abilities as well, it was just too difficult to increase the rank of his skills that were already almost at maximum. After almost a week when there was only one day left for the game, he received the news he had hoped for. [Congratulations Jake, you got before your first major game unlock information from the next level of high school skills.] So it seemed that after many months of effort Jake had managed to raise all his skills to the S rank of the novel Middle School, as the system said Jake had already outgrown the level of attack abilities for a long time, plus the defense was preventing him to advance. And a few months ago Jake succeeded with the help of the street basketball tournament and also his imagination training raises all his defensive skills to rank S, but as in the final game, he had learned the steal skill and thus one more skill to rise to rank S. More with a lot of training and the various championship games that forced his potential allowed him to raise his abilities by unlocking the next level. "Then show me Fate my windows of statistics and skills." [I will show more I would like to remind you before seeing your rank, what I had said before, the gap of the high school skill novel is too great, so sometimes an S rank becomes a D rank, I''ll show it now.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 11 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: High School Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 1.59 m] [Weight: 55 Kg] [Force 15] [Agility 13] [Resistance 17] [Intelligence 47] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling A] [Body Control C] [Man to Man D] [Dribble A] [Layup B] [Set Shot S] [Block D] [Pass A] [Rebound C] [2 Points S] [3 Points S] [Free Throw SS] [Steal C] --------------------------------- Despite the various warnings of the Jake system he was still shocked to see that the various SS rank abilities became B or A, and only a few came to S, only his Free Throw came to SS and would continue to do so until the NBA probably because sometimes Jake this way he hit 10 of 10 Free Throw shots, there''s no way he can hit it anymore. Basketball really had no limits, it was far from being near NBA level, and Jake felt that he had reached a limit on how much he could improve in a short time, it would probably take a year before the end of high school to Jake could see his SS statistics, and he had no confidence to see the next level before entering college because some people who play defense in late high school already have skills to enter the NBA, and Jake was not confident of raising his defense skills for this level. Jake was also happy that his statistical strength was beginning to keep up with his stamina and reaching as much as he was in his past life, only with a Jake system could he get better at that age, glad he would not grow many muscles in his body otherwise it would be weird. Jake also had realized that his height was growing rapidly for his age, soon he would reach the height of Luke who was two years older than him, it seemed that the system and also his better food was allowing Jake to get much higher than in his past life, so his dream of making a dunk in a match could come true. So everything he could prepare was ready, now it was just waiting for the opponents who would come in this state championship and he could finally reveal his true skills on the court. Chapter 53 The State Championship 1 So after two weeks of rest for all players and teams today begins the state championship, although Jake''s team has made the best possible games, they were not a favorite of that championship. The biggest favorite was the Lions team who had won the last state championship with their entire team in the second year and now everyone was in third and theoretically much better and experienced, that team was in another key so Jake''s team would only see themselves in the final results. Jake''s team opponent today had not played the state championship for three years, but they struggled last year''s champions in the final, and that team they won tight was one of the worst teams in the state championship last year. The team''s name is Alligators, and all players seemed average in skill, the best player on the team was their SF that was called Will, as Aiden is a bit weak in defense the game will be one with many points, his PG that would mark Jake''s name was Tom. Although Jake was not worried he still warned his teammates to play with concentration and give no space to the opponent, and if anyone could in the game that covered Aiden who was with the most difficult opponent. Before the game Jake put on the sneakers and socks of the brand he was sponsored, of course, he did not tell this to his teammates, because although he did not believe it, it could happen to be envious of his teammates and affect in matches. So the game started with the ball in the possession of Jake, who soon began to advance to opponent''s court, he was taking this game more seriously after knowing that his skills were not as high as he thought they were, this brought Jake a little to the reality that he was only an 11-year-old yet and that he still had a great distance from the NBA. As soon as he reached the three-point line his team was already positioned for the attack, after the regional championship finale, Jake trained a few more signs with his team, as he increased by only two each did not have to worry, more Jake had more than 10 new combinations to think about now. He made some signs and then passed the ball to Owen who was freer because he had not made any points so far, so Owen did the layup and the first two points of the state championship for the team. Owen and Luke had been learning from Jake directly that he had a high school player''s abilities now, after two months if they could not make a free basket as Owen was now he would not deserve to be called basketball players or at school. The Alligators team suffered now with their oversight, of course, all teams have players who could at least score points, so they gave those points by underestimating their opponents, which was what Jake always said. After Tom started the attack on their team, Tom and no one in that league had received information from other teams besides which player they had to worry about, and Jake was one of them, in the information just said that Jake was a good offensive player and that knew how to organize the team at the time of the attacks. Plus there was nothing in the information about Jake being good at defense, so after Tom got the three-point line he did not make the pass and tried to infiltrate for the basket, although he felt the mark of Jake squeeze him still managed to move, when he was doing the layup the ball had gotten out of his hands, he was focused on scoring and relaxed his hands from the ball and Jake seized the opportunity and stole the ball. So Jake just ran more than the others and not at his top speed and reached the opposing basket to score two more points for his team. ... While the game on the court in the bleachers had several reporters who had been sent by the newspapers of their cities to cover the championship, despite being better than the regional no one liked being sent to cover such low-level championships, at least they would be willing if it were national. One such journalist was the only 25-year-old Eric Hunt who was sent to cover the Miami Herald, the Miami Herald, Eric was just a news reporter and columnist for the Miami Herald, and despite being a minor league, always had players who could be future NBA stars. And the person Eric was eyeing at this time was the young Jake Smith who was just 11 years old and was in his second year at his school, he was the MVP of his school''s regional and many including Eric had seen that he had not shown all your ability. Now was the chance to see if he even had the potential to be a star in the future, and if he had Eric himself would do his interview for a future star he could follow in the future. ... On the court, Tom was starting another attack, although he acknowledged that he was wrong to leave the ball unprotected it was the first time he had the ball in his possession stolen, that is to say, that Jake was also good in defense. So when it came to line three he did not want to risk more attacking alone then he made the pass to the SG of his team, although Will be the best in the attack on his team Tom knew he could not pass the ball just for him, otherwise his attack would be very predictable, after SG received the ball he made a feint and Lucas gave him a space, SG did not take advantage to make the dribble more decided to make a two-point shot right there. And so they slowed down the board, Jake never had many expectations for the defense of his team so he just started the game and did not say anything, although he knew that Lucas could be sad, more like his teammate made a mistake that could not be corrected in this game what else could Jake tell him? So he just restarted with the game, in the line of three points Jake passed the ball to Lucas and just nodded indicating that he should know what to do, Lucas made a feint and then the dribble and ran to make the two points. As in the first period the teams were only studying Jake as he always managed to impose his pace of play because it was superior to Tom, so in the end Jake''s team ended up leading by four points, although the Alligators tried their best without risking making more mistakes they could not lead the score because Jake''s team did not lose any possession of the ball. And so it was the same in the second period and Jake''s team was ahead by 10 points now, the highlight of the team other than Jake was Owen who became one of the best centers after learning to strike too, Luke was struggling to maximum as he acknowledged his weaknesses was improving so as not to be a major weakness on the team. Luke was also making the most of learning Jake''s attack and defense with Owen, with two national-level players teaching it was hard not to improve, and Luke seemed to have his strong point that was discovered by Jake, who was that his reaction speed was fast, so he would not fall into as many feints as Lucas and Aiden. So his role in the game was to disrupt the opponent as much as possible without missing, he did not need to steal the ball or block the attacks, only to disrupt, of course, he and all of the team knew that if a skilled player attacked the team would be in danger. In the interval from the second to the third period, Alligators had more time to discuss what to do to try to win this game, and decided that the way was to rely on Will for the attacks of the team even if the move is obvious, after all, was the only way of not losing attacks. Too bad they did not have a good way to beat their opponents in defense, Jake''s signals were simply deadly for any defensive positioning, with three signs he could change the position of the entire team twice, and so it looked like a dance in the attack. When the third period began the Alligators team started to do what they planned, all their attacks went through Will and Aiden was simply a defense ornament in that game, Jake was seeing all those moves more did not think with a big advantage as they were it was not necessary for him to trade the tag with Aiden. Jake''s team attack also missed more during this period and Owen could not take all the rebounds, so Jake''s team was in danger of getting behind on the scoreboard by two points in that period and lessening the advantage they had overall if Jake did not do something. Chapter 54 The State Championship 2 So Jake began to focus more on defense, he observed Tom ahead of him and also Will''s position on the court, and as every time Tom tried to give a pass to Will, Jake reacted faster and as he hoped this pass managed to intercept the pass. More this time he did not immediately rush into the attack and just moved calmly to the attacking court, so it helped the mind of all his team to calm down, they were agitated by the pressure of the opponent who looked like they were behind on the scoreboard. So Jake was showing that he need not be in a hurry, it was only calmly advancing that they would win the match, on the other side this intercept of Jake made Tom anxious, although he knew that spending every hour for Will could leave the play checked, which he was worried that Will would double-mark and not that the ball was intercepted. So he was right now that the report was wrong and Jake focused more on defense than on the attack, because he did not score many points, although all the attacks of his team passed through his hands that were normal, all the attack of his team also passed through his hands. Now, this defense was not what anyone would do, he was the toughest opponent he ever played, actually what Tom did not know is that the report was made predicting what Jake would be if he did his best, and was correct, the defense has always been Jake''s weakness. It goes without saying that the difference between Jake and the others was his experience and the system, he gained a lot of experience in his imagery training games, and the system gave Jake a goal for him to improve his defense, otherwise Jake probably would not have has struggled so hard. After this move killed the small reaction of the Alligators team, the game was once again controlled by Jake, and in the last period the ball was over for Aiden to score the points, so he could at least feel a little better for his weak defense. And so the game ended with Jake''s team having a 16-point lead, it was lower than most regional doe games, only seeing from that side shows the strength of the state championship teams, the Lions who were the favorite team were in the level of ability. After the game ended Jake said goodbye to his teammates and was preparing to leave when he went to by the reporter Eric, as he was not too tired Jake decided to do the interview. "Hi Jake, are you okay, I''m Eric and I''m from the Miami Herald and would like to ask you some questions?" "Sure you can ask." "Well then, you won the MVP award of the Miami regional championship and it was one of the highlights of your team''s victory today, do you think you have the possibility to win MVP in that championship as well?" "Yes, I think I have possibilities, I have confidence in my abilities, but as I do not know the best players in the state championship it is difficult to say if I will win, after all, most of the teams here have the MVP of their championships playing in their teams." "This interview will be published only after the end of the state championship so you can rest easy, so I will ask that question, many people think that you did not show all your skills in these games that have happened here, you can tell me the because?" "What happens is that this can be seen from the wrong point, I think my strong point in basketball is already being shown, how PG my ability to keep up with the game and also to be able to organize the attacks of my team with quality are my greatest ability, what I have not done yet was to show my individual skills that are less important than those of the team, and I did not do that to be able to catch unprepared opponents." Although Jake''s response seemed diplomatic was the truth, for a PG to be considered to be successful is when he has the ability to show the best of his teammates potential because the PG could be less skillful than the rest of the team, so he has which if considered a foothold for team, if Jake could play with great NBA players using his signals to score the plays, the result would be incredible. And of all the rest Jake already showed a lot of his abilities, he only played more for the team than for himself, so far he just did not show his skill in the 3-point shot that could be a good weapon in some games if he caught the unsuspecting opponent. "Do you have something to say that you would like me to add to your interview?" "Yes, I would like to thank all of my mother''s support first, because without what she did for me I could not be here and also my sponsor, the Sports 100 company, which allowed me to focus only on basketball." Eric was surprised by someone of Jake''s age already having a sponsor and was even more certain of his feeling that he could become a star in the future, even concentrating on the basketball he already is, he may become a future NBA star. So Eric thought about asking a few more questions and preparing well before doing another interview, so he would have the complete material to show in his column in the newspaper. After that Jake went home and told his mother excitedly about his victory, although he did not want to show himself, he liked to see the proud smile on his mother''s face, yet he wished she were just the game in the final, because she was very nervous in games and has no greater support than he would have to see her in the final. In that game Jake could see that his 2-point shots and also his passes were more stable, and if he had to give a guess, it would be because of his recent increase in strength, he could see more and more differences in his statistics later that they were increasing, he now had more confidence that his 3-point shots would also be more successful. In addition, Jake had many Stamina Bars stored in his inventory, so in one important game he did not need to worry about the lack of power, he still did not have enough stamina to play a full game in the NBA, plus the four periods of one playing at school was easy. So another week quickly passed and another game went by, it was incredible that he seemed an easier opponent than the Alligators, so Jake could easily dominate the game and his team won by 24 points, some reporters and coaches already saw Jake''s team as a favorite to win the championship most knew that the way they were could not win the Lions in the final. At the end of this game, Eric appeared again and Jake stopped to welcome him. "Would you like another interview?" "I would like, plus we will leave to further in the championship to give time to prepare all the questions I want to ask for you, near the end would be a good time." "Good to know that you too are confident that our team will go far in that championship, but if you are not here for an interview do you have something you want to tell me?" "You''re pretty smart for your age, yes I wanted to tell you that you''re the captain as a fan I''m cheering for a Miami team, it''s a warning, for you to take care of your next opponent." "Oh, are they that good?" "No, if it is to put on skill levels they are at the level of your first opponent the Alligators, what I told you to be careful of is that they do something that no one likes to see in the youngsters'' championships." "And what is it that makes you tell me that I should prepare myself." "They make fouls, a lot of fouls, and they always take turns not to get kicked out, and even if they are their reserves they have almost the same skill level as the starting team, even though they do not hurt the opponent everyone knows that young players are not good myth in Free Throw, as soon as they have managed to advance to their third game, I do not know how their teammates are from Free Throw so I''m only warning in the case. " "Thank you, you tell me to have a week to prepare and organize a strategy." "I hope you win, although it''s not illegal everyone likes to see an open game, so everyone should cheer for you." Jake was really worried now, an opponent making fouls, is the worst opponent for teams like Jake that depend on the ability of a single player, so Jake knew, only Lucas is good at Free Throw, Aiden is just average and the other two would be difficult to hit one. So even the attack handling techniques with the signals would not work, and he could not pass on to anyone, only Aiden and Lucas can be trusted in their Free Throw, although this kind of tactic is useless in teams like the Lions, they could get quite far. It seems that for the next game Jake would have to give up some of the team play and show off his skills that everyone wants to see because if they need Jake, the points can be considered converted. Chapter 55 The State Championship 3 So the time passed and the day of the third game arrived, Jake spent the whole week thinking of another solution to win this game by using the strength of his teammates, but could not think of anything, even if the others received the ball and passed quickly someone would have to give the shot, and that would be the one to receive the lack. Of course, it would not be the whole game that the other team would miss, only when they wanted to get past the scoreboard, but Jake did not know when that time would come so he could only trust his teammates who knew how to shoot. The opposing team was called Snakes, probably by coincidence they used this tactic, they were an average team with no players to be taken into special consideration, most of them were efficient, they made the layups to be wrong and also the 2-point shots, they did not usually lose attacks. Their defense was not very special, they did not steal the ball and also could not disrupt the attacks very much, only with the tactic of stopping the game with fouls they got so far, of course, that they had the skills needed to win the regional competition. The game started and the ball was in possession of Jake, as he knew his team could lose if he played as always he talked to his teammates that he would spend less the ball in that game, it was necessary, more, if the opponent''s defense scored double in it, would openings. So Jake reached the three-point line and did his signs as always, to see that the opponent was planning to start with a foul, so he passed the ball to Owen and when his marker became distracted he left the mark and ran to the key , so Owen returned the ball to Jake who alone did the layup and scored the first two points. That caught the Snakes by surprise, so they missed the chance to get ahead in that game, when they went to the attack, Jake and his teammates were scoring higher than usual, yet they managed to tie the game in a 2-shot from the opponent''s SF. They did some research on Jake''s team and found out that Aiden and Lucas were defensive faults, but with tight marking like that would be difficult for them to attack all without making a mistake. So Jake always told the team to at least know how to put pressure, because with the pressure and then the fatigue the aim of the opposing team would fall, and Jake told Owen to try a block if he saw an opportunity. The game continued like this and used his teammates and his speed to score points and avoid the fouls, he was not afraid of fouls, but he wanted to show the other team that his tactics did not work against him and his team. The team of Snakes, on the other hand, had lost hurts attacks because of tight marking, and so Jake''s team finished the first period 6 points ahead, although Jake had run quite a bit was not at all tired and he had scored 8 points only in the first period. The Snakes'' team was missing out on what to do on defense, he who was known to do many fouls had failed to do any, and when they tried to double-marking Jake he would pass the ball and his teammate would score the free basket. So the Snakes realized that they would lose the game sooner than they thought, the team already knew that by doing what they did and also without skilled players they would not win, nor did they think they would lose in the third round either. But Jake is a player who can break the balance of a match on his own, even if he were to get tired in the third period it would be too late to narrow the gap, and it''s not like when Jake leaves the court his teammates could not score points. So the game continued like this until the end of the second period, the game was already 40 to 28 for Jake''s team, Jake had made 22 points, and the PG who was trading him was now exhausted and Jake still full of energy, so everyone players are either Jake''s team or opponents, including fans, reporters and scouts from other teams underestimated much that Jake could do. Everyone thought that Jake was hiding his skills but no one thought that much, he was a PG and he was always the third on the points list, behind Aiden and Lucas, and how he had played so well in defense in some games, they, however, he could not move due to his tying movements, and the players did not seem to sleep a bit. Jake in that game proved his potential as SF or SG, no one thought he should be the one who gave the passes, it was a waste of potential, of course, Jake knew what they thought, more was as he had said in the interview. A good PG is like a quarterback in the NFL, no teammates who stand out and score points after receiving the balls would be of no use so he believed that in the future when playing with high-level players he could show all his skills. In the third period, the team of Snakes knew that they had lost the game and relaxed in the marking, so Jake also returned to play as in the other games just distributing the plays, and thus the game was calming and the difference in the score even diminished. So it was 70 to 60, and everyone was happy after seeing this game, Eric was right on the stand that his decision had been right to think Jake was a star, and in addition, now he did a favor for that player, either say that maybe in the future he can do exclusive interviews with him. He was still preparing the questions and wanted to do after the next game that would be the semifinal so he would take the opportunity to ask what he thought of the final game that would most likely be against the Lions. The coaches from other teams who attended this game were now worried that they might face this team, and for all of them they became favorites along with the Lions, Jake''s team were also excited about being champions of the state and their dream and coach Roy as well. They were not jealous because they were lucky enough to have Jake on their team, and they also knew that Jake was thinking about them and so he spent so much money and he always had few points in other games, now more than ever Jake was the captain in their hearts. ... In the stands, sitting in the corner were two illustrious presences that would not normally come in school games, these women were Clara and her friend, Clara, as Jake thought, was the same shareholder with the largest number of shares in the sportswear company, she had 21 percent of the total shares of your company. Her father had 10 percent, her husband had 10 percent as well and the woman on her side had the other 10 percent, Clara is only 25 years old this year, and her husband is 30 after marrying for having been betrothed by her father, Clara who was only 18 years old did not want to stay at home and went to do university of administration. At the university she met her friend who was also from a wealthy family like her and they had met briefly at some social parties, so at university they found they had common tastes and became friends, and when she was 20 she had an idea and decided to go in the sports materials market and so tried to raise funds, in just 3 years the company started to succeed and now was starting to earn enough to reward who invested in it. Her friend''s name was Tiffany and she also decided to open a company when Clara opened hers, her company was a natural sports drink called Sports Natural. Tiffany also invested in 10 percent of Clara''s company and her company was starting to be successful too, Clara called Tiffany to watch the game of Jake who was the company''s new advertising boy, Tiffany did not like her decision because Jake was very new, and she thought a high school player was better and would have more visibility for the young audience. More after seeing the game tonight, Tiffany had nothing more to say and had to endure seeing the arrogant smile on Clara''s face, her friend said that it was a good idea to have a younger and more talented player, besides having been recommended by Matthew. Clara had pointed out several things, first, that was the recommendation of a friend, if they accepted they would have done a favor, according to he was young, then his sponsorship would be lower in value in the beginning, third he was very talented and would add value to the mark. Fourth would be great to have a talented young player who over the years he would develop and look better and could even get to the NBA, so the company could be said a little responsible for it has succeeded. Tiffany thought the idea was good, but Jake might not be so capable, but after today she had to accept that she was wrong and that her friend''s vision was better than hers. Chapter 56 The State Championship 4 "Okay, I''ll admit that I was wrong and that your decision was right, but you''re really lucky, a friend makes a recommendation and turns out to be a genius." "He really is very good, but the reason I chose him apart from his ability is his personality, he is quite mature and honest for his age, so he is someone who can be trusted, besides, as I said we did not invest much in it, if it did not work, we would not lose much." "You''re right, we have to risk it sometimes, if his team wins the state championship and he''s the MVP we''re going to increase his sponsorship to $ 10,000 a month and start recording the advertisements, I''m going to make him the advertising boy for my company for $ 10,000 as well." "You too? Your business is not geared towards young people with mine, a professional player would make more success would not it?" "We are going to look for a professional athlete too, more basketball players and American football are more successful more are also very expensive, so I can choose a professional athlete in another sport and Jake for basketball, as you said is a good story to sponsor a young man who can go to the NBA, does more advertising in the long run." "You are right, we have a market with many strong companies, we have to stand out in a different thing if we manage to win the young public could be an advantage for us, everyone wants the same as the champions." "We''re going to have to see a new school for him come in next year too, this team is very weak, and as you said he accepted we can choose now, a private school is a good idea because he can stay there until he graduates." "Let''s see this with Matthew too, it seems that Jake and his grandson are close friends, so he can get a good idea and change Jake along with his grandson to a new school, Jake also mentioned when I told him that he would depend on seeing with Joseph if he would change schools." So as they got up to leave after watching the game the two friends decided important things about Jake''s life, the more important he was to play basketball, to help his mother with the money earned and to maintain his friendship with Joseph. So Jake went home and told his mother that he won the game, she was very happy, with the passing of the games she was not so anxious more before Jake''s games, her son was more mature and Eva did not think Jake would to despair if he lost a game after winning so much. "Mom, now we have two more games and in the end I want to see you there, it seems the opponents are really strong, we''re going to have to do our best if we want to win, the good thing is that after that we''ll have the holidays, so it would give the team more time to train for nationals." "Son, it''s good to be confident, but you should not talk like that to anyone else, because even if you really can win you will be an arrogant person, and no one likes arrogant people." "I know mom, I just say if you need it and for you, otherwise you''ll be anxious the same in the first games." "I''m not going to stay that way anymore, I believe you and even if you can not win I know you''ll handle it well." "You could have stopped at the ''I believe in you'' part more thank you." It was good to know that his mother trusted him, Jake did not like being treated with a child, because although his body being his mind was not, it is difficult to be treated with someone who can not do anything, plus he even liked it when his mother worried about him. So he had a week to prepare before the game, the bad thing is that this week Eric had not mentioned anything about his next opponent, it really sucks to stay in the dark, but before the game they would get a report, but also even if they knew in advance they would have nothing to do. In the months that the championships were going on while Jake was just doing his imagination training, his teammates were working with coach Roy every day to be able to improve even a little, but the time is not enough. If Jake did not have the system either, he probably was training like that too, of course, it was only with bodybuilding and his imaginative training that Jake''s training was much more effective than his opponents. While at school Jake only read his books and talked to Joseph in the breaks, the school was very pleased with him, after all the basketball team was putting the name of the school in the newspapers and attracting a lot of attention, now they would also attract more students who were good at sports, this would increase the credibility of the school. Jake was considered the best example for the school to give his students as well, after all, he was still number one on the test scores of the school, and his friend Joseph was second, many even thought that Joseph only got it because he learns something with Jake, when he heard this his friend became very angry, he studied ten times more than the others in school and now the credit had been given to Jake who never helped at all. Jake just laughed at this, after all no matter how long Joseph studied between classes would not compensate for the years he studied, and even now he was still studying, it was like a famous saying in the sport if you do not stop the distance will not decline easily. If Jake was satisfied with what he had and stopped studying in a few years Joseph would be better than him, but here he was studying with two books. But the school was prepared to lose Jake for the next year, he did not know that anymore even his teammates already expected Jake to transfer next year, after all, it did not make sense for Jake to continue in this school, he was already more advanced with the studies and also in basketball. "Jake, my dad asked me if I''d like to change schools like you, I had not heard you''re going to change schools?" "I also have nothing definite yet, I''ll just see it after the national championship is over, I did not even look for a new school, so I would tell you before I decide to change." "So I think my dad is getting ahead, but if you change, I''m going too, after all, my father had already told me at the end of last semester that after that year their test for me was over and that I should choose a good particle school to learn more." "I''ll be happy if you change with me, because you do not tell your father to use your contacts to see a school that is good in both sports and teaching, how do you go there too, this is important, after all, if you have a team average would be enough to win the national team next year." "Good idea, my dad will be happy to do it." Of course what Jake did not say is that he did not intend to pay a penny in a private school, even if he has conditions now to pay because he thinks unfair as he did not need it, he would make a good advertisement for school, a scholarship because a school could not. After returning home Jake did a few hours of training and then had dinner with his mother, for now, Jake was no longer cooked, his mother who was now at home did not want Jake to cook or do household chores like his Mom seemed happy and excited about it and did not get too tired he decided to leave it for now. After all, Eva worked for many years as a waitress and sometimes worked overtime at work, compared to cleaning a house that only two people lived was much easier, and so she realized her desire to stay at home to take care of her child and relieved one of the things he had in his heart. After he went to the room Jake was thinking of everything he''s been through since his return, he really thought he had too much karma accumulated on how well things had happened in his new life, of course, compared to a life of chance is paradise. The thing that made Jake happier was to have been able to help his mother and have basketball in his life, he already loved basketball after his accident in his past life and had discovered his talent and how much fun it was to play, even more special because now he had experienced all that the sport could bring and not just the shots of three. So with each game, he did he discovered a side of his competitive that became more and more anxious with the victory, this was a desire of rewards that he weaves when he began to learn the languages and make trips at the end of the years, but now it was better because he competed with others and the rewards were not given by himself. Now he just had to go on like this and live one day at a time, he had everything he wanted for now, but he had many ambitions to do when he grew older, one of them was to find a good woman and build his family, he hoped also that he and his mother could be happy. Chapter 57 The State Championship 5 After a long time thinking about what happened in the past and what could happen in the future Jake smiled, and so he stayed for a while then he thought of something and could not resist the curiosity to ask the system. "Fate, I was curious, in many games or stories the system always gives missions or reward the protagonist with something when he does something, but I did not receive any of these types, why?" [I was curious as to why you did not ask me this before, as I said before my goal in sending you to the young past and also come with you as a system, is to help you fulfill many of your desires and not allow a tragedy happen to you.] [Even though I want to help you a lot, I can only do what your karma created in this and the other accumulated life allows, for now, I have not made very big changes in your lifestyle nor given anything that you did not have to train also to receive.] [So in the future you will be able to receive several rewards for the actions you did more as you are very young and you are ahead of many talents your age, you have no real challenge now, and even if it seems a challenge is no achievement in view of the system.] [So you''ll only have rewards when you make NBA-level achievements, and in return those rewards would be very good, and if you win them now it would be worse than winning in the future, for example, if I give you physical stats points for you now, it will be much harder to train to earn another point, but when you reach the age of the NBA you will have all your stats very high and it will be difficult to train the next point so you''d better win later than now. Jake had just asked a casual question and was not really upset about it, after all, he already had everything he wanted plus he did not think he would have such a complete answer, and it seems that the system had already expected him to ask about it, that for the system, winning trophies and prizes without being in the main league was not a very big achievement. He did not agree with that part, after all, when you are young you have limitations, like Jake who cannot win even though he has more skills than his opponents because his team is weaker, and in the NBA everyone would have grown up a lot and faced many experiences like by Jake. More after listening to the other part, Jake realized, for the truth that it was not so difficult to gain new points of physical statistics for now, but now it was much harder than at the beginning when he had all his statistics in single digits, so he could imagine which would take months even with exercise devices to increase new points when he was above 30 points. At that time he will be playing in the NBA and it would be great to win a statistic point when it was difficult to train, it''s like in martial arts stories, if a martial artist gets a pill that can make him cross any level he''d rather use to cross a bottleneck or a difficult level, than when he is in the first levels that only take months to cross. And he remembered that the system said that when his strength was very high he could improve his percentage of hits in 3-point shots, then he would be a star even if he did not want to, and another thing the system said is that because of the system Jake could go months without training and still maintain fitness and he would not get fat. It means that when his level was high he would not need training and could rely only on missions and rewards to get better, and he knew that no matter how good he was he could not win the NBA title in the first years, unless that your team is already a champion. So he would have to build his skills for many years to be a champion, not to mention that Jake had many other goals in life beyond basketball. After that week passed quickly and the game of the semifinal arrived, before the game instead of warming up he took the information of his opponent to study better, so he saw that the opponent in the semifinal was the Wolves team. The Wolves were a tough opponent but not hard to beat, their best player was the SG called Mike, the PG was the second best and he was good at organizing the attacks, his name was Alex, and another good opponent was Center Paul. This was very good for Jake''s team, since his greatest weakness on his team Luke would not be exploited, so they just had to try harder, it seems that the opposing team was very fast and his PG did a lot of stealing and the Center some blocks. It was more difficult for Alex to steal Jake''s ball, and Owen did not attack much so the opponent would not have anyone block, so it would be a game that made more points and missed less since Mike would have more freedom to score over Lucas. The game started with possession of the ball with the team of Wolves, when Alex got the ball he started to run for the attack while he hit the ball in the middle, he wanted to try to take the opposing defense of surprise, but Jake was already on top of him, not giving room to move forward. He already had the information that Jake was fast, plus he thought it was like the almost seemed like he was underestimating the opponent, more when Alex started to run Mike also ran along and the two had the same speed, Jake was able to follow his mark more Lucas did not then Mike was free to receive the ball and score the first points of the game. After Jake started the first attack of his team, although Alex tightened the defense Jake could still get around, and he reached the three-point line, the opponents were in position and attentive to the change of opponent movement, so Jake made the signs and his companions began to move, their defenders followed closely. After Jake made another sign and passed the ball, Lucas took a few steps back and received the ball, Jake fired toward the basket and Lucas passed in the empty space, Jake received the ball and gave the 2-point shot and tied the game. The opponents scored well, but Jake managed with the movement of his teammates to open space for him to attack, it was a move that did not have the defense to react correctly and only Alex could do something, but Jake was very fast when he reacted Jake already had gone through it. After a tight match, the Wolves'' attack was very dynamic and with good players who did not lose the attacks or the pressure, and in Jake''s team, he made the points of the team. It was the same situation as the last game if they did double marking Jake would pass the ball to whoever was free, and if the marking was weak he would make the basket on top of the two opponents, so they could only hope Jake got tired. Alex was also frustrated, in addition to losing speed he had no chance to steal the ball, when he tried Jake took advantage of the opening and did the dribble, and in that game Jake showed the strength of his dribbles, he made crossovers and other plays to pass Alex or to create space for the shot. Even with often having two scoring Jake the opponent was tiring faster, and at the end of the first period because of a mistake in the attack, the team of Jake was ahead of the score by 2 points. For those who saw in the stands looked like a very tight game was more in control of Jake, he only feared opponents that could give shots of 3 points, because then it was difficult to control the score. Another thing that could happen is if his team lost possession of the ball if he had more than one player with Alex''s defensive ability, Jake''s team would lose many attacks and it would be difficult to reverse the score because Jake could not attack and score without giving a pass. The second period was practically the same, Lucas was already starting to feel discouraged because many balls would come on him, others would go to the PF of the Wolves and the only Paul did not receive passes, it seemed that the team was worried about Owen too. Jake had a chance to take the lead off my feet, but he could not seem to keep up with the others. At the end of the third period, Jake received again double marking and had to move to Lucas who was free, and Lucas lost the attack thus equalizing the game, Lucas was sad and lost his morale and Jake was forced to animate him as was the captain team. In fact, if he could choose he would not, it was not enough for him not to complain about the innumerable failures of the team and besides, he had to encourage them, it really was not an easy task to be the captain of a team. Chapter 58 The State Championship 6 When the third period was over, the game was tied, it was an exciting game for the public and the journalists, but it was exhausting for those on the court, Jake was very tired and his five opponents were just a little better. After all, the entire Wolves team took turns to double-score Jake for the entire game, after Lucas made that mistake. Jake was not relying on his teammates much more to score, but now the victory was almost guaranteed. Jake ate his Stamina Bar that he had accumulated from the system missions and regained all his energy, as Jake had a good body he was not sighing and sweating much earlier despite being exhausted. Then his opponents only knew that he was exhausted because he was falling in yield in the last plays, and thus the Wolves team would take advantage when Jake was substituted to extend the advantage. After all, everyone knew that without Jake his team did not have the ability to charge here alone, so Jake played every minute in every championship, and his body easily withstands a normal game. So what the Wolves thought would be the key for them to win would be sure of their defeat, although their team was not exhausted they could barely finish the fourth period without running much more, but they did not expect Jake to come back full of energy and they would have to run more. And so it was the fourth period, his opponents saw Jake running as usual and could not keep up, and then they thought that Jake was pretending he was tired to trap, at the end of the game Jake was attacking freely and the Wolves who were tired missed some attacks. Almost, in the end, Jake still took advantage of the oversight of Alex to steal the ball and run to the opposing court and extend the advantage, in the end, the game was 70 to 64 and Jake''s team went to the final. The Wolves'' team was disconsolate and many even cried because they felt they lost to just one player, of course, Jake''s team supported this game a lot, in the end, was their pressure by the tired opponents'' players who secured the victory. Everyone celebrated the qualification for the final as always, after all, mistakes like Lucas''s even happen with the pros, and everyone understood Jake''s decision not to pass the ball at the end of the game. Jake was not that happy, this was a good game that stimulated his potential and he had improvements in his abilities, but what he could not get out of his head and smile was the fact that in that game the limit of his team was clear. Jake did not doubt that if he tried his best they would be able to win the final and take the state championship title, but he knew that almost all teams that play in the national championship would be of the same level as the Wolves at least to the strongest. Because even though he tells everyone that he does not think he has the ability and strength to win the national championship he still wanted to try, Jake wanted to see how far they could get competing with the best teams in the country. But this game made it clear that this is not possible, he has the strength and the will to defy more now he knew he did not have the qualifications, even if Jake was a strong body the team would be his wings to be able to fly, and it is as if all national championship teams were in the sky. But after seeing his teammates smiling and celebrating he also had to compose himself, although his goals were different he could not blame his teammates who were doing their best for his talent shortages, he would only take them to the national championship to hold their dreams and see more of your smiles. When Jake recovered he saw Eric walking up to him, as he did not need any warning to know how strong his next opponent was, he must have come to do another interview, Jake liked Eric because he tried to help his team with that information in another day. "It must be an interview today, I would like to thank you for your good intention the other day for that information, it was very useful to know that some of our tactics would not work, so you can ask whatever you want." "I actually came today for an interview, and I was feeling like I got too into the business of others that day, after all, even without my warning you would still win." "It''s the intention that counts." "Well then, I prepared this interview carefully in the last weeks, now I''ll ask the questions prepared, in these last games, everyone can see that you are much better than your teammates, do you think you have a chance to win that championship?" "I think so, I do not know the Lions team and I''ve never seen them play, but I can say that I think all the last four teams in that league have a real chance to be a champion, so I think our team''s strength does not is smaller than theirs. " "The Lions team has a whole team of high-level players and they also have great height, they also have reserves of the same level as the main team and you will not be able to make many points attacking internally, with only 2 shots, you Do you have any idea how to win under these conditions? " This was the first time Jake heard the information from the Lions team, if it was Eric as he said playing as they played today, it will not come out with the win, it seems that Jake would have to use all his skills in that final and that they could only see the other teams in the national championship. "Of course, our team has prepared for every situation, we have several ways to compete with all kinds of opponents, we intend to leave as the champions." "You said you have a sponsor, do you think next year you can change schools to try to win the national championship next year?" "I thought about this possibility, but I do not know if any school is interested in me because they would have to have a much better team." "Do you intend to enter the NBA in the future?" "I intend to have the chance, but only after finishing university." And so it ended with the promised interview, Eric was very pleased with these answers and was happy that Jake did not avoid answering any of the questions, he was also surprised to know that Jake would try to finish college first before trying to enter the NBA, is not this the goal of all basketball players? For Jake it was not like that, basketball was a fundamental part of his life and he loved it more had much more important ideals, he would not do as in movies drop everything that was really important for a dream, Jake''s priority was his mother and then living a happy life, if playing basketball helped in that, but he would not make it a priority, if his mother had a problem and needed help he would drop everything. But he did not think it would be like that, basketball is the path he chose to solve the problems of his life while doing what he loves, and the system would help accomplish that, and it''s not like he could not play in college, and sponsorships would solve many problems. After that, Jake went home and told his mother about his team''s victory and they moved on to the final, now Jake wanted to see Eva there cheering for him, maybe he was the only calm among the players who would be in the final, despite the Lions thought they were going to win they were worried about Jake too. And the players of Jake''s team also would not relax and train all week before the game to try to improve even a little and take the pressure off their captain''s shoulders to bring another trophy to their school, they were lively and confident in victory. Reporters and reporters, coaches from other defeated teams and businessmen from all over the state would be attending this game because the best players in the state would be on the court, and the victor would represent them at the state championships early next year. Entrepreneurs were looking for youngsters who could sponsor, most were looking for the elders who would go to high school next year after all the high school championships are seen by people across the country, and would bring more visibility to the company. And Jake was training on the racing and bodybuilding machines and also every day he trained his 3-point shots until he was tired, this was the weapon he had never used in the championship, not many of his age could give him 3-point shots and he hoped to catch the opponent by surprise, so they would open up the advantages for Jake''s team. If he could not do layups and all the players on the opposing team had tall players, he would only betray his scorer and give his shot in the 3-point line, he could only squint at his aim and his luck that the system said it was good and would trust Owen to get some rebounds as well, it would soon be the state championship final, and the best would be decided there. Chapter 59 The State Championship 7 So the long-awaited final day, everyone was nervous when they arrived at the place that would be held the match, Jake''s team always knew they would not have a chance to win the national championship, so their ultimate goal was this trophy that would be played that time. game. The players were nervous because they did not have enough confidence in their abilities, they all improved a lot since the first game, they gained experience and struggled to get here, especially Owen and Luke, Owen who could now attack well thanks to their captain and became one of the best championship centers and Luke reached the level of the team, he was no longer the weakness of the team. But even so, they knew they did not have the skills to be in that final, confidence that the players who played the championship last year in reaching the national championship were absurd now that they looked at it, they had to beat the Tigers that were much more strong and experienced them. The only point of courage that all the team had to hope to sell this game today was Jake, a younger player than they and their captain, everyone knew he was a genius, plus he also did well as a captain he supported and even taught the team players, and before when they thought they would lose Jake showed new skills. It was like Aiden once said in school, his captain was like an onion had layers and more layers, and whenever he peeled one he would look better. Coach Roy was also nervous, today he would finally meet two of his goals as coach of that school, reach the national championship with a school that does not specialize in sports and trains a player who could be a star in the future. Jake was also nervous, it was the first final that he considered really important, he hoped to take this medal and the trophy home, this game was a real achievement for him, and he also felt the real weight of his responsibilities in this game, all his team, the coach, the fans who have been following and enjoying his team throughout this championship and the students from his school who came to see the game today. He knew that if they could win the championship today was in their hands as he became more nervous he turned and looked at the bleachers, and so in the first row he saw his mother, she was anxious looking at him and forcing a nervous smile, she''d been supporting Jake forever, in two whole lives. Then he started to calm down and with a smile waved to her as if it was a sign the crowd in the stands began to cheer and scream, so Jake got more confidence, that he was not alone, he had his teammates and fans. Jake looked across the court and saw the other team, or Lions, they did not look nervous and were confident, their team has often won the state championship, and in addition to Owen they were taller than all of Jake''s team, in elite teams like yours had a skill requirement and also height, they did not allow low players to play. Their specialty was the calm in their attacks and the defense in their area near the basket, they allowed few points in layups, thus they could force the errors of the opponents and had the calm to attack. They did not fear Jake as well, his team would not allow him to use his speed to infiltrate his defense and would press his 2-point shots, the rest of his opponents they were less concerned yet. Jake asked that the system estimate the abilities of the opponents and they all had media A, and many had block S in their abilities. The Lions team was very similar in terms of ability, their PG was called John, their SG was called Kevin, their PF was Alan, the SF was Edward and the Center was Trevor. In them the highest scorers were Trevor and Alan, so Luke would be under a lot of pressure, plus Lucas and Aiden who were weaker in defense as well, so this was a point game if Jake could not cross the opposing defense so the game did not would make more sense. As the game began and ball possession went to the Lions, John received the ball and moved calmly to the court of attack, Jake had to make room for John not to attempt a quick attack, after all this was not a game in which he could control the rhythm of the game and the opponent unlike them had reserves of the same level. If his teammates got tired and needed to be replaced the defense would break. John was also aware of this, but did not accelerate their attacks, they knew they had to be careful about Jake''s robberies so better be careful, in the 3-point line he just passed calmly to Kevin, so Kevin who looked like he would give a kick of 2 used a feint and passed Lucas to make the first 2 points with a layup. Jake, who had hoped to calm his teammates and started his attack, contrary to what he thought the opponent would not press and positioned himself in the defense calmly, they would not mark each individually besides Jake, they chose a zone defense and thus would not allow anyone to invade the key and do an inside scoring. So Jake could calmly pass the ball and choose who would hit the 2-point shot, so besides Owen, he did not ask anyone to stay in the painted area, and they would just circle the airs of 2 points. This was a defense strategy that could only work with a weak team like Jake''s if it was a high-level team they would only be a 2-point shots practice. Jake passed the ball to Aiden who made the points to tie the game, so Jake''s defense did not have the ability to stop top Lions players from doing their layup shows, and Jake rotated with Aiden and Lucas to hit the 2-point shots. And so the first period of the game was duller than expected and ended tied. In the second period, it seemed that the Lions stopped analyzing their opponents and they changed to 2 players to mark Lucas and Aiden besides John that still marked Jake, one of them marked Owen and the other marked in the zone and sometimes made a double mark in Jake. With increased pressure Jake did not have the same confidence in passing the ball to Lucas and Aiden to take the 2-point shot, and he could not force the pass to do an inside scoring without a foul, so the pressure on Jake''s team had increased, and it seemed it was only a matter of time before they lost attacks and fell behind the Lions in points. So Jake was also forced to risk to get the win, he did a crossover and a hesitation to try to fool the opponent that he would make the pass and try the layup when John made the move to prepare and run to come back and mark the breakthrough, Jake made a step back and got a space and went back to line 3 to give a shot. The ball made a beautiful trajectory and entered to score another 3 points for Jake''s team and to shock everyone, it was Jake''s first 3-point basket in the league, many wanted to argue that he was lucky but seeing everything he did until now they could not. So Jake''s team passed the front of the board for the first time in the game. The Lions team also thought it was a coincidence and kept playing calmly, they did not miss an attack anyway was just a matter of time. Then it was Jake''s turn to go on the attack again, this time John tightened the defense, but Jake did not feel his pressure with his strength statistics, he used his body to make space and gained speed going to the key taking the defense of the Lions unprepared, when Trevor tried to cover the defense, Jake just made the pass to Owen who had been forgotten and was free to make 2 more points. This was an important basket because it was the first time they managed to break the Lions defense in this game and do a layup, which increased the confidence of Jake''s team. So the game continued in this way with Jake finding ways to not lose an attack, the Lions were also starting to get nervous, and after another beautiful feint and a step back, Jake made another shot of 3 to another converted basket. By the end of the second period Jake had made 4 baskets of 3 points without missing any and so his team took an advantage of 4 points, even nervous the Lions still did not lose an attack, increasing Jake''s strength also increased his confidence and stability, it seemed that his luck was also giving a hand. Chapter 60 The State Championship 8 In the interval the players of both teams were exhausted, only Jake was a little better, it was a final, which was already stressful and still the score was so close, the Lions had not given up yet, after all, they thought Jake would not hit all the 3-point baskets, they were counting on these mistakes. Not even the NBA pros get a 100 percent hit in a game, only if they throw a few balls if Jake wanted the win he could not go here, and the rest of the team was there just to put pressure on the defense and swap passes with Jake. Jake took a look at the bleachers and with his excellent vision managed to see many people, he saw his mother who was smiling at him although still nervous, elsewhere he saw Joseph and his father Oliver, it seems they came to take a surprise and cheer for Jake. Elsewhere in the stands, he saw the reporter and journalist Eric who was the only one who did several interviews with him and even helped him with some important information, after looking a little longer he saw Clara in the corner of the public next to a beautiful lady blonde who seemed to be the same age. It seemed that all the people that mattered in his life were in this game to support him, this gave Jake extra energy, the strategy had to be the same as the second period, he would not continue giving shots of 3 as everyone thought, he only will manage the score that guarantees the trophy for his team. So after a while, the Lions team will be anxious and miss more attacks, and Jake''s team just had to be calm, he looked around and saw that his team was very nervous to whoever was ahead on the scoreboard. So he thought that if it were him in his places he would also be nervous, after all, they are being suppressed the whole game and can not know if the team can or not win because it does not depend on them, but Jake, so it seems that it was time to be The captain. "Guys, everyone here, I have a few words to say." The players immediately approached and crouched around Jake as they did to listen to strategies, if the captain had an order they would listen to it. "Look at you all scared, calm down, I''ve said that before, but when we''re ahead of the leaderboard, who should be nervous are not our opponents, we deserve to be in this final no matter what you think or what others say." When he said this the whole team relaxed as if it was magic, they were even a little embarrassed, Jake was much younger than them and also as captain and team ace was suffering a lot more pressure than they did, but those who were there were tremendous they were the ones who had to set an example. "Everyone here knows how important this game is, I do not know the whole story but I know that in ten years at least it''s the first time our school has a team in the final, and that''s our chance, we''re going to win and be the first school in at least decades to be in a national championship. " "I''m going to say this for the first time, I know we have no chance to go very far to the national championship, so let''s give all of us here and so we can spend our vacations and holidays with a smile on our faces and make our family proud." "Close your eyes and try to remember everything that we have been going through since the regional championship so far, we have defeated some teams that would have gone further if they had not faced us, we are strong, what I need you to do is tighten as much as possible the marking and try to force them to give 2-point shots and not make the points with layups which is what they are best, let''s win. " So the whole team had fire in their eyes and a willingness to win, they forgot the nervousness and just wanted to do everything they could to say after they did something to help the team to be the champion. After that, Jake called Owen alone in a corner. "Owen I have two important missions for you to do until the end of this game, the first one, if I miss a shot you should get the rebound, this is what you are best, you do not lose in height and neither skills for them, and second if you have a chance, I want you to block one of your players, to show that it''s not anyone who can be strolling around our basket, I''m counting on you. " Although Jake knew it was difficult, he also had to give a purpose to his team. So the third period started and the game was weak again, everything was going very well in the defenses and did not invent much in the attacks, Jake did not try any 3-point shot and Jake''s team continued in the advantage by 4 points. Only at the end of the third period did the Lions team begin to become visibly nervous and trying to defend more and unstable in the attacks. In the last period, the pressure of the Lions arrived at an absurd level, as Aiden and Lucas became tired the adversaries began to tighten the mark in Jake that could not go to the layup anymore. So he was forced to try the 3-point shot, the first one he tried to hit and in the Lions'' comeback attack he was rushed and careless and Owen saw an opportunity and a block on Edward. The ball fell into the hands of Aiden who tired just passed quickly to Jake who fired at speed before long Jake was already running alone into the basket and had left his markers behind, so scored two more points in the layup. Now the final was with Jake''s team managing to lead by a 7-point advantage, and only half of a period was missing, but the Lions did not give up, he continued to tighten the mark over Jake who had to give another 3-point, but as it was with little space he missed and Owen managed to get the rebound alone against 3 scorers and scored two more points, The players of the Lions team were heartbroken because they knew this could be their last chance, then 2 minutes into the end of the game John was distracted and tired Jake took this opportunity to steal the ball and score 2 more points and open the advantage to 9 points, so the final game was over. Nobody else tried anything and time just passed to celebrate the new state champions, all of Jake''s team celebrated and hugged and some even cried for joy, but on the other side, many Lions players were crying with sadness. Some reporters and family members were allowed to enter the court to celebrate with the winning team, Jake was also very happy this time, it was a great achievement for him, and it was also good to see the smile of his teammates and his coach who fulfilled one of his dreams. This could be considered a farewell gift from his first teammates in his life and they were with him so far, after all, Jake knew he would not be here next year. He was much happier when he greeted his friend Joseph and his older friend Oliver who came to see this game and cheer for him, he then hugged his mother and stood beside her hugging until the organization called them to receive the medals and pick up the trophy. Jake received with great happiness and pleasure his medal and then they were called to erect the trophy, so they took a beautiful photo that would be a great souvenir for all of them, even more, to crown the party Jake received the MVP of the state championship which was much more significant for all. After that while his companions celebrated Jake tried to go near his mother again more Owen grabbed him by the collar and without warning he lifted him and then he was erected by the whole team and thrown up several times, everyone was happy, it was a day to be remembered. After this Jake managed to escape to be hugged with his mother where it was safer when they saw that everyone smiled, there they remembered that Jake was only 11 years old. When Jake tired of the whole celebration tried to call his mother to leave more was stopped on the way by Eric the reporter, he wanted to leave more could not deny an interview for a reason like this, especially someone who supported him and helped him and followed him since the first games. "Alright Eric, you can ask your questions." "Hahaha, I know you''re tired more now you''ve won the championship and been elected MVP, it''s a great thing so I can close my story and column with a golden key." "Tell me what you''re feeling with everything that happened today, you so young and in your first league and your first year in a basketball team has won all the titles so far and also always been the MVP." "I feel very good and happy, that all the effort I''ve done so far has had results and happy for my teammates as well, the opponents we faced until the final were very good and I''m happy to be the champion." "Before taking a picture for the cover of your interview, there is someone you want to thank for that victory that supported you on your way here." "I would like to thank my mother who is here on my side, without her I would be nothing, I would also like to thank my friend Joseph who also supported me a lot throughout the school and my teammates who allowed me this opportunity and the Sports 100 company that sponsors me and gave me the comfortable sporting goods that I have used in every game and allow me to fully concentrate on basketball. " Eric and Eva were thrilled by Jake''s first words and were impressed by his eloquence to talk about his sponsors. "So can we take the picture for the cover?" "Of course, I can take it with my mother?" "Of course it will look even better." So Jake took his uniform out of the final and underneath he had a shirt written ''Sports 100'', Eric could just take the helpless photo consoling it would be a good interview. Chapter 61 Good News Comes Always Together 1 Clara and Tiffany who were together watching the scene from afar opened up a satisfied smile, and Clara almost ran her thumb up to Jake, really a good investment decision for her companies, Tiffany was now eager to sign that contract soon. Incredible as a child after playing a game and being tired of celebrating and had the awareness to make this advertisement look good and not scandalous, and as it was a child who walked with the shirt with the company''s mark under the uniform nobody would complain. An honest advertisement that shows results like this in a newspaper that everyone would read was worth much more than star-advertising that would cost millions as Jake had said he was sure he could repay the company, and that he gets only 5000 per month now that is a tiny part of how much the company can give. That was how he thought, he needed this money now and not in the future, and even though it seemed like a lot to him now, it was enough to get his mother out of that grueling job that was Jake''s longing, and it was like Jake said, in the future when he did not even need other companies to offer millions of dollars he would not accept it. After that, Clara would schedule a new meeting with Jake, but today it was better to let him celebrate and then rest, he would not run from one day to the next. So Jake went home happy with his mother at the end of that day, he promised to have a celebratory lunch the other day. The other day Jake and his mother went to a restaurant for French food, this restaurant was a bit pricey but had good portions and it was not like some restaurants that had more charm than food. He wanted to show Eva the best meals he experienced in his time by learning to cook and on his trip to France when the waitress came Jake made the requests of the dishes in French, his mother was a little surprised but not so much, she knew that Jake had been studying French books, but did not know that he could speak. After they had a good meal, Eve seemed to enjoy Jake''s favorites as well, then while they waited for dessert they began a conversation. "Are you worried about something Jake?" "So you realized, I''m thinking about what I told you, I''m very happy to win this trophy, the second this year, but I''m sad because I know this is going to be the last, we will not be able to get very far in the national championship. " "I thought it was strange that you were so happy yesterday but worried today, I''m not going to say that you should not worry, but you''re still young, you''ll have many chances to win more trophies with your talents in the future, you should stay happy and celebrate quite like your teammates. " "This is another thing I''m thinking, I think it''s a bit wrong of me to want to change schools just to win a championship, I know I have the right and that all my teammates have already accepted that I''m going to change from school, but I will not even make money on the trophies, is it worth it? " "I''m glad you think a lot about your schoolmates and your friends, but I think you''re still young and should do what you want now as long as it''s not wrong, it''s an opportunity for you, I know you do not likes to lose and wants the best, whether it will be a good decision or not just time will tell and even if it is bad will be a good learning for you. " After Jake heard his mother''s response he was a little silently thinking, even after the dessert arrived and until his return home. Eva was happy as her son had a mature thought for her age, it is always a pride for parents when their education works and their children become good people, but she had a little regret because it seemed that Jake had lost the best of his childhood. Eva could not know that this was Jake''s second childhood, what he enjoys now was a bonus for his age, he already went through an immature phase and now only bothered to do what was right and not regret the future. After a little thought, Jake decided that he would change his school even though his greatest attachment at school is his friend Joseph would also go with him, although he quite liked his teammates, they were not really friends. For Jake it was important to win the national championship once, then at high school, it was the same, he did not think about being champion every year, if he needed to he would play, but at least he would have to win. Jake''s school decided to reward the champions of basketball championship, letting them go on holiday sooner, so they would have more time to spend on vacation and then come back rested for the national championship, Jake did not care much because he already had all he could rest before he wanted to. Jake also heard that his teammates would train the most on this vacation to try to make a better campaign in the national championship that would begin at the end of January, it was still almost 2 months away and so gave time to make some improvements. Jake gave a lot of advice as captain to his teammates if they had the will, the talent and the time they would improve quickly as Luke did in 3 months, so they thought it was worth the try. Jake who already had the statistics of an adult who practiced some sports only did his races on the mat and bodybuilding to improve his strength as much as possible, if he regained the strength he had in his past life he could give shots of 3 with much more perfection. It was amazing how much he improved in a little over a year, but it was all because of the system that could maximize his talents and training, you could not compare Jake to a normal person without the system he would get to what he had today only to 18 years. To train his skills and experience he had his imagination training, which was better than having real games at times, especially when he went on to high school level, now if he leaves everyone with 1.80 m, and his skills in the He could not even touch the ball, it was like several adults playing with a child. After all had a serious problem that Jake had that system could not solve in a few years, that was his height, with 11 years Jake had now already with the help of the system 1.61 m tall, which is already very good for his age , but despite his ability being enough for Jake to play with high school students his height was not so Jake could not rush. After a week in the final Jake was already enjoying his vacation a lot and was also very happy because he never remembered in his life to be able to stay with his mother many days at home, it was a good thing Eve left her job. So an order arrived at his house, when Jake opened the box he saw that it was two photos, his with his team raising the trophy and the other of Jake with his mother that Eric took the two were sent in sizes increased by about one meter on each side, could be hung on a painting. In addition, there was a newspaper that had been published this morning, he had seen only a little notice the day after the final, but in that newspaper had a whole page with the two photos and a flashy title ''Young star twice MVP takes the team of Miami to victory '', just to not be false was very biased this news. As promised had his quotes from his sponsoring company Sports 100 up in the shirt that Jake wore on his champion photo, Eric even quoted in his column that the company Sports 100 was a visionary company that recognized him before everyone else, and also had a comment that the team, unfortunately, had no chances in the national championship. Jake liked the report and thought it was all very sincere, he had criticism too, but it was normal after all nothing was perfect, so he thought that this journalist Eric was someone reliable that he could tell in the future. Then Jake showed the order to his mother who liked the interview in the newspaper, especially the parts that Jake talked about her, and also said he would frame the two photos, it was a good memory to leave close to his medals, sorry that the trophy would go for schools. At the end of the day, Clara called Jake''s house and said she wanted to have lunch with him to discuss more details of Jake''s sponsorship and performance. Jake was not worried, he had played well and done his part, and also always used branded products in every game and still got this beautiful advertisement, he did not know if he would get a raise or not, but it did not matter if he received would be more money to be able to invest in the future and if it did not receive it would still fulfill the contract until the end even if another company offered a bigger offer. Chapter 62 Good News Comes Always Together 2 Another day Jake was in the car that was sent to the hotel restaurant. Arriving at the restaurant he asked the waiter to take him to the table that had been reserved for Clara when he got close enough to see the table was surprised, next to Clara was the beautiful blonde woman that Jake had seen in the stands watching your game. "Hi Jake, how long, sit down there." "Not so long ago, I saw you and your friend in the state championship final game, thanks for the support." "So you saw us, it was nothing, we were there not only to cheer for you but also to check our investment." "And you liked what you saw in the game." "Yes of course, not only what I saw in the game, but also what you did after him, I saw you in your interview with that reporter and also saw the newspaper later, very well done, you did much more than we initially expected, now for a while we will not even need to make a new advertising. " "What I said in the interview was not only advertisement but also what I really felt was thanks to his sponsorship that I could concentrate more on basketball improving my standard of living and even being able to realize my desire to take my mother of her job that only hurt her. " "Even so I liked it, let me introduce my friend here, her name is Tiffany, and she is one of my business associates, besides, she also has a company of her own." "Hi Jake, it''s a pleasure to finally meet you, as a partner of the company I was also very happy with what you did for the company." "Hi Tiffany, it''s nice to meet you, too." "So, Jake, we did not call him here just to exchange compliments or to congratulate you on your trophy and for being MVP, as I said before, sponsorship could increase depending on your performance and accomplishment, and you did very well in that state championship, so our company has decided to increase its monthly sponsorship for $ 10,000 a month because we think you deserve it, and there will not be any breach of our contract even if you do not have games because we also believe in your future. " "Thank you very much, I promise I will not make you regret putting your trust in me." "I believe you, now the other reason I called you here is something that my friend will treat." "Thanks, Clara, so Jake as my friend here already said, I as well as her partner also have my own company that is also from the sports field, is a company that manufactures natural sports drinks and is called Sports Natural." "And our company would also like you to be The pitchman for our company too, because besides having already seen that you can add a lot of value to our company, I also think it would be a great idea to do some commercials in the future showing the partnership of our companies , so if you are The pitchman for our company we can make this image association more easily. " Jake was very happy with this development, he hoped to some extent that he could get a small increase in his sponsorship agreement with Clara''s company, after all, he showed that he has talent and also knows how to use his image to help the company, but he never thought he would get a new sponsorship. After all, he was still 11 years old and did not have much visibility for a company in Middle School, but it was a coincidence that she was someone from Clara''s own company, so it made sense what she did, it seemed like Jake''s luck was working again. "I accept and appreciate the trust your company is also putting into me." "So that''s settled, we''ll give you $ 10,000 a month, and the duration of the contract will be the same as the two companies, I''ll have someone take the contract for your mother to sign, but it''s really amazing how mature you are for your old, it seems like I''m talking to someone who is older than me. " "I thought the same thing when I first met him." After that Jake found a way to escape the interrogation of his two contractors, it was good that Jake was a minor on the contrary he thought he would be forced to stay to drink with both of them. After he went home, Jake told him everything that happened to his mother who was very happy for Jake, she was a little worried about getting out of her job and having to rely on Jake''s patronage, she thought she could easily get a job if something went wrong, but she still felt sad that Jake could not keep enough money for her future. Now that she saw that Jake was earning $ 20,000 a month, Eva was happier and was completely relaxed from leaving her job, not that she had no confidence in her child''s ability, but that she was afraid the companies would change their minds and leave it backward, after all, companies worry above all with profit and not with the personal life of their business partners. Jake was also happy with this development, although he was not worried about money it was always good to have more so when he started to invest he could make more money in less time. After that things were calmer for a while, and Jake was planning how to spend his vacation now that he had more money, after all, it would be Christmas and after that, he would go through his 12 year birthday, so he planned to take a trip with your mother. In the past to learn a language well and also to give a reward of his own, Jake liked to make trips to know the places, to see the language to be spoken everywhere, to know the culture, to try the local dishes and also to know the sights of the countries. But even though he always thought it was a good idea, Jake thought traveling alone was very lonely, and sometimes he found himself wondering what his mother would think of that place, and now he could see in person what she would think as he won that second chance, he was hoping to get older and make more money before that, but now it was the perfect opportunity, as the saying goes, ''Never leave for tomorrow what can be done today'', because tomorrow is a mystery known only to God and the destiny. So when preparing Jake received a call that a representative of a private school wanted to know him, Jake already expected something like that but hoped it was only after the national championship, even so, he agreed to meet this representative at a restaurant nearby. When he got there he soon saw a man in glasses with a briefcase next to his body in a suit, he looked more like a lawyer than a representative. "Jake, it''s a great pleasure to meet you, a future great NBA player and even now you''re a small star earning two MVPs, our school has been looking for you for a long time." Jake was a little startled by the overly friendly attitude of the rep, after all, he was no professional player. "You said your school always looked for me?" "Yes, it''s a truly sad story involving rebirth, do you remember a street tournament you attended a few months ago?" "I remember, was your school organizing this tournament?" "This is a long story, as the school I represent is a private school, it also does not cease to be a company, and the shareholder who is now the president of our school has always wanted us despite being a school focused on teaching , we would also be a talent factory for large universities that are our partners. " "As people who are very good at school do not have to worry too much about school if the teaching is good, we can not look for geniuses like that, but in sports it is different, that shareholder then suggested that our school also focus on the creation and training of various sports talents. " "The former president thought this was a good idea, but he wanted the school not to spend a lot of money on it, the shareholder said it was impossible, and even though they lost money in the short term, it would be a great investment for the future." "But the president of the day did not think so, and decided to do that street basketball championship to find new talent for our school, but he was very rushed and did not think things right and we ended up having to charge the entrances to the joy of the old President, we even made good money from it. " "Until you showed up there, a great talent so the president thought it had been a success, but did not expect him to organize badly this street basketball tournament had been his biggest mistake and so the cause of his dismissal." Although Jake did not know what had happened without listening to the rest, he already imagined what had happened, because that was what he had thought when he saw what had happened before the start of the tournament entries. Chapter 63 Good News Comes Always Together 3 "Many of the parents of young people who were present that day will not like what our school did, what was to be a tournament with free registrations became a paid enrollment and took the money from many parents that day." "After that several parents went to the education office in the city and they complained that a school made misleading propaganda to take money from the people, the school tried to argue the fact that they had to charge at the last minute because the people who wanted to participate were many, but it did not help at all, it did not change the fact that it was the school''s fault. " "After that our school was punished and almost closed, but the board happily acted fast and fired the president and some tournament officials, now that the school is regaining its popularity the shareholder who is now the president is putting into practice their plans of make our school a reference for sports. " "So this year we are inviting and giving scholarships to young people like you, and forming teams strong enough to win the next several sports championships like basketball." "For great talents like you have other plans, if you come to our school next year to win the national championship next year and commit to a contract to stay in our school until the last year of high school, we promise we will pay you $ 5,000 beyond your scholarship, and you will have the priority of choosing a university that we have partnered in when you graduate. " Jake had to admit to being shocked by the generosity of this proposal, plus the scholarship to study at a school that had first-rate teachers and a team strong enough to win the national championship, would still receive $ 5000 a month worth of his former sponsorship, just to attend school until the end of high school, and more importantly he would guarantee a university to study and fulfill his mother''s dream. Just as this was a proposal he could not refuse he agreed to transfer to this school at the end of that school year, and that he would stay in it until he finished high school. Then Jake went home and told his mother that he was very happy for his son and even cried when Jake said that he would have guaranteed entrance to a university, it was a dream that was being carried out, now she had nothing more to do ask, just live quietly with your child. So Jake knew that his luck statistic was very good in other aspects of life, how bad luck ended his life in his past life, as the system said that it was not for Jake to be the best basketball player in the world, but for him to have a happy life, so it was a great system, as it is said good news always comes together. After that as Christmas was coming Jake told his mother his desire to go to Spain with her, Eva''s family was from a distant relative from Spain, she had even heard much about this country from her grandmother, and really wanted to go there, and with Jake saying that it was his desire and also using the excuse that was to improve his Spanish, Eva accepted the trip. Seeing that his mother had accepted Jake began to prepare the trip, he called a tour company and said he wanted to make a trip to Spain in a few days and would stay there for about two weeks, he asked for a personalized script. Paying a little more expensive and as Jake had a personalized script that would cause fewer problems for the company if tourism they accepted, so Jake told the places he and his mother would visit, also said the names of the hotels and even their numbers. Then she asked for travel insurance and a rental car to stay on hold when they got there, so everything was settled more easily, Eva was seeing all this impressed on the side, it was as if Jake had much experience in making trips. Jake really had a lot of experience organizing trips, but it was much easier afterward when everyone was using the internet and cell phone so travel could be scheduled in hours. So after a few days, Jake and Eva went on their trip to Spain, the place where they would visit for a few days was Madrid, where they visited several beautiful places and the most important museums of the country: the Prado, the Reina Sof¨ªa and the Thyssen. Then they continued in Madrid to spend Christmas and New Year, then they went to Seville and met the image of flamenco going to Jerez de la Frontera, then went to impressive attractions such as the Reales Alc¨¢zares, La Giralda Tower and the impressive Plaza of Spain. Then they went to Barcelona where they visited such impressive places as the Sagrada Familia, Parc G¨¹ell, La Pedrera or the Palau de la M¨²sica, Mir¨® Foundation and the Picasso Museum. Then to Catalonia where they went to various places to try various dishes such as butifarra, fuet and espetec, snails, rabbit served with snails, seafood and even chocolate, escalivada which is red peppers, eggplant and baked onion with lots of olive oil and served with goat cheese, as well as p¨¤ amb tom¨¤quet which is bread with tomato and olive oil and many recipes with cod and seafood. For dessert, the Catalan cream. And they stayed there to celebrate Jake''s 12 year anniversary, Eva was very pleased with this trip, she had many ideas for the restaurant of her dreams, eaten in the cities where they passed, she wanted to try some of the drinks too, but she could not with Jake around. She was also very moved when she passed through Barcelona, which was the city where her grandmother always spoke to her, she never thought she would be able to visit this place in her entire life, and all thanks to her son who was only 12 years, for herself being mature Jake will always be a child, he was the pride of his life. Jake was also very happy, he also wanted to take his mother to several places where he drank before more decided against it, he visited all the places where he had already come before and also to new places, and realized that it was actually much better to go through these places with someone you love. After this Jake and his mother returned home, after all, Jake''s classes had already started, it was just that the first few weeks were slow and Eva was not worried about Jake''s notes, so they left to return after Jake''s birthday. After returning Jake made calls to his friend Joseph and also to Clara and Tiffany advising that he had returned from his trip, as he was responsible he warned his sponsors that he would travel to see if he had no commitment in those weeks. Clara allowed the trip, now she was very happy because several gyms made orders and also in their stores they saw many parents buying their brands for their children, after all, Jake was also young, parents did not even believe that it was the training that Jake did so good in no time at all, so they figured beyond their talent could be because of the sporting goods he wore. What was not a complete lie, equipment, and sportswear can even increase a person''s performance and even reduce the risk of injury, and if it were not for the bodybuilders and the treadmill Jake received from Sports 100, he would not have the same stability in their games. In addition, all of its products have the highest quality and do not lose to any major brand, it''s just that Clara''s company has cheaper products, so those who buy once will end up buying again. And at school everything was normal, the teachers did not mind Jake having come in a week later because besides being the best student in the classroom he is also the school''s hero in sports. Joseph was also very happy to see his friend back, in the interval Jake told his friend that he would no longer have to look for another school and told about the business with the private school Elite, and Joseph only said that he would tell his father, even Joseph knew the Elite school and knew that his teachers were very good, so he thought that he would not care, Now it was a few days before the first national championship game, which was the school''s dream to participate, just to have his name participating already raised the name of the school, Jake also thought he did not have much hope in winning had to concentrate and prepare to try to move as far as possible, his entire team had trained a lot on that vacation and Jake also trained every day in his imagination training space where he played with mates with much greater skills and lost many times. So the whole staff was ready not to do too much ugly. Chapter 64 The Expected Sadness The excitement of Jake''s team for reaching their first state championship died a little when they knew who their first opponent was, they were the team that had come to last year''s Eagles'' semifinals. Of all in the team only coach Roy was in a good mood after all his mission was only to play this game and the result did not matter particularly, in addition, he knew that the level of the Eagles was much higher than the Lions that Jake ever had made every effort to win. So if their team had one more player of Jake''s level they could have a small chance of winning, but should not ask the impossible, they even heard that the other team would send the reserve team to face Jake''s team minus two players which were the PF that would mark Jake and the PG that would be marked by Jake. So they could guarantee that Jake would not dominate the game and also that his attack would work easily, who were these two was PG Jack and PF Carter. So the game started and the Eagles were on the attack, Jack was advancing with the ball while Jake marked it, in the national it was difficult a team to be taken by surprise, everyone already had much information of its rivals. So despite thinking to be better Jack did not dare to underestimate Jake, and so protected the ball well and looked for teammates to give the pass, despite thinking they did not Jack tried to dribble Jake. Soon he passed the ball to his SG that despite being a reserve still played better than Lucas, he made a feint and soon made room for a 2-point shot. It was known to everyone that Lucas and Aiden were the weak points in defense of Jake''s team, now Luke was only lower in attack but was good at defense. So the Eagles'' offensive was totally focused on Lucas, Aiden, and Luke, who despite not being weak had as opponent Carter who was a starter of the other team, they did not need to risk attacking over Jake and Owen who were the best defenders. In the attack as in the last games, only Jake could do something, and above him was Carter and not Jack, so he had a marker that was taller and had talent and defense experience. But Jake still made the first two points. And the game continued like this, with the defensive pressure all over him, Jake could not hit all the attacks and so his team was behind in points at the end of the first period. Jake was angry marking was too strong and he had to use all his skill in time to take a shot not to suffer one block, and sometimes he lost accuracy and wandered, so he ended up losing major attacks. What he did not know was the team that was most impressed, especially Carter who was scoring him, Carter was the best player in defense of the Eagles team and so he was always assigned to score the strongest opponent, but taking the champion team , there was rarely a player who could score as many points over his mark. In fact, Carter was the best defender of this national championship, and yet he only got Jake to miss two attacks. In the second period it remained the same, but this time Jake missed only one attack and his team was 6 points behind, so despite knowing it was a trap, Jake had to try the 3-point shots to reverse the score. In the third period, Jake lost more attacks more compensated making all of 3 points, and managed to decrease the advantage to 4 points. And in the last period, Jake had eaten his stamina bar and was full of energy so he can complete more attacks, at the end of the game the opponent put the starting SG that also hit some 3-point shots and was tight but Jake''s team was eliminated in the first phase. Everyone was a little sad but they were expecting it so they quickly overcame, only Jake was more shaken, it was his first loss after returning, and Coach Roy only knew he wanted to be a national champion. But as he had said at the beginning the team was not enough, so coach Roy was sad for him, few of the fans of the team came to see this game, nor the reports Eric came, because even Jake was not optimistic before, even later who discovered that they would face one of the favorites. Jake went home and then found her grandmother who was waiting at home with a smile, but after a while, the smile on Eva''s face disappeared and she looked at her son with a warm look. Eva had already become accustomed to receiving Jake by saying that she had won in her games even when the opponent was stronger, and just as this was still the first game she thought her son and team would win. But seeing Jake shot down she realized that this time it did not happen, so she just hugged her son and tried to comfort him, she knew Jake was a proud boy and never wanted to lose, even more knowing that he was talented. But today was a day that she knew would be imprinted on her son''s memory, it would help him grow in the future as well, but now it was an hour of pain, he would learn that there was always someone better than you, and even if you were the better, Jake was playing a team sport, where 5 were needed for the win. When Jake received his mother''s embrace he relaxed the mask he had put on his face so as not to appear weak and soon began to cry, Jake knew that he would miss a day in this championship, since he joined the team, and even so he trained to the maximum, he prepared plays with his teammates, he cheered them up when they were sad, he gave his best to always win the games. Why did he do all this? Because he wanted to win, even though he knew the odds were low and knowing that his team was not the strongest, he hoped that somehow he would get a lot better, that somehow his luck would interfere with the outcome of the game. He fought for hope, not to give himself up to defeat, but today all this is over, they lost and this was Jake''s last game for his team that fought and smiled with him and the last game of that year. Many said that Jake''s team was unlucky to have faced one of the top 4 teams in that national championship in that first game, but Jake did not think so, if they won they would have the strength to fight for the trophy, and if they lost as they lost, either just say that the staff could not go any further. He hated to lose, but it was better to lose at the beginning than to waste time swimming and then die on the beach. Jake learned that lesson, again he saw that he was not the best, he was now apprehensively preparing to be the best in the future, but today he just wanted to be a child, his mother''s son and be able to cry in her embrace to be able to Forget this subject tomorrow. The other day Jake was usually to school, he was still greeted by his all friendly colleagues saying that it was a shame that his team had lost but no one was sad, everyone hoped for it, for them Jake had already done more than enough leading the staff there. In the room as always he was reading his book and sometimes listening to his teacher''s explanations, Jake''s classes had a fun fact that only the teachers knew, as Jake always took maximum marks and never missed a question, the teachers never asked anything and they only let him read in peace. But his teachers learned an interesting fact, as Jake had come from the future that nobody knew, he had already studied all the subjects taught by his teachers, and also after graduating from school Jake still studied these things alone. Even more, he always gave a check on what he knew before each class and with his high intelligence statistics he learned everything, and it was only natural that he should not miss any questions in the tests. But sometimes when he heard the teacher talk about something he had not learned, or forgotten or just did not know, he would take his attention away from the book he was reading and pay attention in class, so he would learn and then re-read. What he did not know was that after these almost two years of teaching the teachers realized this, that when their classes became interesting Jake would pay attention. So the teachers began to try harder to better their classes and make more interesting and even research things just to get the attention of Jake and brag to his colleagues in the break. It made Jake''s teachers unwilling to be loved, his classes most interesting, his students had the best lessons, and all Jake''s teachers were given a raise. So now Jake was the most beloved student of all teachers. Chapter 65 Going to New Ways 1 Then at the break of classes, Jake called Joseph to eat in the usual place, so they walked there quietly after Jake began to excel in the games no one else approached this place when he would eat, for consideration. "So you talked to your father about Elite school and moved there?" "I said yes, for him it''s okay, as you know he was thinking of sending me to a better school already, and the Elite is very good, he just told me to talk to you to take care of me there." "Of course, I did not even have to ask, I know you could go to any school but you''re going to study with me, so I can only thank you more for taking care of you there." "I think it will be cool also a new school, there might be more difficult classes and you miss a few questions in the tests and so I will be number one." "Do not count on it too much, you have not even gotten all the questions in the tests like me, even if I miss a few, you''re going to miss a lot more." "Do not put an end to my hopes so easily." "And how was the trip with your mother?" "It was really cool, we went to several special places like museums and we also ate a lot of unique foods from there, I took lots of pictures afterward and I send you some." "Yes, I also wanted to go, when I was younger, my father was very fond of taking us to the snow for skiing, I did not learn because he was very young, but even so, traveling is legal." "Why do not you go?" "After my father opened his office it''s harder to take a vacation, and I was not too excited to go, only after hearing you speak I remembered." Jake was very familiar with this, he had several acquaintances who were more successful than him at work, Jake also got rich, but I another area, the stock market, but anyone who wanted to succeed had to work more in the company, and so they had less time for their families. He remembered that a lot of his colleagues had already divorced at least once, and many had different health problems because of stress, in that part Jake was fortunate not to have to worry about his work. And so no longer having games later in the year, Jake already said goodbye to his team and coach Roy, everyone was very sad to know that Jake was going to change schools, but they also knew that he wanted to win the last title that he could not. And that too because Jake did not want to spread that Elite school would pay him a salary to go there, otherwise no one would find it strange his change of school. And so the semester passed quickly and the second year of Jake''s Middle School ended, in that time he always stood first in the grades and when he went to say goodbye to the teachers all found it a pity to lose such a great student. On vacation it''s been two years since Jake came back to this time, really he had accomplished everything he wanted and could not have done, now it was time to make more dreams and always think of getting better. While not going much further to the court besides doing the 3-point shots, Jake would still go whenever he could do his exercises on the weight machines and also on the treadmill to increase his speed and endurance. And every day Jake was doing his imaginary training, so he gained more experience and also trained his skills, but after reaching the high school level skills were taking much longer to make improvements. It seems like it would not be as easy to get to the NBA level as he thought, he was really naive in thinking this, the system itself had said that only at the beginning would it improve quickly. But he was not in a hurry either, it would still have many years for him to worry about being on the NBA level, and he already had the skills to win the national championship next year, he just needed a better team so opponents would not they could focus solely on him in the marking. Her mother at home was also much better, it seems that she was fully recovered from health after many years of stress in the restaurant having to always worry about paying bills, now she had a younger appearance that her age and vitality shone on his face. Jake, who had never seen his mother so well in their two lives, could only be happy, his friend Joseph was also losing more weight and now he could no longer be called chubby, now he got even more looks from the girls at school. Jake could also be considered popular, but he had an attitude that prevented these girls from approaching him, and he did it on purpose, because unlike Joseph he had more experience, but it was impossible for him to feel attraction to a child having a mentality over 40 years old, and he did not want to have to refuse and hurt their feelings. And so the holidays promised to be very quiet for Jake, he had nothing programmed and also did not have to do an insane exercise routine to improve his skills, he was just thinking of relaxing to prepare for the next school semester that would be excited. But it seemed that not everything would be according to his thoughts, a few days after his holiday began, Jake received a call from Clara that now that the announcement that Jake made in the newspaper was already beginning to lose the force, so he and Tiffany thought which was the perfect time to make a commercial that would be broadcast on local radio and television as well as newspapers and magazines. Jake did not expect his first ad campaign to be such a big exposure, but after hearing what Clara said was really a smart way to save money, there would be a street basketball competition that would be organized by the city of New York that usually has the best street players. And these competitions would be free and also divided by age and would be held on different days, and as players could bring their own shirts and uniforms, Clara and Tiffany thought it was a good idea to take Jake to this competition in a uniform that represented both companies. The winner of each competition that the finals would be held the last day all together could do a live interview for the radio and television besides to be published later in the newspapers, the prize was of 2000 dollars for the first place. This was also a chance for local companies to choose players and if they promote then they would allow ads, of course, they probably did not expect an outside company to bring a Miami player to represent their company, but since it was not in the rules they could just blame themselves for not thinking this. Clara was naturally confident that Jake who was considered the best in school would not lose to 12-year-olds since normally the state MVPs were all 13 years old, and that''s been over 6 months, she did not think a genius with Jake would not improve at that time. And she was right. Jake had a big improvement in those 6 months, mostly in experience and at the time, so, Jake, every inch would make a lot of difference in his game with his bigger stats, he could already jump higher than his opponents so he just needed to get into a difference of 6 cm so you do not have more problems in going to the layups without fear. So Jake was guaranteed to make a good low-cost advertisement for both companies after he told his mother about the trip to work he naturally insisted on going along, in Miami, she could even leave Jake alone but she would not do the same in another state. Jake naturally did not care that his mother was together and just warned Clara to prepare a new plane ticket, Clara did not care either, just that he seemed so mature that sometimes she forgot that he was still underage and had a responsible one. Jake just prepared for the trip and told his friend Joseph that he would have to be out of town on that vacation, Joseph understood and wished him good luck. The night before the Jake trip he thought of something and said. "Fate shows me my statistics window." [Sure here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 12 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: High School Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 1.65 m] [Weight: 60 Kg] [Force 17] [Agility 16] [Resistance 18] [Intelligence 50] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling A] [Body Control B] [Man to Man D] [Dribble A] [Layup B] [Set Shot S] [Block D] [Pass A] [Rebound C] [2 Points S] [3 Points S] [Free Throw SS] [Steal B] --------------------------------- "My skills have hardly increased, my stats are fine, but I feel it''s getting harder to raise a point." [If this is what you think you are very wrong, your stats are increasing very well, is that you are very rushed, normal people without me would take more than 8 years of training to do what you did in 2.] Chapter 66 Going to New Ways 2 [You will easily continue to increase your statistics with a lot of training until you reach the 25 points, then it would take almost ''1 year to train each point, then the missions enter to help you overcome your limits, or you can get better equipment to increase more your statistics.] [How much your skills was what I already told you while you were stuck at the Middle School level, just because you do not see your ranks go up does not mean that you have not improved, you have skills that despite having high rank cannot be used by you completely, then you can just find out more in the games.] Jake agreed with the system''s vision, he really felt that he improved his skills even though he could not see the ranks before when he was stuck at the Middle School level, and now he was so focused on the ranks again that he did not notice his improvement. Jake still had to understand that professional basketball players did not have systems to improve anymore they became stars, he needed to look beyond the system sometimes, then Jake thought of something else. "Why did my intelligence increase more this semester?" [Had the trip you did with your mother and the books you read, in addition, many things you came to understand this semester you did not understand before, how feelings, or in basketball, whatever you learn depending on the effect you has in you can increase your intelligence.] After he understood Jake was silent again, he was thinking about how to improve his skills until the arrival of the school games, he did not just want to pass the time, he would have to think of a way to improve forever be in front of others. [I see that as long as you''re not doing anything to improve you''re not going to sit still, but only once a day go to imagery training and your daily workouts cannot be increased, and you hitting the ball on the court would not do any good. ] [So I''m going to give you a hidden mission that was for you to find out for yourself in the future, but that future seems pretty far now, so I''ll get by now.] [[Special mission being a reference]] [All the biggest basketball stars ended up being a benchmark and source of motivation for new players, but you have not even come close to that yet, but there''s something that every star should do to be unforgettable, and that''s something you can start doing now, will be your brand in the future.]] [[Create a movement of yours, can be a dribble, or pass or even a special way of giving a 3-point shot, important that when people see them know that you created and that this movement is useful, if you must create a shot that never hits the basket because nobody will want to imitate.]] [[Reward: one point for each basic statistic, if you have the same talent you can create several moves.]] [So you''re going to try the challenge? If you try to create your move, if it is updated in the future you get more statistics points.] Jake''s eyes flashed when he saw the mission of the system, it was such a good idea that he wondered why he had not thought of it before? After all, a single move would be too good to fool the opponent, it would be something that the defense has never seen before so would not know how to react. "Of course I accept, this is a great idea, thank you for giving me this mission Fate." [I think it would be interesting to see what movement you would think of to create, it has to be something unique, that comes from your mind, even if it has a similar name or resembles another created movement, it will still be unique because you created it yourself, three people who created 3 different moves to make a dunk with just one hand would they be the same? Of course not, whoever executed the movement would know the difference.] After that the other day Jake went to New York with his mother, they stayed in a great 4-star hotel that Clara managed for them, the same day he met with Clara. "Hi Jake thanks for coming, I know you were on vacation plus this is a great opportunity for our two companies to get a great advert and not pay too much." "You do not have to be so polite, this is my job, I already earn a lot to play for just about half a season and without much media exposure, after all, we will not have many opportunities like that from the interview with Eric, he referred me to it after he took a scolding for making such a good and without the newspaper receiving. " "If it''s to repeat a success like that I do not mind paying the extra for the newspaper, but it just happened so well because it was spontaneous." "Yes, that''s why if you have an opportunity like this you should not hesitate to call me, after all, I also want to help the company that helped me." "It''s good to know that, many who are sponsored as you to appear in any situation that is not in the contract always asks for an extra payment, and in this world it is impossible to put unexpected situations into contracts." "I''m just different because my time is not worth so much and because I''m your friend, but if one day I''m famous and busy and a company that I do not know pays me for just using my image I would do the same as the ones you said, it''s a matter of situation. " "You''re right, I should not complain without understanding the other side''s point of view." "It''s good for you to complain about these things that bother you whenever you''re with people you trust to keep things that irritate you in the heart, it just makes you feel bad in the future, sometimes even if you''re not right you should talk to let off steam." "You really look older than me giving advice like that." "It''s your impression, so why would you especially call me here?" "I called you here to give your equipment and uniform to the street basketball tournament matches, it will be one against one and will have tournaments of all ages separately, tomorrow starts and it will be the 11-year playoffs." "Your qualifiers are after tomorrow and will be until 17 years, then there will be a day that will be played all the final matches in one day." "Alright, you can count on me." As Clara said the other day began the street basketball tournament, there would be hundreds of games a day, plus they had 5 blocks where the games were played, going up 10 points or 10 minutes, Jake saw the tournament for 11 years and was one very low level, the strongest players reached the final matches quickly and the tournaments ended much faster than the organizers predicted. Jake was bored even with the last games that were more disputed, even the two finalists were at a much lower level than Jake when he was that age. The other day early in the morning began the tournament for young people at age 12, for the huge number of people had 4 keys with 64 games each, so the two best of each key passed and the eight best would play, the last two would play the final in the last day. Jake fell on the key and soon started the games, luckily or not Jake''s first opponent seemed to be there just for fun and did not play really, so Jake quickly scored the 10 points and went to the next phase. His second game was also an amateur and Jake scored the 10 points quickly as well. The third game began to get interesting, was a regional level player that Jake game had a good defensive posture, more easily fall into feints like Lucas and Aiden of his team, so ended up on the ground twice and then gave up scoring and Jake made 10 points again. The fourth game was also regional level but was higher then it should be a Center, in this match Jake only used his speed to escape the defense and give 2-point shots or layups. But the fifth opponent was different, the weak had all been eliminated and that player was Jack''s level of the Eagles who eliminated his team, Jake had to take it a little seriously, he started again with a dribble hitting the ball near the ground to did not lose possession and when he would dribble he would get the ball more in the waistline. So mixing a few feints he had a burst of speed and passed the opponent, so he ran into the basket, then the opponent realized this and gave more space to react to Jake''s explosive speed start, but with space, Jake just shot to score another point. That was the reality for Jake''s abilities, it was difficult for him to lose in one against one, even though the opponent was a national champion, he just lost because the national school championship was a five-on-five game. So Jake was ruthless and always gave the maximum while playing with the opponent to take the anger of losing the national, the opponent could only suffer and run to try to score a single point in failed. Jake''s game was the first to end and he soon began to see the games of his future opponents, after that game they would only have 8 players and they would have 2 more matches today. Chapter 67 Going to New Ways 3 It was good for Jake to watch these matches, because maybe an opponent of the Nationals could be in one of those matches, they all had the level of skill to play the national championship, if Jake could he could just pick one player for each position and then take the trophy home in this year''s championship. So he hoped for the Elite school to bring players of such a level to his team so he would be safe in bringing the trophy. In addition, Jake did not know if all the people were from New York or came just to play a game, because if he was the first he only had to admire the level of basketball in that city if he lived here he would have no problem finding rivals. Looking at the matches Jake could not find anyone who could challenge him, but that does not mean they would be easy games, but that was normal as well, after all, Jake''s level had already surpassed those of the same age, but his players were brilliant too. Jake''s next opponent was a quick boy named Lane, in the match he saw before Lane seemed to be a fast-paced type of player, who depends on the dribble to pass his opponents, but his dribbles did not have many feints but sudden bursts of speed. This was an easier opponent for Jake who had a great speed of reaction and also agility, yet he admired Lane who had his training alone and the talent to reach that speed and not a system as he had. So the game started and Jake, who had only seen Lane attacking, was impressed by his firm defensive stance, he gave just a little space and did not give Jake many chances to shoot, it should be because Lane also had confidence in his reaction speed. So Jake just moved calmly and was choosing which path to take to pass his opponent, so Lane thought that Jake was distracted and tried to steal his ball when he did that gave the opening that Jake wanted. When Jake slipped out of his hand and ran, Lane also noticed and tried to run back, but he had already lost the advantage and Jake who broke free ran to the basket for the first point. Lane had now realized that Jake could be as fast as he and so opened up a little more space to react in time, Jake also realized this and started another attack, after a feint he hesitates and then a perfect step back that gave the impression that he would go to the basket and then just made the mid-range shot with the space he opened. So Lane was now helpless and understood quite a bit what was going on with Jake''s opponents, now only a taller player could cause problems for Jake in his age range, but it''s also hard to find someone taller than him at age 12, and the taller ones are always slower than him. After the game continued so until when unintentionally Lane slapped Jake''s arm that made him miss the shot, but the referee did not seem to have seen the action, Jake also did not care much and so the possession of the ball went to Lane who tried to pass using his speed, but to no avail. So he just got a little space and then shot himself to make a point, after Jake got used to playing with much more skillful players in his imagination training his defense was much more stable, so the pressure he created for people of the same age with your strength is now huge. That''s what the system meant he would have to play some games to realize the difference, it''s like playing tennis every day with Federer, you can play with him for several years without making a point and just losing, but one day you play with someone weaker you realize how much you''ve improved. It is important for an athlete to play games to be able to know how his or her current ability is more clearly, only workouts have given you wrong information about yourself sometimes. So the pressure on Lane was very big in this game, yet he realized that Jake seemed to be taking very seriously this game what irritated him after scoring the second point Lane began to see a new hope of winning. So he went to a new attack and fast movements he managed to run to the first basket in the game, confident in his speed he just ran to the basket and when he tried to make the layup realized that Jake was near him. Even so now he was about to make the point so he did not care, what he did not expect was that Jake who was only slightly taller than him with a blast of strength jumped and gave a block. So he lost the chance to score the third point and also a bit of morality, Jake had been someone tall in his past life, and despite not playing well he had a long time to time rolls like the block, so his ability still increased even though he did not do it in the games. The system had already said that his height would also influence the rank of some of his skills as a layup, block, and dunk that has not been learned, after the ranks were to know its ability to make the move in court, the higher he was more chances of doing a dunk. So he easily scored the points and won that match, now he had just one more game today and then the final on the last day of the tournament. After a while his opponent in the semifinal appeared, he was named Doug and had had a victory 10-5 in the last match, as all 8 were about the same skill had been a more comfortable score in addition to Jake. Doug also looked at Jake with a worried look, he had felt it did well to win by 5 points. Jake won by 8 points, and he heard from some in the audience that Jake did not seem to have worked hard. Clara was satisfied with the game in the stands with Tiffany and Eva, many men were looking in their direction because it was difficult to see several beautiful women together in games like this, as Eva was healthier now the three looked like sisters. Clara and Tiffany were hoping for Jake and so they called him here, but they knew that street basketball games were different from basketball that was played as a team, so they were not sure of their victory. But after they started watching the games and saw Eva who should be more nervously calmly watching the game was curious, so Eva told that when Jake had just turned 11 he had participated in a street basketball tournament and his opponents had 15 years and he managed to win. After hearing that they both relaxed and were surprised, they had not heard about it before, so this tournament should not be a challenge for him. And so Jake''s game started this time he lost the draw and who started with the ball was Doug, Doug was also very happy, he was an SG in the games of his school, and had played in last year''s nationals, but did not I remembered seeing Jake. So he inferred that he had not participated, because otherwise, he would have found him in the regional or state before that, he had trained several different ways to make a point, so that year he would be the team owner. Jake tightened the scoring and gave no space, Doug was prepared for this and defended the possession of ball turning with his back to the basket, so he wanted to have a power struggle before trying to turn to make the point. Jake who saw this just smiled and started to increase the pressure and use his strength to stop Doug from acting, after a time when Doug saw that he was losing the fight turned around and tried to hurl but Jake reacted quickly and jumped to block, Doug noticed, too, and he just shot himself, and did not even hit the basket rim. Jake ran and got the ball to start his attack, Doug followed behind and kept a small distance, Jake just smiled and ran, after stopping and giving a small feint he made a bait behind his back catching Doug off guard and easily passed him make the first point. Now Doug was sure that Jake played more street basketball, this dribble is not common for players of that age unless they liked to do the show, but on the streets, the more beautiful and different the cooler the play. In fact, Jake really liked shooting more than 3, but after deciding to be a PG he started to train more variations of passes and different dribbles, he tried all the ones he had seen in NBA games and video games. It was hard to learn on his own, but with his high skill rank in dribble and ball control it was easier to get the hang of it, the harder it was to decide which situation required that kind of dribble, but the only way to figure it out was by playing. And that was more important now that Jake was trying to create a move of his own, he knew it would not be easy, it would have to be something that would help him in the games too, a move that was not useful was meaningless, but Jake had already thought of some, just that the difference in thinking and performing was great. Chapter 68 Going to New Ways 4 Then the game continued and Doug hoping for a difficult match turned out to be the perfect opponent for Jake to test new moves. But as Jake always used to the right moves and made the point later everyone saw how his natural resource was like in field football, if a player like Neymar made a beautiful bid or gave a hat on the corner of the field rival fans would be offended, but if it was a dribble under the legs of the defender and then made the goal the fans would even applaud. The difference is the objectivity of the throw, Jake was now testing new moves, but always with the intent to make the point and not humiliate the opponent. Jake made the 10 points in the game, Doug lost his will after the 6 points marked by Jake and Jake ended the match easily, Doug was upset because he needed this money, but even if he knew that Jake could not leave it, to overcome it. So Jake went on the way out after that, he had scheduled lunch with his mother and also with Clara and Tiffany, and today they would not have any more games. Jake was also interested in the games of tomorrow because they would be his biggest rivals in the nationals, the rest did not matter to him, the public thought different, they were hoping to see games of the young people with 15 years until the 17 years, because these would be the games more played. "You played really well in the Jake matches, you should have told me before that I had already won a tournament so when I was younger, I would be more relieved." "It was different, many good players had to stay out either because they did not want to pay the inscriptions or because they could not, and the stronger ones seemed to have chosen the three against three that is easier to win with a good team." "Even so, if you can beat some at the age of 15 those your age would be easier." "This is true, good that we call you, now the advertisement is guaranteed on the day of the finals, even if you did not win it would be difficult, we would gain visibility, in addition, in the end, they will have the games of the elders that draw more attention, so it will have more audience. " "I think it''s a good idea you two have too, it''s rare to find such a good chance, and you could tell the Miami newspaper that a young man from there won in New York that I''m sure they would publish it." "That''s a great idea, I''ll call the reporter who did an interview with you before and I think he''ll be interested in that, you know the market well, too, Jake." "I''m reading some books on economics, stock market, and business management that I plan to do at the university, so I''ve seen some business strategies." "I heard you do it in the middle of normal classes and still get good grades, I also heard that you are learning a language alone, this is quite difficult, I just learned because I had enough people to nurture and practice with me, but only through of books is incredible. " "It''s not even easy, but if you have enough patience and time to learn is something more useful than the courses because you learn to speak and read at the same time and I can travel as I did this year with my mother in the countries, so it''s worth it. " "It would be good if I had a son like you in the future, I was not even so good to my mother, and you Tiffany." "I was not, too, but today I regret not spending more time with her when I was a child because now that I''ve aged I''m ashamed." "I also heard from Matthew that you had chosen a new school to go, I and Tiffany were looking for one for you too, but the business improved and we were short on time." "Yes, it''s called the Elite school, they offered me a scholarship and even a financial incentive for me to go there, and they also said that they will form a team to win the national championship, which is what I wanted the most." "So it''s good, although your contract is no longer restricted by your immediate results it will be good to win a national title as well." After lunch Jake returned to the hotel to rest, his mother also seemed tired, so they slept early to watch the tournament the other day. The next morning Jake had breakfast with his mother and after that, they went to the competition together. Jake realized that he had much younger than yesterday, and tends to increase as the age increases, moreover, it was more difficult to find a young man who was an amateur as Jake faced, in the 16 and 17 years there should be no nobody else. For young people this is a great chance to get some money and for some also more fame and visibility, in addition, it may be a great opportunity to test their skills, it was said that some great PG suffered when young at street basketball games and being their specialty to pass lost in 1 against 1, thus many develop new talents. In these youngsters, Jake still could not see any player with sponsorship shirts yet, but he heard from Clara that many companies looked for players who were more likely to win, and games with older players draw the public''s attention. So the games started and Jake just watched silently with his mother who was experiencing the sensation of watching games without having to worry about her son, it was more relaxing she had to say. As Jake''s games only from the 5 games onwards the competition got more excited, Jake had already seen many players that could give him trouble as an opponent, and one especially caught his attention. He was a very skillful young man and what caught the attention of Jake was that he also shot 3 points, he missed some but also knew how to defend well, besides he has a good time and presses strongly on the attacker. If Jake had to point out a good example of an SG being this boy, Jake also realized that in addition to his 3-point shots his robberies must also have outgrown Middle School media, this would be an opponent Jake would have to personally score to be able to ring in a game. And as expected he went through all the opponents and reached the final just like Jake, after the end of that day of tournament Jake intended to walk with his mother to tour the city since he did not care about the qualifiers of other ages, so that Jake was with his mother leaving he saw someone approaching him. "You''re the one from yesterday who reached the final is not." Who approached him was precisely the young man Jake was watching more closely on this tie and would go to the final on the same day as Jake. "Yes, I am one of them, my name is Jake." "Jake, you seem to be better than my opponent in the final, I saw your game yesterday, I do not care much about this tournament I just want to play with strong opponents because we do not play a match now." Jake found interesting the personality of this young man, he was even thinking of one day maybe having to play against him in a match of the nationals, but he did not have the audacity to think of challenging him right now, he wanted to go and so he gave a look asking by the authorization of his mother who nodded. "Well I can play with you now for a while, but you have to tell me your name." "Great, my name is David and I play like SG in team matches, I hope you do not disappoint me." So Jake and David were up to a block that was open to the public in this competition, but it was empty now, Jake let David start because he wanted to see closely how his attack was. David did not refuse because he recognized Jake''s abilities; as soon as he picked up the ball he showed a much greater speed than in the playoff games and tried to get past Jake as if he hoped he just retreated calmly keeping the distance between them next. So David tried several different feints without success and when he tried a cut dribble Jake saw an opening and stole the ball, as he opened more distance Jake can attack took advantage of the distraction of the opponent and gave a 3-point shot to make the first two points. David really had been distracted because he did not expect to lose the ball in the middle of a dribble and was even more distracted after seeing Jake doing a 3-shot and hitting. "You''re not the only one who can shoot 3, you''ll have to try harder if you want to beat David." Jake used a tease that he seldom played when he played, but that was because he wanted to see all the potential and skill that David had now, so he would know his strengths in the future national games. From the stance of David''s moves, Jake had already realized that he must play a lot in games in teams, and with his skills, he should have played the nationals. And the teasing seems to have worked, David stopped thinking too much about how Jake did and began to focus on the game now that it would become more serious. Chapter 69 Going to New Ways 5 Jake grabbed the ball and quickly made a step back, David advanced to try a block thinking that Jake would try a shot, but Jake just kept the ball and made David unbalanced and so did a cross jab pretending he would go right to going to the left. After going through two dribbles so David lost his balance and almost fell, but he stood up determinedly just to see Jake quietly going toward the basket to score a layup and make the third point. After two moments of carelessness Jake had already scored 3 points, and David had to admit that this 12-year-old was better than him, yet he did not give up and Jake continued to score points. When Jake could not give a dribble he would only open space and give a shot to mark the point, it is worth mentioning that after so much training Jake could now jump and immediately give the shot without having to adjust much, was his strong base with the shot without a jump. So who was more stressed was to be a scorer as David was after all Jake had many resources to score the points because he had no teammates if adding his assists would be difficult to steal the ball of his possession. But that left David more excited to improve, after all, he had a tough opponent to hit, after a while, Jake was 1 point to finish the game but missed a shot of 3 and David recovered the ball. David was excited to try the reaction and after trying a feint and opening a spice he gave a 3-point shot, but Jake looks like he was already expecting and almost managed to give a block, but still touched the ball by pulling it out of the direction of the basket. Jake ran and gained possession again and then scored the last game. David was more excited after losing this game instead of being depressed and soon approached Jake. "You really are good, but this year I''m going to a stronger school and I''m excited to win the national championship this year, and I''ll give you the change there." "I do not think you''re going to get my school, you''re also determined to win this year and you''ve invested a lot, I do not think you have any chances." "Then tell me which school you''re going to play so I know which team to expect to defeat." "It''s the Elite school in Miami, so we certainly will not meet in the region at least." When David heard the name of Jake''s school his smile quickly left his face and changed to a grimace. "Then we will not be able to meet as opponents in the nationals." Jake was surprised by this change of attitude of David and did not understand why he said this, after all how he participated in the team that went to the national last year he was very aware that there would be no opponents this year. "Because you said that, do you know anything about the Elite school that I do not know?" "Yes, I know a lot, because they called me to study there too, so let''s be teammates this school year." Jake was quite taken aback by this turn of events, the strongest player in the national league age here was David, and if he is his teammate regardless of who the opponent was, he was confident of winning. So unlike David, Jake was very happy with this news, it seems the trophy was closer now, and Jake did not think he needed a rival to motivate himself to improve, only his mother was reason enough, to give pride to her and earn money for a stable life. "That was really good news, I now have more confidence in winning the national championship this year with you on my team." "But are not you an SG too? We''re going to have to play a position or some of us play as SF. " "No I''m the PG of the team, you''re too good to be my reserve so it''s impossible for you to be in the same position as mine." "Are you a PG? I do not think it fits, with your 3-shot and your dribble you should be an SG. " "That''s because you did not see me organize plays and command the team, then you''d change your mind." "Alright then, I''m leaving now, after this game I was really tired until the finals." After that David left and Jake returned to the hotel with his mother who was smiling even more than seeing his son win and then making a friend, she was hoping Jake to be able to win the national championship this year and not be discouraged as at the beginning of year, and by the smile of his son it seems that he was really confident in the victory. Eva was right, Jake was really confident in winning this year now that he had a David level player on his team, moreover, he was more hopeful in his new school''s recruiting ability if they wanted to make sure to win the national championships this year they would need 3 more high-level players. Jake did not need as much, the better team he could do, after all his job was to organize the team and give assists at the right time to his teammates, and it all boils down to their ability and Jake''s confidence in them. It could not happen again that Jake decided to do it all alone and gave up on passing the ball at the end of important games in fear that they could not complete the attacks, Jake may have gone very well last year but he did not exploit half of his abilities as PG. So many still said that he should change position, Jake did not mind giving the position to another mate if he showed a better ability as a PG, but only by having more freedom he would not give up his position. And so Jake and his mother had dinner and then went to sleep the next morning while they had breakfast, Jake was making plans to spend the day with his mother, today were the qualifiers of players aged 14 and up in 4 days which would be the final Jake was free to do whatever he wanted. So he left with his mother and soon asked for a taxi and gave an address, Eva who was accustomed to follow his son when they went to walk did not ask where it was, the place where Jake wanted to go was the Broadway that was a few hours from the hotel where they were. Jake had seen on a website in the future that at that time was running a show that he liked very much and was sure that his mother would like too. It was the famous spectacle Les Miser¨¢bles that was a success worldwide, was a beautiful story that had several twists and had a dramatic end. When they arrived at the place Eva finally knew where they were and her eyes glittered at seeing the theater that only heard in the newspapers and television, Jake went to the box office and was lucky to have two tickets available for today. So he took Eva to a nearby restaurant and ate with her and then they killed the time until the show started, then they went to the theater site on time and went in early to enjoy this great atmosphere that had the theater. And so the show began different from the cinema, the audience of the theater saw the people acting live that brought more realism to the story told and also saw the changing and being the scenes and the characters coming and going. The play begins with the story of Jean Valjean being told in the beginning when he was in prison having to do forced labor to pay his five-year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread and another 14 for trying to escape several times, and he finally gets his parole where he is always obliged to carry a yellow paper that was a symbol of his social status. But after leaving Valjean ends up stealing silver from a religious bishop who offered him food and a place to stay, then the police take him and the bishop shows mercy and mind to protect Valjean. Impressed by the kindness of the bishop who offered advice that would abandon his past and change his life, so many years later he becomes a successful man who owns a factory and mayor of a small town. In this factory works Fantine, who was the favorite personage of Jake, that worked in the factory of Valjean, and after that was discovered the truth that she had a single daughter she is fired. Then Fantine who had to send money to her daughter is driven to despair and forced to become a prostitute and loses her health quickly in this situation, then Valjean who finds her pities her and sends her to the hospital. When Valjean goes to the hospital to visit Fantine he goes through a situation that is seen by Inspector Javert who suspects that he is the prisoner who fled years ago. Valjean visits Fantine and promises to take care of his daughter, but Fantine dies before seeing Cosette one last time. After Valjean discovers that an innocent man had been captured in his place and confesses that he is the fugitive, but he can not surrender because he has to fulfill his promise and find Cosette. He finds the girl and takes her with him after paying the swindlers who mistreat her. The second act Jake does not like much, had the grown Cosette who finds love in a revolutionary called Marius, after a long fight the resistance is all dead and only Marius and Valjean that saves him, and then Valjean gives Cosette to Marius and goes to a place to die alone accompanied by the ghosts of Fantine and Eponine the foster sister of Cosette. But of all things, Jake liked how the story was accompanied by the beautiful songs that were exciting and brought history to life. After they left the theater and went to the hotel Jake was happy that his mother liked it as much as he did the show. Chapter 70 Going to New Ways 6 After a few more days passed, the day of the final arrived, the place of the competition was still the same, but now it was full of people, they also had several cameras and trailers for the TV people and the guests. Many reporters from the city were there as well, Jake stayed close to his mother and since it was still a long time before the games started, he stayed for a while just watching, Clara and Tiffany had a meeting today so they could not watch the final, but they said they trusted on Jake and just leave like that. Jake wore a sports shirt with the company brand and the shirt with the advertisement below, was to make more impact at the time of the match, Eva had also brought several drinks from Tiffany''s company to drink and also enjoy and do promotion. All other finalists had already arrived just Jake was not there, the crowd was also more interested in the older ones, the 17-year-old even had dunks in yesterday''s game, so it seemed like a more exciting game. David was also there among the finalists and had noticed Jake, but he was not interested either in the final game because he knew he would win, he just felt sorry for the other finalist at the age of 12 who looked excited and anxious. He had already lost, but still did not know was what David thought, it was impossible that Jake who had won him lose to someone who was much weaker than him, his opponent who already knew David from before instead seemed calmer and already had accepted defeat. In fact, David was also upset about Jake''s attitude of being a wolf in lambskin, he just challenged Jake too because he thought he was weaker by what he saw in the games if Jake had shown his shots from 3 before him or would try. In fact Jake did not do that on purpose, in the games of the school league he even hid some of his abilities to catch opponents by surprise, but there was just not to humiliate the opponents, he was already winning every game almost 10 points difference, if he also gives 3 shots nor would he match. After a while, he saw that the organizers were calling the players to start the finals, and Jake finally left close to his mother after giving her a kiss and a hug in it, took off his blouse and went to the other finalists as he arrived At last near the time Jake started drawing attention. And what also caught the attention was his shirt with the mark of the two companies, who had shirts with sponsorship so far were the two finalists of 17 years and the other with 16, but Jake seemed to have only 12 and also had the trust of some company and were still two companies. Eric who had come after receiving the call from Clara also took some photos when Jake appeared, his interview with Jake ended up increasing his fame and was well received by the public in the newspaper. Despite hearing complaints from her publisher for making ads without charge, this time Clara promised to make up the paper after this interview, after all, Clara''s company got good sales thanks to the interview, the people of Miami liked to see that a young man from their city was the best state in basketball games. Now Jake was challenging young street basketballers in New York who was known for his open courts, if he won it too should be a success, but what caught Eric''s attention was Jake''s shirt that now had two companies, he would she remembered being just one before. It seems that Jake also won with his interview, it was good because if the player got on well with the reporters his fame usually increased rapidly. After a while, the finals started and two 11-year-olds went to the court, but it was not known whether it was the lack of skills or the pressure of the public and the cameras the youngsters were doing a bad game. It took almost two minutes and several attempts for one of the two to make the first point, so the game seemed to be played so bad that the two were and it took almost 15 minutes for the game to end, the organizers must have regretted taking the time restriction maximum. When the game ended did not get the applause expected from the audience, you''re kidding, was lucky that they did not boo because they were playing children and waited for applause? It was soon followed by an unscrupulous reporter interview as promised with the young man breathless for playing 15 minutes, then he received a medal and the trophy and only then received some applause, then he took a picture and left. So the expectation of the final game that Jake would play now was almost zero, everyone did not think a year would make such a big difference in experience, and they were partially correct because Jake''s opponent was shaking when the camera filmed him, it was a tournament which was being filmed and parts of it would be broadcast on television. This was in stark contrast to Jake who looked completely calm and his shirt with sponsorships, many even began to think that the companies on the shirt were small markets or stores in the city. To tell the truth Jake also did not expect the nervousness to affect both the younger players, he was even with feathers of his opponent who was shaking and wanted to say a few words to calm him down and say to focus on the game but could not. He would have to give the best to play well and thus bring more attention to his sponsors and if he would calm the young man and then end him in the game he would appear hypocritical in doing so. So Jake and David who was watching this and laughing outside just made a silent prayer for their opponent''s suffering, the game started with the possession of Jake''s opponent, but he was strangely walking the ball up. So Jake just waited for a little and stole the ball from his opponent, then made a comeback in it and ran to the basket to score the first point. The young man who was very nervous was called Kirk and he was really nervous with the big public and the cameras, he was even calmer before starting the tournament, but after seeing the shameful game of the two players only 1 year younger and the He was even more nervous. So the game started and he distracted lost possession of the ball, and saw his opponent who seemed calm make the first point easily, then his opponent just picked up the ball and started another attack and took step back and gave a 3-point shot who cheered the cheer that started to cheer and just then Kirk calmed down and realized that this was the final and the 2000 dollar prize he wanted to win was starting to get further apart. Jake also noticed after making the third point that his opponent began to calm down, that was better, if he did 10 to zero with a nervous opponent would not attract the attention of the public as much as gain from a stronger opponent. So Jake started another attack and Kirk started to put pressure and defend, as he was warmer Jake made a feint and after a hesitation made the crossover and passed through Kirk on the left, Kirk tried to recover more Jake was fast and had already given the shot to make 1 more point. So Kirk had to acknowledge that his opponent was much better than he expected, but he could not give up like that and tried again to press Jake, Jake just ran into the basket and then stopped, when Kirk also stopped Jake ran to the left and then when Kirk turned to defend his left side Jake made a spin as he saw LeBron James do it several times and then just did the layup to score another point. The play was so fast that Kirk only knew that Jake had made another point and did not even know what happened, after being in shock for a moment the crowd began to scream, cheer and cheer crazily, who filmed was very happy with the discovery and those who had turned off the camera because they did not expect anything were repentant. In the crowd, Eric had a big smile on his face because as he expected a lot from Jake he always took pictures of his marked points, and took the picture of that basket that would be the cover of his interview. Jake liked to make sure the move he had rehearsed for a while, but he thought it was a shame he could not finish with a dunk, that would be perfect. Kirk who did not know what was happening just rushed Jake and the referee to restart the match soon, Jake got the ball and now more confident began to make some typical street basketball throws to cheer the crowd as well and go through Kirk, so after to make the seventh point Jake made a hesitation again and a step back to take another shot out and make 2 more points. Kirk had accepted his defeat and was annoyed by the crowd that was screaming all around Jake did, now he just wanted to make a point to not lose from zero, Jake started the attack and after making some feints that did not work with concentrated Kirk and took another step back. Kirk stepped up to try to stop Jake from taking the shot from outside but ended up taking the ball under his legs and was passed, he struggled to reach Jake who had run into the basket and when he got close he saw Jake stopping and doing a hesitation , then Jake makes a cross jab followed by another hesitation and ending with a quick crossover and passing through Kirk, Kirk who took three dribbles in a row and was a bit tired ended up with his back to the ground as he watched Jake close the game and win the final. Chapter 71 The New School 1 After the end of the game, the cheer was totally lively other than the last champion, everyone loved that game and they thought that Jake''s game was incredible, the fans did not even remember having consideration for Kirk who was the loser. And it was to be expected, Jake struggled to give a show in this match other than his normal game style, after all, he had to assert his sponsorship that was very well paid by the two companies compared to what he could do for the companies. Now that he had the chance to promote the marks he would do his best, his mother also understood a little that his son played very well, and she also realized that the fans were much more excited than in the last tournament when Jake beat an opponent 4 years older. Soon they set up the place and called Jake to receive the trophy and do the interview, Jake went to the audience before and gave a hug to his mother to take a bottle of sports drink from Tiffany''s company, he liked the drink himself, he had a better taste than other companies. So he went and to the applause of the public received the medal and the trophy as well as the check for $ 2,000, then the reporter who looked more like a gym teacher appeared in his sportswear to do the interview. "Hi, young man, congratulations on having won the 12-year-old tournament, I and I are very fond of your game in the final and especially of that spin, tell us your name and where you are from here." "Hi my name is Jake and I would like to thank the city of New York for hosting this tournament which is a good experience for all of us, I come from Miami and I am very happy to have won." "So you came from far away here, I mean I think you play very well and have an incredible future in basketball, and I hope to hear more from you in the future." "Thank you very much." "Is there anyone else you''d like to thank here?" The interviewer gave the space for Jake to make his announcement because the tournament organizers had accepted that in advance. "I would like to thank my mother who always supports me and came here with me today, and I would also like to thank the Sports 100 and Natural Sports companies that support me allow me to concentrate on basketball." When Jake made the announcement he also pointed to the shirt and the drink in his hand. "Congratulations again and thank you for coming here." After that Jake left the place that received the interview and took the picture with the trophy for the local newspaper. As he was leaving the place Eric was coming up to him, Jake knew he would ask some questions and stood by his mother to wait for Eric as the David final began. "And here we meet again, very good game today, you could see that if you had more freedom in your team you would have been the national champion, you may not know the team that eliminated you reached the final this year, pity they missed. " Jake really did not know but it was better to know that the team that eliminated them went so far to the championship but if they lost their team did not even have a chance to win, Jake just got a little sad because their hopes were very high. "I took a picture of your last move and I''m going to ask for a copy of the recording of that thing to send to you, I think you''ve gotten the attention of the elders, even the 17''s can not do like you, unless they make a beautiful dunk, but it will not be so easy because the two finalists have the same strength and no one will give so much freedom. " "I just have a few questions to ask, the first is what you expect to achieve in that school year?" "I ended up changing schools this year and I''m going to be in Elite school this year and I have not yet seen the team they formed, but I''ve also improved a lot since last year and the one that is winning the final of the 13 years will also be in the same school as mine, so at least we will win the 2 championships that I won last year and reach the national level and have a better performance than last year. " Eric was surprised to know that another talented youngster would also come to Miami from this tournament if they have average players besides those two he already had a chance to win and even more if they have a better team that is more likely. So Eric was thinking of a new story to make after that, he would cover the history of the Miami team that would win the national championship, and Jake would be the star of that article, it seems that he really had many gains in making that trip to New York. "Do you have any expectations of winning the 3 MVPs this school year?" "I think with David here it will be difficult, as I had said before I''m a PG, with good players the less I stand out better, I''ll better organize the plays and give the stage to my teammates." And so ended the interview with Eric coming out satisfied, soon after the interview the game of David also ended his victory by 10 to zero as well and the applause of the public. So Jake decided to return to the hotel because tomorrow morning he would have to go back to Miami and also Clara and Tiffany would have come back tomorrow too. Now Jake intended to rest on those holidays and train only his strength and speed beyond imagination training, and he had another challenge, to create a movement of his own that would be useful for games, he had many ideas and now it was time to start experimenting. After Jake returned home his vacation went on without further surprises, and Jake was working on his first move that he thought several times, as his first move a PG had to be a care movement, it was something he had thought of after field football games and also some similar throws in basketball. It was an assist that he thought he used the flexibility of his arms, speed and also needed to be done at the right time, he moved his arm to give an assist to one side and when the opponents think the ball goes there, with the tips change the direction of the pass to another teammate. He would call this ''Elastic pass'' despite being a very specific movement that can be used in not many circumstances the system confirmed that it was worth as a good move and that could be his signature in the future. In fact, Jake thought of a dribble and a shooting move of 3 as well, but he deduced that he would need more time to hone and also more physical stats and as each movement created increase his stats he created an easier one first. In fact, no special moves are needed to make assists, what is important is the view of the player, if the player giving the assistance has a more general view of the game he can give an incredible pass that no one expects and break the whole defense, but it would still be just a pass. So Jake thought these moves mainly to deceive opponents who like to try to steal the ball, so now he had to improve this movement in the vacations to be able to use it in the first games of the regional championship. The holidays passed quickly and it was time for the beginning of classes, Jake morning put the new uniform went to his new school to study, arriving there he saw several students of all ages, in the same place there are the buildings of the Middle School that Jake would and also the high school building, so he saw many girls and boys as well. Jake went to the administration building to get his class schedules and in which class he would be going every week, Jake had made a special request that was approved to be able to study in the same room as Joseph, so he knew he could see his friend every day. When he got to the classroom Joseph was there and also he could see David who had moved from New York, Jake and Joseph chose a place together in the left corner in the background, David chose to sit in the middle well on the opposite side of Jake, so it seems he did not want to contact Jake. When classes started Jake as he always picked up his books and began to study, now he was finishing reviewing the French books and then he would move on to Italian, Jake''s business books thought it would take many years yet to study all the areas. But unlike the teachers at his old school, the teachers at all classes were bothered to see Jake concentrating on something other than his classes and asked several questions, some that were not even what he was being taught, Jake did not bothered and answered all the questions. He knew that not concentrating on classes was not very respectful of the teachers who were upfront, and even more so now that this was a private school and Jake besides earning a scholarship, he was being paid to attend, but he did not either. could spend time in class with something he has learned before. After all, Jake still had some ambitions in his life to accomplish and could not let the studies aside, and as for answering the questions, it was a teacher''s right to ask what time they wanted. Chapter 72 The New School 2 And so he continued the first day of class with all the teachers getting irritated with him and wondering whenever he could in the intermission he asked what Joseph whom he brought here thought of the new school and Joseph liked besides the teachers who seemed boring and implied with his friend. After the end of classes Jake went for his second obligation to go to basketball practice, today was the day Jake would meet his teammates and he also had to officially join the team. ... Coach Mike was a little anxious and nervous today as he as the new coach of the Elite school held a meeting before the start of classes this week, the content of the meeting was that he as the new basketball coach had an obligation to win all three championships of the year. They explained that the school that was now going the way of the sport would have to try to win all the various sports championships and basketball, football and baseball were the school''s top priority in both Middle School and high school. The school that wanted to become a new benchmark had made heavy investments in new players from other schools as well as in sports facilities and new coaches for all teams. All teams that played last year were undone and new would be created, then the board passed him the list of the 5 players who were recruited from other schools and would be the starting team to win the national championship this year. As they were not famous the coach did not recognize them by the names, but by their records last year, they all participated in the national championship last year but they ended up being eliminated and they had in common that they were in schools with weak teams of basketball and practically took alone the teams for nationals. Listed to be the captain he saw Jake''s record that he was 12 at that time and had won 2 MVPs from the region last year, the others were from other regions, Coach Mike had to admit that the school had made really heavy investments to beat that year. The note added to Jake''s profile was that he always led the team and that it was good for him to leave control of the team in play for him, and the coach only looked after the team in training, when he saw that coach Mike was not angry and yes impressed. Because if in his command as PG he led a team with players far below average until the nationals this shows his excellent judgment and leadership, the most important was he able to show his authority to that team that was much better than he had. ... When Jake entered the school grounds it seemed he was the first to arrive, he found the school facilities very good, he would have to remember to ask the coach to mark for him a time so he could run on the track that the school had done, had a mile to go around. Although Jake played basketball he still remembered the joy of running, and other than strength training he would still run on the mat even if he did not, even more, because the treadmill had a device that made the treadmill tilt as if it had a rise, which was very good. Sometimes in his running training he had to hold himself in order not to eat one of his energy bars in order to keep running, he promised himself that as soon as he accumulated 100 of these bars he would start eating them so he could run more, after all too it was a training that increased both speed and endurance. After a while people started to get on the court when David arrived just waved to Jake and went to sit on the bleachers, it seemed David did not like him very much. After a while, coach Mike entered the court, he looked at the youngsters, the 5 who were called from another school and had 20 more students that some wanted to join the team this year and others should be players from last year that were taken from the team. "Welcome all of you, the ones who are here want to be on the basketball team this year, some came from other schools and some were already players last year, for me the best players will play today and then 10 will be the reserves, rest can just watch the training." "Those who were chosen from other schools were chosen because they have skills to show them all today." And so the coach put the 5 players on his list into one team and the others were randomly chosen, despite what he said, of course, he would not go against a school order, so he favored the best if they lost anyway they did not deserve to be the best. It must be said that the representative who spoke to Jake and the others who chose the 5 from different schools chose very well, unlike David who had a more challenging personality, the others got along very well with their teammates and just came for the chance to enter a university. The team players who were recruited were: Jake (PG) who was the captain of his team and won 2 MVP in the two championships he won, David (SG) who reached the 3 national championship game with a good team that did not was strong enough to win, Harrison (SF) reached the first round of the national championship with his weakest team and was the best player there, Mark (C) reached the second round and was the best defender of his team, took many rebounds, had an average of 2 Block per game and still attacked well and Carter (PF) who reached the final in the national championship and scored Jake in the game that Jake''s team was eliminated. David and Carter knew Jake''s abilities very well and the other two had no leadership skills and only obeyed the captain in the game, so it was as if they were chosen to be a team with Jake already decided before to be the captain. In this game just to decide the inevitable Jake did not have time to combine signals before the game began then he would only mark the plays at the time of the game because when players have skilled it does not matter much if the opponent knows what they did in the attack. So the game began and Mark got possession of the ball, so the ball was sent to Jake who advanced quickly to the attack, his companions went further and positioned themselves in the attack, so Jake just took a look and gave an assist for Mark who was unmarked to do the layup. The opposing team was surprised by the fast attack and they started their attack, Jake and his team only returned to the defense and let them attack, when the opponent''s PG came close to the 3-point line Jake tightened the mark. Just as Jake''s entire team tightened their scoring and then the opposing PG tried to pass Jake, but without success, he gave a pass to his SG, but David pressed more in the mark, just as the SG tried to return the pass Jake went ahead and intercepted the ball to start a counter-attack. Jake tried to advance calmly, but David fired for the attack, as he was faster than his opponents Jake just gave the pass to David who with the ball ran up to do a layup and 2 points. Then the opposing team tried other attacks, but all were always well marked and whenever someone opened Jake, David or Carter stole the ball, so the advantage only increased Jake did not even try to make any point and only organized the attacks. When the opponent encountered a defensive positioning fault and tried to do a layup, Mark gave a block and protected the basket, so when the 16-minute game ended Jake''s team had made 30 points more than his opponent, then no one disagreed that they were the starters and also that Jake was the captain by the position in the court. Coach Mike was very pleased, seeing personally was better than reading reports, and Jake was able to get used to his teammates'' game style quickly and made the best passes at the right time. So he understood why he was the PG chosen to command a team of talented players like them but as they were all calm none of them were arrogant, perhaps because everyone had lost last year neither of them saw himself as an exceptional player. The coach was wrong, Mark and Harrison were actually quieter and just did their parts, but Carter and David were more problematic in their teams, they did not listen to the captain and even challenged the coach many times, but that was because their personalities only they let them listen to a player better than them. And they both knew Jake and had to acknowledge that he was better than them, David just knew that in the individual part, but Carter knew that tactically Jake was perfect at Middle School, Jake knew how to defend better than him up to and on the attack or say, and today Carter saw his skills in assists, and more than anything everyone was very pleased to come to this school. After all they had the chance to go to a good university and also play in a team that had the ability to win the national championship, everyone liked to sell and when young people liked to boast to others of their achievements, especially those five who were so skillful, so losing last year left a bad taste in everyone''s mouth. And now they were performing several wishes at once in this school, a desire to be in a good school and with proper facilities, study with the best teachers, go to a good university, and even more as basketball lovers to be champions in all competitions. Chapter 73 The New School 3 After this training, Jake went home and told everything that happened at school except for the teachers who were getting on his foot. First because Jake did not want to worry his mother for no reason and secondly because his teachers were not wrong and even Jake was not doing it to annoy his teachers, for him the teachers'' job was to educate his students. In both respect and teaching, so the tests were to know how the student''s performance was going, Jake, despite understanding his teachers, felt that he respected them particularly, because he had often seen students do much worse than he in the future he came, and talked to others in the classroom and also some used cell phones while the teacher spoke. Even though some teachers thought that while the students were not upsetting the class they could do whatever they wanted, in fact, Jake was still studying in the classroom, just that it was something more advanced than was being taught, and he was confident in his notes on the tests. Eva was very happy that Jake was doing well in her new school and also that Jake said she had a good team and thought she would win the national championship this year, she did not want to see her son sad again and she wanted to see her son have success with your talent. So another day went by and Jake continued his school routine, only a few weeks before the start of this year''s regional championship, Jake was excited but did not want to find his old school in a game. Jake had heard from a colleague that his old school had a much weaker team this year and did not have many chances to reach the regional final, it seems that Jake made the right choice in leaving, after all, members of his team were from and were now in high school. And his whole new team looked very talented which would further highlight his skill as PG, the results in championships can help improve showing the ads of the companies he sponsored him too, he did not aim to be the MVP this year. Just under a week into the start of the regional championship, Jake had already done a lot of training with his team, coach Mike had many good tactics that could change the course of a game, especially with a team full of talented players. As a coach, he was worried about what he received from the school that some players could be undisciplined and especially Jake who was seen by everyone as the team coach but that was not the reality, Jake left everything to coach Roy, just in the hour of the games that he took on the team. Just one thing he did before and still did on that team again, signal training, that was Jake''s game, and even his new teammates agreed that it was a good idea to know how to move to get the ball without being known by the opponent. Carter even more because he personally experienced as a team much lower than they managed to keep a balanced game, so now it was time for him to experience the good parts being Jake''s colleague. David also had no complaints and heard all Jake''s instructions, so it seems that David was not personally fond of Jake, but rather than Jake''s first impression of him, David was a very quiet and introverted person. After a few weeks of training, everyone had already mastered the signs and game drives, Jake was very pleased with this, he now passed 15 different signals to each one, which would give dozens of different combinations for Jake to do. He relied more on these players, they would remember those 15 signs at important times, of course, the 15 were personal, so Jake had to decorate 60 different signs to command the team. So missing a week for the first game, Jake realized he was very stressed about it, because they were all knockout games, losing a game would mean that he missed the last chance to win a national championship. So he decided to do something to forget it a little and calm down, when he thought what to do Jake soon had an idea, now at home Jake could not cook anymore, even Eva knowing that he cooked better than she, Eva still thought it was his work caring for her child now that she has left her job. But her mother seemed a little obsessive about improving her cooking alone, and Jake, though he did not care, got used to eating only the best foods compared to restaurants he''d prepared himself. From the thought of his mother that Jake could see that he was trying hard, he gave up on it, but cooking was also one of the things that helped Jake soothe himself in his past life. So now he had an idea that he should have thought a long time, that was to raise his mother with him to do some cooking classes, now he just had to think about how to convince his mother that it was for him and not for her, she did not think she would. "Mom, I was thinking of something, can I talk to you?" "Of course, son, you can talk." "I was thinking about doing some cooking classes to calm down a little before my first game, could you come with me?" "Take a cooking class, where you took it from." Eva was a little panicked when she heard that her son who cooked so well wanted to cook cooking classes with her, she was even a little bit obsessed with improving her cooking skills. But it was not like Jake thought because he saw it cooking so well, but because after she left work and had more time she wanted to improve her cooking even though she could never have her own restaurant. Because the most important thing to open a restaurant is the restaurant''s cooks and dishes, not the money because someone with skills could open a restaurant if they received funding, but even someone with money would not receive skills just because they had the funds to open one. She did not want him to know, because otherwise, he would use all his own money to open one for her, and Eve did not want to touch her son''s money. "I just really enjoyed a few dishes that I ate on our trip to Spain and wanted to learn how to make them, and I also want to do another trip later this year to another country, so it would be good to learn sooner." This was the best excuse Jake could think of, and he thought he could work with his mother because he knew that for some reason she wanted to learn how to cook better, and he like his son for years knew it was not just him. "So that''s why, I happened to like the food there too, and I wanted to learn how to do the dishes myself, but it''s not as easy as I thought, I think it might be a great idea to do some lessons, after all, I can too. use at home so it will not be wasted time. " As he hoped, it seems that his mother was very interested in cooking, he always knew she liked to cook, it was partly why he started cooking too, but even for those who liked it was too much, so he realized that she had some wish he did not tell him, did she want to make a different dish? If so, she could do it in class, but if it was something else he wanted to find out to help her do it. After all Jake was so obsessed with the college that he would not make it to the NBA earlier because he knew it was one of the few wishes his mother revealed to him, if they had others he would want to know. So he and his mother went to do some classes together, when they got there they were introduced to the whole class the teacher was also a woman, and it looked like a lady who would make a movie playing a good grandmother, Jake chose this course because he and his mother they did not want the stiffness of a professional kitchen but rather a quieter environment. Eva quickly made some friends and went to try some dishes, Jake was not doing anything, for now, he just looked at what everyone was doing and sometimes he shook his head when he saw someone do something wrong. It was not that Jake did not want to try to cook, but that the class would be after hearing the teacher''s instruction, they would have to make a double dish and they would share what to do, as Jake just wanted to relax and that Eva would take it he told her to try make the entire dish and he would do the decoration and finish. As the women talked, Jake heard that sometimes his hand mentioned her name and soon after the women looked at him with a loving look, she must have told him that he brought her here, or their trip together, so he received many looks like if it were a rare animal in a zoo. It got to the point of the teacher who looked like a kind grandmother to really become a kind grandmother and bring milk and cookies to him, Jake, of course, was not at all embarrassed with his thick face as concrete and took advantage of the flattery and the cookies, after all, he had already decided to stop doing things out of shame and after regret. Chapter 74 Walking Back to Top 1 After his mother finished preparing the dishes Jake moved to make the decorations and last preparations to be able to finish the plate. Many women who were on the course including the teacher thought that Jake was just looking and that Eva would prepare the entire dish, but when Jake started they realized that he had more skills in the kitchen than many of them. Even the teacher who showed how to make the dish was surprising after all this was the first time she showed this dish and the others were doing just the same, but Jake was making the decorations the way she did with ease. Of course, he did not do it with the same delicacy as she who prepared these dishes years ago as a pro, but it was still incredible. After Eva promised to go back to do other classes they went away, Jake had told his mother that as she had liked it so much she should come in days he was in school to not get bored at home, and when it was weekend it would come with her. Eva liked the idea and promised to come 3 times during the week, Jake was happy because one of the things he had the most regret was that his mother was very lonely and did not have many friends and did not leave the house without him. So now she would have a hobby and so could make friends who had the same preferences, just as Eva was with Jake he was also happy when his mother was well. After a few more days it was the day of the first regional championship game this year, unlike last year Jake had come with a much stronger team, but now he was much more worried than before as he knew it was his last chance. His teammates did not look very nervous in their turn, they liked basketball, but winning the national championship was not a goal for them. The team that they would face had been eliminated in the second round last year so it could be said that it was a weaker team, Jake began to calm down more only when he was already on the court, he knew that at that time no point in getting nervous anymore. The game began and Mark won the ball pass to his team and handed the ball to Jake to start organizing the first play, Jake started to run while his teammates began to organize an attack. The opposing team''s markers only kept away from Jake until he reached the 3-point line, only after his marker began to press, his other already-positioned teammates were being heavily scored as well. Jake just made a few signs and for the defenders last night''s nightmare if Jake''s team players quickly changed their position and the scorers were confused. Jake took a break from the mark and gave the assist to Harrison who had been freer, and so Harrison accelerated and did the layup scoring the first two points of the team in the championship. Jake''s team quickly returned to their defense court and positioned themselves to the other team who already hoped to concede many points did not care and just attacked when they got close to the line of defense form marked strongly by Jake''s team. But they still managed to trade passes until they found their SF more free to score points with a 2-yard shot and tie the game. Jake again organized the attack, the same as last year Jake still controlled the pace of the game as PG and made it more supportive for his team, but different from last year he maintained a fast pace and not a slow. He knew his teammates could handle this pace until the end of the game, but the same could not be said about their opponents, so in that attack, the opposing defense did not position itself quickly and Jake passed to Mark to do the layup and 2 more points. This fast pace was the way Jake liked to control the game, it was better to get a defense unprepared or at least to put more pressure on the opponent''s defense, and with fast players like David and Harrison, the game would quickly become one-sided. So the two teams attacked and studied Jake''s team did not miss any attack, but the same could not be said about his opponent, with great pressure from Jake''s teammates and also lacking skills they missed 3 attacks and after the first period Jake''s team led by 6 points. Although Jake stood out for his control of his team and the seemingly unexpected positioning changes of his team that was controlled by him and the passes at the right times, Jake was not getting very high and had not made any point yet. But he could not go unnoticed by his weaker performance as everyone there knew that he was the MVP of the last championship, he himself has not mistaken anybody and really did not think of making points if he could pass, but he did not mind stressing one little more your opponents. He was testing the skills and limits of his teammates, he had to know what he could expect from them in the future, after all, he did not want to pass the ball in an important game just for his teammate to miss the attack like last year. In the second period Jake''s team still opened another 4 points ahead of their opponents'' mistakes, the other team must have realized that they could not win like this and tried to increase the pressure on the mark, but all of Jake''s teammates were good players and had no problem marking the pressure. In the third period, Jake told his teammates to push a little more in defense and try to stop the other team from attacking, so Jake''s team made 5 steals and so they got a 20 points advantage, in the last period the other team had given up and Jake''s team only managed the score. It was a good game in which everyone did not have to give in to the maximum and also showed the strength of the whole team and not only of a player, after that game Jake was not nervous anymore, he knew that with this team they would have a great chance to win the National Championship. Eric was the only reporter who was present in that initial game, the others just started going to games closer to the final, he had already decided that he would cover all the games of Jake''s team that he thought was the future national championship team. So he wanted to comment on each score and take pictures of the game and the players, so in the end, to do a better and more complete interview matter, it was a very big risk for him because if Jake''s team lost he would have wasted all his time covering these minor games. But even so he decided to risk it, he thought it would be worth his investment based on all the media he did that had Jake in it, especially the last one that had as cover the point of Jake doing spin, everyone liked to know that a young man from Miami won a match against the best of another city. They liked it even more when they saw the dribble that a 12-year-old did, Jake himself was getting better known by the readers of the newspaper in Miami, after all, he had appeared in 3 interviews doing incredible things, so if they won the national championship would be another success. Clara and Tiffany''s companies were also getting better known and selling a lot more, it was a lucrative investment for them so far, not to mention that they could save two years not needing to record an ad. In addition, Eric also knew that David was very skilled as well as won in the 13-year competition, and today seeing these players it seems that all players are on the same level, so they were a big favorite. After Jake went home and told the good news to his mother who was also anxious, last year she had become accustomed to staying calm and just waiting for Jake''s victories and was even surprised when Jake could not win now she would always be a little anxious until hearing the good news of Jake. So another week went by and the second round came Jake''s entire team was confident of their victory, and the game was over easily than last week, the opposing team already knew the strength of Jake''s team and did not present much resistance, Jake controlled the game and his teammates and they had a smooth win in that game as well. When Jake spoke to David after last week''s game he said that the New York regional championship had much stronger teams, it was said that winning the regional championship was more difficult than winning the state championship. This means that whoever won the regional championship in New York was practically guaranteed in the national championship, of course, he was a rare case, all the other teammates were expecting a slower pace in the regional championship. After the game ended Jake, who was preparing to leave, he received news that made him surprised and annoyed. His old school had the team eliminated in the second round, Jake did not want to face them in this championship, but it was still surprising that a team that won two consecutive regional championships and were the state champions lost only in the second round. So Jake''s mood soured a little. Chapter 75 Walking Back to Top 2 He knew he could be considered hypocritical, but he had this feeling now, after all, he did not want to see the school he played in so badly. Even so, there was nothing he could have done from what he heard from some former classmates the team from his old school was very weak this year, although Jake''s team was considered weak last year this was considering the level of the national championship but even without it was a team that could reach the state. So when he heard that he was weak he did not take many into account, but now he understood that his friend said he was weak compared at the regional level, but that also meant that he would not have to face the dilemma of facing his former team in a game. After he went home he told everything he was thinking to his mother. "You''re not being hypocritical, my son, it''s just that you have a good heart, I''d think it would be a lot worse if you just cared about winning and do not mind your old school." "I understand that, but I still misunderstand." "It''s okay, just win the national championship this year and so in your head, you will make sure that your decision to change schools has been successful." Jake decided to believe what his mother said and went to rest, it could be that in addition to feeling sad for having changed school he was unsure whether this was a wise decision, because it affected not only him but also his friend and his mother. After that, Jake went to school and told the same thing to Joseph, and coincidentally he said almost the same thing as his mother said, so Jake took that as true since two people said the same thing. In class, the teachers still seemed to bother with Jake reading books from other subjects in the classroom, but after seeing that he''d gotten all the questions asked, they decided to wait to see their test results. Jake did not care about it, he really did not think the classes important with him already knew the matters, taking the best grades possible was something he only did to make his mother proud, she gave Jake much freedom to do whatever he wanted as long as he gets good grades. So during the week before the game, Jake would always go to workouts to review some tactics and also see how the training of his colleagues was being done and if they needed their councils. That was another difference from this and his old team, although Jake knew that everyone was skillful, he liked to give advice to his old teammates like Luke and Owen and watch their growth from game to game every week. But in this team, although everyone had their failures were things that would not show great improvements in a few games, who else could improve and trained a lot was David practicing his 3-point shots. Jake could see that he was improving and had more confidence in him to pass the ball in important games to try the shot of 3, it was good to be able to trust his teammates. As soon as the third match arrived, Jake could no longer distinguish whether his opponent was good or not because they always played the same way, after all, they had many teams that were good at the regional level, but Jake''s team was all of it at the national level. So the ball started with the possession of Jake''s team, he soon ran with the ball along with his teammates and just waited for everyone to position themselves, then made an assist as Carter scored the first two points with a layup. After the first game coach, Mike told the whole team to score as strong as possible from the start of the game so the opposing team would be pressured by the strength of their team and would tend to miss more attacks. And even if the attacks did not go wrong, some of Jake''s players had good defensive skills and steals a lot of balls and when the opponent arrived to do the layup, Mark and Carter took turns and blocked the attacks. Just as in that game that at the end of the first period Jake''s team led by 10 points of advantage, both sides missed some attacks, but Jake''s team was stronger in defense and less miss. Jake ended up getting the first two games and now in that third game also without scoring any point, but he was happy with that because he meant that his team was good enough not to need him in the attack and also increased his coordination with the team which would be important in more difficult games. At the end of the second period Jake''s team led by 20 points and the opponent had given up reversing the score, so with the win assured the coach put some players reserves to train them since they would be the starters in the next few years. And Jake was impressed that the reserve team was stronger than his former teammates, so he realized the difference between a private school that prioritized the sport and its old school. After the end of the third game, more reporters began to realize that they had a very strong team dominating the regional championship, and Eric was always registering everything in the games and preparing his story at the end of this long journey that would end in the national championship. Eric had even received compliments from his boss for being so committed to his work, because in addition to covering the regional league in the games at night he still did his reporter work normally during the day, and the newspaper was glad that Clara had paid a rate for the publicity he received from the newspaper. After the weeks went by quickly, everything was still the same, his teammates were still training hard for the games and Jake did just the basics which left his colleagues puzzled as to how he looked better after each game even though he did no special training. There was no way they knew Jake was doing the most important training in his games in the space of his imagination training, unlike before Jake clearly understood the fraud that was to have this tool to train, Jake felt he already had an experience of hundreds of games now and did not make any more simple mistakes. Because in his imagination training though Jake know that opponents are not really everything is still very stimulating to his competitiveness, sometimes Jake gets tired of losing by putting his opponents'' skills at higher levels to learn better and modifies in some games just to be able to win. In addition, he gets several experiences and can think of countermeasures to play with higher opponents, and thus improved his layup and his shots of 2 and 3 points, although not changing the rank of skills in the system he was much more versatile. His dribbles and ball control also improved after facing opponents with high defensive and steal skills, Jake several times had the ball in his possession stolen in this training. And not to mention that this training had infinite potential, when he is at the beginning of the NBA skill level he will be able to organize his opponents'' abilities to the NBA ALL-STARS level, so until he reaches the top he can always improve. Also, since this was a training that only involved his mind, he could make this training even tired or hurt what he hoped would not happen, and his mind simulates exactly how his body is in a healthy state. At home Eva was much happier recently, she was very happy when she saw the success and joy of her son that was what she always wanted, but she did not have to be completely happy if her own life was missing something, but now that she found something she likes to do and friends to talk to, Eva was much happier now. On weekends always as promised Jake would go with her to cooking classes, the other women on the course were happier than Eva when Jake appeared mainly to the teacher named Anna who treated Jake as her grandson and always gave milk and cookies. They always talked about how they envied Eve, who had such a loving and educated son, Eva was also very proud, and all of Jake''s stories became known to the group of friends who were only more impressed. After all, someone 12 years old who could already support the house and also played basketball so well that he was MVP twice in championships, was also the best student in his class always making the most of all the tests, he was really like the perfect son for them. Besides, he was someone who treated his mother so well despite doing all this and was not arrogant, they all especially liked the trip he organized to Spain that was the land of Eva''s more distant relatives. Now Jake was like the mascot of women doing a cooking class. Chapter 76 Walking Back to Top 3 There was only one thing Jake did not expect to happen this week. Teachers have long disliked their attitude in the classroom because Jake always reads other books, even if he answered all the questions correctly they still bothered about it. So Jake hoped that after doing his first test at this school and getting the maximum grade the teachers would understand that he was different and then they would stop caring about him, he did not want special treatment, but only that they did not bother him. But that did not happen, the teachers seemed more bothered by the fact that he took the maximum mark and although they did not bother him in class, his attitudes with him got worse and worse. What Jake did not know was that they were bothered by sheer prejudice, the teachers received information that Jake came from a public school and had only gotten a scholarship to study at his high school for his sports skills. So first they were already irritated by having a weaker student who would hinder the rest of the class and promised to keep an eye out to see if Jake did anything different that would bother the other students and thus complain to the school board. As they waited in the first week of school Jake had not paid attention in class and just kept reading books about something else, teachers were more annoyed by a student who was weaker than the other classmates did not pay attention in class. So they were determined to find out what book Jake was reading and pass it to the board complaining, but when they saw which books they realized they could not use a language book and an advanced study book to complain about a student who could not study. So they thought that even if the books were not harmful they still would not let him watch the classes so they would ask several difficult questions by the time he was wrong they could complain. But Jake answered all the questions including what they did about things that were not even taught in class, as well as the last resort they could only let Jake read his books and when he was poor in the tests or a little below the average they would complain. But Jake eventually sorted out all the test questions and so he had proved that he was better than the whole class, but the teachers still focused irritably because it seemed like he was belittling their classes because he already knew too much. Which meant that the teachers were shifting their prejudices to Jake being the wrong one, forgetting that the problem at the beginning was whether Jake might or might not be on the same educational level as his peers which he proved to be up to. If the teachers had only waited after having the first prejudice and waited to see what was going to happen none of this would have happened and they might even like Jake more because he was the smartest in his class. But their pride has disrupted their judgment and they will always have a more negative view of Jake. But that was something Jake did not know and even if he knew he would have nothing to do about it, he was just thinking about the regional championship final that would happen after the fourth game that they should win. The fourth game also had a weak opponent, they seemed scared and prepared for defeat the moment they faced Jake''s team, they knew most of Jake who had been the MVP of the state championship. It was normal to see skilled players who had great talent and who dominated the trophies of the championships in 2 years until moving to another level. And so it was an even easier game than the last ones, everyone always kept in good shape and they were always stable in their performances on the court, and with Jake organizing the whole team, all his teammates had only to think about defending and then scoring points. After seeing some of Jake''s games, coach Mike finally realized because everyone said that Jake controlled the team and took the coach''s place, that was wrong and it was just something that happened on the court for his ability as a PG and captain, what happened, in fact, it was something else. In all pre-game training and over the weeks Coach Mike trained and prepared the players, they trained various formations and tactics along with the positioning to make the plays well. And what Jake did was learn all that the coach trained and prepared throughout the week and organize the team with their signs during the games on the court. Since everyone had trained all those plays in the week they just needed to see the signs of Jake to know what to do, it was much easier than having to keep looking at the positioning of their teammates as well as their own as it was done in training. So with Jake on the court, it was difficult to see his team erring their position and let their opponents take advantage of spaces to score, and it also looked like it was Jake who thought of everything and controlled everyone on the court. For the trained Mike as long as they could win he did not care much about what others thought. So the game ended smoothly with Jake''s team winning by 20 points difference which is the average team in these championship games. After the game for the first time in the league, Eric appeared to do an interview. "Hi Eric, I thought you''d stop being a reporter and just come to our games as a fan to watch as you did not ask for an interview." "It''s not so easy to think about the right questions, you do not want me to ask silly questions like what you ate before the game or what you wanted to be when you were younger, right?" "You''re right if you asked questions like that every game maybe I would not answer you anymore." "I''m coming in every game to register all of your team''s games this season and take pictures of all of them, so once you''re a national champion I would have a more complete and better coverage than the others." Jake did not expect Eric who was a reporter to be sure that Jake''s team could be the national champion, even though he was confident he could not be sure of his victory, after all, he had only experienced one round in the national championship last year. He just got safer when he got on his Carter team who had stayed in second last year and also thought that the Elite school had managed to form the best team in the championship. "I''ve been in the sports business for some time and I''ve even been to some NBA games, so it''s impossible that I do not know when one team is stronger than the others, I started to see that your team was favorite when you said that David would be on your team. " "After all New York has many good players and almost always their teams that win the regional championships come close to the finals in the national championship, so you and David who have won in the two ages that would participate in the league miss easy to think about it, especially after I saw Carter and the others on your team. " "Well I''ll ask my questions at once, how do you feel at your new school and with your new teammates, do you think you could go further than last year with this team?" "I do believe, are very skilled players and received better training, not to mention that all have experience having played the championship last year, even though I improved a lot with all the experience, and even more so with the defeat which all suffered last year we''re looking forward to the trophy this year. " "In the final which is in a few weeks, the team you are going to face are the Tigers you''ve played with them and won with your old team, what''s the feeling of facing them again." "It''s very different from last year and even knowing that their team may be better I have confidence that we will win and so we will become the champions and we will go to the state championship later." Jake was always honest with his interviews so Eric liked to talk to him, it was difficult when someone just kept dodging the reporters'' responses, it also makes the reporter more willing to try to take something that accidentally escapes from the player. After that Jake went home again to tell his mother the good news of another victory, Eva should be anxious now waiting for news of Jake''s victory. If it was not for Jake to ask her not to go to her normal games and only in the finals, she would be there in every game, the good thing was that if Jake won that fourth game the next she could be there in the stands to see. So after a while, Jake appeared with a smile and she knew it meant victory. Chapter 77 Walking Back to Top 4 "I told you that you did not need to be worried until near the national championship mother." "That''s impossible my son, mothers will always care about their children, even later when you grow up I will still be worried, but do not worry, I get anxious as fan cheers for your team, only that my team is you." Jake understood a little what his mother meant, himself after he discovered what he had lost when he saw his mother dying in his past life now that he had a second chance Jake always paid attention to his mother even when he knew she was fine. The only difference was that Eva did not need to see Jake die once to have this concern, this was the love of a mother that all mothers should have, it was also to be the love of a son for his parents, or for his brothers, but the shame and clumsiness ends up driving people away. At school somehow it seems that some teachers who still had problems with Jake had somehow figured out what Jake and the school were trying to hide, that it was Jake having some kind of contract with the school and that Jake also gets for it. Although this type of contract was not illegal, it was still somewhat immoral, because it was not supposed to be done by a school, something with the Elite school made it practically ''hire'' Jake to move and play at that school. Although they only discovered parts of the contract, what they discovered was the part Jake had accepted that while the school wanted and paid for it, Jake would not leave school until he got to college. Jake accepted this clause because he understood that the school did not want him to change to another when he was in high school and was at his peak in basketball after they had paid him before. And Jake also wanted to stay in this school until the end to receive a recommendation for the university, so of course, he would not want to leave. But the teachers would misunderstand this and knew the personality of the school principal who was also a known shareholder of the president, the principal took care of the behavior of all the ''school staff'', and now, in a way, Jake was also an ''official'' '' from school. So after the Elite team that Jake was winning the regional championship, they would ask him to hold a meeting to correct Jake''s posture in class, claiming that he disrespected the teachers and bothered the students. Jake, not knowing what new unexpected problems were coming up, was doing some more training with his team before the regional championship final. Although he thought this would be an easy game he did not want his whole team caught off guard and ended up losing the game, so during the week besides training the coordination with his teammates Jake also checked his conditions to see if they were ready to the game. In a young team such as Jake''s, it was difficult for some injuries to happen, even if they hurt themselves in some game or training as long as it was not serious they would be good again in a week. Everyone like Jake was very confident, his team was doing very well and so the players were happy with their results and had higher hopes of winning the national championship that year. As the days went by and soon came the day of the final, Jake left early from his home with his mother who could see the game today as it was a final. The grandstand today was fuller than usual and many reporters had also come to check whether Jake who had been the MVP last year could win yet again. Clara and Tiffany said they could not come, the business was improving and so they decided to make a bigger investment, they were building some new factories and expanding the business further. Since this was a school championship Jake also could not use any materials that could make a good advertisement, so besides Eric, many would not notice until later if it was published in the newspaper. So a while later, the game of the final started again, Jake still remembered that it had been a rather complicated game against the Tigers team last year, but could not know just for that, after all, many players who were in the year past have already been to high school. The ball began with the possession of the team of Jake who soon received the ball, unlike the other teams most if not all the plays had to be organized by him, Jake did not like those other players left with the ball and put the ball. As Jake did his part well and even improved the performance of his teammates no one cared much about it, Jake thought it fair since it was the job of his position and in return, he also did not score points unless he had no choice. Jake soon advanced to the attack and gave a pass to Mark who made the first two points with a layup before the Tigers'' defense could organize. Unlike last year as he did not score any points yet, Jake stood out for his passes and stated his PG position, even so, he was the one listed to be the MVP since all his team was equal in ability and everyone besides Jake had to same point average per game. So it was obvious to everyone that Jake who had been the MVP last year and gave all the assists this year to his teammates was the favorite to win. Jake''s team quickly returned to defense and held on to the opponents ''attack, the Tigers'' PG this year could not find good options to pass the ball and did not have the courage to try to pass himself by Jake. The Tigers'' team this year was better than in the past, but there was no unusual player who could take responsibility and attempt the attack on plays like that. And Jake, as well as Coach Mike, reminded the team several times not to belittle their opponents and end up losing because of it. So all of the Tigers'' team attacks were difficult and all players were well marked, yet sometimes they found a player less pressured to get the ball, protect and try to shoot. So by the end of the first period, Jake''s team was winning by 6 points difference, Jake still had not scored a single point, but as always all points were passed before him. In the second period Jake''s team defense continued to tighten and pressured, and with the Tigers players more nervous and distracted by the difference in the score they started to miss attacks and Jake''s team players were more likely to steal the ball. Jake made the rotation in attack and his team-mates seized the chance to take advantage of most of the attacks but even making the rotation because it was possible with the Tigers'' weakest defense Jake was still analyzing the positioning and skills of his teammates. David was stronger physically than the others only after Jake and Mark and was also fast and got good 2-point shots, David also liked to try to move wherever possible, but he knew the time to do it or not. Mark was a great center, he was like an improved version of Owen, in addition to being taller and having a better positioning and speed of reaction, Mark was also good at rebounds and blocks, and had an excellent attack feature. Harrison was a play of the type who liked to try to do the layup but was also very good at his 2-point shots and Free Throw, was a good player in dribbling, but also was the worst defender of the Elite team. Carter was great on defense, it seemed that he was much stronger since he was in charge of scoring Jake, his attack is medium and if the ball gets to him goes to the layup, Carter is also good at rebounds. So in his head Jake was already preparing to face the strongest enemies, he saw that he could rely more on the attack moves when everyone was marked in Mark who always knew how to position himself and did the layup very well, Mark also had strength so he could defend possession of the ball and get at least one foul to score the points. Later he would rely on David and then on Harrison, Carter would only be when he had no more options because he lost at least half of the attacks that he could not get close to the basket to attempt the layup. David could seem to be the most reliable option, but he tended to be very explosive at times when he was excited. In these games, he seemed calm and focused, but against a difficult opponent when he cheered up and started to lose his head and try to make impossible moves, Jake can not count on him. So the game continued and the Jake team''s advantage against the Tigers was steadily increasing, Jake''s tactic to increase the pace of the game was going well and the Tigers'' players were getting tired and reducing the pressure on Jake''s team. Chapter 78 Walking Back to Top 5 The game continued with Jake''s team an advantage, with a tight marking and the stolen ball, the Tigers team was in a difficult situation, on the other side everyone was experienced and knew how to play with a little marking. So at the end of the second period of play Jake''s team was 14 points ahead, if it was another normal game and with another team, Jake''s team could relax and manage the score because the opponent would have already given up. But that was the final and the Tigers were a team that had been around for a long time but could not get the trophy home, so even with that big difference of points they kept scoring the same. Jake respected this strong spirit of the other team, he also would not give up and would try to win the end if he was in another situation, but as an opponent, he could not only give the victory by being admired. Jake continued to make the moves in the most appropriate situation, David who was also a skilled player had already learned to play and rely on Jake''s lead, so most of the time he made good saves from the defense to receive the ball. Jake was pleased with this, it was proof that David had good senses of game, but since this was not a difficult game he still continued with the rotation and David received the same passes as always, but his good move could disturb the opponent''s defense. To score the moves were always similar, Jake passed to Mark who made the points with a good variation of layups, Harrison or went inside to try the dribble and layup or made a feint and shot a 2-point. Carter who was the least efficient was often left unmarked and was given the ball to make the points with a layup and David just as Harrison had a variety of attacks he could do. But even though everyone was repeating the same attacks, what made the moves difficult to defend for the Tigers was the handling of the Elite team''s attack and also Jake''s passes. Not to mention that everyone had to be alert to the possibility of Jake even making the points, with such pressure the Tigers'' team would tire faster. By the end of the third period, Jake''s team had a 22-point lead, so despite the Tigers'' team not losing their will, their morale was low with such a disadvantage and little time to seek victory. So by the time the game ended Jake''s team had won by 30 points difference, the Tigers made a good game but the difference in strength between the two teams was too great. After the game was over, everyone on the Elite team celebrated a lot, although everyone knew they were skillful and that this was only the first step to the national championship that was the team goal. It did not change the fact that this was the second regional championship trophy that many 12- and 13-year-olds received, and for many who were from school last year, it was the first time they had won even though they had only stayed in reserve. Jake was also very happy, this was a contagious joy for everyone who tried Jake and the players of his team were greeting the Tigers team after the game. Coach Mike was also happy, he knew he had been hired to this school only to win such championships, and he had delivered the first trophy. When it came time to hand over the trophy, Jake as captain received again and after the champion''s party. Jake received the MVP for the second time in the regional championship. Everyone was happy and celebrated a lot, even David who was the quietest could be seen with a smile on his face, Jake was not so pleased as well. Although he won the trophy and MVP which would greatly help Clara and Tiffany''s company, he could not help thinking that it was not fair that he had won the MVP a second time without even scoring a point, it should be by he won last year as well. He was partly right about it, but the reason was not as simple as that, Jake won the MVP because he performed well and it was the second time he won the regional championship by two different teams, which means he was responsible for lead the team to victory twice. No one would think it was unfair because he was also the MVP of the state championship and everyone on his team recognized him as the best, moreover, the organization responsible for awarding the awards was bound by it, as well as Jake, only his four companions could have won the MVP. But what happened was that because of Jake''s perfect turn of the attack giving the passes, the 4 others had both similar performances and so many similarly marked points, if the organization gave any of them the MVP award it would certainly have complaints, but for Jake not. So Jake won the MVP and no one on his team thought he was wrong, not because they were very close, but because they knew that if Jake did not pass and tried to score more alone he would win the prize anyway. When Jake tried to get back to his mother in the cheer to celebrate he was stopped by some reporters who asked to ask some questions, he was polite and he responded to everyone so that later the reporters went to the rest of the team. After Jake went to his mother who was smiling, she was very happy every time she saw her son win some game, and even more a champion trophy like that, the best player award also made her proud. She was happy that her son''s effort was being recognized by everyone, even though she was not a big basketball fan, even she could see that her son was improving a lot since the last game she''s seen so far. When Jake finished celebrating with his mother and was just beside her hugging Eric coming in for the interview, as someone who followed Jake for a while, Eric knew Jake liked to have some time with his mother before the interview. "Congratulations on winning the championship and winning another MVP, now you can say you''re one of the best Middle School players, what do you think of that?" "I think I should not be the best, but I think I can be among the best if we win the national championship at the end of this season." "So you''re confident of winning." "Not because of my ability, if there is one thing I learned last year, you need a team to win the national championship and not just individual skill." "With your team do you think you can win the national championship?" "I think it is possible, yes, they are all very good players and could have won the MVP in my place today, but the important thing is that we still have to win the state championship in order to think about the national." This time nobody or Eric gave Jake the opportunity to advertise the companies, but in the photos, you could see in the socks and also the sneakers. Jake was thinking of starting to wear bandanas, bracelets, arm protectors and other protective equipment in the area of the legs with the brand of the companies to be able to do greater propaganda, as were necessary items for players were allowed. After all this Jake and Eva went home, their lives had been very happy these last few years, especially in these last days, it seemed that the problems avoided Jake''s house, it could be Jake''s luck helping. But even this luck can not keep close people and their family from all problems, only the most serious problems would not happen. When Jake returned home, after taking a shower and having dinner with his mother lay on his bed and was lost in thought, he had been grateful to fate that would bring his conscience back to when he was ten. Although it seemed very early, a lot in his life would be irreversible if he had returned later, this relationship he now has with his mother, it would be difficult to get so close if he had returned at the age of 15 for example. It would also be many more years that her mother would have to suffer working at that restaurant and continuing with her depression, Jake also would not have known the family of Joseph or Clara and Tiffany, her mother also would not have the friends that she now had like Mrs. Anna. Jake could claim that fate chose the exact time for Jake to come back and have his turning point that changed his life, later it might have been too late for him. Now that school year was going by so fast, in a few weeks the state championship would begin and then it would be her birthday soon the national championship if everything went right and would end Eva''s birthday that Jake had a surprise for her. Every year her mother enjoyed a simple birthday, but this year Jake had thought of a special gift that was needed for them so he knew her mother would not refuse, and unlike last year Eva had some friends to be able to invite and spend her anniversary together. After that would be an end of a phase, your Middle School. Chapter 79 Problems Always Comes 1 While still lying on his bed Jake''s mind was still working fast, it was hard to calm down and get to sleep after winning a trophy, so Jake just kept thinking and did not try to hurry and decided to wait for sleep to come naturally. The good thing was that Jake was never really alone, he could always talk to the system in his mind, but since the system usually did not bother Jake if it was not something more important, Jake also did not speak unless he had something that he really was curious about. "Fate, why do I feel like the staff on my team this year celebrated less excited than my team last year?" [Is this simple, your teammates this year were like you last year do you remember?] "Like me?" [Yes, like you, last year even though you just won the regional championship, I was not very happy because I thought it was just a way to win the national championship that was your goal.] [Your companions this year also think just like you, they are happy to have won, but they can not let go of the thought that was natural, and the more difficult the competition, the more joy you and they feel to win.] [So last year your team that was weaker and just depended on you to win found incredible every trophy they won so the celebration was much greater.] After hearing what the system said Jake thought it was reasonable and also was a bit embarrassed to judge his companions being that they were the same as him last year. [You have to get used to it. Jake, this is the world you''re entering, everyone who plays basketball is fortunate to have the talent and can make lots of money doing what they like to do.] [But one thing you should never forget is that it''s also a business above all, you''ve gotten started earlier so you can better understand, the results are everything in professional basketball, that does not mean you''re waived if you do not win, but will certainly be less valued.] [In addition, the teammates that vice have in the future will be just that, teammates, often co-workers, not all players in a team are friends, many even dislike each other.] [And if you can win a trophy like this you''re just happy to have won, but when you do not win understand that this is natural and you settle for receiving your salary, that''s the professionals'' reality.] Jake could understand a little what the system was saying, he was also well acquainted with how the adult world worked, were it not for the fact that Jake did not mind being promoted and getting a better position in the company, he could hardly have done make the few friends you made in your past life. Everyone in the company is always alert and never trusts anyone, after all, they are competitors to get a better position in the company, Jake saw many people ruin their social lives, lose their families, get separated and sometimes become depressed while fighting for a salary best. Jake can see this well because he was seeing this as a spectator and did not participate in this dispute, but perhaps whoever was going through it was not willing to acknowledge that he was in a difficult situation. The other day at school Jake found the behavior of his teachers strange, but he was optimistic and thought that they would stop implicating him anymore. So in the interval, he went to talk to his friend Joseph as always. "Congratulations Jake, winning the championship and the MVP again, more and more I feel that you can play in the NBA in the future, so you sign some T-shirts for me because I''m going to sell them dearly in the future." "You have a wealthy family and you still want to resort to such petty tricks and make money over your friends, I''ve changed my mind about you." "Bah honor does not fill the belly or even the pocket, even if I am rich I will not refuse a good chance to make more money, because you study these books of actions if you did not think so." "All right you win, but speaking belly you''ve been losing a lot, so I can not call you fat anymore." "Good to know you called me that way behind my back, I have to lose weight to get a beautiful girlfriend." "Already thinking about dating at this age, if your notes fall I''ll tell your father." "What do you mean by that age? We''re 13 now, well I''ve got at least that''s the right age for romance. " "Well if you say, I''ll wait until I get to the end of high school at least, and do not stop wearing glasses either, otherwise you''ll lose your identity." "Well let''s stop talking about identity, why do I feel like teachers are looking at you differently these days?" "So it was not my impression, I think they gave up picking on my foot." "Maybe after you won the championship in our last school you were like a hero and the teachers started treating you better, it could be because of that." "I hope so, although I do not mind it''s a little annoying to have the teachers on top of you." "I also think, it''s the first time I see the teachers get on the foot of the best student in the class, you''re really different." After class Jake stopped bothering about this and returned home, the week passed calmly like this and Jake thought that everything should be fine at school. Eva was still going to lecture her a few times a week and Jake could see that her mother''s cooking was improving, maybe he inherited her talent in her kitchen, it was a feather that Eva had not had lessons in her past life, otherwise Jake would know. When the weekend came, Jake went to class again as he had promised, but when he went to class no one would let him do anything, and it turned out that it was like a visit for everyone including Anna who adopted him without knowing him as a grandson. At first, Jake thought that Anna was just such a person and that she liked children and so she clung to him, but later he discovered in a conversation with his mother that the story was not so simple. Anna, as Jake thought, was perfect for being a grandmother, she was in her early 50s and her hair was starting to turn white, black eyes and her face reminded her somewhat of actress Meryl Streep, but with a slightly more rounded face and without that whole actress''s charm. And Anna really had a grandson, but this grandson who was a bit like Jake and was a little younger than him ended up dying in a car accident along with his mother who was Anna''s daughter-in-law. Anna was a little depressed at the time, she owned a restaurant that was a bit of a hit and she was also the chef of the restaurant. After the death of her grandson, Anna also lost contact with her only son who after losing Anna''s grandson and his wife was shaken and decided to move to England, so Anna at once lost all her family as she was already a widow. Still, Anna was a strong person and after a few years she recovered, even though she had the money to spend the rest of her life well after selling the restaurant, Anna decided to give cooking classes just to do what she likes and talk to other people. So she met Jake who was the first child to come to her kitchen and also was of similar age and face resembling her grandson who died, moreover, she had heard from Eve how much Jake was loving and special, so she began to spoil him as if it were his relative. Of course, Anna did not see Jake as her dead grandson and she was not crazy, much less looking for someone to fill the void her grandson left in her life, it was just that she really liked Jake and she had a lot of affection to give and no one to receive. After knowing that Jake was even more affectionate with Anna, after all, it was someone who liked him and his mother, had the same love for cooking and also suffered similar lives, Eva also suffered much more than Jake, only another part of his suffering only Jake knew, and would not repeat. So after the day ended Jake and Eva came home happier after spending the day cooking and with friends, Jake just went to rest because he would have to have next week to prepare for the start of the state championship, his team was fine, now it was just tweaking a few details. But what Jake did not know was that next week could be more hectic and stressful than he''d expected. Chapter 80 Problems Always Comes 2 When the new week started and Jake was ready to go to school Eva received a call early in the morning, the call was from the school that she and Jake were to go to the board early this morning. After that, Eva looked at Jake as if she were wondering what was happening and Jake just shook his head as if to answer that he did not know, so Eva replied that she would go to school, after all, it could be something important. "What happened, Jake? Is it rare for the school to call parents suddenly like that, even earlier in the morning without warning you, did you do something at school that you did not tell me? " "No, I do not think I did something that would justify calling him there, but if I could have missed something I''ll tell you everything I did at school in those first few months to see if you find something for possession to have been call." So Jake told his mother everything including the incident with the teachers, but after that Eva could not find anything wrong either, she also could never have imagined how Joseph and Jake thought teachers would find trouble for nothing. Later when they went to school Jake and Eva went directly to the principal''s office, after a while, the director said they could enter. When Jake walked in with his mother the director took a slightly hostile glance toward Jake, when Jake saw this he was a bit surprised, after all, it was the first time he met with the director what might be the reason to receive the director''s anger. "Good morning, Mrs. Eva, my name is Terry William, but you can call me Director William, I called you here because I received several complaints that your son has been causing problems for our school." Eva and Jake looked at each other in shock, even today in the morning they had talked and agreed that nothing had happened wrong with what Jake did in school so far. "Well, Director William, could you explain in detail exactly what my son did to tell you that he''s causing trouble at school?" "So I guess you''re not aware of what your son did then, I received several complaints from teachers that your son does not pay attention in the classroom and comes bringing other material to distract him during class." "I know that your son has received an agreement to come to this school to play basketball and we are very grateful that he brings us this trophy, but that does not justify his disruption." Jake, who could not bear to hear this, soon interrupted what the director was saying. "See Director William sorry if I may not be educated, but there are some very wrong things in what you heard there." The director who no longer had a good impression of Jake from what he heard from the teachers was even more displeased at being interrupted. "Then say what I misunderstood." "As you are saying you should not have read the contract I signed so that means that this contract was made by someone who has more authority than you, and in the contract says nothing about me having to play basketball, I just have to stay in school until you enter college. " What Jake said was true, the contract said only for him to win the national championship this year, in other years he just needed to stay in school until he entered college, but as the principal had not read the contract and only heard rumors he should not know that he also had to win the national championship this year. In addition, Jake realized that the one who made this proposal to Jake must be someone who has more authority than this director so he had to be firm at that time, after all, he was clearly being slandered. The director was even more displeased with this, but what Jake said was true, who made this contract has more authority than he and the director also did not know what the content of the contract, so he had to take a more passive stance now, after all, he could not punish Jake if he was not wrong, it would be the same as going over the authority of whoever called him here. "You''re right, I do not know the content of this contract, but what I know that regardless of what it does not give you the right to interfere in class." "This is another thing you''re wrong director, did you happen to find out what really happened inside the classroom in the classes that the teachers are complaining that I messed up and what exactly is going on?" This question caught the unsuspecting director, he had not really investigated anything about what happened, but he did not think it needed after all several teachers gathered here to complain about Jake and in addition, he heard that Jake was hired by the school of some The director then decided to punish Jake for messing up classes. But Jake had made several twists in this conversation, if Jake had not really done anything and the teachers were just complaining about anything, then the principal would lose all respect and would have called a student''s mother for nothing. And by the way, Jake was acting the director realized he had more on this subject than he knew so the right decision on what to do was to take a less reproachful attitude and try to find out what was really going on in this situation. "Very well then, in that case, you could tell me what your version is on this subject and if it is different from what I heard I will investigate well before making a decision." So Jake, who did not really want to further increase this problem, just said what had really happened, how he already knew the story the teachers were explaining and so he would sit quietly in the corner of the room just reading books that were also educational and did not disturb the classrooms. In addition, he said that he took maximum marks and did not miss a question in the exams and answered all the questions that teachers asked and did not even talk in class as other students did. The more he listened the more irritated the principal became, the inside boiling with anger and regret, if he had not gone with the wave of teachers and made a simple investigation he would never complain he would call Jake''s mother here for a meeting. Now he had no choice but to apologize for calling Jake and his mother here and so embarrassed himself, after all, it was his fault, the principal could not complain to the teachers because it was his fault for being deceived or having done a simple investigation. "Well then, I can only apologize to Mrs. Eva for calling you here and you, Jake, for accusing you unjustly, this problem will end here and if the teachers continue to cause problems, I will resolve them." So Jake and Eva also decided to put an end to it, after all, it seems that the director was not a bad person and just was deceived by others, and Jake also could not complain about the teachers since he would still have classes with them for almost 4 years, and if that matter really ended he would be glad to forget it. The director was very pleased when he saw that Eva and Jake were not going to continue with the subject, that changed their opinion about Jake, now he thought Jake a good guy who did not hold grudges and besides a great basketball player was also a great student and who took the best grades, had no way he was not happy to have such a student. So Eva came home and Jake went to his class, he entered the room and after a long time the teacher entered the classroom, he should have been called by the principal and taken a moral lesson, so the teacher just looked in Jake''s direction angered more then returned to normal and began to lecture. When the break came, Jake called Joseph and told him what had happened. "This really is absurd, several teachers come together to complain about something so meaningless just out of pride, it''s much better that they take more time off to prepare better classes." "I was really disappointed with the teachers, but since I had not done anything wrong I did not care about it, at least now I will not be bothered in class anymore." "That''s good, I''m not like you if it were me I would not have closed the subject so easily so I would have called my father here and would have required teachers to be held accountable for it." "I did not do this because I would not win anything by ending the reputation of some teachers, I have more important things to worry about than that, soon will start the state championship and I have to concentrate on basketball, we have to win the national championship this year, that''s why I came to this school. " Jake was right, he never needed to worry about his studies and did not care much about the scholarship from school to university, if he wanted now he could pay for the entire course of the university. Chapter 81 Easy Start 1 After all this confusion Jake returned to focus on his team, neither he nor coach Mike wanted to see the team relax and be very confident in the games of the state championship after all many cities would be competing in that championship and were the champions of all regions of Florida. Even though Jake and everyone who played the national championship knew that the team had the strength to fight for the trophy, even so in so many regions they were participating it would not be strange to bring up a new player from the level of a future NBA star who would dominate the championship. Although Jake was much stronger than his own age, he was sure that Michael Jordan was much better than he was at his age, what the system was for Jake was an unlimited future and not a supreme skill from the beginning, so he still could not contend with geniuses now, but could in the future. That was the day of the first state championship game, the players were a bit tense before the game after hearing so many warnings from coach and Jake. After the game began Elite team got possession of the ball and was passed to Jake organize the first attack. As they had agreed Jake stood for a while and advanced slowly, when the opponent''s defense also began to position itself slowly Jake suddenly gave a long high pass that ended in the hands of David who had run unmarked to score the first two points for the Elite team. The idea is to start with a slightly more shocking move and thus take the advantage from the beginning, the move seemed to have made a mental impact on the opposing team that started its first attack, so Jake and his teammates were strongly marking the opposing team after passing through the middle of the court. Coach Mike said before the game for everyone to press on the defense and not give room for the opposing team to organize calmly the attack was an exhausting style of play but Jake and his team endured. And so the game continued, the opposing team was much weaker than the Elite team and so soon the advantage on the scoreboard began to increase, Jake with his passes destabilized the opponent''s defense. Whenever the opposing team closed the defense well on Jake''s teammates, he made some signs and everyone shifted their positions, opening spaces so that Jake could give the pass and see his team-mates score the points. Although this team was weaker than Jake''s team, they were stronger than the Tigers'' team, so the game was not as simple as it was shown on the scoreboard. With the Elite team''s tight marking the opponents still missed some attacks and had to get rid of the ball by finishing the time of possession of the ball, so the defense of the elite team was effective. So after two periods of play in the interval the Elite team led the game by 22 points, it was an expressive advantage that showed the efficiency of the attack and defense of Jake''s team. In the third period of the game, the defense of the Elite team began to relax a little more, nevertheless, the adversary team had the lower morale by being so behind the scoreboard and thus still miss more attacks. Jake also managed to get a lot of stolen ball guessing and intercepting passes and also taking the ball from the opponent''s PG, it had been said if people had not seen other games of Jake would have confused him with a more defensive player. But by this time of the state championship everyone already had a complete report of all the matches of Jake, so only of him being in court had to have at least two players marking him, even though he has not scored any points until now. The reason for this was that no one had any idea why Jake was not doing stitches, he did it because he wanted to and had no restraint on him or something so everyone thought that if a game got difficult Jake could just start attacking and making several points. Such a player was more dangerous and could not an opposing team organize a defense strategy that ignored Jake, the entire elite team knew how the dilemma of the opposing teams and whenever the defense tightened they passed the ball to Jake who almost always stood well in the line of 3 points, so the defense had no choice but to score. So the third and fourth period passed and the game ended with Jake''s team having won with a 32-point lead, it could be said an easy game because the opposing team never had the ability to threaten the Elite team but Jake''s team showed that he would play every game seriously. Today there were more reporters accompanying the Elite team game that was the favorite to win this state championship too, of course, Eric was there too, he did not care about the competition because he made a sure bet and was already following Jake''s team from the beginning. The most important thing was that he had a kind of friendship with Jake and knew how to get a good interview of him after the most important games were over, it was just him giving Jake a little publicity of the companies that sponsored him and he would talk to the greatest pleasure. Eric was also anxious for the games to get tougher and for Jake to start scoring in the games, so he could take more pictures for his interview, especially if Jake made a point like the one Jake made in the final of the street in New York, so it would be incredible. After the game ended Jake went home to tell the good news to his mother that he should be anxiously waiting at home, Jake could not wait for the cell phone to be more popular in Miami and so he could call her after every game. But it was also a lie if Jake said he was no longer pleased when he saw his mother smile satisfied after giving the news of winning a game. So he went home pleased, as he imagined his mother was very happy to hear about his victory, Eva knew he was getting closer to achieving Jake''s goal for that season. This was a stressful week for Eva, she had been very irritated with the way the principal and the school teachers treated her son just because he was smarter than the others, if Jake was more arrogant he might even think about not watching more the classes as he already knew what was taught. She was calmer now because she''d talked to Anna and her friends about Jake''s problems and how the women got mad and they were together they spent a lot of time swearing at Jake''s school and then Eva calmed down. Eva was very happy to have these friends and so was less stressed, it was nice to have people who cared about her and Jake and who liked them, Anna herself was the most outraged and even wanted to go to school to seek justice for Jake as a real grandmother would do so Eve who was angry before had to calm the agitated Anna. Jake had already forgotten all this stuff, and classes in the week before the second game normally took place, the teachers treated Jake in class as invisible and did not ask questions and did not care about him. Jake did not even care, after all, he had little to learn in those classes when there was something he did not know or did not remember for some reason he paid more attention in those classes, then Jake found that only a few of these teachers taught in high school also. So he did not need to study with all of them all the way back to college, Jake never thought about canceling the contract to go to another school like someone who had worked in an office for a few years in his past life, Jake knew to suffer some problems. So the day of the second game of Jake''s team in the state championship had arrived, the team did not have much important information reported, they called themselves Hawks and they had a well-balanced team, their best player was Scott and he was the team PG. This PG Scott was smaller than Jake and was known to be able to make 3-point shots, also if space was given to him, Scott had the ability to drive through the lane and make a layup, but what Scott stood out for was in defense. That means that it was a bad game for the Hawks, and the Elite team is usually stronger than Scott had to score was Jake who did not try to score in the games, besides, Jake also stood out in defense, if not even David who should be better than Scott could easily score points on top of Jake he could forget. Chapter 82 Easy Start 2 And so the second game of the state championship began, the ball began with Mark getting possession of the ball for the Elite team and the ball going into Jake''s hands to organize the play, he held the ball, in that game would not start with an attack fast. Shortly after the entire team positioned themselves in the attack Jake saw that the Hawks'' defense was evenly balanced, everyone had a mark that was so much on each player as it could also become a zone marking. The zone defense was the right type to stop the Elite team''s attack as the attacking players changed their position easily with Jake''s signals, but this type was the hardest to adapt and able to defend well if a player ran out being left alone to attack would be futile. Not to mention that the Elite team''s attack did not depend solely on Jake''s change of position and precise passing, but also on the individual ability of all team players. So Jake threw the ball to David who soon left on top of his defender and then with a dribble passed him and managed to make the first points with a layup. Many misunderstood that Jake was controlling the rotation of passes just so that no player stood out, it was not that, if it were so the companions of Jake would have already claimed what happened was that with this rotation the defense would not know in whom to force the marking. But in that game with the Hawks that was not individual marking was perfect for players to show their individual ability, and it was not long before the defense discovered their mistake. In the attack the Hawks'' team was also having difficulty, Scott was completely nullified by Jake''s scoring, as Jake was much stronger than the other players his age, it was almost impossible for anyone to get past him using the form, dribbling was also difficult because Jake did not freak out and his reaction speed was very fast. So Scott did not have much choice but to pass the ball when he took it and had the chance, Jake was also confused, it was clear to him by the style of game of Scott that he was more an SG than a PG, and Scott was not very good either in giving passes. At the end of the first period, the Elite team were gaining by 4 points advantage, it was a tighter game and as Jake was giving David freedom and the others made individual play as well, more mistakes happened and the attacks were more time-consuming. Even though there was no doubt that the Elite team had the advantage, in the second period the defense of the Hawks did not change their form of defense, they should have thought that as the advantage on the scoreboard was small their defense was working. So before starting the second period, Jake gave a scold at his teammates who were being too individual and forgetting that the game was in team because many times two players from the opposing team would go for scoring and instead of moving to the teammate who was unmarked David and the others forced the shot or the passage. That was a waste of good selfishness, and Jake''s scolding seemed to have worked, the moves were much prettier than in the first period, there were plays that went through the hands of the 5 players before going to the points. In defense the Elite team was stable as always, in addition to Jake his teammates were also doing a great job, so the second period ended with the Elite team getting a 12 point lead in total. In the second half of the game, the Hawks team decided to return their score to one against one, and so Jake returned to make the rotation in the game, it was easier for the Hawks team to score more also the points continued out the same way. In the attack, the team of Hawks decided for a change and sometimes Scott tried to risk the plays against Jake, but Jake defended some and stole the ball a few times, it seemed that Scott''s confidence continued to fall. So he tried to give a shot of 3 that was his differential, but Jake who was alert gave a block on the attack and managed to stop, then passed to David who ran in did plus 2 points for his team. That was the final blow to the confidence of Scott and the Hawks team who then relaxed Jake also did not want to humiliate the opponent and so the game ended the Elite team winning by a 24 point lead. Although this game was easy for the Elite team to serve well, the Hawks'' team was much stronger than the first opponent, but Jake''s team nevertheless showed that they can attack in more ways than one and still guarantee victory. As soon as the game ended Jake went home to tell about his victory for his mother and celebrate the victory with her after that Jake ate and went to sleep pleased with his day. After another quiet week, the third match was also easily won by the Elite team, which was now the favorite to win the state championship, the overall strength of that year''s Florida State Championship was much weaker than in its glory years, as well Jake''s team seemed to be the strongest. There were other teams that also excelled, but the Elite team also had Jake who was the MVP of the state championship last year and it was undisputed that Jake with his talent was supposed to be better than last year and he still had not been forced to score any point that year. Many argued that the biggest reason for Jake to make no point so far was that the opposing teams were too weak for him to score, that could not be a truth, no matter what the real reason Jake did not do any point he would rather make points in a game that was risky to lose than to lose doing nothing. Others speculated that it was a kind of protest that Jake was making since last year they said that Jake was more suited to be an SG or an SF than to be a PG and that it had irritated him and now that Jake was with comrades stronger team he could just pass and still win. That was the closest they came to the truth, Jake really did this to be able to improve the use of his passes in a game because he did not make any changes before, and it was also good that so other opponents would not know how much he improved and in a difficult game he could catch the opponent by surprise. After another week the fourth opponent was also defeated, it was another team that tried to make a zone defense, but after that game, Elite team players were much better at making individual moves to their teammates. So the highlight of this game was David in the attack and Carter in the defense that managed to make 11 blocks until the end of the game, so little by little the total strength of the Elite team was showing, players could now also realize how their current teammates were much stronger than those of last year. So the hope of being able to win the national championship was much greater, all players still had guarded things that they could not show in the games, Harrison mainly that many said was the weakest player in the team, he just did not have many opportunities to show his skills. Mark also noted that last year he excelled in rebounding he did not have many opportunities for that, and in the defense that had more rebounds all the players of his team could also take defensive rebounds. Not to mention Jake who had not yet scored a point yet, even his teammates did not get a chance to see their total abilities, if it was not for Jake being the MVP last year many would think he was bad at attacking. His teammates were only totally convinced when Carter, who was the team''s best defender, said he could not stop Jake and also David said that Jake was better than him in the attack, so Mark and Harrison could only imagine how terrifying Jake would be in the attack. While everyone thought of him, Jake would sometimes go to the high school gymnasium to see the basketball team''s training, Jake had heard that the biggest investments to form the school''s first sports name had been made on basketball, baseball, and American football. Jake who already had his skills compared to the high school players got curious and went to see how they were the best of the high school compared to him. He watched the team coaching in silence as if pondering something and then went home silently, no one saw that Jake had come to see the workout. When Jake got home he just lay down and kept thinking about that training and was wondering if he could beat someone there is a one on one game. Chapter 83 An Unexpected Game 1 "Fate, were they the best players in high school?" [They should be, this is the first year of this team together and they are still in the state championship like you are, so you can not be sure, but by their individual skills they must win.] Jake had seen only a workout and not a real game, the players seemed to be just warming up, but he might discover something that although it should be obvious it was still shocking to Jake. That he could not win from any of the titular team players in the one against one. Jake knew this should be obvious, thinking about the age difference of 4 years, but despite trying to convince himself that this was not to be too convinced and start thinking he was better than everyone else. But in his thoughts, Jake really thought he could already play with the best high school players, but what he saw today took any of those thoughts of Jake. To start with was the height difference, he saw that none of the 5 were less than 1.80 m, before he thought that perhaps much lower players could play, but at least in the main team of the high school had no one. Jake was sure he could reach that point, but perhaps only after the age of 15, before that, it was almost impossible for him to reach that point. Jake also thought he could play against them because he could face a 15-year-old opponent with only 11, but it was in street basketball, in addition, he himself knew they were not the best of that age. So he asked the system if they were even the best of the high school because if they were he would at least have an excuse. Besides the height difference in the skill he also had to admit that he could not beat these players, and the worst thing was that he knew that not everyone was 17 years old and many were 16 or even 15 years old. [I knew you were very inflated ego before, your team now can be considered the best Middle School now, and many of them have several S rank skills, and it sure is the same for the best high school team.] [When you entered Middle School many of your skills were high ranked because you had several skills that you learned in your past life, but by taking your 2 of 3 and Free Throw shots, your other skills were at a high-level School at most.] [Now you really are playing high-level basketball with the best, it''s normal that you can not get over this being 4 years younger, this is only possible when you enter the professional level that talent is more important than age, is the phase that you are now the age also means the time that you have trained.] [But I''m sure with a year or two of training you can be on this team, now you just have to keep training as you do now.] So Jake calmed down, what the system said is right, he was much younger than the others and had more time, moreover, he had the system that would show his greatest out when he was in the NBA, at that time he could win statistics just playing well. So Jake can relax and stop thinking about it so he can fall asleep. Now he had two weeks to prepare for the final, although Jake was quite confident in winning as well as his teammates he still along with coach Mike underwent some training to improve some of the team''s faults. As she prepared for the final Clara called Jake for lunch. Jake knew it should be something important for him to be calling, so he went to lunch. "Hi, Jake, how long before we can see each other, the company has been doing very well these days and I''ve been busy." "It''s good to have that kind of concern, it means business is going well, I hope your business keeps growing like this." "I also hope it will continue like this, I should thank you too, my business strategy was wrong before, I was advertising all over the country and so few bought my products." "But with a few ads concentrated in Miami our sales grew much more, so I saw that the best strategy for a company with little time like ours is to concentrate the advertisement is only one or a few nearby cities first and then increase the reach over time." Jake agreed with what Clara was saying, many companies because they have a lot of funds to invest think that making a national advertisement is the best for the business as big companies do. But this is not always true, for new companies even if you have more money to do more advertising, starting in a city and making the brand well-known in this city is the first step. After making the company well-known in a city first, it can increase the reach of the brand''s disclosure to the state and thus increase, if the brand can not be even known in a city or after a state, it is not necessary nor try to increase the advertisement because the company has no future. "So what did you call me for today?" "Thanks to the success of my company and also of Tiffany''s company, we are thinking of celebrating our achievements this year." "So you as a face of our companies should be there for sure, and bring your mom too, it''s just a party with some dancing and dinner with the people who most helped our companies." "Will it be formal?" "Yes, take a full suit and your mother in a dress, as she is so beautiful I''m sure she will be elegant in any dress." "And when will this party be?" "It will be after the end of your state championship and before your vacation, I know you want to take another trip with your mother, I''m jealous of you, I do not go on a non-business trip for a long time." "Then we''ll be there." So Jake returned to his house and went to tell the news to Eva, his mother who had never been to a party so it got a little scared, but as it was a company party that helped so much Jake she knew she had to go. So after a few weeks the day of the final game arrived, although everyone was quite confident they were still all nervous about this game, everyone thought like Jake, this was the last chance to win the national championship of Middle School, losing a game means the end, there would be no other year. Everyone on this team was a good player and they also had their own pride, so they did not want to remember in the future that they could not win a trophy because they were careless in a game. So this would be a different and more intense game than the other games of that championship. The Elite team''s opponent for this game was an old acquaintance of Jake from last year, it was the Lions team Jake won last year. Unlike the other teams the Lions seemed to be confining to their win, Jake found this a bit odd because despite the players being different the team coach was the same, which means they were confident even facing Jake who was with a team much more strong than last year. It seemed that the team highlights were the SF and SG of their team who could shoot 3 well, SG was called Daniel and SF and called Tobey and when Jake looked, they looked confident. So the game began with the ball going into possession of the Elite team, Mark soon passed to Jake who began to organize the first attack. He was bouncing the ball calmly while his teammates had already positioned themselves in the attack, it seemed that the Lions had also arranged a zone marking, Jake did not care and soon passed to David. David who was excited to make the first attack of the final tried to leave to the bottom of the court while passing by Daniel, but soon after the PG of the Lions team appeared to cover the move and David who was confused stopped the attack. He looked at Jake and was surprised when he saw that Jake was completely unmarked and so passed the ball to him, Jake just received and made a quick pass for Mark to make the first two points of the final. So soon after the Lions'' attack began, all Elite players began to score with pressure after the midway line. This was an end game, the marking had to be as strong as possible and did not give the other team the chance to do the attacks quietly. Whoever was organizing the Lions team attack for this game was Daniel and not the team PG, Daniel soon passed the ball to Tobey who made a feint in Harrison and got a 3-point shot making the first points of the team. The Elite team was not shaken by it and Jake started to organize another attack, as soon as he got close to the 3-point line he passed to Harrison who was to reciprocate the points that marked him on the defense. But soon the Lions team PG came in to make a double team. So everyone on Jake''s team realized where the confidence of the coach and the Lions team players came from, he wanted to leave Jake unmarked and team up with the ball, they were counting on Jake not being able to score. Chapter 84 An Unexpected Game 2 Realizing this all of Jake''s team were shocked for a moment, from where the Lions teams got the idea that Jake for some reason could not score points after all this was just a normal game. But what Jake did not know was that many teams were discussing why Jake did not try to score a point in any game, although many thought he had no particular reason some thought differently. Many teams that included the Lions thought they had a different reason for it and this reason could be either an injury that would stop him from forcing the body or anything of the sort, the important thing was that after the flaw was discovered in the game style of Jake and what a solution to that was scoring by zone many saw this as an opportunity. If for some reason Jake really could not score any point he could pull a player out of his mark to score another player in double could be the key to winning the game, and if Jake were replaced there would be no need to defend by zone. And if Jake could score normally it was just back to normal defense, the reason that many did not do this before is that they knew that if Jake could even score and was forced to start making points, the Elite team''s greatest strength would be active. Because so far no player has been seen who could stop Jake, even in the game he was eliminated last year Carter who was one of the best in defense stood defenseless in the defense against him. But this game was the final, so the Lions team had to risk everything, when Jake received the ball from Harrison he saw that the PG was not coming even to mark it, Jake did not necessarily need to score, he could just pass the ball to another player as he did before giving the pass to Mark. But for him, it was unacceptable to let other players on his team get pressured on his whim, so Jake got the ball and shot the 3-point line. When they saw that the joy and confidence that had the coach and the Lions team had ended while the opponents who had lost to the Elite team rejoiced in secret after all they would also think that they had lost a chance to win the game if they knew that Jake really could not score. So the Elite team scored another 3 points and the Lions team went to the attack tenser, Daniel who was setting up another attack realized the distraction of David and was shot off to make 3 more points. Despite not having an advantage in the attack he was not weak in defense either, Jake went to the attack again and gave a pass to David who this time did not receive a double mark and when he took a step back he shot outside and did another 3 points for the team. The crowd was excited by this game filled with 3-point baskets which was rare to see in a Middle School game, who was not happy about it were the Lions who increasingly lost their previous confidence in the victory. They knew that Jake could shoot 3, but did not know that David could as well, so they would not have any advantage, so the game continued excited and at the end of the first period Jake''s team won by 5 points. The two teams could get 3-point shots, so it was to see who missed before when the Lions team missed an attack, Jake only organized a normal attack and his team would get the 2 points, but when the Lions hit the 3 points Jake and David tried to reciprocate. But it was a fact that David''s aim was greater than that of the Lions players and Jake was even better, so any strategy that could be for an absolute victory has now been broken, so it was a game of friction. Jake and his team-mates were also surprised by the tenacity and skill of the Lions, they were having a difficult game at the end, which means that the Lions could do well this year in the national championship if it were not for the Elite team. Jake really felt a little bad because thanks to him going back in time the Lions lost two state championship trophies and his players missed the chance to make good memories. He knew it would be like that in the future, he himself was a walking butterfly effect, he would change several things and change the lives of some people for the better and without wanting the lives of other people for the worse. He knew this, but it would not change anything, it was how the system told him before he went back to the past, he was just recovering what he lost and deserved. Of course, he would be sure to do good as much as he could, but he would never harm himself just to not interfere in the future, so he would get as much as he could and that would be until the day he stopped playing basketball. So Jake''s team continued to dominate the game, the 3-point shots depended on both skill and luck, in NBA games as the team defenses have a minimum level that is already too high teams usually miss many attacks. As the team can normally miss even a layup, dunk or 2-point shot players are much more free to try 3 shots if they have the skill and space required. But at Middle School and high school, it was different, as the teams did not have much defensive strength, usually, 2-point attacks and layups always hit, so 3-point shots were a riskier bet. So Jake even though he was very confident would not try many 3-point shots in easy games and also prevented David from doing it recklessly, so only if a team was so confident in their attack within their defense he could do many shots of 3. The Lions team was like that, in the previous games they were confident in their defense and even if Daniel and Tobey missed some attacks and hit others, the points were the same at the end, not to mention that team morale increases when 3 points are made. But their strong defense did not work very well with Jake''s team when David was being scored the most heavily the ball was passed to Harrison and from time to time he had a Jake pass for Mark or Carter when the defense was distracted. The Lions team coach himself saw today what a difference Jake played as a PG on a strong team and weak team, Jake''s passes had now gained color and we''re not just to make room for himself to shoot. The reporters, of course, today realized perfectly this difference and no one else said that Jake should be an SG or SF, he also stood out as PG and he would not be in that position with the quality of his pass and organize nor the team would be a waste. So the second period of the game ended with Jake''s team-leading by 12 points, but in the third period the Lions still believed in victory and did not give up. The Elite team continued to play strong and David also made several points of 3 and the Lions PG could not score correctly Jake, David ended up being the most marked player, so Harrison had more opportunities to make his plays. Although Harrison had not been criticized in previous games he was still seen by reporters and other teams as the weakest player in the Elite team, as he did not score too many points and was also the weakest in the defense. But despite knowing he was the weakest along with Carter, his biggest highlight was in the offense, and if it was not for David doing a few 3-pointer shots he would be the best scorer in the final game. Of course, all this was orchestrated by Jake who knew that Harrison felt unhappy in the last few games, how he could score the same points by giving the passes to Mark or to Harrison he chose the last one who was having confidence issues. It was much more challenging for Jake to be a captain of a stronger team than he was this year than last year the team was weaker, last year Jake just needed to maintain team morale and unity and set an example in a block and everything was fine. But with a stronger team, this year was more difficult, the morale of most of the team was always high, and worse, sometimes he had to ask his teammates to hold their animation and play more calmly what it was like throwing water on the animation of their companions. Not to mention that if it were not for Jake being lucky that everyone on his team was cooler he could not guarantee the union with such a strong group, they all had very strong individual characteristics that did not mix easily. Chapter 85 An Unexpected Game 3 The game continued when the third period ended the Elite team was winning with an 18 point lead, so in the fourth period the Lions had already lost the will to fight as they knew the game was already lost. Jake as always controlled the team and returning with the rotation system in the attack ended up winning the game with 24 points difference. Jake and his teammates greeted the toughest opponent the team has faced so far, some Lions players began to cry and others knew that next year would be theirs. Jake and his teammates began to celebrate the victory and also the state championship that was theirs now, Jake saw that his teammates were celebrating now much more than when they won the regional championship. That made Jake happier because it showed that they were still young people who felt joy at winning a championship that was already expected, or was what the system said, they were happier after beating a stronger team like the Lions. Jake was also very happy and soon went to close to his mother in the cheering, the awards would still take a little so he would enjoy. Jake gave a big hug to Eva who was also very happy with the victory of her son, she was hoping that this season he can celebrate another trophy winning the national championship that was not possible last year. After a while, it came time for the awards and the Elite team was receiving the trophy at the awards, so everyone took their medals and Jake who was the captain lifted the championship trophy state championship. Everyone was very happy and took several pictures for newspapers across the state, the whole team had won this trophy last year, but anyone who saw this photo in the state of Florida recognized only Jake that had won last year as well. After that Jake also received the MVP award from the state championship as well, everyone found them deserved and even Jake no longer cared and just celebrated with his teammates and then went to celebrate with his mother. All the newspapers asked several questions for all players including Jake and Eric was no exception, the difference being that Eric''s report was much more complete and even the other players who saw him since his first regional championship games treated him better than the others. Jake had to admit that Eric had a lot of talent for his reporter profession, he knew how to ask good questions that did not embarrass the players and also easily befriend the players just as he was with him. After the celebrations ended Jake left with his mother and everyone went home too, Jake was very happy with the way things were going, at least he managed to win the same as last year, now he was missing one more championship, but this would only be for after the holidays. Unlike last year Jake was very anxious for the holidays, because besides the trip that he planned to do with his mother to celebrate his birthday also had the fact that he was getting very annoyed in school because of his teachers. To be able to talk to his friend Joseph did not need to be done at school, he could go every vacation at his friend''s house, the school was just a boring place this year for Jake, he hoped it would change in the year which comes when he would enter high school. But before you go on vacation, Jake still had an appointment that would be the celebration party for Clara and Tiffany''s companies, as he was greatly helped by them and it was his duty to attend this party that would be in a few days. It was good that this would still be in a few days and not today, because Jake was very tired after the game, in the stress and the celebrations. The other day in the morning when Jake woke up to eat his breakfast he saw his mother with a smile on his face that had prepared several things to eat and was reading the newspaper. "Good morning, my champion son, I prepared a capricious breakfast to celebrate your win in yesterday''s game." "Good morning, thank you Mom, but I did not need all this, what were you reading that made you so happy?" "It''s the newspaper headline about your team''s national championship victory, the one that that reporter Eric does is better than the other newspapers I read." "So you bought other newspapers too, which says it made you so happy." "He said that a star could not be hidden when he talked about you still winning the MVP even after playing giving more passes than making points and in the end made several 3-point baskets." "Newspapers are exaggerated as usual." Although Jake said this he had to say that it was good to be praised publicly like that, not to mention that it would be good for companies that sponsor him if his image as a player would be better. Jake was now no longer interested in sponsoring companies, he had two that he was lucky to have his representatives being good people, and with that, he made enough money to make his family look good for a long time. But Jake knew that this was not always so, many companies when they hired a Face of used their image until they thought that the company recovered the investment, even with great players was like that. So Jake did not think about getting rich advertising and eroding his image, so Clara and Tiffany''s companies were great, so he would even have time to take a trip abroad on vacation without worrying so much. After a few days, everything had stolen normal and even the excitement for the state championship win slowed slightly, and Jake was thinking of the party that would be held the other day. Knowing that her mother was a little worried about how she would dress and how she would behave at that party, Jake saw it as an opportunity to make her mother a little happier. He decided to give her a gift by marking a day at the SPA for her so she could rest and take care of her skin and become happier and more confident in the party. When Jake took Eva to the SPA she was very surprised and then just gave a hug and a kiss on her son and went inside, Jake just stood in a room near the entrance waiting, as he knew it would take him just started training. It was good that her imagery training could be done anywhere, while Eva was going through all sorts of relaxing massage and skin treatments. Jake did this only because it was his mother who did much for him, but he had to admit that maybe he could not do the same for his wife in the future, waiting several hours while doing nothing was a great test of patience. The other day, even though it was the day of the party, Jake overcame himself and took his mother to the mall to take his mother to choose a party dress and also to the beauty salon, he knew a men''s clothing store that always had good suits and chose one quickly. After all, even though he was only 12 years old, he already had the height of many adults who were small, so choosing a suit was not a problem, but choosing a good dress for Eva and waiting in the salon was another test of patience. But after spending it was worth seeing his mother who was very happy, Jake had heard from some of his friends before the women, especially the most beautiful as Eve was also was very vain. Her current appearance that included makeup and clothing also had a lot of influence on her self-esteem, Eve spent a lot of time simply dressing, first because of Jake''s father''s death and then only because of her waitress job that she wore a simple uniform. After Jake got her mother away from work, her mentality did not change. Eva still wore only simple clothes and just took care of her hair. What Jake wanted was for his mother to see that the others could admire her for her appearance and so Eva later regained that vanity that every woman had and was happier. Jake wanted to do this before perhaps on a birthday, but as he knew his mother well, Eve would not accept that all this was done for her for no reason at all, now he had a great reason it was Clara''s party. When Eva left the salon with her party dress on, everyone who was in that part of the mall looked at her, many thought Eva was a celebrity or some lady from Miami''s high society. Eva''s smile was even more dazzling after seeing that she was still beautiful and attracted attention so much when she was young, so a little of Jake''s tiredness disappeared, it was a pity that the day was not over yet and now they would have to go to a party. Chapter 86 An Animated Party 1 After leaving the mall Jake and Eva had to return home as a car would be sent there to get the two for Clara. After getting into the business car it was very beautiful they went to the hotel where the party would be held. As it was a party where the guests were mostly busy people, the place chosen was a 5-star hotel that was in a better location in Miami. As it was Clara and Tiffany who chose the hotel together, they chose one that had a large ballroom where they could perform the dances and also the dinner, in addition, the ballroom was also near a beautiful field and pool where the cocktail party could be held. The songs that were played were suitable for dancing at a slow pace, yet it happened several times that these celebratory dinners passed without anyone having the courage to perform for dancing. Only those closest to the companies would be at the dinner tables, the other guests would just get some snacks and go get a drink by the pool. Clara had reserved a table next to hers for Jake and Eva so they would not have doubts about what to do. As soon as Jake and Eva arrived many people turned to look, although Jake was wearing a simpler suit matched well with it, for a more handsome man with Jake was even a simple suit it brought some elegance. But who most caught the eye in this situation in this situation was Eva, Jake chose for her one of the best dresses in the store and also she had taken very good care of her skin and hair in the SPA and beauty salon, as Eve was too beautiful, to begin with, and so drew more attention. As they did not recognize Eve and Jake''s people began to divert attention when they realized that the place where they sat as close to where the closest Clara and Tiffany were. After settling at the table, Jake and Eve stood to greet Clara and Tiffany who were sitting at the same table, along with them was an older man who seemed to be about the age of Matthew who was also sitting at another table. "Jake thank you so much for coming to our party, it''s a very important day for me and I''m glad to see you here, and Eva too, you look very beautiful today, I think you could dress more like this," Clara said with a smile. "Thank you, Clara, you look very beautiful today, Tiffany is beautiful too, congratulations to the success of your company," Eva replied happily. "Congratulations, I think my mother should dress more like that," Jake told Clara and Tiffany. "It was thanks to you also Jake that the company can grow fast so its appearance helped a lot to develop the market of our companies in Miami." "That may be so, but if you did not have a good product and a good preparation for increased sales none of this would have happened." So the two greeted each other and praised as they were always done on occasions like this, the difference here was that the compliments were sincere and heartfelt. "Let me introduce you two to my side for you, Jake, this man here is my father who is also an investor in my company with 10 percent of her, and this other is my husband who is also an investor with 10 percent." Clara''s father when introduced waved the mug to Jake, as he had heard that this young man was special, he had liked it, especially when he knew the good advertisements Jake had made for his daughter''s company. But Clara''s husband did not even care to look at Jake''s face, he simply treated as if he had not heard, after that the mood on the table was strange, Jake could see that something was happening between Clara and her husband and the father of Clara as well as Tiffany looked upon him with disapproval as if his attitude were expected. Feeling this, Jake waved goodbye and turned to go back to his table with his mother, but before returning he decided to pass by Matthew''s table that was Joseph''s grandfather sitting alone at a nearby table. "Hi, Jake boy, you did not have to come to my table to party or mine." "Hahaha you can only be kidding, it''s normal for us to say hello to friends." "I''m glad to hear that, it was very good for Joseph to have met you, he''s much better now." "Your grandson helped me a lot too, I''ve never been too much to have friends and me and him get along." "That''s good, you can go back to your table now, soon dinner will begin." So Jake and Eva said good-bye and went back to their table. And just as Matthew said after a while the dinner began, someone soon came up on a discreet stage that was near the dance hall and began some speeches and thanks, it seemed that he was an employee of the company. After Clara, Tiffany and Clara''s father climbed onto the stage and made some small speeches, but Clara''s husband did not even look at the stage when it happened. It seemed that in addition to him and Clara having problems in my marriage he also had problems with the success of the companies of Clara and Tiffany, this was what Jake did not understand, he did not have 10 percent of Clara''s company as well? Because that meant that if Clara''s company succeeded, it would also make more money. After that, some of the people went to the cocktail party and some of the people were chatting at the tables, Jake and his mother ate too and talked cheerfully for much of the party. But no one had gone to the salon to start dancing with someone, which was normal even at parties, despite having good music. Until one time the music that Jake knew was his mother''s favorite started playing and he took Eva to the dance floor. Eva followed her son, she had already become accustomed to his impulsive way and also Eva was very fond of this song, besides, she had made a lot of arrangements for this party and even chose a shoe that was beautiful and could also be used to dance. So since her son wanted to dance she could also show off a little more of her beautiful dress that Eva did not know when she could wear it again. While they danced Tiffany, Clara, and Matthew, everyone who knew Jake smiled to see him with his mother dancing, this party was not so discouraged and it was not that nobody wanted to dance, but what happened that no one had the courage to be the first and they knew Jake was not the type to be ashamed in these situations. After Jake started several people also had the courage and pulled their peers to dance, so dozens of couples were dancing a few songs later. After three songs Jake brought his mother to his desk, he had noticed that his shoe was starting to hurt and did not need to exaggerate, but even after Jake left the couples continued to enter the hall to dance. So Jake looked at Clara''s desk and saw her grinning at her ignorant husband, it was clear that Clara wanted to dance as a hostess too, but her husband did not seem to be willing. After a while, Tiffany went to Jake''s desk and called him to dance with her too, so one of the hostesses could dance and Tiffany could not pick anyone then called Jake. Jake did not want to go in for shame, but Tiffany sent him a look as if to say that he was to blame for starting dancing, so he took courage and went. As Jake was a young man who had come with his mother and also looked close to Tiffany and Clara everyone just smiled when they saw him and Jake heading for the dance floor. Seeing this, Clara was more relieved to avoid embarrassment but still looked grudgingly at her husband who refused to help her as if it had nothing to do with him. Clara knew that her husband did not like her and that she was not satisfied with this arranged marriage, but she was in the same situation and not even so cold with him, not to mention that they had been married for years and this situation only seemed to get worse. Meanwhile, Jake and Tiffany who danced together were quiet and without any subjects to talk, Jake never talked much alone with Tiffany and now they were dancing together forced by the situation. "You''re strange, are not You? Clara''s situation with her husband." Jake really was curious about this situation, but this matter was not directly related to him and his experience said that it was good not to get too involved in the personal problems of others. Especially if these problems involve your bosses or your superiors because when you know about the situation better you end up indirectly getting involved in it. Chapter 87 An Animated Party 2 Seeing that after finding a good subject to talk while dancing Jake did not want to hear Tiffany became more irritated. "Come on you do not have to be so annoying like that, it took me so long to think of a subject to talk to you." It seemed that Tiffany really wanted to talk about it, she was Clara''s friend after all, and she also seemed to be quite upset about this, so Jake had to listen to this while secretly thinking he would never tell her a secret. "Well then, it happened that that lord Clara said was his father, had at a young age a great friendship with the father of Clara''s husband, Clara''s father''s name is Stefan and her husband''s name is Robert." "So Stefan decided that he would marry his daughter in the future with Robert, in fact as Clara was always very obedient to his father she accepted this marriage well." "The problem was that Robert always had a bad and rebellious personality, and so even though Clara was beautiful and a gentle wife Robert did not want to marry her at all." "But in the end, as Robert''s father was starting to get old and also getting sick, Robert eventually decided to accept his father''s request and marry Clara." At first, Jake thought that this story seemed a little with the movies, but it turned out that it was a little different, the man who did not want the marriage was the man and not the woman. "But even Robert having agreed to marry Clara, he was never a real husband to her, Robert never accepted Clara in his heart." "Clara has always been a woman with the most modern thinking and thought that in the future her husband would accept her in his heart and they would have a family as they should." "Even so, she''s not a woman who agrees to stay indoors, so she did a university and that''s where we became friends." "While at university, Clara had an idea of ??making a sporting goods company for the younger ones, and after a while she saw that the idea could work out and started." "She managed to create the whole business plan and then just needed the investment, Stefan who was feeling guilty for having almost forced her to marry a bad husband and knowing that his company would be passed on to Clara''s brother." "It gave part of the money that would be his inheritance to Clara to be able to invest in its company and soon entered with another part in its name even as an investor, thus Clara had the greater part of the actions and its father had another." "Afterwards Robert''s father gave the money to his son also to get invested because he also felt guilty that his son was being bad to her and felt that with his son investing their relationship would be closer." "As I still lacked a large part of the investment, I decided to invest a part of my money in the company and so she got the most needed and left the rest to the stock market to complete what was needed before I could start working." "I was thrilled with the idea of ??Clara and also opened my company, but in my company, I invested alone and the rest I raised in the stock market." "After me and Clara continued to work a lot after a few years our companies were doing very well and worth a lot more than we invested." "It was for this to be a beautiful story, but it did not end there, Robert was always a very proud man and had an inferiority complex with his smaller Sande family company than the Clara family company, that was one of the reasons of him not to accept the marriage." "And it got even worse when the company he saw his wife start from scratch went on to make so much success while he did nothing, he was feeling inferior and envious." "Now her attitude toward Clara is even worse, especially since her father has become even sicker, it seems Robert now sees no reason to remain married to Clara." While dancing with Tiffany, Jake listened to the whole situation in silence, it seemed that the situation was more complicated than he thought before, and how he thought he knew the situation made him feel involved in it somehow. With what he could hear of this situation the conclusion he could draw in the end was that Robert was a proud man, narrow-minded and also that he can not see good things happen. If he did not want to marry Clara because he did not find a loveless marriage or because he loved someone else, Jake could understand, but only because he did not want to and why he did not think his wife had more money than he could, Jake could not understand. "And it seems that he also betrays Clara with other women is what they say out there since it is not proven that Robert is having an affair, Clara prefers not to believe." So the situation was even worse if this was the case, and so Jake also began to understand the possible reason why he had not seen the name of Clara''s company in the future because this was not only a problem if a couple but a problem of members as well. But unlike the case of Matthew who did not know that his company was in danger of failing to change the technology, Clara should know very well that if her husband was in the way of doing business, then Jake could not give advice to them. And Jake also had no way of helping now, maybe he had in the future, as long as Clara''s company did not fail or was sold on the basis of the factories and the slabs they could rebound. After that, Jake returned to his mother and a few hours later the party ended and everyone went home. In a few days school holidays began, unlike the public schools the Elite school gave more time for students to rest more on their vacation, so Jake who did not have to worry about returning before his birthday began to organize his trip. This year Jake would still follow his journey from his past life, he would now go to France which was the second language he learned and also the country he most enjoyed traveling to, the cuisine there was incredible and the landscape as well. So he also wanted to make this trip with his mother if it was possible, Jake knew that Eva just as he was a lover of French cinema, although not very popular has the most interesting stories of romance and also of past centuries. So he did the same routine as before, he called the same travel agency he used last year on his trip to Spain and said again to mark two passages for him and his mother, speaking the names of hotels and cities where he would pass. This travel agency was very fond of working with Jake, after all, Jake did almost all the work for them and the agency used sometimes the same script that Jake organized for Spain and the clients were very satisfied, now the agency had a new script for France. A few days later Jake and Eva took the plane to France, they were going to be first in Nice and to finish the trip in Paris, they began the trip knowing the beautiful beaches that were known around the world near the C?te D''Azur. It was really a very beautiful place and was also different from the beauties of Miami beaches, then they went to some restaurants to try the local food. The next day they took the train to Monaco which was a must-stop on a journey through Europe in Jake''s vision, arriving they went to many places like the Church of Sainte-D¨¦vote which was one of the most beautiful in Europe. Then they went to Place du Casino where they found the Monte Carlo Casino which although they could not enter because of Jake''s age was a beautiful place to take pictures and keep a souvenir of the trip. After they went to Port Hercule to see the hundreds of yachts staying in this place, it was looking at this scenario in their past life that Jake felt the desire to have a yacht for him, and still had that dream in this life. Then on the other day, they went to Carcassonne by train to see the city which could make people think they returned to medieval times, it even gives them a view of the ramparts around the city. In this town after they went to Chateau Comtal to visit and be able to walk through the long city walls, they then ate the famous cassoulet plate to end the visit to the city. Afterward, they went to Grenoble to visit the city and then visit the French Alps, a beautiful place, for Jake was at least since he loved snow, and so they stayed a few days to spend Christmas and the end of the year there. Chapter 88 An Animated Party 3 As he spent the end of the year with his mother staring at the snow through the hotel window, Jake could not help but think again about how different it was to take a trip alone and go on a trip together. He could enjoy much more of the places he visited last time and also leave some of the script planned to visit places he had no desire to visit before. Although Jake returned almost three years ago in the past thanks to fate and knowing that this was not a dream and what was really happening, he could not help but be nostalgic and comparing the two lives on commemorative days like this. On days like this Jake was afraid to even sleep at the end of the night and wake up alone and without his mother, without his legs and discover that all this was a dream. Jake had this fear because he lived over 40 years used to a life where things never worked out that way for long when things started to get good bad things happened. Even though he had to accept this new reality and stop always waiting when something bad would happen, he hoped it would never happen, that he could always see his mother every day with a smile on his face. The other day in the morning he continued his trip to the last stop Paris, they would visit as many places as they could and spend Jake''s birthday here. They visited many places on this trip through Paris such as the beautiful Bas¨ªlica du Sacr¨¦-Coeu, Paris Museum Louvre which is the most important museum in the world, Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral and also, of course, the Eiffel Tower. So in this beautiful place Jake completed his thirteenth birthday, it was the second time he was that age, but this time everything seemed more special and different. It was strange what he was feeling, maybe just people who had a second chance as he might know what that feeling was, after all to Jake everything he was living now, being with his mother again was a kind of miracle. So after celebrating a lot with their mother on the day of their birthday, they spent a few more days in France and then bid farewell to their second wonderful trip and voted home full of beautiful memories. The second half would already start and Jake also had the national championship to worry about now, that would be his most memorable memory of all Middle School if he could win that national championship. Jake even thought it funny how he thought at the outset that he did not think it would be worth playing at his school team and that the school championships would be very easy to beat, he just decided to join the basketball team to have experiences in playing with teammates of team that was something that Jake could not learn alone. But now a few years later here he was so excited about the possibility of winning a school league, that was the beauty of life, just living things you can know if it is important or not, so you should not judge others just by looking out. After his relaxing holiday trip, Jake was excited to start the national championship, but not all his team was so, coach Mike who was the person who had the biggest responsibility with the school to bring over this trophy to school was too anxious He can bring together four of Jake''s teammates who were in town during the holidays and also wanted to train more to be able to improve even a little for the start of the national championship games. And after almost a month of training, he had a slight improvement that increased their confidence a bit, yet everyone was stressed with the national championship that would start shortly. When Jake returned to train with the team after the start of classes for the next few weeks that would be the first game, the whole team could relax more of their tension when they saw that their captain was so calm and confident for the games. Coach Mike also calmed down and internally praised Jake''s confidence in his teammates, everyone in this team recognized Jake as the natural leader of the team after just over 6 months together, this was not something that could be achieved to be a certain charisma. After a few weeks the first game of the Elite team had arrived Jake was not anxious and was even calm, he had confidence that with his team now they could win a different result from last year. The national championship had a format different from the regional and state championships, in the beginning, they had 64 teams and not only 32 as in the other 2, but for the teams that participated did not have such a big difference, they would only play 6 games instead of 5 games as in the other championships. The first opponent of Jake''s team was the Bats, all players who could enter the national championship are strong unless they could have a player like Jake was last year, so when a player stood out in a strong team it was good to have to Watch out for him. The Bats team had three players that Jake''s team had to be careful of, Center Joe, PF Paul, and SF Ramiro, that meant that the Bats team for this year was strong, yet Jake felt that this team was weaker than the Eagles the former Carter team last year. So he was confident that his team could win this year, Carter also thought probably the same, the other three were still nervous. The game began and Mark got the first possession of the ball for the Elite team, Jake who received the ball started the attack and soon saw the opposing PG coming to score him from the start, so Jake used a path behind Mark and thus opened distance from his defender to advance calmly into the attack. When he reached the three-point line Jake saw that all his teammates were well marked, so he thought it would be time to show the result of his training with his team collapses and made some signs for his teammates to change positions. All Jake''s opponents so far were already prepared to move in with Elite team players when Jake did the signs, but what Jake and his teammates had done so far was not just changing positions with only signs. All Jake''s teammates quickly moved into their new position without the Bats players being able to react, so Jake handed the ball to Harrison to make the first two points of the team in that national championship. The strongest point of the Elite team''s strategies was not to change positions without communicating on the court, but rather the speed that players could change their positions, after all, Jake gave a different signal for each one, so a player did not have to wait for the other shifted to move and all moved at the same time. So the opponents would not have time to react and move together in defense, nor the zone marking could solve this, it was a shame that Jake could not have done this before with his teammates because everyone needs to move quickly and at the same time after that, the signals were meant to work. So the Bats ''defense was caught off guard and they could not react, the Bats'' team PG started their first bout after that move, unlike the Bats team, the Elite team waited to tighten the defense near the three-point line. So PG waited a bit and passed the ball to SF Ramiro who received the ball with a little space and made the 2-point shot to equalize the game. Harrison apologized with his teammates because he was distracted in the defense and let the opponent score the points. Jake started the attack and adjusted the pace to attack faster, this time in the attack the opponents seemed to be waiting for the Elite team positions change, but Jake only gave the pass normally to Carter who did the layup and 2 more points. A skilled PG should also have several different ways to attack and thus catch the opponent off guard, and in this part, Jake stood out if the opponent tried to guess his thoughts when he realized the pass or the shot would have already been made. For this and other reasons, the fans might not agree that Jake deserved to always be the MVP, at least the best PG he always was. The Bats soon started a new attack, the Elite team still gave the same space until the opponents reached the 3-point line, the opponent''s PG passed the ball to Joe to make 2 more points,, but when Joe tried to do the layup for marks the 2 points Mark tried to give a Block and ended up making the foul. Despite not being able to make the block served to leave the team of Bats apprehensive and show that the defense of the Elite team was not dead. Chapter 89 National Championship 1 As a player of a team that arrived at the national championship, it was normal that Joe knew to convert the Free Throws, but perhaps by the nervousness of a difficult game, he ended up missing the 2 attempts and the fault of Mark ended up being positive. Mark himself was the one who got the rebound from the second failed attempt and passed the ball to Jake to start another attack, as the Bats team was all in the attacking block and were a little shaken by having lost an attack, Jake just got the ball and ran at maximum speed. It should be remembered that because Jake was playing as a team and as a point guard, he never ran at his top speed because of his statistics trained in those nearly 3 years were bigger than all his colleagues at Middle School. So when Jake accelerated, all opponents were left behind and in a few seconds, he was alone doing a layup to score the 2 points. With these 2 points scored by Jake the Elite team already had a 4-point lead over the Bats in less than 1 minute after the game started, thinking that the Bats team''s mood slowed, even more, when they started attacking again. The PG of the Bats team despite not being very skilled still managed to control the mood of his team a little, so in their attack, he passed the ball to Paul who seemed to want to show his skills. So Paul who received the ball and tried to pass by Carter when he saw that he would not get dribble he just forced a mid-range shot to make the 2 points. This was the strategy that coach Mike organized for the game, the Elite team should appear to be slow in defense and when the opponent was distracted they would steal the ball. Of course coach Mike can only risk using this strategy because he relied on his players'' defensive skills; if a weak team did that, it would only make it easier for the opponent to attack. Then Jake organized the attack and passed the ball to Mark who soon turned and did a layup to score 2 more points and further decrease Joe''s will that was marking him. So the game continued like this and when the first period ended the Elite team was ahead by 6 points, almost at the end of the first period Jake stole the ball of the opponent''s PG and makes 2 more points ahead. In the second period of the game although the Bats tried to keep calm the 6-point advantage was still stressful for the players, and Jake still began to slow the game and spend the possession of the ball as if they wanted to keep the advantage like that. On the other side, the Bats'' team PG was falling on Jake''s pace and was trying to get off the ball quickly in the attack, he realized that any hesitation he gave Jake would take to steal the ball. So he had to make each move with the care that made him even more stressed, Jake also became more relaxed the more the game heated up, he always kept his mind cold and looked for the best move every time in his attacks. And for all who watched the game this difference in behavior was apparent, so this time in this national championship everyone could see Jake''s playing style and it would not be like last year where he was eliminated before being seen. When the second period and the first half of the game had ended the difference was 10 points, although the Bats team played better the advantage still existed, and if it continued so the game would end. In addition to make worse the team of Bats were very tired by the stress of the game, after all, as the team was stronger all expected that after leaving the state championship winners could at least advance until the third round of the national championship. But now they were losing in the first game to a team that was playing for the first time the national championship, this only served to increase their stress when they saw that they were 10 points behind on the scoreboard. The game continued and everyone cheered to try to get the result, but Jake''s team was relentless and when the game ended the Elite team had won by 16 points. Everyone was very happy with the victory more as this was only the first game of a total of 6 was still too early for interviews, of course, Eric was there as in all games to follow the full trajectory to the national championship trophy. When the regional championship started no one cared about Jake''s team and he was there and now that they started the national championship no one believed in the Elite team and only Eric was there, and his reporter intuition said he would be the one who was right at the end. When he saw that none of his colleagues from other states cared for the Elite team and still accompanied other teams in the early games, what he heard almost made him start laughing in front of them. These reporters said that the reason was that Jake''s team did not have any players who were a standout and that only his team who was very good, Eric thought this was funny because it was exactly the opposite that spoke of his team last year, that the staff had just Jake most did not have a strong staff. After hearing this, Eric did not mind reminding them to these reporters, it was their fault for not having done simple research on last year if they did know that the Elite team had all the requirements to be the champion. After the game ended Jake went home to tell his mother about the victory, Eva always got anxious about the first championship games more than other games, especially the one in which Jake was eliminated last year. As soon as Jake told about her victory Eva gave a happy and relieved smile, she wanted Jake to continue happy as he was now, and not like last year when after just 1 month of Jake''s birthday he was saddened by defeat. Eva never told this to Jake, but a few days after Jake had lost the national championship game, she was seriously worried that Clara''s and Tiffany''s companies would give up on the sponsorship deal, after all, she knew that with Jake eliminating the two companies they lost a chance to make national propaganda through it. So she was sincerely grateful and wanted to be friends with the two businesswomen, because after they did not end the contract that Eva was sure they were sincere and did not think only of the profit. After winning that game easily by facing a stronger team like the Bats, Jake was more confident in winning that national championship, not to mention that he knew that the players of his team could play even better than today. So after dinner with his mother, Jake went to rest relaxed. In the following days many students from his school were talking about sports, this year it seemed that the investment began to work so that the Elite school was the reference school in sports. It was not just the Middle School basketball team that had advanced well in the national championship and yes all sports were having their teams perform well, both in Middle School and high school. From everyone in the school maybe just Jake''s teachers who were not happy with that, to be specific only part of the group of teachers, some followed the advice that was given after the direct scolding and realized that they did not need all of this if the student did not bother the class and was the best in the room. Teachers who were not convinced after everything that happened did not care what was right or wrong anymore, they just did not like being reprimanded by the principal because of a student, this had become a personal case to some of them. So they were just waiting for Jake and his team to lose some game so they would not meet the president''s expectations and so they would have an excuse to teach Jake a lesson, at least a suspension they wanted to stop their anger. The principal could only be disappointed with these teachers who still had this in mind after he called Jake into his room to talk about this subject, several calls came to him the next day to warn him not to cause trouble for Jake. And these callers were all owners or shareholders of large corporations, some even had friendship with the current president, right now that Jake did something wrong he would not call him into his room to complain, not to mention a resentment of some teachers. In fact, the principal knew that these continuing teachers who had encouraged other teachers to do so, even though very successful teachers did not make much money in their careers. So the only thing they could be proud of for others about their careers was when they taught people who became great figures after they grew up, like some senators or artists, so when they knew someone who did not care about their classes was an insult to that pride. Chapter 90 National Championship 2 So the days went by and soon the second game of the national championship would be arriving, today a rest was given to the Elite team, but Jake, as he always did at home, went down to the basement and had already finished his race and now he was in the handsets of bodybuilding. Jake thought he had to do this as much as he could because he had heard from the system that soon the statistics would need many months sometimes to be able to increase by one point, so he decided to do these exercises as a habit, so he would train without expecting anything and if the statistics go up it would be a good surprise. Of course, it also takes a good mindset and patience to do this, if it were someone else who had the system apart from Jake he would probably ask to look at his stats every day. But Jake, who had just returned from a trip where the only training that had been done was imaging training every day, it had been months since he had checked his statistics. Jake thought that now was a good time to know how much better he ultimately would not improve until the national championship ended so it was good to cheer up with his stats that had certainly increased. "Fate show me my statistics window." [Here it is] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 13 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: High School Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 1.68 m] [Weight: 65 Kg] [Force 20] [Agility 20] [Resistance 21] [Intelligence 52] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling A] [Body Control B] [Man to Man C] [Dribble A] [Layup B] [Set Shot SS] [Block C] [Pass S] [Rebound B] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] [Steal A] --------------------------------- It was really amazing how much his stats increased in almost a year of training, maybe because of the trip he made his intelligence also increased, as it was not a statistic that could be trained as was the case of luck any point that increased left Jake happy. His physical stats all came in at 20, and Jake could see that the growth rate of his stamina that was once the fastest-growing statistic declined after he reached 20, his agility was very good too, but he knew there might be some people in high school who have more agility than he. The statistic that he was happiest to have increased was his strength, now it lacked little to reach the strength he had in his past life, just so he would feel that he was improving. As for his abilities, he increased very little despite having a lot of training in his imagination training, but Jake also had already realized that his abilities improved much more in official games than in 100 trainings. Jake was mostly unsatisfied with his defense that was low in his opinion if anyone had a dribbling ability like his that would eventually be the fault of his team''s defense and Jake could not accept it. He also knew what the problem was, he had not had difficult opponents who could train his defense well, Jake even found it absurd as people said that his forte was the defense. Only he himself knew that he had to train 10 times in defense more than in the attack to increase skill rank, and it would have to be so, his minimum goal would have to be A at the NBA level until he turned 20. He knew that climbing up S in high school would only be a big challenge, not to mention he still had college rank before going through the NBA, it was nice that the NBA level was not as low as it was high school compared to Middle School where an S rank skill could become D. So Jake believed he would be able to achieve this in 7 years which is almost 3 times the time he trained, of course, if his defensive ability was in A normally his other abilities would be at S or SS level, but that would be impossible reachable in just 7 years, maybe in 12 years was possible. But that was if he only focused on the sack what he would not know if it could be possible, at least he needed to focus on his mother and his personal life half the time, after all, his desire for the second chance was mainly to have a happy life and do not forget everything else and just focus on basketball. [Now that their stats have reached 20 it will take a lot longer to raise a statistic, as I had said only the biggest stars of the NBA have the main statistics equivalent to 30 points which are 3 times more than the normal adults.] [Of course, despite having 3 times the capacity of a normal man this is only in statistics, only strength stands out better in numbers, this does not mean that a person who has 30 in agility is three times faster than a normal person.] [But in more competitive sports even 0.1 second makes a big difference, in basketball could mean making the points or not doing, or getting a dribble or not, small differences in a game can change the final result.] [But to tell you the truth I thought you could only get 20 points of statistics after 15 years, it''s good that you do not fight people your age or else you could end up hurting a lot of someones unintentionally.] Of course Jake already knew about a part of what the system said, especially about fighting, according to the system said it was almost impossible that things happened to Jake thanks to his luck, especially with the personality of Jake who never fought in 40 years of your past life. And since the NBA was a goal for a distant future he did not want to forget, but he did not have to worry about that either, it was not long ago that Jake saw that he could not even beat a high school player the more of the NBA. So the days went by and came the day of the second game, when they were preparing for later Jake realized that his teammates were much more relaxed for today''s game. That nervousness should be only a result of the debut game that was tenser after all nobody wanted to be eliminated in the first game, only coach Mike was still tense, after all, he had more responsibility in this game and that was his job. As for the opponents it was expected that after the second round onwards it would be impossible to find a team that was weak, all the lucky ones had been eliminated in the first round, proof of which was that in that game a lot more people came to watch and had more reporters. The opposing team was called Cats, a team that until a few years ago was not very well known in basketball and began to invest more in the sport in recent years as well as the Elite team. The highlights of this team were PG Rick, SF Santiago and SG Lincon, were a team that was very good in attack and had some problems in defense, so all their games used to have many points scored. These three players also used to risk the shots from outside, so with the three players making points of 3, the hit rate was low plus the score at the end of the game ended up high. So before the game started coach Mike reminded David and Harrison to score their opponents well, with Jake the coach was calm, but with Harrison was that he was more worried, it would be a great weakness for that game. And so the game began and the possession of the ball went to the Elite team again, soon Jake received the ball and started the first attack in that game, he advanced calmly to the 3-point line and gave a pass to Harrison. Harrison who received the ball managed to pass through his opponent with a dribble and then made the first points with a layup, Jake''s goal with that pass was to increase Harrison''s confidence after scoring the first points. After Rick started the first attack for the Cats team, just like Jake, Rick had the same idea and passed the ball to Santiago who received the pass and pretended to try the dribble, Harrison who was focused on the defense fell on the feint and moved to try to defend, so Santiago who had a free space made a shot from outside to score the 3 points. Jake calmed down Harrison who was frustrated by being cheated and started another attack on the Elite team, he advanced up the 3-point line and gave Mark a pass to make 2 more points with a layup. The defense of the Cats waiting for Jake to try a shot from outside or move to David to try a shot of 3 was surprised by his decision to attempt a normal attack. Jake knew what the other team was thinking, but he more than anyone knows that it is too risky to watch his attacks only on the shots outside, for that game in which the opponents had a good defense and David also wanted very much to try the shots of out Jake gave a chance. But this game was different the defense of the opponent was weak and David knew to follow more the strategies of the team, so why not to take advantage to get more attacks and points with Mark and Carter and to vary with the shots of 3 points in the attack? So the Elite team''s attack on this game would be unpredictable. Chapter 91 National Championship 3 The game continued like this, sometimes the Cats tried a shot of 3 and hit and on the other side Elite team hit almost all attacks but only made the safest 2 points. As expected by coach Mike the player in whom the Cats were the most chosen to attack was Santiago who was being scored by Harrison, Jake was very good in his defense and David also managed to steal a lot of balls, so Harrison was the weakness of the defense Elite team. Jake was not worried about it, he thought it might be even good, as the distance from the line of 3 in the Middle School was smaller than in the NBA it was normal for skilled players to hit rate was higher. Even so the normal for a skilled player was to hit one of three per average in a game, which means that the Cats team would lose two attacks to make a 3-point. Usually not to lose so many attacks to the teams that did a lot of shots from outside, they looked for players that could receive more rebounds like Center and PF, that was what Jake was calm. In the defense, Mark and Carter were the only ones that disputed who took more rebounds and few finished in the hands of the attack to have another chance. As proved by the end of the first period Jake''s team was ahead of them by 3 points difference, it could be a difference of just one attack for the Cats team, but for Jake, it was a safe advantage. In the second period coach, Mike made a small change and asked Carter to support Harrison to score Santiago, so Santiago''s strike rate began to drop, so Lincon and Rick started to try more shots from outside as well. On the attack side of the Elite team seeing that Mark and Carter had already entered the game more and were confident after making several points, Jake thought it was time for a few shots of 3 as well. He had to rely on Mark and Carter to take advantage of the rebounds and so do not miss the attacks, Jake passed the ball to David and motioned for him to try a shot of 3 if he had the opportunity. David was thrilled with this as well and agreed, David''s reason for not being overly anxious and correctly following the coping strategies the coach and Jake did was that he realized it was the surest way to victory. But that does not mean that he did not like to do what he did before, was that now he asked for permission before, David who had the ball made a feint and then a step back to try a shot from outside and make the 3 points later. The Cats did not expect that in the second period the Elite team that was always ahead in the score was to try a shot of 3, although it was what the Cats wanted before the game started, seeing that they controlled the rebounds, it did not make much sense to this strategy. Rick commanded another attack and gave the ball to Santiago who received the double marking soon after and not to risk giving the pass to Lincon that received and tried the shot of 3, on the pressure of the mark of Mark ended up missing the shot and Mark picked up another rebound. The ball was passed to Jake who began to advance to the attack, so while the Elite team organized in the attack before reaching the line of 3 points as it had no mark, Jake made the Set Shot and was able to make 3 more points for his team. The Cats'' defense did not expect that, and everyone had to admire Jake''s ability to hit a shot from 3 yards without having to jump, it made a totally unexpected move, and it was clear that Jake did it with confidence who could make the points and not just to try. The advantage was even greater, the game continued with the Cats team hitting a few shots of 3 and increased their score, but sometimes erring and losing their attack, on the other side the Elite team tried sometimes the shots of 3 and hardly lost the attacks with Mark taking the rebounds. At the end of the second period, the Elite team led the score by 10 points, as it was 4 attacks for the Cats team he still did not lose hope in the victory, however, taking out the rebounds everyone realized that the Elite team defense was very passive. So in the third period, the Cats team were more concerned about hitting the shots off than the opposing defense, so in a moment of attack, Lincon received the ball and was thinking about how to get space to give the shot of 3 when David saw an opportunity and stole the ball from Lincon. As he had the free court ahead to attack David who had confidence in his speed just ran and then did a layup to increase the lead in 2 more points. Lincon had to acknowledge that he was very inattentive and missed an attack more did not care much about it, then in another attack, Rick who made a feint was preparing to try another shot of 2 when Jake stole his ball, then Jake ran to the attack to make 2 more points with a layup. Almost at the end of the third period Rick tried a pass to Santiago and the ball was intercepted by Jake again who picked up the ball and made 2 more points with another layup, so at the end of the third period the Elite team was ahead of the score by 17 points and they had almost guaranteed victory. With three steals that passed without disturbing the team of Cats who were accustomed to losing attack by their 3-point shots, the course of the game took a path expected for the Elite team''s victory. At the beginning of the fourth period the Cats team that had not yet given up began to rush to try the shots from outside, but as they were already in the fourth period and were trying to shoot outside the entire game players were already tired, so Jake saw that Rick would try a shot anyway and made a block to reject the attack. This was the final blow to the Cats'' willingness to give up trying and so the game was only run by the Elite team in the fourth period and at the end of the game, they had won by 22 points. As it had been shown in this game Elite team showed that it had both attack and defense in that game, so they stood up as one of the favorites in the reporters'' view to win the national championship. But this was still the second game and there were 4 left for the final, so none of the reporters bothered Jake and his colleagues with questions, it was still not too late to interview them later if they got close to the final. Eric also did not ask any questions yet in this national championship and only took the photos for his report, but not for the same reason of the others and but because for him it was not necessary for the moment, after all, he had already asked the basic things and now just near the end more questions were needed. Jake went home soon after the game to tell his mother about his victory, after he told her and saw Eva being relieved they dined and went to rest despite Jake having a much greater resistance with his stats increasing he was very tired after the games. At school, in the following days, many people were happy that their school continued to be featured in various sports, but some people started to get sad after school teams came to the national competition despite good performance, many teams began to arrive at its limits. After all, although the president had invested a lot in sports that first year, it was not enough to be a benchmark in all sports and many teams did not have the strength to fight for the national championship trophy, that should be normal. But for the coaches who just aimed at winning after they were hired this was a disaster, and he could not blame the players because they were just students yet even Jake who gets money from the school could not be guilty if his team lost. So that responsibility that had to be passed on to someone else was kept for the coaches of the teams, so the team coaches, especially the major sports teams who received the most investment, became increasingly anxious about this situation. So coach Mike was spending these weeks much more stressed, Jake wanted to be able to comfort the coach, but since he had also been an employee in a company he knew that everyone had to live with the stress of their responsibilities. Jake wanted to promise that he would win the national championship, but even he did not know what level of skill the strongest opponent of that national championship was, Jake could still see that Carter was not so calm and Carter was the one who knew how strong the champion was. So despite wanting to secure the trophy Jake could not, he had made the mistake of being very presumptuous last year and suffered what he could to play his best and try to win game by game, so the trophy would get closer and closer. Chapter 92 National Championship 4 Soon came the day of the third game of Jake, the opponent of this game would be the Chameleons team, it was a team similar to the Elite team, only that its general strength was smaller. A team with a good stable attack and also a good defense, and the highlight of the team was also the PG who was called John, the PG controlled the attacks well and was also good with the shots of 3. But as it was seen in the last game in which they narrowly won, John was not hiding any of his abilities, so it was a weaker team than the Elite team that had stronger overall strength and Jake also did not show all his skills. But this was not what the reporters and general members of the audience thought came to see the game today, they thought that the two teams had the same strength and that the Chameleons'' team only had more difficulty in the last game because the opponent was more strong than the Cats. This was normal because people were only misinformed and could not see the game of the two teams to compare, in addition, in addition to Eric waiting for the Elite team''s victory in the national championship no reporter cared to research Jake''s performance in the year past. They could not be blamed, reporters only cared to research the results of the teams and not the players in particular, just as Jake did something that could not be considered normal that was to change schools no one thought was his second national championship. Even Carter who came to play the final last year and was considered as one of the best players of the defense has not been recognized by any reporter so far. That was the biggest difference between professional championships and school championships, for reporters there were no individual stars in schools because they did not bother remembering the name of a good player who would grow and leave that school in a few years. Only later when the player continued to make good games until reaching the NBA, after reaching that level yes the players'' names would be remembered and the reporters would even talk about the time when they were younger and stand out in their schools. At this point, Eric was different, from the moment he met Jake he hoped that Jake could become an NBA player in the future, so he was following Jake''s whole career from a young age while doing his job. In fact, Eric had already been promoted to be able to follow bigger and more important games for the good performance that he did in the last year, but Eric decided to wait to follow Jake as much as possible and his decision was correct so far he can do some more stuff and be more praised. The game began and the ball was again for Elite team possession, with Mark on the team it was difficult for the opponent to have the first ball of the game, Jake received the ball and started the first attack of the game. He advanced to the attack calmly and after reaching the 3-point line sent the ball to Mark to make the first two points with a layup. As Mark was good at attacking also he became the safety player for Jake, whenever he passed to Mark he was sure to have 2 points, it was to have a player like Mark of reference that Jake worked so hard to train Owen on his team last year. A good center that could make the points and catch the rebounds was like the right arm of a good PG, a reliable player, although Owen was not that good, it was only with his help that Jake could take his team to the National Championship. It was not for nothing that most of the time the Centers were the players always loved by their teams in the NBA. The game continued and in the first attack of the Chameleons, John arranged quietly passed to the SF of his team that made the 2 points to tie. They were calm and did not fear the Elite team, maybe they thought the same as the reporters that the Elite team had a weak opponent. Jake did not care that he would just play as always and he had confidence that they would win as always, his whole team was strong and so he thought no one stood out much, but opponents seemed to think they did not stand out because they were weak. This difference of vision and mentality made them lose the right was to face each game of the national championship as if it were the last, for Jake if his team was behind the score after a period he was already aware and changed the way to play. But the other teams had a mentality of thinking they could recover easily and only in the last period began to worry, it''s too late to do anything. The two teams had a slow game, nobody forced myth in attack or defense, but as Jake expected even with a game so the Elite team finished the first period with 4 points ahead. And as Jake also hoped the Chameleons team did not care for that small advantage and they continued playing the same way, and after the third period to have finished the Elite team was 14 points ahead, and when the Chameleons team tried to do something it was already too late. And the game ended with the Elite team winning with 18 points on the scoreboard, Eric who was watching the Elite team''s game style since the first regional championship game had already realized this feature of the Elite team game. It was like a quicksand where if you did not pay attention you would sink, and when you realized it was too buried to be able to go out alone, only with the help of someone could the team escape. In basketball that someone could be a star player that was differentiated, only this type of player could do something special and lead the team to victory. But even if such a player appeared to try to turn the game to the Elite team he was also prepared for it, if the opposing team came out of the quicksand Jake was like an eagle flying around to make sure victory. In fact in Eric''s vision, although Jake has all the skills to be a star, he does not have an individualistic personality that the stars usually have, star players know how to play as a team but prefer to do it all alone, Jake was the opposite of him he knew how to do everything on his own, but he would rather trust his team. But for Eric that was just a thing of the age, when Jake got to a big stage like the NBA where the star player stands out more than the whole team he would start to change forever wanting to show off his skills. After the game ended Jake headed straight home to contain his victory over his mother, Eva just as Jake was happier the more Jake won because she knew the national championship trophy was coming. And as the days went by came another week and the Elite team had their fourth win in the national championship, the team they faced in that game was about the same level as the Chameleons team and they were defeated in the same way. Many reporters said that the Elite team was lucky enough to catch the easier opponent among the last 8, but no matter what everyone said Jake''s team reached the top 4 of the national championship, it was impossible for an unmanned team to get so far in a championship. So many coaches and reporters have tried to study the reason why the Elite team can reach the top 4 with no apparent prominence in their first striking appearance in a basketball championship. Reporters and coaches felt that the Elite team was the weakest of the last four, and so reporters began to research more about this team later, and so they discovered many interesting things to do in various subjects. They found that the 5 Elite team players had come from 5 different teams and that everyone playing for this team even with weaker teams was able to reach the national championship and they were invited to the Elite school. Carter was a team that made it to the final last year this year because they lost their top players and can not make it to the national championship, and Jake had a much weaker team than the other 4 and doing most of the points of the team brought them to the national championship. And despite losing only in the first game lost to Carter''s team that reached the final narrowly, so could have gone further if the opponent was another, so everyone would start paying more attention in that PG for the next games. They also discovered that it was not just with the Middle School basketball team, many other sports teams also invited students from other schools and were now all coming to the national championship. This gave a warning to the other schools that started to complain to prohibit that the Elite school could continue doing this for the next years, otherwise they would always be the winners relying on students coming from the schools of the others. Chapter 93 National Championship 5 Of course, the president of the Elite school was already prepared for this and it was not like what he did was illegal, so he just said about the complaints that the students came because they wanted to study in a better school. The president of the Elite school, of course, did not expect to be able to do this every year of inviting players from other schools, so he hoped to have the best teams so they would win the national competitions as early as the first year and so he could attract more students with talent for sports for years to come. And the school got good publicity for being encouraging the sport and trying to better results in school events, such as events like the national championship although it may be important to give only prestige to schools and not prizes in money the school was not suspected for anything. Not even the other schools mistrusted that the reason that the president was getting good new students in various sports was to have a better relationship with the universities, and so the parents of the students will choose their private school instead of the others. Clara and Tiffany despite being very busy still congratulated Jake for reaching the top four of the national championship, if Jake could win or at least reach the final will be great publicity for their companies. Especially in Miami that the population already knows the city more and Jake also from the newspapers, it is good to see that a team from the city has the best school in the country in basketball, so Clara could already imagine another great influx of young people buying materials from his company. Oliver and Joseph also congratulated Jake for getting so far, yet everyone knew that Jake could only be really happy if he won the national championship. Even Jake knew he had been lucky to face a weaker opponent in the last game, yet he was confident in his team''s ability to make a good game and win. So another week went by and the day of the fifth game came, Eva wanted very much to go to this game, but Jake asked that she not be in this game because so he would have more motivation for the final game when she came so Eva accepted and also can stay cool because if Jake was talking like this was because he had confidence in reaching the final. The opposing Elite team in this fifth game was called Dogs and they were a team from a very traditional school that has always been in the top 16 of the national championship in the last 10 years. The players who stood out in the Dogs team were PG Mike, PF Lucas, and SG Troy, Lucas was a player with a style of play that was the opposite of Carter, instead of standing out in the defense he stood out in the attack, so it would be an interesting duel on that part of the court. Troy was a good player both in defense and in the attack, he always performed well, when the ball was passed to him, Troy made the points, he was also the player who stole most balls in the Dogs team. But who was the best player on the team was Mike who always had good performances in the matches and was the main player of Dogs, but in this game, Mike was the player that least worried the Elite team because Jake would be marking him. So the game soon began and the ball went into the possession of the Elite team, Jake received the ball to arm the first attack of the Elite team, David was being strongly marked by Troy so Jake gave the pass to Harrison. Harrison as soon as he received the ball made a feint and managed to dribble and pass the opponent''s SF, then he continued advancing until making the first two points with a layup. Harrison was excited because he knew that with Jake''s personality he would be the most played player in the game as David was well marked, it was another game where he could show off his skills. When Mike set out to make the first attack for his team he planned to pass the ball to his SF to tie the game, but he saw that Harrison looked very dedicated in scoring and so passed the ball to Troy. Troy received the ball made two feints until he managed to fool David and open space to tie the game with a 2-point shot, David was annoyed by that and looked at Jake who just ignored him. Jake who had many years of experience in his past life had already realized that David was very agitated for this game and got even more agitated after the opponent seemed to want to focus on him. Jake knew that if he relied too much on David that he was not calm to attack it would not work, David would put that game in a very fierce and lively rhythm that was not what Jake wanted. The pace of the Elite team''s attack should not change if it were not for the fact that the opponent was stronger which did not seem to be the case for now. Even if he did not want to change the pace of the game if he could not trust David for the attack he would have to change the way he would attack. So when Jake reached the 3-point line instead of stopping to arrange the play or move to David, he just made a feint and when the opponent waited for him to stop he accelerated when Mike realized that Jake was going to try to go to the key Jake had already passed and quickly did the layup and made the 2 points. No one expected Jake to go in to punctuate the inside, so he cheated the whole defense and even Jake''s teammates. So Mike started another attack on the Dogs team, this time everyone was well marked and then he decided to trust Lucas and passed the ball to him. Lucas received the ball and tried to use his body to force the passage, Carter used his strength and did not allow Lucas to approach the basket, as Lucas realized that he could not go to the layup he just turned and did the 2-point shot. Despite being a basic move this turn after being turned to face space with space to give the shot requires a lot of skill and is very difficult to defend as well. So Jake calmed his team that was getting anxious and began to organize the attack, this time Mike was more attentive and so hoped for anything that Jake did, so he just made the pass for Mark to do the layup and 2 more points for the team Elite. The game remained balanced, but even when the first period ended the Elite team was leading the score by 4 points, the Dogs team thought it was normal of the game and did not care. But Eric who was in the stands knew that the Dogs had fallen into the Elite team''s rhythm and trap and if they did not realize it fast, they would lose the game like all previous opponents. But it was obvious to everyone that the Dogs team were the most difficult opponents Elite has had so far, proof of which was that Jake was starting to make more individual moves. Mike also realized that Jake seemed to have many individual abilities, but he was helpless about what to do about it, after all, Jake could attack in several different ways or just give the passes as always. In the second period, the Dogs team tried to push more in the attacks and the defense, but there was nothing in particular that they could do, although it seems that the Elite team was being pressured, the score continued with the advantage the whole game, the pace was always controlled by Jake. The Dogs players realized that only David seemed to lose his temper more easily, but they could not use this to their advantage because Jake also knew this and did not pass the ball to David. David was also starting to get annoyed with this, he did not realize he was getting agitated and despite relying on Jake''s decisions on the court not to like not being given any passes so far. As soon as the second period ended and the elite team was leading by 8 points on the scoreboard, despite the Dogs team knowing something was wrong, as the advantage was still small and they were pressing more and more they thought it could turn the board. Meanwhile, Jake took advantage of having a longer time in the break and called David to a corner, David though not knowing what it was after seeing Jake''s ugly face was quickly near him. "You realize what you''re doing in this game, why am I not passing the ball to you?" David was very annoyed that he was not getting a pass all this game, but when he heard Jake''s question that he seemed to be angry and began to calm down and realize that something was wrong, otherwise he did not see why Jake suddenly did not pass the ball for him. "No, I do not know what I did wrong." "It''s good that you do not really know, what I had said about your habit the other day?" So David remembered the conversation the other day and was embarrassed because he was so shut up and did not have many friends. David never found someone who had the courage to tell him he had a problem. Chapter 94 National Championship 6 But Jake who was the captain of his team had the courage and called David a few weeks ago to talk about a problem. Jake said he realized that sometimes David in some games was very agitated without realizing and soon lost control and lost his head a little and did not defend right and played well with the team and just wanted to know to score points and win. David had never noticed this before Jake mentioned it, and since David''s previous team was full of players who were weaker than him, his teammates did not mind that David did it all by himself sometimes. But since the Elite team had better players like David and also had a PG equal to Jake who liked to be able to totally control the team in the game, they could not ignore it anymore, and Jake had to talk to David. David who did not know this before understood that this was wrong in a basketball game and promised that he would be careful not to do it anymore, but in this game, as the opponent was stronger and challenging, David unknowingly began to lose control and Jake who realized did not pass the ball to him. But Jake knew he could not stay the whole game with a player unless he could count on the attack and so he decided to talk to David. "Now I understood what I did wrong, I''m sorry it will not happen the same in the third period." Seeing that it was not intended and that David apologized and said he was going to change Jake did not want to continue with this subject. "Well, try to control yourself, I need to count on you to attack so we can go to the final." So David nodded vigorously saying that he had understood, he had been thrilled that Jake not only did not quarrel with him but also said that the team needed him for this game, now David would fight more for the win. So in the third period, the Dogs team went all the way up to try to score more points and victory in the game, Elite team defense also put more pressure, especially David who received a vote of confidence and Carter who was annoyed at not being able to steal any ball until now. So Mike who also had confidence in his team passed the ball to Troy, David tightened more in the score but Troy just turned the body and made a 2-point shot, despite striving David''s strength was not in the defense. Jake also knew this and patted David on the back to encourage and started the attack, who saw the game and even though that Jake was comforting David who was having a bad game since he did not pass the ball to David. When Jake reached the three-point line he stopped, Mike was intent on not being passed without realizing it, Troy who scored David was still intent on his defense even though David did not receive any pass in the game. Even though Jake passed the ball to David, so David who had received the confidence of his captain remained calm but was full of energy, and so he made a feint when Troy just shook David sped and made a dribble for Troy. Troy tried to recover but David had already gone and ran to do a layup and his first 2 points in the game, Jake had a lot of expectation in David''s potential if David learned to channel his energy and use in his plays with a calmer mind he would become an excellent SG. Although the Dogs team saw David score they did not care about it, so Mike started another attack and soon advanced to the three-point line, Mike had already realized that David seemed full of morale and will for some reason and so passed to Lucas attack. Carter saw that Jake should have managed to calm David at half-time and thought the victory was practically decided, but he felt ashamed not to have stolen any ball in that game as soon as Lucas received the ball Carter instead of tightening the mark gave space. Lucas, seeing that he had space, did not have to turn or defend the ball and just gave the shot and scored the 2 points, Jake went and started another attack and passed the ball again to David who received and gave the shot from outside to make the 3 points. Mike resumed the attack and as soon as he reached the 3-point line saw Lucas with space again and so passed the ball, Lucas received the pass and made the 2-point shot. Jake had confidence in Carter and did not care much about it, Jake left for the attack and Mike and Troy prepared for David''s attack, Jake made for the first time the pass movement he invented theand in time the ball went to David went to Harrison who was already unmarked. The pass was so surprising that Harrison almost did not hold the ball, but he soon concentrated and soloed the mid-range shot to make the 2 points. Most of the players and the public thought it was an accident and they did not care much, only Jake was more excited because it was the first time that he made a move of him in a game, and it seemed useful, of course, that would not always be so, but at least the defense would not try to intercept his pass without thinking twice so as not to be deceived. Then the game remained the same and so when the third period ended the Elite team was ahead by 10 points, at this point in the game the Dogs team were already starting to get desperate to recover on the board and take the advantage. During the third period, Lucas was the focus of the Dogs in the attack, so Lucas was starting to feel tired, Carter, on the contrary, seems to have taken advantage of this third period with the advantage to rest and now besides Jake was unmatched in endurance, Carter was the one who had the most energy. In fact, Jake had long since accumulated more than 100 stamina bars, but at this point, he did not need more for the Middle School games, so besides spending a few to fulfill his desire to run longer on the treadmill he just kept. Jake knew that when he got to the NBA with the intensity of the games even a thousand bars of stamina would be few for him, so he needs to keep doing the shots of 3 when he had free time to accumulate more. So at the beginning of the fourth period, Mike passed the ball to Lucas who more relaxed now tried to give the 2-point shot, Carter who was waiting for it came up and gave a block, so Jake took the ball and ran to do the layup and more 2 points. After this move, Mike began to hesitate sometimes without knowing who to pass the ball, in one of these hesitations Jake stole the ball and ran to score another 2 points, so in the middle of the fourth period the Elite team already led by 14 points, the team of the Dogs began to discourage. It was to see that they did not have much opportunity to recover in the game and to obtain the victory, so in another of the attacks of Dogs Carter stole the ball of Lucas and only thus it felt a little better in the game, Jake that received the ball made a bait behind his back and gave Mike a dribble and then fired a shot from outside to make 3 more points. Many of the reporters had already noticed and even commented on this in their stories, Jake was a player who was very aware of his abilities and so in some games he had an average of more than 80% correctness in his attacks, because he only attacked when he was pretty sure he was going to get it right. So this was incredible, even if his media was a bit lower today, Jake was the player who had scored the most points against the Dogs, so today the biggest contribution to his team''s victory was Jake. Eric thought that now that Jake scored again normally despite not being at peak performance, he looked more like an MVP than the regional championship and the state championship, and in fact, many commented that if the Elite team won the trophy, Jake was the one who deserved the MVP. If that happened it would show that the organization I gave the MVP award to Jake at the regional and state was right because it would be a bad joke if the MVP of the national championship did not win the smaller prizes before him. Thus the game ended after a while with the victory of the Elite team that gained an advantage of 18 points, even with this expressive advantage everyone could say that it was not the case of the team of the Dogs being a weak team but of the Elite team being strong and now favorite to the trophy. Jake who was very happy after celebrating with his teammates for a while rushed home, he had to tell his mother that he should be anxious that in a few weeks she would have to go to the final game because he won. Although the reporters thought about stopping Jake for an interview, it did not make much sense since they did not know who the opponents of the final were to ask the questions, and in a few weeks would be the right time after the final. Chapter 95 National Championship 7 After hearing that Jake had won Eva was very pleased, she was very worried about this particular game, despite being confident in Jake''s ability, Eva could not forget what happened last year in which although she was confident the team your son still lost. It was good that in the next game she could go personally to watch the game, it was very distressing for her to have to wait at home for news of her son, in that final game even if he asked her not to be Eva would still, for her this game it was so important that it was like Jake''s graduation from Middle School. When the first week went by Jake knew that many of his acquaintances had confirmed presence for this game, Joseph would go with his father Oliver to see the final and Anna also confirmed that he would when he heard of Eva''s important game. Tiffany and Clara had confirmed that they would go to this game too, the two of them were happy mainly because of Jake''s success and the realization of his desire to be closer to winning the national championship, and they were happy because they knew that only Jake was in the final of this championship was already a great promotion for both companies. As well as friends of Jake and like the representatives of the companies that sponsor him both had to attend this game even though because of the improvements of the companies they were very busy. But what made Jake truly surprised and happy was that his teammates at his old school last year said they would also go to the game to see Jake be the champion of the national championship. He was happy that his teammates from last year would go to that game to support him, which Jake did not know was that although he was not happy with his team''s results last year, his teammates were very pleased with the who succeeded and were grateful to Jake who was responsible for all the good that happened. In those weeks before the games, Jake did something different from what he usually did and trained every day with his teammates, so everyone saw that his captain was struggling more than they did which gave a great deal of encouragement to all Team workout more. Coach Mike also passed several instructions on what the players could do in some hypothetical situations that could happen in the final so they would not be nervous and also went through the tactics trained earlier so there were no mistakes in the final. Jake had to admit that he admired Coach Mike''s knowledge, he thought that someone with that ability despite not being able to get to train any college team was at least good enough to train his high school team, that left him curious who the school chose to train the high school team with all that investment made. In that time he also took time to talk and play chess with Oliver, even though the two became really friends Jake and Oliver were very busy people, often Oliver also had important business to solve in his company. After all, even if lawyers have a lot more time to stay home sometimes cases start to accumulate and have to be resolved, even the rich sometimes have lawsuits that they have to resolve. Jake also after he got sponsorship and decided to travel on vacation with his mother did not have much free time either, but as a major game was coming Jake wanted to play some chess with a friend to relax a bit. And so the days went by and the day of the final came, in the morning Eva was again preparing a breakfast full of things to eat, Jake also felt that her mother''s food had gotten much better after a few weeks that she began to do those classes. Jake was sitting on the couch staring at the wall with red-faced eyes for not having slept well last night, no matter how confident he was in his team it was impossible for him not to be nervous and eager for this end game that was the last chance to be champion of the national championship. Probably both teams and the two coaches would be the same, Jake was able to relax a little after even his mother was more relaxed for that game. "Jake you have to be calmer, I know better than anyone how much you trained and did your best to get to this end, now it''s no use getting nervous, I know you can win this game and I''ll be there to see." "Thank you, Mom, I do not know why I''m so nervous, so it''s no use trying to be quiet on my own, as I''ve fallen asleep now, I do not care, I just know that when the game starts I''ll calm down." Eva also knew what her son was like and just smiled and said nothing else, then they had breakfast and went to the game site together. After arriving there Jake greeted the coach and all his teammates and began to warm up, the two teams had already arrived even though it was still a long time before the game started. When it was not enough time for the final to begin Jake called all his teammates to give a word before the game began. "I do not know what all the reasons were for you to bring your families to Miami and go to Elite school, but one thing I know, all of you who are here love basketball and want to be the national champions as much as I am." "Do not treat this as the journey of this season, for all of us here the path we went through until this final did not start this season, but throughout all our 3 years of Middle School." "I do not know if any of you intend to be a professional player in the future, but I want you to remember that if we win that game in 1992, we''ll be the best basketball players in the world of our age." "It will be a glory that can be remembered throughout our lives, so let''s give our best in every minute of this game, I will not keep anything and play my best and I hope the same of each of you, we will win." After Jake finished speaking they were all very excited and the morale got to the maximum they could, they had the confidence that their team was the best and they trusted their champion who was the best player and today would do their best then it was just to play and win. After making the speech and everyone vow to finish warming up, Jake called David to the corner once more. "David, I''m counting on you in this game, I know you''re good, even if you can not do a lot in defense, pay in the attack, and use all the energy you have to make better plays and do not get lost in that game." "You can trust me, in this game I''m going to give my best, I want to be the best in the world after that game too." So Jake was pleased he was not lying when he said that if they could win today they would be the best in the world in their age range, so Jake the United States was the place with the best basketball players in the world, so the best were the best in the world. Everyone in the stands were cheering and very excited for this particular game, many reporters had also come to make the coverage of the final if the players could make dunks also this game could even be broadcast on television. Nobody else thought that the Elite team did not deserve to be in the final and much of the stand even praised them, it was cool to see a dark horse come to the final, it was a team nobody knew and so nobody even the Miami media expected them could reach so far. Who was happier in the stands beside Clara and Tiffany was Eric, just for having come to this game without mentioning that he expected the Elite team to win this game the matter was already guaranteed and so he had won a lot with his bet to follow the team since the first game of the regional. It was a matter that would be seen across the country now after it was published, Eric was now more than convinced that following Jake was the right decision he made, after that matter, his position as a journalist would be more consolidated, and in some years he felt he could again cover Jake''s games. Then when the game was about to begin Jake went to his seat and put on the bandana, the bracelet, the arm protector and the protective equipment on the knee and cinnamon all with the trademark of the companies, the referee just took a look at it and left in peace, now the uniform that had a shirt and blue shorts was with several blank equipments in the arms, legs, and head. Although knowing that they were protective equipment would not be prohibited by the referee he decided to just put everything just before the game, so nobody would have time to say anything, and he was right, probably if he had come to the court that way the referee was asked to take this out before the game. Chapter 96 National Championship 8 Even though the reporters on the bleachers knew it was a kind of propaganda, no one could say anything, Jake was now about six feet tall, so all these things made him stand out and have his own style, not bad because he was the captain and the best player on his team. At that time there were not many players who did something like Jake and used it with their own style, so it was quite original for a youngster to do it, not to mention that everything was something that could improve his performance on the court, so everything accepted very well. Tiffany and Clara who were seeing this should be the people who were happier about it, even though they both had this idea they would never ask Jake to do it, which is why they both chose him as the face of the company even though he was so young. Jake did not need an advertising team to figure out the best time to make good publicity, even the idea of ??putting the equipment in just a few moments before the game started was a hard thing to think about. The opponent of the final that the Elite team would face was the Foxes team, it was the team that had beaten Carter''s team last year as well and so was the third time they were in the final, even so, all Elite team even Carter who knew who the opponent was, thought they would win. The highlights of the team were practically the whole team, PG Jack was a complete player for his age and would be an example of a perfect PG if Jake did not show up and raise both the level, he knew to do everything Jake knew, but some levels further down, he still helped lead the Foxes to the final. The center of the Foxes team was called Max, Max was also very skillful and well in getting rebounds too, was the player that had the highest rebounding average, but the reason was that the Elite team made little mistakes and everyone was good at catching rebounds too, so he did not have many opportunities. The SG that was called Sam was also very good, this in the media view was better than David, and if it was not better at least it was of the same level of skill. The team SF was Bryan and was also another player that the reporters thought was better than Harrison both in defense and in the attack, the team PF was weaker than Carter so it was not a highlight. So this had everything to be a difficult game if Jake had not said that he would give his best, now although this is a tight game the Elite team should win. The media highlight for this game was that 5 players in this final were good at 3-point shots, Jake and David on the side of the Elite team and Jack, Sam and Bryan for the Foxes team, so this promised to be a game full of points. So the game started with the ball going into Elite''s possession, then Mark passed the ball to Jake to organize the first attack of the final, Jake left for the attack and the whole team went along. The Foxes team did all the research before the game and knew that the Elite team was fast, so scoring in the middle of the court was not the smart option, so they waited to score in the 3-point line. Jake, who had to make the attack, had to consider a lot more at the time of giving the passes after all the opponent was very good in defense, he passed first to David who already received the ball and the opponent approached to put pressure on the defense. David who was calmer thanks to Jake''s warning returned the ball to Jake who soon passed to Harrison, this took the unsuspecting defense and so Harrison went to score the first two points with the layup. This already showed to Jake that the normal passes would not work in this game where the attack might not have the space to make the moves, but that was true for both sides, Jack started the first attack for the Foxes team and soon Jake pressure on the defense, Jack had no ability to dribble and forced the pass to Sam. Sam received the pass and David came to mark, but Sam was able to pass to Bryan who dribbled in Harrison and tied the game. It would be a game played in each attack, Jake did not want a final that he could not control, but this game Jake had seen that the opponents were better in the attack than his teammates, so it would be a difficult game. Jake started another attack and started to make the signs and his teammates quickly changed their positions so the ball was passed to Mark who received with a little freedom and can go up to do the 2 points with the layup. Jack attempted to start the attack on his team, but they were all being better scored and he did not want to risk it, yet as a team fighting to become champion the Foxes team had their strategies to vary the attacks. So Jack, Sam, and Bryan left the area where the Elite team''s defense was the 3-point line and thus began another attack formation before the Elite team''s defense could understand what was happening. then made the shot from outside to score the 3 points. This was another strategy of attack that the Foxes used when the defense was very good, they used their players who knew to make the shots of 3 points and so if the defense did not accompany they would make the shot from outside and if the defense accompanied they would take advantage of spaces that would be opened in the defense to make the points of 2. Jake understood what they were trying to do and so decided to continue with the defense well posted after all the shots from outside were much more unstable and so the score would not change much. Jake who started the attack for his team soon reached the 3-point line, but instead of stopping he made a feint and soon passed Jack with a dribble and ran to do the layup and 2 more points for his team. Jack tried a quick attack in response, but it seemed that the Elite team was faster and so he had to try a 3-point shot and missed the shot, it was like Jake said in a final game mainly where his opponents were young and not had stability would have many mistakes in his shots. Jake started another attack and so he started up Jack and made the dribble, Max tried to mark Jake that would go to the 2 points and Jake passed the ball to Mark to do the layup and the 2 points. This game was like Eric said when Jake played a difficult game he preferred to go to the individual plays instead of trusting his teammates, which in the end was right, of course, the different thing was that if they tried to make a double game Jake could rely on his free companion. This was a team game that highlighted Jake''s individual talent, but that did not mean he was doing it all in the game alone, so it was an open game. At the end of the first period the Elite team was ahead by 3 points, one advantage of a basket and despite being like every game the Elite team was not calm, they were in front of the scoreboard only because the opponent missed, but the defense did not it was working so it was a matter of luck. Max and the opposing PF did not receive a pass I the whole first period and all attacks were 3 points, although most were wrong and Mark was there to catch most of the rebounds they were having to rely on the opponent''s error. In the attack they missed less but were counting on Jake''s individual moves, if they played a double game in him he would pass to whoever was free what happened several times if it were not for Jake they would also be stuck for the defense of the opponent. Reporters also thought that the game was now in the hands of the Foxes team if they can hit more shots from outside the victory can be decided by luck. Jake was the only one who did not think so, in the few times that the opponent opened a few points of the advantage he passed the ball to David or he even tried the 3-point shot to take the advantage, it was a difficult game, but still, win if he could count on his teammates. In the second period, David also left to disrupt the adversary with Jake in the shots of outside, thus the adversary still could not invade the defense. Jake also continued with his individual attack style, the defense was helpless because they could not stop Jake, so they still tried to stop him from arriving to do the layup and so others were free to make the points. The Foxes team''s defense felt it was easier for Jake''s teammates to err even if they were free than Jake in the layup, and the game showed that they were right, pressure from the final was making the Elite team nervous and wandering more. Chapter 97 National Championship 9 Jake and Coach Mike knew that too, but this was normal in an end game and it was better to support their teammates so that they gained confidence and calm down to stop passing the ball and make the points alone that would facilitate the defense work. The Foxes team was also suffering from the pressure and so missed more shots from outside, the difference was that when they hit they made more points which diminished the pressure of errors, the defense was just having to watch the game. The game continued in the same way, but when the game ended the Foxes team were 1 point ahead, it was the first time the Elite team was behind the scoreboard, Jake was also helpless because it was not a problem with the defense and yes the attack missed more. Jake began to force more in the attack and the defense of the Foxes who were feeling the pressure when Jake attacked it would only stop after doing the layup and even the double game did not stop him anymore, this the first time that Jake was using all the force your stats to dominate the game. It was because the opponents were strong and so he knew he would not hurt anyone, so with fewer mistakes, the Elite team finished the third period ahead by 2 points, so before the fourth period everyone was very tired by the intense pace of the game and even Jake was feeling tired. It was normal, Jake so far had made almost 46 points that were more than half that the entire team did in the game, as the reporters predicted this was a game in which the attacks dominated and so the score was already approaching 100 points. Jake soon ate his Stamina Bar and so completely regained his energy, yet he realized that despite being tired the Foxes'' hit rate on shots from outside was increasing with confidence. On the side of the Elite team, the players were getting more and more nervous and Jake could not calm them anymore, even the coach was helpless, the incredible thing was that David was well and helping Jake more. If the team was playing as always they would already have a good advantage, it seemed that if they could not defend their confidence well they would also fall. Unlike the players on the court, all the fans and reporters were very excited about a tight and disputed game as this Clara and Tiffany moved to sit next to Eva and calm her that was nervous with the progress of the game. Joseph and his father Oliver who also understood the game realized that the Elite team was very nervous and was depending on Jake to move ahead, it was a difficult game and Jake seemed to be starting to get tired too. The reporters were arguing that if the Elite team beat Jake would surely win the MVP award when Eva heard it, she calmed down and felt proud too. If the reporters were commenting this was because it would probably happen, Clara was also happy about it and thought that later she should thank Matthew for introducing Jake to her, just what he had already done for her company was already worth the contract to university. Anna, who was watching the game on her own, also found Eva and went to sit next to her, although she was cheering for Jake, Anna did not understand anything about the game and so she only hoped when Jake, who was dressed differently from everyone, picked up the ball, which happened to be the same as everyone in the bleachers. The Foxes team coach was cheering on his players who were already thrilled with the game that was close to the final as their school went to the final every year they would not be as nervous as their opponents and even brightened up by their nervousness. The coach was telling everyone that Jake must have been exhausted so he could not play in that last period the way he did until now, everyone on the Foxes team was starting to get angry with Jake. It was impossible for a person to run all over the court and still attack almost alone for 3 periods without getting tired, but Jake did not seem to mind and never slowed down, if it was not for Jake they would already have a great advantage in the game but now it was the time they waited. The last period is always what everyone spends more energy, so in addition to Jake, they hoped that the opponents also tired and so the victory would be theirs. The fourth period soon began and the Foxes team soon advanced to the attack and Jack passed the ball to Bryan who risked the shot from outside and managed to score the 3 points putting his team in front of the score again. Jake got the ball and started another attack, the opponents were anxious to see the moment he would be completely tired because at that point the trophy would be theirs, Jake went up to the 3-point line and passed the ball to Mark who with space turned and did the layup to score another 2 points. That was what irritated the players of the Foxes team, Jake was a good PG without a shadow of a doubt when he received the attention of all the defense and finds an opportunity he always passes the ball on time. With all the weary and nervous players Jake now only passed the ball to David and Mark who were now the 2 best players on the team, Mark even being nervous did not err so close to the basket. In addition to Jake, the calmer was Carter, but as the defense only had to watch the opponents give the shots out he just picked up the rebounds, it was impossible for Jake to pass the ball to Carter who was not good at attacking in an important game like this. And the game continued to play point by point so at the beginning of the fourth period the opponents felt that Jake had rested a bit and was giving his last attacks before getting tired, but after half of the fourth period, they found that they were wrong and that the resistance had no end. The reporters were also impressed by this, it was not normal for a player of the age of Jake to have all this volume of the game without tiring, so the game continued a stalemate until the inevitable happened. Who was getting tired now was David, Mark, and Harrison who were not holding up the pressure of the final and the high pace of play, so Jake who was now alone in the attack was easier to score and the advantage of the Foxes team was increasing. Jake was also starting to get anxious because he was watching the national championship trophy slipping away from his hands, even with his skill and stamina Jake could not get past 3 in the defense and then do the layup and score the points in the attacks. So close to 1 minute to finish the final game Jake''s team was losing by 8 points, Jack, Sam and Bryan were exhausted too, but this was there close to winning time so they were still hitting the shots from outside. Jake still had hope though he was losing the game, close to 1 minute to end the game Bryan missed the 3-point shot and Carter who still had power passed the ball to Jake who had not come back to score, Jake received the ball and ran to the court of attack. As Jake was getting all his energy back from eating a Stamina Bar before the fourth period started it was impossible for the slower and more tired opponents to follow him in a race. But since there was only 1 minute left and they still had 8 points in front they did not care much, Jake also knew this and so stopped running in the 3-point line and gave a 3-point shot instead of running to the layup and the 2 points. It was riskier like that, but with the game near the end Jake had to risk to win, and his shot from outside came in and so Jake could take 3 points off the Foxes'' advantage by dropping to 5 points. The crowd rocked with this move and everyone was already cheering for Jake and the Elite team, but the Foxes players did not mind the attack. Jack started another attack and only moved forward, they just had to spend the time of this attack and hit their attack by doing the 3 points, so the game will be over, Jake was marking Jack. Jack spent time and did not want to risk facing Jake and Sam was marked by David, just as throughout the game he decided to choose Bryan who was marked by Harrison who besides being the worst in defense of the Elite team was also exhausted at that point about the game. So when the time of possession of the ball was at the end he passed quickly to Bryan, but Jake who was also attentive to the play that could set the final also knew that Jack would choose Bryan who was the safest choice and stepped forward at the time of the pass. With his reflexes, Jake can intercept Jack''s pass to Bryan and then ran to the court of attack to avoid losing a second of time. Jack was shocked, this was the first turnover he had all season, and this stolen Jake ball occurred in the last seconds of the last period of the national championship final. Chapter 98 National Championship 10 Jake that ran like never before did not receive the mark of the opposing team that was in shock by this stolen of his ball, so he as before stopped in the line of 3 points and made the shot of the outside again to score 3 more points and to diminish the advantage to 2 points. The grandstand that watched the game was crazy, this final that seemed to be already defined was now an attack to define the champion when Jake''s ball entered the basket Foxes team players woke up from their states of shock and everyone looked at the time. It was 35 seconds to finish the game if the Foxes team made the points the game would end this time the Elite team opened the defense and everyone was preparing to score who was with the ball. This time even the Foxes team were nervous, to make sure they did not lose they left Max back, so if Jake somehow stole the ball for the last attack it was Max''s mission to stop him. Jack had his confidence shaken by this last move, but it was still he who commanded the attack, Jake was not marking him closely as if he were challenging him to shoot himself if Jack had the guts. Even though Jack did not lose his temper anymore he was still forced to hear several people from the grandstand calling by the name of Jake in the crowd, Jack again spent the time because it was the only thing they could do. When the time of possession was over, the Foxes team were scared to risk the shot from outside and took advantage of the open defense of the Elite team, Jack gave the pass to Sam that had left David behind in the mark, this was missing 8 seconds to end the game. When Sam would do the layup to score the 2 points and ensure the victory, Carter appeared and did not try to make the block and was soon doing the fault to prevent Sam from making the 2 points. So Sam had to hit the 2 Free Throw attempts to win the game, he hit the first one that left all of the Foxes team happy and the Elite team nervous, Jake was waiting in the middle of the court and Max was still on the defense court. Maybe the pressure was too great Sam missed the second attempt, Mark took the rebound and gave a long pass to Jake who was waiting in the middle of the court, 6 seconds left to finish the game and the Foxes team were 3 points ahead. Jake got the ball and ran to the attacking block, Max was waiting for this and got ready, Bryan who had come back tried to push Jake to make the foul and win the game but Jake held him off with his strength and did not fall. So the referee let the game continue, missing 4 seconds Jake reached the 3-point line a bit far from the line and further away from Max if Jake hit the shot from outside the Elite team would tie and so the game would go to overtime. If it was for overtime the Elite team would probably win because Jake who made the points was full of energy and everyone on the Foxes team was exhausted, so Max did not want to risk it and so he tried to hit Jake''s arm after he had jumped to do miss and prevent the 3 points. But even with Max hitting Jake''s arm after the shot from outside was executed the ball still went and Jake hit the 3 points drawing the game in the final, had 1 second on the clock still and beyond the 3 points, the referee scored the foul for the Elite team made by Max. Seeing that everyone in the crowd was crazed with this unexpected end of the game, Jake in the last minute of the game hit 3 shots from outside making 9 points to recover from the 9-point advantage that seemed guaranteed the advantage for the Foxes team. Carter risked a foul to stop Sam''s attack at the end and it worked well since Sam missed one of two attempts but Max, who tried to do the same, could not stop Jake from making the 3 points and drawing as he also gave the chance of victory to the Elite team. Those who understood basketball were impressed by the physical form of Jake that only got that chance to run and to force 2 times more than the other players and still have the persistence to hit that shot from the outside even having suffered two attempts of lack. Not many players would be able to continue running after being shoved, so now Jake had the chance to lead the team to victory. So Jake received the ball and waited for the referee''s authorization to make his Free Throw attempt and lead his team to victory, Jake received the authorization and so calmed down with his strongest ability that was always SS gave confidence to Jake who made the shot and hit the post on the scoreboard. When Jake hit the Free Throw and so made the point, his team went ahead and the clock that was less than 1 second cleared, so the Elite team was this year''s national championship. Elite team players started shouting and celebrating and Jake even knelt on the court after hitting his last shot, everyone was crying from the two teams, the Elite team cried with joy and relief and celebrated the victory so disputed. The Foxes team wept with sadness, the trophy were in the hands of their team, just a little effort and they would win, with 8 points ahead with 1 minute to finish the final they relaxed and paid the price. Jack, Max, and Sam who made mistakes in the last minute mainly and Bryan also felt guilty for missing this game. On the side of the Elite team, although they were celebrating and happy now, the players knew that because of them they had almost lost this final if they had played normally with the perfect performance of Jake the victory would leave naturally, but the pressure affected the performance of the players. The best performers were Mark and Carter who despite not having much attention in the game did not make mistakes and in the end, helped in the defense and rebound for Jake to win. So after Jake got off the ground and stopped crying his teammates lifted Jake and threw him up in celebration a few times, everyone knew that without his captain they would not have won. After being put on the ground and having celebrated with his teammates, as the organization of the championship would still take time to arrange delivery of the trophy, Jake ran to where his mother was and celebrate with her. Eva was also crying along with the players, she knew how much Jake wanted to win this game and she overheard the reporters saying from the second period of the game that Jake''s team would lose. As a mother she was distressed and did not want to see her son crying again for being defeated and it was her last chance to win this championship at Middle School, and what made her sadder was to hear that her son was playing well, but the rest of the team did not. It was like listening to what happened last year again when Jake played well and carried the team on his own and the others were not doing their part, and Jake had said several times that this year was different than they had a team. The only thing that made her calm down and continues to cheer was that all the fans were cheering and saying the name of her son too, Anna, Clara, and Tiffany were also distressed and happy for the fans to give recognition. So she can only relax when in the end her son managed to seek victory, now crying she hugged Jake, Anna, Clara, and Tiffany also embraced the two was an exciting moment after an exciting game. Eric was on the side just taking the best pictures and filming everything, he had already been able to interview the other players while the other reporters only went after Jake to get nothing, all Elite players said they were happy, they made a dream and that this victory was thanks to his captain. So Eric was very happy with the end of his long story, but he thought it would be worth it, it was hard for an entire team full of talented players to praise a player with the same words and in separate interviews. Jake''s team-mates last year found the game exciting and saw that even at his new school Jake was still leading his team to victory, they were very happy that Jake had managed to be the champion, he deserved it. Joseph and Oliver also thought for a long time in this game that Jake could not win after getting behind the score were excited and Oliver who was older felt that Jake really could be an NBA star in the future if he had a few more games like that. After celebrating with his mother his friends Jake answered some questions to the reporters who left him satisfied, then Jake reunited his players who were with their families and took them to greet the Foxes team players who made a great and clean game, and at the end of that game, they deserved all the respect. Chapter 99 End of a Time 1 After greeting their opponents began the celebration, first the Foxes team received the silver medal and were much applauded by the cheer, then all Elite team players received their gold medal and Jake can finally get the long-awaited trophy. Three years of fighting and a lot of training for Jake and his teammates, they even changed schools and went to another environment to finally be a national champion. Jake later as everyone expected received the MVP award of the season, after this end, there would hardly be complaints from Jake receiving the MVP award and thus also ended his claims to have received this award in the regional and state championship. Everyone has grown accustomed to Jake with all those sports gear and accessories with bandana, bandage, arm and body armor, and everyone wanted to take a picture of him to put on the paper. After all the proceedings were over Jake thanked everyone who came to watch this game and prepared to leave with his mother. Eric, who waited all the time Jake was alone, finally approached and congratulated Jake for the win and wanted to do an interview. "Congratulations Jake, a beautifully played game that despite having been more difficult for his team really makes the trophy more valued thus, and congratulations also for being chosen as the deserved MVP." "Thank you, it was really a game played, but I''m very happy that we came out winners." "Your team did not show the same good performance they had in other games, if they had played better and were less nervous you think the result of the game would be calmer?" "Today was the final, all the players in my team had a lot of pressure in this game, they left their schools and came to the Elite school to have an opportunity to win the national championship." "In addition, they are all 13-year-olds and so in this game, they could not perform better, but I''m sure they all learned and matured a lot." "But the Foxes team players and yourself are young too and have performed well in that game." "The Foxes team players play on a team that has a greater experience in playing national championship finals, moreover, I''m sure even then they had a little nervousness and that affected their performance." "I am the captain of my team, but I have had this position because I have a leadership position in the team and my mind is much more stable, so expected of me in this game by the coach and my team-mates who gave me that position was for me to stay calm." "In addition, I do not think that just the nervousness was the cause of my team''s poor performance, also had the great strategy of offensive opponents who made a tactic that our team was not prepared to respond to the height and so our defense was lost in this game." Jake as always said everything he thought about the game, he really thought this and the strategy of the Foxes team was a risky yes, but served to leave the Elite team players insecure and thus destabilize the mentality of the players. If it had not been for the Elite team''s attack, in the case of that Jake game the winner would have been another, and with Jake''s team playing style that was really the best countermeasure. "Would you like to thank someone special for this victory?" "I would like to thank my teammates who did a good job and without them we could not even have reached the final, I would also like to thank my mother who supported me at all times and without her I would not be here, and I would also like to thank Clara and Tiffany and their Sports 100 and Natural Sports companies who sponsored me and allowed me to focus on the court." "Okay, let''s take another picture of you with your mother as always and I as well as the other reporters we expect to see you in the league next year, but at high school this time." So Jake and Eva took another picture together and then said goodbye to Anna and the others and headed home, Jake was exhausted after the game. Although the Stamina Bar retrieves all of Jake''s energy does not restore the tension in the muscles which is obvious otherwise there would be no sense to use after training, but if it were not for the help of the system that protects Jake''s body from injuries he could not take all this burden. Despite being exhausted Jake was very satisfied with everything that had happened today and in these last years, although some problems happened, it was still important that Jake got what he wanted to conquer. But today was an important game and that he almost lost, could see that his luck could not help in all things, he would never expect that despite this year had a good team, that all were so poor in this important game. As he told Eric he understood what happened and he was sure that after this game everyone would grow up with this experience and they would not make another mistake like that, but he just let it go because he had won even though he knew that if he lost he would be resentful of his colleagues for a long time. When the game ended and Jake knew he had won the game he heard something from the system, but at that moment he could not answer otherwise it would seem that he had gone crazy talking to himself. "Fate, what happened to you calling me after the game?" [This was a game that could be easy for you and your team, but it turned out to be an important test and a difficult game for you, missing only 1 minute to finish the game with the opponent 8 points in front of the scoreboard, you were in a situation of defeat.] [But if you want to become a professional basketball player and more than anything in a star, you could not give up just by being at a disadvantage in a game, so by not giving up you piqued more of your potential in the last moments to bring victory for your team.] [So you have unlocked a new achievement that has to be done in 5 steps, with that victory you took the first step.] [[Win a game that seemed lost using all your skills and reversing the impossible.]] [[1 point increased for all your stats, improving all abilities below rank A in one level.]] Jake was surprised because he did not expect to be able to increase his stats before the NBA, but he understood that what he can achieve in today''s game in the vision system was the beginning of what was needed to be a star. "So show me my statistics window now Fate" [Here it is] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 13 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: High School Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 1.68 m] [Weight: 65 Kg] [Force 21] [Agility 22] [Resistance 23] [Intelligence 54] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling A] [Body Control A] [Man to Man B] [Dribble A] [Layup A] [Set Shot SS] [Block B] [Pass S] [Rebound A] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] [Steal A] --------------------------------- So his strength finally returned to what it was in his past life, with this Jake finally felt that he was really starting to improve, and with his current skills he was confident in facing a high school player with his pass and a shot of 2 and 3 he could have a seat on the main team. So everything that was worrying Jake in these last months were solved after the end of today, were still more than 6 months to start high school until Jake could improve and until his height that was the main problems to play in high school too would increase. The other day when Eva saw Jake coming down to breakfast she felt that something big had changed in her son from last night to now, but guessing it had something to do with the national championship victory she stopped worrying about. It was good to see that her son had become more confident, for her Jake would always be a child, but Eva knew that Jake had great responsibilities since last year, now the clubbing was no longer a joke, but it was a career in which Jake began to walk and could not give up on the way. So a few weeks have passed since the Elite team went to the national championship, even though Jake had been very prominent and was even highly praised by the media in general for a future star, at school it was not quite like that. This year as the Elite school attempted to excel in all sports, although failed in some they still had won the national championship in several major sports, it is clear that since it was a private school linked in high school, the championships won by the team high school team overshadowed the results of the Middle School team. So few people at school this time cared for Jake and who attracted the most attention was the older basketball team. Jake, of course, did not care much about this, he had won the national championship first by himself as a personal wish, then by the companies of Clara and Tiffany and thirdly to fulfill his contract with the school, in no time he did this to receive compliments. Chapter 100 End of a Time 2 In the classroom the situation was even worse, besides Joseph, all Jake''s classmates avoided talking to him not to get on the bad side of the teachers, everyone in the room knew that Jake was a little chased. What was good is that the Elite school was a private school, so the teachers had to be fair in applying and correcting the tests, otherwise Jake would hardly be still the one with the best grades. Jake as usual in his house received the newspaper and an order with a poster of the photos made in Eric''s final, Eric''s report was so complete about the Elite team that was the national champion and about Jake that was the MVP too, which was sold in several states of the country and not just in Miami. And with Clara and Tiffany shelling out a little compensation the cover photo of Jake was full of announcements from both companies, this has helped to further improve sales across the country and further consolidate the name brands in Miami that newspaper readers have they remembered Jake. After all, a young man who achieved several achievements to the city in two years is hardly remembered, this left the Elite school president very satisfied and happy to have hired Jake for his team, he received the information that Jake had been the main responsible for the victory at the final. In fact out of respect for the school that Jake did not take off his uniform at the time of the photo to increase the advertising of the companies of Clara and Tiffany, how the school paid for him to be there Jake also considered them a sponsor. Now Jake''s last concern before finishing Middle School was that this year he would have a special birthday party for his mother. Eva was someone who was a bit depressed before and did not have many friends, so every year she asked Jake to make a simple commemoration with just the two of them in the family. Jake also thought it was cool since by the time it''s your mother''s birthday you can not have a party in another country like him since it''s right in the middle of class. But this year was different, Eva now had a few acquaintances from cooking class and was close friends with Clara, Tiffany, and Anna, so Jake would not give up having a party this year, besides, Jake wanted to give a gift a car to his mother this year. In this last year Jake always came receiving the money of the sponsorship of the companies and also of the school, and already gave to gather close to 400,000 dollars, Jake had some plans for this money and as he did not know what his mother still wanted him to buy a car that is not so expensive and that it can not deny since it is useful to them. Although it did not happen in this life Jake remembered trying to give a beautiful watch to his mother in his past life, it cost close to ten thousand dollars and Jake had joined with great difficulty and then Eva refused the gift and forced Jake to return. So he always had to think of something his mother would like and she would not return, but Jake would use this gift to get a clue to what she wanted. Jake knew Eva had long had some kind of dream, but her mother was someone who died of depression in her past life hiding her suffering with a smile on her face, so he knew that Eva could not find out. But even if Jake knew his mother very well it was difficult for him to imagine that Eva''s dream was to have a restaurant, the reason for this was that he thought his mother hated restaurants for working until she died of stress in one. It was only a matter of time before Jake found out, he asked Anna to do whatever he asked her to treat him as his grandson, to discover Eva''s desire, and Jake thought it was only a matter of time before Anna found out. Jake decided to make this surprise party at Anna''s house so her mother did not suspect anything, Jake even with the help of Anna made all the sweet and savory feasts, and still makes the cake herself, Anna was always impressed with the skills of Jake in the kitchen. Some things he knew better than herself that he had worked many years as a professional, Jake also invited and confirmed the presence of everyone, with Jake knew his hand he invited only his female friends because he knew that Eva was uncomfortable around other men. So in Eva''s birthday, Jake woke up early as he always did and had a hearty breakfast, when Eva woke up and saw the breakfast remembered that it was her birthday. "Happy birthday mom" "Thank you, son, with so much going on I had even forgotten that the day had come." "You may even forget, but I will not, after breakfast I''ll take you to a cool place." "Do not need Jake, you know full well that I like the simple things." "I know, it''s going to be pretty simple, it''s just to remember that day." So they ate breakfast and then they packed up and left, Jake called a taxi and gave an address, Eva was a little suspicious about what was this surprise of after a while they stopped in a very beautiful studio. Seeing it was a studio Eva was really surprised, nothing came in her mind of surprise related to a photography studio. "What did we come here to do, Jake?" "I said, we came to make some memories, as you do not like parties very much I thought it would be nice to take some photos just the two of us and so save that special day." Eva really liked this idea and this gift was something simple and also quite special, in fact, Jake had thought to do this for a long time, soon he would be more like an adult than with a child. Despite having several pictures of trips together and also of basketball competitions, they did not have many pictures with only Jake and his mother, and he remembered that this was one of the things Eva said that he regretted not having done for Jake in his other life. Besides, Jake knew his mother was smart and knew him well, so she should already be suspicious that Jake was doing something for her birthday, so he decided to do it first before the party. This was a photo studio that took pictures of various outfits from various backgrounds that included historical scenery or just landscapes, it became very famous after a few years, but now it was still easy for Jake to schedule a few hours. So they spent all day taking several pictures with different scenery and clothes, Jake felt it was worth it when he saw his mother smiling at the thought of what clothes to choose and which scenarios to choose. After spending a few hours taking the photos they decided to end the section of photos, after a few weeks the studio would make a beautiful album and send them home. Since Jake had expected Eva to like it enough and the photo section was slow, he marked Eva''s party to start the afternoon, so he looked at the clock and saw that everyone should have arrived by now. "Mom, are we going to stop by Anna''s house before the day is over?" "Of course my son, that''s a good idea." At that hour Eva could not imagine that Jake was still planning to have a party for her after all the day had already been very special today. So when they arrived at Anna''s house Jake stayed a little behind and Eva opened the door. " "" Surprise. "" "" When she saw several of her friends were in beautiful dresses and behind her friends had a large table with cake and several other things, hanging on top had a banner saying ''Happy Birthday Eva''. So Jake had successfully managed to make a surprise party for his mother, there was no way Eva was going to be angry seeing Jake had all this work and even had a little party just by calling the people closest to her. It was a happy day and Eva had fun chatting with her friends, they all liked to hear the surprise that Jake had made for her before they came to the party, even Anna who did not know was surprised, she thought he would take Eva to a restaurant or something simpler just to pass the time. But for Anna, just what Jake did before the party was enough for Eva to have an unforgettable birthday before the party, and although everyone was talking about him, Jake was outside Anna''s house. Although he had a good relationship with all the people who had come today was Eva''s day, not Jake''s, so Jake just kept congratulating himself and then pacing to let his mother and the others have their conversations. As everyone in the house knew how Jake was no one cared about this, but only Anna knew that Jake was not just walking around and was also organizing the last gift of the day for Eva. So after everyone had celebrated enough, even Tiffany and Clara who were quite busy had managed to relax enough it was time to end the party. As soon as they opened the door the truck had arrived with the last present, it was a car that Jake had bought from Eva and that already had the document in her name, it was easy to do this with the help of a lawyer like Oliver. Chapter 101 End of a Time 3 As Jake thought when Eva saw that Jake had bought a gift a car, she was thinking about how to get Jake back. But in this situation in front of several people and after such a special day Eva does not dare to do this, in addition, they really needed a good car to be able to go to places farther away without having to be stuck having to choose schedules with public transport. So Eva accepted the last gift from her son, Jake was very happy about it, the party with several people was really the right way to give a gift to your mother. It was harder for Jake with a good son to realize that this was his mother''s way, over the years if Jake made more money he was sure Eva would get used to the presents. After that, the months passed and Jake''s Middle School time was over, Jake had the best grades in the room as usual, but Joseph had more difficulty as the Elite school had a more advanced level and so he was in the top 10 first. Joseph who had the second-best grade in his last school was very bad, then Jake managed to console his friend that although his place in the class had fallen he was learning much more now. Jake had nothing special to do and so he just took the time to go out with his mother and Joseph, he also had more time to train and enjoyed every minute of it. As Jake had already reached a very good level of statistics and his basic basketball skills he had only to continue to strive because now every statistic point and every skill rank that could increase before reaching college was important. Although Jake was very confident that he could be in the NBA in the future without training none of this was possible if he played in high school with his current skills he would have a hard time against the best players, let alone the pros. The companies of Tiffany and Clara also now that they had a great investment and increased their sales and their companies generally had to adapt to the growth, thus they were not thinking about making new advertisements for the time being. Eric also told Jake the other day that he had gained a lot of prestige in the paper, so this year he was chosen to cover the Olympics and then went to cover some NBA games but would again cover Jake''s games someday. So along with the end of Jake Middle School, many people close to him also had great changes in their lives, he was happy because all these changes were good and were progress for the people who were around him. He himself was progressing so much every day, he would soon begin a new phase in his life, he was prepared for these new challenges he would face in high school, and Jake had his friend Joseph to accompany him on his school days and his mother to give support at home. Along with his new stats after the national championship final, Jake felt that he too had met the requirements needed to try to train his new move as well as be able to use more of his pass movement in the games. Although the pass move was something to be used more in the games and be an unpredictable move, in the final it could be a good opportunity to use this to fool the Foxes defense was not possible because his teammates did not perform well. Just as he had thought before, a good move for him to create had to be a dribble move, and the name of this new move he perfected on vacation was . This Ghost move was a movement that Jake would move the ball in a way that the opponent would not know where the ball was for a moment and so Jake would pass through it, Jake had already thought about this move a long time, but it was difficult to get the ball stay out of the opponent''s field of vision and move without committing an irregularity on the court. After all, to get the ball out of the opponent''s field of vision for a moment Jake could not obviously bounce her normally on the court, so it had to be a quick move, and in that move, it would look like a ghost ball to his opponent, so Ghost moves. Also, this was a move that could not be used many times so that the opponent does not get used to it, the system said that the move was good and valid, but Jake did not win the statistics points yet. A few more weeks passed and now it was the last week before high school began, as it was the same school with just the different building Jake did not have to worry about researching the school site. Eva had already taken her uniform and also the books that would be used and also the class schedules, Jake spoke with Joseph who now looked like another person, influenced by Jake, he also began to run and now he was thin and was not the fatter of 3 years ago. As Jake once said if Joseph took off his glasses he would be completely unrecognizable, that was another reason that Oliver and Matthew liked Jake so much, after all, he had been a great influence for Joseph. ... In another home also preparing for the start of the school year was the coach of the high school basketball team who was very pleased since he had won the national high school championship last year. He did it with the best team he could muster by calling on young people from all over the country, what was better was that these youngsters were still 2 years old to graduate last year, that is to say, he had the same champion team only more mature It''s better this year too. I could tell that he had already won the national championship this year too, the school was very pleased with him too, he just came to this school because his wife worked here and he too received a great salary. Also, thanks to him asking some favors for some of his friends, the Elite school did not know that he had had a problem hitting a student before, he himself thought it absurd to be fired since the student he hit was an adult and not a child. But there was nothing he could do now, in this new school however with they were all young, no one dared to disrespect his authority, so he did not think there would be any problem. In front of him were the files of the youngsters who had been the champions in the national championship last year and would now join his team, he had really liked that, especially from Jake who had been the MVP of the national championship as well. These players had no chance to play this year on the main team, but in the future, they could bring another national championship trophy at high school as well. His wife sitting next to him also looked at Jake''s file in her husband''s hand, she was one of the teachers who took Jake''s hat for no great reason, that year Jake would be going to high school and would not be in her class. But she could not bear to see that Jake would go through everything he did without any little punishment, so knowing the personality of her husband she had an idea. "Honey, are these the players that will join your team this year?" "Yes you''re right, these were the youngsters who won the national championship last year, why?" "One of those players was my student and I think he can cause problems for you." "Why was he a bad student? That did not really matter to me, he was the best player on the team at Middle School." "No, he was the best student in my class that was not the problem, the problem was that he was so smart that he did not mind paying attention in class and was reading other books, that was even the reason that several professors complained about him like me." "I understand my love I know how proud you are and all the other teachers are too, but for coaches players like Jake are geniuses." "I know, but the director''s reason for not punishing Jake was that his grades were good and that the basketball team needed him, and as he was the best player on the Middle School team I heard that sometimes he did not hear the coach and in some games he used his position as captain to lead the team by himself." When he heard this the coach heard this he did not like, he knew that although his wife was exaggerating a little because he did not like Jake, something she said should be true, in addition, in the card he had in hand that Jake was really the captain and a leading person. This was something he did not like, no matter how good the players on the court were, one thing everyone had to figure out was that whoever was on the team was him. So he took another look at Jake''s record, he was no longer very pleased to have such a good player on his team, he was more into having players with great potential and training them for a few years. So when these players won they would say that it was all thanks to him, but hearing what happened in the classroom, this Jake did not respect his teachers so much. Chapter 102 A Difficult Beginning 1 "You''re right it can really become a problem, but since he just became MVP in the national middle school championship I cannot leave such a player off the team for no reason at all." The coach''s wife was happy to hear that her husband agreed with her, but then she was saddened to realize he was right, no matter how much she and her husband did not like Jake, it was impossible to leave MVP and champion team captain out of the team without a reason. So the wife and the coach kept looking at Jake''s hand trying to think of something, so after a while, the wife who had the most hatred was the first to get an idea. "Who is the lowest player on your current team?" "I think it''s the PG that''s 1.76 in height, but that PG is already 17 and that''s his last year before graduating." "So here''s the reason you wanted you can put a minimum height limit to play as a team owner since the beginning of the year, I heard that Jake is not even 1.70 m, so you have at least 1 year with he out of the team, in addition, you said that the team that won last year still continues this year." The coach really liked the idea of ??his wife, in fact, the height was undoubtedly a very important factor for the performance of a basketball player, it may not make much difference to the games until Middle School, but after high school does a lot of difference. In fact, after his PG the other minor player of his team is 1.83 in height and this player does not have much chance to become professional if he does not grow a little or play very well in the future, it shows how important he is. So it''s a good excuse to leave Jake in the bank, another thing the coach saw in the report was that Jake could also play in other positions besides PG so he would make Jake never play PG so he would have no more reason to be the captain of the team. The coach thought that if he left Jake for 2 years on the bench with a lot of training he could make him a more obedient player who followed what his coach said, and if they could still be the champions without Jake this year he would not get complaints. The coach''s wife was happy, so if Jake stayed a year or two without playing, it would be enough punishment for her to be satisfied, after all, she was not a lifelong grudge. ... Without knowing that his future in school basketball was compromised Jake was happy and hopeful to start high school, apart from basketball he could meet new people and maybe even make new friends. In his past life, the best phase he had that he was happiest was in high school, this was the time of school and the lives of young people in which everyone is much more open to talk and make new friends and maybe even love relationships. Everyone in high school was young people who were preparing to become adults, so the little fights they had before for children''s reasons disappeared with age, this was more true for well-known private schools such as the Elite school where everyone had as their goal good university. After another week of school, the school day started for all the students. In the morning, Jake had a hearty breakfast made by his mother and then went to school. Jake wore his new uniform and very excited Jake went to the new building that would be where he would study in the next 4 years high school, looking in the corridors Jake could not see any children, but many young people and some could even be mistaken for adults. It was also the first time at school that Jake began to cast a few more glances at young women who looked like women now, though Jake did not feel any trouble finding someone his age as though his mind was over 40 years old his body was a child of 13 years. When a person grows naturally his tastes also change with age, before in school even when he realized that perhaps the girls in his room looked at him with some affection, for Jake were all just children, from now on would not be more like this. After walking for a while Jake got to where his room would be in the first class of the day, Jake who had already received his schedules of all classes and also who would be his teachers that year was very happy, it seemed that none of the teachers who did not like He would teach it to him this year. The new teachers had known for a long time that there was a young man who would not pay much attention in class and would be reading language books and business and business management, the language book Jake had already started reading this year was the Italian language. Although he already knew this and other languages ??that he took the books to learn Jake did not think it was a waste of time, after all, nobody could learn more than there was about something, the biggest proof was English a language that was spoken in his country and that everyone spoke this language throughout his life. Even so, he still studied that language in school from childhood and would continue to study perhaps even in university, and even then he could not say that he knew English completely, it was like that with other languages ??as well, studying 1 year the books of each language he always seized new things. Not to mention that later to make another trip with his mother would be quite fun, in addition, Jake was very pleased with the books of economics, business and business, finance and general investment books that he was reading. If he were to join every year that he studied about it would have been more than 10 years already, which was twice as long as any university, and he would continue to read those books for over 4 years of high school until he got to university. Economics, in general, was something no one could say that he knew too much, but at high school as this was a private school Jake thought he would have many things that would draw his attention to the teachers'' explanations, especially in chemistry, history, and physics that were matters impossible for Jake learned everything before. Even so Jake thought he would continue to hit all the questions in the tests, after all now different from his last life his intelligence statistic was more than 50 now, and as the system said this was a statistic that helped in all things and the school was one of them. Entering his classroom Jake was one of the first to arrive, it was still more than 20 minutes before class started, after a few minutes Joseph also arrived and sat next to Jake, as usual, Jake could see that some girls were looking in direction to both. Even though Jake was impressed by how much Joseph changed after becoming thinner, Joseph was almost as handsome as Jake, Joseph had also changed his glasses into a model that looked better on his thinner face. Joseph had black eyes and his hair was also black color, with the new model glasses he looked quite smart and well with these glasses, Jake was sad because he had no reason to make fun of his friend. "Looks like you''re pretty popular right now huh my friend after you''ve arrived the girls started looking at you and sighing, after that you know how to eat less and do some exercise." "Who are you to talk to, since our last school the girls in our room always kept looking at you, now it''s no different, I do not know how you were not fat with how many chocolates you''ve already won." "That''s because I play basketball, even if I want to get fat I can not do it with so much that I run." "I''m envious of that, if I played basketball I would not have much difficulty getting thin." "I''ve told you this before, whenever you want to run or play basketball you can call me." "I do not want to be embarrassed, we already tried and you do not know how to take it easy on anyone." "But take it easy with you, that does not mean I''ll let you win just because I take it easy with you." "It does not change the subject." "We were talking about girls because you never tried anything even knowing you were popular?" "First because at the time I thought girls were kids like me, so I was not interested in anything, second because even though girls always stare and even give chocolate, I never had the nerve to ask them to start dating themselves." "And third because I was more concerned with basketball than with dating, but now all this is no more if any girl wants it can happen." "I do not believe, I think this is just your excuse, waiting for women to call you to date first is ridiculous." "I do not think so, I like more independent women who are not afraid to express their feelings too, after all, I''m not as conservative as you are." Chapter 103 A Difficult Beginning 2 Jake was being honest with Joseph, although after his accident he had closed the doors of his heart to the novel, Jake came from a time when women sought the same rights as men. So those conventions that were once more commonplace that Joseph thought was right did not exist anymore if women liked someone they would go and take the initiative. Jake found this very cool, perhaps because he was raised by Eve alone, he was someone who recognized the strengths of women in society and supported women to have the same rights as men. Although this was a normal conversation about 2020 in the 1990s was something people were not accustomed to openly talk about. After Jake stopped talking because the class was about to start and he did not want to bring a bad first impression to his teachers, looking around at his classmates, Jake realized he had almost no students he studied at Middle School. That was a good thing, his colleagues tended to ignore him because of the issues with the teachers and he wanted to start over again. So after a while the first teacher came in and started giving the class normally, sometimes asked questions for the students and even for Jake, it was a normal attitude not like it was last year. And all the teachers of the day were like that, Jake still read his books sometimes and paid attention to the teacher when he came up with an issue that he did not know, so there was a good atmosphere in the classroom as he wanted last year. As the teachers already knew how Jake was and also knew that he did not do it to disrupt the class and even had the best grades, the teachers did not care much, and without prejudice, they realized that everything was fine with Jake being so in the room class. So Jake was in a good mood for the school to take the test to join the basketball team, this time he was not the first, but neither was the last one, he greeted his old teammates last year. Everyone seemed to be in pretty good moods and more mature than last year, they were all pretty embarrassed and grateful Jake and Coach Mike never said anything about the fiasco that was their game in the final of the national championship. Jake from last year was keeping a low profile, he knew that this year''s high school basketball team was the same as last season''s champion, and Jake also knew that in addition to his ability to shoot 2 and 3 and in Free Throw he was inferior to the elders. The players who were on the team before also looked at the new players strangely, they knew that this team just as they won the national championship only in Middle School, it was normal that they wanted a chance to play in high school as well. Even though they were not that worried, it was impossible for the coach to put someone from the first year to replace the champions of last year, so that year at least their starting position was theirs. Even knowing that it was impossible for everyone to become friends and just talk as if nothing had happened and they were not playing the same places in the starting team. Jake and his colleagues who entered now for the high school team were really looking at the starters who were last year''s champions with challenging looks, they had a lot of respect but also had a lot of confidence that could be the starters too, after all, they are the best of their age in basketball. After a few minutes a girl appeared, it was someone no one in that block knew, Jake saw this and was curious, if not even the players last year knew this girl means that she was new as well as they, in addition, Jake saw that this girl must be her age or be only 1 year older than him. This girl had some towels in her hand and stood in the middle of the court, after a few minutes the coach entered, all the older players had a look of respect when they looked at him. Jake now knew who was the coach of the high school basketball team that made him so curious before he was called coach Philips and second Jake knew the coach Philips trained for a few years a team that reached the finals of the national basketball championship at university. So Jake had to admit that this trainer was more qualified than the trained Mike to train the high school team, it was that same coach who chose all the players who formed the team that was champion last year, so it was normal that the players more old people respected him. Jake also thought that coach Philips deserved his position and intended to respect him as he did with the others. "Welcome to everyone for the high school basketball team, this is the first team training of the year, the older ones already know me, but for the youngest, I am the Philips coach who will coach this team in the next few years." "I would like to make it clear that who has the command of this team is just me, so I do not want to see any kind of disobedience if someone does not like my rules can leave the team." "I''d like to introduce this girl here by my side, her name is Elizabeth and she''s going to be the general affairs manager for our team, she''s in her first year and has volunteered to help get towels, water, and player maintenance I want everyone to respect her." "Hi guys, I knew this team won the national championship in the past and since I am a basketball fan I decided to help you as much as I can so that you can win again, you can call me Liza as well." "Okay, Liza can go to the side and hope the training will start soon." "Very well people, as last year I was the one who chose the players and it was my first year I took it lightly, but now we are a champion team, so new rules have to be decided." "As everyone knows, the club is a sport where height is very important, so I decided that we will have a minimum height so that a player can be in the starting team, this height will be 1.76 in height, although it is a bit low if it''s someone with good skills like our PG who has that height can play." After that coach Philips continued to say several rules that he had invented to cover what he really wanted, it was clear that Jake and the players of last year''s team were quite upset with this rule that practically took away the chances that some of them could play this year. But as the coach had already said he would not accept complaints they could only accept, in addition, even Jake who was quite sad because he knew that if it was like his past life this year he would hardly grow up and only after turning 15 would through a growth spurt. Jake thought that this would not change, in fact, the system had already helped a lot in its growth, in his past life he was only a little bigger than 1.60 at that age, if it had not been his growth spurt in his 15 years he would never think of playing basketball. So the excitement he felt was gone, Jake knew he could not play this year in the starting lineup and this Philips coach did not seem to like him very much, so Jake knew there would be no exception for him. David and the other teammates last year were still excited despite this rule after all they did not know whether or not they could grow up that year, after the day''s training started normally, Jake was on the reserve team playing against the other reserves, coach Philips seemed to want to separate the team from last year even in training. Even though Jake''s team still won in the end and many endorsed Jake''s skills as well, coach Philips was also eyeing the match and personally saw that Jake was really a great player, it seemed that with a few more months of training he could be at the level of the holders of the champion team last year. Even though coach Philips did not change his mind as he did not need new players this year, it was good to slow down his champions'' mood last year, after training Jake went home. "Mom, I do not think I''ll be able to play in the starting lineup this year." At dinner as he talked about his day with his mother Jake had to talk about it, Jake did not want to lie or hide anything for Eve that would happen day by day, just as playing basketball was like Jake''s job now it was important to talk about that. "But because my son, you play so well and you love basketball so much, I thought it was impossible for you to be out of the team this year." "I also thought that, I must have gotten a bit arrogant after winning the MVP of the national championship, but this year is different from the others, the team that is the starter now is the team that was champion last year now that they are even better and more experienced it is impossible that they are not the holders." Chapter 104 A Difficult Beginning 3 "In addition, the Philips coach who is the coach of the high school team and who was once coach of a good team at a university even made a new rule, in this rule only players who are more than 1.76 tall can play in the team holder." "But that''s wrong, it''s a bias that takes away the opportunity of those who are lower to play, everyone should have the chance to show off their skills regardless of the height." "Despite being biased the coach has a little bit of reason while at that, few geniuses in basketball history could play better than others having a much lower height, actually 1.76 high is already considered small for basketball." "So what are you going to do, son?" "I''m going to keep training to see if anything happens, does not mean I can not play basketball anymore, it''s going to be like this for only a few years, I''m sure that time will not be a problem for me in the future." So Jake finished talking to his mother, there was nothing for him to do anyway, he did not want to change schools again because of basketball even if his contract allowed, moreover after he won the national championship he was no longer so eager to play. Jake really wanted to win the national high school championship as well, but he was still 4 years old for that, when he was in his junior year high school he thought he could win even if he played with a weak team. Even though he was quite sad and disappointed in knowing that he could not play more this year, Jake was really eager to play even knowing that he had no advantage over his abilities, it was good to play a difficult game to increase the skills as was the final. Jake was also thinking that if the situation did not change and he was sure he could not play this year, Jake would have to tell Tiffany and Clara that they were representatives of the companies that sponsored him. Then he lay down on his bed and thought for a long time, since when he was a person who was so easily annoyed with a problem, after everything he spent in his past life he was living a paradise now. So remembering that only came to live until 40 being a positive person Jake calmed down to finally managed to sleep. The other day, Jake went to school one more time, things were different now than they were last year, before he wanted to finish classes quickly so he could go basketball on the court, and now he wanted to stay longer in class and stay sad when he had to go to the court. Even so Jake went to the court every day to train with his colleagues to see if he learned anything by watching the starting team play, but even after several days of training the coach Philips seemed to have no intention of leaving Jake or training a match against the team. After seeing Jake training for several days with nothing happening differently, Liza, who was already quite a friend of the players as she was a good manager, never talked to Jake, even though she could see that he was feeling discouraged. So after the training was over and all the players left, she packed up quickly and then went to the Philips coach''s office. "Hi, Liza, did you finish packing?" "Already a coach." "Thank you as always Liza, I really appreciate what you are doing for this team, if we win this year apart will be what you are doing for the players." "Thank you, coach, I came here because there was something I was curious about after training today and I wanted to ask." "You may ask, sometimes if you see something I have not seen it can help the team." "I wanted to ask about Jake who was the MVP of the National Middle School championship last year, even though I was not in the same room with him I still went to see the game end and saw that it is much better than the other players his team." When coach Philips heard Liza talk about Jake the coach''s expression darkened for a moment, but soon returned to normal. But Liza noticed when the coach changed the expression, it seems that the coach had something against Jake himself. "So you want to ask why even Jake playing so well will not be able to play in the starting lineup?" "No, I understand that it and the other does not have the right time and even though I do not agree much is true that time is very important in the high school games, I just wondered why you do not let he can train to play against the starting lineup to be motivated." "Since you''re going to be on this team for the next four years helping players, I think you deserve to know that, the truth is that what I''m doing is preparing the minds of the players who have just arrived from Middle School to join that team." "You should know that their team was the champion of the National Middle School championship last year, so they are very excited and I''m sure they thought as they were champions could have a guaranteed place in the starting lineup." "Normally they would be right, but this year the team was champion of last year''s high school is still all here, so they would not have a chance to play anyway, and height rule already leaves out much of the team also." "Part of the team that can play next year in the starting team is already playing with the holders to see the difference in the skills and so there is still a lot to train before they can be the starters." "Coaching so they will calm down and see that they are just ordinary players and so it is easier for me to work with them and maintain my authority." Liza who was listening to everything saw that it made a lot of sense what the trained Philips was saying, it was normal for players to obey their coaches and a team that was feeling very good about being champions would have to have time to see that they did not were so special. "Unfortunately the same thing can not be done with Jake, this young man really deserves to be MVP last year, his ability is just a little below the regular players, so if I let him train with the starters he would be more arrogant still." "So I have to train him normally and leave him a bit isolated, after all by the height of them he could not play in that year anyway by rule." "In addition, Jake for being a very good player and always having played in weak teams never learned to obey his coach and I saw in his record that he was always the captain and wanted to command his team in the games." "Before he could do that, but in this team only who is in charge of the games is me, so I will have difficulty this year to make him a normal and obedient player." Liza agreed with what the coach said now as well, she remembered how in the final who controlled the team was Jake and not the coach, she once saw the coach talk to her team and only Jake did everything. So Liza understood that coach Philips was concerned about her authority being taken by a player, and realized that she was thinking too much. Seeing this the Philips coach was happy as he had to deal with Jake who was a different MVP from the other players and leaves him out of the team he realized he had to create a story to convince everyone that he had a reason to leave Jake out of the team. After his team was champion this year even with Jake out of the team no one else would say anything, of course, the coach could have treated Jake who was a different and better-skilled player, but how he wanted Jake to never revolt and enjoy to please his wife who wanted to time Jake off the staff this year. So a few more days went by and soon the day of the first regional championship game would be approaching, Jake still cannot play in training against the starting team and was getting upset about just training. The Philips coach who watched everything realized that Jake was feeling bad about his training that was lighter with Jake, so the coach saw that maybe it was time to do something new to make Jake more obedient to his team. So the coach again set up two reserve teams with Jake''s team from last year''s separate, after the game was midway through the game he moved. "Jake come here." Jake was surprised to have been called by the coach, he had the feeling from the beginning that the coach did not like him and how the coach never spoke to him and treated him differently from the others Jake was sure now. "Yes, coach?" "I''ve been reading the record of your previous games and having seen you train here in these past weeks I''m sure now, Jake I think the position you play is wrong, you should now play as SG and not as PG." "Coach, I have to disagree, I''ve heard several times that I could play better and even make more points like SG, but I think it would be a waste of my skills if I did not play as a PG." Chapter 105 A Difficult Beginning 4 The coach did not like that Jake did not accept his suggestion, usually, the young players listened to the coaches because they wanted to improve and the coaches have more experience, especially Philips who had already trained a college basketball team. Even though deep down the coach agreed it would be a bit of a waste of Jake''s pass and ball control skills for him to be an SG and was suggesting it more so that Jake no longer tried to be a captain it was true that Jake could have more success as SG, after all, it is sometimes better for a player to focus on only one thing and not try to do everything. The other players, especially the older ones who most respected coach Philips, thought Jake was also wrong not to hear the coach. Jake saw this too and was helpless, if it was his past life he could even listen to the coach and change positions, but whoever said that was the best position for him was the system that helped him so many times and certainly knew more about Jake the coach who only saw him play for a few weeks. In addition, a decision on where to play could change Jake''s future in basketball, after all, if he decides to play as SG he would have to play in that position for the next 4 years and the college scouts will also see him playing in that position. But Coach Philips did not understand this and thought Jake was just defying his authority as he thought Jake would do from the start. "I do not care what you think, I''m the coach of this team and now that I said you can only play in that team in SG position." Coach Philips thought it was a good time to show who sent all players using Jake as an example. Jake thought the coach was being irrational and that he was just implicating him, just as the workout was ending he just decided to leave. Seeing that Jake was leaving the players just thought he was being proud and the coach also did not care about leaving Jake, Liza also thought Jake was wrong and remembered what the coach had told her before, so Liza thought Jake too arrogant too. Jake went home and did not care what others thought of him, coming home he told his mother everything that happened and told her she did not accept because this decision without regard to the coach could change her future. Eva agreed with Jake, she knew about everything that happened to Jake on his way to playing basketball, Jake started by training basketball alone first running alone in the square and then in the basement that had an improvised court, and that since the age of 10 without anyone telling him what to do. Even after he started playing for basketball teams at school no one taught Jake anything other than game tactics, and now that Jake had conquered both a coach who had not seen him play for 1 month wanted to do something that could change the future of his son. After going to his room Jake began to think about what to do, he no longer saw many benefits in going to the basketball club after classes just to train even knowing that he could not play in any game this year. In addition, the coach seemed to dislike him and gave weaker training and did not let Jake play against the starting team that would be the only way for Jake to learn anything. And now after all the coach still wanted to decide on what position he could play if Jake could only train as SG in training there more than ever he would be wasting his time training in that team. "Fate, what do you think I should do?" [I think you''re right Jake, that coach does not seem to like you and wants to hurt you when he told you to play in another position I realized he had other reasons and that it was not for your good.] [As you said if you spent several weeks training in another position it would do more harm than good to you, and you never know what that coach can do for you next time.] [So what I suggest you do from now is to stop going to this training since because of this rule you will not be able to play in the starting team this year and that is the only thing that can make you improve your skills.] After the system said exactly what Jake thought he''d been standing there thinking for a while, so he decided he''d stop going for that meaningless training. When he woke up in the morning he said his decision to his mother. "Are you sure about that, son?" "Yes, Mom, I think it''s going to be better for me to stop going now since I can not play anyway, training like that would do more harm than good to me." "But you like to play basketball so much, my son." "Yes mother, I like to play and not to train, if it is to train I can do better at home." "Do not you want me to go to your school and talk to your coach or the principal about this?" "I do not think it''s a good idea, the coach will not change his mind and he''s the one who commands the team, even though I do not like that he has the right to do what he wants on the team, especially now that he has won the championship last year and can win again this year." After talking to his mother Jake decided that he should also tell Tiffany and Clara since he had made his decision. After telling Clara that she was close to Tiffany, Jake waited for her answer. "It''s all right Jake, I think you''re right in this situation and should even stop training for no reason, you''ve done a lot for my company and Tiffany''s too, and we''re solving some problems that will be in business administration after the business has improved." "So for at least two years our companies do not intend to do any new advertising, after that I think your coach will realize that it is wrong and call you to play again, otherwise we can tell you to win another street tournament that would also be a great advertisement, so do not worry." Jake felt very grateful for the trust of Tiffany and Clara, even if their companies did not need any advertisement they could cancel the contract until Jake returned, but they did not do it because they knew he and his mother needed the money. Then when classes were over Jake called his friend Joseph to tell him the bad news too. "I knew something like this could happen when you told me about the rule that coach invented you are not someone who likes to go just to train." "As expected from my friend, you know me well." "If you want, can I ask Dad to come to school and put pressure on the principal?" "No need, as I told my mother I think even if he is wrong it''s his right as a coach to do whatever he wants." "Okay then, if you need anything, just talk to me." And so after that Jake went straight home, as he had not signed anything or was formally in the basketball club and no one there was counting on him, Jake did not think he needed to warn him that he would stop going to practice. Also, even if he did not think it would happen, Jake did not want any last year''s teammate to feel obligated to leave the team just because he left, after all, Jake intended to come back after it was time to join the team. And he did this for several days even after he spent the day of the first regional championship game, the first few days were strange to Jake who was accustomed to go coaching, but then he even forgot about the basketball team. But what Jake did not know is that a strange atmosphere stayed in the training of the basketball team after he left. The players who played with Jake at Middle School who also had no chance to play on the starting lineup because of the height began to get angry at the coach and just listened because they were obligated, especially David and Mark who were closest to Jake in the team. If David and Mark knew that Jake would leave the team they would have gone out together as Jake had hoped, but now they missed the opportunities and just did without any motivation what the coach was saying. Liza was the one who was most annoyed by this, she no longer liked Jake after hearing what the coach said and was even more irritated after seeing Jake not listening to the coach''s advice and challenging him in the middle of the court. But after Jake left in the middle of the conversation she waited the other day for Jake to arrive so she could talk to him even if she did not want to, after all, it was her job to try to help the players out of the games. When Jake did not show up, she just as everyone on the team thought he had been angry with the coach and did not want to show up, but after several days she and the other players realized that Jake really had left the team. Chapter 106 The Second Job 1 Liza did not expect Jake to actually leave the team and even more so without speaking to anyone, even though he did not need to tell anyone was at least educated to have appeared, she was angry too that Jake had left Jake''s teammates in the year past began to get irritated with the coach. So after the first regional championship game was over Liza decided she needed to talk to Jake at least once to understand what happened. Philips also did not expect Jake to be so radical and actually leave the team after what he said, as he said that Jake would not play in any position on his team without being SG he pretty much said that if Jake did not follow what he said would not play in his team. So he hoped that after some time without playing Jake would change his mind and would start doing what he said coach Philips never expected that a player who was MVP of the national championship at Middle School would rather leave the team to obey. Who was really happy about it was his wife and her friends who got what they wanted and found that Jake finally got his punishment. But as he still had a team to train he stopped caring for Jake and focused on his team that would be going to win again the national championship. Jake was leaving after another day of class when he saw Liza coming towards him, he stopped to wait for her to come with a smile on his face, but realized that Liza did not seem to be very happy and was even a little angry. "Hi, Liza, we did not get a chance to talk to each other during practice, I did not think I would talk to you after I stopped training." "So you really stopped training, as you did not show up for the workouts during those weeks we even thought you might have stopped, but you could at least have warned someone you would not train anymore." "I did not think it was necessary, I had no obligation on the basketball team and I also had no friends to warn, I did not think the coach or the team would need me and did not want to cause a mess warning my old teammates, some of them might end up leaving the team too if they knew I''d leave." Listening to Jake saying something she did not expect Liza calmed down a bit, she had been annoyed that Jake had left the team and not warned anyone, but stopping to think he had really no one to warn. And now Jake''s old teammates were upset with coach Philips, but if Jake had told them he would leave the Liza team they knew some of them would have dated Jake. "But why did you leave the team? I thought you liked to play basketball, you have a lot of talent and even won the MVP last year of the national championship because someone like you would give up basketball." "I never said that I would give up basketball, I just leave the team, there is no reason for me to waste my time there training, I could not play anyway by the rule that the coach did and even if I train there it would be in a position that is not mine, that would not help at all." "If you could just lower your head for a while and stop being so proud and do what the coach said, you could soon get back to the starting lineup." "It''s not about being proud first because I''m sure the coach does not care what is best for me or for any player, so changing my position could shape my future in basketball, he only cares about winning." After Jake said what he thought he was leaving home, Jake was annoyed to have to give explanations to someone he did not even know, and now that he has made his decision he would not go back. Liza stood there for a while thinking about the things Jake said, then she left, too, but she had to accept that what Jake said was right, changing a player''s position was something that could change the future of that player, so even if the coach was right he should have talked privately about it first with Jake and then decide. But as Jake said that was part of the authority of the coach, even if he had erred if the coach wanted to do that he would do so the only thing Jake can do since he did not agree was to stop training. After spending a few weeks he stopped training at school, Jake who had more time to spare now would have to decide what to do while he had to wait before he could get back to the team, at least until he got the right time. In fact he already knew what to do, it was something he wanted to wait for a few more years until he was of legal age to be able to solve things himself, but how could not wait so many years because when he is 16 would be the best age for him to focus on whether basketball was the most important. Now that he''s got more free time Jake decided to start the next day what he had hoped to do for many years. So the next morning Jake went to Oliver''s house to talk to him, what Jake needed most was now a lawyer. "Jake you here, I did not expect you to see me today." "I had to come here, unfortunately, today I did not come here to play chess, I need your help with some things." "Do you need help solving your problem at school? Joseph had already told me about it, I''ll see what I can do, but I can not guarantee that I''ll get you back to the team." "No, it''s not about that, I''d like you to point me to a lawyer you know who specializes in business so I can work only with myself for a few years, and I also hope you can help me get a good accounting firm for now, and I''m going to need you to oversee all that." "What do you need all this for?" "I''m thinking about making some investments, I''ve already researched some companies and would like to use the money that I got from my sponsorship to invest, but since I''m underage I need a lawyer representative and also a company that can take care of my investment." "Investing is a very risky thing, Jake, if I were you, I would recommend that you expect to grow up and then think about doing it again." "Normally I''d think you''re right Oliver, but now I''ve got some companies I''ve been watching for a few months and I think this is the best time to invest, and you know how the business world is if I invest in one Growing company I can make lots of money in a few years." Of course Oliver knew this, his father had always worked with his company that part of the company was on the stock market, so Oliver always had to keep an eye on the market to help his father, but Oliver knew that investing in a growing company was a big risk, could earn a lot, but could also lose a lot if the company did not work. "Did you tell your mother about this, Jake?" "No, this time I did not talk about it with her, but I''m not going to mess with all the money, and I''m still receiving the sponsorship, so I want to try this chance, if I talked to her, my mother would be the same as you and I would not believe what I''m doing." "I''m talking to you Oliver because as my friend and as a lawyer I know you will not say anything and will help me with this." When Oliver thought he had found a way to stop Jake from doing this he talked about his professionalism, now Oliver could no longer tell Eva about it, and Oliver had known Jake for several years now, Jake looked like someone who knew what he was going to do and Oliver knew that Jake had always studied business and economics for three years. As Jake learned multiple languages ??so it was safe to assume that he too would have learned something about economics after studying for so many years. "Okay so Jake I''m going to get an accounting firm to take care of your money for you, it''s the same company I use so you can trust, as for the attorney to be harder, just to help you sometimes is easy, but to work for you no one I know will want without charging a fortune." "And if it''s a lawyer who just got a license that is related to someone you know, that person can get experience working with me and it''s going to be reliable, but if that''s the way this lawyer is going to have to work as my assistant, too." Oliver can only smile helplessly at Jake''s requests, get some lawyer who just got the license and be related to an acquaintance is easy, but for any lawyer to be an assistant to a 13-year-old, it would be hard to find. Moreover, all this would be only working on the hypothesis that Jake succeeds in his investments, only so some lawyer can win something working for him. Chapter 107 The Second Job 2 "Well since I''m going to help you find the people you need to at least tell me which companies you invest in, as my father works with the stock market because of his company, I often get tips from my friends who work with actions to invest." "So if the company that you are thinking of investing in is in the ones that I was suggested to invest in, I feel calmer because I will know that it is a known company." Jake thought it made a lot of sense, yet he just wanted to take the risk and invest all the money he got from his sponsorship to invest because he knew from the future which companies would be most successful and which ones would fail, otherwise he would invest only a few thousand dollars. Plus, with the internet bubble stock market going to happen over the next 10 years, Jake knew of many people who got millionaires just by being lucky enough to know when to start investing and selling their stocks before the bubble burst. Few expected such madness that companies that had no profit were given millions of dollars valuation, and also only a few months before the bubble waited for market experts to prepare. But before that many experts made the wrong predictions and because they were afraid to risk they lost the chance to win millions, but that''s something for 8 years, without much capital to invest, no one could become a millionaire even if they invested a little money. And even if Jake invested now he would have to wait a few years to see his money multiply, yet Jake did not see much trouble in telling Oliver about the company he wanted to invest so Oliver could get rich with him. "Of course, no problem the company I''m going to invest all the money is Cisco, I heard something about a new era of information that was coming, and I think this company has the stability to grow a lot is valued in this new era." Oliver thought for a moment and then remembered that he had heard about this company, but although this company was valuing a lot in recent months, he heard that the two largest shareholders had sold a large part of their shares and so investors were apprehensive about this company. But as it was a company he had heard at least, it meant that Jake had really thought hard about it. "Alright, Jake can leave it to me that I find the people you need." After clearing everything Jake returned to his house, he felt bad about hiding something from his mother, but until he got something out of it Jake did not want to tell Eva this, and it was not only because he feared his mother would not allow it, but also to make a good surprise for her. After that a few more days went by and Jake got used to going without training at school, after all, he still trained every day at home and with his imagination training too, and contrary to what Jake and the coach Philips thought the media did not it was imported that the High School Elite team was without the MVP of Middle School. Everyone thought that was normal after all the team that was starting was the team that was the champion last year of the national championship, no team would put a champion on the bench for no reason. And next year everyone would have forgotten Jake if they win this year, the only media person who really cared about Jake and was looking for more news about him was Eric, but Eric was busy with the Olympics and then would cover the NBA for a time. In fact, both Jake and Philips coach were relieved by this, Jake also did not want to cause problems for his school just because he did not play so he did not ask Oliver to help him. As he had more free time on the weekends for not being on the team anymore, while waiting for Oliver''s response, Jake took the opportunity to spend more time with his mother, Eva was already going a long time for cooking classes, Jake also came whenever he could. So they were all friends of the people who attended classes, Anna mostly Jake already considered as part of the family, Eva had already learned a lot in these classes and her dishes were much better after those years. After the class of the day ended Eva went to the other room to change and Jake knew that she would stay for a long time talking to the other women, so he took the opportunity to talk to Anna alone. "So Anna, how do you think my mother is now?" "Eva is very well now, I do not think she would have her mood to get better, she does not have the stress of work to worry about, she has many friends here in class and she has you as a son to make her happy, do not you think you have more chances of Eva getting depressed again." Even knowing that her mother''s health was very good and always being with her at home, Jake still cared about Eva very much, after all in her past life he also thought she was very well until Eva ended up dying. So he knew he could not stay calm even if he thought his mother was happy, so Jake took advantage of his mother''s friendship with Anna and asked Anna to pay attention to Eva in class as well. Because Anna knew Jake was just being careful with Eva, she accepted and sometimes told Jake some of her conversations with Eva. "These days your mother is doing very well, but last week I realized that she was very worried about you, Eva thought you would be very sad to have left the basketball team at school, but after seeing that you were well she too calmed down." "But something?" "I asked her if after you got older and left home if she would want to remarry, but as you said Eva said it would not happen that her father was the only man she loved." Jake knew that very well, in his past life he knew that many men he approved approached Eva, but she always refused them all, Jake did not want his mother to be alone, he hoped Eva would find someone she loved. So Jake thought the only way Eva could get married was if she met someone she loved, and Jake knew it was very difficult to do even once in a person''s life, even though she could not form a family after accident would get married if she met someone she loved, but that did not happen. Jake thought it might be because of his bad luck, but he could not know if luck had anything to do with love, he would have to see if in that life that his luck could not be greater if he would find the right woman for him. "Did you find out what my mother''s dream was?" "Not yet, Eva really knows how to hide things, I think if I do not figure it out by myself and do not touch the subject with her, her mother will never tell me her dream." Jake hoped for that too, but he felt that if it was not something impossible to accomplish after a few years had passed that Eva would miss what she wanted for Anna. After Jake left home with Eva, as Anna said his mother really seemed to be in a good mood, which made him happy too. After going home Jake began to think that he would have a busy time in the coming weeks, and in fact, besides being an accounting firm to handle taxes, he did not need anything else, but Jake thought it would be strange if people found out without researching anything he just invested in a company and then got rich. So having a lawyer would solve all his problems, but Jake could not count on Oliver for everything, so he had the idea to ask for a lawyer recommended by Oliver, and would have other things that Jake would need in the future that could only be made by a lawyer so that was a good chance. [Are not you forgetting anything, Jake?] "I do not think so, do you think I''m forgetting Fate?" [Well I found it strange that you did not talk to me for so long even after you decided on what to do you do not remember that at the beginning I told you that you could have more than one job?] Jake really remembered that but then the system said that he should not choose another job without thinking because he would have problems having more than one job, so after a while, he did not care about it anymore, after all, he already had everything I needed basketball. "I remember what you said Fate, but I do not think I need anything other than basketball, if it becomes a problem then I do not even want to." [I knew you had misunderstood something when I said that even though you could have several jobs not to choose anything, I was talking about other sports.] [You might not have thought of it now, but with your statistics growing more in the future you''d be better off in many sports than most athletes in the world, just statistics.] Chapter 108 The Second Job 3 [In many sports just having the stats as you will be in the future you could win a gold medal in the Olympics, it is not that these sports do not require different talent or techniques, but rather that you would be far above the others.] [A good example of this would be weightlifting or other tests that require strength in the Olympics, even though all these sports also require training and techniques if you have two or three times the strength of an opponent you would win.] [So although I say that you can have all the jobs you wanted and could do whatever you wanted, there are some things that I hope you do not do for your conscience, after all, you should not do things when you know you have an advantage unfair.] [But you can still participate in another sport besides basketball, I just hope you do not overdo it, but by taking the sports you have no problem to have other jobs, and having a job can also help you to better accomplish the things that you do have to do.] [Depending on the job you choose you may even gain new skills or reveal and train some of your hidden stats, luck, for example, was a hidden statistic that is only shown now because it is at its maximum.] [So I recommend that you do this from what you want to do a job, so you can have some help since this system exists only for the purpose of helping you to be happy.] After the system said this he realized that he was thinking too much, really if he got new skills to invest it would mean that he could have more success and less risk in that. Jake also understood what the system was worried about if he used his knowledge of the future to become rich and did not interfere in the development of the companies the most that would happen is that people become less rich in the future. But the system already warned some things that Jake could not do as try to bet on the lottery and now use his statistics to be the best in several sports, if he bet the lottery with his luck that was at most would have a great chance of him winning and this would make all lottery raffles after that give different results. So he would be directly affecting the future with that, and as the system said, if he had a dream of winning a medal at the Olympiad he could just pick a sport, it would be unfair if he won in several sports just because he can. "So I''ll choose as my second job Businessman." [Okay, so this is decided, your second job will be Businessman, I already made your new statistics window you want to see?] "Yes, show me, please." [Here it is] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 13 years] [Job: Businessman] [Intelligence 54] [Luck 99] [Charm 24] [Leadership 18] [Policy 4] [Eloquence 27] -------------------------------- Active Techniques [See Through] [Business Vision] --------------------------------- So he can see that it really was different from his basketball player statistics window, several of his other stats were hidden, now he understood what the system meant by hidden statistics. The system only shows the statistics that are necessary for the job he will do, such as to be a businessman he did not need physical statistics the system took out all, just as for a basketball player it is not essential to know politics or have charm. But he would like to have static leadership as a basketball player too, even so, he understood what the system meant, he also had far fewer skills than as a basketball player. [Now I''m going to explain a few things about your statistics, charm, politics, leadership, and eloquence, all these statistics are needed for your second job, politics is a statistic you might not need to use if you only work with investments, but as an entrepreneur, you might need.] [The other statistics are present in several other jobs as well, charm is a statistic that shows a characteristic of attracting people, can help both your posture, your face, your voice and even your look, your appearance counts a lot for its charm too, is a statistic that can make people trust you more too.] [Leadership is a statistic that works very well with the charm, shows how you have control of the situation and your confidence too, can help in basketball too even though it does not show up in your first job statistics window, I already said about it all has these statistics only that is not shown in numbers.] [Eloquence also works well with charm and leadership, is the statistic that allows you to better express what you think and can also convince people or even deceive people.] [And these statistics, as well as intelligence, do not have a person-to-person pattern, they''ve had people with 80 of charm or leadership in history, it''s hard to compare, but it might help a lot in your work.] [Skills, as you''ve seen, are active, that means just that you have to think about the skill and focus on them to activate, unlike those in basketball these skills do not have ranks, and they''re just to help you.] [See Through is a skill that lets you know if a person is speaking the truth or lying, can be used at any time, but you have to concentrate before the person speaks to know if it is true or false.] [Business Vision is a skill that lets you know if a business is going to work or not, this skill has a limitation, you have to have enough information about the company and that skill can only say it within 3 years after you have to use the ability again.] [In addition, this ability also can not tell why the company is going to work or why it will fail, a company can have a lot of profit and even though its actions fall for some reason, so the skill is not perfect.] Even with the system saying this would already be a great help to have these skills, he would have to be careful with the first skill, or after a while, he would become suspicious of all people, this should only be used with yes or no, so there would not be much room for error. Jake was very happy with this ability, he can also understand that with the system even if he chose to do something other than basketball he could have succeeded, even so, this job was only to secure his future, then he would still try to play basketball even if he has problems like those of now. After all, he promised before he died that one day he would be an NBA champion, and as Jake got a second chance he wanted to do everything he could, as well as form a family, if he found a woman who loved him, he would marry her even if he had then to fight for this love. So Jake went to bed happy to have gotten help from the system on what he would have to do now. The other day in the morning Eva saw that Jake was very happy, she was happy with that too since Jake decided she would leave the basketball team although he sometimes smiles as mother Eva knew that Jake was not really well, he was sad because he could not do what he liked. "What happened, Jake, you look really happy today." "It''s nothing, Mother, today after school, I''m going to have to go to Joseph''s house all right?" "Of course it''s okay, I''m glad you''re with your friend long after you''ve left the team." Jake just smiled, he and Joseph were close friends, after that they were like brothers, but Joseph was very fond of studying and so they did not go out together because of this when Joseph was not studying Jake he was busy with other things. But even so, they were as friends as others who went out together all the time, today Jake would go to Joseph''s house to talk to Oliver about the things he asked for, as Jake was trying to keep his mother''s investments secret, as Oliver calls his house to talk about it. Jake was eager to start investing, after all, what he remembered in the future the company''s stock appreciated very quickly, from 1990 until the bubble burst, so Jake did not want to waste months when his money could be increasing. As Jake said, he would not invest all the money, but it was not because he was afraid that it would not work, but because he had to save money for an emergency that could happen, after all, it would be a waste to sell valuable stocks in a hurry just because he needed money. Jake also did not think about becoming a billionaire and joining Forbes, he just wanted to make money so he would never have to worry about running out of work again, and that would not be difficult, if he just left his money there for a few years he would be a millionaire with the gain of the shares. In addition, Jake needed to show that he knew what he was doing with investments, so when he talked to Matthew about changing his company business he could be treated as an equal and not a child, that would be the only way to save the company from Matthew of Bankruptcy. Jake had also thought for months about what he would do with his money, and if it worked out he would be a millionaire even if he did not want to, but that would take several years at least, so Jake wanted to get it all done now. So he could only worry about basketball in the future. Chapter 109 The Second Job 4 So Jake went to Joseph''s house, and when he got there the maid immediately took him to Oliver''s office, it seemed that Oliver was already waiting for him. "I was thinking about how to call you here without having to call your house, glad you came on time." "Did you get what I asked for?" "I have, I already talked to the accounting firm that I work with and they are already ready to work with you, it''s just you take the reports on the financial transactions for them and the company solves everything." "But I do not think I''m going to have to discuss this with you, but with your assistant, the daughter of one of my father''s friends is 25 years old and just graduated and took a lawyer''s license a few months ago." "Her name is Emily, and she has quarreled with her father and mother who wants to be independent and live from her own work, but in fact, she still lives with her parents, so you just have to pay a meaningful amount to her and she goes work as your lawyer and assistant. " "How did you get her to work for me?" "I talked to her father, Emily has always been good at university and is very responsible so her father is afraid she will end up in a big law firm like mine and stay forever working for someone else." "But he thinks you''re just joking, so your daughter would never have thoughts of continuing to work as a lawyer with you for a few years." "So you fooled her father? Of course, after she''s worked for me for a few years she''s going to be very successful, I just hope this Emily does not stop working with me after she''s succeeded." "I did not fool her father, I said that you were very responsible and that you could succeed, and he said that if you were successful it was better because your daughter would still work for one person only what is better than working for one firm." "What her father is worried about is that her daughter who has everything she needs at home ends up working too hard for a company expecting a promotion and never has its value recognized." So Jake understood more or less the situation, Emily''s father was afraid that without needing her to end up working for others for life as Jake did in his past life if so, it was better than Emily open a law firm with his father''s money. But to open a successful firm does not only need money but also experience, so her dad wants Emily to get experience with Jake and then open a firm for her. And if she succeeds being Jake''s assistant then there would be no reason for her to stop working for him. "When can I talk to her then?" "Tomorrow, you can trust her and anything I keep my eye on." Jake trusted Oliver if Oliver trusted her, so should he, Jake did not really want to waste much time before he started to invest. So the other day a woman of 1.76 tall because of the high heel entered the restaurant, she had black eyes as well as her shoulder-length hair, a body with good proportions and beautiful glasses, she was very beautiful and had the image of a secretary in Jake''s mind. Soon this woman was taken to Jake''s desk, it must have been Emily, and after a while, she arrived, Jake stood up to receive her. "Hi, nice to meet you, my name is Emily, and I''m the lawyer Mr. Oliver has recommended to work with you as an assistant." "Hi, Emily, my name as you should know is Jake and I wanted to know if it''s okay with you to work as my assistant because if you''re being forced by your father, work can be complicated in the future." "No, although I know that my father was also very happy that I was working with you and not a firm, I accepted that job myself, after all, I heard that you intend to be a basketball player and that you already have sponsorship, and also wants to work with investments." "So I think in a few years working with you I can get enough experience and I can also see a bit like Oliver work to learn something, I also do not want to start working in a firm where I can not do anything for years and also I do not want to depend on my father to succeed." Jake liked Emily''s honesty, he was really worried that he might have a lot of work to do during those years, so it''s best if Emily really wants to work because only then can he have what he wants. "Okay then, I liked you so you''re hired, I can not pay you a high salary in the early years, then your salary will be $ 6,000 if you accept." It was a larger salary than she expected from Jake''s situation and age, Jake knew Emily did not need a high salary, but Jake would take at least 8 years until she could raise her salary, so he gave as much as he could. "I accept." "Okay then, get a notepad and pen and always take it with you." So Jake gave him a notepad that looked more like a calendar and a pen and handed to Emily, he needs her to start working as soon as possible so he would not lose money after Emily picked up the notebook Jake spoke again. "I want you to prepare a document along with Oliver so that you can open a small investment firm as my representative, put Oliver''s name in addition to mine and yours." "The name of the company will be" JK Investments "and will allow you to move the money on my behalf." "I''m going to give you 250,000 dollars, you''re going to take that money and invest everything in the Cisco company, after that you''re going to send a copy of that contract and the documents of those actions to the accounting firm and another copy to Oliver." Emily was surprised by the size of this investment, $ 250,000 worth of shares in a company show how much Jake has confidence in the growth of this company, at the same time showed that Jake really wanted to work seriously. "After that I want you to always check the movements of these actions, I think after the whole process is complete I will not need you for a few years, so if you want to do something else you can tell me." Emily was surprised again, but soon understood, her job is to analyze the investments, so as long as Jake did not move these actions she would have nothing to do, but even so, he needed an assistant because otherwise, he would have to spend several weeks running behind it. So Jake went to his house after talking to Emily, working with stock seemed simple, but it was because Jake had knowledge about the future, actually it''s really simple like that, you choose a company, choose the amount to be invested and pay that amount , then just know the right time to sell. Of course as Jake said there would be other things Emily would have to do in those years, what Jake meant by assistant was forever that he needed he would have a preference. After a week in late September of 1992, Emily appeared again to inform Jake that he had managed to buy just over 6,000 shares for $ 40 with the $ 250,000 Jake, he was very pleased. He was in a hurry because one thing that companies did several times at this time to have more investment was to divide the shares, this did not cause any loss to those who had invested before, and as people were more uninformed in a few months the action returned to the previous value. Jake wanted to invest before the company made too many divisions, so he could earn more. After that, the months passed quickly and soon he was coming to Jake''s vacation again, at school Jake and Joseph had the best grades in the room as ever, now Jake had to pay more attention in class because he had many things he did not know now. Clara and Tiffany had hardly spoken to Jake these months, it seemed they had discovered several mistakes in the companies that had to be corrected when he spoke to Oliver it seemed that the companies were also preparing for future investments as well. Jake was happy for them, Eric had also done very well in the Olympics and now he was covering the NBA, Eva was fine as always and only he who had not done many things this year, this showed him how important basketball was in his life, without playing he had nothing to do. Of course, he always trained when he could, but without playing on the court with other people he had no way of knowing how much better. Jake also got a little sad when he learned that the basketball team had won the state championship and would play the national championship early next year, it seemed that this year''s team did not really need Jake to win the games. So Jake was happy that the school team had won the state championship, but he was sad because with that the coach managed to show that he was right in his high rule and also that Jake was not needed in the team this year. Chapter 110 The Time Goes 1 Of course, Jake knew that this year''s Elite team was always a favorite to start with as the current champions of the national championship, but even so, he was sad about it. Jake also knew that although the team is doing well this year, next year this team of champions will graduate this year, and for the next year the Elite team will not have a good base, so Jake saw in training the players who should be the surrogates of this champion team are his former Middle School classmates. But Jake did not remember seeing any good PG among the players in training, and even if the coach called Jake he would have to go back on his word since he said that Jake would not play on his team in any position other than SG that the coach wanted. So Jake thought that this success was temporary, but even if the team was going badly he still would not have room for him with this coach, so Jake was waiting to see if something changed in those years and if nothing changed he would cancel the contract he had to stay in school until college and move to another school. Jake did not want to do this, after all, it would be a lot of disregard for Joseph who followed him to study at this school, he could not be dragging his friend around changing schools just because a problem arose. So Jake just had to see how things would develop over the next few years to make his decision, now that the holidays were over, it was time for Jake to have his annual trip with his mother. This year they would travel to Italy, Jake called in advance this year to the travel agency since he was in the freest time, as always Jake already told the phones of the hotels to the agency and they only needed to prepare the tickets and reservations , and so the agency got from Jake another travel script. So when Jake''s vacation came he warned all his acquaintances that they would be out of the country for a few weeks, everyone was already accustomed to it, only Emily who was a little surprised. Eva was also used to it, she was happy when Jake said they would go to Italy this year, despite being a simple woman and not having many different experiences in life, Eva easily got used to this annual routine of world travel. After all things like that mark a person''s life, now Eva did not even remember that in the beginning, she accepted these trips just so that Jake would master the language she was studying, she only liked the trips. As Jake had thought after a few years not having to worry too much about things and getting rid of the depression that had affected her life for years, Eva was now slowly changing her perspective on life and personality, now she tended more to accept the things without caring so much about the consequences. The trip began with them going to Milan which was the world''s fashion city, Jake had not visited Milan in his past life, but he wanted to show this city to his mother. There they visited the Duomo which is the third largest church in the world in Gothic style, after which they saw the Vittorio Emanuele II Gallery which was a nearby attraction. But Jake did not want to go to Milan so much for the attractions and took the time to stroll around the city with Eva, in places like this just to be in the city where you heard so many times already brings joy to people. The next city they visited was Verona, which was the city where Romeo and Juliet''s story was going. Jake recalled that his mother was very fond of reading this story. Afterwards, they went to Venice where they saw several incredible places, it was different to see a city where people thought about boats, Jake and Eva took a boat trip through the rivers of the city as well. After Jake took Eva to Bologna, there is no way to travel around Italy and not enjoy the wonderful food of that country. Afterwards, they went to Florence which was a city in which just walking along the streets you can breathe art, so also know one of the great historical cities of Italy. Then they passed quickly to see the tower of Pisa and soon they went to Rome where they would be until the end of the trip after all Rome was a place where one could stay several days quietly. First, they went to the Colosseum where they saw one of the most famous places in the world, Jake did not even find anything interesting in the place beyond history, but Eva found everything incredible, so it was worth visiting those places. Then they went to the Vatican where they were fascinated by the grandeur of the place, especially the Basilica of St. Peter, a place that deserved reverence. Then they just strolled through the city for the rest of the holiday, then it was Jake''s birthday day when he was 14, now Jake felt that his second phase of childhood and adolescence was faster than in his previous life. But Jake had to admit that he preferred these little more than 3 years of living in this life which was his second chance than the 40 years of his past life, though one might say that Jake had some success in his past life and did what wanted. Without a family and people, you like to share make it all feel empty and meaningless, now Jake had a lot more people who cared about him than in his entire life. In addition, Jake could also feel that his mother was having the life he always deserved, sometimes Jake thought that his second chance was also the chance that Jake wanted to correct his mistakes and give a good life to his mother and the people with which he cared. After a nice trip, it was time for Jake to come home, he had to go back to school and also keep training for when he could play again, he could be on the same level as the best high school players. But Jake could feel that he was improving much slower now, so he could tell that it was crazy his thinking that at the age of 16 he could have the ability to play in the NBA. He was a real person and could see that his only and greatest talent for being a professional player was his 2 and 3 shots, but Jake still doubted if that would be enough to be an NBA player. After all, he has a skill that is superior to his age in the shots out because he trained more than 10 years in his past life, and even then he did not think he was any better than any NBA player. [You''re charging too much Jake, maybe if you did not have me you would not be the biggest star in the NBA with just your talent, but you have to remember that there''s no such thing in this world as you missed the chance to play in his past life even with his talent.] [Many people could also have a talent for being the best basketball player of all time, but they chose to have another profession in life, anything can happen, so there are many who have been lucky enough to become stars because they have been trained by excellent coaches.] [You were not fortunate enough to have a great coach, too, but you''ve had more than 10 years of training in your past life, so Jake takes that chance and become the great player you''ve always wanted to be.] [As for the subject of your skills I''ll tell you one more thing, even if you had the same skills and the same physical stats as an NBA player you could not do the same as that player.] [Your body is not yet fully developed, so even with your physical statistics you are still a child, so do not think too much about it, it is only after your 16 years that you can begin to compare yourself to a professional player, developed, but its height will continue to increase.] [So to know what your 3-point shot will look like, you have to wait a few more years, after all, you will have to adjust many things in those two years to create your own style.] After hearing this from the system he felt better, really the world has never been fair to everyone, to begin with, many people with lousy personalities are born into wealthy families and face no difficulties in life while other people starve to death every day. Many of these people who die every day unfairly could have made the world better if they had the right opportunities, so Jake stopped feeling inferior and promised himself once again that he will be a great basketball player in the future. Without Jake knowing the system was analyzing his body and mentality all this time to help Jake improve, so the system knew that Jake had released a kind of blockage that had in his mind at that time that prevented him from improving quickly. The mind of a human is something incredible, even with Jake having everything to improve and become an incredible player if his mind thought otherwise would prevent him from improving in the future. And Jake felt inferior to other players he knew he could face in the future, and also felt guilty for playing better than the others now just because he had the help of the system, now that Jake had freed himself from that thought he was free to explore the potential. Chapter 111 The Time Goes 2 In fact, what Jake was going through was normal for young people, and after he returned to the past despite his mentality being over 40 years old, he was still affected by his actual age. So Jake was going through puberty again, but he was not as affected as the youngsters normally were, except that with that basketball subject even his mind being more mature he thought that what he was doing was not so sure. The reason for this was the character of Jake who spent most of his life doing what was right, and even worse was that he felt that even having an ''advantage'' over others was not yet enough to be better than the others. It was only after this problem was settled in her mind that her abilities could improve normally could this be done by her parents or coach, but Eva already thought Jake was more mature than she was, and her coach was now another source of trouble for Jake. So who had to figure it out was the system. So Jake came back for another semester at school, and so the time kept ticking away, as Jake was not playing he thought time would pass again without any news, but this time Joseph appeared with a surprise. At the interval of classes when they would go out to eat, as usual, Joseph called Jake and said he had something new to tell, as Jake never saw Joseph so excited he was curious as well. "So Joseph, tell me what''s the news you had to tell me." "I found a girl I like." This made Jake really surprised, he never thought his friend would find a girlfriend before him, that change of appearance must have made Joseph more confident. "So you''re dating?" "No, I still did not have the guts to tell her, I was hoping you''d know who she was before and see what she thought of her." "Who''s going to date her is you and not me, so you''re the one who needs to like her after you start dating you introduce me." "But you''re my friend, I think it''s important that you approve of the girl I''m dating, so I''m safer." After Joseph said this, Jake was a bit thrilled, that meant that Joseph considered Jake really important to say this if Jake said he did not approve of the girl that Joseph liked Joseph would not ask the girl to date him. "I think it''s really cool that you think so well of me, but you''re a little early, you usually ask your friend''s approval to marry and not to date." "I think it''s better this way, if you do not think it''s legal, you can get rid of me later." "No, your girlfriend has to have a good personality and be nice to you and not to everyone, you just need to know her reputation, if several people find her cool she must be cool." "There are several people that I personally do not like, but I do not think these people are bad, it''s just that I did not get along very well with them for some reason." "What if my girlfriend is someone you do not like?" "Oh I think we can learn to live together for your sake, besides, you still have not asked to go out with her, how are you so sure they''ll be boyfriends?" "Because we''ve talked a few times before, and I think she likes me too, so if I ask to date her, I think she accepts." "So do it, do not lose your youth, after you start dating you introduce me to it." Jake really did not expect Joseph to get a girlfriend, but he was happy with his friend, Jake wanted everyone around him to be very happy because he was of the opinion that happiness was contagious, sometimes just hearing good news from Someone you can also be happy. So in the next few weeks, Joseph would disappear sometimes at lunchtime when Jake asked if Joseph had already started dating the girl his friend said they were still talking. Jake admired his friend''s patience, with Joseph being so careful so everything would probably work out, this made Jake think that he had completely changed his friend''s life, it was impossible for Joseph to come to this school in his past life. Jake could only hope that his friend''s new life would be much happier, so after another day of school he went home, Jake was now reading his German book to prepare for the next trip. This was the book with which Jake could learn the most, even in his past life he could not master the language, this was his chance, with a year Jake could master his fifth language. The other day Jake and Eva went to cooking class, some people had come and gone, so only with Anna that Eva had a deeper friendship, that year many women did not like to talk to Jake too. After all Jake was already 14 years old and the women no longer found him a cute child and made cookies for him, just Anna who still cared for him. After the class was over Jake and Eva went to Anna''s house to talk, after those years together they were more and more like a family, Anna also felt more alone because there was no one in her family to talk to. Just as he did not have much to talk about, Jake ended up talking about his friend having a new love, Jake did not like gossip anymore, the atmosphere of cooking classes left his tongue looser in time. Besides, neither Eva nor Anna talked to Oliver, so Joseph''s secret was well guarded with these three. But what Jake ended up just bringing to the subject eventually came back to him. "And you, Jake, do not you plan on getting a girlfriend?" "I do not know, I have not met any girl I like, I have to wait for it to happen naturally in order to work out." "I think you should try harder my son, this way I can never be a grandmother." "It''s true Jake, get out more with people your age and not just your mother, you''re almost a man now, just so you''ll have opportunities to find a girlfriend." Then the conversation was over and Jake sat just thinking about the corner of the room. Even after she returned home Jake still did not talk to her mother, Eva thought he was angry and also did not try to talk to her son. Actually, this subject was one of Jake''s sensitive points, what Eve said about not being a grandmother was exactly what happened in Jake''s past life, but it was because of the accident. Even so Jake knew it was Eva''s dream to be a grandmother, and Jake also had to hear about it for almost 20 years in the conversations with his company friends, when someone chooses not to have a child is one thing, but for Jake, that choice was taken. After resting for one night Jake''s mood returned to normal. So a few more months passed Joseph still had not introduced the girl to Jake, and even if he did Jake was not in a very good mood at the time, he just received the news that the basketball team had once again won the national championship of the high school. Jake was happy about the school, but he could not help but feel a little excluded, of course, he knew that even if he was a substitute he would not be so happy to win that national championship. Coach Philips should be in high confidence the school in him, so Jake did not have much hope to play next year, now that Joseph also had a new girlfriend Jake was not thinking about leaving school this year. He now had to hope for something different to happen next year, after all, Tiffany and Clara were patients more Jake did not think companies would like to pay sponsorship to someone who was not even playing and did not have much fame. The only good thing about it was that Jake felt that his ability improved even by training alone, he thought he would now be on the same level as the team players who won that year, less than. So if Jake entered the team for next year was sure to play well in the matches, so he had to wait to see what would happen. So a few more months passed and the first year of school had ended Jake as he was always the first in the classroom with his perfect grades, but Joseph''s grades had fallen, it seemed that dating was really detrimental to the study after all. Jake was sure his friend had started dating, but Jake hoped his friend would soon introduce this mysterious girlfriend to him. At the beginning of her mid-year vacation that would take a few months, Jake finally got a call from Clara, it seemed like the corporate restructuring was over and she wanted to have lunch with him. Jake accepted and the next day he went by taxi to the restaurant, arriving there the attendant took Jake to Clara''s table. "Hi Jake, how long." "I have to say this, even if you were busy with your company you could have some time to talk to friends." "I know, but I lose track of everything when I''m focused on work, the only person I normally talked to during this year was Tiffany, and that''s because she showed up to help me work sometimes." Chapter 112 The Time Goes 3 Jake could feel a sense of sadness in Clara''s voice as she said it, and he could imagine why her marriage must be in a worse situation than before. Jake could understand why Clara''s father did not show up at the company, he had 10 percent of the company just because he wanted to help open the Clara company and had to get his stake in the company. But Jake did not think Clara''s husband was not in the company either because he trusted her, it was more because he should not care about Clara''s company, even Tiffany who was just the friend and also had the company to look after. If Jake was older he would try to help Clara with his knowledge, but even now he wanted to do more harm than good to Clara. "And you Jake, how''s the situation at school? Still out of the team?" "Yes, unfortunately, my situation also seems to be more complicated, right now the team just won the second national championship, even though the team that won these two times now goes to university the authority of the coach is greater than ever now." "Is that you? Planning to go to another school?" "No, I think it would be very unfair to my friend Joseph who supported me when I went to this school." This time Jake did not miss that Joseph was dating after all Clara was an acquaintance of Matthew who was Joseph''s grandfather if Clara told this to Matthew it was only a matter of time before Oliver knew. "In that case, I have some news that will interest you, after we have managed to adjust everything that had to be done in the companies we are thinking of opening a small-scale few shops in Europe as well." "So we knew that Spain at the beginning of next month there will be a basketball tournament in Madrid, I do not know what their goal is in doing this tournament, but I thought you could try participating." "It will be divided by ages as it was in New York, but will only be from the age of 13, so you can join the division for 14 years, this can help at least a little in announcing the company in Spain." Hearing that Jake was excited, it had been more than a year since he had not played in a court with other players, only in his training in imagination training, Jake even thought of looking for some tournament to attend, but he did not have as many contacts as Clara and did not know where the tournaments were held. Even though he knew of a tournament in Miami he would not participate, after all, he wanted something new a challenge as well, and although Jake was confident of winning from anyone at his age he could not guarantee if he were going to another country. "You can count on me, it''s been a long time since I was looking for some tournament to attend, you brought it in at the right time." So Jake came home to tell the news to his mother when Eve knew this she was very happy too, she knew Jake was eager to play again. In fact Eva was surprised that Jake had not yet decided to change schools, of course, Jake did not tell her it was due to his friend''s consideration, and Jake still thought it was not time yet, even if he went to a new team, even though it happened at Jake''s previous school, he would have to try to lead the team to victory in the national championship alone. But if this situation continued for another year Jake would really have to apologize to Joseph and move to school, after all even if the Elite school could give him a place at the guaranteed university, Jake did not need to. He had more than enough money to pay for a university now, and he could win a seat for several universities just by playing basketball. So after a few weeks, he went to Spain again with Eva, only this time it was not the trip but rather to play basketball, Clara would arrive after a few weeks more, after all, it''s almost a week to start the tournament. So Jake stayed with his mother in the same hotel that stayed on his last trip, as Jake was already sponsored by Tiffany and Clara''s companies he did not accept that they pay their expenses for this trip. So the week passed quietly, Jake walked every day with Eva to save some more memories of Spain, Eva loved this country, and so Jake also came to like it too. And so came the day the tournament was to begin, the format of this tournament was the same as Jake participated in New York, the games of each age range would be made in one day each and the games of the final would be made all the last day. Jake had to admit that this was a great way to organize a tournament, so they could have as many games as possible and on the last day, the audience would be the biggest to see the final matches. Jake had not participated in a tournament like this for some years, so he was a little excited even if today was not his day, today was the day of the games for the age of 13, Jake hoped to see high-level games in the final phase. As Jake hoped, he could see several talented players during the games, had two players in the present that had a level similar to what David had at their age, when it arrived late in the afternoon only four players remained. By chance of the tournament the two players who had a level of skill near David would face in the semifinal, so Jake could say that this game would be an early final, whoever wins this game would win on the final day in the final. The two players knew how to give shots from outside and were also good at the internal scoring, so it was an interesting game, as David also these players did not have much strength in the defense, so the game proceeded with many scored points, in the end, one of the two players slipped and the other hit a shot from outside and won the game scoring the 10 points. The other game of the semifinal was also quite disputed, but this was because the technique of the players was bad, it was a game with many mistakes and the winner was happy with second place because he knew that he would lose in the final in a few days. Jake returned home happy after that, after all, tomorrow would be the day he would play, Eva stayed at the hotel and did not accompany Jake to the place of the tournament, after all, Jake was the one who knew the way better in this city. During the night Jake took longer to sleep excited. "Fate, as I''m going to play tomorrow I want to know how my stats are after a year of training." [Sure here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 14 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: High School Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 1.72 m] [Weight: 69 kg] [Force 25] [Agility 26] [Resistance 27] [Intelligence 54] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling S] [Body Control S] [Man to Man A] [Dribble S] [Layup S] [Set Shot SS] [Block B] [Pass SS] [Rebound A] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] [Steal S] --------------------------------- Jake was surprised and happy after seeing his stats, he knew by instinct that his skill had improved a lot this past year, but he did not expect ranks of the skills to improve as well, now taking away his defensive skills all were rank S. His physical stats were improving slowly, but Jake knew the reason was that he already had all the statistics very high, and if they kept improving so he could even reach the NBA standard in two more years. So if Jake continued this way he would have reached the level he wanted before finishing high school, when he saw his abilities he wondered how his former teammates were, if they were already playing in the high school team now. Jake thought that now that the two-time champion team graduated from high school, their former teammates would naturally become the starters if they had met the height requirement. Mark and Carter are sure to have reached 1.76 m tall, after all, they have always been the highest of the team, David should not have arrived yet, and Harrison just as Jake should not reach that point by the end of that year. Jake really hoped that at least for his former teammate''s coach Philips could do a proper training if his teammates could reach the level of the champion team until next year shows the ability of coach Philips. So after seeing that his solitary training year had paid off Jake can sleep more quietly. The next day Jake woke up very early in the morning and quite excited, and even woke Eve to have breakfast to go to the tournament site. Eva was quite happy to see Jake so excited this morning, she even thought it had been good for her son to have spent that time away from the basketball team. Before Jake was always playing with a lot of pressure for his talent, for sponsorship, for being the captain of the team, so it seemed that Jake did not have much fun playing, it was as if he just did an obligation. But after spending that time without playing Jake seems to have regained his love for basketball, if Jake really wanted him he would not have to play any more high school and would still be in a university, but Jake was looking for every kind of solution to be able to come back to play, it shows your love for the sport. Chapter 113 The Tournament in Europe 1 Tiffany was still busy solving some more problems in her company, as she spent much of her time in that year helping Clara, she ended up leaving some work unmade. So Tiffany could not go to Europe to see Jake''s tournament in Spain, she had to finish everything in time for the opening of some stores in Europe that would be in a few weeks. Clara also could not go to Jake''s tournament, as Tiffany was busy helping her out this year, Clara decided she would organize the details of the store openings alone, so she could just go in time to see the final. Jake did not care much about it, he put on the shirt with the sponsors and the bandana and the arm protector, as this was an open tournament he could wear whatever he wanted so he did not need to hide the marks of the companies. As this was the day of the games of the age of 14 years, they had many more people than yesterday in the bleachers, after all, today it should be more exciting than yesterday. Jake long ago did not mind the audience during the games, he heard from one of the organizers that he would have to play 6 games today, this showed that many young people had signed up for the tournament. Jake''s first game was early on, his opponent was a young man who was much smaller than Jake last year, it was different from the experience of being bigger than his opponents for him. Jake got the ball and then shot outside to score 2 points, as the other tournament the score would go up to 10 points, who did first win, and shots from outside were worth 2 points. After he regained the strength he had in his past life and even outperformed after training for a year, Jake was much more confident in shots from outside now. In addition, Jake was very excited after spending almost a year without playing so he did not think of making it easy for the opponent, he would play the best he could every game and would do a better advertisement for his sponsors as well. The opponent was surprised by this then tried to press more defending more closely to not give space to Jake give the shot out, Jake also realized this and made a feint, when the opponent fell on the feint Jake did the dribble and then ran to do the layup and 1 more point in the game. The opponent thought he had been inattentive and paid more attention in the other attack, so Jake made a feint and the opponent did not move, so Jake made a step back and tried another shot from outside to score 2 more points. In less than 1 minute Jake had already made half of the points needed to win, but the opponent seemed to forget the score and just wanted to stop Jake once. Jake, who was also focused on winning, soon set off for the attack once more, this time the opponent was doing a better job in defense and Jake could not pass easily, so Jake got a small space and did a quick set shot to make 1 Score. After Jake made a cross jab in another move and passed by the opponent to make another 1 point. In another move, the opponent realized that he could not compete with Jake''s speed and thus stayed a little further to react, and so Jake stepped back to be able to make 2 more points, and the opponent than just let Jake pass to make the final point and win the game. The opponent had to admit that Jake was much better than him, so the defeat was well deserved for him, Jake also greeted the opponent and was very happy after playing and winning after such a long time. So Jake returned to his mother to wait for his next game, he also took a look at the games that were being made, but could not see anyone who stood out from the start. After a few tens of minutes, it was Jake''s turn to have his second game, this time the opponent was bigger than him, but it seemed that it depended more on his height to play and was not very good. So Jake can depend on his much superior speed to always go through the opponent and make the 10 points with his layups, this had been an easier game than the first. Jake won again but could not be very pleased because he found the game very easy, he wanted more difficult opponents to have a better game. After a few more minutes it was Jake''s turn again, his opponent was smaller than him this time too, but seemed to be faster than his previous opponents, this time the ball began with the possession of the opponent. Jake was no longer so confident in his defense after reaching high school, so he concentrated much more than when he attacked, the opponent began to feel some pressure coming from Jake and was more excited to play. He made a feint and Jake ended up falling, so he ran to the diagonal on the right and then made a mid-range shot to make the 1 point. Jake was not much of a freak, but he was so focused on the opponent''s movements that he fell, this time Jake relaxed a little, the opponent tried another feint Jake did not fall. So the opponent tried to use his speed to pass through Jake and also did not get it, so he who started to get agitated forced the mid-range shot and missed the shot, Jake took the rebound and returned to the line of three points to make his attack. The opponent was more distant, so Jake took advantage and made the shot from outside to make 2 points and pass the front on the scoreboard. The opponent did not expect Jake to take the shot off and hit, but now he would be more attentive in defense against Jake, Jake in the other attack threatened to make the shot and the opponent fumbled, so Jake just advanced and made the mid-range shot to make 1 more point. Then Jake started the attack again and saw that he had space, and with confidence, he shot the outside, but this time he did not hit the shot and the opponent took the rebound, so Jake prepared to defend next. Jake''s opponent hoped to have some space to attack, but soon saw Jake coming to defend and make pressure, so he shot the outside and ended up hitting and making the 2 points. With the game tied again Jake''s opponent was more confident and attacked again calmly, Jake did not see the opportunity to steal the ball, he had to admit that the opponent this time was difficult. After trying several things and not being able to get through Jake the opponent tried the mid-range shot again and hit the fourth point in the game and going forward again. Jake was still calm, this was what he wanted a rather difficult game to train his defense, the opponent tried several things and again cannot pass through Jake and so tried another mid-range shot, Jake was waiting for it and jumped along to do the block. The opponent did not expect their attack to be rejected and only reacted when Jake was again in possession of the ball, this time Jake did not try another shot outside and played calmly until making the 10 points and win the game. The opponent this time also had to recognize that Jake was stronger than he, but he thought more than if he had not played so badly in the attack he could have won. This third game gave Jake a new idea, as he wanted to practice his defense more, he would give the ball to his opponent at some point and would train his defense, of course, he would do it only if he had confidence that he could win. After a few more minutes when it would be Jake''s turn to make the fourth game the organization of the tournament announcement that would have 30 minutes for the players to rest, Jake was not tired, but that was because he had won his games easily. The other games were more intense, and after 3 games everyone was a little tired, so just Jake was more upset with this 30-minute break, Eva realized that this decided to talk a bit with Jake until the time passed. "Jake, are you hungry?" Jake really was not hungry anymore as he knew his mother just did it to cheer him up. He nodded, so Eva took some sandwiches he had made at the hotel for Jake to eat. So Jake ate and got a little more relaxed, of course, it was not because he was eating, but because he liked his mother worrying about him. In fact, Eva was a bit worried about Jake these days, and all this was after the conversation they had at Anna''s house, she remembered that Anna told Jake about dating and also that he should spend more time with people his age. So she was wondering if after Jake got older he would not want to spend so much time with her anymore, after all, it''s normal that after the kids grow up they do not want to spend so much time with their parents anymore. So she was a little sad because she would lose this special relationship she had with her son, since long ago Eva always knew that she was very lucky that her son treated her with such care. So Eva was preparing herself mentally so that her son would gradually move away from her and begin to live his own life. Chapter 114 The Tournament in Europe 2 If Jake knew what his mother was thinking he would just laugh, it was impossible that Jake wanted to get away from Eva, even if he started dating people his age or even got a girlfriend he would just organize the way how long he passed with each one. There was no reason for him to lose the family relationship just by having new friends and meeting new people, as Jake had already said the only reason people moved away from their families when they grew up was out of shame, and Jake was the same in his life last. He often wanted to have dinner with his mother after he got older and did not do it because he did not have the courage, so in this life that was his second chance he promised not to lose the good things in life out of shame, if that was so he would not have made so close to Anna. "And then Jake, how do you feel after playing for the first time after so long?" "All right, Mom, I really missed that, but it''s better to know that it looks like even though I stayed so long without a game I could still improve." "This year I hope you can get back to the school team." "I do not think this is going to happen, even without the height rule the coach will not want me to go back to the team and play as PG which is my position." "Then why do not you give up and play in the position the coach wants you to play, I''m sure you''ll play well." "I have confidence that I can also play well as SG, but I do not want to play in that position until I get to college at least, otherwise I feel like I will not be able to play PG for many years." "And why this?" "Because I still have a lot to improve as a PG, and in that position, I feel I can play better in the future, but as SG I can play perfectly, so everyone will realize this and will not give me a chance to improve." "I don''t understand." "It''s more like that, if I have a potential of 90 on a scale of 1 to 100 as SG I''ve already reached 85, that means I can do very little, but as PG my potential is 100, and I''m in the 79 now, I mean if I have the chance I can become much better as a PG than as SG in the future do you understand?" So Eva can understand, Jake wanted to say that it might be better as PG in the future, but it was better as SG now and he did not want to let the others know about it, otherwise, no one would give him a chance to get better. And most of all Jake knew that coach Philips did not know any of this, after all, he trusted the system that said that that means that for some reason coach Philips wanted to take Jake out of PG''s position, and that did not was thinking the best for Jake and neither of the team. Jake wanted to take advantage of high school to train and improve as much as he could his PG skills, then if he was in college or the NBA and that was a decision thinking the best for the team he would accept. So Jake''s rest time was over, and he saw his opponent, he seemed to be smaller than Jake was bigger than his last opponent, so Jake planned to do what he had thought before. He heard someone call the name of his opponent that was Carlos, Jake had the first possession of the ball, so he made a feint, he saw that Carlos appeared not to be very good in defense, after the feint he made a step back and gave the shot from outside to make the first 2 points. In addition to being very confident in his shots from outside, Jake also planned to let the opponent have a chance to attack also to be able to train his defense a little, so Jake planned to only shoot from the outside. It was not like Carlos knew this, so he just prepared for any attempt by Jake, Jake made another feint and Carlos fumbled again, so Jake made a step back and shot the outside. Jake could only laugh at this when he did not mind making mistakes, then Jake got another space and fired another shot from outside and hit again to make 2 more points. When Jake saw that Carlos was discouraged he just forced a shot out to miss, so Carlos finally got the chance and took the rebound and prepared to attack as Jake hoped Carlos can only get in the top 8 because he was good at his attacks. Jake placed himself in a position of defense and prepared calmly, being 6 points ahead and with an opponent who did not seem to be shooting from outside he could defend calmly. Carlos did not know he was being used to train Jake and just attacked, Carlos seemed to be very good at dribbling and was confident in his speed, but Jake was firm in his defense, Jake played over a thousand games in his imagination training, and Most of the games were with bigger opponents and more skilled than him. So if there was one thing that Jake learned and would never forget was to keep a small distance and defend well, so Carlos could not get rid of Jake''s defense in any way and was forced to do a mid-range shot that ended up hitting. So Carlos had to admit that Jake was very good at the defense, this was Jake''s mistake too, having had so much experience in the games of his imagination training he was an excellent defensive player, Jake just could not recognize it because he was very focused on skill ranks. So all Carlos attacks were the same way, he tried anyway, but could not get rid of Jake''s defense and ended up doing the mid-range shot, even though he was very good at it and made 3 points in 3 attacks. Jake still defended calmly, he knew that if he continued to defend so Carlos would make a mistake while focusing on the defense Jake realized that Carlos had a ball domain error and took the opportunity to steal the opponent''s ball. Carlos made a small mistake and Jake stole the ball, this was a difficult game, so with possession, Jake did not want to give Carlos another chance, he made a feint and then a cross jab and ran to do the layup. Carlos did not expect Jake to score internally and ended up suffering a dribble, now he was 7 to 3 for Jake, and Jake made some more feints and using the speed managed to pass Carlos and make 1 more point with a layup. So Carlos gave some space to react better Jake''s speed, Jake took a step back and made another shot from outside, and so did two more points and won the game. After Jake missed a shot from outside the game looked like it would be disputed, but then in 3 more moves, Jake can guarantee the victory by 10 to 3. Carlos was sad for have lost but accepted the result because he knew that Jake was better than him, in fact, many in the stand thought that even if Jake played with those at the age of 17 could still win. Jake greeted Carlos for the good game and soon returned to his mother''s side, Jake wanted to see the games of his possible opponents, Jake could immediately see two opponents that he thought could be strong in two different games, so he hoped that one of these two were their next opponents in the fifth game and in the final. The two were players with a height of 1.76 that was the minimum required by the Philips coach, they should be Centers or PF by the style of play, they were looking for the force showdown and then they tried to do the layup. Jake had a lot of experience in playing with much higher players, but his current opponents were not so the games were close to finishing, yet the results of the two games were not so remarkable, soon they won as Jake hoped. And so it was time for Jake''s fifth game, as Jake hoped his opponent was one of them, so the other should win the semifinal as well and could be the opponent of the Jake final, Jake had heard the name of his current opponent that was Miguel. Soon the game started with the ball in Miguel''s possession, Jake would not risk giving the ball to a difficult opponent so, as Jake hoped Miguel soon tried to use his body to force the passage to the basket. But he had chosen the wrong opponent if Jake was confident in anything it was in his strength that could be seen in numbers in his statistics window, so Miguel soon realized that he was losing in the power struggle and so decided to try the dribble. The dribble was not the forte of Miguel so Jake did not fall into any of his feints, so Miguel tried to use his speed and could not pass, and like his colleagues before him decided that the way was to shoot the mid-range, and so Miguel made the first point. Even though Jake could defend well even someone taller he could not make a block be a foul, so he just had to press and wait for the opponent to miss. So Miguel went again to the attack, even though he was not accustomed to attacking like that, Miguel was also a good player of his team in the school. Chapter 115 The Tournament in Europe 3 Jake was expecting a difficult game when he saw Miguel''s game before, although, despite Jake knowing how to defend well he still had not learned to use his strength to attack, he had to remember to ask Mark to teach him. Miguel was again to attack and after realizing that he could not get past Jake, he made a mid-range shot again, the ball entered again, so Miguel won by 2 points now. Miguel was not satisfied with that either because he knew that some time would go wrong, this was not his style of play, even though he had to keep trying, Jake was still firm in defense, he was waiting for Miguel to miss. After trying to get past Jake again unsuccessfully he tried another mid-range shot and the ball went up again for 1 more point, Miguel liked to have a 3-point advantage in such a difficult game. So in another attack he tried another shot mid-range and missed this time, Jake was quick to pick up the rebound and start his first attack in the game, after going to 3-point line Miguel was already attentive in defense, Miguel''s stance was much more confident in defense where he was better. Jake made a comeback and took the shot from outside, so he scored 2 points and reduced Miguel''s lead. on the scoreboard for 1 point. Miguel did not expect Jake to take the shot outside and so he let Jake take the shot quietly, but the next he would be higher, Jake realized that too, so he tried some feints and Miguel did not fall into any. So Jake pretended that he would make a feint and sped to Miguel, Miguel tried to go after Jake, but without success and so Jake did another 1 point with the layup. So Jake had tied the game, Miguel did not like it, but now he could not ignore the feints of Jake that could be played real, so Jake tried the feint again and Miguel rocked a little, then Jake accelerated again. This time Miguel was aware and tried to block Jake, Jake soon makes the crossover and be able to change the direction of his race quickly, Miguel cannot react to this and can only see Jake do another 1 point with the layup. Miguel had to admit that Jake was a tough opponent, but he had a way to deal with opponents so when Jake went to attack again he saw that Miguel seemed to be giving Jake a way, and that was it. This was a kind of challenge Miguel made for his opponents that he thought he could not win normally, he allowed the opponent to try the layup and he would try the block that was what he did better, if the opponent could score the points would be sincerely admired and if he blocked it he would have the chance to win. Now it depended on whether Jake would accept the challenge or not, Jake decided to try, his layup was rank S and so he was confident in getting the points, so Jake ran along the path that Miguel opened and Miguel accompanied. Jake went to the inside area to make the layup, Miguel was aware went up to try the block too, but Jake had already made the move and just put the ball to make the point, this time Miguel was slower and Jake won. Miguel left the space again and Jake attacked again, this time Jake made another move with his hand at the time of the layup and managed to fool Miguel and make the point, so Jake was already winning from 6 to 3. To make a block correctly the defender has to get a good time, if the defender is very slow the attacker makes the point and if the defender is very fast the attacker can change the way to attack or try to get a foul. If the attacker knows in advance that the defender is going to try to block the move, it is much more advantageous for the attacker, so Jake accepted the challenge, and Miguel also knew that and yet he was confident in himself. After Jake''s first two attacks, Miguel could figure out which time would be right to make the block, so Jake went to the attack again, more confident after doing 2 points Jake went to the layup, Miguel made block at the right time, like Jake had a great speed of reaction after increasing his agility he tried to avoid the block and tried to make the point before. But as he had not completed the move correctly the ball did not come in and Miguel took the rebound, even so, Miguel was surprised, he made the block at the right time but Jake still managed to try to make the point. So Miguel started his attack, but again he was having trouble going through Jake again, but this time Miguel thought of a way to try to use his height to attack, he went to the bottom of the court and his back to the basket. Jake thought Miguel was trying to use his strength again to try to move forward and went to stop him, but Miguel had a different idea when Jake arrived, he could not move forward, but he had already trained several moves of that position. So Miguel used his body to turn toward the basket, shielding himself with his back to Jake, and then made the mid-range shot, Jake had never trained to defend from that position so he could just watch Miguel spin and could only react after Miguel did the shot and the point. After Miguel made the move again and got another 1 point making the game 6 to 5 for Jake, so Miguel discovered a good way to attack, Jake was not sure what to do, but he had a way to prevent Miguel from making this move easily. After Miguel tried the same move again, but when he turned his back Jake used his strength and with his body pushed Miguel away from the basket, so even if Miguel made the turn would still be far from the basket. Miguel still did not know how Jake was that age that he was so strong, but that was not important because with this movement Miguel lost the way to make this move, so he could attack just the same way he did in the beginning. Miguel tried the mid-range shot and managed to hit and tie the game, then in another move he did not have the same luck and ended up failing, Jake ran to get the rebound and make his attack, when he reached the 3-point line Jake got a space and made the shot from outside to make 2 points. Now the game was 8 to 6 for Jake, so Jake started the attack again he made some feints then got a space to the right side and made the mid-range shot to make another point. Jake took the challenge and went straight to the inside, Miguel knew that Jake would accept his challenge and this was also his. last chance to make the block and try to win the game. So Miguel waited for the right moment to try to make the block, Jake just ran quickly towards the inner area, soon Jake jumped to make the point, Miguel jumped together to try the block, but this time Jake who had gotten impetus from the race did not try to do a layup and went to the Dunk. So with a Dunk, Jake won the game, Miguel did not even have the chance to try the block because he did not expect Jake to try the dunk in that game, and he was convinced after losing that game. The crowd was also excited to see a dunk in this game and everyone started to applaud the good game, Jake greeted Miguel for the good game and went to his mother because he wanted to see the end of his opponent''s game in the final. Although Jake was right and the tallest player was winning his opponent who was in the last four, he was not weak, so the game was being point-to-point despite the advantage of the taller player. So after a while the game ended and Jake confirmed who was his opponent in the final in a few days, Jake could not play in that game so he was confident to win, after all, he could not risk taking a trip to Spain for nothing. After that Jake went home happy to have won, if this was a game in the days when cell phones and the internet were everywhere, Jake''s game would be a hit on social networks. This time Jake went every day after his game to the tournament site to see the games of people of all ages, of course, Eva did not want to see those games where Jake would not play and stayed in the hotel, so Jake tried after seeing the first games guess who would be in the final. In addition, Jake wanted to see if he learned anything about how to defend himself against plays like Miguel did against him, and so he saw that it was almost the same way he did even though not everyone had the same strength as him before to become an adult and thus contended for space so as not to allow the attacker to turn on the defender easily. Chapter 116 The Tournament in Europe 4 So Jake can hit the finalists of the tournaments with the ages of 15 and 16, in games with the elders all were very disputed and had many good players so Jake cannot guess, but he can learn a lot by watching these four days of games. Before he did not care much about watching the games with youngsters of those ages because he was in a very distant reality for him, but now that Jake was in high school these people were possible opponents for him one day. In the case of Spain, he would only play against them if he could be a professional, but he thought of youngsters in general as opponents, with the system to help he could not give the excuse that he was too young to dispute with these players. After seeing the final days of the qualifiers the finals would be the next day and he could no longer just watch because he also had to play, Jake heard that there would also be a television channel covering the games of the finals and several local newspapers as well. So it would be a good advertisement for the companies of Tiffany and Clara when he won, Clara said he could not be in time to follow Jake''s game in the final because he had to solve some things even before opening his stores in Spain. Jake understood this very well, the business never has certain forecast to finish, thus it could not even be called of unforeseen and yes it was a common thing, the important thing was to have no error after the stores were opened. Jake was already happy that he would have his mother with him on the final day, back at the hotel he was remembering the first Dunk he made in the game against Miguel, Jake had seen that his layups were already reaching the table normally, so he thought that if he took more momentum and used his superior physical statistics he could get a Dunk. And it turned out well, even though the rank of that ability was too low for him to try hard on the games after he grew up a bit and trained more skill would be another resource for him in the games. But if he was unmarked and running to make the points as it has happened several times he could try the Dunk, after all besides being suitable for him to do this was a big boost to team morale in the game. The other day Jake woke up early again, after all, today would be the day of the final, Eva looked affectionately at her son who was all excited, she thought that only when it came to basketball Jake seemed to be really a child. "Do you think you can win today, my son?" "I''m sure, I have more confidence when I can play alone, after all, it only depends on my result to win, but even so my opponent seems to be very strong, I have to play more seriously today." Eva knew that even though Jake was struggling on the first day of the tournament he had not done his best, in fact not even she knows what would be the best of her son, after all in the final of the national championship of the Middle School both she and all that were in the crowd thought Jake''s team would lose, but Jake managed to get the win in the end. Of course, the biggest reason for this is that Eva does not get too much basketball, Jake really overcame his limits in that national championship final game, but he was only 13 at the time now more than 1 years later with Jake growing up and training every day was normal that he improved a lot. After they went to the tournament site where all the finals of all ages would be held, Jake waited close to his mother as he listened to the people''s conversations in the stands, most people came here to see the games of the elders. Soon the first game of the day that would be the final for the age of 13, Jake saw the player he knew would be the winner since the semifinal and paid attention, most of the fans had not come that day so they hoped for a good game. But as Jake hoped after a few minutes the first final ended up being 10 to 4 for the player Jake expected to win, it was a one-sided game, of course since they were all good players it was difficult for someone to win by 10 to 0, so the 4 points were just the basics. Then it was Jake''s game, his opponent was Raul and he seemed confident in the win, of course, the people in the crowd who watched Jake''s game expected him to win if he played the same way as in the semifinal, but it was normal for Raul to be confident, usually in a game with two players of similar skill the highest would win. But that was true only when they had similar abilities, Jake received the first possession of the ball and smiled, Raul was a better defender than Miguel, but only when they arrived near the basket. Jake just advanced calmly and Raul took a step back to keep the distance, so Jake made a step back and made the shot out, so he made the first two points of the final, the fans liked to see a shot from outside and applauded. Raul did not expect Jake to take a shot from outside and it made him more upset, but soon recovered his calm and defended Jake more closely. Jake who waited for this made a fake and Raul fell on the feint, so Jake just ran to the other side and did not give chances for Raul to recover and did the layup to score another 1 point. Jake liked to use his speed more when he played more seriously because he knew there was no one in High School who was faster than him, it was a safe play. So Raul had to go a little further away as he watched for a possible shot from outside Jake, this was the suffering of all who defended against Jake, could not know what he would do next. Jake made some more feints, but Raul did not fall and so Jake pretended to do another feint and really accelerated, Raul was able to follow this time so Jake made a crossover and then a bait behind his back and Raul who fumbled in these fast movements ended up on the ground and so Jake ran free and made a dunk to score another 1 point. The crowd began to cheer and cheer more lively with the beautiful plays of the final, Raul stood up from the embarrassing ground and went to defend a little distracted Jake realized this and made a feint and then a step back to make a shot out and get 2 more points. So Jake was more excited winning by 6 to 0 and Raul wanted only power for Jake once and score 1 point not to lose very ugly, but Jake decided to take this game seriously and did not want to give any chance to the opponent. Jake made another feint and a cut dribble and ran to do the layup plus 1 point, Raul was helpless in defending against Jake the worst was that when Jake could get through it with his speed could not react, if it was not an official tournament he would even complain that Jake should be older than 14 years. The crowd only wanted to see a beautiful spectacle and did not care about Raul and twisted louder, Eva was also happy with her son winning and cheering together. So Raul gave space to Jake to make the shot from outside, so if Jake erred he would have a chance to make at least 1 point, Jake took the chance and fired a shot from outside to make 2 more points. After Jake got the ball again, now it was the last ball of the game if Jake made that point the game would end, Raul had also given up, but it had to look like he would still fight to the end. Seeing that Raul seemed inattentive Jake saw the opportunity to use the dribble he created, so Jake hit the ball on the ground and moves quickly, Raul who was watching Jake realized that the ball had disappeared from Jake''s hands and thought that he had made a mistake and turned to look for the ball. Jake did not think Raul would deviate from his vision when he did the dribble and just passed Raul when Raul heard the sound of the ball on the court he saw that Jake still had the ball in his mother and running to make the Dunk and the point of victory. Raul did not understand what happened and the fans just thought that Raul gave up the game because everyone could see the ball in Jake''s hands all the time, Jake did not know if his dribble was a success or not because he did not expect Raul to do it. But he was happy to win the tournament, Jake only received a small trophy and a medal with no cash prize and no interviews as it was in New York, yet he was happy. Jake got one of the awards photos and the others would be put in the paper, so Jake went to the bleachers and gave his mother a hug to celebrate. Eva was already used to seeing Jake win, but she would always be happy about it, especially when she heard people in the audience cheer for her son. After Jake celebrated time with his mother he turned to watch the next games, after all, it was a rare chance to learn something by watching these games, soon the final 15 years would begin. Jake had been wondering who would go to the final, but could not guess who would win that game between the two. Chapter 117 The Tournament in Europe 5 Jake would pay attention to every game, so he saw the final between the two 15-year-old players, the two had similar heights and were bigger than Jake. The two were speed players, so this was a game with many feints and short runs, the two players were not very good in defense so it was an open game, who had the first possession had the advantage. So after a running game that started with the first ball won from 10 to 7, if the other was a little better in the defense or the one who won missed a mid-range shot the result would be another. In the next 16-year final Jake had a hunch on who could win this game, both players were tall, but it seemed that one of them was PF and good at defending near the inside area, and the other was an SG and was good at defending in various ways. As it was a concern for Jake, all players even in high school had to be good at both attacking and defending, so Jake focused so much on improving his defense since he had confidence in his attack. So Jake hoped the SG would win because that SG was tall too and knew how to make shots from outside, now it would depend on whether he would hit or miss more, who started with the possession of the ball was the PF, so he had an advantage. The SG pressed with their defense, but the PF managed to pass and made the first point with the layup, then again the PF passed SG and made another point. In the third attack, SG managed to get the hang of it and no longer allowed the PF to pass, so the PF tried the mid-range shot and made another point, in the other attack the PF cannot pass again and tried another mid-range shot and missed this time and so SG got the rebound. So the SG was up to the three-point line and as the PF was not close he took the shot out and made the first 2 points of him in the game, then again the SG tried the shot from outside and made 2 more points and went to the front in the game. After the SG managed to make a feint and a dribble passed by his opponent to make 1 more point, the PF that started well now was losing by 2 points, so he tried to tighten the defense, but SG was fast and soon can do more 1 points with a mid-range shot. After the PF managed to steal the ball and then tried to make an attack and decrease the advantage of the opponent, and the game continued like that, as Jake hoped the SG won by 10 to 7, after all, if he was shot outside, was 2 points. The 17-year-olds were much more exciting to the public, all were over 1.80 in height, so it was normal to have at least 6 Dunks per game, yet the game was much more contested because everyone who came in at the end was excellent players. Then it was the final for the 18-year-old, some of these players could even be professional by age, all were very good, but had no incredible player so the final was won by 10 to 9 with a dunk of the winner. After that Jake left with his mother, Jake had little more than a month of vacations still, so he would not return and waste the trip to Spain, in addition, he wanted to wait to see if the opening of the Tiffany and Clara stores would happen before his vacation was over. Jake wanted to be present at this important moment for her friends, Eva also wanted to stay here for a while longer, after all even if the hotel room cost a little it would be much more waste to leave without taking advantage. Jake liked a famous investor''s phrase that he did not remember the name ''the most valuable asset in the world is time'', it was true so Jake and his mother had to take advantage now that they had time because no one knew what the future would be like. After a few days strolling around town Jake managed to pick up some newspapers that had pictures of him and about the championship, he wanted to give to his mother who likes to save that newspapers that had stories about him and also show Clara that the announcement of the companies was legal in the picture of Jake''s uniform. After a few more weeks in Madrid, Jake and Eva finally got to see everything they wanted in the city, as it was a wonderful city had many sights and types of food to try. And Clara had finally come to town too, Jake called her and said she was still in town, Clara was surprised because she knew that Jake''s tournament had ended a few weeks ago, and then she could not get in touch with him. Now she knew it was because Jake had not come home after those weeks. "Hi Clara, how long have you been able to sort out all the stuff about opening the stores?" "Yes, I got it, I''m sorry I lost the entire tournament even though I asked you to come here." "No problem, actually I wanted to thank you, as I had stayed all this time without playing I wanted to participate in some tournaments like this, but I can never find where they are performed." "How good, then, are you sure you do not want the companies to pay for your trip to Spain? Even when I make my travels, whoever pays is the company, it''s more a matter of justice than having money or not." "This is because you are hired by the company, so all your expenses have to be registered to not generate future problems with shareholders, but I am only a sponsored athlete." "Moreover, because of my mistaken decision to enter this school, I have to stay out of the team and I am not giving visibility to their companies as I should, and my mother and I took advantage of the trip on that vacation." Seeing Jake give so many reasons so Clara did not say anything else, but she was a little surprised that Jake understood that she had to have her expenses recorded so she would not have problems, she knew Jake read books about companies, but she did not expect him to know so much about this. If Clara knew that Jake now had a company too and worked with investments at age 14 she would be even more surprised, Jake intended after showing that he was earning money advising his friends to invest as well. "So why are you still here in Spain? Getting to know the city on your vacation?" "That too, but I decided to stay here to witness the opening of the stores here if they happen before my holidays are over, after all, you and Tiffany are above all my friends." Clara was very moved by this gesture of Jake to stay in town just to support her, she was happy to have worked with Jake all those years. "Yes, it will be done later this week, Tiffany, unfortunately, will not be able to come anyway, but I''ll represent her in the opening as well." "It''s a shame she can not come, but she''ll sort things out in her company more important now, especially with the new stores soon her brands will be represented all over the world." "I hope you''re right, I and Tiffany sacrificed a lot of things and a lot of time for our companies to grow here." "I think you''ve already achieved a lot of things, even if you end up selling your company in the future, you''ve still done something incredible." "I wanted to never have to sell this company, I have a very special affection for her and it''s not just for the money that I did all this but also to feel that I did something in life." Jake understood well what Clara felt, not many women who managed to create a successful company in that decade, after the times were modernizing women could show more and more their ability, but the beginning is always difficult, he was sure that Clara and Tiffany were deserving of being called successful women. So after a week, Jake was present at the mall that the first store would open, Tiffany''s company had a store next to Clara''s company, actually, it was a much larger space that was split in the middle so the rent was cheaper and the shops stayed together. After that Jake returned home with his mother, but Clara would still have to stay in Madrid to sort out some things about the stores, in a few weeks it would be the beginning of Jake''s second year at high school. He said he did not think he could return to the team this year, but he still had some hopes that coach Philips would call him, if he was called back Jake would go to the team without saying anything about the past. Jake went to school on the first day of class to show the newspaper that he had a story about him for Joseph, but it was Joseph who called Jake to talk at the break saying he had something important to talk about. Jake naturally thought that his friend would finally introduce his new girlfriend to him, but Joseph seemed too serious to be about it. "What Joseph was, you''re so serious you''re scaring me." "I''ve wanted to talk to you for a while now, I''m dating, I started before this year''s vacation." "I already knew, it was so obvious after all you get out sometimes and also your grades were falling, so who is she?" "That''s what I wanted to tell you about, she does not like you very much and I think you do not like her too much." Chapter 118 Relationship Problems 1 "I think that''s impossible, I''ve never done anything wrong to anyone in this school, people might want to avoid me, but I do not see any reason why someone does not like me." "I also do not know why, I just know that when I said I wanted to introduce you to her, she said that she already knew you and did not like you very much and that''s why I did not introduce her to you." "And so that was what was so important that you wanted to talk to me?" "Yeah, I do not think things can go on like this, so I want you to see what you might have done wrong and try to get on with it." "Joseph, I think I''ve told you this before your friend and your girlfriend need not necessarily get along, just what needs to happen is that we do not quarrel with each other near you." "So if you already know that she does not like me do not introduce us, I do not even want to know who your girlfriend is, just tell her that no matter what crazy reason she does not like me she will not come and talk to me." "I''m your friend and I have no interest in being your girlfriend''s friend either, so let''s keep things the way they are." In fact, Jake had found it a bit strange after all, he almost did not talk to anyone, let alone give cause for anger at him, so before Joseph had started dating Jake had said that just to reassure his friend and also because he knew he did not have any person he was particularly against. But since it happened Jake still held the same opinion, if Joseph''s girlfriend did not like him much did not matter he was a friend of Joseph and did not want to be friends with his girlfriend too, in addition, they were in school and did not have many reasons to Jake ended up getting close at the moments that Joseph was with his girlfriend after all Jake would be the one that would end up being left. "But I wanted you two to get along, so I could rest easy." "So I''m sorry to tell you my friend, but you''re being selfish in this case, it''s not just because you want something that will really happen and especially in relationships between people if your girlfriend for some reason does not like me I do not think best to force this." "And if even after what I said you still insist on it I would recommend that you talk to your girlfriend and not me about it, after all, I said that I did nothing for anyone and also there is no one whom I do not like here, you have to convince your girlfriend to forget what she has and come and talk to me." Jake understood why Joseph came to him today, Joseph wanted Jake to have done something wrong for him to apologize, but Jake did not do anything wrong for what he remembered and not for a friend would he recognize something he did not do and apologize to satisfy someone''s madness. So if Joseph wanted Jake to get along with his girlfriend, who would have to compromise would be his girlfriend, not Jake. So Joseph was a little annoyed after finishing the conversation in a way different from what he expected Jake did not feel sorry for, he was a friend of Joseph, but that was not why he would do everything his friend asked. After this Jake continued doing his usual things, in the intervals he still talked to Joseph normally and they did not touch on the subject of Joseph''s girlfriend, Jake had often seen situations that a friend''s girlfriend does not like the other friend, but he never thought it would happen to him. But it was just like Jake had said, they were at school and if they did not get along, there was no reason for them to force themselves to meet. Jake would still often go to Joseph''s house to talk and play chess with Oliver, but they never talked about Joseph, just once Oliver asked Jake if there was anything wrong going on at school and Jake said he did not, should be after Oliver realized that Joseph''s notes had fallen. But Jake did not lie at all, he did not think Joseph would start dating was classified as a bad thing that happened at school, and in fact, Jake knew that Joseph was not very intelligent and so he had to study two or three times what your colleagues to get the best grades in the room. And after starting dating, it''s not as if Joseph stopped studying and rather that he went on to study the same as the others normally, so Jake thought that was right, he did not want to see his friend stressing for nothing. Jake also sometimes talked to Emily to find out how things were, Emily said that she was still doing work normally since Jake did not need her always, Emily''s father also liked Jake because Emily being Jake''s assistant she could not work in any law firm. And Emily also gained more recognition after starting to work with stocks and thus got jobs more easily, she also got more experience with these jobs too, and Emily always checked the progress of Jake''s investments, so he was very pleased. The time passed quickly and soon they were arriving at Jake''s end of year vacation and his trip with Eva, Jake would go to Germany this year, and this would be the last trip of the normal script planned by him, as Jake knew it was not only late 1 year to master a language he would have to travel to another place by the end of the year. The Tiffany and Clara companies were successful with their store openings in Spain too, they managed to open more stores in the country after that and planned to expand to the rest of Europe later. Eva still kept going whenever she could for cooking classes, and Jake would sometimes as well and their friendship with Anna was getting deeper and deeper, Jake still hoped that Anna could discover her mother''s dream, but Eva did not really count after these years. Jake also received the news that the basketball team had won the state championship and was not too surprised, from what they knew of their former Middle School teammates it was normal that they could reach the national championship at the very least. But Jake thought they could not win the national championship this year, after all, they are all good and with that competition had not as an incomplete team to win. And so in this situation Jake prepared his trip to Germany with his mother, he got all the hotels again and the rest needed for the trip and the agency just prepared the tickets and made the reservations. After that year studying Jake could finally say that he had mastered the German language, in the next few years he would try to learn the Japanese language and then the Russian language, then he had no interest in any other language. And so Jake went on his trip with Eva, as Jake had said he learned German for liking the same language, no other reason, but the trips he made to Europe that he liked the most went to Germany. Of course, the biggest reason was that Jake did not like to see the heritage sites or care about the sights when he was alone. So in Germany, he paid a driver to drive for him through much of Germany, he liked the scenery very much on the trip and even as he passed through the cities he liked to have a freer trip. Of course, now he was traveling with his mother, so he could enjoy much more of the travels of the cities in this life, yet he wanted to do the same trip he did the last time with his mother driving this time. He started the journey through Berlin and then continued his trip to Cologne after there they went to Trier where they had some attractions that he took Eva to see. After they went to Frankfurt, then to Heidelberg and ended their trip to Munich, Jake like the other time really enjoyed this trip where he was freer to go wherever he wanted and spend a few more days in the cities. Jake did not ask but he thought Eva had also liked this different way of making a trip were much more relaxing, and so Jake stayed in Munich until after his fifteenth birthday. Jake felt that these almost five years of his life on the second chance were wonderful, of all he was happiest was to have changed the life of his mother, who was previously living working stressed out at work and without friends with Jake even not talking much to her for having reached adolescence. But Eva''s life now was the complete opposite of it, actually Jake thought if she told her mother she could have lived otherwise she would not believe it herself. His life has really changed a lot from his past life for now, but this year would be a difficult year where Jake would have to make maybe another decision that would change his life, whether or not he would change school this year. Jake could not accept even his friend staying a third year without playing, as he knew he should do nothing about the school coach the only way for him was to change schools and cancel this contract. Chapter 119 Relationship Problems 2 He could accept being out for two years from the main team because he knew that many players would not normally play at that time, so he thought he was not losing so much, even if he went to another team if he could not win it would not be worth playing. But Jake could not stand another year that would be lost, so he would wait to see if something changed until the middle of the year before the third year of high school began and if nothing changed he would not even begin the next year at this school. Jake thought that now that his friend had a new girlfriend he would not be too lonely even if Jake had to go to another school. Eva also knew what Jake had in mind, in fact, she had been surprised by the maturity of her son for having endured staying almost two years without playing for responsibilities, so whatever Jake did she would support. So Jake and Eva ended the trip and returned home, Jake did not know now how he could convince his mother to make the trip next year Jake had already bought several books to be able to learn Japanese, but he was sure he would not learn in one year only. In addition, at school, classes are getting harder and harder, and there were many things Jake did not know, so he did not have as much time to read his books in class. Joseph had his grades down because of his girlfriend, but Jake had no excuse to let his grades drop, at most he would stop reading books from other subjects in class, but it was not necessary yet, perhaps because his intelligence was so high in statistics Jake can learn things more easily now. And so the first days of school began after this vacation, Jake thought of his future as he walked the halls and did not even see his friend Joseph coming. "So, Jake, what are you thinking you''re so distracted about? If I had a holiday like yours I''d be happy." "Do not tell lies, I talked to your father the other day and he said that he called you to travel several times and you who did not want it even more now I do not think you would agree to stay a few months out of the country and leave someone behind." "I told my father to stop being such a gossip, he tells everything to you." "You look pretty happy to anyone who has the grades dropping." "I do not care about that much anymore, I do not need to have the best grades in the room so I can graduate from school and go to a university, have no reason to study so much." "I''m happy because after so long my girlfriend finally admitted that I was wrong and that I should not say she does not like you, so she said if I wanted I could introduce her to you." "Who would have thought you''d have the talent to control women, all right then, when are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?" "It''s going to be this weekend, I''m going to take you and her to lunch at a restaurant." "You''re too exaggerated, you do not have to be so formal, introduce yourself to me at the end of class today." "Not this time will be my way, you have nothing to do on the weekend, you could do this favor for your friend." "So dramatic, all right then, I''ll be there at this restaurant." Jake saw that Joseph was quite happy and smiled too, now he was curious to know who this girlfriend was that was so mysterious for more than a year, Jake could say that Joseph really liked her very much and thought that perhaps in the future Joseph might end up marrying her. And so the week went by quickly, Jake wore a social shirt that he had bought recently, she was quite wide now, Jake bought several clothes after returning on his trip from Germany, but he was not with Eva this time. Eva was a bit sad about it but she accepted that her son was growing up, but that was not the reason Jake did not let Eva go with him. Jake did not even care that he was going to buy clothes with his mother until he was 30 years old, the reason was that even if Jake had enough money he did not want to waste anything, so his old clothes did not suit him anymore. On the other hand, Jake who had come from the future knew that he would have a big growth spurt in these next six months that would only stop after he turned 18, and with the system, he realized that he would be much higher than in his past life. So this time since he was forced to buy new clothes to have something to wear he would have to buy clothes much wider than his current size, and in a few months, those clothes will fit. Eva even fought him after he came back from shopping for not knowing how to shop, it was good that Jake did not have to care about the cost of the shoes because he earned from Clara''s company. When he arrived at the restaurant he saw Joseph sitting alone, it seems that his friend''s girlfriend had not arrived yet when Joseph saw Jake he smiled but then looked oddly at his clothes. "The clothes are beautiful, but was not your size right?" "You''ll see in a few months, I know what I do, besides, I did not plan on having to wear this anytime soon because of you, my sportswear is tailor-made." "I get angry at athletes because of you, people usually get strange wearing sports clothes every day, but since you have muscles and you look like a model using them, I get angry." "Thanks for the compliment I think, you also should already have how many models of different glasses, 20?" "Very funny, my girlfriend said that as I have to use it any way I could do it in style, and I think she''s right." "Speaking of your girlfriend, do not say that you marked her late on purpose." "I thought you were going to say she was late, but you''re right, as she already knows you and you do not know her, I thought it would be nice if she came later." So Jake had to wait a few more minutes to meet his friend''s girlfriend. After a while she arrived in an elegant dress, as everyone was 15 or 16 she already looked like a woman, Joseph hoped that Jake was surprised, but Jake seemed to know already who it was. Jake was not stupid after his friend said he had some problems with his girlfriend, Jake already had a few candidates only, so he just had to confirm. "Well it looks like you''ve been waiting, I''ll introduce you anyway, this is my girlfriend Liza." Yes, it was Liza the only woman who had a little more serious disagreement with him, actually Jake had thought it was her, but Liza would have to be too childish to dislike Jake even though he was the one who had been harmed by having to leave the team. But it turned out that she was really childish and had been angry with him, Liza was proud and even though she had already realized that Jake was not wrong she did not want to admit it, but after a few years she realized that Jake was more mature than her, so she was embarrassed to do it and even bring trouble to her boyfriend. Actually contrary to what she thought, Jake had even forgotten about Liza after that time the more she got mad at her, Jake simply did not care for Liza before, so Joseph could have settled for it. "Jake, I wanted to apologize to you, I already apologized to Joseph too, I know that my behavior was childish all this time and at the time as well." "I do not think you need to apologize to me, I never cared about that and even forgot you." She was a little annoyed at him saying he did not even remember her, but it showed how angry she had been for nothing during those years. "Well, if you''re all right then I''m relieved, I did not want my girlfriend to be against my friend." Jake just smiled that was never a problem for him, but maybe it was because he went through a lot in life and his mind was more stable if he was really young things could have been more problematic. So the three of them talked quietly for lunch and after a while, Liza had some time in the bathroom to ''adjust her makeup'' and Jake and Joseph were left alone again. "So Jake, she''s cool is not she." "I knew your girlfriend should be cool since you liked her like I said she had to be cool just for you and not for everyone else, otherwise you could have a lot of rivals." "Hahaha you''re right about that, now I''ve settled down with things being sorted out." "These things are normal when you and she grow up and mature fewer problems like that should happen." "But changing the subject a little, when do you intend to introduce her to your father and grandfather? From what I noticed you seem to really like her, and she also seems to really like you, so before your relationship becomes more serious I think your parents should know just like her parents." Jake did not want to be boring, but he knew that it was never a good idea to take too long to make things clear to the families, just so they would have a serious and serious relationship, Joseph had been dating for more than a year, it could not be too long more for parents to know. Chapter 120 Relationship Problems 3 "I know this, I wanted you to know first, if you would accept that, my father should also accept since you are alike, and also I can tell my father that you thought she was good, so he who trusts you will accept." "Her parents have known for some time, I even talked to them before, they accepted the dating too well." Jake did not mind being tested by his friend, he wanted all the people closest to him to be happy, Jake knew that Oliver would accept this relationship, Oliver would be very happy that his son was becoming a man. After a while, Liza came back, and this time it was Joseph who went to the bathroom, maybe the restaurant''s food had not fallen well for the couple, Jake who had a body improved by the system had an iron health and a digestive system functioning as a Swiss clock, so he was quiet. But it looked like it was Liza now who wanted to talk to Jake by herself if Jake did not know that Joseph had actually gone to the bathroom he might think they had arranged this before. "I know I was childish of going mad at you before, but you know what made me realize it at once?" Jake did not care much, but as his friend wanted him to be friendlier to Liza he had to continue the conversation. "What made you realize that?" "The current situation of the basketball team, now I realized that you were right a few years ago when said that coach Philips did not care about the players and only with the victory." "But now I realize that the situation is more serious than you said, he cares not for victory but for his authority." So Jake realized that this story was really his interest, after all even if he was no longer on the basketball team his teammates were still. "What happened?" "After you left the team, your old colleagues never got on very well with coach Philips, it was a little bit about you and another reason was this restriction of height, many were dissatisfied that they did not even have the opportunity to play." "Even though no one left the team like you after the gaming season started last year your old teammates could see that the players who were the starters had not been champions for anything and really played very well." "When they realized that even without the height restriction they would not have a chance to get a place on the team they stopped playing all the blame on the Philips coach." "So coach Philips really was a good and experienced coach and gave many councils and taught a few things that improved the techniques of his former teammates, how they could play in the training with the champion team they improved a lot." "After the season ended our school was the national champion again, Carter and Mark reached the minimum height and entered the starting team, and so they continued training quietly, after the regional championship vacation apart from Carter and Mark the other three were players who would graduate this year." "They were elite school students before and they were not hired so even after training for three years with coach Philips they were not stars, but they played more or less so they could easily win the regional championship." "The state championship was a bit tougher with these weaker players, but in the middle of the state championship David reached the minimum height and could take on the responsibility to get the team to win the state championship, but after that things got worse." "On this vacation, everyone was training normally but everyone including the coach knew that the team was not strong enough to win the national championship that way so everyone was reasonable in suggesting that Harrison who could not reach the minimum height this year played to have a chance." "I also found it reasonable because the coach only created that high rule to make the team stronger, but now he was making the team weaker without Harrison." "But the coach did not want to hear and said he would not go back on his word and break his own rules, he said that players should not try to override their authority and even said in the end that it was Harrison''s fault for not growing up." "After seeing this I remembered what you said and realized that you were right all the time, and if it were not for the coach''s absurdities you would be on the team too, with you there I''m sure we would win." Jake agreed with Liza too, the coach had some problems because he was so obsessed with authority, the important thing in Jake''s opinion was victory, not at any cost, but choosing a rule he created himself than winning is ridiculous. "If the coach let me play again as a PG and with the height I have I would go back without any problem, but I''m not the one to decide this, so I can not do anything about it." Liza knew that Jake was right if it was another player would not accept back after the coach does, but Jake did not care about it, again Liza realized how had been childish before. After Joseph came back from the bathroom, the three of them talked for a while, and then Jake got up to leave, but before he left Liza called him. "Jake since both of us will be in Joseph''s life now I hope we can be friends too." "Of course, I think so too." "Well, next week I''m going to have a little party at a club to celebrate my birthday and I wanted you to go too." Jake was surprised by this and Joseph was happy, this shows that Liza is really being sincere and wanting to be friends with Jake, Jake who had nothing to do accepted and left. "I''m very happy that you two are getting along now, I talked to Jake and next week after your birthday I''m going to tell Dad about us." "That''s great, I did not like having to date hidden from your family, but why did you decide now?" "Because Jake knew and accepted you, now is the time." "But what does Jake have to do with your father?" "It has a lot to do, you know how I am, I like to do things only when I''m sure it will work out, and my father is very restricted to me so I feared he would not accept our relationship." "But my father is very close to Jake and he totally trusts him, so if I say that Jake agreed and approved you, he would certainly approve as well." Liza knew that Joseph was doing it for both of them and so she was not upset over her boyfriend''s overcare, but if she knew Jake was the key to everything, she would have forgotten it and apologized to him a year ago. But she knew that Joseph did not say this so as not to pressure her, so she was happy to have a considerate boyfriend. "But you know you did not have to invite Jake to your birthday, I know you invited a few people, just the ones closest to you to this party." "No problem, I know he''s cool, in addition, you said Jake is very close to his mother and also single is not he?" "Yes, it''s true, why?" "I remember that my grandmother once told me that people who treat their mothers well tend to treat their girlfriends well, so I wanted to introduce them to a close friend of mine." "And you think it will work?" "I think she''s going, my friend is very modern, her I say I think Jake is good for her and she likes him herself can ask to date his friend, my friend already had many boyfriends but nobody was worth it, so I think Jake would be the right type for her." "But will your friend be the right person for Jake, as you said she''s dated several men did not give me the impression that she''s a good person." "It''s because you have a dirty mind when I said dating I mean going out a few times and giving a few kisses at the most and not what you''re thinking." Even so, Joseph did not think Liza''s friend was supposed to be the right person, but because he did not want to argue he was quiet, after all, it was Jake himself who would have to decide when the time came. Jake returned home not knowing he was being taken into a trap in a week, he spent some time talking to his mother and then went up to his room. Jake was still thinking about what Liza said about the basketball team, it seemed like the team was no longer so sure of winning the coach''s personality became a problem if even Liza realized this the whole team must be in trouble. Mostly David who is the hottest team can end up fighting with the coach but Jake did not think he would have much chance to play this year anyway if the team did not win the blame it could end up being awarded to the coach who did not put the best staff that could. Jake was worried about his former teammates, but he was also hopeful that this could cause some change in the team that makes him play for at least the next year. So now everything was in the hands of the coach as always if he had a change of attitude the team could even win this year and if not, would be in the hands of the director. Chapter 121 Relationship Problems 4 So another week went by quickly, Jake put on another of his social outfits after he packed many times his shirt tightened on his body, Jake would just go to congratulate him and then leave. He did not know what to give as a present and ended up buying a beautiful hat that he saw, he did not know whether or not Liza wanted to, but he did not think of anything else that would make it strange for his boyfriend''s friend to give away. After a while Jake arrived at the club where the party would be held, it was a pretty reserved and beautiful place perfect for celebrations with few people, Jake saw that they had only a few people when he arrived. Soon he could see Joseph and went to his friend. "Hi Joseph, where is your girlfriend?" "She''ll only come in later, as she is the hostess of the party her friends said she had to come in after most of them have arrived." Jake did not comment on this because he never did parties like this before, he enjoyed spending all his birthdays with just his mother, mostly because he did not have many friends, but he preferred it that way. Jake saw a table in the corner and went to put his gift together with the others, he did not want to stand out much anyway, Joseph also seemed a bit out of the way before Jake arrived. So Jake decided to stay with Joseph until Liza arrived, then he would congratulate her and leave, Jake did not like parties that much and as no one knew him would not be strange to leave at the beginning of the party. After a while, several people had arrived and Liza finally arrived, she was in a nice dress and high heels. Liza approached them and Jake silently moved away from Joseph who was the boyfriend. After Joseph started walking along with Liza while greeting the guests, when they greeted all of them they came to Jake, Jake was already anxious to leave and was a little annoyed to have been left last. "Hi Jake, thanks for coming." "Congratulations Liza, may you have many years to live." "Thank you." "So, I left my gift there at the table and I was just waiting to congratulate you before I left." "Are you leaving already? No, there''s someone I want to introduce you to, come with me." So Liza did not wait for Jake to respond and turned around and started walking, Jake was left unable to refuse and just followed in silence, Joseph knew that his friend was in a bad mood about being left waiting when he wanted to leave. Liza seemed to know that and left Jake last to give her time to introduce her friend before Jake left, but she did not know that would make him feel stressed. But it was not surprising that Jake was annoyed, he was one of the first to arrive and only came for education, then he was close to Liza when she began to greet the guests, and Liza came to greet before him until who came later her. So Jake thought she was doing it on purpose to annoy him, now she still wanted to drag him around. Liza finally reached a place further down where her friend was sitting at a table by herself, this woman was almost as tall as Jake with the high heels she wore, she was wearing a very pretty blue dress. She had long black hair that was smooth and came to her waist, she wore a slightly heavier makeup on her eyes, but wore a subtle lipstick on her lips, Jake had to admit she was beautiful. Jake tried to disguise his irritation for education, but it seemed that Liza''s friend had also noticed. "Jake, this is my friend, her name is Jennifer, Jenny this is Joseph''s friend that I told you." "Looks like you brought him against the will to see me." "This is not Jenny, is that Liza decided not to tell Jake and how she realized that he wanted to leave quickly had left him waiting on purpose after he arrived and finally greeted him, Liza did not like Jake much and my friend found that she did it to irritate him." To avoid further misunderstandings Joseph decided to make it clear to both of them, sometimes trying to make things by surprise irritate people, Liza also seemed embarrassed at not being able to read the situation before. Jake understood the situation, even more, was a little angry, but he had the education and stayed to talk to Jenny. Liza and Joseph left to leave the two alone although they already thought it had not worked out from the beginning. "Nice to meet you, Jeniffer." "You can call me Jenny, too, Jake, it looks like you did not like what Liza did." "To be honest I did not really like it, I do not like people doing things behind my back, we were not friends before that and I thought her invitation to the birthday was a way of trying to get closer to me I am Joseph''s friend." "If I thought she did it for me I would even be grateful for the intention, but it seems that it was not." "I liked that you were sincere, even though it might hurt me a little." "It was not your fault, I think she does things without thinking too much about others and not on time, I''m sure you did not ask her to do that, either." "Not really, but like you said how she did it for me I liked the intention." "I suppose so, even more, that as a friend you must know her way well, do you study at the Elite school as well?" "I study yes, there are many students at this school, so there are many classrooms the same year." "That''s true, even if they have a problem with teachers." "I heard from Liza that you were from the basketball team before you had a problem with the coach." "That''s right, you can not quarrel with those with authority." Jenny seemed to be interested in Jake and Jake was accustomed to having long conversations after long years of work, so he pulled out several subjects so as not to let Jenny think he had not very interested in her just from really not having. After a while they said goodbye, Jake left and Jenny had lots of friends at this party to talk to, Jake was determined not to trust Liza very much even if for politeness he did not want to be her friend after what she did to him. They did not have to be friends even to stay close to Joseph, they had only to respect, Jake met many people like Liza in his life, they were the kind of person who did not care much for people who were not his friends. Jake knew that it was not for evil but a personality trait, Liza herself must have done this with several people several times without realizing it, and thus hurt several people. It was because of a person like Liza who had in Jake''s company in his past life that the people of the company found out that he was impotent, Jake knew it was not on purpose, but it hurt the same way. When she arrived at the end of the party and everyone left, Liza approached her friend to find out what it was like. "And how was the conversation between you? Do you think that can work? " "I do not know if he got interested in me or was just educated, but I liked him, Jake does not seem to be the type who mind what I hate and he''s also very handsome." "So it was worth bringing him here." "But you''ve lost all chances of becoming his friend Liza, he''ll be polite to you not to leave Joseph unhappy, but he does not trust and dislike you." "Do you really think that? But he did not seem to be the kind of rancor keeper, I thought if I''d apologize he''d forget." "That''s what I said, he will not get mad at you over that, but he does not like that way of doing things the way you want him without caring about others and he''ll never be your friend." "That''s a shame, I wanted to be friends with him to make Joseph happy." So Jake returned home a little tired, he never liked going to parties with young people like that, and he ended up getting stressed because of Liza. But as always he just forgot the subject and went to sleep. The other day at school Joseph apologized to Jake, in fact, this time who had the biggest fault in this was Joseph, he knew what the girlfriend plans for the party and wanted to help his friend to get a girlfriend too and did not say anything to Jake. But he did not expect Jake to be so annoyed with all this, and he realized that Jake made it clear that Liza did not try to get too close to him, that''s what Jake said before, he was not too angry with Liza introducing him to another girl, the problem is that it was the wrong way and at the wrong time, besides, she did not do it thinking about him. After a few days Jake had forgotten about all of this and when classes were over he prepared to go home but when he was leaving school someone called for him. "Jake, wait a little while." When he turned around he saw someone he did not expect to see again, it was Jenny Liza''s friend, it seems destiny wants them to talk for a while longer. Chapter 122 Relationship Problems 5 "Jenny, I did not expect to see you again to tell you the truth." "You''re honest as always, I thought that after we talked for so long that day we''d become friends, I even thought you''d forgotten if you asked for my home phone number." "To be honest I was still angry that day and I thought it was not a very nice company, besides, I thought you did not like what Liza did." "Actually she had already told me about you before the party, and I said before that I would introduce you to the party, but she never said you did not know anything." "Well I think it''s best if we do not continue talking here on the way, what you think of talking more in the cafeteria near here, they have a very good cake." "Sure, let''s go." Jake was being polite to Jenny because he was accustomed to treating people like that, but to Jenny who always dated with more ignorant men what Jake did made her more interested in him. So Jake talked for some time with Jenny in the cafeteria, and then Jenny practically demanded that they pass the phone numbers on to each other. As Liza had told Joseph, her friend was a bit more modern and liked to take action, and Jake, who came from a time where almost all women were like that, found Jenny''s way normal. Even though it was a bit different Jenny still wanted to wait for Jake to call her out first, but she was bound to be disappointed because Jake would have more agitated time soon. Before the week ended, Clara called back to Jake to ask about Jake''s situation with his school staff, and Jake said he thought he would not play this semester yet. So Tiffany and Clara were thinking of finally making a normal advert after so many years, although being more expensive can bring better results for a brand to become popular. She did not try to make a regular announcement before because Jake brought many new customers and free publicity to the company and also because they thought Jake was still too young to do that, after all, it''s a bit strange to see a child representing some sports company anywhere. But now Jake already looked like an adult and a lot of people still remembered him in the Miami area at least, so they both decided it was a good time to do that. So they started to organize things, after thinking long Tiffany who was responsible for organizing things this time decided to work with a well-known advertising company instead of just taking the photos on a block. This was a company that used to make magazines and television ads for big companies on the market, so they had a lot of experience and even worked with big music and movie stars. They talked to Tiffany about what kind of trades they would have to do with Jake, it had to be something that would look good on both the TV and the pictures for the magazine, Tiffany who did not know asked Jake''s opinion who would be who had to do the commercial. Jake thought for a while and said he had an idea about a commercial that would show a lot to two brands of companies, but he did not know if the public would like it. Once they heard the idea of ??Jake, both Tiffany and the advertising company staff thought it would be a good idea, even if the audience did not find the commercial interesting, they would remember the brand. Even though trading was a good idea for television, the pictures for the magazine had to be made in the studio, when Jake went there he thought he might get to meet some movie stars or some musician there. They said there really was a singer who just started to get famous and could be a big star in the future, Jake got curious and went to see who the singer was, if it were to be famous in the future he would know. But the woman he saw taking the pictures was not someone famous in the future and seemed to be the same age as him now, as it was already there and his photos would be delayed. Jake sat down to see the photos being taken. He had to say that even if the woman was not going to become famous as a singer she was very pretty, had short black hair and beautiful green eyes, she had a very beautiful body too. The singer also saw Jake sitting looking at her from a distance and found it a bit odd why no one asked him to leave, she thought he should be there to take pictures too, but she did not care because she saw that Jake was looking at her usually and not in a disrespectful way. Jake realized that the singer was also looking at him and just looked directly into her eyes, he thought that if you looked away you would seem more guilty. After the photos were over Jake just got up and left, he did not want to bother the singer any further and also had to prepare to take the pictures of him. The singer thought Jake was coming to greet her or to try to pull off a conversation and did not think he would just leave, so she went to get ready to leave. After that Jake first went to take his pictures and then later in the afternoon he would go to a nearby gym to shoot the scenes for the television commercial. The photos would be of Jake in a uniform with the marks of both companies and taking a bottle of sports drink from Tiffany''s company, Tiffany''s company was now selling both the bottles with the drinks and cans as well. When the singer who was taking the photos before was thinking of leaving, she saw that Jake was taking the pictures, so she gave a smile and decided to sit to see the photos as revenge for before. After the photos were all gone straight to the court to film the commercial when the singer heard that a commercial would be filmed she became curious and decided to go along to see how she was free for the rest of the day. Arriving on the court still in uniform Jake started running around the court, he ran very fast it was to start sweating so the commercial looked more real. Jake''s idea that Tiffany and the company agreed that Jake looked like he was training very hard and during training he would drink two cans of Tiffany''s sports drink, then he would put the two cans in the corner of the block one away from the other on top of a pair of sneakers with Clara''s company brand underneath each can. So he would appear sitting on a bench and from afar trying to knead the cans, after he could knead the cans he would say ''workout of the day finished'' so it would make him look like he drank the sports drink from that company every day and had to knead the cans to be able to finish. It would not be so interesting, but it would show a lot to the brands of the companies. The singer was in the corner following the whole recording, as Jake knew what had to do well since the idea was his recording was fast, they would have to see if it would look good after the final edition. After exchanging Jake saw that the singer was still there and decided to greet her this time, the singer realized that Jake was coming and thought to leave, but realized that it was too late. "Hi, nice to meet you, my name is Jake." "My name is Kate, nice to meet you too." "I really liked your photos before Kate, I wanted to learn a bit so I did not do it wrong after my turn." "It was my first time too so you were lucky not to learn anything wrong." "I heard you were a singer, what style do you sing?" "I sing pop music, I started only a few years, I hope to be successful in the future." "I''m going to cheer for you, I hope you succeed, but this is a very competitive market, is not it?" "It''s true, but this is my dream so I can not give up just because it''s difficult, and you''re a basketball player or an actor?" "I play basketball, but not as a professional, maybe in the future." "I''ll cheer for you too, I think you have talent, it must be difficult to hit so many shots from the outside followed to be wrong." "I expect too." "I have to leave now, it was good to meet you, maybe we''ll see each other again in the future." "I expect too." So Kate left, Jake realized that she was feeling uncomfortable with the conversation and so he let her go without disturbing him, but he liked her a lot, it was a shame he knew she would not be very famous in the future, he decided to buy some CDs from her in the future. What Jake did not know was that this little conversation they had changed Kate''s future forever, but that he would only know more in the future. Jake asked the people who did the commercial if they would need him for anything, and then went home too, coming home he saw that Eva was waiting for him. "And son, how was the commercial recording?" "It was okay mom." "And when do you think I''ll be able to see you on television?" "That I do not know, they still have to buy a space with the channels to be able to start to pass the commercial, but the photos in the magazine you''ll be able to see next month already." "When you find out when the commercial is going to go on television you let me know." Jake smiled after seeing how his mother was excited to see the commercial that Jake appeared on television. Chapter 123 Change in Situation 1 To Eva, all the people who appeared in commercials on television were artists, and Eva was very fond of theater and cinema, so now she thought her son would also be an artist. In fact, she was not so wrong, but instead of star Jake would be a celebrity and not an artist, especially when he entered the NBA, then it would not be difficult to see Jake on television or in magazines. But Jake could see no reason to correct her upbeat mom if she made her happy she could even tell the others that he was an actor as Kate confused him. So after all this shaking Jake received the second news that changed things, Liza called Jake to talk after class. "And then Liza what happened?" "The basketball team was defeated yesterday in the third game of the national championship." "How did this happen?" "Coach Philips did not want to put Harrison in the team until the end and because of that the other players who knew they could not win were in the lowest mood and did not play their best and lost." So Jake can understand why the team had lost that game if Harrison were on the team even if they were not champions they could get to the final at least but the coach was upsetting the team now. So Jake cannot say anything to cheer Liza that was sad because the team had lost after all things still depended on the coach and not the players only. After a few days, Jake''s television commercial was shown for the first time and the magazine was also put up for sale, watching the magazine and television commercials still remembered Jake and liked the commercial. And Jake was already excited again, as he was not on the team he was not too sad they lost, only felt bad for his friends, so he received a call that caught him by surprise. "Hi Jake how long, I''ve seen your commercial and you in the magazine is getting famous now is not it." "It''s been a long time, Eric, did I even forget about you after these two years, being very successful there in the NBA?" "Yes, things have worked out for me here, I''m thinking of re-tracking some high school team games next season, but and you, as you missed after the third game only." "I do not lose a game since the second year of Middle School stops telling lies." "But I saw that the Elite High School basketball team had been eliminated yesterday, I thought that after winning last year something was really wrong, is this news wrong?" "No, the news is right, but I have not been playing in the Elite team since the national middle school championship." "How is this possible? Are you injured or are you in another school?" "No, I''m still in Elite school, but the coach did some things that kept me from playing for these two years, so I''m training." "With this it is possible! This coach is blind, and how could they win without you on the team last year?" "Last year the team still had the players who were champions before, they won for 2 straight years and then went to university." "So that''s it, what''s the name of this coach of your team right now." "Coach Philips, he trained a team from a university and made it to the final, so after winning the national championship for 2 years he has every confidence of the school." Eric felt that he had already heard of the name of this trainer, he hung up the phone after saying goodbye to Jake and went to do his research, his journalistic senses said that there was something more in this story. Jake thought there was nothing too much and just kept going his days normally, but with all these things going on in the last few weeks he''d completely forgotten to call Jenny. Jenny thought she was being ignored on purpose and stopped caring about Jake, she decided that she would stop thinking about him and forget him when she decided that she saw the commercial on television that Jake appeared, so she realized that it would be more difficult than she thought. On the weekend as always Jake and Eva went to Anna''s cooking classes and after class went to her house, getting there Jake told the two what was happening on the basketball team. "I never liked that coach, what is happening proves that I was not wrong, Jake was always a good guy and had to stay two years off the team without playing basketball because of that coach." "I also think, I should have gone to complain about what the coach did to my son if Jake did not stop me I would have gone." "It would not do any good mother, it would only make things worse at school." "Something must happen now, does not it?" "I do not know, but if nothing happens I''m going out of school on a mid-year break." While Jake was talking to Anna and Eva, Eric had finally finished his investigation, he knew he had heard about this coach before, was a player from one of the NBA teams. When Eric had interviewed that player about the personality of the coach of that team that was difficult with the players, this player said that in the old college there were rumors that once a coach punched a player''s face for disobeying him in the game. As the player was also wrong for having offended the coach the matter ended only with the dismissal of the trained, but then the other players of that team said that this coach was a little crazy indeed. And now Eric discovered that this coach was the current coach of Jake''s school team, he thought it was absurd that coach who had a history of violence against his athletes had managed to work in a high school school, now he would interview directly the president of the school to do a good story in the newspaper. While Eric was ready to fix problems the president of the school was looking at the magazine that had the photos of Jake, the president remembered that Jake was one of his favorite players and played in his school. Actually, the president was a very busy man and had been traveling in recent years to solve many affairs with members so he could not take care of just one player, he just knew that the basketball team won the national championship last year and lost that year. But the president did not know that one of his favorite players was out of the team and he was thinking of leaving his school soon. When the president was thinking of leaving home he knew that a reporter wanted to do an interview with him, how would be good news for his company the president allowed Eric''s entry. Eric came in and prepared for the interview, depending on what happened he would have to disrupt the business of the president''s company, so he prepared a mess. "Hi President, I''m Eric a reporter, I would like to ask a few questions about your school''s high school basketball team alright?" "Sure, you can ask whatever you want." "Very well, President, what do you think about the results of the basketball team these past few years?" "I''m very satisfied, it''s been 4 years since we''ve been developing a plan for our entire Elite school to become recognized for training stars of all sports, and I''m happy to be having good results." "This year the basketball team did not win, you know about that?" "I know yes, it was very unfortunate that this happened, but I believe this is normal in sports, no team can win every year." "I had information that the coach of your school''s basketball team has a history of being very authoritarian and has even hit one of your players, I wanted to know what you think about it." The president was taken aback by this question, as his school was a prestigious one it should normally be impossible to hire someone who has a history of violence, if the students'' parents knew this they would complain. "I do not think this information is true." "I checked this information myself before coming here, and I knew that this year''s loss could have been the fault of his coach for putting good players out of the team for any reason." So the president realized that it should be true, after all, information such as this can be easily verified, so the president was in big trouble now, the school had had a scandal a short time ago, now would have another for the incompetence of some people. And as soon as Eric left the president knew that this subject would be published in the newspaper the other day, so he had to think of a solution quickly about it. "Well, I thank you Eric for giving me this information, I would like to say that this information will be verified and if what you said is true I guarantee you can even publish on the matter that I will dismiss both the Philips coach and the responsibility for his hiring, we can not have a trainer with a history of violence training our students. " Eric was impressed with the intelligence of the president as a reporter, of course, he realized that the school should not know about the history of the coach''s violence, so he went straight to the president he knew he would take action on it, so he could help Jake too, Eric did not want to see Jake be playing with the talent he had. Chapter 124 Change in Situation 2 As soon as Eric was gone the angry president threw a glass vase that was on his desk on the wall, he was very annoyed by the incompetence of the people who worked for him, he had to stay almost three years busy and traveling everywhere to convince partners and major shareholders that the situation at school was improving. After all, many of these shareholders were unsure after the scandal a few years ago, but now because of the mistake of someone else everything he did was downwind, he was lucky that after he visited these partners and shareholders he got a big investment for the school. So, for now, these people will not think about giving up their investments and selling their shares, so the president called his secretary and asked her to have someone do an investigation on the subject, and he wanted a result the same day. After a few hours the secretary entered the president''s office and did not even have the guts to look into the president''s eyes, she handed them all out and left the room as if she were running away. The president needed less than half an hour to read all the information in the document, the secretariat was even efficient and even showed a complete result about everything that happened in the team''s training in the last three years, so the president knew that what Eric said it was true. He even saw that the coach put Jake who was one of his favorite players out of the team for a stupid reason, he agreed that size was important to winning games, but that was only if the taller players were more skilled than the minors, after all, have to have good skills to play basketball. So the president was sure that tomorrow he would meet what he said and send the coach away and an employee of the school that hired him, then he sent the information to Eric to put in his story. After Eric received the call from the president he was glad that everything went well, so he decided to call Jake to give the good news. "Hi Jake, I have good news for you." "I hope it''s good for you to call me at this time of night." "When you told me the name of your coach I remembered a rumor I heard from a coach who had beaten one of his players." "Yeah, what''s wrong?" "After I went to do an investigation and this coach who assaulted a student is the same that is in his school, so I talked to the president of his school and he assured me that tomorrow his coach will be fired, that is to say that in the year next you can go back to the basketball team." Jake was very happy with this, finally, he could return to play after 2 years, sorry that the team had already been eliminated this year but next year he was sure they would be better and more mature to be able to win another championship national. "Thank you so much for Eric, now I forgive you for staying 2 years without giving news." "Hahaha, now you forgive me is, well next year I want some exclusive MVP interviews okay." "You can let me assure you, thank you very much, you helped me with a subject that was bothering me for many years." "I enjoyed listening to this, but it''s true that if I was following the games I would have found out about this coach before, I''m ashamed of my co-workers who do not know how to do their job properly." After this Jake ran to tell the good news to his mother, Eva was very happy to hear that her son could play again next year, so it seems that Jake was rewarded for waiting in school for 2 years without playing, after all, he would still be in the same school as his friend and would not have missed much. After Jake told the news to Oliver, Joseph, and Anna that they were the people most concerned about him in this situation, then Jake had to call Liza although he did not want to, but as she always told the news of the team for him, Jake thought he had the obligation to tell it to her. "Hi Liza, it''s me, Jake." "Jake, what a surprise you call me, I thought you had lost my number, but this is not a good time to call." "I know, I would not have called if it was not for important news, the coach of our team will be fired tomorrow, so everything will probably focus well on the team next year, warn the players not to go training tomorrow." "There will be no more games this year, tell them to wait until the coach leaves school to go back to training, and you do not go there either." "That''s really great news, Jake, so you can all play normally next semester, I''m happy, but how do you know that? Can you tell me the details?" "It''ll be in the paper in the next few days, so good night." Jake did not want to get too involved in the call because he still had to call Clara and Tiffany, but after some thought, he thought it would be best to call tomorrow morning. So Jake went to sleep well and relaxed after hearing this news. The other day Jake called Tiffany and Clara to tell them about the good news the two said that after Jake called they could see the news in the paper as well, it seems that Eric had already done his job. Jake decided not to go to school today, he would probably be a mess at school today, he told Joseph not to go too, and Joseph told Liza. Who did not have a good day today was the Philips coach, he first knew about the newspaper that he would be fired, as soon as he saw the news he knew it was over, he hoped the school would find out about him, but then he thought they would fire him in private. So he could look for another place to work, but with this news, he had no choice, as he knew this could happen he had already saved good money this year, now he was thinking of going out of the country to train a basketball team somewhere else. Along with him, his wife was also sent away because it was she who recommended the husband even knowing he had this problem, of course, the coach would never know that if he had not gotten involved with Jake he would probably have this job for many years still. As Jake hoped the school was a mess the other day, some parents came to complain and also had reporters at school, so some classes were canceled in the afternoon, luckily the president had been quick and settled it in just one day. After everything was settled before the day was over the president decided to call Jake so he could talk to him privately, seeing the reports of the trainer he realized that Jake had been harmed even more had not left school, so he decided to call Jake to talk. Jake did not know what it was, but it was the same way the president was the one in charge at school, so it was the president who paid his salary for those two years. "Jake, it''s been a while since I''ve met you in person." "It''s my pleasure to meet you, Mr. President." "Well Jake, I called you here first to apologize on behalf of the school, I know that coach Philips has hurt you and some of your teammates a lot, and I would also like to thank you for not leaving this school." Jake found it a bit strange why a president at such a great school would apologize to him that he was just a student, and Jake was paid and had many benefits for coming to this school. "You must be wondering why I myself being the president of a school apologize to a student right?" "I''ll tell you why I was there watching the game that you were a state championship champion in Middle School sophomore year and you know what I realized in that game? I realized that you could become an NBA player in the future." "I did not know if you could be a star, but a professional player for sure you would be, so I did not hesitate to pay you to play in Middle School, to show my sincerity I do not even include high school in the contract." "That was because I thought as you loved basketball you would play naturally and try to win without needing a contract, of course, I would never imagine there would be a coach crazy enough to get you off the team." "I know now you no longer need sponsorship from the school, and you can also go to a university without help, but you still chose to stay in that school and wait and that''s why I think I need to thank you." "For me, it''s very important to have a player who will be from the NBA having played so many years in my school and you are that player." So Jake understood that the president was betting on his future, and Jake thought it nice to be recognized, so he did not regret having stayed in that school. "Well now I wanted to know if you have any requests to make, or any suggestions, I will do my best to do what you need." So Jake started to wonder if he had anything he wanted to ask the president for, it could not be too absurd, or the president certainly would not, so after thinking for a while Jake had a pretty good idea. Chapter 125 Change in Situation 3 "Mr. President I have an idea now that the school does not have a coach for the high school team and will have to look for someone qualified, why not promote coach Mike from the Middle School team? I think he''s capable enough to get the job done and then looking for someone capable of training the Middle School team should be easier." The president hoped Jake would ask for many different things in his mind, the president even told Jake that he would ask him a lot of money, but he never expected Jake''s request to be something that could benefit the school, not him. "Then this is agreed, coach Mike will be promoted at the beginning of next semester." So Jake was pleased with this, there were not many things he needed the president to give if he needed the money he could just sell some of his stock and he would have a lot, but what Jake cared most about was being able to play basketball in the next semester. So he could not risk the school hiring another crazy coach and he could not play in the season to see, so he remembered Coach Mike that Jake thought he had the ability to train the high school team if it were coach Mike he would have sure to be put to play. After everything was settled Jake went home and told about his conversation with the president to his mother, so Eva said she agreed that Jake had made the right decision to stay in that school waiting to be able to play. So Jake could sleep soundly for the first time in a long time because now he had no more trouble to worry about. On these holidays Jake wanted to just train and rest a lot because he would have to play early next semester, but Clara did not know that and called Jake. "Hi Jake, I remember you told me you were always looking for tournaments to play, but could not find any?" "Yes, indeed, Clara." He said so himself, but it was when he knew he could not play on the school basketball team, but he could not tell Clara that he seemed to be doing it for him. "I''ve heard that there''s going to be a tournament in Miami in two weeks, I do not know who''s organizing it more, it''s a 3-on-3 tournament, not like the ones you''ve played, so you need to find two more people to play, too it seemed that the age limit is under 18 so you can play with older players." So Jake was excited, it had been a long time since he wanted to play against people older than him again, so he would try to call some players from his school team to see them go. "Thanks for letting Clara know, I''ll go get some of my classmates from school and see if they''ll join me." "Alright then, this tournament is just for fun so you do not have to wear the uniform with the company brand if you do not want to." "Alright, thanks again." So Jake hung up the phone and soon called Mark, he always had the numbers of his teammates, but he never went to call if it was not for something important. "Hi Mark, this is Jake." "Hi Jake, how long, I thought you had forgotten if your teammates, we have not talked for nearly two years." "I told you that I do not like to talk on the phone for anything, I wanted to invite you to play a tournament that will be in a few weeks, this tournament is 3 against 3 and I thought I''d call you and David." "A tournament? It looks cool, I will." "Fine then, I''ll call David now." "Okay, goodbye." So Jake called David to invite him as well, David also complained that Jake had not talked to them in a long time and agreed to attend the tournament as well. So after a few weeks, the three friends went to participate in the tournament, this tournament would be done in just one day this time, it would start around 7 am and would go until around 10 pm so it would be a tiring day for the players, Jake did not care much about it. As they always had lots of people participating, Jake stayed close to David and Mark, he asked his friends how things were while he was away, they said he did not miss anything, after all, they did not get anything in those two years. Jake also realized that the two were much more mature, especially David who was much calmer, so Jake was curious to know how much they improved in the game as well. After waiting some time it was their turn to play, the opponents had some younger players and others older than them, it seems that it was a team formed just to have a little fun playing. Jake had already discussed some tactics with his teammates, possession began with Jake''s team, the game was up to 21 in this tournament and each shot was worth as many points as in an official game. So when Jake scored, he gave Mark a pass that he received and then did a layup to make the first 2 points, then Jake received an abolish to start another attack, Jake passed to David that in a few moments passed around the opposing player and makes two more points with a layup. In another move, Jake passed to Mark who even with the opponent defending well managed to turn and make the 2 points, so Jake can see a little how his teammates had improved a lot in those 2 years. They quickly made it 18 to 0 and Jake passed the last ball to David who shoots the outside to score 3 more points and win the game, so Jake was more certain that they could win the national championship next year. "You seem to have improved a lot in those two years, especially you David who seems to be calmer." "The only good thing about that coach was that he knew how to coach the players, so if he made up his personality he could have been good." "Who would have thought that one day I would hear you say that in David?" "I''ve improved my personality a lot, too, we all have to grow someday." "You do not seem to get much better from Jake." "It''s just that I''ve always been a lot better than you''ve always been, so you can not tell the difference." "Hahaha I do not think that''s it, you''ve been two years without training now I should be better than you." "You can keep dreaming David." After waiting for almost 2 hours the second game would finally happen, each team had to do 5 games to be the champion, and not all were as good as Jake''s team and win easily. So Jake who had been provoked by his teammates wanted to use this game to prove that he had improved so he passed the ball to David and then asked for it back, after receiving the pass he soon shot the outside and made the first 3 points of the game. On the other play, Jake asked David for the ball again, so David understood that Jake wanted to show off in that game and just passed the ball back, and that''s how it happened, Jake ten right 6 more shots out and made all 21 points without missing a beat. The whole fans were cheering much more opponents wanted to cry, the defender of Jake tried to get in the way, but Jake still shot the shots. After the game ended Jake looked at David as if to say I told you, David did not want to give up and replied. "That does not mean that you''ve improved in those two years, you could do it before." "That''s what I said, I was way better than you two years ago that you can not figure out how I got better." After that David had to admit that at least he could not beat Jake, Mark was just laughing at it, he knew Jake was not arrogant and was just doing it to provoke David, but what Jake said was true, be it two years ago or today Mark knew that just like Jake as captain they could win the national championship. In fact, although they did not say much about it, Mark knew that his 3 teammates did not want to be professionals, or rather they could not be professionals, so everyone just wanted to play in college and have good memories. But Mark felt that Jake did want to become a professional basketball player in the future, and Mark thought Jake had the ability to do that, as he knew Jake was a great player, and as SG he already had the ability to play at a university was what Mark thought. After a while the time came for the third game, the opponent seemed stronger, but Jake and his teammates did not care, Jake played seriously making points and making the passes on time, so in a short time, they won again from 21 to 0. The others were already getting angry with Jake''s team, it was obvious they were very good, so they should not come to play with amateurs, but no one could complain because it seemed that Jake''s team was only 16 years old. Many who were playing were 18 years old, so complaining after losing to a team that had players two years younger could not happen. The opponents of the semifinal seemed to be better, but Jake did not care, he made the same moves again and they made the points easily as well. Chapter 126 Change in Situation 4 In fact Jake had already thought that when he was younger to play 1 against 1 it was easier than 3 against 3, but now it seemed that it was different when he was getting older, this is because the opponents scored better and even if you had more skill was not so easy to make the points. But in the 3 against 3, you could use the help of your teammates to disengage from your opponents to make the points, as Jake had to whom to pass the ball the opponent could not score much over and Jake had space to do the dribble or the shot from outside. Jake passed to David and when his defender distracted he ran into the inside area, David saw this and passed the ball back, Jake received and ran alone to make the 2 points with a dunk. After Jake''s dunk the crowd started to cheer more, Mark who was the top of the team got excited too and after Jake passed the ball he ran and did the dunk too. Jake looked at David as if asking if he wanted to try as well, but David shook his head, it seemed David did not want to try too, after a few more plays Jake''s team won and went to the final. After the game was over he asked David why he did not want to try it either. "It''s not everyone who knows how to do everything just like you, I can not get the time to do the dunk and mistake often." "Do not worry about it, it''s just you train for longer and you''ll be able to make the dunk better and better." "I hope you''re right, but it''s not like I play less for not being able to do the dunk, so I do not care that much either." Jake realized that David just said it because he was being proud, but he could not do anything to help his friend, many things in basketball have no way to be trained and the player has to be born with this talent. The teams had a chance to take a break before the final game, many were tired of playing all day, but Jake''s team was relaxed because, in addition to being more accustomed to longer games, their tournament matches ended faster than others. After half an hour the game of the final would finally begin this time the ball started in the possession of the opponents of Jake''s team, their point guard passed the ball to the player who was being defended by David, David had been much better in defense after two years of training. So this player had difficulty passing through David, Jake approached him discreetly and when he saw a chance he stole the ball behind the player who was focused on David. So Jake returned to arm the attack, he passed the ball to Mark who was freer than David, Mark went to make the points but his opponents came in two to stop him, so Mark passed the ball to David who had been alone, David made the mid-range shot and scored 2 points for his team. After playing for a while without Jake the players got used to not being so dependent on a PG and passing the ball to the other players as well, Jake thought this was a good thing because it made the team more dynamic. In another attack, Jake made a step back and made the shot from outside to make 3 more points for his team, in another move Jake passed to Mark and received back to do the dunk, and in another, he passed to Mark to do the dunk and plus 2 points for staff. They played a lot of games together so the moves were easier, David was better scored so he did not receive many passes from Jake, within minutes they made the 21 points more easily and won the game. Even though they won this championship they were not so happy after all these games were defeated very easily, but still had some fun and see how they were to the skills of their teammates. They received the trophy and took some pictures, but this tournament was not very big and would not be published in the newspaper and did not even appear on television, which is why Clara said she did not need Jake to wear the uniform with the sponsorship. The three of them were happy to have won after having stayed so long without playing together, it was a good memory these photos and this trophy. Jake came home after that and told Eva that he had won the tournament and she was happy as always for her son, so Jake smiled too, Eva did not care if the tournament had been difficult or easy she liked to see Jake winning. Jake rested after a long day with a smile on his face. After playing this tournament Jake thought about retaking his vacation when he decided to take a walk in the mall to get distracted a bit, after walking for a while and buy a box of chocolate for his mother he stopped at a snack bar before going to House. After picking up his lunch he searched for a place to sit and saw only one table at the back of the diner, but when he got there he saw that there was someone he knew sitting near that table and decided to greet. "Hi Jenny, how long have not we seen each other." "Jake, I did not think I''d see you around here, we just stayed a long time without seeing you because you did not call me as you promised." "I''m sorry for that, many things happened in that time and I forgot when I remembered I thought I was already very late and decided not to call." "You should, you could call and apologize." "I''ve never been good at thinking about what people feel, so I do not have many friends." "Well this is over and I do not like being too stuck in the past." "You''re right, so I''ll sit here on the side, we''ll talk again." "You can sit with me since we met, it would be weirder for you to eat at a side table while pretending not to meet." "You''re right, so I''ll sit here." Jake sat down and just started eating normally, Jenny stared at him expecting him to start talking about something, but Jake just ate normally and quiet as if he were alone. "Are you really going to just be eating there and not talking to me?" So Jake stopped eating and looked at Jenny. "Honestly I think this situation is a bit strange, so since I''m not sure what to say I decided to just be quiet." So Jenny realized that Jake was being honest and instead of getting angry started laughing, Jake looked at her as if he thought she was strange and Jenny finally stopped laughing. "I was just thinking that you''re really different from the other men I''ve met, it''s different to meet someone who is as sincere as you." "I think everyone has their own way that makes it seem like everyone is unique, it just happens that it''s hard for people to show their true personalities out of fear of being rejected." "I agree, I also pretend to be somebody else because I''m afraid people do not like who I really am." "So I hope someday I can see how you really are." After meeting several times, Jake and Jenny finally began to try to get to know each other better, not just out of obligation because they were introduced by Liza, and so a different relationship began to happen. Jake was now at peace, he felt that again he did not have many problems to worry about and so can open the normal conversation with Jenny. So on vacation, Jake left home more often, sometimes he would go out with Jenny and sometimes he would go out with Eva, Joseph was going out with Liza longer, so Jake did not want to bother his friend. When the vacation was over Jake had done a lot of things and was completely rested and excited to get back to training at school, after another day of school Jake returned to school after so much time. He met with his old teammates and talked to them a while before the coach arrived, Harrison was excited by the change in the situation, but felt that those two years were for nothing, because he was training and still can not play as well Jake. The funny thing about this situation was that now that coach Philips had left the team, all 5 had reached the minimum height that was the rule that was made, this means that this year he could count on the team with full force if not fight with Jake. Liza arrived too and greeted all the players, it seemed that after these two years she was dearer to all players, she sent some strange looks to Jake, Jenny must have told her that they had met a few times on vacation. But Jake did not intend to thank Liza for that since she did not do it for him, Jake wanted to avoid as much as possible to be close to Liza, he sincerely hoped that when she got older she would improve that way, but he did not have much hope of it. After a while the new trainer who was a former acquaintance of Jake and his teammates stepped onto the court, coach Mike did not need to perform because everyone on that team knew him. Jake was excited, his life playing basketball in high school had finally begun. Chapter 127 A New Beginning 1 The training of the day was normal, but it also had a special feeling for all the people on the court, the players thought the confusion had finally ended, Jake thought he could finally play again, and Coach Mike was feeling a strange emotion as well. The day before school started the president called Coach Mike to his office, he said he trusted him and hoped he would do a great job in the years to come, but also made it very clear that it was at Jake''s request that he had been hired and that for the next two years it was better that he did not cause any problems. Mike was grateful for Jake''s thinking of him, but he felt a little strange that he had been ordered by the president to practically drop his authority as a coach, of course, he understood that this was only because of the president''s concern that something that happened to us years. And Mike also understood that Jake was not the kind of person to take advantage of the situation, so nothing would change as it was in Middle School, but served to show the importance that Jake has for the team. Jake was very calm in the coming weeks, the next day would be the first regional championship game, he could finally return to play normally, in those weeks he also talked a lot with Jenny on the phone and sometimes in person, and so the relationship between them was deepening. Jake can finally feel that things were back to what they should be, after dinner with his mother he went to bed and before bed, he decided to talk a little with the system. "Things have been a little intense in those two years, is not it, Fate." [These two years have been very good for improving your skills and also you can mature a little more, it''s important for you to know that even with the system things can get complicated for you too.] "That''s true, it helped me realize that this is real life and not a dream, things can go wrong and can work for me as for everyone." [You can also do many things in those years that you normally could not, you may know some people better too.] "That''s true, show me my statistics, please." [Here it is] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 15 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: High School Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 1.83 m] [Weight: 78 Kg] [Force 28] [Agility 28] [Resistance 30] [Intelligence 57] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling SS] [Body Control S] [Man to Man S] [Dribble SS] [Layup S] [Set Shot SS] [Block S] [Pass SS] [Rebound S] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] [Steal SS] [Dunk B] --------------------------------- Jake was impressed when he saw how much he improved that year, it was few times that he can see almost all his skills in the S rank, after looking for a while he cannot resist asking. "Fate, why have not I come up to the next level to upgrade my skills?" [There are two reasons for this, the first is that you have to raise your dunk skill to rank S too, and this is not going to be easy, the second is that you have to decide for sure what your next step will be, you can go to university like you said it would or could show the skills of the NBA.] So Jake realized that this was really important, but he had already decided to go to a university before, he had to realize that dream that was as much of his mother as his. [I think you should talk to your mother better about this, you can go to university when you are older if you are to fulfill your mother''s dream, you have to think about what is most important to your career as well.] [Because after you stop playing along with the money you''re going to earn in the NBA and with the stock you invested, you will not need to work after retiring from basketball, so I think you better think of it better, there''s still plenty of time until you have to choose since your dunk ability is still far from the S rank.] Just as the system said he thought he really should have this conversation with his mother, he also thought he would not have to do the university, also because after spending five years studying various business books in this life and more than 10 years in his life should not have much for him to learn. "But changing the subject, why do you say it will be difficult to raise my dunk skill rank?" [As I said before, some of your abilities are also affected by your overall stats and by your body, just as your height affects several of your abilities, so some of your abilities only rose in rank because your height increased.] [Dunk was one of them, that means you need to train a lot and grow up too so that dunk becomes S rank too, so you can get to your next level.] Since this did not just depend on him, Jake decided he would just rest to be well in the game the other day. The next day Jake woke up early and went down to have breakfast, down Jake saw that Eve had woken up earlier and had already prepared all the food. So Jake smiled and remembered that two years ago his mother really always cooked the breakfasts on game days. "Hi Jake, you woke up early today, I thought you were going to rest some more before you go to the game." "I think I was very excited, I still can not believe I''m finally going to be able to play again." "Oh, you can believe, things always turn out well when you wait and try hard if you did not train those two years you could not play this year." Jake thought his mother was right as always and ate his food quietly, then he got his purse with his things and went to the playground. Jake looked at the stands and saw that Eric was there as he said he would be, but the audience for this game was very small, this was normal it was a game that everyone knew what the result would be. Although last year they did not win, the Elite team is a team that reached the national championship for three consecutive years and won in two of them, Jake thought it was strange to be playing in a team that was a favorite to win, was the first time for him. In the two years that he played in Middle School his team was one that no one expected to win, but now many expected good results from them, of course, Jake did not feel any pressure, he always played to win even before. The opponents seemed discouraged because they expected them to lose the game when they learned they would play against the Elite team. Coach Mike had already established all strategies and tactics for the games in training, so in the game who would command the team was Jake, but this was a game that no one expected it to be difficult. After a while the game began, Mark won the first possession of the ball and passed to Jake, Jake with the ball possession began to organize the first attack for his team. Arriving at the three-point line he passed the ball to Harrison who would play for the first time in two years like him, Harrison who despite not playing much improved with the training ran towards the inner area and did the layup to do the first 2 points for the Elite team. The opposing team also managed to score 2 points and tie the game, Jake started another attack and this time did not pass to anyone and made the shot from outside to make 3 points. The game continued like this, before the defense if they hit both teams hit their attacks until the pressure of the Elite team''s defense increased and the opponent erred first, so the difference on the scoreboard only increased. The elite team attacked efficiently and defended well, as the advantage in the abilities of the players of both teams was very great the result was expected, in the interval after the second period the Elite team won from 42 to 24. Jake played those games with a different goal than just winning, he wanted to do a Triple Double in every game until he won the state championship, Jake was proud as well and wanted to show everyone that the national championship MVP was back in High School. Making more than 10 points and 10 assists were easy, the hard the other, Jake decided to try to make 10 steals per game, at least Double Double was guaranteed for him. After the game was over Jake was very happy, his teammates were already hoping for it and he thought it was normal, but for him, this was an important victory. Jake returned home and as he always did he was anxious to tell his mother about the victory in his return game when he came home smiling Eva already knew that everything had gone well. So that was the first step of a new beginning, it would be Jake''s walk for the first national championship to be defeated at high school. Jake wanted to at least win both he could still win to not feel bad for losing the first two, and he also thought it would be a good result to win two national championships in four years. The most important number was something that Jake counted on, but he did not care much but could be important information in the future, it was more than 3 years since Jake did not lose a game. Chapter 128 A New Beginning 2 After another week Jake''s team won another game, the team won well and Jake got his second Triple double followed, the team won well and everyone was very happy about it. Jake took advantage of the time and went to talk to Oliver, Jake came home and the housekeeper took him to Oliver''s office. "Jake, how long have I not seen you, you and Joseph are growing up, you''re not coming so much here and you''re starting dating a girl your age and my son started dating too, and I''m getting more alone all the time." "You''re too exaggerated, I know you were very happy when you heard that your son was dating." "Of course I was proud of my son, he''s still such a beautiful and intelligent girl that he''s dating." "And Joseph was afraid you would not agree, he said he expected me to approve to convince you, I saw that your son does not even know you." "I''m happy with that, you''ll know that when you''re a parent, your son has to be a bit afraid of the father to respect you more, the important thing is you know the right spot so it does not affect your relationship with your child." "I do not agree very much with this, but I know that each one has his way of raising a son, I have no fear of my mother, but there is not one person I respect more in the world than her." "That''s because your character is good, so I think you''re such a good influence on Joseph, you see he''s more confident now, he''s lost weight and even got a good girlfriend, all this is because you''re his friend." "I think you underestimate your son, he just needed better support, it could be me or anyone, besides, I also learned a lot of things and I am very grateful to be a friend of Joseph." "So that''s good for everyone, but by changing the subject I knew what happened at school, I said that it was best that you let me talk to your principal, I would have taken that ex-trainer from you a long time ago." "I could not imagine that the situation would be like this, I do not usually think that all are crooks." "But you should, so you would never be deceived." So Jake talked for a while with Oliver and then even played some chess matches with his friend, Oliver had a Jake-like mental age, so Jake felt more comfortable with him. Jake also decided to take Jenny to the movies to watch a movie with her, Jake wanted to know what it was like to watch Forrest Gump at the movies, he thought about taking his mother there, but now Eva also had her own friends, besides, Eva never liked much of this movie. So Jake thought of taking Jenny to see this movie with him, Jenny was very happy, she knew that Jake was different from the boys of the same age, but for some months they were leaving and Jake never tried to kiss her, so Jenny thought that he might not like her. But today she felt it would be different after all the cinema would create a perfect climate for this, and Jake had not thought of any of it and just wanted to see the movie. And after the movie was in the middle Jake realized that Jenny was looking at him with passionate eyes, although he did not really have many experiences with relationships he had some girlfriends and knew what Jenny was expecting. So Jake hugged her affectionately and kissed her after that Jenny had a satisfied smile on her face and returned to watch the movie after the film ended that Jake was realizing that the name of the protagonist of the film was Jenny and this may have excited a little she. Even though Jake had not planned on that, having already seen the movie turned out to be perfect for a first kiss, and Jenny must have thought it was the destination that made it happen, so after Jake took her home he officially asked Jenny to date with him and she accepted. Jake went home really thinking about how his luck worked well at such times, after dining with his mother he thought that would be a good time to tell what happened to her. "Mom, I wanted to tell you something that happened today." "What is my son?" "I started dating today." Eva was a little surprised for a while, after all, she did not even know that Jake had liked some woman, and suddenly he started dating up. "I think that''s very good, my son, who is she, what''s her name?" "Her name is Jeniffer and she studies at the same school as me, I met her at a birthday party for Joseph''s girlfriend, she was the one who introduced her to me." "So you''ve liked her since this party?" "No, I was a little angry at the time, so I did not care much about her, but I found her very beautiful, but after meeting with her many times I ended up liking her and started dating today." Eva knew that Jake did not use to lie so that must be the truth, she was very happy for her son, but a little sad because she knew that she would be more alone from now on, nevertheless she would always put Jake''s happiness in the first place. "So when are you going to introduce her to me, Jake?" "I do not know, I think only if things get more serious, even though I like her just now that we''re dating that I''ll be able to know more things about her and her more things about me." Jake thought anyway, mainly because he was a very serious person who did not like to play with anyone''s emotions and nobody to play with their emotions. So a week went by and the day of the third regional championship game came, Jake was completely focused on this game and the whole team as well, they knew that if they played well they would win, so they had to do only what they knew. Jake was still in search of his Triple Double in all games, so he was the most active player in the game when the game started Mark gained possession of the ball high for his team, Jake received the ball and started the first play of the game. Although Jake was behind making a Triple Double in the games who scored more points in all the games now it was David who was the SG, Jake thought that was the right one after all David improved his abilities very much in those two years. Carter attacked better now, but he was still much better at defense and Mark was the same, Harrison was also much better at his technique, but having stayed so long without playing he needed to find the rhythm of the game. So it was only natural that David was the one who made the most points in the games, Jake could too, but it was unnecessary for him to do it all alone having companions to play along. So in the plays Jake passed the ball more often to David and varied with his teammates, whenever he could he passed the ball to Mark who sometimes dunks to cheer the crowd, Jake also had times that ran right passing by all his opponents and doing a dunk. Now that Jake was taller with all his physical stats he could easily do a dunk, so he had to dunk whenever he could to increase the rank of his skills. As the opponents in the regional championship were weaker he could often guess where his opponents would make their passes and manage to steal, sometimes he also stole the ball by making a Double team on his opponents. When the game was over Jake had made another Triple Double and his team had won well again, Coach Mike was very pleased with that, Harrison was also regaining his game pace and would be 100 percent in the state championship. Eric also always took great pictures at Jake''s games, even though he is getting used to watching NBA games wherein several games he made several incredible plays, he was not the only one who followed these plays, often the newspapers published the same photos in their newspapers. That''s why Eric missed Middle School and high school games because many of those games went unnoticed by most of the other reporters and he felt he was finding a hidden treasure when he took these pictures. Eric long ago realized that if he watched the games of Jake had great chances to see this kind of play many times, in addition, it was much easier to get a good interview with young people of that age. So when Eric learned that Jake was two years out of play he was outraged, he sometimes imagined when watching NBA games when he would see Jake playing on that court and when he came back he discovered that some coach who did not understand basketball nearly spoiled his future. So Eric was happy to be able to help Jake this time, in addition, Jake was now more favorable to Eric and so it was easier for him as a reporter to get an exclusive interview both now and in the future when Jake was an NBA player, so Eric was the one who felt lucky. After the game ended Jake returned home to tell his mother about the victory as always, Jake was happy that the cell phone was getting more and more active at that time so he could buy one. Jake was very pleased with many things after returning to the past and many things in his life were much better than before, but the fact that he could not get his computer to access the internet was something difficult to get used to Jake, soon that time would return. Chapter 129 A New Beginning 3 A few days after the game Jake had already gone to school and talked a lot with his friend Joseph and also sometimes went out with his new girlfriend, sometimes Jake only stayed in homes with his mother, could say that he was having a few peaceful days again. Jake can also train a lot in school, coach Mike decided to pass some new plays that had not passed in the Middle School period for the team, Jake as always picked up all the moves easily, after training a lot with his team Jake was not about to do anymore the signs during the game. The team trained everything they needed during the week and in the game, it was easier to perform, Jake was also afraid that his opponents could get used to their signals and the plays would turn out to be more wrong than right. The days went by and the day of the fourth regional championship game arrived, even though it was the semifinal Jake''s team players were relaxed, they were just on the court waiting for the opposing team to enter. The opponents also did not seem to be afraid, as they had reached the regional championship semifinal they had confidence in their abilities, yet they were concentrated because they knew that the opponents were the champions for 3 years in a row. The game started with the ball in possession of the Elite team, Jake received the ball and started the attack calmly, Jake reached the line of three points and the team was all positioned in the attack, Jake passed the ball to Harrison who disengaged from the opponent. Harrison got a space and threatened to give the shot, the opponent got in the way and Harrison could dribble more easily, then Harrison made the mid-range shot to make the first 2 points for the Elite team. Everyone returned to the defense and waited for the attack, Jake was the one who was ahead to defend first off the line of three points, that prevented the little actions of the PG of the opposing team. In high school almost all teams had a player who was skillful in shots from outside, so now the Elite team could no longer give so much space on the defense. The opposing team can still tie the game in this move, so Jake was to start a new attack, reaching the three-point line Jake passed to David who was with space, David received the pass and shot the outside to score another 3 points. So the game continued in this way, the Elite team erred far less than the opponents in the games and so could be able to increase the advantage in the score in all periods of the game, Jake and David could also make the shot from outside with confidence because Mark and Carter took the rebound. Jake had every confidence that never again would happen what happened in the final of the National Middle School Championship with his team again. And so Jake always tried the steal when he had the opportunity and sometimes he could do 10 steals before making 10 assists for his teammates, by the end of that fourth game they had easily won by 30 points on the scoreboard. Eric who followed all the games finally realized that Jake was trying to make a Triple Double in every game, so he smiled and knew he could have an interesting story at the end of the national championship. In fact, Mark was also featured by doing a Double Double in every game taking the rebounds, it was normal when he thought his position was still an incredible result. Jake could also fight for the rebound, but found it unnecessary to dispute with a teammate, after that game ended the final would be in a few weeks, Jake said goodbye to everyone and went home to tell the good news to his mother. So Jake was prepared to play in the final of the regional championship that would be in a few weeks, although this was not a difficult game, it was important for Jake to win a championship after all this time, and Eva as always would be there. During the training Jake already treated Liza normally, although Jake did not want to be friends with Liza he did not see problems in treating her well, after all, she helped the basketball team and was a friend of both his girlfriend and his friend, it was impossible that Jake ignored her. As Jake had always been very sincere he also told Joseph and Jenny about why he did not like Liza very much, and he even told him about what his co-worker did with him in his past life, but he said it happened to someone else. After that Jake even told Joseph and Jenny that they did not take what Liza seriously did, they realized how bad it might be in the future and so they tried to talk to Liza, after all, Liza was still young and could change her personality in time before becoming an adult. After that Jake even realized that Liza had improved a lot and it weighed that if she continued like this he could become her friend in the future, Jake also during the week took Jenny to a restaurant to go out with her during the week. Jake felt that in those weeks after they started dating their relationship was getting better, and he was also getting to know her much better, and Jenny was also learning more about Jake. But one thing Jake did not like was that even though Jake talked a lot about his mother and even told about his father that he had died, Jenny did not say anything about his family in their conversations, Jake wanted to know more about it, but for now, he decided to make room for Jenny. Before that game Jake also ended up talking to Tiffany, Jake had asked how the companies were going and Tiffany said that everything was going well and then called Jake to have lunch. Since Jake did not really talk to Tiffany despite being sponsored by her company, he also accepted it, after all, it was important for him to talk to her as well as talk to Clara more often. Arriving at the restaurant Jake saw that Tiffany was wearing a very nice feminine suit, now that Jake had grown up that year his clothes were just a little larger than his size when he saw that Joseph and Eve who rebuked him were surprised by Jake''s prediction. "Hi, Jake, how long have not we talked to each other in person and that alone?" "It''s true, I know you''re very busy, after all, you besides having your own company are still shareholders of Clara''s company." "It''s true, I was very lucky, although at first, I trusted Clara''s talents and I even invested in the company because I wanted to help her raise capital and she could keep control of the company." "But I did not imagine that my investment would bring me so much return, besides, it''s thanks to Clara that I had the courage to start my own company after I received all this inheritance 10 years ago I honestly did not know what to do with so much money." "I really admire you and Clara too, I know how hard it is for women to be so successful over the years with an economy that sometimes favors men so much, so I think it''s inspiring." "You are also inspiring Jake, at your age I still had to suffer to study, but you already have a career ahead of you in basketball playing so well, still get good grades and spoke some languages, I wanted to have a child like you in the future." "I also have a lot of flaws, but I try to do my best, I also appreciate the confidence that you and Clara put into me at the time I was out of the basketball team." "We believe in your future too, as now you are going to another final and next year you will also win the national championship in high school, with what many can not do in a lifetime is worth waiting for." "I hope you''re right." "Actually I called you here because I''m very worried about something Jake, Clara, and her husband are practically making a civil war at their house." "What happened?" "Clara found out that Robert was cheating on her all this time, she already suspected it, but it seems that the situation is even worse than she imagined, Robert is not only cheating on passing women, he got a woman he says he loves. " "And why does not she end up with Robert right away?" "Because Robert''s father is still sick, and the truth is, I''ve heard that Robert has never touched Clara since they were married, so even if Clara gets angry, she''s not been so harmed, and even Robert only expects father his death to separate from Clara." "The situation seems to be complicated then, but Robert could at least expect them to separate before finding a new woman." "I also think, but it looks like the woman did not want to wait and said she would find another man so he did what he did." So Jake felt that this situation could get worse in the future, but even if he could talk to Tiffany about it it would seem that Clara would have to suffer until Robert''s father died, only after that could a solution be found. Another thing Jake thought was what would happen to Clara''s company after she broke up with her husband, after all, Robert had 10 percent of the company, and only normally should it be obvious for him to continue with these actions as the company. Clara was succeeding. Jake felt something different might happen. Even though this was something that would only be resolved in the future, so Jake went home because he had to prepare to play the final that would happen in a few days. Chapter 130 A New Beginning 4 As the days went by and the day of the regional championship final arrived, Jake woke up well and Eve had already cooked breakfast, Jake wondered if Jenny would make breakfast in the future in the future. Jake just erased that thought, he thought maybe no one in his life would treat him as well as his mother treated him, and if he could, Jake intended to take Eva to live with him after he got married. After all, Jake did not think Eva was going to marry again, and he would never let her live alone, besides, he thought either Jenny or another woman could not possibly have Eva as his mother-in-law, so Jake started to think that. Thinking of living alone he remembered Anna who lived alone now, after building a large family like Anna did, in an accident everything fell apart, Jake remembered a bit of his story when he remembered the story of Anna, so Jake thought of visit her the other day, so he could celebrate after he won today. So Jake went to the place of the game with his mother, this time they went by car, Jake could not wait to get his driver''s license for another year to be able to drive as well. When they arrived at the place Jake''s teammates and opponents had not yet arrived, only a few had arrived, Jake got ready in the corner while Eve went to the bleachers. Liza had also come to see the game and was preparing some towels and water bottles to deliver in the game, Jake looked at the best stands and was a bit sad not to see Jenny anywhere. If Jenny did not want to see his games, Jake would not ask for it either, but he was a bit sad about it, Joseph was not coming to the games even though he was a friend, but Jake thought it would be nice to see Jenny from time to time. So the time passed and everyone finally arrived and the game was about to start, the opponent was the team of the Spiders, they had as highlight the PG and the Center of the team, the PG was called Joe and the Center was called Juan. Jake wanted to try to triple-double once again, but this was an important game so he would focus more on the victory than on his personal performance, the game began Mark got the ball to the Elite team. Jake received the ball and started a fast attack for his team, Jake saw that the Spiders defense left Harrison cleared and passed the ball to him, so Harrison received the ball and ran to make the first two points of the final with a layup. The opponents also tried to respond quickly as Joe advanced to the Elite team''s defense court, Jake followed closely at close range, Joe saw that the SF team managed to infiltrate the Elite team defense and passed it to him. But Jake also realized this and so he stepped up to intercept the pass and steal the ball, after his agility went up a lot Jake realized that it was true that he had increased his reaction rate a lot, so after training a few dozen times in his Imagine training Jake was good at getting ahead and intercepting passes. So the fast attack of the team Spiders failed and Jake advanced quickly to the attack, Joe tried to follow and realized that Jake was much faster than him, so in a few seconds Jake made the dunk and 2 more points for his team. The crowd was excited by this fast-paced start and the Elite team already had a 4-point advantage in less than 30 seconds of play, after Joe was more careful with his passes, but even so Elite team defense was very difficult and the times they had to make a quick pass or a shot anyway because the ball possession time was over. The Spiders'' defense tried to do the same, but the elite team had a lot of skillful players, as the games got harder Jake and David shot the ball out and hit most of the time with 3 points, but even when they were missing Mark was there to catch the offensive rebound. Jake could also always count on Mark and Carter to attack internally, so at the end of the first period the Elite team won by 8 points of difference, Jake had already managed to steal 3 balls, but still, he was not satisfied. In the second period of play, it looked like another shot competition from outside the two teams, but the Elite team was more than double what the opponent, and with both defensive and offensive rebounds that Mark and Carter took the Elite team won this competition. At the end of the third period of the game the Elite team won by 30 points of difference and Jake finally managed to make the 10 steals in the game, so he managed to make a Triple Double in all regional championship games. Mark also had an incredible performance and got a defensive triple-double making more than 10 points, taking 10 rebounds and making 10 blocks in the game, with that performance was impossible for the Elite team to lose. Even Juan being one of the top Spiders players was completely nullified in this game by Mark, and Joe was having problems with Jake too, Jake did not make such a tight defense like that, but he got 6 of the steals in Joe. But even though they knew they had lost that final, the Spiders continued to work hard in the fourth quarter of the final, so the elite team won by 34 points and still greeted the Spiders for their bravery in that game. The whole team celebrated this championship trophy moreover and Jake was also thrilled to win for the first time after two years without playing, Eva was crying with happiness also to see her son win again. Eric took many pictures of all this, he was also happy to have helped, so the Elite team won and Jake who had returned to be the captain raised the champion trophy again. Then Jake received the regional championship MVP award and everyone thought it was more deserved, so everyone was happy to have started this season with a good result. Then no one interviewed this time because it was the regional championship and the fourth time the Elite team won, so no one cared much about an expected victory. So Jake and Eva went home, Jake may feel that he had recovered something he had lost after that victory, so soon it would be the state championship. Just as she had thought before the other day Jake and Eva went to Anna''s house, Anna was very happy to see them when it was neither class day, Jake came into the room and Anna came back with an apple pie she had made and served both. "I knew we should have come today mother if we would not miss that delicious cake." "I thought you had come to visit and not to eat." "I can do both, I''m sure Anna agrees." "He''s right Eva, I actually woke up early today thinking about making this pie, I have not done that in years, I''m glad you came while the pie is fresh." "Jake wanted to see up here to celebrate a little because his team won the regional championship yesterday, as this is the first trophy he has won in over two years he was very happy." "Congratulations Jake, if I had known I would have gone to watch as well." "Alright, you can watch when it''s the national championship final, so I get more excited." After talking for a while Eve went to the bathroom and Anna took the opportunity to talk to Jake alone. "I heard you got a girlfriend, eh, Jake, congratulations." "That''s right, we''re getting to know each other better now and I''m really enjoying it, but she does not tell me much about her family, I wanted to know about it too, but she seems to be avoiding it." "I''m sure she has her motives, sometimes it''s hard to talk about the family so give her some time." "I think so too, but for me, if she does not talk about family to me it will be a wall that keeps our relationship from getting more serious, I do not expect her to introduce me to her parents, but that''s the least." "I understand, you''re really different Jake, but I think you''re right, besides, you''re still young so you have plenty of time to talk about serious things." "But changing the subject, I think I have something you''re going to like to know, Jake." "Which is?" "I finally figured out what your mother''s dream is, I also did not imagine it would be that after all you told me, but it seems like it is." So Jake was really happy to hear this, he was even doubting whether or not Eva actually had a dream as he thought, but after more than two years she finally opened it and told Anna. "So what is my mother''s dream?" "Eva''s dream is to have a restaurant of hers." "What?" "That''s right you heard, Eva''s dream is to have a restaurant like you told me she''s endured for many years being a waitress I never thought it could be this, but it seems that''s it." So Jake was really shocked, he thought he knew his mother very well, but the last thing he hoped turned out to be the truth. Chapter 131 A New Beginning 5 "You do not have to be so shocked, Jake, it''s normal that you did not wait for this, but that was not because she''d worked in a restaurant for many years, but it sounds like something she heard from her parents when she was little." "You know how good she is at keeping secrets, so she should never have told you anything, actually she did not tell me directly either, but she ended up letting it slip away." "How was it?" "Well I was telling her about some good memories that I remembered from the time I had a restaurant, so after talking about it for a long time I started to get excited and Eva was moved too and ended up talking, but she did not must have not even realized that he let slip." "But as I tried to find out about it there was so much overrun I could not let that slip, I knew I was a lot like her mother when we met, we even liked the same things." "Thank you so much for telling me about it, Anna, I really needed to know about it." After Eva returned to the room the two disguised they were talking about her and returned to talk normally, but Jake was thinking a lot about how he would fulfill Eva''s dream. The biggest problem now was the money, Jake had raised almost $ 400,000 again after making that investment more than two years ago, but he wanted to re-invest that money in equity next year, he knew that money could make it 20 times over in 5 years investing, but Jake would not let Eva wait another 5 years to have his restaurant. So he knew he did not have much to decide, between getting richer and fulfilling his mother''s dream he would always choose to fulfill Eva''s dream, surely many would call Jake crazy, but the greatest regret he had in his last life it was not that he did not get richer but rather let Eva suffer. Now that Jake had decided after having his bleeding heart he would have to be sure to prepare things well so that his mother''s restaurant would not close after a few years, he would have to choose the right place and also what kind of restaurant it would be. Jake did not have to train normally after having the system with him, so he could take advantage of this time before the next championship to prepare the restaurant for Eva, the important thing was that to open a business from scratch took many months at least, so he had to start to organize this now. So in the next few days Jake spent preparing the start of a restaurant project for Eva, he just needed to prepare the base because he would never be ready before he knew what kind of business Eva wanted to do. It had to be decided whether it would be a high-class restaurant, a popular restaurant or even a restaurant that prepares foods from just one country, all this was very important to know before opening the restaurant, but to get a property to have the restaurant be renovated and other things could be prepared sooner. So Jake did a good job searching for everything it would take to open this restaurant, after preparing all the basics he called Emily, it had been a long time since he had spoken to his assistant, but he needed her now. Emily was glad to see Jake after all this time, she did various types of business work and people trusted her because she had an investment company that was Jake''s. Even after working with several people she still did not forget that she worked for Jake, and it was not just for the company or the salary, but because she saw how much the actions that Jake invested yielded in those two years. She''d thought about investing herself, but she was too scared to lose everything, to someone as cautious as she could not work with the stock market, maybe if she could see Jake making a good profit this time she had the courage to trust Jake at the time of investing. "Hi Emily how long, I see you look more mature and experienced after these years." Emily was a little speechless, it was hard to hear this from someone who was only 15, but as it was true she did not say anything. "It''s good to see you again, too, Jake." "I need you to do a very important job for me, look for some brokerage and real estate companies, and look for all the places in Miami that can open a restaurant and bring the data to me as soon as possible." Emily knew this would be a long and difficult job, but as Jake only needed her once a year it was impossible for her to complain. After passing on this job to Emily, Jake thought it was time to start talking to Matthew about the future, he told Oliver that he wanted to meet Matthew and that it was for him to come along. Oliver accepted and arranged everything, after all, he knew Jake well and knew that he should be planning something important for today, in the evening Jake made that meeting in a restaurant to be more formal. Matthew also liked Jake very much and even though he was a little busy he knew he could have some time at dinner time after they arrived they all sat down and dined together making jokes, only after dinner ended that Jake started talking. "So Jake, as you decided to call me and my son to this restaurant I think the subject is a bit more serious than this our conversation I''m not sure." "You''re right Matthew, I called Oliver here because he knows a few things about what I''m going to talk about today, Matthew, do you have a company that has factories and several camera distributors right?" "Yes, it is my pride that I raised this company by myself and is already worth more than 350 million nowadays." "It''s true, I think your company is an inspiration to me and Joseph who will be the heir of this company, what I want to say and Oliver here is to witness is that I studied for almost 5 years on my own and I was able to learn a little about business." "True father, Jake has an investment firm and has made good returns so far after two years." Oliver did not know what Jake intended with this, but he intended to help if it was just to speak the truth, Matthew was rather surprised by this, if Oliver said that the company had a good return it means that it was really good because his son was not of exaggeration. And Oliver said that two years ago, that means Jake started this company 2 years ago at the age of 13, that''s why I deserved his respect. "And this company that I''m investing in is a technology company that has only been valuing itself so much in recent years because it is involved in this great new innovation that will be the Internet that will be used worldwide." "You can see that in the coming years, all companies that engage with technology will be highly valued, of course, this will not be a healthy valuation and can cause problems." "But companies that make real profits and also have well-established ones will go through these harder trials than ever before." "Other things that are starting now, but will dominate the future of the market are computers and mobile phones, with the internet all will have one in 10 years." Matthew and Oliver were very interested in these ideas of Jake, it was interesting to see someone at the age of 15 talking so properly about the future, but they did not understand what this had to do with them. "It''s for all this future that I ask you, Matthew if you''re going to hire my company as a consultant for yours." "Jake I did not understand, I think my company is not so involved with this innovation in technology and so I did not understand this joke about my company hiring yours." "The fact that you have now said that your company has nothing to do with innovation in technology proves more than anything that you need to hire my company now." Oliver, who was a bit lost in all of this, stopped to think for a while, he knew that Jake was very smart and also had business talent, so he knew Jake was not kidding about it all. "Jake, neither I nor my dad is understanding what you''re talking about, try to be clearer about where you want to go." "He does not want to get anywhere, he''s kidding is not Jake?" "Dad, I do not think Jake is a person to call us here to play so let us listen." "Oliver is right, I''m not joking, as I really liked Joseph and the two of you too, I would have done it as advice, but I do believe people do not believe much in the things that are for free and so I''m asking you to hire my company, so everything I say becomes official. " So Matthew and Oliver realized that Jake was trying to emphasize how important this subject is, so they calmed down. "Well, Jake, for me to hire your company, I need to know why the internet and this new technology is so important to my photographic company." "Computers, cell phones, and the internet, these three things are very important to a possible future for your company, in fact, these things are fundamental to the future of fewer than 10 years for your company." "If you accept this technology, in the next 6 years at least, your company can become one of the most valued in the country and after these 6 years if you create a good base will grow even more." "But if you refuse this technology, your company of more than 350 million may have to be sold for half of that or open bankruptcy." Chapter 132 Time of Changes 1 But Jake thought he owed a lot to the companies of Tiffany and Clara, they supported him from a very early age when no one knew for sure if he would be a good player or not and they continued with him even when he had to stay a while without playing what would hurt their companies. Thanks to getting all this value from sponsorship since a long time ago he can take his mother out of the grueling work in the restaurant, have a good time those years while only caring about basketball. He can also make several trips with his mother taking advantage of the time they had and he can even invest a part of that money to earn much more in the future and even fulfill Eva''s dream of having a restaurant. In addition, he considered Tiffany and Clara his friends, so for all this, he wanted to continue this contract with them until when their companies wanted, after another 6 years when he enters the NBA he will no longer have to worry about money at all. "I want to continue this contract until the time the university finishes at least." "But have not you heard how much will be raised each month on your patronage?" "It does not matter, I''m sure it will be very good." So lunch ended and Jake went back to his house, Tiffany stayed on the table for a while and then started to smile, she knew Jake would be like that and that''s why their relationship was from friends plus business. Maybe if it was only for Tiffany and Clara, Jake could tell that he did not even need to increase the amount of his sponsorship per month, but as a result, whoever won was other company shareholders too he needed to treat it as a business and take advantage of it to make more money. Jake thought that if he could even compete in the Olympics two or six years from now, it would be great for companies to increase their sponsorship, so Jake was happy about that. After all, this had happened Jake was now focused on the final game that would be in a few days, after training what was possible the coach Mike sent the whole team home so that the players could be well rested to play in the final. Anna told Eva that she would be in the final also to see Jake''s game, he was very happy about it and his mother, of course, would be in the final also to support Jake in that game. As the days went by and the day of the final of the state championship finally arrived, Jake ate the feast in the morning made by his mother who always prepared a lot of food for Jake in final games. After Jake packed his bag and went to the place of the game with his mother when he arrived everyone had already arrived too, the gym where the game of the final would be played was full of people even if it was still a long time before the game began. This time the two teams seemed to be relaxed just waiting for the game to start, Jake could start packing for the game and meanwhile looked at the stands to see where the people he knew were. Anna got a place near the court to sit next to Eva, Jake saw Eric also with a camera in his hands, he could also see Tiffany sitting in a place farther from the court, then Jake looked across the bleachers, but could not see Jenny anywhere. He hoped Jenny would come by surprise because she should know about this game for Liza too, but she did not show up, now he hoped she could come to the national championship final if he could get there. Jake quickly recovered, he had to win this game if he wanted to think about the national championship, and even if Jenny did not come to his mother and many people came to support him. After a while the two teams were on the court just waiting for the game to start Jake''s team opponent in the final was the Sharks team, they knew that the Elite team would be a tough opponent but they were confident they could win. The Sharks'' team had three players who were the highlights, the PF was called Robert, Robert was very fast despite his height, the SF Lucas was a player who was very good at shots from outside and also helped the team PG to organize the plays sometimes that confused the opponents. And also had the PG of the team that so with Jake was in the third year of school and was already the highlight of the team, his name was Steve and he was the regional team MVP of their team, everyone on the team had a lot of confidence in Steve. Jake was confident of the victory even though everyone thought Steve was a great player, but Jake thought that if he did not try harder he could not be able to triple-double that final. Jake talked about this with coach Mike and the coach thought that if he could do this would only benefit the team, after all with a triple-double meant that he helped in at least 30 points for the team and took the chance of the opponent making 20 points, so Mike could only be good for the team. So the game started and Mike won the first possession of the ball for the Elite team, Jake received the ball and saw that Steve did not seem to want to score up for that game, so Jake advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to David. David got the ball and instead flew to the side trying to get out of the opponent''s defense when he saw that he could not get away easily David made a feint when the opponents fell into the feint David can pass by the opponent and run to do the layup and the 2 first points of the final. After this move, Steve received the ball to organize his team''s first attack in the final, Jake also gave Steve space up to the three-point line, reaching the three-point line. Steve looked calmly at the positioning of his teammates. Seeing Robert unmarked he passed the ball to him, Robert received Steve''s pass and then turned to make the mid-range shot to make 2 points and tie the game. After Jake got the ball and went to organize a new attack, arriving at the line of three points he saw Mark a little free and passed the ball to him, Mark received the pass and can run to do the layup and 2 more points for the team Elite. Jake can analyze that the opponent''s defense was a bit weak and was confused by their confidence, so Steve reached the three-point line but instead of passing the ball he tried passing by Jake, Jake defended and Steve failed, then Steve tried and Jake did not even react. So Steve passed the ball to the Center of his team that managed to make the 2 points for the team of Sharks, and the game continued like this until the end of the first period, Elite team wins by 4 points of difference. Jake thought that the opposing team was more difficult than he thought it would be, Jake had 8 points and 4 assists in that early period and managed to make 3 steals in that period. But none of the teams tried the shots out in that first period so it was hard to know what the game would be like from now on, Jake was also a bit worried about Steve who tried to get past him a few times, but he did not get anything. Jake heard that he was a player who had a very strong attack and so was curious because Steve did not try anything in the first period. Jake also saw that Carter seemed to be having difficulties with Robert in the defense, so Robert was the one who received the ball in the Sharks team and Jake got two steals in him helping Carter. When the second period began Jake calmly advanced to the court of attack, he passed the ball to David, David received the ball and made a step back and made a shot from outside to score his first 3 points in the game. Steve received the ball to organize the attack of his team, arriving in the line of three points he passed the ball to Lucas who managed to get rid of Harrison and made the shot from outside to make 3 points for the Sharks team. Jake started another attack and reaching the three-point line passed the ball to Mark who dunk to make 2 points for the Elite team to cheer the crowd, Steve started another attack for his team and passed the ball to Lucas who managed to do the mid-range shot to make 2 points for your team as well. After Jake made an attack for his team and advanced to the line of three points, arriving there he made a feint and then began to run, Steve did not expect and tried to follow Jake, Jake made a quick crossover and got rid of the defense of Steve and then made the dunk to make 2 more points for his team. The crowd cheered with this attack and began to make more noise, Steve started a new attack and reached the line of three points, Jake was attentive in the defense waiting for Steve to make his move. Steve made a shot from outside, Jake came up and almost made the block, Steve was scared by Jake''s quick reaction and ended up missing the shot from outside, Mark took the rebound and passed to Jake to start another attack calmly. With these new plays at the end of the second period the Elite team was winning by 10 points, Jake had done 5 steals and 7 assists in total and a lot more than 10 points already, so he was close to another Triple Double. Chapter 132 The Decision Defining the Future 1 "I''m saying this, do you understand how important it is that you hire my company and accept my councils or not?" So Matthew and Oliver finally understood why Jake was being so serious about this whole situation, bankruptcy for a company was one thing that should not be said jokingly, so Jake was trying to make it as formal as possible. Yet it was hard for them to believe that if they did not make a change the company of more than 15 years could end up failing, at most they thought they could miss a very good opportunity. But something told them that what Jake was saying was true and that could not be changed, in fact, what was influencing them now was Jake''s charm, leadership, and eloquence that had been maximized by the system when he talked about Business. But that only happened because what Jake was talking about was an absolute truth that he knew to have come from the future, the more truth the matter was and the more conviction Jake had to speak, but whoever he heard would believe it. "Well Jake, I''ll believe you, for now, so you tell me what your councils are and if it''s not something very absurd I might consider and so you''ll be hired." "Okay, let''s start first with the change that can make your business more successful or end up failing, as you all know people are lazy most of the time and do not want to make a lot of effort when they do something." "So today not everyone has a camera at home, why? This is because people have to take the trouble to buy the film reel to take the pictures and after that, they have to reveal the pictures, am I sure?" So Matthew and Oliver thought a little and saw that what Jake said was right, if everyone had a camera at home the companies would be much richer and there would be many more companies on the market. "Now try to imagine if a person had a camera and did not even have to buy rolls of film or reveal it, people could take pictures from anywhere and even make videos and hundreds of them, then they could see anywhere or even send them to friends, if so, do you think people would want to have a camera?" What Jake described was difficult to even imagine for Matthew and Oliver, if what Jake said was possible the cameras would truly be much more sold and the companies would make millions of dollars. "This is the power of technology, in a few years everything I said to you may be possible, but it is clear that such a good market will have a lot of competition and will also have the patent barrier, so it''s best to start early with this." "What I said to you is already being developed now and it''s called a digital camera, in the beginning, these photos can only be transferred to a computer, but in the future, it will be in several places, now I''m going to talk about more barriers and opportunities." "As I said before, the future will be for computers and cell phones, but why this? This will happen because computers and mobile phones will absorb and develop various technologies and products into one." "Imagine this computer and cell phone that you know today being smaller and more practical and having a digital camera, a music player and television among other things? With that everyone would just need a cell phone and a computer and the rest will be obsolete. " So Matthew and Oliver were confused again before Jake said that the digital camera could be the future and now he said that even if the company changed, it would still risk going bankrupt. "This is what I want you to understand, this is one of the markets that have the greatest opportunities, but it is also the most difficult market to compete, only being in front of everyone that you can conquer the best achievements." "But what I said about computers and cell phones is also an opportunity for digital camera companies, like this? You can be the first to develop the technology and thus provide for these companies." "Imagine if every person in the world has a cell phone and each home has a computer, in addition, with the new technologies developing people would switch phones every year if you were the supplier of products to these companies could earn hundreds of millions every month at least." "It means that all of this is risky, but it is a great future for those who know the way to go and I want to help you along that path, but like I said you can not avoid it if you do not adapt your company to the less you enter the digital camera market, your business will not have a future." So Matthew was quiet for a while, he had to think about what he could do for his company in the future, he did not want his company to end up failing because he did not know how to fit into the market and as Jake said this is key to an entrepreneur. Not to mention that as Jake said this is also a great opportunity, and all he had to do was take the first step, so he at least would not risk the failure. "Alright, Jake, I believe you, so you can tell me what I can do to keep my company from going broke." "I know that although you trust me will not immediately change your business and risk everything, so I recommend you open a section in your factories intended to make digital cameras, so if what I said really happens you may just give up make your film cameras and develop more digital cameras." "And for this to happen I suggest you hire several people who work with technology to develop this for you, and whatever you can try to put a patent on it, if any small business is developing this too you can try to buy that company to take advantage of technology." So Matthew and Oliver agreed with what Jake said if they did they would be prepared for the future and at the same time they would be taking care of themselves in case what Jake said did not happen. When Jake saw that they accepted their councils he was relieved, he was very tense and nervous about having to try to convince these people, after all, Jake cared a lot about Joseph''s family and did not want them to end up losing everything because he did not try. But now he was quiet because he did everything he could have done if the company was still closing because it was to be closed, Jake did not really want to do many things to change the future and so he did not try to create a company for his win with if future knowledge. Maybe that is why fate chose him to go back to the past if it was someone else, he would try to do everything to get rich and change the whole future, the truth is that Jake wanted very much to be an actor too, so he came to think of work with movies too. But that would affect many things and many people, so he did not try to do any of this, and even if he was called to make a famous movie he would not agree to do, Jake was very conscious to do things. As for what Jake said about wanting his company to be hired was not really true, he did it just to show that what he had to say was serious and not a joke, it now depended on Matthew''s ability to do business, Jake help in all he could just open a company of it and get rich alone. Moreover, the truth was that Jake did not have the money to start a business now if he took the money he invested in stocks he still would not have enough and would lose the chance to get rich without having to do anything. After Jake returned home and talked to his mother normally to go to bed, Eva could never know that Jake had spent the whole day trying to fulfill her dream and would have participated in a conversation that could be worth millions for many companies. The next day Jake woke up early and ate for breakfast and soon got ready to go to school, after all Emily still had to take a few weeks to get everything he asked for her, as he also settled the matter of Matthew''s company he could once again worry only about the state championship that would soon begin. In fact Jake was thinking nostalgically that maybe this could be the last trip he would make with Eva on New Year''s Eve, after all, next year his mother''s restaurant would be complete and she could not just go out to travel. And in a few years even if Eva can arrange things and travel again, Jake may also not have the free time to travel, as to make a trip with Jenny he would not do unless he was married to her. And so the days went by again, today would be the day that the Elite team would play the first game of the state championship, everyone was looking forward to it, Jake talked to his teammates and they said that the state high school championship was very disputed. The teams were very strong and last year if David did not return to the team and take all the victory in the last games they could be eliminated. Of course this year the team would have both Jake and Harrison besides David, so they thought he could win. Chapter 133 The Decision Defining the Future 2 Soon the two teams were on the court, the Elite team players were more relaxed and the opponents were treating this game as a final after all the Elite team had won the state championship for 3 years in a row. Jake still wanted to try the Triple Double in this game, it was impossible for the Elite team to not underestimate their opponents as everyone knew their abilities, even Jake could not avoid doing so, so Jake thought that having a goal like this could make him play more Really. The game began and Mark won the ball possession for the Elite team, Jake received the ball and began to organize the game calmly when he reached the three-point line he passed the ball to Carter who was freer. Carter managed to do the layup and the first 2 points before the opponent arrived when the teams had a lot of skill difference the game was so if it had a small space the player would make the points. Jake and his team-mates returned to defense and their opponents quickly reached the three-point line, Jake was ahead to defend a possible shot from outside, but the opposing PG decided to pass to the SG of his team. David who was on the defense pressed to disrupt the SG, but the SG still managed a small space and made the mid-range shot to make 2 points, Jake picked up the ball and began to organize another attack. Arriving at the court of attack he passed the ball to David, David was now much more mature than before and was not nervous with the ordinary moves and so made the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Elite team. So the opposing PG started the attack for his team and in the three-point line tried to make the shot from outside, but Jake also went up together and got the block, so Jake got the ball and ran alone to the attacking block and only stopped after to cross the entire block and do the dunk. When Jake stole a ball and ran for the attack the teammates did not even try to keep up and stay on the defense because they knew Jake would score. The mistake this time was of the opponent PG who underestimated Jake who was close in defense after Jake had his growth spurt that year, he had no more flaws in his game, neither attack nor defense. Of course Jake was not perfect, that means he had mastered the basics if a player with better ability than Jake attacked he could not defend, but he was on the right track. After that move the Elite team played calmly and managed to increase their lead, by the end of the first period Jake had achieved 4 steals and already made 6 points, the Elite team had an advantage of 8 points. In the second period, the opposing team''s PG seemed to be running away from Jake giving hasty passes to his teammates without a PG the opposing team could no longer attack well, and Jake was more likely to get the steals intercepting the rushed passes. So at the end of the second period, the advantage was 20 points for the Elite team, Jake had already made 6 assists and more than 10 points with 7 steals, this gave even more confidence for the Elite team to win. In the third period the opposing team seemed to have given up on the game and Jake could make his Triple Double, and tried harder to get the points out, and the game continued like this until the end, the Elite team won with 34 points difference. Mark and Carter were only thinking about how this game was different from last year, they also won, but the game was much more disputed, that year the Elite team was much better and defended well too. Proof of this was that even Harrison having improved greatly in defense he was still the weakest in the defense, in the training of the team the 1 to 1 were much more exciting than the training of the team. Less when 1 on 1 was with Jake, then training was not fun, Jake had both the dribble and steal in the SS rank, so the game was unilateral. After the game Jake went home to tell his mother about the victory, Jake was confident in winning this state championship also after today, after celebrating a little with his mother Jake went to his room. There was one thing that had not gone out of his head since he spoke to the system a few months ago, that''s what the system said about his being able to play other sports with his stats. Before Jake had even thought about it, but he would not think of actually doing, first because his stats should not be currently stronger than the best of many sports, he was not currently stronger either than NBA players how much of the other sports. Maybe as the system said five years ago when his stats reached 40 he could even do other sports, but at that time he would have to play basketball when he was 20 he would be in his third year of university yet. And he would still have to learn some techniques to participate in these competitions, but after thinking for a few months on this he realized that he had some sports that he could perhaps attend and win now. And it was something he always loved to do, that idea did not leave Jake''s head and he wanted more and more to try it, it would be an incredible thing if he could participate in the Olympics in 2 years, Jake knew that to participate in he would only have to qualify and qualify for the position. "And Fate, do you think I can really do that?" [I really did not think you could think of it, after you stopped thinking that using the system was a form of cheating your mind really developed into the bad, but I think this is entirely possible, if it is with this sport you may be able to win even a gold medal in the Olympics.] "I know I can win a gold medal, but I can do it, do not you think wrong?" [I do not think it''s wrong, it''s a sport and if you have more ability to win than your opponents you should try to win, I''ve never seen an athlete who is much better than others and wins very easy to give up because he thought it would be very unfair with others.] [But I would still recommend you to participate first in the longest competition and so after another 6 years you would try the shorter competitions.] So with the system saying that everything was fine Jake was more determined to do this, what Jake was thinking was to be a professional runner, he always loved to run and before was just to relax. But after hearing the system saying that he could participate in another sport Jake thought that if it was to run he wanted so the system that knew what he was thinking recommended that Jake only participated in the marathon for a while and then participated in athletics in general and to win more medals. But Jake did not know if he could do that in 6 years because of basketball, but two years from now he could certainly, in order to compete in the competitions he just had to sign up. And if he could win a marathon or get at least the required time in an accredited test he could attend the Olympics, of course, he would still have to research more to be sure, but it should not be that much different. But with his current physical stats, it was impossible for Jake to normally win a marathon of more than 40 kilometers without much training or many points of resistance, which is why the system said that Jake was having the wrong thoughts. To win the marathon Jake was thinking of using the Barra Stamina to compete, so after running for many miles he would eat a Stamina bar and recover the energy to run, so it would be in the view of the system to steal. So Jake could certainly win a marathon, so the system recommended that Jake first participate in the marathon and then try out competitions with fewer distances as his stamina and agility stats increase further. So Jake stumbles thinking about it as he prepares for the second state championship game, after all, even though he really could do it could not be done without any preparation first, Jake would also have to make sure he could participate even though he was 15 now. After a few days the second game of the state championship happened, the Elite team won again with 36 points of advantage and Jake managed to make another triple Double in that game, in fact, that second opponent was of the same level of the first game. Eric was very excited about this after he realized Jake''s intent he started to hope that Jake could triple-double and not just the victory, so Jake came home to tell his mother everything. Jake talked to Oliver during the week and it seems Matthew did some research and actually figured out what Jake said was going on, so he realized that if everything Jake said would happen this could be an incredible opportunity for the company. So Matthew was already starting to look for some people to start developing the technology to be able to manufacture his first digital camera in a few years, and Matthew was already thinking about continuing to develop the technologies while paying attention to the market. If Matthew noticed some rumor that Microsoft or the cell phone companies were behind the technology he wanted to be the first to get in touch with them. Chapter 134 The Decision Defining the Future 3 So Jake can be relieved, he knew that Matthew was a great man and business to be able to create his company out of nothing for more than 15 years, so even if he had made a big mistake in his past life by losing that change in technology now was different. After Jake gave the way he had to follow Matthew could get the rest alone, in fact, Matthew was more excited about being able to participate in this new wave of technology, it could turn dozens of companies growing out of nowhere and in a few years would be more valuable than your company. So knowing that in a few years he could even work with Microsoft that would be the most valuable company in the world in a few years encouraged him a lot, so Jake did not need to tell Matthew how important this was. Jake just had to warn Matthew to be more careful and not end up losing a lot of money because of the internet bubble bursting in a few years, after all, if Matthew let go of some stock he could make lots of money but lose control over his company. At the break from school Joseph went to eat with Jake again at the break of class, but today Joseph was quieter than normal, he heard from his father what Jake did the other day, Oliver thought it important Joseph knew why he would be the heir of the company in the future. But Oliver did not know that Joseph would feel so strange about it, it was normal after all he and Jake were the same age and they were so different, Jake now also had a girlfriend, but besides playing basketball very well he was still the best student in the room with perfect notes. As if that was not enough Jake still helped his grandfather with the company, and according to Oliver of that Jake may have saved his company from bankruptcy and have helped the company grow even more in the future. That''s because Joseph did not know that Jake already had an investment firm that earned more than $ 1 million and was also trying to open a restaurant for Eva, the difference between the two was too great. Of course, Joseph despite being envious and admiring his friend still liked Jake very much and was only grateful, but after knowing about it he needed some time to get back to normal. Jake, who also had a lot on his mind, did not realize that his friend was strange, he had to continue preparing what was necessary for Eva''s restaurant, and Jake thought that this week or another Emily should have managed to get everything he asked for. Besides that, Jake had to see some details if he could even participate in the marathons and participate in the competitions and if he could when the competitions would be made, Jake was determined to do it. When Jake thought more about it he had an idea, he had seen athletics and marathon competitions on television several times, and all these times he saw that athletes often ran for sponsorships from sports equipment and sports drinks companies. So Jake could ask if Tiffany or Clara would know anything about what was necessary to participate in these competitions, so he could find more information with their help. So he called Tiffany because he knew that Clara must have many private problems to solve, Jake booked lunch with her at a restaurant because the subject matter was very important to talk over the phone. Jake really did not know, but in fact the commercial he did a while ago on television turned out to be a big hit, Jake besides a talented player was very handsome in general and was right in front of the cameras, putting all this together with the small fame that Jake had already turned out to have gone very well. And now Jake was going to be national champion if all was right in this and the next championship, after that Jake would go to college or straight to the NBA, so Tiffany and Clara were thinking of increasing the amount of sponsorship they pay Jake. At first, it was just Clara''s bet because Matthew asked and also because Jake was only in Middle School, but now Jake was near a bigger stage in basketball, so Tiffany and Clara who also had bigger ambitions for their companies thought about keeping Jake as sponsored even in the NBA. Even if they knew that keeping a player in the NBA was not very realistic because they could not afford the high contracts that the biggest sports companies could afford, they relied on Jake''s friendship for that. So Tiffany wanted to take advantage of this lunch to discuss this with Jake, so she got to the restaurant and saw Jake getting up from his desk to greet her. "Hi Tiffany, thanks for taking some time out of your busy time to greet me." "No problem, I really wanted to talk to you about a subject." "About what?" "Then I''ll tell you about it, how it was you who called me, it''s only fair that you tell me what you wanted first." "Alright then, let''s have lunch first then we''ll talk more about it." So the two ate and talked about common things after they were in the dessert Jake spoke again. "I''ll call you here because I wanted to ask you and Clara a favor." "A favor?" "Yes, I do not know if you knew, but I''ve always been very passionate about sports in general and not just basketball, but the things I liked the most were running and playing basketball." "Since I wanted to have a good career and also get a place at a good university, I decided to be a basketball player, and how I love basketball is okay." "But after those years I learned a lot with basketball and even the training cannot make me improve my skills in a short time, so in the next few years I would have the freest time." "So I decided to try other of my dreams and participate in a marathon like I always wanted to run, so I know that generally, sports-related companies know a lot about these competitions I wanted you to help me." So Tiffany was very impressed by Jake''s great love for sports, because even though he said he had more free time she knew that even if it were so others would not try to participate in a marathon. "Of course I can help you with this Jake, I''ll look for the next competition for you to participate, so even if you do not finish the race you can be happy about it." "I do not think you understood me, Tiffany." "What I did not understand." "I have a lot of confidence in easily finishing an ordinary marathon, what I wanted you to help me was to know more official competitions and if they have any age requirements to participate as a professional runner." "I do not want to just participate in a race, I want to win a marathon and qualify to participate in the next Olympics." After hearing this, Tiffany thought she had heard poorly or that Jake was joking, but when she saw his serious eyes she realized it was not a joke. "Jake you know that those who take part in these competitions are professionals who train for dozens of years sometimes, it''s not something you can just try to win." "I know all this well, I have the confidence to win a marathon, so please help me just to see if I can participate and when and where will be the official competitions." So Tiffany realized that she could not convince Jake to give up on this idea and only agreed to help him, after all when Jake lost he would know how difficult it was, it was not as if it would cause some harm to let him become a professional runner if it were not to affect the basketball. So afterward they separated and the contents of the conversation were so striking that she even forgot to talk to Jake about the increase in his patronage, but then she realized that it was okay for her to talk about it after she got the information she Jake asked her to check on the marathons. So Jake returned home quietly, he had to prepare for the third game of the state championship, even if they were confident in winning it was not good to underestimate the opponent too much. Jake waited for news of Emily all week, but she did not show up, which means gathering all this information was harder than Jake thought. So the day of the third game of the state championship came, in the morning Jake ate Eva''s breakfast, he thought that even if it was not for the fact that Eve got many friends and was happier in Anna''s cooking classes, just for the so much that her mother improved on her cooking was already worth it to enter this course. Of course Jake still cooked better than Eva, and that was normal after all even Anna said that Jake had plenty of talent to cook, many dishes Jake managed to do even better than Anna who worked as a chef in a restaurant for many years. After that Jake said goodbye to Eva and went to the starting spot when Jake arrived almost everyone had arrived, coach Mike was going through a few plays with Carter who was the main player in the team''s defense, Harrison also seemed to be concentrating. Jake got ready too and before long everyone had come to the game, the coach called them all for another last-minute instruction and then the team went to the court to start the game, Jake realized that coach Mike seemed much more nervous than the players themselves and laughed as they prepared to start the game. Chapter 135 The Decision Defining the Future 4 The opponents of the Elite team for this game were the Pigs team, they had a PG named Max and an SF named Alan. These were the two strongest players on the opposing team, the Pigs team were hopeful that they could win this game because they knew that even though the Elite team won last year they still had a lot of difficulties doing so. And the Elite team this year had two more new players than last year, so the Pigs team''s opponent having a team with players all of the third year of high school shows that the school team was weak. Jake naturally did not know any of this and was ready for the beginning of the game, soon the game began and Mark got the first possession of the ball for the Elite team, Jake received the ball and prepared to start the attack. But when he advanced to the Max attack that was the opposing PG came to defend against Jake near the middle of the court, Jake realized this, but did not care about it and just made the pass to David. Such pressure against a player was a bad idea to make against a PG that has only to organize the plays, soon everyone reached the line of three points and David passed the ball back to Jake who looked at the position of his teammates and passed the ball to Carter who was freer, Carter received the ball and turned to make the mid-range shot and make the first 2 points for the Elite team. After the opponent went to make his first attack, Jake did not pressure from the middle of the block as Max and waited in the line of three points, Max advanced calmly and passed to the SG of his team that even on the strong defense of David managed to make 2 points with a mid-range shot. Jake started another attack and Max was close to him from the start again, so Jake again gave the ball to David to advance to the attacking block near the three-point line. Jake got the ball back and fired out to make 3 points for your team. Max did not expect that and can not even react, actually whoever told him to stay on top of Jake was the Pigs team coach who saw how Jake had made a Triple Double in the first two games and was worried about it. But not always the data told the story of the game, Jake was not the only player on his team and did not even have to spend much time with the ball in the hands to make the moves, so the defense of Max besides bothering a bit was nonsense. The game continued like this until the end of the first period, Jake had made 4 assists and 8 points in the attack and got 4 steals in the defense, which was almost the same as he got in the other games, the difference was that whoever was with the ball the longer it was David and not him. The Pigs coach who saw this knew that his strategy had not worked but had nothing else to do because he realized that the other players also played well so he could not play a double game on Jake. In fact, the coach was even underestimating Jake, even if Jake was under two-man defense he could still make the points and the plays, it was just that Jake did not think it necessary to get rid of Max. But if it had a difference was that the difference in the score was only 6 points in the first period, this showed how the opponents were much better in the state championship, another cause of this was that Alan had managed to make 6 points in Harrison. So in the short time that had coach Mike reprimanded Harrison a lot for that, after all, Harrison was much better in defense after these two years of training, so these points on him only showed that he should be devolved in the game. In the second period the defense remained tight on Jake, Harrison looked more focused on defense but was not yet in his best condition, Jake gave more passes to David who managed to hit three shots from outside and make 9 points. So when the second period ended the elite team led by 14 points and Jake had already made 14 points and 7 assists with 7 steals, meaning he was close to triple-double in that game as well. Jake also realized that even though David was almost always the highest scorer of the team he now made almost all points with shots from outside, now he had 15 points, Harrison had not received any pass from Jake because he was being erased by the opposing defense. So the third period began, the game was almost the same way of the second period, but Harrison seemed to have finally returned to the game, so until Jake returned to pass the ball to him, Jake was still marked by Max closely, but after making the double Double Jake made two beautiful plays and made two dunks in that period. He did this to show how this individual defense was useless, Mark also cheered up and did a dunk too, so at the end of the third period the Elite team was 22 points ahead and the Pigs team gave up winning the game, so the game finished after the fourth period with the Elite team winning by 28 points difference. Jake saw that Eric had not come to this game and found it a pity, he wanted to ask Eric to prepare an album for him with the pictures he took at all games, but Eric had lost that, after everyone calms down Jake was ready to go away. But before leaving he saw that Harrison was a little quiet, as captain of the team he thought he had to talk to Harrison and approached. "So, Harrison, has anything happened to you?" "No ... it''s nothing important." "You can talk to me, I realized that you were very quiet today and even had an unstable performance in the game if you want to talk to someone, can talk to me." So Harrison looked at Jake for a while and then looked down for a while longer, Jake kept quiet waiting because he realized that Harrison was wondering if he should talk or not. "I think I''d better talk than stick with this myself, actually I was kind of weird today because, in the third game of the state championship, I was thinking about stopping playing basketball." That made Jake surprised, he never thought Harrison wanted to stop playing after all Jake knew that all his teammates really enjoyed playing basketball. "And why did you think of that Harrison?" "Actually I''ve always loved basketball a lot, a few years ago at the beginning of Middle School I thought I was a basketball genius. Since I was little I always played with friends and always thought about attacking and I loved to score." "So in the first two years of Middle School even being in a school that was not so good at basketball I thought I was a genius yet, I was able to win the regional championship in the first and second year, and I also scored a lot." "In the second year I managed to win the state championship too and I was happier, but when I lost in the national championship, I realized that with that team I could never win." "Just playing is not fun, I wanted to win and so I knew that the Elite team was recruiting good players from weaker teams to make a winning team and they would even give a university scholarship to the players." "When I was called I was very happy and I accepted quickly so I thought I could be the star of this new team as well but when I met everyone I realized that all of you had great skills in attack and defense and I was the weakest between you." "And you had Jake too, I knew I could never be the best player on the team, but even so I thought I could improve a lot and fix my faults and be on the same level as everyone on the team as well." "After the final of the national championship that year we all played very badly and you had to take the team alone for the victory I realized that there was still a lot to improve and that the defense was also very important for a good player. "So I thought my biggest fault was the defense and I decided to train a lot so that when I played in high school I was just like you, but then the new coach arrived and even you left the team and I realized that besides my other defense disability as a player was the height." "So after staying almost two years without playing and seeing that I would not be high to play well in the future, I thought about giving up basketball in this third game last year." "But then David came back to the team and we won and then the coach left the team and so I thought I could still play, and now I''m playing with all of you, so I got a little distracted, but I''ve recovered." So Jake who heard it all felt bad for Harrison, even though he stayed two years off the team he wanted to be a professional player and knew he had a talent and a system to help him fulfill his dreams. But Harrison did not have all these things that Jake had, Harrison was young, did not have many talents, did not know how Jake could or could not grow in the future and stayed the same time out of the team, so it was normal for him to start thinking about these things. Chapter 136 The Decision Defining the Future 5 Even so, Jake felt he should say some heartfelt words to Harrison, even if it was not very encouraging to hear the truth could open his eyes wide and give a decision to be made by his friend, whether he would continue playing or not basketball. "Look, Harrison, I can not really say I understand what you went through because my situation was very different from yours when I was out of the team, but I''m going to tell you what I think about all this." "I do not know if you intend to play professional basketball or not in the future, but I say for myself, I do not like to lose too and most of all I really like basketball, so I think even if I lost, winning I would like to play the same way." "Even if you do not become a professional in the future, I think you should continue to play in college even if you are on a team that does not have much ability to win because I know you love basketball and will only be happy If play." "Even if you do not think about playing professionally in the future all those moments you spend playing at school or university will be an honor and a good memory in the future for you." Harrison felt a lot better, after all, even though he had thought about leaving the team he still decided to stay, and now that things were going well and they should continue like this for two more years he did not think more than he wanted to give up playing the game he loved. After seeing that Harrison seemed to be better Jake got his things and went home, he had to tell his mother about this victory, as the games approached the national championship Eva was more apprehensive before the games and only calmed down when he knew about the victory of Jake. After Jake saw the smile of his mother when she learned of his victory Jake can relax at home, and so in the other week would be the state championship semifinal, even if those games are easier Jake knew he was approaching the national championship. Although Jake was confident that he could win, he could not help but be apprehensive, even if the team did not have Harrison, his teammates should have been able to go through the third game last year in the national championship. After all, he was well aware that it was after the fourth game that the teams would grow stronger, so he had no way of knowing how his opponent would be if they reached the national championship finals, Jake thought the team he saw when he reached the High School that was the champions. This team was better than their current team-mates, only Jake was better off they and Mark were close to that level, of course, Jake hoped his teammates could improve greatly in those more than 4 months that they were missing to start the national high school championship. During this week before the fourth game Jake can finally see Emily, he was a bit pitiful when he saw how tired she was, but as it was a job that needed to be done Jake had no choice. Even so, Emily brought close to 50 places, this was after she eliminated all the seats that were not suitable for a restaurant even with a makeover and also places that had a very excessive price. Jake was very pleased with her work and said he would call her again after everything was decided so that she could handle the contracts and the final details, Emily was very happy to be praised, incredible that it seemed that Jake was only 15 years old she respected him more than her father who had worked with companies for many more years. So Jake no longer spent his days at home but rather in the library, he had already arranged everything that was necessary to open a restaurant, after that he would have to talk to Eva to know what kind of restaurant she wanted for everything to be ready. But Jake wanted his mother to know about it only after the restaurant was ready and retired, so she would only have to choose the vendors, hire the staff and make the menu, but that would have to be decided by Eva. Jake wanted to pick a place and renovate the restaurant in a way that would succeed no matter what kind of restaurant Eva wanted to open, that would normally be impossible, but Jake was confident he could do it. He looked very carefully at all 50 places and in the end got only 10 places, then he organized the places he chose with the documents about the restaurant he had prepared. If everything happened as it was in the document and with the location the restaurant would be ready to be opened, so he used his job skills Businessman who was Business Vision. That was the reason that Jake was confident in the restaurant, with that ability if it was green, it meant the business would work out at least within 3 years no matter what his mother did, and if it was red it would not work. So he just needed to change the business plan and the place until it turned green, after doing that he ended up with 4 places that gave the green light, that surprised Jake, so he decided to choose between one of these places. Then he would leave those three other places in store for the future, so if the restaurant grew he could open branches in those places if they had not been sold to other people by then. This was a place close to downtown Miami and had a great location, it was close to several hotels that did not provide good restaurant service for their customers who preferred to eat in some restaurant and also was not that far from the beach. Jake saw that he could buy the place for 250,000 dollars because this place had serious problems with an accident years ago and was almost destroyed inside it, but that only made it easier for Jake to make the renovation and open the restaurant. So he called Emily again who was surprised at how fast Jake decided to open the new restaurant, she thought it might take a month for Jake to decide, of course, she did not know that Jake had prepared everything before and had the system for help it. Jake knew that the early years of a restaurant were the most important ones to know whether or not he would succeed and Jake had seen it be a success in the first three years, so if nothing went wrong it would be a success after that as well. And Jake could always use that ability every year to let him know at least a year in advance if the business would have a problem. So Emily received all the documents Jake had prepared and also ordered her to buy the place, when Emily opened the documents she was surprised, in the document she had all the plans for the reform designed by Jake and also all the things that would have to be bought to the restaurant. So Emily just had to pay people and her work would be ready, so she was even a bit embarrassed for taking so long to do something simple as finding the places to shop. So Jake had solved the problem of the restaurant, he had to wait at least 3 months to find the place ready, it would be just before the national championship began, Jake also decided where he would do this that could be his last trip with Eva. After all the holidays were coming and Jake still had not learned to speak Japanese and not write, so he would have to choose another country to make the trip this year, and next year Eva would have to take care of the restaurant and so could not go with him anymore on travel. So Jake was preparing the rest of the week for the fourth state championship game after Jake told Harrison he seemed to have forgotten all the old issues and was much better at training. When he had time Jake always asked Mark to teach him how to make Center moves, the first time Jake asked for it Mark was surprised and scared thinking that after Jake grew up a little he wanted to be a Center now. If that happened Mark was worried that Jake would take his position, only after Jake promised he would not do what Mark agreed to teach him, it was not surprising Mark was afraid, Jake already knew how to play as PG, SG, and SF, if he learned some techniques with Mark he could play also as Center and as PF. So Mark was startled to think that Jake could have the position on any of his teammates, of course, Jake would play much worse if he was in another position than PG and SG, but even he playing worse was better than many of those positions. Of course Jake was not thinking about doing this, he was thinking of learning the best to use his great strength to score points if necessary, and Mark was the right person to teach him that. Mark thought that Jake could in a few years have mastered the position if he learned, it was not so wrong because the basics of basketball were the same for everyone, so the experience of playing in a position was important to a player. Jake could play very well both SG and SF was not because he was an incredible genius but it was that in those more than 3 years can play more than a thousand games in the space of imaginary training, in that thousand games he had experiences playing as a PG, playing as SG and also as SF. Chapter 137 The Decision Defining the Future 6 Jake played a lot in these three positions and so he could say that he has more experiences than David and Harrison in those positions, so he could play so well in any of those positions. Of course, it was not that Jake was thinking of playing in other positions, but because he thought that if he knew how to play in various positions, his decisions as a PG at the time of the pass could be based on his own experiences in other positions. So Mark was doing a much more dangerous thing than he thought, because if Jake learned all of Mark''s moves he could play hundreds of times like Center and PF as well. So soon Jake could take his position, of course, this would never happen, Jake''s greatest talent was in the shots from outside, if he played in an internal position he would lose his most powerful weapon. Jake had thought this over and over, the system did little for him as a basketball player, but these two things were able to solve the two biggest problems of basketball players, which was experience and his physical condition. The talent had to come from Jake from the beginning, so Jake sometimes trained with Mark as he prepared to play that fourth game in the state championship. After a few days came the day of Jake''s fourth game in the state championship this year, in the morning he as always woke up well pleased and Eva who had woken up much earlier had already prepared the food. After eating Jake went to the site of the animated game, this was a game that although not very difficult in the expectation of Jake would be a great challenge to fulfill his goal of making a Triple Double in all games. When he arrived at the playground everyone had arrived and this time coach Mike was just watching and did not give any instruction, Liza as always was on the side of the coach, it was only in the intervals of play that she was busier. Liza did not talk much to Jake about unimportant things, she''d heard so much from Jenny and Joseph that Jake did not like talking to her much like a woman she had her own pride. So she did not talk more than needed with Jake, she thought she was giving Jake some kind of cold treatment, but she did not know Jake was very happy with her doing it, he did not like talking too much anyway. Jake looked at the other side where his opponents, the coach was a good time sweating even before the game started talking nonstop while showing something in the small clipboard that was in his hands. The players had serious looks as they listened to everything the coach spoke, looked like they were preparing something to try to win the game, fans could see the stark contrast of the two teams before the game. One side was completely calm while the other side looked like it would play the game of their lives, of course when the game started all Elite team players would be serious. After a while the game referee called the two teams to the court, the game would start, the team that would be the Elite team''s adversary in that semifinal was the Penguins team, as it was in the semifinal showed that the team had good strength. The main players of the Penguins were the PG and the SG, the PG was called Sam and the SG was called Paul, Sam was looking at Jake as if he were his mortal enemy, he did not want to score a player who made a Triple Double on top of him , it would be a shame for Sam. After a while, the game began and Mark gained possession of the ball for the Elite team, Jake picked up the ball and calmed down a bit before starting the first attack. This time Sam did not do as Jake''s last opponent and gave way until Jake reached the three-point line before beginning to defend more firmly, David playing with Jake a long time ago was always around waiting for precaution. Jake looked for a short time before passing the ball to Harrison, Harrison soon passing by his opponent and did the layup to make the first 2 points of the game. Jake who saw this was happy because it seemed that after venting Harrison managed to return to his best form, this would be very important for his team, so everyone quickly returned to the defense. Sam received the ball and started the first attack of his team, everyone played this game prepared to lose, but even so, they knew they had to try their best to win if they beat the Elite team they would surely win their next opponent in the final. Sam went to the PF of his team who got rid of Carter''s defense and went to Center who can do the layup and make 2 points and tie the game, Jake got the ball and started another attack for his team. Jake advanced calmly and passed the ball to Mark who had his back to the basket and turned to do the dunk and the 2 points, Sam tried to attack quickly and Jake realized that it moved quickly to intercept the pass, so Jake passed to Mark who again did a dunk for another 2 points. This time Sam received the ball and did not do anything hasty, he did not imagine that Jake was that fast, Jake and the Elite team also went back to the court defense, Sam advanced calmly this time. Arriving at the three-point lineup Sam passed the ball to Paul, Paul tried several ways to get clear of David and got after making a feint, so Paul fired a shot from outside to make 3 points. Even though David was much better at defense after two years he was still much worse than Jake, Carter, and Mark, and all opponents knew that. Jake got the ball again, he reached the three-point line and made a feint pretending to pass the ball, so Jake sped up and ran until he stopped after doing the dunk and 2 points for his team, Sam had to think of a way to stop Jake. When the first period ended Jake had made just 6 points but had made 5 assists and 4 steals, even if the opposing team defended with all force against Jake the passes and steals were impossible to prevent. And that''s because Jake was not pushing the individual plays much, because if he did he could score even against 3 opponents, at least for the state championship teams Jake was unstoppable. In the stands this time Eric was there, he had been in a bad mood when he was forced to cover an NBA game and missed the last game of Jake, yet he got a colleague at work to take the pictures in his place. After the NBA game that time he even argued with the general editor who had done it, after all, Eric was one of the newspaper''s top reporters after all these years, he was no longer in the position that he was forced to be sent out to cover games without being warned beforehand. The general editor did not imagine that Eric was usually so quiet would get so angry, so the editor realized that he could not do whatever he wanted with anyone like that, usually, Eric did almost everything they asked for, so they made a mistake this time. Eric complained about this exactly because he had realized this, even if he did not need it he liked to do others favor, but he noticed that the others began to confuse kindness with cowardice and began to send him everywhere. Eric was very thrilled with Jake''s growth that he had been following for almost 4 years now if it was a question now it was a certainty for Jake to become an NBA player with such rapid growth. Eric thought that if Jake ended up going to college before entering the NBA and had time to improve, even more, he would enter to be the rookie of the year in the NBA in his debut, it was missing to know if Jake would have the patience to wait the right time. Because the NBA could tempt anyone into this world as fast as possible, and Eric was sure Jake would be in high demand next year if it were not for the coach''s mistake of leaving Jake out of the team last year, this year this bleacher would be full of scouts from the teams. In the second period of play Jake seemed more erased, even more so he made his assists and steals, he only had three shots out and had already made 9 points, that was the difference of a great player. So the Elite team led by 12 points at the end of the second period, but Jake was already close to making his Triple Double, Mark had made 4 dunks in the game so far, and David also made his shots out. With a team like that Carter and Harrison who were playing very well seemed erased in comparison to their teammates, Carter was a player who cared more about the victory of the team than with him and was happy about it. Harrison had already reconciled that he was not as good as his teammates and just did his best on the court, Paul from the opposing team was also playing very well but they were still missing. In the third period, the coach of the opposing team was already discouraged and asked that all try to make several shots from outside to manage to reduce the advantage on the scoreboard, so Jake was doing what was there to do in the three-point line and made 4 blocks in the third period. Thus the Elite team had 16 points in front of the scoreboard at the end of the third period. Chapter 138 The Decision Defining the Future 7 The fourth period of the game was very rambling, Sam and his team did not try a reaction and Jake and his companions who saw that the opponents had given up did not increase much the advantage on the scoreboard. Even though Jake had to admit that this was the most difficult game they played, so he thought about how much stronger the opponent of the final would be, even so, Jake had gotten another Triple Double and would try again in the final. Eric was also excited about this, he wanted to see how much Jake could Triple Double in all games, had already been 9 in a row which was incredible for a player of any age. Eric was already thinking that the title of his story about Jake if they won in the national championship had to do with how many Triple Triples he could do, he already imagined the impact that that matter would have. After the game ended Jake went home to tell his mother about the victory, he imagined she was anxious because this game was the semifinal. Jake was thinking about the vacation after the final already, but that does not mean that he did not think this would be an important game, but that his vacation would also be important. After a few days of the game, Jake had a date with Jenny again, Jake had been busy these last few weeks, but even so, he would always see Jenny for a few days a week, Jenny was a little upset about it. But she liked how Jake respected her differently than the men she had dated before, as Liza had said Jenny was a rather modern woman, but she was a family girl after all. Even more so, her family is very conservative, it was impossible for her to take a step forward with the men before marriage, at least she knew Jake would not be that way and would respect her. First, they went to the mall because Jenny wanted to buy some clothes, Jake did not care much about it and just waited, he even picked some clothes and gave it to her as a gift. Before Jenny thought about choosing some clothes for Jake too, but she realized that Jake had a good taste for choosing her own clothes, she got the wrong impression the first time they met because Jake was in rather wide clothes. After they barely passed a few shops and ended the meeting in the restaurant, they talked about many things and Jake ended up as always touched on the subject of Jenny''s family. So Jenny realized that she could not keep changing the subject because she would have to talk about it someday when Jake realized that Jenny was finally talking about her family he prepared. "You must have realized by now that I do not like to talk a lot about my family, but since it seems like it''s important to know this to continue to trust me, I''ll talk." "My parents are normal, my mother received an inheritance from her family and besides receiving a part of the inheritance in money she decided to continue with the various houses and apartments she received." "So my mother always receives a lot of real estate money for renting these houses, as over the years the value of the houses has increased a lot it seems she made a good investment." "My father is the director of a food company, in addition to a director he has some shares of this company, so my parents are very well." "The reason I did not want to tell you about my family is my brother since he was a kid he was always taught to take over the family business, my father wanted him to work with him in the company and my mother wanted to leave the real estate with him." "But my brother ended up being a great disappointment to me and my whole family, even having everything he ended up getting involved with some wrong people and became a drug addict." "So it''s always been very difficult to talk about my family, I hope you do not get a bad impression on me for it." Jake was listening to all this quietly and when he saw that Jenny had been thrilled to talk about his brother could just get his hands on the table to show his support, if this was so you could understand why she did not want to talk much about her family. Jake liked Jenny and did not care much about her family at the time, he just wanted to know this to increase his confidence with her, after all, Jake thought that the more a couple knew about each other, the closer they became. "I understand what you must be going through now, but I want you to know that I will always be here for you." After lunch, Jenny calmed down and they said goodbye, it was like Jake thought after Jenny talked about his family the relationship between them became closer, now Jake thought he knew Jenny, and Jenny knew Jake accepted everything sore her. After that happened Jake thought he was more relaxed to play in the final in a few weeks, now his life was heading back in the right direction. At school, Jake was getting the best grades as ever and Joseph, after learning what Jake did for his family company, seemed to have found the motivation to study more again and his grades were improving. Even though Jake still took his economics and Japanese language books to school, he had almost no time to read the books, most of his classes now taught about things he had not learned before or did not remember. So Jake can see how different teaching was in the best private schools that prepared students for the universities of the normal public schools. In fact, after he got to college he would probably have time to read many books in class, after all, he studied over 10 years on various economics and business management books, so he had many things that would be taught in the lessons he taught already knew. Yet he had to do this to fulfill his mother''s dream, and also because he knew from his past life that people often respected more of a diploma than true knowledge. In the training of the basketball team, coach Mike was passing all the plays and tactics that they trained with everyone, so the first training before the final was in a frame, the plays that had players that did not understand were trained again. In training Jake was training a lot with Mark as always to learn moves from Center, so Jake learned a lot of how to use his strength to gain advantage and to be able to make the points in a dispute. When he saw this even Carter gave some important advice, David and Harrison were exhausted on the training floor were impressed with Jake who still wanted to learn more things even after being such a good player. Coach Mike also thought Jake was a great team captain and set a good example for the other players, Liza thought so too, after Jake returned to training the training environment was dozens of times better than before when Jake was out of the team. And the days passed quietly like that, missing a few days to the final game Tiffany called Jake for lunch. He was excited because what Tiffany wanted to say probably had to do with the marathon he asked her to see. So he went to meet her at the restaurant after he arrived at the restaurant he was taken by the receptionist to Tiffany''s table. "Hi Jake, Congratulations on having reached the state championship final, I''ll be on the final day to watch, but Clara, unfortunately, will not be able to." "Has her marriage situation got worse?" "That''s not it, she had to go to Europe again to solve the affairs of our stores that are there, if it keeps on working, we''re thinking of opening some more stores there." "So I''m happy about this, I expect business will continue to improve there." "Thanks, I got to see what you asked me, you can really compete professionally at age 16, so next year you can compete, our companies will always support you in everything you need." "Thank you very much, when you have an official competition next year you can let me know that if it is not the same day as the basketball games I will attend." "It will be good if you participate in this, as you said sports-related companies usually sponsor some athletes in these competitions, but our companies have no one in these competitions, you can represent us." "Of course, you can count on me, I''ll try to win to put the name of your companies on the podium with me." Tiffany just laughed, she did not think Jake at the age of 16 could finish the test the more he won, but as Jake said that he loved running he had no problem with him at least participating in the competition. "I wanted to talk about something else with you Jake after you win the next national high school championship my company and Clara''s company are thinking of increasing the value of the sponsorship we give you every month." "Our companies want to continue the contract with you until after university, so we thought to increase the value now and if you win the championship in college the value may increase again." Jake hoped Tiffany would bring this subject of sponsorship at some point, but he hoped it would be after the national championship, of course, he did not know it was also because his television commercial was successful, Jake''s value as a face of a company rose without him knowing. Chapter 139 Time of Changes 1 But Jake thought he owed a lot to the companies of Tiffany and Clara, they supported him from a very early age when no one knew for sure if he would be a good player or not and they continued with him even when he had to stay a while without playing what would hurt their companies. Thanks to getting all this value from sponsorship since a long time ago he can take his mother out of the grueling work in the restaurant, have a good time those years while only caring about basketball. He can also make several trips with his mother taking advantage of the time they had and he can even invest a part of that money to earn much more in the future and even fulfill Eva''s dream of having a restaurant. In addition, he considered Tiffany and Clara his friends, so for all this, he wanted to continue this contract with them until when their companies wanted, after another 6 years when he enters the NBA he will no longer have to worry about money at all. "I want to continue this contract until the time the university finishes at least." "But have not you heard how much will be raised each month on your patronage?" "It does not matter, I''m sure it will be very good." So lunch ended and Jake went back to his house, Tiffany stayed on the table for a while and then started to smile, she knew Jake would be like that and that''s why their relationship was from friends plus business. Maybe if it was only for Tiffany and Clara, Jake could tell that he did not even need to increase the amount of his sponsorship per month, but as a result, whoever won was other company shareholders too he needed to treat it as a business and take advantage of it to make more money. Jake thought that if he could even compete in the Olympics two or six years from now, it would be great for companies to increase their sponsorship, so Jake was happy about that. After all, this had happened Jake was now focused on the final game that would be in a few days, after training what was possible the coach Mike sent the whole team home so that the players could be well rested to play in the final. Anna told Eva that she would be in the final also to see Jake''s game, he was very happy about it and his mother, of course, would be in the final also to support Jake in that game. As the days went by and the day of the final of the state championship finally arrived, Jake ate the feast in the morning made by his mother who always prepared a lot of food for Jake in final games. After Jake packed his bag and went to the place of the game with his mother when he arrived everyone had already arrived too, the gym where the game of the final would be played was full of people even if it was still a long time before the game began. This time the two teams seemed to be relaxed just waiting for the game to start, Jake could start packing for the game and meanwhile looked at the stands to see where the people he knew were. Anna got a place near the court to sit next to Eva, Jake saw Eric also with a camera in his hands, he could also see Tiffany sitting in a place farther from the court, then Jake looked across the bleachers, but could not see Jenny anywhere. He hoped Jenny would come by surprise because she should know about this game for Liza too, but she did not show up, now he hoped she could come to the national championship final if he could get there. Jake quickly recovered, he had to win this game if he wanted to think about the national championship, and even if Jenny did not come to his mother and many people came to support him. After a while the two teams were on the court just waiting for the game to start Jake''s team opponent in the final was the Sharks team, they knew that the Elite team would be a tough opponent but they were confident they could win. The Sharks'' team had three players who were the highlights, the PF was called Robert, Robert was very fast despite his height, the SF Lucas was a player who was very good at shots from outside and also helped the team PG to organize the plays sometimes that confused the opponents. And also had the PG of the team that so with Jake was in the third year of school and was already the highlight of the team, his name was Steve and he was the regional team MVP of their team, everyone on the team had a lot of confidence in Steve. Jake was confident of the victory even though everyone thought Steve was a great player, but Jake thought that if he did not try harder he could not be able to triple-double that final. Jake talked about this with coach Mike and the coach thought that if he could do this would only benefit the team, after all with a triple-double meant that he helped in at least 30 points for the team and took the chance of the opponent making 20 points, so Mike could only be good for the team. So the game started and Mike won the first possession of the ball for the Elite team, Jake received the ball and saw that Steve did not seem to want to score up for that game, so Jake advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to David. David got the ball and instead flew to the side trying to get out of the opponent''s defense when he saw that he could not get away easily David made a feint when the opponents fell into the feint David can pass by the opponent and run to do the layup and the 2 first points of the final. After this move, Steve received the ball to organize his team''s first attack in the final, Jake also gave Steve space up to the three-point line, reaching the three-point line. Steve looked calmly at the positioning of his teammates. Seeing Robert unmarked he passed the ball to him, Robert received Steve''s pass and then turned to make the mid-range shot to make 2 points and tie the game. After Jake got the ball and went to organize a new attack, arriving at the line of three points he saw Mark a little free and passed the ball to him, Mark received the pass and can run to do the layup and 2 more points for the team Elite. Jake can analyze that the opponent''s defense was a bit weak and was confused by their confidence, so Steve reached the three-point line but instead of passing the ball he tried passing by Jake, Jake defended and Steve failed, then Steve tried and Jake did not even react. So Steve passed the ball to the Center of his team that managed to make the 2 points for the team of Sharks, and the game continued like this until the end of the first period, Elite team wins by 4 points of difference. Jake thought that the opposing team was more difficult than he thought it would be, Jake had 8 points and 4 assists in that early period and managed to make 3 steals in that period. But none of the teams tried the shots out in that first period so it was hard to know what the game would be like from now on, Jake was also a bit worried about Steve who tried to get past him a few times, but he did not get anything. Jake heard that he was a player who had a very strong attack and so was curious because Steve did not try anything in the first period. Jake also saw that Carter seemed to be having difficulties with Robert in the defense, so Robert was the one who received the ball in the Sharks team and Jake got two steals in him helping Carter. When the second period began Jake calmly advanced to the court of attack, he passed the ball to David, David received the ball and made a step back and made a shot from outside to score his first 3 points in the game. Steve received the ball to organize the attack of his team, arriving in the line of three points he passed the ball to Lucas who managed to get rid of Harrison and made the shot from outside to make 3 points for the Sharks team. Jake started another attack and reaching the three-point line passed the ball to Mark who dunk to make 2 points for the Elite team to cheer the crowd, Steve started another attack for his team and passed the ball to Lucas who managed to do the mid-range shot to make 2 points for your team as well. After Jake made an attack for his team and advanced to the line of three points, arriving there he made a feint and then began to run, Steve did not expect and tried to follow Jake, Jake made a quick crossover and got rid of the defense of Steve and then made the dunk to make 2 more points for his team. The crowd cheered with this attack and began to make more noise, Steve started a new attack and reached the line of three points, Jake was attentive in the defense waiting for Steve to make his move. Steve made a shot from outside, Jake came up and almost made the block, Steve was scared by Jake''s quick reaction and ended up missing the shot from outside, Mark took the rebound and passed to Jake to start another attack calmly. With these new plays at the end of the second period the Elite team was winning by 10 points, Jake had done 5 steals and 7 assists in total and a lot more than 10 points already, so he was close to another Triple Double. Chapter 140 Time of Changes 2 Even with this great advantage at the end of the second period Elite players did not relax, Carter and Harrison were the ones who were less happy in this game because even trying their best in defense the opponents still made points. Jake did not care much about this and was more worried about Steve in this game, he had heard that the opponent PG was very fast and tries many individual plays and was worried about it. Jake thought Steve was being very conservative so far in his plays, so Jake was thinking that Steve was expecting something to start attacking. But Jake was wrong, Steve has been trying too much in these first two periods of play many attacks, but Jake did not fall into his feints and Steve realized that using speed did not work against Jake, so he did not try to force the attacks because he knew that Jake could end up stealing the ball. Steve was very talented and so he also knew when he had to retreat and so he was passing the ball over, but in that third period, he had to take a chance if he wanted to win the game with his team. So Steve started the third period in the attack, he reached the three-point line and passed the ball to Lucas, Lucas got the ball and then shot the outside to make 3 more points for the Sharks team. So Jake got the ball and started another attack for the Elite team, reaching the three-point line he saw Carter freer and passed the ball, Carter received the ball and did the layup to make 2 more points. Although Robert was very good at attacking he was weak in defense but Carter was not very good at attack so Jake had no way to take advantage of many opportunities to score more points. Steve received the ball and went to the attack, reaching the line of three points he saw that this time his teammates were well defended by the Elite team, this was normal after all the team of the Sharks can only reach the final counting on the individual plays of Steve. So Steve saw that he had to risk the individual play, he tried to make some feints and Jake did not fall into any, seeing that it did not work Steve tried to dribble using his speed, but Jake just kept the distance short. Seeing that Jake did not try to steal the ball Steve tried to go to the inner area to try the layup, Jake who learned some things with Mark used his body to close the way, Steve tried to push Jake to get closer to the basket, but Jake was stronger and drew Steve out. As he saw that the time of possession of the ball was ending Steve forced the mid-range shot and managed to make the 2 points before the time was over, Jake did not care and got the ball to start another attack. But Jake did not know that after that move Steve and his teammates who realized that Steve could not advance against Jake gave up the victory, they would still try, but they knew that without Steve''s moves it was much harder. Jake advanced to the line of three points and passed the ball to David who cleared himself, David received the ball and made the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Elite team, and the game continued so point to point. Although Jake almost gave up Steve kept trying to pass by Jake in the attacking moves, but Jake waited for the whole game and fought harder in defense, so after Steve''s third attempt, Jake could finally get the hang of it and made the steal on the opponent. After stealing the ball Jake ran up to the court and only stopped after doing the dunk and 2 more points for the Elite team, then in the third period, Jake made 3 more steals in Steve and 1 steal in Robert. When the third period ended Elite team were 18 points ahead on the scoreboard and virtually guaranteed the victory, once coach Mike asked what Jake thought when he played in defense, the coach asked this because he wanted to know what was the motivation to play so both in defense and in the attack. Jake replied that because he was bad at the defense he had to work harder than the others to keep from getting in the way of the team, the coach realized that Jake thought he was poor in defense and so he trained and tried harder than his teammates. So he did not correct Jake not to discourage him, but even if he corrected Jake would not agree that it was good because his target was the NBA and not the high school, and Jake knew that he would improve much more slowly in defense than in attack. In the fourth period despite knowing that could not win the Sharks team fought to the end, the Elite team also struggled, Jake and David continued to make the shots out and Jake still made the steals, so the game ended with the team Elite winning with 26 points in front of the Sharks team. Jake was able to make another Triple Double and everyone started celebrating the state championship victory, everyone hugged and celebrated jumping a lot, then Elite players greeted the opponents who made a good game. Everyone took lots of pictures, Jake was wearing the bandana and arm protectors with the brands of sponsored companies that would appear in the photos so he took out all the reporters asked for. After Jake went to hug his mother and celebrate a little with her, he also hugged Anna that was close to Eva, so Jake stayed with his mother and Anna until the time to lift the trophy. Tiffany was seeing everything from afar and had no intention of joining the celebration around Jake, so she just saw the game was already good, Eric also did not come down and just took several pictures, he wanted to interview Jake only after he won the game national Championship. After Jake was called and the elite team players received the medals and Jake received the champion trophy to lift, so everyone celebrated together again after Jake received the MVP award from the state championship which no one was against. After all the celebration Jake went home with Eva when they got home Jake was very tired and went to rest early. The other day Jake was calmer and went to eat what his mother had prepared after all Jake had already won more than 10 championships if he had the individual, he would always be happy to win sooner would calm down the other day. "So, Jake, did you think it was good this year, winning the second championship?" When Jake heard his mother''s question, he paused to remember a little all he had to go through these last few years to get here. "I think it was pretty good thinking that I was thinking about even switching from school to playing again, but that year will be much better for all of us." When she heard Jake''s response, Eva thought she was talking about her teammates, she could never think that while they were chatting her restaurant was being renovated and would be ready next year. After Jake only had to wait for the end of the year and he could travel with Eva out of the country, Jake had already organized every trip and had even talked to the travel agency, the place where Jake would travel with Eva on that vacation would be Brazil. It was a beautiful country in South America, Jake always wanted to meet, but he did not feel like traveling there alone, and as he had not learned the Japanese language he could not visit Japan. Another reason Jake did not visit Brazil was that the country was very large and did not have many train lines that passed through cities as in Europe, so he decided to make this trip different this time. But it was still a few weeks before the holidays began, before the holidays of that year as he knew that Jake planned to spend his birthday again outside the country, Joseph decided to plan to go to a restaurant to have a couples'' dinner before the holidays. As Jenny and Liza were friends they agreed and so Jake who was last warned had to agree too to be annoying, so the day of the dinner arrived and Jake put on a social outfit and prepared to go to the restaurant. Arriving at the restaurant Jake realized that it had been the last one to arrive, but as it was not yet the appointed time, he did not care much about it. Contrary to what Jake had expected the dinner was very enjoyable with many jokes, but soon came to a subject that interested Jake, Joseph was about to tell how it was when he and Liza met their parents and told them they were dating. "After a few months we were dating, Liza had already told this to her mother, so one day her mother met the two of us when we were at a dinner and said she would book a dinner so that I would officially meet her and her husband." "As it was by surprise that we met I confess that I was very frightened when I met Liza''s mother, so I was even more nervous for this dinner." "But as Liza had told her mother before that she was very kind, everything was fine, but Liza had not told me she''d done this before." "At dinner, her father was also very nice and I felt really good, so it was with her parents, with my father it was easier, after talking to Jake before I booked a dinner." "Liza is a little nervous because it took me a while to introduce her to my dad, but when I told my dad that Jake thought she was cool my dad accepted it right away." Chapter 141 Time of Changes 3 Jake took this cue to talk to Jenny about it, he realized she looked a little uncomfortable, but as Jake had told Joseph before he thought it was good that he met her parents as soon as possible. As for introducing Jenny to her mother, Jake was sure Eva would accept her as Jake had already agreed after all Eva trusted Jake and knew that her son was mature to choose a girlfriend. "Taking advantage of the fact that Joseph touched on this subject I think that after I return from traveling on these holidays it might be a good time for me to meet your parents, do not you think Jenny?" After Jake said that, Joseph continued to smile because he thought it was a good idea, but Jake noticed that Liza and Jenny looked a little panicked after Jake said that, they probably did not expect Jake to talk about it in front of friends. But Jake did not think so, after all, Joseph was his friend and Liza was Jenny''s friend, they were practically family in Jake''s eyes, he looked at Jenny who seemed to be struggling to think. "If it''s about your brother you do not have to worry about it Jenny if you want we can have dinner at a restaurant and just invite your parents." As Jenny realized that Jake was looking for an answer now she knew she could not get away from it. "Let me think a little bit more about it and so I take it to talk to my mother when you come back from your vacation we talk about it again." Jake thought it was a good idea for her to talk to her mom first as Liza did and then it would be easier to talk to them and she thought it was okay when Jake agreed he realized that Liza and Jenny looked relieved and found some weird. So Jake returned home and now had to prepare for the trip that would be in a few days, so he told his mother that maybe after they returned from travel he would bring Jenny to meet her, Eva was very happy about it. After a few more days Jake warned everyone that he would travel for a month and so went to Brazil with Eva, Jake''s first stop was Bahia, a place that may well represent a part of the country''s culture. They arrived at the time of the summer so they felt a great heat when they arrived, they went to Salvador that would be where they would make the first stop. From there they went to visit the Chapada Diamantina which is one of the most beautiful places in this state. Later in the time they stayed in the city they ate the Brazilian foods like Acaraj¨¦, Vatap¨¢, Tapioca, cocada, brigadeiro, and then they went to the beach to finish the trip in the city. As the distances between the cities were very great Jake decided to rent a helicopter to go from state to state, from Bahia they went to Rio de Janeiro. Taking advantage of the fact that they were by helicopter, they made a circle in the city sky and saw the redeeming Christ, sugar loaf and the Corcovado, then they returned to the hotel. From there they went from Helicopter to the state of Sao Paulo, they went to know a little the state that is wonderful, there they ate feijoada, a?a¨ª, barbecue, and cheese bread. From there they went to Paran¨¢ to visit Foz do Igua?u which is a place that has to be seen on a trip to Brazil, Jake spent his birthday in a hotel near there. After that, they returned home, this would be another very hectic year for Jake after they came back it was still a little more than a month before school started. As soon as he arrived Matthew asked Jake to come to his house because he would have some things to talk about, Jake accepted and went there as he did not have much to do these days before the beginning of classes. Matthew''s house was much larger than the house that Oliver and Joseph now lived, Oliver decided to leave this house when they decided that they would put Joseph in a public school for a while. But after so many years even after Joseph went back to school at a private school, Oliver decided not to go back to this house and live where they were definitely, Joseph also got used to a simpler life and agreed with his father. So Matthew was the only one who lived in this house these last few years, when Jake got there the maid took him to where Matthew was, after walking for a while Jake realized he was going to the living room. It seemed that Matthew was different from Oliver who used to stay at the office all the time, after taking Jake into the living room the maid left and Jake went in there by himself. "Hi Jake, thank you for coming here so suddenly." "It''s okay, I have plenty of free time before the classes eat, but what did you need that called me here?" "As you''ve helped me so much these last few months I know you''ve been studying a lot about economics and business management in the last few years, so I''ve prepared a document with my company''s current situation after making some changes as you suggested." So Jake looked at the table and saw that he had some documents, as Matthew had given permission he felt in an empty chair and picked up the documents to begin to see. As Jake looked at the documents Matthew looked at him, these documents could only be understood by those who worked with companies for a long time, even Oliver who accompanied Matthew for many years did not understand everything about these documents, but Matthew knew that Jake read many books I wanted to see how much he understood. Of course, he did not want to complicate things for Jake and was just curious to see how much he learned if Jake did not understand something Matthew would explain about everything. But even if he had not read any of the books he read, as Jake worked for many years in a company that ran the accounting records of many companies, he had an obligation to read such a document. Reading this document Jake can see that Matthew had invested a large amount of money to create a new department in his company to research new technologies and another department only for the digital technology that was the most important for the company now. Matthew was really competent at what he was doing, as well as looking at whether it was true that competing companies were researching digital cameras, Matthew had already met some people who started working on it and brought them to his company. It seemed that Matthew''s company was now one of the first to sell digital cameras on the market, of course, this quick action from Matthew was only possible because he had more than 70 percent of the company''s control, which means that if Matthew decided anything he could do without having to consult other shareholders. Jake can also see in the documents that the growth of the company had stagnated before that, that is to say, that the market was weak in the present times for the cameras, then it could be good for these companies that new technology was developed. Then Jake took advantage of having all the information about Matthew''s company in his hands and used his active second job skill at Business Vision and saw that the light was green which meant that the company would succeed in the next three years at least. Then Jake put the papers back on the table and smiled, Matthew, who was waiting for Jake to ask something, found it a bit strange what Jake had done. "It looks like everything is fine with Matthew now, even if you''ve made huge investments these past few months, with these new departments you''ve set up your business is ready for when digital technology is established." "But you have to prepare to invest even more money into it in the future, and when you are sure about the technology I would recommend that you try to quickly sell the machines your company needed to make the old photo machines, so you would have more money to buy the new ones." Matthew was a bit surprised after Jake started talking, but he still paid close attention to everything, what Jake said was exactly the same as some people who worked with him said when they heard about the possible change of technology. "Did you understand everything in the Jake document?" "Had not he been prepared for me to see?" "Yes, you''re right, I just thought I might have some things you did not understand." "I understood everything, it was like I said to you, now we''ll have to wait to see the development of the market and the new technologies before we begin to manufacture digital cameras and start selling." "I would also recommend that you could talk to some companies that create new digital file storage technology, these companies now work more with computer companies, but you can see if they can create something for your company as well." Jake was thinking, of course, on the memory card that anyone with a cell phone or digital camera would know about it in the future, but he did not know if the companies had started to create that at the time, but if they had, Matthew could be one of the first customers of these companies now. When the internet bubble burst in a few years, many companies will be scared to see a sudden drop in the value of their company in the market, this could be a good opportunity for Matthew''s company to make new partnerships and grow more in the market. Matthew had realized that Jake had not only understood the report he had prepared but also had already thought of what to do after that if Matthew did not know that Jake had his own company and had not finished school yet he would still call him to work in his company now. Chapter 142 Time of Changes 4 In fact, Matthew planned to start moving the company to Joseph in the next few years while his grandson was in college, but after talking to Jake he understood that by the time Joseph took over the company she would be bankrupt already. So Matthew would have to change his plans and first resolve these technology transitions and change the company before Joseph took over the company, even Matthew could not understand much about the changes in the company now. So it would be impossible for him to teach Joseph about it now, it would be better to do that in over 6 years in the future when Joseph had finished university, but Matthew thought that if Jake worked at the company with Joseph he could pass the company into the hands of the grandson now. But Matthew knew this was impossible, not because Jake had his own company, but because he knew Jake wanted to be a basketball player first before being a businessman, so Jake could not stay in a company solving things every day. Thinking about it Matthew thought about how lucky Emily was to be Jake''s assistant, in a few years in the future with Jake had to focus on basketball who would solve all things in the company was her, and Jake would have to teach some things to her in that time. Even though Matthew was learning some things with Jake, Emily could learn a lot more by being his assistant. After that Jake did not return home and took the time to see what was needed so that he could get his driver''s license, Jake wanted to learn how to drive as soon as he was when he was old, Jake always thought that if he had a license and a car in his past life he might not have suffered the accident. The process was simple and Jake already had knowledge about the theoretical part and also about the practical part, and with the current agility of Jake he could even drive a formula 1 car, much less a normal car. So Jake could be sure to have his driver''s license before school started, he did not want to have to ride the car he gave his mother, so he would have to wait a few more months to buy a car. After that Jake returned home, now he had nothing left to do but wait for the beginning of his classes, there was still a few months left for the national championship and Jake wanted to wait until after that to see which marathon race would run. Jake thought that before the national championship Eva''s restaurant would be almost ready, but he wanted to talk to her after the national championship near Eva''s birthday, Jake was sure that Emily was supervising everything so she could rest easy. After a few days Jake''s classes started again, Jake went to school normally, he talked to Joseph at the break of classes and Joseph said that he had spent the holidays very well, sometimes at home studying and sometimes going out with Liza. Jake tried and could not find Jenny after classes were over Jake wanted to tell her about dinner to meet her parents, but he would have to wait until another day. And so they spent Jake''s early days at school, he also started training with his teammates in preparation for the national championship, the players were reassured because they trusted Jake, but Coach Mike seemed nervous every day. Even though he knew that the team was the favorite to win this year the team still did not dare to try to calm the coach promising to win the championship, every year new players would appear, it was not something that could be said before it happened. Even after a few more days at school Jake still could not find Jenny after school, he even asked Liza who said she did not know anything, but Jake knew she was lying. So Jake called Jenny''s house to be able to talk to her, who answered the phone was an older woman who seemed to be Eve''s age, so Jake asked for Jenny, so the woman said she would call her. "Jake, I said I was not supposed to call my house without letting me know." "I called because I could not find you at school, we have to book some day to talk better." "Alright then, let''s meet tomorrow at that cafeteria near the school." By the way, Jenny answered who answered the phone must have been her mother, and Jenny should not have spoken to her mother as she had promised, so Jake was not too happy either. The next day Jake was in the cafeteria waiting, after a long time he came to think that Jenny would not come, but she arrived after a few more minutes, Jake could not even complain as they did not score a certain time. Jake was very clever after living for many years in his past life, so he was not the type that was blinded by a relationship, so he had realized that when it came to the Jenny family was very strange. That day at Jenny''s friend Liza''s restaurant was awkward as well when Jake mentioned meeting Jenny''s parents, so Jake realized she might have a much bigger problem than just Jenny''s brother. Besides, Jenny had not said anything to her mother about this vacation and was running away from Jake, he could tell that Liza was helping her friend too. Even if he thought he was not sure how to do it, Jake was thinking of using one of his second job skills to talk to Jenny in that conversation. It was the See-Through ability that allowed Jake to know if the person he was talking to was telling the truth or lying. "Hi Jake when did time go, how was your vacation?" "They went very well, Brazil is a very beautiful country, you should see someday." "Maybe we could go someday, I''d love to." "Me too, but let''s talk about now, have you been avoiding me these days?" After asking, Jake activated the ability. "Of course not, I just quit a little later from school these days." So Jake saw that she was lying with the color that appeared was red, when the person said the truth was green and if the person was not sure the yellow appeared. That meant she was actually avoiding Jake on purpose these last few days, yet he could not tell her that she was lying because she would deny it, there was no way Jake could use his ability as proof for anything. So Jake decided to ask all the things he wanted to know and then decide what he would do when he knew the truth. "So fine, did you tell your mother about dinner so I''d meet your parents?" "So, about that, I talked to my mom and she told me that she thought it best if we waited a few more months before we met with my father, it''s better than our relationship gets a little longer first so they can rely more on you." Jake saw that almost everything Jenny was lying about this time meant that she had not told any of this to her mother and her parents, and she doubted it would be a good idea to tell about it in the future. "Does it have to do with your brother?" "No, my brother has been in a clinic since last year, let''s see if he recovers from the vice there." So Jake saw that at least the story about her brother is true, Jake found it better to clear things up at once, it was so much better than hearing some lies. "Look, Jenny, I really like you, but if you have one thing I do not like, it''s all lies, whatever you told me today besides your brother''s subject I feel is a lie, and even Liza is lying trying cover you, so if you do not tell me the truth about what''s going on today we''d better get it over with." Jake told the truth and what he was feeling if he suspected that Jenny was lying all the time it was difficult to continue this relationship, and if it were not for the skill given by the system he would get out of here deceived. Jenny was surprised by what Jake said and the certainty that he had she was lying, she always knew Jake was different from the others but did not think he could not even lie to him this time. So she was split, she knew Jake was serious now, but she thought if she told him the truth he would end it anyway, but now she had to try at least. "Okay Jake, I''ll tell you everything, the reason why I do not want to introduce you to my parents now is that I''m sure they would be against this relationship, so I thought if we were still together until after university may be possible for things to change. " Jake was surprised that even though he thought Jenny was lying again about it the green color that was shown said it was true, the reason he was so surprised is how without even talking about it she was sure that her parents would not accept this relationship. After all, Jake, despite being modest, sometimes thought he was really a good boyfriend, and not many people who knew him did not like him, maybe it could be because of his high charm or charisma, but he thought that if he knew the parents of Jenny they could really like him. "You may not even believe in why I''m so sure of it, but I''ve already told you about my parents once, and they did not like you that one time." Chapter 143 Time of Changes 5 Seeing that Jake still did not understand why even after so many indirect Jenny just sighed, she did not want to say it directly because it was one more thing about her parents, but she saw that she would have to speak more directly. "Jake, my parents are quite relaxed with me, they do not care much about whom I date and do not control my life much, but what happened to my brother was a big shock to them." "They trusted my brother a lot and we''re sure that everything would happen the way my brother would be the perfect heir to the family name, but you know what happened." "Even though they''re pretty liberal with whom I date, I''ve never introduced anyone to my parents, do you know why?" Jake already understood everything, but he still did not want to believe it, and he wanted to hear everything from Jenny to see if it was true what the last things he said so far were true. "The reason is that my parents think that when I introduce someone at home, these people can be my future husband, and so they evaluate more seriously the person I am and depending on what they are they may even have this relationship ended." "Before I never had someone very serious that I dated so you would be the first, I do not know if I love you, but I really like you." "But my parents have already told me that I can only marry a man who comes from a good-name family or a man who has a good position in a company like my father." "I know you intend to be a professional basketball player in the future, even if you make a lot of money, my parents would never accept that I should marry you, they think about my future and stability in the first place." "That''s why I thought we could wait until after college after you graduate you can change your mind about being a basketball player." After hearing all that Jenny said he felt a little powerless, Jake was dismayed by all this, he had seen it several times on television but never thought it could happen in real life. Jake was sure he wanted to be a basketball professional in the future, he thought of even a running athlete going forward as well, but he could not work in a company every day, not least until he finished his NBA career here more than 20 years maybe. So the reality of Jenny''s family would be impossible for them to be together, Jake was very proud of his mother and loved her very much, but he knew that he came from a poor family so much that his mother worked until she died in her past life. Jake was no longer poor, he had the sponsorship he received every month and his actions invested, he now had his mother''s restaurant, but he did not think it was enough for Jenny''s family. Maybe after another five years when he became a millionaire selling his shares, they would change their minds, but when that happened they would try to convince him all the way to quit his basketball career and work for his company. And Jake did not want any problem like this, he wanted a family that supported everything he did and not that they tried to convince him to give up his dreams. Even though Jake wanted to hear what Jenny thought, if she thought differently from her parents and supported Jake in his dream, Jake would take the pressure from her parents to stay with Jenny. "I wanted to know what you think about it Jenny, do you think the same as your parents?" "I do not know if I think the same way, but I want to feel safe in the future, maybe you can play basketball until you finish college and then change your mind, I heard Joseph say that his grandfather who has a big company thinks you have a lot of future in the business world." "So it may be that after another four years you change your mind after all basketball is not a guaranteed thing, you can always get hurt, so I think we could continue together until you finish university and then we can decide together." Seeing that Jake realized that Jenny thought the same way her parents, maybe they thought differently, Jake always thought from the beginning of the dating on the possibility of marriage, but Jenny just wanted to take advantage of now. And Jake realized that Jenny never supported him in basketball games, so maybe for her, it was just a sport that Jake could do for a few more years. So Jake looked at Jenny and took her hand, maybe Jenny was the woman he liked most in two lives besides his mother, so it was hard for Jake to do that. "Jenny, I really like you, it has not been since the first meeting, but it has been increasing gradually, but knowing that although we are together now we have a completely different vision for our future together I think we should end." "Even if I like you, I do not want us to spend any more time together knowing we''re going to split up later, because if I liked you more, it would have been more difficult." So holding hands Jake saw that Jenny started to cry and just nodded, so Jake dropped his hands and wiped the tears around her eyes, got up and kissed her head and left. Even though he knew it was not right to comfort someone you made him cry, but he did not want to remember the person he liked crying. So Jake left and told her mother everything, Eva was angry at first when she learned that Jenny''s parents did not accept Jake because of this, but after Jake said she could understand she only hugged her son for a while. After Jake went to the bedroom, he wanted to be alone thinking a little, as Jake told Eve he understood, although he did not accept or agree he understood that different social class people thought differently. Even Jake thought that if in the future something like that happened to his daughter he could act the same way, but he would only know in the future, but what Jake really thought was if the people close to him were like that too without him knowing. As Liza tried to cover Jenny, Jake imagined she knew about the situation with Jenny''s parents, maybe Liza''s parents were the same way, Jake was deluded by the fact that they accepted Joseph well when he met the family of the girlfriend. But Joseph was also wealthy, so he could not know if they would have rejected him if Joseph was poor, and even Matthew and Oliver who treated him so well could have done so too. After all, Jake was just a friend of Joseph, that''s why they accepted so well, after all, having a poor friend was not a problem, Oliver even when he first met Jake, feared that he was a profiteer. Jake remembers that only after Jake helped Matthew with that advice that he invited him to his house, it shows that Matthew had some reservations with Jake before. After today Jake realized the reality that he was ''in the world of the rich'' before he had not noticed anything different, but now he realized that it was different, even at school apart from his teammates who also had scholarships Joseph was his only friend. At school he started Middle School several people besides Joseph tried to talk to him, especially after Jake joined the school basketball team, now he realized that it was even different. After that Jake got a few days depressed, but after a week he returned to normal, soon would be his first national championship game and he needed to be in good shape, the system helped keep his body in shape, but keep the mind well it was with him. Besides, even if he had discovered some things he did not know before, he did not change anything, after all, he was still friends with Joseph and his family still treated him very well, that was enough for Jake. At school, Jake also did not want other friends and he never really liked Liza, so Jake realized that besides Jenny nothing changed and that there was no back, so Jake returned to train normally with his team. After all, there was little time left to start the first game of the national championship, in training Liza was looking at Jake as if he had done something wrong by ending up with Jenny and Jake as he had always just ignored her. At the break from school Jake told Joseph to warn Liza not to talk unnecessary things to her if she did not want a fight, Joseph knew that Jake broke up with Jenny and so he just said he understood. Jake knew Liza must not have told the real reason for the separation to Joseph and just invented some motive, and Jake was not in the mood to talk about it like Joseph because the dating was over already, it did not matter anymore, Jake did not want Joseph to be strange to him. Joseph must have talked to Liza because in the next training Liza just went back to ignore Jake as he did before, Jake''s teammates knew they had an unfriendly relationship so they did not say anything and did not dare try to berate the captain who was angry these days. After that, Jake could also realize the oddity of the fact that none of his teammates had a girlfriend, it seemed they found out about all this before him, but it was a game day so Jake did not want to think about it anymore. Chapter 144 The National High School Championship 1 After a few more days Jake had finally taken out his driver''s license, he was happy with it, so Jake decided that after the national championship if Tiffany and Clara really increased their sponsorship he had to buy a car. After a few more days the first national championship game had arrived, Jake woke up early in the morning and went down to eat the breakfast Eva had prepared. Eva had been worried about Jake in the last few weeks because he had finished her first date, she even got to talk to Anna about it because she did not know what to do. Anna said it was best to let Jake recover on his own, Eva did this and it looked like Jake was really well again. Eva felt that it was strange that she had never met this girlfriend of Jake, in fact, Jake would never present Jenny to Eve before he met her parents, after all, he knew his mother well. If Jake introduced Jenny to his mother, Eva would have quickly stayed close to her and the situation would be much more complicated to finish. After breakfast Jake got his things and went to the site of the first game when he arrived there everyone had already arrived, Jake realized that his teammates seemed to be more excited for the games than he since almost always they arrived before. Coach Mike seemed calm today different from the days of training at school, the other players also seemed to be relaxed, Jake looked at the bleachers and saw only Eric of known, but it seemed to have several reporters and university scouts for that game. After a while the two teams were prepared on the court for the start of the game, the Elite team opponents were the Horses team, and the main player of the team was SG Santiago. Jake would try to get another Triple Double for today''s game, after the first few games Jake thought he had gotten the hang of it, in fact with his steal ability being SS it was just a matter of getting the hang of it. So the game started and mark went up higher than his opponent and got the ball to the Elite team, Jake received the ball and started the first attack calmly, reaching the three-point line he saw free Harrison passed the ball to him. Harrison received the ball and can make the mid-range shot to make the first 2 points of the game, so Elite team players quickly returned to the defense. The PG of the Horses team picked up the ball and started the first attack for his team, reaching the three-point line he looked at his team''s attack options, PG knew that all Elite team players were good at attacking and defending. He saw the free PF and passed the ball to him, Carter who was in the defense pressed and the PF saw that Santiago was free and passed the ball to him, Santiago received the ball and made the shot from outside to make 3 points for the Horses. Jake received the ball and started another attack for the Elite team, reaching the three-point line Jake saw that Mark was free and passed the ball to him, Mark who received the ball ran and did the layup to make two more points for his team. And the game continued throughout the first period, the Elite team attacked as always and played well, the team of Horses despite having difficulties to attack could count on Santiago who made more points for the team. At the end of the first period, the Elite team was ahead by 6 points, Jake had managed 2 steals and 5 assists in that first period besides making 6 points. David was struggling to defend against Santiago, but Jake thought it normal because Santiago seemed to be a very good player and was probably the reason the Horses team made it to the national championship, maybe even if Carter was defending against him it would not change. In the second period Jake began to make more individual plays which made things more difficult for the Horses team, the PG Horses team received the ball and started another attack for his team. Jake realized that the opposing PG seemed to be staying away from him on purpose, so Jake did only 2 steals in the first period, the opponent''s PG passed the ball to Santiago again, Santiago could again pass through David, but this time Jake who had read well the ball made the cover to steal the ball. So Jake advanced calmly to the attack, reaching the line of three points Jake made a feint and the opponent''s PG fell, so Jake passing by the opponent and ran to do the dunk and 2 more points for his team. The PG of the Horses receive the ball and started another attack, before reaching the three-point line he passed the ball to Santiago, Santiago received the ball and made the shot from outside to make 3 points for his team. Jake received the ball and advanced to the three-point line, he passed the ball to David who requested the ball, David received the ball and also made the shot from outside to make the 3 points. When the second period ended the Elite team was ahead by 13 points on the scoreboard, Jake had 7 steals and 9 assists, plus 17 points made, as Jake started stealing Santiago''s ball whenever he could to help David in defense, to The team of Horses decided to bet more on the shots from outside. But the team of the Horses only had Santiago to make the points out, already the Elite team had Jake and David to do the shot from outside, so the Elite team''s advantage continued to increase. The Elite team remained strong and finished the third period winning by 18 points, Jake who had already achieved the Triple Double in that game can not relax and continued to play well, so when the game ended the Elite team won with 24 points. Jake made more than 30 points and 20 assists in that game and ended up being the highlight again, yet the Elite team greeted the Horses team for trying to the end. Jake saw the Horses team and Santiago remembered a bit of himself at Middle School before joining the Elite team, it was just like Jake had to do his best to win the game. After the game ended Jake went home to tell Eva about the victory in the game, they celebrated Jake''s victory in the game and after dinner, Jake went to rest from that lively day. After the first game, Jake realized that he had fully recovered from the end of his first date, but Jake decided he would not try to date again at least until he finished high school. And even after high school at university, he would have to be careful not to date a woman from a wealthier family again, even if Jake knew that not everyone was the same he did not want to risk it again. Eva realized this and was a bit worried, but Jake was someone who was alone for more than 15 years, now that he had friends, his mother, and goals to follow it was impossible for Jake who had such a strong mind to become depressed. During the week Jake was called by Emily even though Jake wanted to wait to tell Eva about the restaurant only after the national championship was over did not mean that he could not see how the restaurant had been left ready. So Jake went with Eva''s car to the place where the restaurant would be opened, even if Jake could not afford a car now he would not walk around taxiing there. When Jake arrived at the site he saw a beautiful building painted a purple and green color, Emily was wearing a suit with a clipboard in her hands, so far she had nothing on the outside saying it was a restaurant. Jake thought it best that Eva put a sign on the front of the restaurant with the name she chose for the restaurant. "Hi Emily, is the restaurant ready?" "Yes, it was all very easy after buying the property, after all the documents you gave me already had all the plan for the renovation and all the things that needed to be bought for the restaurant to work." "So I was able to find a good company to renovate and then a company that specialized in selling everything that was needed to open a restaurant." "Let''s go inside to see how it was then." So Jake walked into the restaurant, he could see that it was how he imagined the tables and chairs had already been bought, they had a few carts to deliver the food too, and the renovation was very good. Now no one could have guessed that this place was destroyed before retirement, Jake could also turn up the reception desk and the cashier''s place, then he came in and saw that the toilets for customers and employees were properly separated. Jake saw that the kitchen was also very good, had all the equipment needed for a kitchen to function, deep down he could see that there were even two offices in the back of the restaurant, so Jake was very pleased with the restaurant after the renovation. Jake was sure that her mother would also be very pleased with this place when she saw it, it was the way Jake thought of this place any kind of restaurant Eva wanted to open would be a success if the food was good. "You did a very good job, Emily." "Thank you very much, I also thought you were very good after retirement, I''m sure your mother will like it here." "I hope so, I do not care if this place will make a profit or not, it was made just to make my mother happy." Chapter 145 The National High School Championship 2 "I''m sure she''ll be very happy with this place." "I''m going to need you to give me the reports of these 3 years of investment in September this year, I want to see if I can invest in more actions at that time, but before that, I do not need anything, so if you have anything to do released." "Thank you so much, so I''ll see you in September." After Emily left Jake stayed a while still staring with what this restaurant had been like even though he had said he did not care if this restaurant would make a profit or not, he knew Eva would care about it, after all, no one likes to run a place that is unsuccessful. So besides knowing if the food would be good and what kind of restaurant that would be, Jake was thinking that it would be better to have a person who knows how a restaurant works to help Eva, so he was thinking about talking to someone about it. After a few more days was the second game of the national championship, the team was even weaker than the Horses team and had no very skillful players like Santiago, so the Elite team won by 26 points. Jake made another Triple Double and Mark was another highlight of the team making a Double Double with points and rebounds, so the Elite team advanced to the next phase. So Jake can realize that the team they faced in the state championship final was actually quite strong, if they were in the national championship they could move further into the competition. Eric was very happy to see that the Elite team was doing very well in this national championship, in fact, he still had some doubts about the performance of many of these players, although they performed well in Middle School, high school is in a different level. After all, many of these players could be in the NBA in the future, so besides Jake, he was not sure about the other players, but now he saw that Mark and David also had the possibility to become professional players. Especially Mark who is a great center, at this time of the NBA good players of this position are very wanted, but Mark had to reach more than 2,00 m of height if he wanted to maintain that dominion in rebounds in the NBA. The next game would be very important for the Elite team, after all, it was at this stage of the national championship that the team was eliminated last year, even though Jake and Harrison were not in that game, there is little pressure for the team. So it''s important for his teammates to see Jake and Mark in such a good phase, Jake made 12 triple-double this season in all games so far, and this is because he is not playing alone and passes the ball to his teammates. Some days after the game Jake went to visit Anna alone, in fact, it was the first time that Jake visited the house of Anna without Eva being together, but Jake wanted to make sure that Eva did not know anything about that. "Hi, Jake, good surprise to see you here alone." "I wanted to talk to you without my mother knowing, would you mind if I took you somewhere?" "Take me where?" "It''s a surprise, I''m sure you''ll like it." Since Anna trusted Jake a lot she just got in the car and Jake took her without talking much on the way, after a while, they arrived at the place where Jake had prepared for Eva''s restaurant. They entered the place and only after they entered that Anna realized that this place was a restaurant, as it had nothing on the facade yet she did not know, after all, it would be Eva who would choose the sign. Still, she did not know why Jake had brought her to this place, Jake had taken her to see the whole restaurant, Jake had arranged the makeover to look like a restaurant he was close to 2010 so it was a bit trendy for the time. Even though it seemed easier for both the restaurant staff and the customers, after they''d gone all over the restaurant, Jake pulled out two chairs and asked Anna to sit on one of them. "So Anna, what did you think about this place?" "I found it very beautiful and pleasant, it is very different from the restaurant I had, but I think it was well organized and decorated." "That''s good, do you remember that you said that my mother''s dream was to have a restaurant?" "Of course I remember, only a few months ago I told you about it." "True, this is the restaurant that I bought and re-created for my mother, do you think she''ll like it?" When Anna heard what Jake had said she thought she had heard it wrong, but after wondering why Jake had brought her to this restaurant that had no sign on the front and looked new, she realized she had heard right. But she would never have imagined that after only a conversation and without even confirming the truth with Eva, that Jake would immediately buy and renovate a restaurant for his mother. Even though this restaurant was not as grandiose as what it had, the restaurant she had just gotten big like that after many years of work and success, but Jake just wanted to fulfill her mother''s dream. For a moment she was a little jealous of Eva for having such a good son when her sister did not even know where she was, or whether she was alive or dead. But soon she recovered when she remembered that she considered Jake and Eva as his family now, so she had to be glad Jake was so good with Eva, Jake was quietly waiting for Anna to absorb all this information before continuing the conversation. "Of course she will like it, a mother really likes when a child gives a flower gift, let alone a restaurant like this that was prepared with so much regard to Eva''s dream." "I''m glad to hear this, I called you here Anna, because you''re also responsible for this restaurant being made, were it not for you to discover my mother''s secret, I would probably never know." "I really enjoyed doing it, I think Eva deserves it too." "So, since you''re already responsible for this you could very well be responsible for even more would not you?" "As well." "I want you to come here to work with my mother and help manage this restaurant and the kitchen as well." "I can not do this Jake, you know my story very well, you know why I closed my restaurant." "I know very well, that''s why I''m asking you to help me and my mother too, you''ve closed your restaurant because of your family, and now you''re going to work here to help your new family." "I do not want neither you nor my mother to be alone and I know that you always loved to cook and that''s why you opened those cooking classes." Hearing that Anna stopped for a while to think, she knew what Jake said was true, she always liked the kitchen a lot and that has not changed until today, and she actually regretted having closed the restaurant years after her son went through. "You can be there together with my mother, at least at the beginning, if afterward, you see that you can no longer just give some councils, I need your help Anna, and I also think this may be good for you." After hearing Jake say that Anna was convinced, it was true what he said if after a while she did not want to work here anymore she could just leave but now she had to help Eva at least in the beginning. "Alright Jake, you convinced me, I''ll help at least for a few months." "Thank you, Anna." So Jake gave Anna a hug, he invited Anna because she knew she always dreamed and remembered the time she worked in her restaurant, but Jake knew that Anna needed a good reason to be able to go back to the kitchen without feeling guilty about her family. Now Jake had the perfect motive, and with Anna, he was sure the restaurant would be successful. "Jake, what''s the specialty of this restaurant?" "I do not know, this will depend on my mother, but I do not think it will be a high-class restaurant or looking for international recognition." "I was also thinking this, when are you going to tell Eva about it?" "After the national championship final, I want to tell her this before her birthday, after all, this is not a simple gift, but to fulfill her dream, and that she can not refuse." "That''s right, do you think this restaurant will work out?" "For the next three years at least I''m confident, and with you here I''m even more confident, as you do not have to worry about paying rent it''s easier to spend the first few years until the restaurant has regular customers." "I think you would really be a good businessman Jake, you know how to think about the most varied business, but you decided to be a basketball player." "I can do both, an alias I think I can do more than both, I want you to keep secret about this restaurant, and can start to prepare for in a few months, you can even find the employees. " "I was thinking about it, I have a lot of friends who also give preparatory classes to people who work in restaurants like me, so I''m going to look for some people in those places." "Then I''ll leave everything to you." Chapter 146 The National High School Championship 3 After bringing Anna back home Jake also went back to his house, he dined with Eva who did not ask where he was all day. Even in her past life, Eva was very liberal with the way she treated Jake, she never asked where he was going, even the times he''d been away from home all the more so in this life that Eva knew Jake was very responsible. If Eva were not like that, it would be much harder for Jake to make the surprises for her. In the classes the team was training as if the next game was the final, Mark no longer wanted to train with Jake and teach things to him, it was frustrating to see how in a few months Jake had already learned everything he knew. So he did not want to continue training until Jake defeated him when Mark refused to train him, Jake realized that he had already learned everything he could from Mark, so now it was time to play Center as an imaginary trainer. If Jake could do this for a few months he was sure he could dominate the position, after Mark said that he learned some of his techniques playing and experienced, in experience Jake would not lose to anyone with the system helping. In addition to being able to learn more about defending and attacking in the inside area, Jake could also train block and rebound in that position, so he only had to gain from it. After a few more days the third game day arrived, Jake had breakfast with Eva and soon went to the place of the game, when he arrived in the gym he saw that his teammates had already arrived for that game. Unlike what was normally all the players were more tense in this game, Jake did not know if this was good or bad, but he was sure that his team could play as always. After a while the two teams were ready to start the game, the opposing team was the Cats, the best players of the Cats were the PG, the PF, and the SG. The PG of the team is called James and was a player lower than the others, but he seemed to be very fast, the SG was called Fred, was a very good player in the shots from outside, and the PF of the team of Cats was the highlight of the team, he is called Liam and he was good in both the attack and the defense besides being almost 1.90 m in height. Jake hoped the performance of his teammates would be very good because the opponents appear to be strong, after a while the game started, Liam was the one who won the ball for the Cats team early in the game. The ball was passed to PG James who advanced calmly to organize the attack, after reaching the line of three points James passed the ball to his team''s SF, Harrison who was in the defense was excited to perform well today. After all, because of the Philips coach he cannot play and had to see the team lose in that third game last year, the SF of the opposing team realized that they could not pass through Harrison and passed the ball back to James. James, who was pressured by Jake''s defense, passed the ball quickly to his team''s Center, Mark, who had performed well in all games, gave no room for the opponent, so Center forced a mid-range shot just to miss the attack. Carter grabbed the rebound and passed the ball to Jake, Jake who saw the Cats'' defense slow to come back began to run into the line of attack, Jake was faster than all the players on the court and quickly passed by the Defenders of the Cats team before half of the court. James who saw Jake running was also fast and being the last player in the defense of the Cats team now ran to stop Jake''s attack, Jake ran up after the three-point line when James arrived he made a sudden stop and then the crossover. James could not stop so fast and was removed from the play, so Jake advanced again and made the dunk to make the first two points of the Elite team, after seeing this incredible move the fans began to cheer for the Elite team. No team had people who really cheered for them, which they had were people who liked basketball, so it was normal that the team that made the most exciting moves would have more fans. James picked up the ball to start the Cats attack, after the last play he saw that it would be difficult to count on the SF and the Center of his team for this game, for the information he received before the game Harrison and Mark were the people that allowed more points of the opponents when they defended. So even though James did not know what was going on he would not risk those moves too much, James knew he would not have many chances to get past Jake who was a high school star now, and Carter was the best player on the opposing team. So he could attack more with Fred who was against David and sometimes with Liam who could with his ability score even with Carter''s defense against him, so getting to the three-point line he passed the ball to Fred. Fred received the ball and was wondering if David who was normally bad at defense would be like his teammates and would be better in today''s game, Fred made a feint and David was cheated so Fred made the mid-range shot to make 2 points for his team. Jake did not care much about this and got the ball to organize another attack, reaching the line of three points he passed to David, David tried passing by Fred, but David''s move was very open and Fred managed to steal the ball. Fred passed the ball to James who held the ball and calmed the team, James knew that against the Elite team it would be difficult to make a fast attack and so it was better to organize the attack well, reaching the line of three points he passed the ball to Fred who returned to the behind the three-point line to make the shot out and make 3 more points. Even though in the first attack the team of the Cats still had the lead on the scoreboard, Jake only received the ball calmly, he knew that it was normal to make mistakes and so he reached the three-point line he passed the ball for David. David got the ball behind the three-point line and knew that it was Jake''s way to say that he trusted him, but it put David in the pressure and he missed the ball, but Mark picked up the rebound and passed the ball for Carter, Carter went to do the layup and Liam went up and got the block. As Fred was able to catch the ball that remained and calmed the team, this time Jake did not like anything, he passed the ball to David who missed the shot because he made the wrong move at the time of the shot and then Carter suffered the block because did not pay attention at the time the attack. So Jake realized that today does not seem like a good day for David and Carter, but it was a great day for Mark and Harrison so it seemed like a game he would have to try to win the game. Fred passed the ball to James who advanced to the line of three points, James without hesitating passed the ball to Liam who was in high morale after making the block, so Liam using his body was able to turn and dunk to increase in 2 points for the Cats team. So the Cats were winning by 7 to 2 against the Elite team, Jake got the ball and advanced to the three-point line, getting there he passed the ball to Harrison, Harrison dribbled in the opponent and then did the layup to do more 2 points for the Elite team. After the game continued until the end of the first period, the Elite team was losing by 4 points, James was careful against Jake and so Jake could not do any steal in that first period. Jake managed to score 6 points and 4 assists in that first period, at the end of the first period the Cats team had realized that David and Carter were not in good shape and attacked over them. In defense they also realized that David and Carter did not receive any more passes from Jake and so the defense over Harrison and Mark increased, this seemed like a difficult game for the Elite team. So in the second period, Jake decided he would have to take responsibility and make more individual moves to take some of the pressure off of Harrison and Mark. At the beginning of the second period, James was more confident in the victory of that game after the first period, he realized that the right decision was to avoid Jake when it attacked the same, so after reaching the line of three points he passed the ball to Fred. Fred got the ball and faked David as he looked around so Jake did not steal the ball, then Fred passing by David and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for his team. Jake also noticed that the opposing team was intent on him, but it did not matter if his teammates could not take advantage of their opponents'' inattention, Jake picked up the ball and advanced to the three-point line, Jake made a feint and then tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for his team. Chapter 147 The National High School Championship 4 After this move James became concerned about Jake again, in fact, they knew little about Jake who had not played for two years without playing championships, but this year Jake looked like a great PG who played for the team and always got a Triple Double in the games. But no one had any reports from Jake after making a big individual game where he made more than 40 points, because the last game like that was in Middle School, and high school did not care about that. So the coach said that if they knocked out Jake''s teammates he would not play so well, but in that game, James''s instincts said that Jake was more dangerous when he was cornered like in that game. James started another attack for his team, this time he passed the ball to Liam after reaching the line of three points, Liam received the pass and again easily turned on Carter and made the hook to make 2 more points for his team. In fact, it was not that Carter was badly defensive in this game but rather that he could not play well against Liam who was taller, Jake received the ball and quickly advanced to the three-point line. He made a fake and passed by James, then Jake continued advancing to the inner area and went to do the layup, Liam who saw this tried the block, but Jake realized that Liam is close and kept the ball longer in the hands during the layup and managed to do the layup. Liam was upset that he could not get another block, but Jake changed the direction of the ball at the right time and if he forces it, Liam already had 3 blocks in that game and wanted more in the game, he wanted to make his first Triple Double in top of the Elite team that had Jake. James started another attack and passed the ball to his team''s SF, Harrison was up and SF passed the ball to Liam, Liam ended up in a double game with Carter and Mike and passed the ball to Center who was free, Center tried to do the dunk for shows that should not be underestimated. But Jake, who guessed what the opponent would do, returned to the defense and made the block on top of the opposing center, Center who wanted to make the Dunk and was rejected ended up getting unbalanced and falling to the ground. The players of the Cats team complained about a foul, but the referee saw that Jake''s block was cleared and sent the game to follow, the crowd started to cheer again and Jake passed the ball to David who was running alone on the attack. Even though he was a little bad in the game David did not lose that chance and made the 2 points with the layup, James was also impressed by this move of Jake, but calmed down and began to organize another attack for his team. He passed the ball to Fred who passed by David and tried the shot from outside, Jake appeared suddenly again and made another block in Fred''s attack, Jake even took the ball and ran to the attack to make the dunk and 2 more points to your team. With these three plays of Jake the Elite team managed to tie the game again, James who was twice defenseless because Jake went elsewhere combined a move with his team''s SF. James passed the ball to the SF who managed to pass by Harrison and ran into the inside area, Jake left James alone and went behind the SF as well as had agreed the SF passed to James who without defense made the mid-range shot to do plus 2 points for the Cats team. Jake knew this could have happened, but he could not let his team stand behind the board doing nothing, so Jake started another attack, he advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Harrison. Harrison who was well in that game pass by the SF opponent easily and ran to do the layup, Liam who was accompanying the move also rose and managed to make the block in this move, the Cats Center took the ball and passed to James to start the attack. James, who was happy not to allow the Elite team to draw again, stepped up to the three-point line, he saw that Jake was a bit away probably thinking about defending against another person and so James tried to shoot him out. Even though Jake was a little away from James he paid attention to it as soon as James tried the shot from outside Jake advanced quickly and jumped to make the block in that move as well, so Jake took the ball and ran to the attacking block and made the dunk to tie the game. Jake realized that James was agitated for being ignored and was already thinking about making this block since the last move, after all, Jake had the physical statistics very high and the rank of his ability block was S, besides being almost 10 centimeters higher than the opponent can make the block easier. Even though Jake found it normal James was very impressed that it was he who suffered the block, even if it was possible Jake was away from him before he even hopped Liam would not get the block in this situation, this means that Jake was more skillful than Liam in defense. The game continued like this and the second period ended with the Cats team being 2 points ahead, even if Jake was doing very well in defense Liam is doing well, Jake had 18 points and 8 assists, and now he had 5 blocks in the game. Liam had 14 points and 6 blocks in this game, so it was a good players'' match, but Jake was a PG and Liam was a PF, so Jake''s box score was different. In the interval after the second period, Jake and coach Mike tried to talk to David and Carter, David was just a little nervous and in bad shape in that game, and Carter was going badly just in the attack, in defense he was normal, but it was that Liam was playing very well. At that time Jake and Coach Mike felt the lack of a sixth man in the team if they had a good reserve the team could maintain a good game in those situations, but the team substitutes were now much weaker than David and Carter. And if they were taken away from a major game could affect their performance in the next games if the team won, the third period still had a good performance of Jake and Liam on both sides, so the third period ended with the Elite team 2 points in the front thanks to a basket out of Jake at the end of the third period. Jake now had 30 points and 11 assists plus 8 blocks, he was close to a triple-double different from the other games, but thanks to James''s care, Jake only managed 3 steals throughout the game. On the Liam Cats side, he had 26 points and 11 blocks in that game, so he had a Double-Double, but he still had 6 rebounds and was behind the triple, but Mark was also well in the game and had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Fred was also doing well with 20 points and Harrison had 12 points, this was more a three-on-three game than a game between teams, in the last period Liam was a bit more tired with this intense game. Jake was still full of energy and this could make the difference in the final result of such a difficult game, James received the ball and started another attack and passed the ball to Liam, Carter who continued to struggle in the defense managed to disrupt the mid shot range of Liam. Harrison picked up the ball and passed it to Jake, Jake advanced to the three-point line and took a set shot away from the three-point line to make another 3 points for the Elite team, James did not even have time to defend before the ball. After James from a few plays was starting to get anxious, the Elite team was ahead with 5 points and Liam was now tired, so he passed the ball to the SF team''s Cats, Harrison even tired continued form in the defense, so the SF passed the ball to Liam who was the star of the team. With Carter firmly in defense too, Liam did not want to risk it and passed the ball to Fred, Fred took David out of the play and prepared for the shot from outside when he saw Jake arriving, so Fred passed to James, but they were very close so Jake was still next. But as the time of the possession of the ball was ending and James thought that Jake was tired also he tried the shot of outside, Jake approached quickly and managed to make another block, was the block number 10 of him in the game. Jake got the ball and ran for the attack and only stopped after the dunk and 2 more points for the Elite team, missing minutes to end the game and the Elite team had a good lead, but James still did not give up. Arriving at the three-point line he passed the ball to Liam who got the energy to pass by Carter and dunk to keep the Cats team firm in the game, Jake got the ball and advanced to the three-point line, getting there he saw that all the players in the Cats team were defending well. So Jake thought about making another individual play to make the points in that play, but so he remembered a move that trained a lot with Mark in the weeks before the game. So Jake made a sign with his hands that he had not done for a long time, his teammates did not know what that signal was, but Mark knew that Jake made an Alley-oop and Mark took the ball in the air and made a dunk. Chapter 148 The National High School Championship 5 After that beautiful move, the cheer cheered again, from the beginning everyone cheered a lot for the Elite team since Jake''s plays, Mark was happy to be able to complete the play, after all, they had little training in this training. But as Jake passed the ball with great precision to him and it became easier, after that point the team of Cats began to discourage, yet they fought until the last minute. Jake managed to make the Triple Double and over 40 points in that game, Mark also had a great performance, the Cats side Liam also had a great performance but Coach Mike was not satisfied with his players. After the game, Jake went home to tell his mother about the victory, but the rest of the team stayed behind to hear a scolding from the coach, after all neither Jake nor the coach wanted to see a performance similar to the Middle School final in other games. Maybe if Mark and Harrison had not played so well they would be eliminated again, after all in high school it was normal for teams like the Cats that had great players like Liam and so Jake could not save the team again. After dinner with his mother at home Jake went to the bedroom to rest, today was a tricky game, but also it was a very good game to play, after today he realized that he would have more competition to win the national championship. Jake could tell that Carter had not played as well as he usually did, and David was also bad at the game, but that does not mean that the Cats'' team was weak, Liam was a very good player and even Fred did work for the defense. That reminded Jake that these were the best players in the national championship, and they still had 3 games for the Elite team to be able to win the national championship, which means that the next opponents are likely to be the toughest. "Fate, show my statistics." [Here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 16 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: High School Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 1.86 m] [Weight: 82 Kg] [Force 30] [Agility 30] [Resistance 32] [Intelligence 58] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling SS] [Body Control S] [Man to Man S] [Dribble SS] [Layup S] [Set Shot SS] [Block S] [Pass SS] [Rebound S] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] [Steal SS] [Dunk A] --------------------------------- So Jake could see that many statistics had increased a bit in those months that he did not look at his stats, that was to be expected because Jake trained whenever he could on the treadmill and his strength training as well. His abilities did not increase much, but this was to be expected and even if he increased he would not know how the system said when he passes SS rank continues to improve, but Jake could not know until he reached the next level. As for what would be the next level Jake was not yet decided, he would wait until next year if his skills increased so much he could try to get into the NBA if they did not increase much he would go to university to have a few more years to prepare. Jake was thinking that his ability as a PG had something to improve even before joining the NBA, after all, Jake''s dream was to win an NBA championship and not just be an ordinary player there. So he would have to be very good if he wanted to win against the various MVPs they had there. After a few days that Jake was preparing for the next game in the national championship, he spent time in the break of classes with Joseph, they were as always, but Joseph was thinking that something was strange. At dinner they did a few days before Jake''s trip for the holidays they were fine, Jake had even talked about talking to Jenny''s parents about dating, that means things were getting serious between them. But after a few months he heard about Liza that Jake had broken up with Jenny, even though Liza had not said why and tried to say it was Jake''s fault, Joseph was no child to believe in his girlfriend''s lies. But when even Jake had said that there had been nothing and that he just wanted to forget and not be bothered by Liza he did not understand, so now that Jake had gone through a more difficult game for what he heard from Liza and missing a few games for the final it was time for him to talk to Jake. "Jake, I''ve been thinking about this for a few weeks now, so I want you to tell me the truth, which was the reason you broke up with Jenny." Jake who was thinking about basketball and eating distracted was taken by surprise by this sudden question from Joseph, he thought that this matter had already been closed, but it seemed that Joseph had not forgotten. "It was nothing important, forget about it, Joseph." "Tell me, I''m your friend, I was involved in this too, I deserve to know." "Okay then, the reason we ended up was that we thought about different things for our future, I wanted a serious relationship and talk to her parents, but Jenny just wanted a casual relationship and wait to see what happened." So Jake said only part of the real motive, it was true that if Jake did not care that Jenny''s parents did not approve of this relationship and if Jake wanted to just be with someone, they would not have ended that relationship. But Jake did not want to have a false relationship, he wanted a true relationship that had a future and that the two really liked, and Jake could not bear the fact that this relationship was not forward if he did not get rich in the future, it seemed more business what a relationship. Joseph saw that Jake was telling the truth and did not understand why this had happened, even though their relationship was not serious now if they liked it could become serious in the future. But seeing that Jake was speaking the truth and matched a little with what Jenny said, he did not ask any more, Joseph saw that Jake had been a little annoyed with him getting involved too much and decided to talk about basketball to change the subject. "Do you think your team can win this year''s national championship?" "I think so, I can not be sure because I do not know if a stronger team can appear." "But Liza told me that some players on her team played badly in the last game, and if it was not for you and Mark the team would have lost." "It was not really like that either, it''s true that David played badly, but Carter was fine, he never shows up much in the attack anyway, it happened that we had a very strong opponent in that game, so even if he played well in defense the result did not would change a lot." "As for David he is a lot better than a few years ago psychologically, he happened to play poorly in this game, but he knew he was bad in the game and that happens, I just hope that it does not happen in the next games." Jake was not too worried about his teammates, he had a lot of confidence in them, but he was really worried as if the next opponents would have a player like Liam, that would be the most worrisome. After arriving home Jake thought about what he could do to improve until the next game, he thought that maybe the key was really in the defense, in the attack he could solve somehow making individual plays. And it was impossible for all four of his teammates to play badly in the next game so he would have someone to pass the ball but in defense, if another player like Liam appeared he could not count on his teammates to stop that player. If even Carter could do nothing, the others had no hope, so Jake sat on his bed and began training in the space of his imagery training, his opponent and teammates were all six feet high. Jake chose this time for everyone because he was only a few inches taller than his, and so he would feel a greater challenge, as everyone had his skill in the S rank, after all, it was more or less Jake''s overall rank. Jake knew that it was not possible to compare a real skill player to the player that was generated by the system even if that player had the abilities all rank S, Liam, for example, he certainly did not have all his S rank maximum he had 3 of the skills. But Liam could easily beat the system players on a 1-on-1 basis, this was because people thought differently from machines that only had one pattern, but these system players were now all Jake needed. After all, he would now train in a position different from the one he usually plays, so Jake went to his position as C and started the game, even if it was not the position he was accustomed to. Jake had a lot of experience in basketball in general and learned a few things with Mark in those weeks and even with Liam in this game. In the jump to gain possession of ball Jake let his team''s PF was to compete so the opposing team was the first with the ball, Jake stayed in his position near the bottom of the court and defending against the opposing Center. Soon Jake realized that it was more difficult than he thought, besides looking at the PG of the opposing team that was with the ball he had to pay attention in his positioning to get a possible rebound and also in the opponent center. It was much harder to play than PG in the defense, the first ball the opponents PG passed to the opposing SG that shot the outside, Jake prepared for the rebound, but the ball entered the 3 points of the opponent. Chapter 149 The National High School Championship 6 Jake was annoyed to be fighting for the rebound for nothing after the ball came in after Jake picked up the ball in the bottom line and passed to his team''s PG, then he started to run without looking back until he reached his position. Jake did not want to know how to score in this game so he told his team''s PG not to pass any balls to him, unlike his team at school, the imagery training teams did not have a very fixed positioning. However, Jake did not manage to connect with it, as his teammates had hoped, and the ball went out of his way. they did not know what was going to happen. But for this, the team had to train a lot and everyone had to have an IQ basketball high to make these plays, after all an error and the player with the ball could be surrounded, in addition, Jake liked to have control of the plays. If the opponent can start reading his plays and is no longer working, he could think about changing the team''s style of play, but for now, it was better to keep it that way. While playing as Center he understood how difficult it was to play in that position, he had even more respect for Mark, yet the training in that first game did not work out as well as he thought. He managed to train a lot to get the rebounds, but apart from the positioning it was very dependent on luck to get the rebounds, but he did not get any chance to make the block in that game. Even so he tried again with another game, he purposely asked his team''s defense of these more spaces so that the opponents tried to score internally, and this time he also wanted to try the plays of strength in the inner area to try to make the points as a Center and so he asked for the ball more. So he can make more moves in that position, in attack and defense Jake had some difficulties, he was stronger than his opponent in the moves, but often he ended up making fouls trying to attack or defend by using excessive force. So he thought it good that he did this in training and not in games, in the block was easier, he had done several times in the games, he just had to hit the time and so he could play the ball and not the opponent. If the opponent made more elaborate moves to move the ball more Jake would give up trying the block, in fact once talking to the system he discovered that he had enough facilities with block, steal, dunk and layup because his intelligence and agility statistics were higher. Thus both his agility and his speed of thought were faster and easier for him to guess the time of the ball, but to use the force to attack or defend if he learned only with experience, that is what Mark probably meant. As Mark knew Jake would not play Center''s position he thought Jake could never get the experience of playing in that position, so Jake would never be better than him, but Mark did not know Jake had the system. Even so Jake understood that Mark must have talent as a defender, and also to know the right time to get the rebounds, which was something that Jake had more difficulty, but he had a lot of time in his training of imagination to learn some techniques to use in games. When Jake''s game day arrived it had already improved a lot as Center but was compared to an amateur and not to Mark, but Jake did not plan to use what he learned in that same game room, Jake thought he could use some of what he learned in the semifinal or in the very end. After eating breakfast and saying goodbye to Eva he went to the playground, this time only coach Mike and Mark had arrived, in training during the week before the game Jake can see that his teammates seemed more focused on the training. As he had been previously dismissed by the coach, Jake did not know what the coach talked to the team after the last game, but it seemed that he had motivated the players, yet Jake intended to rely on Mark for that game. Mark was in good shape in the last games and Jake thought it was best to pass the ball so Mark would score more points and gain more confidence. After a few minutes everyone had arrived for the game, Jake saw that everyone looked good in this game, he would have to see after the game began, he would pass the ball to David and Harrison to see how they were for that game. Carter was important for him to be better on defense than on the attack, but he would find an opportunity to see how Carter was on the attack for that game, the game was about to start and Jake decided to speak with Mark shortly before the game. "So, Mark, how are you feeling today?" "Well Jake, I think today''s going to be another good game." "Great then, you know that our teammates have had some games down, but you''re the player I trust the most, I do not want to give more pressure, but I''ll pass the ball to you and the rebounds are yours okay?" "You can count on me, Jake." "Fine then, come on." While the players were all set to start the game, Mark was more excited than ever, he never said that but Jake was an example to him on the team, he thought Jake would surely be a professional in the future. Even though he did not plan to be a pro too, he wanted to at least be on the same level as Jake, which is why he was struggling so hard in training, and after two difficult years, he was finally at his best this year and was proud. But after the last game that his teammates had problems he saw the team almost being eliminated again, so he was very nervous about this game and unsure if he could play well. But Jake came to talk to him like he had never done before a game and said he trusted him, so Mark knew he had to do well in this game, just as Jake thought of him, Mark also thought Jake was his only real friend in the team. Jake did not know that he had avoided a possible disaster in the game by talking to Mark and was on the court analyzing his opponent for that game, in that fourth national championship game they would play with the Bats team. From the information they had for this game the best players on the Bats team were the PG and SF, fortunately, there were no very loud players what Jake thought for that game. The PG was called Daniel and was a great player, had an average of 9 assists per game and 30 points as well, plus an average of 3 steals, the team SF was Alexander, had an average of 20 points per game as well, the two made half the points per game. But Jake was not so worried about Daniel in this game, he was more concerned about Alexander, Harrison was not very good at defense so it would be a free attack for the Bats team, Jake had to take the chances to defend against him and help Harrison. Even if Jake wanted to, he did not think he could get a Triple Double in every game after playing against the Cats team, he just expected the team to win. After a while the game finally began, Mark disputed and got the first possession of the ball for the Elite team, Jake received the ball and ran up the three-point line, Daniel who was defending against Jake kept the distance and waited to see what Jake would do. At that time all the teams already had the information of the main players, many players were highlights of their teams, Liam who was eliminated was one of them, but even so, Jake was considered the favorite to win the national championship MVP. Even though there were three games remaining for the final, no one thought that was wrong, after all, Jake was a Triple Double player in every game of the season, and what was more difficult than in the last game he did with more than 10 blocks in instead of steals like in the other games. So Daniel would not try to put pressure on the defense over Jake because he knew that who would tire himself would be Jake did not care about it and passed the ball to Harrison, Harrison who received the ball tried the feint over Alexander, but the SF of the Bats team stood still. So Harrison tried to use speed to pass by Alexander, but the opposing defender just kept the distance, so Harrison made a sudden stop and made the mid-range shot to make the first 2 points of the game. Jake who was seeing this realized that Harrison is well in today''s game, but to his surprise, it seemed that Alexander was also good at defense, as in his stats he had no steal or block he was taken by surprise. Even though Jake knew he could count on Harrison in the offense, it was best to avoid risking the confrontation with the strong opponent, Daniel took the ball and started the first attack for his team, reaching the line of three he went to the SG of his team. The SG had difficulty, but still managed to get rid of David and make the first two points for his team, Jake received the ball and started another attack for his team, in that last move he can see that David looked good in the game, he came to line of three points and passed the ball to David. Chapter 150 The National High School Championship 7 David received the ball from Jake and used his speed to get out of the opponent''s SG and ran to do the layup and 2 points for the Elite team, David knew he had done badly in the last game but it was just his physical condition that was not very good. After the last game, he went to the hospital and saw that he had the flu and feverishly played the game, yet he knew that he had disappointed his teammates by not taking care of himself, so they almost lost the game. Jake said that he trusted him but David knew that everyone was disappointed as he, so he promised himself that he would do his best in the next games, he would help the team to win that national championship. Daniel saw that David looked good and was a bit disappointed, yet he recovered and advanced to the three-point line, so he moved on to the PF of his team, now he wanted to test if Carter was well on defense as well. The PF tried to make the turn and saw Carter trying to steal the ball, so the PF pulled away and forced the mid-range shot to make the 2 points for his team, seeing that Daniel realized that Carter looked good for that game too. Jake advanced to the line of three points and passed the ball to Mark this time, Mark received the pass and made a feint and then a turn to make the layup and score 2 points for his team, the opponent''s opponent was lost with this move. Daniel got the ball to organize another attack for the Bats team, it seemed that luck was not on their side and all Elite players were fine for today''s match, reaching the three-point line Daniel passed to Alexander. Alexander got the ball off the three-point line and Harrison was far away hoping he would get in the three-point line to make the attack, but Alexander made the shot from outside and made 3 more points for his team. Jake grabbed the ball and advanced and before the three-point line took the shot out to make 3 more points for his team, Daniel just tried to disrupt Jake''s shot, but it was useless, Jake was taller and jumped too well to do the shot movement, so it was difficult for a lower player to defend. Jake suffered for a long time to be smaller than his opponents, now was the time for him to take advantage of his size to make more points, he hoped to grow taller until graduation in high school, after all, he was bigger than in his past life that he only reached 1.85 m tall, so he just hoped for how much more he would grow. Daniel did not bother with that, he knew he could not do much defense against Jake in that game, at least he wanted to mess up all the moves he could, Daniel advanced to the three-point line and saw that Alexander was being defended by Harrison , but Carter and Jake had their eye on the defense. So Daniel passed the ball to the SG of his team, David put pressure on the defense and the opponents PG had more difficulty in making the play, so the PG tried to pass to Alexander that was unmarked again, but Jake managed to read well the move and intercepted the pass. Watching this happen Daniel was angry, he saw that Jake was intent on the move, but he did not expect the SG of his team to give up on the move and move to Alexander, that was one of the reasons that Jake liked that all the moves passed through his hands. Jake who had caught the ball advanced to the three-point line, he waited a bit and passed the ball to Mark, Mark who received the ball advanced and did the layup to make 2 more points for his team. Daniel took the ball and advanced to the three-point line, this time he did not want to risk and passed the ball to Alexander, Alexander made a feint and used his speed to pass by Harrison and ran to the inner area to do the layup and 2 points for your team. Jake got the ball and organized another attack for the Elite team, this time he passed the ball to David, David threatened to run inside, but instead made a step back and made the shot from outside to score another 3 points for his team. The game continued like this until the end of the first period of the game, Jake had made 7 points and 5 assists, in addition, he managed to do 3 steals in that first period, the Elite team was with an advantage of 8 points against the Bats team. It was exactly like Jake thought, when everyone was playing well doing the points and defending normally the Elite team was much easier to win the games, but the main factor was that the best opposing player was a PG, SG or SF if it were so the game did not change much. Because Jake could easily stop the opposing PG, and no one even expected David and Harrison to do well in defense, so the Elite team can play well and seek victory as always, but if the main opposing player is a Center or a PG game complicates. Because if this happens to the opponent can make several points in Mark and Carter who were the best in defense of the Elite team, the opponent could also make points over David and Harrison and then the game is difficult as last time. At the beginning of the second period Daniel received the ball and started another attack for his team, arriving at the line of three points Daniel passed the ball to the SG of his team, learning from the last mistake he tried several times until pass by David and do the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for your team. Jake received the ball and advanced to the three-point line, he passed the ball to Mark again, as Jake said he was passing the ball to Mark more than to the others, and Mark had not lost any such attack that he turned and did the layup to make 2 more points for the Elite team. The Bats'' team had already realized that Mark was the one receiving more passes from the Elite team and they also knew that Mark was coming from a sequence of good games, but aside from asking the Center for his team to pay more attention, they could not do anything. they do double play on another player Mark will make the points more easily. Daniel received the ball to arrange another attack, but reaching the three-point line Daniel risked the shot from outside to make the 3 points for his team, Daniel was satisfied with this, he knew that if he who was the player who scored the most points in your team could not make points they would lose. Jake received the ball and did not care what happened, it was impossible for him to completely nullify the opponent in the defense, so it was good that Daniel took more confidence to make the shots from outside, so Jake would have more opportunities to make the block. Jake reached the three-point line and this time did not stop and took advantage of Daniel''s distraction and used his speed to pass by the opponent, Jake continued and only stopped after making the dunk to make 2 points for the Elite team. The crowd once again cheered for Jake and the Elite team, many who were in the stands today were the last game and wanted to see again the beautiful plays of Jake and his team, Eric was also taking the pictures as always. Eric was very happy to have followed the Elite team that year again in almost every game, even if he had not done an interview with Jake he had talked a lot with the other players on the team, he would wait after the Elite team was the champions this year to interview Jake. Many had found it absurd that Eric had failed to follow many NBA games to accompany a high school team, but Eric is investing in a good relationship with Jake after all reporters who are friends with an NBA star can ensure success for at least 15 years. So he knew that if he accompanied Jake''s team at least he could cover the champion team, but as always Jake had exceeded his expectations, in addition to all the games having nice plays and dunks for Eric to take the pictures, Jake had also made a triple Double in all 13 games so far. Even though Jake could not get any more, Jake was still 16 years old and was in his third year of high school, so Jake still had another year to show off his skills. If Jake could make 3 more triple-double in this national championship and win would be the best matter that he could do throughout his career, Eric was sure, Eric was also thinking about the companies he knew they sponsored Jake for several years now. He had to admit that these companies were very lucky and invested well in Jake, after that national championship many teams would seek Jake to offer sponsorship, but after the matter of Eric leave with Jake doing 13 triple-double followed only these two companies can have the whole glory. After a while the second period ended, the Elite team still had superiority and had a 12-point lead, but with Daniel starting to make the points the advantage did not increase much, Jake had done 15 points, 9 assists, and 6 steals, so the Triple Double seemed routed. Chapter 151 The National High School Championship 8 In the third period, the team of Bats was beginning to be anxious about the outcome of the game, they knew that if they did not try something they would end up being eliminated, then without much to do the team coach suggested that they try the shots out with Daniel and Alexander. This was a way to get away from the fierce defense of the opponent and make more points, so Daniel took the ball in the line of three points and passed to the SG of his team, SG held the ball for only a while and passed the ball back for Daniel to take the shot out and make 3 points for his team. Daniel was too fast to make the shot out, so Jake who had to keep an eye on all the opponent''s moves to try to steal and stop the opponent''s attack can not react in time, Jake reached the three-point line and saw that the Bats'' team was trying to make a stronger defense for this period of the game. Jake made a quick signal and then passed the air pass to Mark who ran and made the dunk after catching the pass on top and completing the Alley-oop to make 2 points for the Elite team, after that move the cheer celebrated again, this was a great resource for making the points and besides increasing the morale of the team still left the opponents discouraged. Since Jake''s pass was perfect Mark had only to set the time to do the dunk, Mark was excited again, even though he was insecure before the game with Jake''s words and his great performance he was feeling confident again. After that Daniel took the ball and started to organize another attack and went up to the three-point line, he passed the ball to Alexander who quickly got rid of Harrison and can make the shot from outside to make 3 more points. Jake grabbed the ball and started another attack by going to the three-point line, getting there he swiftly passed Daniel and advanced to the inside area, the BF team PF tried to stop Jake who passed the ball to Carter who was free, Carter received the pass and did the dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team. Even though Carter did not really like to do the dunk he knew he did very well and felt it was the right move this time, and he was right, even though with two attacks the Bats'' team took a little advantage on the scoreboard they felt evil in taking two dunks in two moves. With these two moves Jake had already realized that the goal of the Bats team was to spend time and make the shot out at the end of the play, as the ball had to go through many players before the shot outside, Jake felt he could do some interceptions and get more steals for it. And so it was until the end of the third period, the Elite team was winning with an 18-point lead and Jake had achieved the Triple Double, he had 22 points, 14 assists and 11 steals throughout the game so far, Eric was who he was more celebrating in the stands. The whole game that Jake did a triple-double followed was to increase his record, and so the matter that Eric would do would be better too, Mark was also playing very well and had done 16 points and got 8 rebounds so far, close to more a Double-Double in that championship. In the fourth period, the team of Bats realized that the defense of the Elite team had already discovered their strategy and so some passes were intercepted by Jake, so in this last period they decided to try to direct the shot from outside. So they tried a lot in the last period, but Jake did not seem to want to give hope to the opponents, so the game ended with Jake getting 3 blocks in the last period and doing 9 points with shots from outside, total Jake made 33 points in the game. Mark scored 11 rebounds in that game and double-double, Alexander had 28 points and Daniel had 21 points and 8 assists, it was a shame the rest of the team was a little weak or they could have made a better game. Now only two games left for the national championship final, Jake came home to tell Eva about the victory, Eva was relieved and happy about it, the closer she got to the final of the national championship, the more nervous she was before the games. After that Jake went to rest, he was very happy with the performance of the team in the game, especially Mark, Jake wanted to be able to continue with him in these last two games of the final, Jake did not expect him to make another triple Double in that game, coach Mike told him while Jake tried to help the team this would end up happening naturally. After a few days, Jake went to Anna''s house again, it had already been a few weeks since the conversation they had about Anna helping Eva with the restaurant, Jake wanted to see if Anna already had some results about it. After all, it was only a little over a month before Jake told his mother about the restaurant, after which it would have to be opened quickly, in fact, Jake had noticed that Eva had been strange in these last months. Jake knew what was going on in his mother''s mind, it was true that Eva had a terrible job at a restaurant, and it was also true that Eva wanted to spend much more time caring for her child at home while he was little. So Jake got what he always wanted and got Eva out of that job after he got the sponsorship money, thanks to that they could spend a lot more time together and even make several trips what would be impossible with Eva working. But now Jake was already 16, he was not a child but Eva had to stay home to take care of him, besides, Jake would soon go to a university and maybe had to leave the house, thinking about that Eva who was very proud and achieved everything alone before in her life began to feel bad about the current situation. Eve knew that her dream of having a restaurant could not be fulfilled so she was thinking that as Jake was big now she could start working again but she knew that because Jake was making lots of money he would not let her mother work anywhere to earn little. But Jake knew Eva better than she thought and knew what she was thinking, so even if she had to lose a few million in the future by failing to invest he decided to build the restaurant for Eva now. After arriving at Anna''s house she opened the door and led Jake into the living room while fetching some tea and biscuits for Jake after a while Anna came back with tea and cookies and another folder under her arm. "I know you''re very busy these days with the national championship final approaching and would not come to visit me for any reason." "That''s not true, even with little time I''d still be here just to talk to you, it calms me down a lot." "Even though I know this is a lie, I like it, you came here to talk about your mother''s restaurant, right?" "Yes, it''s only a few months before I tell her everything, it would be exciting if you had already found some staff to speed up the opening of the restaurant." "I did what I could, I found some employees who would be the waiters or the waitresses, I also found a staff for the cleaning and the general affairs of the restaurant, who will cook it will probably be mainly Eva and me, but I have to wait to know what will be the restaurant to hire the rest of the staff." "While the suppliers that you have managed to find are perfect, you can have any type of restaurant, the rest we can buy in the morning market, which is cooler, we will only have problems if Eva decides to do dishes with imported food or seafood, but I do not achoo she''ll do it. " Jake was very happy to have called Anna to help, without someone like her mother would be lost for a few years before she could get used to doing things in the restaurant normally. But Anna had even experience in a first-class restaurant that was more demanding in quality, to do something like this was easier, the only thing Anna said she did not understand well was the finances, but Jake and Emily would take care of it. Jake hoped that the day Eve went to the restaurant was soon, he wanted to see how happy she would be to fulfill her dream and be able to work quietly for life if she wanted to. "Thank you so much, Anna, to meet you was one of the best things that happened in my life, thanks to this, my mom and I were alone, we got a new family and you''re going to help my mother with her dream." "I also think like that, actually a few years ago before meeting you after I no longer had the restaurant or my family, the love of cooking was the only thing that kept me alive, and now I have one more time family and a restaurant to work with." After that Jake and Anna talked about many other things, and only later that night that Jake went home, he was sincere before when he talked to Anna, after going to her house he felt more relaxed. After a few days, Jake went to the mall to relax because it was only a few days to the semifinal and the pressure was too great on him, after eating ice cream while strolling the mall he saw something that had impressed him. Chapter 152 The National High School Championship 9 Jake walked past a music store and saw on a poster the photo of that singer he had met a long time ago when he went to do the Tiffany and Clara companies commercial for television. The name of the singer was Kate if he did not remember evil after he met her that day Jake even tried to look for some new thing she had done, but after a few months still had nothing then Jake thought she would not do success. But now after almost a year he saw that her new work had been released, and it looked like she was a very popular singer now, Jake did not remember her so he knew she would not have much success in the internet era. But in his past life, Jake was someone who did not like music and did not care too much about the artists who were successful or not, so he did not know if that singer Kate was very successful at that time in her past life. But from what he could see at least now she was a popular singer, so Jake bought what was being sold to listen to when he was time, after all, he had promised that he would buy. After a few more days came the day of the semi-final game, Jake woke up earlier than Eve that day, but he stayed in the room while thinking about some things. Jake was thinking about all the difficulties he went through before he could get to that game, almost two years off the team and uncertainty if he would still be in Elite school, Jake continued by his friend and because he knew it would be difficult to start all new in another team. Now his effort had been rewarded, he was in the semifinal of the national high school championship and was still playing with the same teammates, so Jake was pleased to have stayed in Elite school. After a while putting her head in place Jake came down to eat at her breakfast, Eve had already prepared everything as always, seeing this Jake was happy and wondering if she still had time to do this after the restaurant opened. After eating Jake was still long before the game and so he sat waiting for the time to pass, seeing that Jake was a little distracted today Eva spoke with him. "Are you okay today, son?" "I am, just thinking about some things before the game." "You think you''re going to win this game?" "I think so if everyone plays like it''s always going to be all right, I still want you to watch the next game." After talking to his mother a little Jake saw that was a bit strange, so while he went to the place of the game he tried to regain his usual calm, after all, he was the captain of the team if his teammates think he was very worried they might get nervous too. When Jake arrived everyone was already preparing for the game, Jake saw that Mark and Carter looked worried about this game, so Jake had already guessed what could have happened, after a few minutes the two teams were on the court ready for the start of the game. The opposing team for this game was the Foxes team, they had 3 players that could cause many problems for the Elite team, the SG the PF and the Center, the SG was called Elijah, Elijah was a player who was almost the same height that Jake. The style of play he had was similar to David, but Elijah did not have many skills in the shot from outside, so he could cause many problems with David''s fragile defense, the PF of the opposing team was called Mason and was very good at attacking and also in defense. The Center was called Jackson and just as Mason was good both in attack and defense, Jake saw in the report about them that with both on defense the team hardly took any inside scoring, only with mid-range moves and with shots from outside it was possible to make points on them. Coach Mike asked that Jake not try to force any individual play and do layups and dunk in that game, much less try to do the Alley-oop with Mark as in previous games, Jake understood the coach and said he would not overdo it. Although Jake wanted some challenges to increase his abilities he understood that this game was difficult, he could not rely very much on the attacks of Mark and Carter and even Harrison was more restricted not being able to do the inside scoring. The game soon began and Jackson won the first possession of the ball for the Foxes team, the ball was passed to the PG of the Foxes team, PG reached the three-point line and passed the ball to Elijah. Elijah made a feint and managed to dribble David and then made the mid-range shot to make the first two points for the Foxes team. Jake got the ball and started the first attack of the Elite team, he passed the ball to Harrison who managed to pass by his opponent easily and make the mid-range shot to tie the game, after seeing it Jake saw that they would still have many opportunities to make points even without inside scoring. The Foxes'' PG passed the ball to Jackson after reaching the attack, Jackson received the ball and made a turn using his force to protect Mark''s ball and then did the layup to make 2 more points for his team. Jake saw that as expected Mark could not stop the attack of the center opponent, he took the ball and went to the court of attack, getting there he passed the ball to Mark, Mark although he was a little surprised to receive the pass still did the play and managed to make the 2 points for the Elite team. Jake made this move to test the opposing defense, but he saw that Mark had difficulty making those points even if Jackson did not wait for the attack, thus showing that Mark would have difficulty in overcoming the opponent''s defense. The opposing PG did not seem as worried as Jake and was thinking of using enough Jackson and Mason in the Foxes'' team attacks and sometimes passing the ball to Elijah to vary the plays. In that attack he passed the ball to Mason, Carter was struggling in defense and tried to stop Mason''s attack, but Mason looked even better than Jackson on the attack and still managed to do the layup with ease even with Carter''s defense. The game continued like this until the end of the first period, the Foxes team was in front of the scoreboard with 4 points in front, Harrison missed a few plays in the attack and Mark could not get any rebound in that game. On the other side of the Foxes, the team did not make any mistake in the attacks, Jackson and Mason were very skillful players and did not lose any attack and Elijah easily got rid of David in the plays. Jake realized that if they continued like this they would lose, he had 6 points and 4 assists in the first period because he did not try to attack much and tried to find weaknesses in the opponent''s defense. Coach Mike just watched without speaking, in practice during the weeks he would spend everything he could for the players and had great authority and respect from the players, but during the games who ruled the team was Jake. This was not a request from either Jake or the president, but a decision from Mike himself, he saw in Middle School times that Jake had great leadership and vision of the game, so it was better than he leads his teammates on the court. After thinking Jake saw the only option they had and called David to talk. "You must have realized that we are in big trouble in this game, but we can not do anything about Jackson and Mason, so to disrupt the opponent''s attack I will defend against Elijah in the rest of the game and you defend against the opponent''s PG, understood?" "Yes, I understand." "Well, the attack on the rest of the game will depend on us both, even though I do not like to play so we''re just going to shoot the shots, I have confidence in both of us and I think with 3-point plays we can get to advantage in the game, so I count on you." After they returned to the court because they did not have a very long break, David was sad when Jake said he would have to give up defending against Elijah, but he knew his defense was really weak and the team had to win. In addition, all players knew that Jake was like the team coach during the games and with more respect than he had for Jake he just accepted without complaining, but then he was very happy seeing that Jake also trusted him for the attacks of the team for today''s game. When the second period began Jake was with the ball up the three-point line and passed the ball to David, David who was out of the three-point line took the shot out to make 3 more points for the Elite team. Then the opposing PG took the ball to organize the attack for his team, but soon everyone realized that whoever was defending against the PG of the Foxes team was David and that Jake was now on the mark of Elijah. As it was a team strategy no one could say anything, so the Foxes PG team passed the ball to Mason on the attack, Mason made the quick turn and then made the dunk to make 2 more points for his team, Carter had no chance to stop the attack. Chapter 153 The National High School Championship 10 After Jake got the ball and went to the attack again, after reaching the three-point lineup Jake did not wait and made the shot out to make 3 more points for the Elite team, the opponent''s PG was very weak so Jake had not been careful when attacking. The Foxes team went to the attack again, the opposing PG passed the ball to Mason again, that Mason did not turn on Carter anymore as he turned away, after facing the basket he made the mid-range shot and made 2 more points for his team. Jake picked up the ball and went back to the attack and the three-point line, so he passed the ball to David, David made a feint pretending that he would go inside the three-point line, but then returned where he was and made the off to make 3 more points for the Elite team. So the crowd began to realize that the strategy of the Elite team was to make the shots off and try to gain the advantage with several 3-point plays, but everyone knew that this was a difficult thing even for the NBA teams, so it was a risky strategy. Even though Eric knew Jake had an average of 80 percent of hits in the 3-point play, some argued that it was because Jake was not playing well in the games, but it did not change the fact that Jake had more than 40 shots out this season, which meant that Jake averaged nearly 3 shots per game. So the 80 percent average was amazing with all these attempts, David was worse and had an average of 40 percent, but David did more than 60 shots from outside, so it was also good for someone in high school. The opposing PG was again to the three-point line in another attack and passed the ball to Elijah, Elijah realized that as Jake was defending against him the Elite team was giving importance to him. So he was happy with that, but he was angry too because he knew he could score more points if David was still on defense, so if Jake was on defense he would have fewer chances to score, but even so, he was not too worried about Jake. Even though Jake was very good at the defense he was also very good at attacking, even when he plays one-on-one with Mason and Jackson in training he can score many points on them. So Elijah tried to fake Jake, but no matter how many times he tried Jake was not coupling, so Elijah made a dribble in Jake using his speed, but Jake who was paying close attention in the move accompanied, when Elijah thought he had passed Jake and relaxed Jake made the steal and stole the ball. So Jake was with just the PG opponent on the way and accelerated as Jake was very fast he ran up to the attacking block and no one can accompany him so he just stopped after doing the dunk and 2 more points for his team. Elijah had not suffered many steals in his games, but he knew it was a common thing in the games and admitted that he had been careless after going through Jake, yet he had not given up making his plays and making the points for his team. The Foxes team''s PG reached the three-point line for the attack and saw Elijah asking for the ball, the PG who also trusted Elijah passed the ball to him, Elijah got the ball happy and used his speed to pass behind the SF of his team disrupting Jake in that move, when he had space made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Foxes team. Jake did not mind that, not even the best NBA supporters can stop the opponent''s attack in every move, Jake went to the three-point line and passed the ball to Harrison. Harrison managed to get rid of the opponent''s SF and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team, it was not because Jake decided to make more shots from outside to the team with David that he would not make other moves. The game continued like this and finished the second period with the Elite team winning by 3 points of difference, Jake did manage to hit the 4 shots from the outside that tried to make 12 points in that period, David got 3 of the 5 shots he tried and he did 9 points. Jake was now with 22 points and 9 assists in the game, in addition, he managed to do 4 steals in that period of play, 3 of them were in Elijah, yet nothing was guaranteed in that game, the Foxes team thought the Elite team was lucky and they could recover in the next period. At the beginning of the third period Jake picked up the ball and went to the attacking block, arriving before the three-point line he did another shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Elite team, the Foxes team also attacked with PG passing the ball to Mason. Mason made the turn on Carter, Carter was prepared for it and tried to steal, but Mason was quick and realized he would not have the chance to attack and passed the ball to Jackson, Jackson received the ball and dunk to do more 2 points for the Foxes team. Carter who was better at defense still worked harder and managed to mess up Mason''s moves but Mark could not do anything to stop Jackson, he even thought about missing several times but coach Mike would not allow foul play. All high school teams were trying to prevent foul play because a lot of players got hurt because they did not have much physical fitness and ended up having to give up their future in basketball, and without the fouls, the games were much more enjoyable to watch. Jake took the ball again and went to organize the attack, arriving at the attack he saw that both the opponent''s opponent and Elijah was prepared to defend when Harrison and David received the ball, so he made a step back and shot the outside to do plus 3 points for the Elite team. Everyone was impressed by Jake''s luck at hitting a lot of shots from outside without missing out, but it was more than just luck, Jake always trained his shots from outside on a court that had the NBA''s official pitch, even on that court he hit almost all of its more than 100 shots from outside per day. After Jake''s strength statistic reached 30 he was making the shots out much more easily and accurately, so at high school where the three-point line was much closer to the basket, it was much easier for Jake to hit a shot out. He just did not hit all the shots from outside because the pressure of the official game was dozens of times higher than in training, in addition, when he hit several shots in a row he got very excited and went missing, but in that game he was more focused on helping the team and so got it right. The Foxes'' PG came back to the attack again, Elijah was asking for the ball, but the PG decided to move on to the other teammates because Jake was very well in defense against Elijah, so he passed the ball to the SF of his team, SF managed to get rid of Harrison and cut to the side preparing to make the mid-range shot. But Jake read well and stole the ball from the SF before he realized Jake arrived, Jake ran with the ball to the opponent''s court and only Elijah was able to accompany, Elijah who was annoyed by not receiving the pass was more irritated by the SF than received the pass instead of having lost the ball. Jake approached the three-point line and Elijah was just ahead, within the free throw area Elijah tried for Jake and steal the ball but Jake took a step pretending he would go left and actually made the unstoppable Spin Move and then made the dunk to make 2 points for the Elite team. This was one of LeBron James'' main moves in the NBA, if no one had done it before LeBron James was now one of Jake''s moves first, only Eric, who was always paying attention to Jake''s moves, was able to take a picture of this Jake move. This was a movement similar to what Jake did when he was younger in one of the tournaments he played, but this time it was much faster and better because it was finished with a dunk, Eric decided it would be the cover photo of the story on Elite team after they won the national championship. After that everyone was clapping their foot in the gym, the Elite team players were very happy and excited and the Foxes team players realized they were playing against a showman who was good at everything in basketball and discouraged a bit of defeating that game. The PG of the Foxes team took a deep breath and started another attack on their team, they could not just give up after reaching the semi-final just because the opponents had a good player. Arriving at the three-point line the PG passed the ball to Jackson who turned over Mark and did a dunk also to make 2 more points for the Foxes team, Jake got the ball and started to organize another move for his team, arriving the three-point line he passed the ball to David who made the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Elite team. Chapter 154 An Exciting Final 1 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. Chapter 155 An Exciting Final 2 "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. Chapter 156 An Exciting Final 3 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. Chapter 157 An Exciting Final 4 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. Chapter 158 An Exciting Final 5 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." Chapter 159 An Exciting Final 6 "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 teammates 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 underage, 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 Jake''s 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 neighborhood 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. Chapter 160 To See My Mother Happy 1 After a few more days Jake began his training to run the marathon, in the first week he intended to run 10 km and then increase 10 km after each week, so after a month he would be ready to run a marathon. The system said that Jake could run up to 50 km with his current resistance statistic, but the speed would be less than average to run a marathon with chances to win. With that Jake figured he could run fast enough to win for 30 km, so he would need to use a stamina bar and could finish the marathon with energy after all his problem was that his muscles could not withstand the distance and intensity of the race. If he ran for 50 km at medium speed then his muscles would have to be able to run for 45 km at a slightly higher speed, so first, he could put his body in a position to withstand the intensity of the race and the great distance. As he wanted to do this correctly he asked the school to open the athletic field for him to run on the track, Jake thought it might be harder to do the 50 km on a track that was circular so he had to make turns than on the normal road. As Jake was the star of the basketball team and the school president liked him they allowed him to use the track for 5 hours the day the athletic team was not using the track. On the first day of training as he was not running in a hurry he made the 10 km in 50 minutes after he finished training he did not feel too tired and felt he could run for longer and faster. But he decided that it was better to increase his stamina by the few, so on the second day of training he managed to run in 45 minutes the 10 km, he felt he could intensify and on the third day he did in 40 minutes the 10 km. With that time he began to feel more tired, on the fourth day he did in 35 minutes the 10 km so he felt that he was very tired, as the training was not for only 10 km but for a marathon he felt that this intensity was enough. So when he finished the 7 days he could easily make the 10 km in 35 minutes, he felt that if he wanted he could improve, but it was time to move on to the 20 km race day. On the first day he decreased the intensity of the race and made in 80 minutes the 20 km, he felt a little tired more thought he could intensify so he ran the 20 km in 70 minutes on the second day, this time he became much more tired. So Jake decided that this training was intense enough so that the 7 days he could easily make the 20 km in 70 minutes, Jake was satisfied that it was so because he still did not need any stamina bar with that distance and at that speed. This showed that his body was much tougher than in the past, but he could not continue with this training for now because another day would be the false opening of the restaurant and would also be the day when he would tell that this restaurant was Eva''s, so he needed to talk to Anna better today. As Jake needed to train and did not want his mother to suspect that he was doing anything while he was training in those two weeks Anna was doing her part in the plan this week. Jake felt Eva was a little strange at home this week, but she did not tell him why she was like this, Jake figured it had something to do with their plan, but Jake held it today to go to Anna''s house to see what was happening. When Jake got to Anna''s house she opened the door and looked tired, not weeks ago, so Jake was sure it had something to do with her mother this week. "Has anything happened in those weeks, Anna? Something went wrong with our plan?" "While nothing has happened to the plan, I can tell you it was better than I expected, but I suffered a lot this week to make it work." "Did you suffer? What do you mean by that?" So Anna started to tell what happened this week, according to their plan. Anna would take Eva to the restaurant and say she would have been working in that bout in a few months, so she would invite Eva into the fake restaurant opening where Jake would say that The owner of the restaurant was actually Eva. But before Anna started with the plan she had to improvise, this was because as the day when she would have to start working in the restaurant was near Anna had to end the cooking classes. Besides some people Anna planned to invite to work in the restaurant she was not very close to anyone other than Eva, and it was the same with Eva. But that''s when the problem began, some of the women who were taking the course told Eva that the course would close, Anna had not said anything to Eva yet because she would personally go to her house to start with the plan. So Eva who loved the course was anxious and went to Anna''s house to ask about it personally so Anna decided to start with the plan ahead of time and said she would start working again in a restaurant and that she would talk to Eva in person and even taking her to know where Anna would work. When Eva knew that Anna would start working at a restaurant was when she started getting weird at home was what Jake was thinking, so Anna took Eve to the restaurant and showed her everything, and so said the restaurant would open in a few weeks and that Eve was invited to appear on opening day. Until then Anna and Jake''s plan was perfect, but Eva, besides saying that she was going to say something neither of them expected, she asked Anna to talk to the owner of the restaurant to give her some work. It seemed like Jake said and Eva is very willing to work after Jake got older, but Eva knew that Jake would not let her work in a place to earn a little, so Eva decided to ask Anna to work with her, Eva could give the excuse to Jake that she wanted to work with Anna. Since this was out of their plans, Anna did not know what to say, but she could not say not because Eva was very hopeful about getting this job, so the only thing Anna could say was that she would talk to the owner on opening day and introduce Eva to the owner. So Eva agreed to go on opening day, but she was a bit sad because she thought it was as if Anna had indirectly rejected her, so Jake understood why Anna and Eva were strange this week. Even though the plan worked Jake was sad to know that his mother was so anxious to work and was avoiding talking about it with him, Jake only wanted to take Eva from the other job because she knew Eva was suffering, but if it was a good work he would approve even if the salary was low to see his mother happy. After all, what Jake has been doing is to see his mother happy and not being selfish, he was sad because it seemed that Eva still did not want to say everything she thought about him, that''s how she died in the past life and Jake thought who had changed that being closer to her. But it seemed like nothing had changed yet, it showed that it had been a wise decision for Jake to ask Anna to keep an eye on Eva when he was not around, otherwise he would still be unaware of many things. Anna was also sorry for Eva and with even more pity for Jake that she knew she wanted Eva to talk to him more, so Anna stopped talking to comfort Jake a little, she felt even more of the family, it was just like Eva was his shy daughter and Jake was his grandson who suffered from his mother who did not know how to be honest. Soon after Jake recovered after being comforted, at least the plan had worked and thanks to Anna he could know more about what his mother thought the same way, so after a few days at the opening of the restaurant Eva would know of his gift. After a few days, Jake told Eva that he had talked to Anna and was also invited to open the restaurant, so he called Eva to buy some clothes at the mall, Eva did not think necessary because Jake had taken her to buy some clothes in the year past. But Jake had only bought some clothes for parties and formal dinners, he thought that the clothes for an opening would have to be different, especially when the clothes were for the owner of the restaurant. Jake also grabbed some social clothes for that opening, he did not want to wear a suit at the opening of his mother''s restaurant, so he thought it would be good to pick a new outfit for that special day. After they returned home together, after dinner Jake returned to his room and Eve also went to sleep, after all the other day would be the opening of her friend''s restaurant. Jake can tell that Eve was distracted all day, he was a bit sad because she did not tell him anything about having applied for a job at the restaurant that Anna would work, it shows that she did not trust him much, but he found that this proved to be a good idea to open this restaurant even if it was hidden from it. Chapter 161 To See My Mother Happy 2 Jake was thinking that even if his mother was angry that he had made a restaurant without having talked to her before, he could tell she had asked for a new job without talking to him before too, so she could not be too angry with him. Jake was thinking that this year he would use his second job more, so he was curious if his stats increased in those months that he cannot check. "Fate, show me my statistics window for my second job." [Here it is] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 16 years] [Job: Businessman] [Intelligence 58] [Luck 99] [Charm 36] [Leadership 23] [Policy 8] [Eloquence 36] -------------------------------- Active Techniques [See Through] [Business Vision] --------------------------------- Looking at it, Jake saw that many of his stats increased a lot when he did not see it, but his Policy did not increase much, he remembered that when his statistics were in the single-digit they increased a lot in a year other than Policy. But he thought this was normal as well because unlike physical statistics he would not know how to increase these statistics, maybe if he did several businesses in the next few years these statistics would naturally increase. After seeing this Jake decided to sleep because the next day would be quite hectic. Jake woke up early the other day when he came down Eva was preparing breakfast a little distracted, Jake could guess what she was thinking, but he knew that would change after today. After breakfast they packed up and went to the place where Jake prepared the restaurant, when they got there they found several people, Eva thought this was normal, only Jake thought she was so nervous she did not even realize that this new restaurant did not have a sign yet. The people who were here were the people Anna hired for the restaurant, then everyone went into the restaurant, everything was set up and prepared as if they were to open today, everyone received glasses of champagne and toasted. So the employees went inside as they smiled and chatted, Jake and Anna thought Eva was too distracted by not realizing anything strange so far, after all, there was no way a restaurant opening was like that and with no opening speech. In a moment only Jake, Eva, and Anna were in the hall, so Eva could not take it anymore and decided to talk to Anna even though Jake was nearby. "Anna, who''s the owner you said you''d be here?" "She''s already here," Anna said as she tried to hold back the laughter over Eva''s question. "Did you tell her about what I asked you before?" "I''ll leave that decision to you." Seeing that Anna was happy while playing with Eva who was more nervous Jake decided to end this surprise and tell his mother soon before she had an attack. "What did you think of this mother restaurant?" "I found it very beautiful, it had to be that way for Anna to agree to work here." "Does it look like the restaurant you dreamed about?" "I think it''s even better than I thought, I dreamed of something simpler ... Wait! How do you know I dreamed of having a restaurant? I did not tell anyone that." "Secrets are never kept forever mother, like the fact that you want to get back to work." Seeing this she was shocked, Eva thought that Jake never knew many of her secrets, it seems she tried to hide all this for nothing when she learned that Jake discovered Eva was a bit ashamed of it. "If you wanted to work you could have told me that, Mom, I think your happiness is the most important thing, even if the work did not pay well or it was tiring, the important thing is that you were happy." "I wanted you out of that restaurant because it felt like you did not like it there and was not happily working there if you''re happy I''m happy too." It was supposed to be something exciting for Eva, but she was so embarrassed to have her secrets discovered and also to know that she was thinking about too many things being that her son was so understanding. Anna was the only one excited to see all this, she thought again that Eva was so lucky to have a son like Jake, in her family instead of winning a restaurant she had until she close what she built with so much effort, in addition, her son did not understand what she felt and even left her alone. Even if it was not bad envy and only one thought was normal when it made so much difference in situations that had similar situations. "This restaurant is now your mother, it''s my gift to you, and you can not be angry at me, consider compensation for hiding so many things from me all those years." Eva was shocked again by this situation, so this restaurant was hers? It was the restaurant she had always dreamed of, but she thought it strange that she only knew it when it was ready. If it was someone else she might suspect this was a lie, but Eva was accustomed to Jake making several plans just to give her a gift, moreover, she knew better than anyone how much Jake earned from sponsorship per year, should give to buy more than 4 restaurants like this. So Eva had to accept this gift, she did not even think of rejecting it as Jake thought she would, maybe if it had not been bought or remodeled she might deny it, but after everything was ready she knew it was impossible, moreover, she could work where she wanted it now and could have more freedom. It was like Jake had thought before, after all this time knowing that the son made so much money to be well for a lifetime, Eva no longer thought it was a waste to spend money on anything, especially because she knew that the child could be more responsible than she is to the money. "So it''s a lie that Anna was working here?" "No, that''s true, she and all the people you saw in this false opening will work with you, I asked Anna to help you with this restaurant and it was she who chose those people, but if you want to dismiss someone the restaurant is your." Eva was very happy to know that she could work with Anna as she wanted, and if it was Anna who had hired these people Eva trusted her friend, moreover, without Anna she knew that nothing could go right in the restaurant in the first few months, it seems Jake had thought of everything. "So when can the restaurant really be open?" "This will depend on you, mother, you have to choose the name of the restaurant, with what kind of dishes and public the restaurant will work, hire the necessary people, find the suppliers, make the menu of the restaurant, make a facade for the restaurant and then do some advertising to be able to open it." Eva realized that Jake had left all the important decisions so she could take, even if she knew nothing about restaurants, Anna could help with all the things she did not know, even though she knew Jake did not care about it she did not I wanted the restaurant to do no harm. After all this Eva knew the people who would work in the restaurant and then everyone went home, Eva had agreed that she would discuss with Anna about all the things that were missing, in fact, Eva''s dream was just to have a small restaurant. So she could tell that her dream was already fulfilled, of course, she wanted to see the restaurant full of people every day and also cook in her restaurant, but these things could be easily accomplished, now she had just to think about what the restaurant needed so he could at least keep up without Jake needing to put more money. After they got home Eva can calm down and finally can think of what the son had done for her to open this restaurant and fulfill her dream, she heard from Anna that Jake had solved everything herself and she only helped after the restaurant was retired. So after she finished dinner with Jake she got up and gave her son a hug, after a while, she even got emotional and started crying, after so many years she was already getting used to the way Jake treated her until she forgot how good a son she had. Eva did not know that at first Jake did all these things because she had seen her suffer and end up dying in her past life, but even if she knew she would know that if the same situation happened to thousands of different people, no one would do the same things that Jake did for her. In addition, Jake never stopped trying to make his mother happy even after 6 years had passed since he returned, and it did not look like Jake would stop trying to make Eva happy for the rest of his life. After that Jake went to his room to prepare to sleep and face the next day he had been very happy that everything went well and his mother had been happy, he also thought that this restaurant could make that in addition to Eva a lot more happy people. Besides Anna, who was Jake''s main concern after his mother, he thought that everyone who works at this restaurant would be very happy since Eva and Anna were very kind people and with Jake financing the restaurant it was certain that they could never go wrong. Even though he understood a lot of cooking and cooked so well, Jake was not planning to get involved in the restaurant''s decisions, so he would just wait to know what kind of restaurant it would be when he went there after little more than a month. So Jake could re-worry about his training over the next few weeks, he just had to worry about training for the marathon because he could keep up the good shape in basketball. Then he could just do his weight training to increase his strength. Chapter 162 To See My Mother Happy 3 After doing the running and bodybuilding training Jake would always make his shots out whenever he could on the court he had in the basement, at first he did it just to fulfill the missions and receive the stamina bars. But after a few years, this had become a habit for Jake, moreover, he knew that this could only do him good in his games, after making tens of thousands of shots from outside it was impossible that this did not help in his rates of correctness in the games. And to train his general skills in basketball he trained every day in his training of imagination, after many months he had already learned basically how to play in the positions of Center and PF, so now he returned to do a more general training for all skills and in various positions. It did not seem like, but Jake was feeling a lot of pressure to improve, he had talent, a system, more training time than everyone and even his physical stats could improve faster than the others, so Jake thought he had an obligation to be at least as skillful as the main stars. In addition, he could have many more experiences in several different positions on the court, so he thought he had no excuses if he could not be better in the future. So the next day Jake returned to the athletic field to train more, the last time he had managed to do 20 km in 70 minutes easily, so he would start with that distance again. Jake managed to easily make the 20 km in 70 minutes again, so he felt he could go to the next stage of training, the other day he tried to do 30 km when he finished was very tired and had done in 115 minutes. It was 10 minutes longer than he was walking, so he felt the difficulty in his goal of winning a marathon, after all, it was difficult to even finish this marathon when the training week ended he managed to do the 30 km in 105 minutes, but he still felt very tired. Even so, he was a bit happy about it because he could probably do 25km even faster than he was doing now and then eat a bar of stamina and he would end the marathon in a good time. Even though he wanted to try to improve his racing time, even more, Jake believed that in 6 years or less he could manage to win the marathon even without eating a bar of stamina, only then he could be proud to race and he would still be 22. Of course Jake was not arrogant in thinking that all this was just his skill and effort, he knew that without the system he could not possibly succeed even if he trained for another 20 years. The other day while he was preparing to train again Joseph called Jake to go out and talk a little, so Jake ended up accepting how he did not spend much time with his friend and also he had no competition to do soon. Joseph called Jake to go to a diner, they had not been in a dinner for a long time because Joseph stopped eating snacks after he decided to lose weight even after the nutritionist said he could eat again without being afraid to fatten him easily I did not want to risk it. "Hi Joseph, finally decided to eat again normally, I said that you could end up sick if you did not eat anything you wanted for fear of getting fat." "I just wanted to wait a little longer to be sure, you know how easy it is to get fat after you''ve just lost weight, is the accordion effect I heard." "Now you''re almost married, you do not have to worry so much about looks, Hahaha." "Now that I have to take care of myself, even more, congratulations for the national championship and the MVP award, you deserve it, now I''m sure the school regrets having left you two years off the team." "Thank you, I''m sorry if I was more relaxed now that I won this trophy, it was like it was something I had to do, now I can rest easy to play next year." "You say that more next year you''re struggling again to win and you get stressed again, you''re the type you can not stop while you know you can do it." "You know me well, but I said I''d be calmer and not that I would not try to win, I think we can win by playing more quietly." "I knew you made a restaurant to fulfill a dream of your mother, very cool it, I was sad that I was not invited to the opening." "You are well informed, few people know this yet, but you have not had any opening yet, the inauguration will only be in a few months because the last details are being agreed, when the time comes your family will be invited." "And how''s your date with Liza, is everything okay?" "Yes it''s okay, we''re going slowly, after all, next year we have to decide which university to go to and we do not know if we''ll have to be separated by the time of college or if we can study together." "Your grade I know is enough to get into any university, but what is it like at school?" "She''s like me, she''s among the top 10 in her room, I mean it depends on the universities and also what course we''ll do." "You''re going to do Business Administration, are not you? It''s her?" "Yes, I''m going to do administration so I can learn how to take care of my grandfather''s company in the future, but Liza still does not know what she''s going to do, she thought about doing journalism, but she gave up and now she''s thinking about what to do." Jake did not say anything, but he also thought Liza would not get anything in journalism, but if that''s what she wanted she should not try to do something so different, it was something he did not want to get involved with, and Jake did not think he had risk of Joseph and Liza separating even if they are 4 years apart. Jake knew how old-fashioned girls were after they chose someone to stay, it was difficult for them to change their minds, and Joseph had a hard time finding someone he liked too, so Jake did not think he would change his girlfriend so easily. After that, they talked for a long time and were each to their own home, Joseph had also taken out his driver''s license too after he saw Jake driving, he thought it would be best to take Liza out. Jake saw that Joseph called him to talk because he was stressed with the last year of school coming, it was like he said he depended more on the university than his will and Liza, in that case, Jake was luckier because he could choose the university he wanted and he did not have to worry about a girlfriend. He would find it cool if he could join the same university as Joseph, but they would not do the same course and Joseph had his girlfriend now, so Jake would not insist on studying together with his friend, after all, Jake was a friend of Oliver and Matthew too, it was impossible that they would cease to be friends just by studying at different universities. Since he had missed this training day anyway he decided to see what his mother and Anna were doing, after a week they were talking they should have some more things ready. And really it was so, after Eva said she had no restaurant in mind Anna began to suggest several things showing how she had more experience on the subject, Eva just as Jake had said she did not want a high-class restaurant. She also did not mind having world recognition with Michelin stars, but it was not only because she had a simpler mentality, but because when they were traveling in Europe Jake took her mother to some restaurants that had Michelin stars. Eva did not like it very much because she thought that in some restaurants the food was not tasty and in others, she had little food, only a few restaurants with Michelin stars really pleased Eva, she thought the food was the best she had ever eaten. When Eva complained to Jake that some Michelin starred restaurants did not have tasty food Jake told her that all the world''s greatest chefs are struggling to get that recognition and some even commit suicide when they lose their stars or when they win for fear of going back to mediocrity. And they agreed it should not be for that much, but Jake knew it was because of the pressure and stress of having a very high goal that does not just depend on the chef and also the evaluator for that dream to be realized. After that Eva was afraid to be like these chefs and did not want to have a luxury restaurant, Anna said that it could not also be a popular restaurant because it would not pay salaries and vendors and would also be a waste of the restaurant building and the location. So they decided it would be for the upper middle class, so the dishes would be more complete and the price would be acceptable, as the location was near hotels that did not provide breakfast service or the service was bad, they decided to make a Full English Breakfast in the morning. At lunch and dinner, it would be with various dishes that Eve experimented on the trips she had with Jake, Anna did not like the idea of having dishes from Germany and Spain, Eva said she wanted at least some dishes from those countries. So Anna accepted and completed the discussion about the restaurant menu, but the menu would have to be seen better then, at least they would know which vendors would need to hire and also the kitchen staff who would be the sous chef, cooks, assistants among others. It would be much harder for Anna to find good professionals because the salaries would not be as high as the top restaurants. Chapter 163 To See My Mother Happy 4 In addition to salaries being smaller than in major restaurants some things would be more difficult than in normal restaurants, this was because there was a lot of variety in cooking styles, many chefs specialize in just one type of dishes like Italian or Japanese food. It was difficult to find people who made several different dishes and with the same quality, so she would have to hire several cooks who were good at different dishes with different styles, and the way to deal with these people would have to be different. But even if Anna complained about the job Jake could see that she was very happy doing it, after all these years she was doing what she liked again, Eva was also very smiling every day which made Jake happy too. Jake said it was so that Eva could also take advantage of it to learn from Anna at this time and not leave all responsibilities to Anna, after all, Jake knew that her mother''s request to have several dishes made everything more difficult for Anna to organize. They were lucky that as Jake did not know what kind of restaurant it would be when she invited Anna a few months ago she had already sought out professionals from every area of ??the kitchen and of different styles, now she just had to talk to these people. Seeing that it would still take a few weeks for everything to be ready in the restaurant Jake returned to his training the other day. This time Jake would be trying to run the 40 km, he can see from his last training that he could not keep the average of 35 minutes for every 10 km, so he would have to run much slower to achieve. So he did as on the first day and tried to run with a time of 50 minutes for every 10 km, so at the end of the day, he had achieved but was exhausted at the end of the training, even with that speed with the little practice he almost failed. Also, as he feared he felt some leg pain after training, this showed that he did not have the physical ability to run that distance and so his muscles could not handle the load. So for the first time after he returned to the past he had to prepare an ice bath in the bathtub, it was not a pleasant experience, but it was great to regain his muscles so he could train the other day again. The system could help Jake avoid injuries or warn him when he could suffer an injury from too much training, but Jake''s case was just a normal rebound of running for so long, it was important to train the muscles of the body. When Eva returned home she saw that Jake had taken an ice shower and laughed at him for a while, in fact, she even thought it strange that Jake had trained for so long and never needed an ice bath. The next day, Jake made the 40 km again in 200 minutes, this time he got it easier, at least he had no leg pains, at the end of the 7-day training week he got the 40 km in 200 minutes and did not stay very tired. This time he was not in a hurry, he needed to run 50km all day and would be sure to at least finish the race and not be ashamed, so he wanted to try to run until he could run 40km in 140 minutes. Then he would pass 50 km if he saw that he could not get Jake to eat a stamina bar on race day, so the other day he tried to run 45 minutes for 10 km and again was exhausted by the end of the day, but at least he managed to run 40 km in 180 minutes. After 3 days he could already run the 40 km in 180 minutes without getting too tired and changed to run 10 km in 40 minutes, so the other day he managed to run the 40 km in 160 minutes, but he again had leg pains and had to take another ice bath. Even so after a little more than a month of training he could see a big improvement, he was sure it was thanks to the system, but even so he could be very proud, in addition, Jake was sure that his stamina could increase more at the end of the year. At the end of the 7 days of training he managed to run the 40 km in 160 minutes, but he saw that it seemed that this was his speed limit, if he increased he would be much more tired at the end of the marathon and would have pain in the legs. So he decided to settle for 40 minutes for 10 km, Jake wanted to start training to run 50 km and reach his limits in the marathon, if he could run the 50 km he would be sure to build resistance to win the marathon using the bar power. Jake remembered the system saying that it was more difficult to raise resistance statistics than the other physical attributes, now he knew why, after all the marathon was more about the body''s total capacity than stamina and stamina. So someone running 100 km does not mean that these people would have 60 resistance, but that person would have trained his body to the extreme and his body was able to withstand the effort. Jake was lucky enough to only increase his resistance if he could do the same thing as people who trained their bodies for dozens of years to do those tests. Jake also remembered the fact that the system said that his body was not fully developed and so he would withstand much less effort than adults over 19 years. In addition, Jake heard that when you reach the common limit every second makes a lot of difference, for example, in marathons the limit should be around 30 minutes by 10 km, so after that, every minute causes much more effort for the human body. The best in the world could reach 25 minutes by 10 km if all conditions are favorable and this is its absolute limit, so all sports have something like that, especially when you run that distance multiplied by almost 5. But Jake would not have time to try the 50 km after all the restaurant was almost ready, Jake had to help his mother in these last adjustments before the inauguration, Jake saw that all the people had been hired and the menu was ready as well. It would have various types of dishes from all the countries they visited, most of the dishes were from France and Italy, Eva asked for several dishes that were refused by Anna, such as the BBQ that could not be made because of the smell of roast that I would stay in the restaurant that could take away customers who did not like the dish. Eva also declined the Japanese food Anna wanted to put on the menu, Eva said she thought she had many Japanese food restaurants in Miami and her restaurant did not have to do the same, and Eva did not like Japanese food. Anna also managed to find a great Patissier who came from Mexico and decided to get this job in the restaurant because Eva had no prejudice with Latinos what they had in other restaurants and he wanted American citizenship for him and his daughter who was hired as a restaurant receptionist. It turned out that the Patissier was excellent and even Anna who worked with luxury restaurants approved of his skill, his name was Julius, and his daughter''s name was Lola. In fact, Anna told Jake that she was much more confident in the Full English Breakfast portion than it was in the morning than at lunch and dinner time, Jake agreed to this after seeing Julius''s abilities. With J¨²lio and Anna commanding the preparation of Full English Breakfast would surely be a success, but Jake thought it over, he hoped customers could spread Julius''s skills in desserts so that everyone would know the restaurant through it. After all, even if Jake did not expect much from the restaurant and just wanted to see Eva happy, there was no denying that this was above all a business, even if Eva''s idea of ??having dishes from several countries was a good idea, every successful restaurant needed and Julio could be the highlight. After all, things were settled it was time to choose the name of the restaurant, in the end, it would be called "Eva Touch", it was the name of Eva who was the owner of the restaurant and also had a reference to the Garden of Eden of the Bible. Anna and Jake laughed when Eva was embarrassed by the name she chose, but the name was important to call attention to the restaurant, after all, it was the food and the service that people would most evaluate to judge the quality of the restaurant. Jake saw that his mother was looking forward to the restaurant''s opening, but Jake thought it was not the right time yet, they had to first make a few announcements first and then invite all the friends to the opening. Jake asked Eric to put the restaurant in the newspaper where he worked that had the largest number of subscribers in Miami, Eric was happy to know that Jake''s mother had opened a restaurant of his own and said he would help her advertise and even make a discount. Then Jake phoned all the acquaintances for a small opening party the day before the opening, after a few days after the plaque that would be placed on the front of the restaurant would be delivered to Jake. Jake also took the opportunity to take stock of the opening expenses and also the cost of vendors and salaries that would be the restaurant''s monthly expense, Jake was a bit shocked at the report''s final value. It seemed that having a restaurant was more expensive than he thought, in addition to wages which was set too high because there were too many people, the value to the restaurant ingredients was also higher than he initially thought. Chapter 164 To See My Mother Happy 5 Even so in a few months, Jake had confidence that the restaurant could start to make a profit, of course taking the value of the initial investment that Jake invested to buy and renovate the restaurant and all things in it. Jake did not care about this because for him this investment was a gift to his mother, he never thought about getting that money back, Jake was excited too with the opening that would be in a few more days. While Jake prepared the last details for the opening of the restaurant Anna and Eva were busy training the staff to prepare the dishes of the menu, after all after the restaurant opened they would have to be prepared. Fortunately, the dishes on the menu were all very easy to make, the more complicated dishes were made by the more experienced cooks about Anna''s guidance, Eva was using everything she learned to guide other cooks and also oversees the cooks. Even Jake helped a little by giving some tips on the dishes he knew how to do very well, Jake also offered to help by trying the dishes that were prepared, as he did not have to worry about getting fat and also knew how to cook he was the best candidate to prove the dishes. So after a few more days, everything was ready, the restaurant was ready for opening and the dishes were perfect too, the opening day would be dinner time, after all, they could not serve Full English Breakfast to the guests. The advertisement in the paper was also a success, a pity that was too expensive to keep this advertisement, so Jake thought of only announcing a few times a year in the newspaper after all his main income would come from nearby hotels that did not even read the newspaper. When the opening day came, it was Jake who had to attend the guests, since both Eva and Anna were the chefs in the kitchen and could not easily get out to greet the guests, moreover, Eva thought her son would do a great job as a host in the Opening. As it was in the evening all his friends could attend the opening of the restaurant, Eric was one of the first to appear, Jake invited him for being a friend and mainly for helping with the advertisement of the opening of the restaurant. Then came Joseph and Liza, Jake invited only Joseph, but he could not prevent his friend from bringing his girlfriend, then they charged Oliver and Matthew, then Emily appeared with her father, the last ones were Tiffany and Clara. In addition to the friends came many people who were known to their friends that Jake asked the contacts and the managers of the closest hotels, Jake wanted to make friends with these hotels so they would recommend the restaurant to their customers. After everyone arrived Eva left because she had to say a few words to everyone who came, after dinner, a cocktail would be made so that everyone could talk, but many would probably leave after dinner. "I want to thank everyone who came here today, it''s a dream that I''ve always had that is being carried out today, I want to thank my son Jake who prepared this restaurant for me and also my friend Anna who has been helping me all these years and is also helping me in this dream." "What I hope is that everyone who comes to this restaurant can leave satisfied with the dishes that are served here and everyone can share this happiness with me for many years, thank you." Everyone applauded Eve who went out quickly to the kitchen ashamed, she was wearing the chef''s uniform and not a dress like the last time, as that was the opening everyone was wearing dresses for women and suits for men, even Jake was in a suit. Afterwards, everyone dined very happy, several people were invited today and everyone had a favorite type of food, but as Eva''s restaurant had several types of dishes from several countries all were satisfied. As Jake and Anna expected the highlight of the dinner were the desserts and pasta that Julius prepared, many tried various kinds of desserts thanks to this, the highlight was the cakes that were made by Julius, everyone liked. Actually, almost everyone who was invited here did not expect much from the new restaurant after all everyone knew that this restaurant would serve Full English Breakfast and the value of the dishes was not too high, so people only came for education. But all the dishes were very good as in all restaurants and the desserts were the highlight of the restaurant so it looked like it had everything to be a successful restaurant, it was a pleasant surprise to everyone. After the dinner was over everyone was very happy, Anna and Eva left the kitchen and switched to the dresses they had prepared for the cocktail after dinner and everyone praised the restaurant before leaving or staying for the cocktail. Jake, Anna, and Eva were very happy with the success that the restaurant had made, the one who had been most surprised by this was Emily who helped Jake to look for this place just over 6 months ago. She saw that Jake chose the place and prepared all things for retirement and even had the business proposal a few weeks after choosing the place, Emily even thought that Jake had done everything in a relaxed way as it was just to perform the dream of his mother and not to succeed. But today she realized that he had done everything correctly and was very successful at it, after that restaurant and the report on Jake''s investments that were making a lot of money, she was sure Jake would be very successful in the future. First Jake talked to the hotel managers, everyone was glad they were invited to the restaurant when Jake raised the issue of the customers the managers said they would certainly recommend the restaurant to hotel customers. In fact, as the hotels did not have that kind of service and even those who did not like the customers, the hotel owners themselves advised the hotel to recommend it to customers where they could eat. The problem was that the managers had no place to recommend to customers, the few restaurants that offered such service served only the continental breakfast which was the same as some hotels. But the customers were not satisfied with that, not to mention that these restaurants charged a lot for it, now the managers finally had a place they could recommend with confidence after all these desserts would do until the managers of the hotels wanted to eat breakfast here. This could be good for hotels that could get more customers in a few years who like the food of the restaurant, after all in a survey they made many customers did not come back because they did not have a good service with meals. After the managers left Jake greeted Tiffany and Clara who were chatting happily with Eva and Anna, so Jake took the opportunity to talk to Oliver and Matthew who were alone in that cocktail party. "Why are you alone here?" "There are not many people we know here, besides, we''re not alone because we have the company of each other, are not we?" "You''re right, we were waiting to talk to you before you left, I''m sorry for Joseph, he had to leave after dinner because his boring girlfriend dragged him away." "Do not talk like that, Liza is a good girl for Joseph, so was my wife and mother, was not she? It is the destiny of the men of our family to be sent by women." "That''s true, but I did not say Liza was a bad girl, she''s just boring, there''s no way you could compare her to your mother to your wife, those were real women." "She''s still very young and so it is, I''m sure she can be a great woman in the future." Jake was only watching the two of them talking to themselves and leaving him out of the conversation, he could not speak ill of Liza because she was his friend''s girlfriend and he hoped that Joseph would leave because of her, that''s why he did not invite Liza, so Joseph deserved to leave. It seemed the two had gotten much closer after they discovered that Matthew''s company might have failed if they did not switch to digital cameras, after which Oliver began to help the company a little more and leave his law firm with his employees. "How''s business going now, Matthew?" "It''s doing very well thanks to you, we''ve finally been able to develop our own digital camera, it did not take long because many companies in Japan were already developing this technology." "Now I''m only afraid that integrating this technology into our camera models and we can start selling, we have to make the public aware that our company is changing the first products and then we will have more time to improve our products." "I think you''re right to do that Matthew, even if the first digital camera does not have a very good quality you have to show that your company is developing, the important thing is for you to improve your products when computer companies develop USB on computers." "It will be at this time that digital camera sales are going to increase a lot, you need to be one of the first companies to be in this market, so your company will always be in the public''s memory." "Also, do not forget that you have to try to develop this technology to put on cell phones or computers too, if you get some technological patents and some contracts with cellular companies your company will earn billions." Matthew trusted Jake''s vision was developing this technology, almost all of the company''s profits were going to the development of technology and products for this, after making the public know your brand will make them earn much more in the future. After these cameras began to make more success Matthew was thinking of giving some reward to Jake, after all, he was helping the company a lot without gaining anything. Chapter 165 To See My Mother Happy 6 Matthew knew that if what Jake said was done he could earn billions with some contracts with cell phone companies or computers as well as with technology patents after all anyone using a technology they developed would have to make a profit share for Matthew''s company in the future. For a $ 320 million company that was close to failing to earn a few billion in the future would be all merit of Jake, so it was together to give a reward, Matthew would have to decide whether it would be cash or stock company. After all, if he took Jake shares even if he was worth hundreds of millions in the future, he would also encourage Jake to give more councils like this to the company so they could be market leaders after a few years. Matthew thought he could not hire Jake because he knew Jake wanted to be a pro at basketball, but just as Jake had an investment firm and also helped take care of his mother''s restaurant, if he had some company stock he could help Joseph in the future with some ideas. Matthew thought that if he had a granddaughter he would surely marry Jake to tie him to the family, but Jake is a friend of Joseph and with the company, the stock would already work, he felt he was right because that could also help Jake make more money. "When we''re finishing the camera for sale I''m going to call you to the company so that I can evaluate if the product is good, after all, you gave the idea." "You can count on me." Just as they said after talking to Jake, Oliver and Matthew left, after a while before Jake looked for more people to talk to Tiffany had left the other women to talk to him. "Hi Jake, I was very happy to see this restaurant you prepared for your mother, I''m sure she''s very happy about it, now you''re also a businessman like me and Clara." Few people knew that Jake had another company that worked with investments, nor did Anna and Eva know about it so it was normal for Tiffany to think it was Jake''s first venture. As well as Tiffany and Clara no one else knew Jake was planning to run a marathon, Eva knew Jake was training for it, but she knew Jake always liked to run and did not think his son was serious about taking it seriously. Jake apprehended in his past life that dealing with other people was always better to be humble and try to hide as much as possible what he does, because sometimes even the closest people can end up feeling envious. Jake''s teammates, for example, did not know how much he got from sponsorship, in fact beyond the companies only Eva knew the value correctly, even Emily and the accounting firm did not know these things for sure. "It''s all from my mother and there is nothing of mine here right now, even though it''s very successful I do not want my mother''s money." "I know this, I was just playing with you, next year is going to be a busy year for all of us, your last year in high school and our companies will also start investing in new stores and factories, we want to grow in the market in the next years." "I''m happy for you, I hope your companies can continue to grow in the next few years." "I expect that too, we might have to do another television commercial for next year, I think your other sponsors will also do that, next year you''re going to be very busy." "It''s good to be busy, I rested a lot getting out of the team in those two years, now I do not want that to happen again, I''ll also start looking for marathon competitions later this year." "Are you really going to do this? We support you, but I think you''re going to end up wearing too much if you do so many things." "I want to enjoy trying before I go to university, I have a plan that needs me to run in a marathon to get it right." Jake had some plans for the next few years, he did not want to run just because he liked it if that was why he did not need to compete, but he had to train first to accomplish those things. The only marathon competitions he wanted to run were just at the end of the year, if he wanted to run in the next few months when he would be ready he would have to go to another country, and he did not plan to participate in many international marathon competitions. So he would have more time to train until the end of the year, Jake thought it would be easy with the help of the system, but even with the system helping it was difficult to improve in a few months, the more training time he was more certain he would have to win using the stamina bar. "How is Clara? Has her marriage situation improved? I see she''s better today." "Nothing improved, I think she gave up everything, almost ten years of marriage so without any interest of Robert left her with no hope that something would change." "The health of Robert''s father has worsened again and he''s getting more and more shameless with his lover, I think in the next two years if Robert''s father ends up dying, he''s going to separate from Clara." "I can not understand why Clara has not separated from him yet, this guy only makes her suffer for many years, Clara is so beautiful and still young, she can marry again soon, but if she takes too long in this toxic relationship it will only hurt her." "I agree with you, but Clara is very stubborn, as she had given her word that she would marry she does not think about separating until Robert has the initiative." After that Jake and Tiffany talked for a while longer and the cocktail ended, Jake said goodbye to Clara who seemed curious about what they were talking about so they closed the restaurant and left. The next day the restaurant would start functioning normally and they would never have time off again so if everything went right, after all how the restaurant would work with breakfast, lunch, and dinner they would have to open early and close late every day. The other day Jake went to the restaurant to help on the first day of normal operation, everything went very well and as there were many cooks helping each other when they had nothing to do at the moment. In the early days, they agreed that only Anna would run the kitchen and Eva would just watch and learn, then Eva would also do her duties as a chef when the restaurant was busier. It really was not a good idea to have two chefs in a restaurant, but everyone knew that Anna would have more authority and Eva would only help in the beginning, after a few years Eva would have as much authority as Anna in the kitchen. Since in the first few days they did not have many clients, Jake had the idea of ??inviting several restaurant staff to eat Full English Breakfast without any special conditions, the staff was very happy about it. After they had gone a few days the customers increased and Jake had to stop inviting the staff, the staff understood and were very grateful, and the most intelligent would always recommend Eva''s restaurant to hotel guests. After all they would not miss anything doing this and would not even hinder the hotel, in addition, they knew the food was truly delicious, especially the apples and desserts, after going to the restaurant as guests some who had the highest salaries even went back there as a customer because it was not expensive the Full English Breakfast. Hotel guests sometimes received the recommendation of the manager, the receptionist, and other hotel staff and went to the restaurant and enjoyed the service and even tipped thanks to the staff they were happier to recommend. So Jake''s simple business strategy worked, thanks to a little luck, a little intelligence, good restaurant food, and customers did not have many options. Guests at Full English Breakfast hotels also sometimes had lunch and dinner at the restaurant, at first Anna decided not to close the restaurant for reservations and serve the customers who would catch up. If it was the time of the mobile apps it could all be easier with the restaurant having good appraisals in food apps, but by that time that was the best way Jake could think. After another week of helping in the restaurant Jake left everything in Anna and Eva''s hands, he was sure that even though they had some difficulties, in the beginning, they would be able to. Jake had to go back to his training at school, he had to improve his body as fast as possible so that he could run at the end of the year, after all, he could not train like that when the most important basketball games are happening. Jake returned to training and ran another 40 km in a day in 160 minutes, he did not have many difficulties and so he thought he could move to the 50 kilometers, but the other day coach Mike called Jake to his office. Jake did not understand why he had been called, after all, though some players were training on the court the coach had dismissed the mandatory training team, so Jake had time to run. "Hi Jake, thanks for coming, sorry for interrupting your training." "Okay, coach, is there anything you want to call me here?" Jake was uncomfortable because sometimes the coach was very polite to him who was just a player, it was good that coach Mike did not do that when other players were around, otherwise, the situation could get weirder. What Jake did not know was that Coach Mike also did not like to do this, but he started doing this after receiving several notices and councils from the president of the school to treat Jake well, in addition, Coach Mike was very grateful to Jake for helping him to get a promotion. Chapter 166 The Last Year of High School 1 "I called you here to ask your opinion on something important." "My opinion? For what?" "In the games of this season of our team although we won, in the end, the team did not perform well, only you and Mark performed well in those games." "I was thinking for a long time what the reason was, I thought it was because the players depended too much on you, but that''s not true because a lot of teams do it and they do well." "I also wondered if it was because they were not good players, but you know as much as I do that this is not true, so I figured out that the problem is in our style of play." "When that team got together at Middle School I saw a lot of talented players who were great players, but they did not have time to train together and work on tactics, and you were very talented, so I chose this style of game that depended more on PG to make the plays." "It worked very well and despite the team having problems in the final and in some games because their teammates were very immature." "At high school this year even though the team had a lot of time together you and Harrison did not play for two years and that''s why I chose the same kind of game from that time." "But this time in addition to you, the whole team has difficulty making individual plays against stronger opponents and they fail to defend." "So for next year, I thought of making plays that use the whole team in the attack and thus try to avoid that all the attacks depend on individual plays, so after working well the play we can have many more points and fewer errors in the games." "In addition, there will be two players that I worked with them last year at Middle School who will be in that team next year, this year they were the highlights in the national championship that our school has won." "So next year they can be good reserves for the team and so gain experience for years to come." "I wanted to know what you think of it as captain and a top team player." Jake thought this might be a good idea, he had thought of it when he was playing in the space of his imaginary training, but he felt he needed a lot of training and networking to make that kind of play work. Even though he was losing control of the team''s plays he knew it would be best for the team, it seemed that it would be much harder for Jake to triple-double from now on, after all, he could do more than 10 assists easily because almost all the plays passed by. But with this system of attack rotation and passing it was difficult to do more than 10 assists and each period has only 8 minutes. As for new players if coach Mike said they would be good players should be true, as they would be the first year would not have as they hold, so it seemed a good idea to let them gain experience. So if some of the titular team players have a poor performance it would be replaced. Coach Mike was a bit tense as he waited for Jake''s response, he saw Jake frowning several times as he thought and thought Jake did not like the idea, usually, the coach does not need the player to get involved in those decisions. But Jake was different, he was the MVP of the national championship and the president was very fond of him, especially after he made that incredible record, this change in the way of playing will greatly affect Jake''s performance in the team, after all, he will not be the focus on the attack. Jake did not think the coach was asking for his permission, so Jake the coach was only reporting a decision that was already made, but as he saw the coach hoping he would say something he interrupted his thoughts to respond. "I think the coach is right with these changes, it will be better for my teammates and they will be better off making the points if they do not have to make individual plays every time." "But I thought all the players on the team have to work harder on mid-range shooting for this style of play to work, I think all my teammates including David miss out on those moves that should be easier." Jake thought he really was the best, after all, opposing teams would be prepared to face the Elite team and have a lot of advantage if they maintained the same predictable style of play, but the other players had to train a lot more. Coach Mike agreed that the other players needed to train more to make these plays work, it would not be so difficult because the former coach, despite being a bit crazy, was a good professional and already did this type of training in the time that he trained the team. So it seemed like everyone had to get together again to start training ahead of time, but Mike was sure everyone would be happy if they knew that this training was meant to correct training failures. After that Jake left, Coach Mike thought Jake did not need that extra training in 4 months like the rest of the team, one month was enough for Jake to go play with everyone and get on with the team. In addition, Coach Mike knew that Jake had training that he did in particular that made him so good, he knew that Jake was doing hourly races every day on the athletic fields, Coach Mike thought it was to increase stamina in the basketball and was happy to have such a dedicated team player. The other day Jake went on trying to run the 50km, it was much harder and different than trying to run the 10km in less time, so Jake put a time of 50 minutes for every 10km, even so, he could not do that on the first day. Jake stopped because the system warned that if he continued he would suffer an injury, so Jake immediately stopped and lay on the race track, Jake had run 46 km, was enough for a marathon, but with that time it was impossible for him to have any highlight. Even though Jake did not intend to give up, he knew he could get it if he kept trying, after resting for many minutes the system said he could walk back home now, Jake immediately felt a lot of pain in his legs after he started walking. It was a sharp pain and Jake started to even cold sweat, if the system had not warned he actually saw that he could have a serious injury to his legs, maybe it could even be a stretch in the muscle. Jake felt he was being too rushed to rely too much on the system, as the system said he could do the 50 km with his resistance statistic he only trained for less than 2 months and already wanted to try. Now Jake saw that even if it were possible not to say that it would be easy to do this, Jake came home and took another ice bath, the other day he did not train because he wanted to rest his body totally like it had not done a few months ago. So after two days off Jake returned to the training ground again, this time he felt that his legs felt much lighter and stronger, after warming he went to the 40 km again, he easily managed in 160 minutes. So Jake thought he could try to slow down, so he could train heavier without taking the risk of an injury, so the other day he tried to do 10km in 35 minutes, he managed to feel more exhausted and his legs aching again. But he was delighted to be able to run 40km in 140 minutes because that was much closer to the time of the marathon for the champions if he managed in a few months to make the 10km in 30 minutes he would have the time to try to win. But Jake knew this was impossible because his body could not handle it, he needed another 1 year or increase his stamina in some points and even then it was not guaranteed, which is why Jake had the stamina bar to win. After completing a week of training Jake knew that he could not improve in a few months, he did not feel any more pain in his legs but still felt exhausted. After Jake went home he had dinner with Eva who also arrived late from the restaurant and went to the room to think, even though he knew it was not easy it seemed like he had underestimated the marathon, this was normal Jake took 6 years of intensive training to play basketball at the high school level. This was only because he had the knowledge system of his past life, otherwise, he could be at Harrison''s level just maybe, Jake only thought he would more easily get the marathon because he had the stamina bar and also had high physical stats after the train for years in basketball. But now it seemed like it could take years for him to get it, yet he could not complain because he realized the difficulty of training that other athletes have to do for several years to accomplish this. "Fate, did not you say that I could run up to 50 km with my resistance statistic? Why do I feel like I can not do this?" [Actually, I''m more impressed than you, not with the fact that you can not run the 50 km, but rather that you got so far with your training and effort alone, even I was rooting for you.] Jake did not understand, did not he have to train? How could he win without training? He knew that his body could not handle it and so he decided to train before, but now it seems that he had done something wrong and the worst was that he did not even know what it was. Chapter 167 The Last Year of High School 2 "If they have something that you know I''m doing wrong, please let me know before Fate, you know how precious my time is now." [No, you did not do anything wrong, actually you did everything as it should be I accused you of stealing to win the marathon with my help and the stamina bar, but I do not think of it that way anymore, you really like to run and wants to win the medal with his own effort as well.] That was true, Jake really loved running and wanted to win the medal honestly, so he wanted to represent the United States and be proud to win a gold medal for him and the country. But Jake knew that this was impossible normally and so he wanted to take advantage of his physical statistics and the stamina bar to fulfill his dream, and after a few more years maybe win without the stamina bar. [I''ll explain better how it looks like you''ve forgotten, what''s the main reason you''re a basketball star at your age beyond your talent and training?] "Because of you, Fate, it was thanks to the system that I got it." [I mean, in addition, you''ve always had the system in this life and not even that you''re the best in all sports because you''re good at basketball specifically?] Jake paused to think a little, long ago, after he met the system 6 years ago but after thinking he finally remembered and understood what he was doing wrong. "The job, I forgot to ask for my third job." [That''s right, without your basketball player job I could help you very little in this, but now you develop your skills and statistics well and are improving a lot, even if you do not get new statistics with your third job, how it''s related sports will have skills that can help you.] [I wanted to say before that with your third job you could do the 50 km with your current resistance statistic, but after those months of intensive training you almost got through on your own, now with the third job and training that way you can get win at the end of the year, with the stamina bar clear.] "How long do you think I need to train to win on my own?" [Two years at least, if you could train like this it would always be possible in a little over a year, but since you have a lot of things to do I think it would be difficult to do in less than two years.] Jake was pleased to know he could get it in 2 years, even though he would be cheating a bit with the system, but Jake did not care about it, he remembered the system saying that everyone is born with advantages in life, no one is equal to life is not fair. In fact Jake had always watched the Olympics in his past life, even though he could not move his legs at times he dreamed of earning a medal in athletics, Jake knew he could win a gold medal in basketball in the future for the American team. But he always thought that the individual medal had a lot more value than a collective medal if he won in basketball people would remember the American basketball team but if he won by running alone if he would still represent the United States and still have his name remembered too. Thinking about it Jake remembered that once he read in a book that men always struggle for power, money, women, and recognition, Jake thought that was true, after almost dying once being a stranger he wanted to put his name on history once. "Fate, I want my third job to be Runner." [Well done, here are your new stats.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 16 years] [Job: Runner] [Height: 1.87 m] [Weight: 85 Kg] [Force 31] [Agility 31] [Resistance 34] [Intelligence 58] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Techniques [Second Lung D] [Iron Body C] --------------------------------- Jake was very happy to get his third job, in fact, he had thought of it, but even though second job skills were very useful and even fraudulent he thought he would not have any useful skills for athletics, but now he saw that he thought very little about it. [You have only two techniques in this third job, but these two techniques would be very important to you, just as in basketball these two techniques are passive, so you will always be using them when running, but this time the system will be helping your develop and improve your body.] [Second Lung is a technique that works as the name says, it will be like you have a second lung, you will have much more energy in the races and you will not tire as fast as now if you reach the maximum rank of this skill, you had a second lung.] [All marathon runners have a similar technique, they learn over time how to control their breathing well and also how to keep pace to run longer than others is a kind of talent.] [Iron Body is similar to what you have in basketball, is a technique that prevents you from having an injury of any kind as you almost had to run another day, so your body will handle much more exercise than before and will get stronger fast.] [I do not think normal marathon athletes have a technique like this, but with the result of training for many years they do not have muscle injuries just for running for long distances.] [Just like I said with these two skills you can easily run 50 km without having any risk of having an injury and even without any training, but with the training you did you could get a lot more.] After hearing the explanation of the system Jake really understood how these skills could be useful to him in any race in athletics, he could use all the capacity of the muscles in his body without fear of getting any injury. When his speed increased much more he could even try to run a 100-meter race and use his top speed to win, after all, he would have no problem with his muscles. So Jake went to bed happy because his biggest problem was solved and he could run without getting hurt and had no more to take those ice baths. The other day he returned to the race course again, he decided to start with 10 km in 50 minutes and would try for the first time to do 50 km, after just over 4 hours he managed to do the 50 km, do 50 km in 250 minutes already made him very happy. But he still felt very tired and with some pains in his legs, Jake knew that while he did not reach the maximum rank of the skill he would not really have an Iron Body and could still feel pain or suffer an injury. But he did not need to worry too much about it anymore because he would not try to run more than 50 km anyway, so he did not have to be so worried about it, besides, he knew that the higher his stamina statistic was the better these skills. As Jake did not want to overload his body, he spent the rest of the seven days running at that same intensity, after 7 days of racing he did not even feel very tired at this distance, so he started running 10km in 45 minutes. After 50 km he was exhausted again and with some pains in his legs, this was normal after all he slowed his time in 25 minutes and made the 50 km in 225 minutes, it was already a much bigger load on his body, with that he felt that still could improve. That made Jake very happy, it seemed that with the third job he saved months of training that would take him to reach that level, of course, it was far from enough for him to win a marathon, but he knew it was a matter of time. After another week of training, he could already do the 50 km in 225 minutes without feeling too tired, but he could not continue training because he had to see if his mother needed anything in the restaurant. Even so in just over 3 months with 2 months of training, he had achieved what many could take years to do and Jake still did not have his body fully developed which harmed him to run, if he was 19 he could do in time competition already. So Jake understood why the system said he needed two more years, it was his training in those two years and also his final stage of growth before he became an adult, then he could really improve a lot. This was already the month that the vacation had begun Jake always made perfect grades in class and so did not have to worry about studying for the exams after the final grades came out Jake and Joseph was ready for his final year in high school. After the holidays Jake still vacationed his things normally, but all his classmates would have great changes in their schedules, even Joseph and Liza who had the best grades in their classes would have to stop meeting so much to have more time to study for the vestibular. When Jake remembered that this time was coming he was scared for a while and then calmed down with the help of the system, after all, it was at the time of the tests to enter the universities that Jake ended up suffering his first accident that almost ended his life. If he had gone back to the past without the system he would probably be locked up in these months of trial for fear of suffering this accident again, but the system ensured that this was impossible to happen again, it was easier for 3 meteors to fall on the ground at the same time for Jake to suffer this accident again. Chapter 168 The Last Year of High School 3 So Jake grew calmer, he thought it was really impossible, he could stay home that day to ensure and with the luck, he has it was impossible for that to happen again. Jake went back to his mother''s restaurant to see how she was doing, or if she needed help, but when she got there she realized there was already a line waiting for the restaurant to open for breakfast. Jake came early to make a surprise for his mother, after all, Eva left almost 5 am every day, after talking for a long time they ended up deciding to close the restaurant at 11 at night, so Eva ended up sleeping little every day, yet she was very happy. And Jake waited until she came home to dinner every night, of course it was he who prepared dinner, even so, Eva sometimes warned before that she would have to eat in the restaurant and he would eat alone, Jake thought it was important that he could eat a meal together with your mother so you do not get too far apart. Of course if it was necessary he could go to the restaurant to have dinner with Eva, but for now it was not necessary, the important thing for him was that Eva and Anna were happy, when Jake entered the restaurant he was almost stopped by Lola who did not expect no one came in at that hour. But Lola realized it was Jake''s son and who set up this restaurant and she sighed relieved that she had not stopped him, Lola had seen Jake a few times even though he had stayed in the restaurant to help for more than a week, that was because Jake would always leave to settle some matter or stay in the office all day. When Lola heard from her father that Jake was a basketball player she immediately thought he was like the Mexican boys who spent all day playing on the community courts, these guys always played with her and some were even criminals. So she was surprised when she saw that Jake did not look like anything to these guys despite being the same age, he looked more like one of those lawyers or businessmen she always saw in movies. Lola got an even better impression of Jake when he learned that he was the best student in his school and that he who opened this restaurant to fulfill his mother''s dream had heard this by talking to Anna who liked to talk about Jake more than that Eve was his mother. "Hi Lola, how are you?" "It''s all right, Mr. Jake." "You do not have to call me that, I''m going to be uncomfortable as I''m younger than you, call me Jake like everyone else, how''s the restaurant?" "It''s going very well, we have plenty of reservations for lunch and dinner and breakfast always has a queue just like today." Lola was very happy that Jake remembered her name even though they had only seen each other a few times, moreover, she was relieved Jake was not being too arrogant as some restaurant customer was. "I''m glad the restaurant is doing very well, I think it''s all thanks to your dad who makes delicious desserts." "Thanks, but I think it''s because Anna and her mother take good care of this restaurant as well as customers and employees." "It''s also because of you Lola, I heard from my mother that many clients like your sympathy and education in care, everyone is doing a great job, I''m going to speak to my mother now, bye." Lola was very happy with the compliment, she would work harder and happier today because of it. When Jake entered the kitchen after putting a burrow in his hair he saw that almost all dishes were ready, Anna was talking to Eva who was preparing several waffles that were the way Jake liked and always ate to remember his mother in his past life. "Hi Jake how surprised, I did not know you had come today, come to eat something." "I saw it to surprise you and my mom, I want some of those waffles later." "I thought you''d want something that Julius did like everyone else coming in the restaurant right now, that line that''s out there is because of his food." "You do not know Anna, Jake''s favorite food at breakfast is my waffles, he would not choose another food." "My mom''s right, I think it''s a great idea for you to personally make these waffles, Mom." "I told you, Anna, I had to make those waffles." "It''s okay to do it." Jake had not understood, but it seems Anna wanted Eva to let other people make the waffles because they were too busy to make several plates, but Eva insisted that at least she wanted to do it herself. After Jake ate he could see that really many people were coming to Full English Breakfast, it seemed like it was really a hit and the right thing to do, Anna even had a good vision in the restaurant business and was right about capturing the market. But the greatest of luck was that all the hotels in the area recommended their restaurant, and all thanks to Julius, Jake recommended that his mother and Anna increase his salary for the next month and both agreed. A little was Jake''s luck that was helping Julius to work with them, but all this was because the service and food were very good, otherwise, people would not come back every day. Jake went to the office afterward and analyzed and cleared all the restaurant bills, Anna did it correctly and did not spend much more than necessary and Jake also told how much money they could spend after many calculations. So it seemed that from now on the restaurant could stand alone without him putting more money on his account, it showed the success of the restaurant, so he was thinking of handing all the restaurant bills to the accounting firm that his other company worked. This was a company that did not charge very high fees and was recommended by Oliver and praised by Emily, so Jake trusted them to organize the restaurant counts when Jake talked about it with Eva and Anna they agreed. Eva trusted everything Jake said and Anna had a private accountant in her last restaurant, but she knew it was better to trust a company of respect because sometimes the restaurant accountants stole all the money. Jake asked Emily to talk to them and Emily negotiated with the company, the company accepted the job and even made a discount on the service fee because it was a Jake business that already had more business with them, Jake was happy about it. After that Jake just needed to come to visit and no longer needed to clear the restaurant, Jake said goodbye to Lola at the exit and went home. The other day Jake continued his running training, he ran the 50km again and did it in 45 minutes again, seeing that everything was fine the other day he started running 10km in 40 minutes. So he finished the 50km with much difficulty doing 200 minutes, even being very tired he was happy to decrease the total time in another 25 minutes, but Jake realized that this was his limit again, he could lower in a few minutes but not could do the 50 km in 175 minutes. If he could do that he would be a lot closer to winning a marathon, but he did not have to be too worried about it, the main purpose of this training was to do more than the 45 kilometers to make sure that his body stood at a distance. Now he needed to keep trilling at that distance, and with that time, his body and his body statistics could increase further after a few more months, so for the rest of the training week, he continued doing the 50 km in 200 minutes. After Jake did once more a week of training doing every day 50 km in 200 minutes, Jake did not get too tired of it, but he knew his energy could not handle training faster than that. But Jake knew his muscles held out more than that, even if his muscles did not heal with a stamina bar, they still slowed down a lot and relied a lot on, so he could handle much heavier running. After running for several days with the third job the system told Jake about a feature he did not know, this feature was like a video game screen that was transparent in its upper right corner of his vision, this could only be activated in the training or racing competitions for safety reasons. This transparent screen showed Jake the speed he was running, the distance and the overall time of the race, and that would be a great help in training and races, but the system advised him to take the speed marker, so he would only be at a distance and time. This was because the system said that looking at speed did not help anything and only made him anxious, after all, he just had to know the distance and the time to see if it was going well, Jake agreed with the system and took the speed off the screen. With that, Jake could train with much calmer and he had the most exact time and did not have so much variation in the performance after another training Jake would return home, all his training in the next months would always be like this. It was so that he would strengthen his muscles and increase his stamina, after all when they were a few weeks away from the race he would train using the stamina bar in the middle of the marathon to see if his body could withstand increased speed and pressure on the body. Chapter 169 The Last Year of High School 4 While Jake was training every day his school friends were studying, even his teammates who had to train on their vacations the new style of play took a few days to study anyway, even the school could not give a scholarship at the university if their grades were too high bad. When Jake learned that his teammates were training in school for the new type of game he volunteered to train with them so the team could be more involved. After all, even though Jake did not need to do that as a captain, he needed to set the example for his teammates on how to do it, his teammates, as well as Coach Mike, hoped to easily accept training. After all, they knew it was because of them that the style of play had to be changed, Jake had no problem with these individual moves, on the contrary, Jake was much better at these 1-on-1 shots. After a day of training on the court coach Mike called Jake to talk privately, Jake did not know what was agreed more easily, his teammates thought it was just Jake who would quietly go to the coach''s office without any fear. "I was very happy that you have set aside your vacation to train here with the team, I know that you have even trained after here on the athletic field every day, it was really the right decision to have you as team captain, you give a great example Jake." "I''m also part of the team and it''s normal for me to train with all of them." "That''s right, I called you here Jake because even though this school tries to stop them all with you it''s impossible, we''ve got several calls from various scouts from various universities." "As an MVP last year in the national championship you have been the number one choice of almost all coaches who need a PG or SG in the team, so soon you would probably receive several invitations from universities across the country." Jake was happy to know that it was his mother''s dream that he should enter college, and he had decided to go to college, after all, after entering the NBA he would have to concentrate entirely on basketball. And even then maybe he could not play much in the early years if he came into the NBA now, after college he would be sure he would be a lot better in basketball, but Jake found it a bit odd that Coach Mike would get several college invitations. As if he had realized Jake was confused, Coach Mike explained everything that was going on. "Actually your case was really special, normally the scouts and coaches of college teams start talking to the players in the first or second year, and in the third and fourth years they make the offers." "In his first year in high school, several scouts and coaches of college teams were already watching you, after all, you had been the champion and MVP teams in the national middle school championship." "But they spoke to the Philips coach who spoke very badly of you and said that you would be out of the team all through high school so they all lost interest in you." "So all these recruiters were eyeing other high school players in those first two years, it was only in the third year that you started playing that they remembered you." "But these recruiters paid no attention to our team in the regional championship nor to the state championship in normal games." "It was only in the national championship that they started paying attention to our team, but even watching you play so well they had no interest in you what coach Philips talked about you at the time." "But they were very interested in Mark and then in other players of our team, with the passing of the games our team has always been winning and you have always been being the highlight of the team and eliminating several players they were watching." "It was after our team won the national championship and you were the MVP with a triple-double that they realized that the information that the Philips coach passed was fake and you were a great player." "But at that time all the coaches and scouts of the university teams also knew about you, so everyone talked to me and I gave you a good evaluation." "The school wanted to hold so that the colleges that we have partnerships could talk to you before, but it did not give more time, but it''s impossible for everyone to talk to you before and so everyone has already made proposals with full scholarships for you." "Even more when they learned that you had the best grades in one of the schools with one of the best teachers in the country, so you only have to call the coaches from the universities you have the most interest and choose a good one." Jake even found that his situation was very different from the other basketball players, after all, he had not been called by any recruiter before and now he was called by everyone, but it was good because he could choose the universities. He wanted to pick the ones he remembered that they had the best teams they could beat that he saw in his past life, so he would be on a winning team so he could also choose a team that had a weaker PG and was strong overall. But he would leave to think about it later, he said goodbye to the coach and returned to training, after training he went home, he wanted to tell his mother the good news, but she was in the restaurant and he was tired of the various training to wait for today. So he decided he would tell when he chose a university, he could not talk to these trainers now either because he still had to run a marathon so his plan worked out right. After a few months of training the Elite team was doing well with the new style of training, coach Mike thought it would be much harder for the team to change the playing style, but with Jake joining the training on vacation all It worked. Now it was only a few days before the beginning of the last year of school, everyone was still very worried about the grades, after all, if they could have a good university or did not depend on grades. Jake was the coolest with it all, he trained every day he could in the school training camp, after a few more months of training it was already very easy for him to do the 50 km in 200 minutes but he did not try to increase the training load. It was because he could not get too tired of this as he still had training for the basketball team, even though they had improved a lot since last year and even had new plays and tactics beyond the new style of the game. They still had to train a lot for the regional championship that would be in a month, this was because the two new players who were the middle school stars would join the team, they had to train to be good reserves for the team. Jake asked to leave the training in these last days of vacations because he wanted to see how was the restaurant of Eva and see if it could help in something. Eva had already grown accustomed to the restaurant routine and was less tired now, she was happy every day and was already starting to do her job better as a chef. Anna was also very happy these last few months, she could not even believe how she managed to get away from the environment she loved so much a few years ago, fortunately, she had Jake who brought her back to this life. She did not even remember that she said she would only help for a few months until Eva got used to the job and then left, Anna now wanted to work at this restaurant until the end of her life. Jake was also very happy that everything was going well with his mother, but he was a little sad because it was getting harder to meet his mother at home in the last few months, at first whenever he was not tired he waited until Eva Come back for dinner and talk. But after a few weeks, he realized that Eva always arrived tired at home and still had to stay at least 30 minutes to have dinner and talk and have dinner with Jake before taking a shower and sleeping. So thinking of his mother, Jake suggested that Eve dine in the restaurant and even set up a bathroom there so she and the staff could bathe there and get the home ready for bed. Eva denied the idea of ??the bathroom, but accepted that it was better to have dinner in the restaurant, so they were hardly in the house anymore, Jake would sometimes go to the restaurant, but it was difficult for him to go often. And Jake still had not bought a car for him and Eva always used the car, so Jake had to go to the restaurant by a car when he wanted to go. Jake was thinking about buying a car for him, but he wanted to save money to invest in more stock in a few months, but it seemed that having a car was important to him if Jake wanted to go somewhere in the future. When Jake arrived at the restaurant Lola was the one who received it again, she was very happy to see Jake again, after all, he could not come often in the restaurant and even when he came sometimes Lola was busy working and could not talk to him. "Hi Lola, how are you?" "Very well thank you, we''ve had a lot of work these past few months, have you come to see your mother?" "Yes, I also came to see you and the others were just starting my classes last year and with so many things I have to do I will not be able to come here many times." "That''s a shame." "What is a shame?" Chapter 170 The Last Year of High School 5 "It''s a shame you will not be able to come here to help after all you''ve been helping in the restaurant several times." "Oh, do not worry, if you guys have any problems you can call me, I''ll talk to my mom now bye." After Jake left Lola sighed with relief and was all ashamed when she heard that Jake could not come anymore because of the school she was very sad that she ended up talking out loud, after all, Jake could think that she likes him if Lola spoke the truth. Lola really liked Jake very much, he was different from the boys of the same age, he was handsome and took care of his mother very well, Lola did not think that a girl did not like him, but she knew that his family were only employees in this restaurant and Jake owned the restaurant. As they lived in different worlds she thought they could not be together, moreover, Eva was older than Jake and if he knew she liked him, she feared Jake thought it was out of interest. Eva and Jake took good care of her and her father, and they even praised her father''s salary, and she did not want the relationship to be strange. Jake, who did not know any of that, went to the restaurant kitchen, but although it was almost time to open he did not see his mother or Anna, so he went to ask Julius where they were. "Hi, Julius, how are you?" "I''m fine Jake, I''m very happy working in this restaurant and seeing that people like my food, I''m very grateful to all of you for giving me and my daughter an opportunity." "It''s us who thank you, it''s thanks to your desserts that this restaurant has been a success, do you know where my mother and Anna are?" "They went to the market, as they finished everything they had to do for breakfast they went to the market earlier to pick some lunch ingredients, but they come back before the restaurant opens for breakfast." So after Jake waited for a while they came from the market the work of a restaurant chef was not at all easy, when they saw that Jake had come they came quickly towards him, and Eva and then Anna gave him a hug. Eva could not spend so much time with Jake and felt a little bad about it, but Jake knew all this before opening this restaurant for her, and after a while, he would go to university and they could not see much of anyway. For Anna it was different, she saw Jake now more than before because he came to see Eva several times, so she was just happy. "What happened to Jake that you came in early today?" "I think I''m going to come every day for a few days, after all, I''m going to start classes last year and I will not be able to come so many times." "It''s true your classes will start in a few days, I''m sorry son for forgetting that, but I agreed with Anna that on the days that you have a game I do not come in the morning to make the food for you." "You do not need a mother, I''m glad to see you so motivated working here, I''m already big and I can do these things myself." "Not the least of this I have to do, and I''m going to watch your games in the final after you go to university I will not be able to go more, so I have to enjoy it now." So Jake laughed and accepted, he knew that his mother wanted to be present at these important times with him, and he was very happy about it, it was a pity that Anna could no longer go to any of his games. "Do you need me to help with anything?" "No, you can just keep looking, after we''ve started making reservations since last month, there''s no such mess anymore, and the staff has grown accustomed to running the restaurant and they do not make any more mistakes." Last month Anna decided she could not stand so many people lining up in front of the restaurant, at first she liked it because it meant the restaurant''s success, but then she even started to get customer complaints. At first, because this was not a classy restaurant and the prices were not high they decided to make a restaurant that had no reservation and that people could just come and eat but they did not expect the restaurant''s success. After a while, they even queued for dinner and lunch so they decided to make a reservation to see if it worked and it worked out very well. The difficult thing was to solve the problem of breakfast, in the end, Anna decided that they would give some reservations to the hotels that helped them quite at the beginning, the hotels were very happy with this and even paid in advance for the reserved places. So it was the hotels who decided who could go in for breakfast, and they put it in the hotel''s reservation packet as if it were their service when there were places, the hotel staff would reward them for the best work. So with all the places always reserved and with the accounting firm that Jake hired to organize the restaurant bills they had only to worry about preparing the restaurant''s dishes. So within a few months they had a successful restaurant and it worked very well, Jake was very pleased with that, every two years he would only have to use his skill of the second job Business Vision to know if the restaurant would be successful in the coming 3 years. After staying one day in the restaurant Jake who had nothing to help saw that could end up messing up and so decided he would come and stay only a few hours at dinner time and then leave. After all, he still had to train every day on the 50km track, he knew he was ready to run a marathon now after almost six months of training, but he still trained every day, even on rainy days he would run. The coach of the athletic team at the school heard that there was a basketball player who would come running every day on the athletics track, so the coaches thought he could give some tips, he was very good at training the 100 and 200 tests m. The coach knew that this was what Jake did because he did not bring any equipment, but he was shocked when one day he saw that Jake was running a marathon, not even the school trained any athlete for marathons and so he could not give any county. Even though this coach was impressed that this 16-year-old could run so much every day, as he did not count how many laps Jake gave the coach did not know that was 50 km or he would be even more shocked. Jake, who had nothing to do, remembered that he had to talk to Tiffany about the marathons, after all, it was she who had promised to help him sign up for a race, so Jake agreed to have lunch with her in Eva''s restaurant. After a few hours they met at the restaurant, Jake had a reservation at the restaurant at all times every day, if he did not wear it someday they would fit someone else. Jake thought this was a good idea now that the restaurant worked with reservations, and never a table would end empty even if it did, this was the good side of having a restaurant with the cheapest dishes, there are always people available at all schedules. "Hi Tiffany, sorry to call you like that at the last minute, we have not seen you in a few months." "No problem, I hired a representative to help me with some things in the company, in a few years I''ll put him as president to take care of things in the company, it''s horrible to have lots of money and not have time to take advantage, I was not born to stay in an office. " "But can not it cause trouble for you?" "No problem, this representative is someone of confidence that I work for a few years, in addition, my father and I still have most of the shares in the company, so he has to ask me for any decision he makes and I will make some deals like patronage with you." "If you think this is a good idea then it must be really, I called you here today because I want to participate in the Chicago marathon in October, I hope you can get a place for me." "So finally it''s going to be the first race, I''d recommend you start with a half marathon or a race with less visibility, the Chicago marathon is one of the main circuits, so the best runners in the world will be in it." "You said you''re going to compete to win, right? I do not think you have a chance in Chicago. " "I also thought about running in a less crowded marathon first, but I want to see if I can be in the Olympics next year, so I have to start with a race known for that." "If I can win in Chicago and then in New York, I think I''ll have the recognition to be able to compete for a place in the Olympics without any scandal." "Do you want to win in Chicago and New York? If you can do that, no one will doubt that you won the gold medal, but have you started training at least?" "Yes, I started training as soon as I finished the national championship final, now I''m prepared." Hearing this, Tiffany was impressed and agreed, if Jake had been training for 6 months he should know if he could win or not, at least to finish the test she was sure Jake could do. If Tiffany knew that Jake could run 50 miles every day she would not doubt him anymore. Chapter 171 The Last Year of High School 6 "So I''m going to sign you up for these two marathons, I hope you can really beat Jake, just so you do not mess up your basketball practice." "You can rest easy, these training helps even more because they increase my resistance, now I can easily play a whole game without tiring too much." Hearing that Tiffany had no more doubts, she knew that Jake should know what she was doing and would not be irresponsible, she wondered what it would be like if Jake could really win, she was sure Jake would be in the NBA in the future. So would a professional player who was also a professional runner, Tiffany had not noticed, but she was also confident that Jake could win the marathon. After that, the days passed quietly and classes finally started again, everyone was more focused on studies and even Jake stopped bringing his books to class. He had already learned to speak Japanese and had studied many economics books in all those years, now even he was tired of studying so much, in a year he would go to university and no one could complain when he took these books to class. After classes the first day he went to school, today would be the day the team would meet the two new players who came from Middle School, arriving there he saw that almost everyone had already arrived and after greeting his teammates he was waiting on the bleachers. After a while coach, Mike came along with Liza and two other guys, these two were almost 1, 70 m, they were very tall for those who were 14, they should be the two players that coach Mike spoke of. But Jake noticed that his teammates did not seem to know who these two players were, it seems that coach Mike seemed to be hiding this from the other players, after all, every year new players came from Middle School and did not have much opportunity to play. "Well, everybody pays attention here, these two are the new team players who came from Middle School, this one is Lucas Garcia, he plays like SF now, but he learned to play also as a PF, he changed his position because it was too a few years ago." "This other one is Nathan Roberts, he plays as SG and was our school''s MVP at the Middle School National Championship last year, they will be playing on our team this year and they have gone into some games depending on our players'' performance." Jake was calm but David and Harrison were nervous about it, they were training a lot to help the team more and now substitutes came to play in their positions, Carter was much calmer because Lucas was too small to play in his place. So they could finally train with everything for the regional championship that would be in a few weeks, Jake was also training in his imagination training, he plays in various positions and was improving his defense very much, after finishing the training one day the system came to give good news. [Congratulations Jake, all your skills have reached the S rank, so you can raise your level now, the important thing is to choose whether the next level will be the university or the NBA.] "It will be a university." [Okay so, so you can look at your stats whenever you want, I think it was a good idea for you to choose the college level because it''s lower than the NBA level, so you can get even better.] "I want to see my statistics now, Fate." [Here it is] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 16 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: College Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 1.87 m] [Weight: 85 Kg] [Force 31] [Agility 31] [Resistance 34] [Intelligence 58] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling B] [Body Control C] [Man to Man C] [Dribble B] [Layup B] [Set Shot A] [Block C] [Pass A] [Rebound C] [2 Points S] [3 Points S] [Free Throw SS] [Steal A] [Dunk D] --------------------------------- Jake saw his current skills and was surprised, after all, though he was much better off when he entered the high school from Middle School was still not much better, he never expected that his best skills would be classified as rank C and B. If so, he would have to admit that it would be very difficult to play in college, after all its abilities took almost a year to improve one level, which means that these skills would be much harder to improve. If he had moved to the NBA level it would be even worse for him, after all, it was obvious that the NBA was stronger than the university, seeing that Jake was thinking several things the system saw that it was better to explain correctly. [You must have been impressed that your skill ranks have dropped so much, but that''s why I have to explain you better when someone leaves high school and goes to the NBA that player there unless it''s a genius it takes two years or more to play at a normal level.] [So S skill rank is the maximum that an average player can average on the high school in cases of genius players is different because they get an SS rank like you which means that they have exceeded the maximum level of skill possible.] [At university it''s almost the same, but right there the geniuses cannot easily get the SS rank of skill, nor can you get that in various skills as you did now, that means most players have rank C or B skills at the University.] [Normal players can have up to D skill as is their dunk rank, but very much end the university and go to the NBA with skill rank B or A, few reach S rank, and the NBA is even harder to reach to the S rank of a skill, only the biggest stars at the top can do that.] [So you can understand that your skill rank has started to be compared to the pros now if you want to have an SS rank in a dunk in the NBA have to bury like Michael Jordan if you can get that you''ve already reached the level of a star.] So Jake understood why his skills were so low, if he got to the NBA even his shots from outside could not be rank S as more other skills, now he could just make the shot out quietly but in the NBA would always have a tall player to disrupt the pitch and the hit rate would drop a lot. Even though he was happy because he could see his improvements again seeing the ranks of skill increasing, when he was with the skills the S rank now he could boast of playing well in the NBA, in addition, Jake remembered that his skills would increase when he he was 19 years old. So the time passed quickly and soon came the day of the first regional championship game, this time the coach made a bold decision and decided to put Lucas and Nathan as holders as the games would be easier. Jake was certain that David and Harrison were not happy about it, but how these players needed to get experience in case they needed to get into national championship games was a necessary thing. Coach Mike could not do that in the state championship if it was not possible that they could not even reach the national championship, so now was their only chance. Jake woke up early for the game and saw his mother preparing breakfast, as usual, she had even taken a few hours off in the morning just to be with Jake a few hours before the game. Even if he did not say it, Jake was very happy that Eva did it for him, he ate it all happily and then went to the playground. When he arrived everyone had already arrived and seemed eager for the game, Jake saw that the opposing team seemed discouraged as if they had already given up trying to win this game, this was normal considering that the Elite team was 4 times the championship champion regional and state levels. And as the team was the same as last year with the addition of some players there was no way they were worse than last year, all five Elite team players were already talking to college teams. Everyone was guaranteed and reassured that they could join these teams, only Jake did not start talking to anyone because he was choosing the right universities to talk to, but he was the most assured of them all as he had already received the scholarship invitations from those universities. It was just agreeing and getting into a university, yet everyone was thrilled to be champions once again of the national championship, it would be Carter''s third trophy and either in high school and Jake''s second. But no one was counting the first year they could not play, Jake went to coach Mike who was going through the rush again, it was necessary because it was a new style of play with players that they were not so familiar with the team. After a few minutes Jake''s first game in high school began, even though it was a regional championship game he was a bit tense, Mark went up and won the ball possession for the Elite team. Jake passed the ball to Lucas who was already on the attacking block, Lucas received the ball and with freedom ran after the three-point line, the defense came to stop his advance and Lucas passed the ball to Carter who was freer in the internal area. Carter picked up the ball and then easily did the layup to score the first two Elite Team points in the game, the opposing team was lost in that play because when the Elite team made the points Jake who was the one who was putting the plays was coming in line three points still. So the opponents realized that the Elite team could have changed their style of play, otherwise it would be a problem for the other teams because they would have corrected the only flaw that the opposing teams could exploit. Chapter 172 New Game Style 1 The opposing team soon made an attack to equalize the game with a mid-range shot of the SF, Jake received the ball and started another attack for the Elite team, after passing through the middle of the court he passed the ball to Nathan. Nathan passed the ball to Lucas who had gained more confidence after the last play, Lucas pass by the opponent and went into the inner area and passed the ball to Mark, Mark received the ball and saw that the defense was already on him, so Mark passed the ball to Jake who was free and Jake made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team. The opposing team also went for another attack, the team PG ran up close to the three-point line and passed the ball to the SF of his team, Lucas was firm from the defense and so the SF of the opposing team had to return the ball for the PG. So the PG of the opposing team passed the ball to the Center in the inner area, the Center that was well defended by Mark had to force the attack to make 2 more points to tie the game again. Jake grabbed the ball and began to organize another attack, this time he came before the three-point line and passed the ball to Nathan, Nathan quickly passed the ball to Carter, Carter returned the ball to Jake and Jake made the pass to Lucas who had gotten free with the move and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team. And so continued the game in the first period, the Elite team had a 6-point advantage, Jake had 6 points and also made 2 assists, which scored most was Lucas who made 6 points in the first period. Nathan seemed to be more nervous in this debut game, but even so, he scored 4 points and made 2 assists, yet he could play better normally as the MVP team at Middle School. Coach Mike was pleased with the performance of the team in the first period, even though they did not have any three-pointers they still managed a 6-point lead, which is why they did not miss an opportunity to attack. The opposing team was also playing well this game, but they were having difficulties even when the defense of the Elite team was not too tight, so it was a good practice opportunity for the team. When the second period began the opposing team changed to a zone defense, after all, they did not achieve anything with an individual defense in the first period, so Jake went for the first attack of that period. He passed the ball to Lucas who had gotten rid of the defense to receive the pass, so Lucas passed the ball to Nathan who was free, this time Nathan did not hesitate and took advantage of the space to make the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Elite team. The opposing team started another attack and was passing the ball as well as the Elite team, but they did not seem to have much intermingling and ended up missing one of the passes and the ball came out. So Jake received the ball in the return of the game, Jake advanced calmly and the opponent defense was very worried about Lucas and Nathan and left a space free for Jake that advanced without hesitate, thus Jake drive to the basket and finished the play with a dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team. The opposing team seemed to be lost in the game and did not have a player to calm their teammates and lead the team into a reaction, so the second period ended with the Elite team leading by 14 points. Jake had 14 points and 5 assists in the game and managed 2 steals in that period, Nathan had 11 points in total and Lucas had 10 points in the game and so it was a great debut for them. In the second part of the game in the third period, David and Harrison would return to play the rest of the match, it could have been they who started, but the trained Mike wanted to give more confidence to Nathan and Lucas. Jake also had to admit that Nathan seemed to be on the same level as David and Lucas was already better than Harrison because he was good at defense too, so it looked like in another 1 year they would be the team''s highlights after Jake and the others left. It seemed that the Middle School team was also the favorite to win the national championship this year, so next year better players would join this team, these players came to the Elite team thanks to the former players who were twice champions of the national championship and the team of Jake and his teammates as well. This inspired new players showing that the Elite school was a great strength of youth basketball, even if it was not now before it would be with new talented players entering it showed that the strategy of the current president of the school was right. At the beginning of the third period, the opposing PG advanced to the court and passed the ball to the SF, but Harrison who wanted to show that he deserved the position was very strong in the defense and SF had to return the ball to the PG. The PG then tried to pass Jake with a dribble, but Jake followed closely on the defense, so with the time of possession of the ball finishing the PG passed to the SG of his team that made a jump and mid-range shot quickly to do more 2 points for the opposing team. Jake received the ball and passed it to David who advanced with the ball to the attacking block, David passed the ball to Mark who came to the back of the court, Mark passed to Jake who was in the line of three points, Jake passed the ball quickly for Harrison who was free open on the left, and Harrison made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team. With David and Harrison coming in for the team they got more involved and the moves were easier, Harrison did not want to lose his starting position in his last year for Lucas, he thought that with that style of play he did not have any problems. make stitches. After all, Harrison''s biggest problem, David and Carter were that with the strongest opponents they could not make the individual plays and score, but with that style of play they would have more freedom sometimes and they could make the points. This was one of Mike''s goals for these changes, he wanted to give more pressure to David and Harrison that they were no longer the absolute starters and would have to play better if they wanted the starting position in the team and if they played poorly the coach I would not hesitate to remove them from the team. The opposing team began another play, the team PG passed the ball to the SF of the team that opened to receive, this SF pass by Harrison and found Carter on the cover, so SF had to turn the ball to the PG of his team. But Jake was following the move and managed to intercept the pass and steal the ball, this time Jake did not need to wait and run alone for the attack, the opponent''s defense could not chase and Jake went to do the layup and 2 more points for the Elite team. The game continued like this and soon ended with the Elite team winning by 26 points of difference, the opponent was not so sad because they expected defeat, Jake managed to do 31 points and 12 assists, plus 10 steals and made another triple Double, but it would be difficult to do against stronger opponents. This time Eric was no longer following the game because he had been sent to the NBA again, but he said he would follow some national championship games, Eric never doubted that Jake could win the national championship again. So the bleachers were a lot emptier for this game, Jake was thinking of going back and telling his mother about the win, but he remembered that Eva was in the restaurant now, he could not go to the restaurant after the game. So Mark who was the most sociable of the group suggested that all of them who played were going to a dinner to celebrate the victory and so they all accepted, it would be good to integrate Lucas and Nathan into the group now that they would all play together. So they went to dinner and everyone sat there and told Lucas to make the orders, but it was not to intimidate the newbie since it would be Jake who would pay the bill as the only richest on the team. As young people and athletes everyone ate very well, and as it would be Jake who would pay everyone asked for at least 3 burgers each and lots of fries with sodas for everyone, actually no one on the staff knew that Jake was rich now and so they thought he would be wasting much to pay for this meal. Soon everyone started talking about various situations that happened in their lives and then talked about things that happened in basketball, which was the best game or when they scored the most points. After a good time everyone was much closer Jake was the least of them, after a while they started talking about the future and universities. "Has anyone ever decided which university to enter?" "Not yet, we''re all talking to the coaches, I want to be the Center headliner for my team after a few years." "I do not mind playing in rotation, I know that my weak defense can end up disrupting the team." "It''s not always Harrison, it depends on the level of the university you''re going to enter, if it''s a weaker team, you''re going to want it for sure." "But I do not know if it''s worth it to stand on the bench of a champion team or be a starter on a weak team." Of all Carter and Harrison did not care to play as reserves and Mark and David wanted to be the owners of the team. Chapter 173 New Game Style 2 For Jake they did not even have to ask, it was obvious that he would fit into a strong team and would play as a starter in everyone''s mind after they asked more sensitive questions as if someone would become a pro. When they entered high school all they hoped was to play at university and stop playing after graduating, but after winning the national championship and being able to win for the second time some began to dream. Harrison and Carter had already decided to stop after college but David was still in doubt, he knew he could play well, so maybe after another five years when the university finished he had a chance to enter the NBA. Or he could even play professionally in other countries in Europe, the important thing was that he loved basketball and wanted to be professional, Mark always thought about stopping playing after finishing university. Before, he never doubted he would stop playing, but now he was 1.92 in height and still growing, and last year he had made great games and received invitations to chat with college coaches who were considered strong in basketball. So he began to think just like his friends that could become a pro, playing in the NBA did not seem difficult now, just like David he would leave to decide in a few more years, again no one even needed to hear from Jake to know that he could be a professional. After that everyone left and Jake got up to pay the bill, Lucas had stayed behind because he wanted to talk to Jake privately, after Jake paid and left Lucas came over to talk to him. "Hi, Lucas, what happened to you waiting for me here?" "I was a little embarrassed to speak in front of others, but I want you to know that I started playing after seeing you playing in the national high school championship final in your last year that you won." "Before I even played, but as I was very small I did not think I had a chance and I even thought about moving to another sport." "But I saw you playing very well and even being one of the smallest of the team, so I thought I might as well now I ended up growing up and I was lucky to start before I could play now." "Cool to know about this Lucas, I hope you keep playing well this way." "I''m going, I want our team to continue winning even after you graduate, and Nathan is also very much your fan, but he''s very shy and will not have the guts to say, I''m going to go bye." After hearing this Jake was very happy, it is good to know that new players started playing inspired by him, even more, players like Lucas and Nathan who were so skillful. The next day Jake asked Oliver to help him buy a new car and also get some cell phones for him, it was important to have this so he could talk to his mother even if the signal in town was not very good yet. Jake was still waiting for Emily to organize the reports on how his investments were going these last few years, Jake wanted to invest again, after all, that was when he could make more money. At that time the computers were still not much used, mainly because it was difficult to save and to show the recorded data, so Emily was still doing everything at hand in some reports. Jake was still doing his training almost every day at the school''s training grounds, as it was a little over a month before the Chicago marathon he would have to start preparing for the race. After a few months running 50km almost every day his body was much more prepared and his stamina had increased a bit too, so it was time to increase the intensity of training. First Jake started running 10km in 35 minutes, yet after the end of the training day he was not quite married even though he had run 50km in 175 minutes, so he went running 10km in 30 minutes which would be enough for him. he wins a race of less difficulty. But when he was about 38 km Jake started to tire and saw that he could not so he ate a bar of stamina and regained his energy as much as he relaxed his muscles a little, so he can run the 50 km in 150 minutes. With that time he could win the race and his muscles were not hurting after the race, Jake already hoped he could not run the 42.195 without eating the stamina bar, but he got quite close to it. Another 6 months of training and he could get, the problem was that he would have to run below the 130 minutes to be sure to win, if he could run in 125 minutes he would be sure of the win. Just as he would have to cheat this year and run eating the energy bar to win he could eat the stamina bar after the 35 km and in the last few km, he could increase the speed as he would be with the energy recovered. Jake tried to do it the other day and saw that it was possible, but he had to see it on the day because running on the road was different from running on a race track, there could be some climbs that would affect his pace. Even so now he was much more confident that he could do this, he felt he was much closer to his dream of getting a gold medal in the Olympics, after a few more months he could guarantee that his stamina and agility would increase further, which would make it easier to win than now. During the week Jake went back to the restaurant near dinner time, his mother and Anna congratulated him on winning the first regional championship game, Eva was not so anxious about the game because she was busy at the restaurant. In addition, this was already the fourth regional championship of Jake and he always won in the end, so until the national championship games Eva would be much quieter with the other games in the year, she did not know that Jake had already ordered a phone for him and for her so Eva could know the outcome of the games and other things. After seeing that things were okay again he continued his double training the week, he was training for both basketball and marathon, and both pieces of training helped him get stronger in both sports. In the training of the basketball team after that day everyone left together the whole group became much more united, yet three groups were naturally formed, Jake was more with Mark and Lucas and the three became much more friends. David got on well with Jake as well, but he was more into Harrison because his team-place spots were at risk, and Carter was more with Nathan, only Jake and Mark were everyone''s friends, the others had some disagreements between them at times. Lucas always wanted to learn something from Jake and was very excited and honest that he was the kind of people Jake liked to make friends with, so Jake did not mind teaching Lucas what he knew he could only do so well after hundreds of games of experience in the space of imagination training. Jake and Mark got much closer together after Jake started doing several training sessions with Mark, from training to play in the Center''s position and Alley-oop between several plays they trained together. A lot was said until Mark improved a lot last year by training longer than the others with Jake, Coach Mike was the one who was happier with all this, after all in this new style of game of the team they had to have enough entourage so that they did not have many turnovers in the plays. So after a few more days finally came the day of the second game of the Elite team in the regional championship, Jake woke up early and went down to eat breakfast prepared by Eva. After Jake left and went to the scene of the game, when he arrived there almost everyone had arrived as always, the coach was going through a few plays with Lucas and Nathan who would start playing today again. Jake went to talk a few more things with Mark while he waited for the beginning of the game, the opponents in this second regional championship game were the Flagami team, the players featured in this team were PG Ezra and SF Colton. Unlike the team in the first game, they did not seem to be willing to lose the game even against the Elite team, so after a few minutes the game began, Mark took possession of the ball to the Elite team. Jake received the ball and advanced calmly to the attack, when the Elite team was all in the attacking block Jake passed the ball to Nathan who was more open by the right, Nathan advanced until the opposing SG appeared in the defense. So Nathan passed the ball to Carter who went to the bottom of the court on the right of the attack to receive the ball, Carter received and already passed to Lucas who was in the Free Throw free area, so Lucas made the mid-range shot to make the 2 points for the Elite team. Today was Nathan and Lucas''s second game in high school and as they played in Middle School they were no longer nervous in today''s game, Ezra got the ball to start the first attack of the Flagami team. Ezra was keeping away from Jake who had an average of 10 steals per game and passed the ball to the SG of his team, the SG tried to pass through Nathan, but Nathan kept the distance and defended tight, so the SG passed to Colton who stayed free to receive the ball. Before Lucas got to the defense Colton already made the mid-range shot to make 2 points for the Flagami team and tie the game. Chapter 174 New Game Style 3 Lucas was annoyed at being careless in defense which allowed the play of the opposing team, but Jake who received the ball said it was well and started another move for the Elite team. Unlike the attack Ezra did not give space to Jake when he was in the defense, nevertheless, Jake that had a good dominion of the ball did not care and went to the attack while keeping a distance of Ezra, Jake passed the ball to Nathan before arriving in the line of three points. Nathan made the turn on his opponent and passed the ball to Carter who opened at the bottom of the court to receive the ball again, Carter passed the ball to Mark when the opposing PF came to defend, Mark who had more space in the inside area if pulled away from his defender and made a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team. Ezra started another attack for the Flagami team, Jake continued giving space for Ezra to advance, before reaching the three-point line Ezra passed the ball to Colton again, Lucas came to the defense but Colton passed the ball to the Flagami team PF. The PF got the ball and turned on Carter, Carter pressed the marking and managed to disrupt the attack, so the mid-range shot of the PF did not enter and Mark went up to take the rebound, Mark passed the ball to Jake that calmed the Elite team and went to the attack. Jake passed the ball to Lucas who with freedom advanced until after the line of three points, Colton came to the defense and Lucas passed the ball to Nathan who was free in the left corner of the court, Nathan tried the shot out at the bottom of the court and The ball did not come in this time either. This time Jake went up to take the rebound and passed the ball to Carter who was free to do the layup and 2 more points for the Elite team, Jake realized that the two teams were at a very fast pace in the first period which caused more mistakes in the attack. But now he could not control much of the pace of the game and so he just had to wait to see and do his best, coach Mike realized the same as Jake, but he could not change the style of play because of this, moreover, he trusted Jake and his players for victory. On the other side was what the coach of the opposing team was wanting to see for that game, as the Elite team was much stronger the best he could do was wait for the opponents to err more so they could have a chance. Ezra went for a new attack on the Flagami team, Jake was giving him space, but Ezra knew Jake was very good at defense and so he did not want to risk so he passed the ball to the SG of his team, freed from Nathan with a feint and made a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Flagami team. Jake started another attack for the Elite team, after passing through the middle of the court he passed the ball to Carter who was but behind in that move, Carter advanced with the ball and passed to Lucas who was on the left side of the court within the line of three points. Lucas saw Colton coming to the defense and passed the ball to Jake, Jake passed the ball to Carter who was free after all that rotation and Carter made the mid-range shot to make the 2 points for the Elite team. The game continued like this and the Elite team finished the first period winning by 2 points of difference, the two teams erred many attacks and made fewer points, but Jake and Carter disrupted the opposing players and so the Elite team got the advantage. Jake had 6 points and 3 assists as well as 1 steal in that first period and was the best player in the Elite team, Nathan and Lucas were also well and confident, but missed some important attacks, the team had fewer mistakes with Jake in charge of all but it was only against weaker teams. The second period began and Ezra started another attack, he advanced to the attack and passed the ball to the SG of his team, but Jake who was further away from Ezra leu comes to the play and intercepted the pass making a steal, so Jake did not run to the attacking block because they still had two Flagami team players on the way. With calm Jake advanced and then passed the ball to Nathan, Nathan with freedom advanced until after the line of three points and passed to Mark, Mark passed the ball to Lucas who was open from the right and Lucas made the mid-range shot doing another 2 points for the Elite team. Ezra advanced to the attack again, he passed the ball to Colton who opened wide to the left to escape Jake, so Lucas came behind and Colton pass by Lucas skillfully and made the shot out to make 3 more points for the Flagami team. The Flagami team was excited to be having a fiercer game against the Elite team who always won the games easily, yet they did not dare to underestimate their opponents, especially Jake, Carter, and Mark. Mark despite not appearing much in the game was totally nullifying the Center opponent in the defense and even made a block in that game, besides taking 4 rebounds in the first period of play. Jake grabbed the ball and advanced calmly to the attack, Ezra was doing a close defense of Jake, even if it did not give many results still jumbled Jake to make the moves, Jake passed the ball to Mark that left the inside area to receive the ball. Mark passed the ball to Nathan who was open from the right, Nathan tried to leave the opponent''s defense PG, but the opponent continued on up, so Nathan passed the ball to Jake, Jake advanced to the place where Mark was within the three-point line, Mark set the screen and disrupted Ezra, so Jake can make the mid-range shot to make two more points for the Elite team. This was one of the plays that Jake had trained a lot with Mark the pick-and-roll, it was difficult before because Mark was more in the internal area, but with this new style of play, it was a move that could happen more often. The Elite team was still ahead at the end of the second period with 6 points, Jake had 12 points and 6 assists in the game so far and got 3 steals, midway through the game the trained Mike put David and Harrison in place of Nathan and Lucas. Even though the two played less nervous today they still made a lot of mistakes in the attack but were very good in defense and so the Elite team had the advantage but coach Mike was happy to have this game as an example to teach some things for these new players. The third period was calmer for the Elite team, with Harrison and David entering the team got better in the attacks, in the defense they still managed to hold well and Jake moved more in the defense to seek to intercept more passes and get steals. Ezra who saw this did not like to be ignored and tried a shot from outside after getting the ball back from the SG of the team to make 3 points for the Flagami team, it was only the seventh point of Ezra who was always worried about Jake in defense , Jake also realized that the opponent was wanting to participate more in the game. Jake picked up the ball and went to arrange another attack, he passed the ball before reaching the middle of the court for David, David advanced calmly and passed the ball to Carter who was more open at the bottom of the court on the left side this time, when the PF was coming to defense Carter passed to Jake. Jake passed the line of three points and accelerated while Mark set the screen and Jake drive to the basket to make the dunk and 2 more points for the Elite team. Ezra grabbed the ball and advanced to the attack, arriving before the three-point line he passed the ball to Colton, Colton had Harrison on defense and passed to the PF of the Flagami team, the PF passed back to Ezra who was free behind the line of three points. Ezra tried the shot from outside and Jake appeared to try the block, Ezra saw Jake coming up together and changed the trajectory of the shot at the last moment to avoid the block, but Jake still touched the ball lightly and the ball did not enter who took the rebound was Carter and passed the ball to Jake. Ezra was impressed by Jake''s speed of reaction to this move, yet he still had to attack if not his team had no chance to win with the Elite team not missing another attack. Jake advanced to the attack and passed the ball to David, David passed the ball to Harrison who took Colton from the play and went to the left side, Flagami team SG came to cover the move and Harrison returned the ball to Jake, Jake passed to David who was free at the bottom of the court on the right. David took the shot from outside and made three more points for the Elite team, so the Elite team continued like this and won by 18 points in the end, Jake made 30 points at the end of the game and made 12 assists plus 11 steals and managed another Triple Double. Jake would try to increase that record to the maximum he could, but with that style of play it would be harder with the stronger opponents, Jake felt that the teams this year were better, he did not know if it was only in the Miami area or the national championship It would be like this. Even so, the Elite team was stronger this year and also had reservations in case someone played a game badly, so he was confident in his team. Chapter 175 New Game Style 4 After a week Elite team won the third game of the regional championship, they won by 24 points and it was an easier game than the second, Jake made another Triple Double and already had a record of 19 in a row. He hoped he could keep it that way in the state championship at least, Lucas and Nathan played better this game and were getting the hang of high school play, Jake was sure they would do well after Jake and the others formed. The next day Jake went to the restaurant to tell Eva and Anna about the news, they were both very happy with it, only two games left for Jake to win the regional championship and go to the state championship. The restaurant was making a lot of success in those last weeks too, many people who came to visit the city of Miami stayed in the nearby hotels to be able to eat in the restaurant as well. Many returned to stay in the same hotels only to be able to in the restaurant again, the hotels that had the problem of customers not coming back again were the ones who were happier with it. The restaurant was also working well with all reservations booked, so there was no longer any improvement, after all, Eva and Anna said they would not like to increase the value of the dishes, so it just kept working the same way. Some gastronomic critics of the newspapers came to do a survey and ended up making compliments to the restaurant, after all, it was not a luxury restaurant so had only to have good food and good service to be commended. Julius was highly praised by critics saying that he could even work in restaurants with Michelin stars, but Julius did not want that stress in his life anymore and was happy with the restaurant. Jake asked Eva if she had an interest in creating branches for the restaurant in other cities or places and Eva said she was satisfied with only 1 restaurant but Anna said it was best to wait a few years before thinking about it. After all only the restaurant food was well known and the restaurant brand not so opening branches would not work for the time being. Jake agreed to this, he just suggested the branches because he had separated some places to buy when Emily did the research for him, but it looked like he would not have use for those places. The next day Oliver called Jake to his house, it seems that the things Jake asked for had arrived so Jake went to Oliver''s house, and the maid took Jake to the living room and not the office as usual. "Hi Oliver, thank you for solving this for me, I got used to asking things for you because before I could not buy anything by myself." "No problem, I have an office that can easily take care of these things for me, besides, it''s nice to have a lawyer take care of when they sign contracts, the salesmen get more honest." So Jake received three cell phones that were big and heavy as he remembered seeing in his past life, Jake had no cell phone of that type and only bought it when he had internet access on his cell phone. Jake received the numbers and stored everything correctly, he would give one of the cell phones to Anna beside him his mother''s, Jake saw that Oliver had taken advantage and bought some cell phones too, it was useful to be able to talk outside the home, especially for a lawyer like him. So Oliver handed the car keys and documents to Jake and they went out to see the car, Jake was very pleased, after all, it was just a popular car to be able to ride in the city, Jake thought to keep this car until they get the money invested actions. So he could buy a better car and even a new home for himself and his mother, after all, he would have to travel a lot in college and the NBA games and it would not even be worth having a home for him in those places. "I liked the car thank you very much, Oliver." "Stay here for a while, Jake, how''s your mother''s restaurant going?" It seemed that Oliver wanted to talk even as he asked as he placed his hand on Jake''s left shoulder and pushed it lightly as he walked into the garden where he had a table and chairs ready as well as some snacks. Jake who realized this was in no hurry to leave and went with Oliver to the garden while he smiled. "The restaurant is doing very well, better than I thought when I opened it if it was not a gift for my mother and investment I would certainly recover in a little more than a year, the restaurant already has the reserves full every day, I am happy for my mother." "Sounds good indeed, I''m going back there for dinner another day, I loved the dessert and found it interesting that it had several different dishes there, so I can eat Italian and French food at the same dinner." "I think things go well when they''re done well and willingly, my mother did not even research anything and just made the menu the way she wanted it now people liked it." "I know it was you who chose the place and reformed the restaurant, this was also very important in the success of the restaurant, if it were a bad place, none of that would be so successful." "Thanks for the compliment, how''s business going?" "It''s going well, my father is very excited about the new camera, next week I think he''ll call you to see the finished product if nothing goes wrong next month goes to our stores." "I''m happy to see that it''s working out, it''s now the company''s continuing to develop new technologies and in PD and I''m sure everyone is successful." "That and thanks to you too, Jake, my dad was disheartened by the company that had not been developing for years and was thinking of moving to Joseph to take advantage of retirement." "But Joseph is still very immature for business, he has to study a few more years before he knows how to guide this company, so the company could end up even going bankrupt without creating the digital camera." "Now my father is excited again with the company and so when Joseph takes over the company will be well again, and he will be prepared everything is working out." "But you do not seem to be excited about it Oliver, I realized you called me to talk to forget the problems maybe? You can tell me then what''s going on." "You''re very insightful for your age, you''re right I''m in trouble right now, you should know how I told you that I never liked very troublesome things, so I did not work with my father in the company." "I built my own law firm without much experience and I was lucky to succeed and hire qualified people, so I''m happy with my work." "But even though it does not seem like I care a lot about my family, Joseph and my father, that''s why I''m helping my father with the company now after you''ve said the company could go bankrupt." "After all, even though I did not like the company very much, I did not want to see what my father built for so many years disappearing, now my father is implicating Joseph these last days, and I''m worried about that." Jake thought it was nothing serious after all, he lunges with Joseph almost every day and his friend does not seem to be concerned about anything but studies now. But Jake knew Oliver was not the type to worry about anything, so he got more curious about it. "What''s going on between Matthew and Joseph? I talk to Joseph every day and he does not seem to be worried about anything but studies." "That''s because I asked my father not to tell Joseph about this until he entered a university so as not to interfere with his studies, my father is implying a lot with Liza to Joseph''s girlfriend." So Jake was surprised again because Matthew cared for Liza since Liza was good at school and from a wealthy family, it was hard to imagine why. "I can not understand this, I do not think I have any problems with Liza for without Joseph''s girlfriend." "I think so too, but my dad did not like her when he met her, he said that Liza''s personality was bad and she was not a good girl and could bring a lot of trouble for Joseph if they got married when Joseph took over." "So my father wanted Joseph to break up with Liza now, I tried to talk to him, but it looks like nothing can change his mind." After hearing this, Jake could not say anything more, because he thought Matthew was right in everything he said, just that Jake did not think it should decide if they could marry or not, after all, Jake knew that Joseph liked Liza and Liza really loved Joseph. Even if Liza could cause problems for Joseph in the future if she could not improve her personality as long as she loved and was good to Joseph, that was fine, but this was just Jake''s point of view and he did not think Matthew was wrong. So Jake could not give any useful counsel to Oliver that wanted the peace of the family, but Oliver did not seem to want to let Jake stay out of this situation. "What do you think about that Jake?" "I think if Joseph and Liza love each other they should get married if they wanted and be happy, but I do not think Matthew is wrong with what he said, only that our views are different." "That''s a shame, if you thought my father was wrong I''d ask you to talk to him to convince him, but I do not think we can do that, do you have any suggestions that might help with this?" Now Oliver left Jake in an uncomfortable position, after all, Jake did not like Liza, if she did not marry his friend Jake would be happy if Joseph was not sad about it, but now Oliver asked him to help them get away, it was difficult for Jake. Chapter 176 New Game Style 5 Yet he could not deny Oliver''s plea for help since Oliver had done so much for him over the years, so Jake tried to think sincerely about a way to help Liza get Matthew''s approval. In fact, Oliver asked Jake to help because he knew that if Jake told Matthew that Liza could be a good wife to Joseph, Matthew would take Jake''s opinion seriously and might even change his mind. But Jake could not do that because it would be a big lie that he would be telling, after all, he does not approve of Liza staying with his friend, he just does not intrude because he believes that when he has love, any relationship can work. "I think I have an idea that could work, but I do not think either Joseph or Liza and her family will like this idea." "You can talk, any attempt is welcome." "I think Liza could commit to going to some etiquette and social behavior classes and doing a few sessions with a psychologist, that could help her better develop her character and personality while she''s still young." Oliver was shocked by this suggestion of Jake, so he had said that no one would like this suggestion, but this was really feasible, after all, it was for the sake of Liza and Joseph and certainly could help her a lot to have a better personality and prove that she loves Joseph. Jake did not give this suggestion to offend Liza, he saw this once on television in an interview with a celebrity who was saying that she had a lousy personality when young not even the family could handle her but as the family was rich they tried this method and it worked out very well. After all, there are many reasons for a person''s personality to develop, but a person as a young person could change if they were properly led by professionals. After that, Oliver said he would think about it, after all, he could not just say that to Liza, she would surely be offended by it, but if it was done Matthew would surely approve of their relationship and even improve his opinion for Liza if she accepts this. Jake got his new car and went straight to school, he still had class and training today, after all soon the next Elite team game would happen, the pieces of training were going very well, with this new style of play they could have many more variations in the tactics and change several moves. Coach Mike wanted to use this new style of play to catch the strongest surprise teams in the games, but he had to make a lot of adjustments and the players had to get experience with this new style of play in the games. In addition, coach Mike had to put Lucas and Nathan to get experience in the games, he was counting on the two to lead the team from next year without Jake in the team the other players would have to play much better and not make mistakes to be the champions because there would be no more players to cover their mistakes. In addition to this training Jake was still going to the training ground to run every day, he kept the same intensity in training every day just to improve the body''s resistance, it ran 35 km to a 30 minutes average and every 10 km , then he ate a bar of stamina and increased the pace of running. So Jake''s stamina bars were decreasing in quantity almost every day, but he got one every 3 days of training, in those 5 years that he used very few he still had more than 400 bars of stamina saved, would give him training for a year quietly. The other week Jake would have to talk to Oliver about the new digital camera as Oliver had said, and it was time for Emily to report on the investments he had made in recent years. Jake could not wait for the internet and computers to be more like what he remembered so he could make his investments much more easily, yet it was good because he came from the future and knew what was going on in the economy. Jake woke up in the morning and went down to eat his breakfast that had been prepared by Eva, Jake liked that she did it for him and Jake also thought that so Eva could rest more. After all, she went out every day almost 5 in the morning and came back late at night, even though she did not seem tired because she was very happy and excited about the restaurant Eva would still have to be careful with her body. "You said the other day that you have new players on your team, how are they?" "Lucas is very cool and fun, besides, he said he was my fan and that''s why I like him more, Nathan is quieter, but he seems very cool too." "In addition, the two play very well and can lead the team to victory in the next few years, this year they only help the team as reserves." "But did not you say they were starters in the first games of that regional championship?" "That was because Coach Mike wanted to give them experience and also confidence coming into the team as headlines in the first year, but today that''s the semifinal they started as reserves and just got in the middle of the game maybe." Coach Mike certainly trusted David and Harrison a lot more than Lucas and Nathan for important games and with the change in team style David and Harrison will be much easier to score in the toughest games. Even if they have difficulty in defense if the team does not lose attacks we can already guarantee the advantage and victory as it is done before, Jake saw that his teammates were training a lot in every week mid-range shots so as not to miss many attacks. "I''ll go then mother, good work for you later." "Good luck in the game too, do not forget to call me to tell you about your win after the game, I have not even tried this phone yet, I want to hear good news from you." "You can count on me, Mother." After that Jake went to the scene of the game, getting there he was still one of the first because he had gone by car this time, everyone was coming and getting ready for the game. Soon the coach announced that David and Harrison would start playing as Jake thought it would be, Lucas and Nathan were sad but understood well the coach''s motives for it. The opposing team for this fourth regional championship game would be the Allapattah team, they had three players who had a greater prominence, the SG of the team that was called Levi, was fast and gave many assists besides doing well mid-range shots. The team''s SF was another outstanding player, his name was Joshua and he was fast and good with passes as well as Levi, but Joshua likes more than making individual plays and finishing the plays with dunks or layups. The third highlight was Center Aaron, Aaron was a player who despite his height was still a very fast player, so would be a good test for Mark''s defense, Allapattah''s PG was not very skillful and missed passes in All the games. So Jake could do well in this game, but with Levi and Joshua the Allapattah team had a style of play similar to the current Elite team, moreover, journalists said it was a shame because the Allapattah team could do well this year in the championship state and until they reach the national championship if they were not in the same region of the Elite team that wins for 4 consecutive years. After a while the game began, Mark went up to take possession of the ball to the Elite team, even if Aaron was fast to a Center he was still lower and lower in defensive techniques than Mark, so this would be an interesting dispute. Jake grabbed the ball and walked calmly into the attack while his teammates positioned themselves in the attack, David unclasped and Jake passed the ball to him, so David made a feint and passed by Levi and passed the ball to Carter who had been more open in the bottom right corner of the court. Carter saw that he had space and so did the mid-range shot to make the first two points of the Elite team, Carter was one of the most favored with this change of style of play, he trained quite a few mid-range shots and now could help the team in the attack. The Allapattah team''s PG received the ball and started the first attack for his team, he advanced and passed the ball to Levi before the middle of the court, Levi increased speed and quickly arrived before the line of three points, David approached in the defense keeping distance. So Levi passed the ball to Joshua who was more open when Harrison arrived for the defense Joshua passed the ball to the Allapattah team''s PG that was coming in the attack, Jake did not give space and approached to defend, so the PG passed the ball to Levi again. Levi managed to dribble in David and made the mid-range shot to make 2 points for his team and tie the game, Jake got the ball and started another attack, this time Jake passed the ball to Harrison who was more open on the left, Harrison stayed with the ball for a while and then passed to Carter who came to the left corner. The PF team Allapattah approached to defend and Carter passed the ball to Jake, Jake threw an aerial ball and Mark took the air to make the dunk and 2 more points to the Elite team, with that Alley-oop the fans started to cheer and morale Elite team increased. Jake knew that Mark would have a difficult match against Aaron and with this move Jake hoped Mark would have the confidence to make a good game. Chapter 177 New Game Style 6 Allapattah''s PG got the ball and started another attack for his team, he advanced with the ball and then passed the ball to Joshua, Jake still did not know if the PG of that team was really bad or if it was an opponent''s trick then at the beginning of the game he would continue to observe. Joshua followed with the ball and soon passed to the PF of his team, the PF received and Carter already approached to defend, so the PF did not delay with the ball and passed to Aaron, Aaron received the ball with back to Mark and made a finely before turning, Mark fell on the feint and so had to just watch Aaron doing the dunk and 2 more points for the Allapattah team. Just as Jake thought Aaron would be a difficult opponent for Mark to defend because of the difference in style of the game between them, so Jake got the ball and advanced to the attack, after advancing for a while he passed the ball to Harrison who had come back to receive the ball. Harrison made a feint and got rid of Joshua and went into the inside area, Harrison saw that he could not move further and passed the ball to David who was behind, so Harrison and Carter opened to receive the ball, David passed the ball in place where Harrison and Carter had left and Jake was there to receive the ball. Jake who was free advanced and made a slam dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team and for the joy of the fans, this was one of the moves that the Elite team started working after they changed the style of play. As Jake was no longer trapped having to arm the moves he could move more and get balls so free to make the points more easily, even though Jake could easily make the individual moves was good when he could get a ball when he was free to score. The PG received the ball and started another move for the Allapattah team, this time in the same way as in the other moves he passed the ball to Levi and was not until the attack quickly, Levi passed the ball to Aaron who quickly passed the ball to Joshua who was free behind the three-point line on the left side of their attack. So Joshua did not miss the opportunity and tried a shot from outside before Harrison arrived for the defense, so he made 3 more points for the Allapattah team, cheering the game up again. At the end of the first period, the Elite team was winning by 3 points difference because Jake got a steal and a shot out at the end of the first period, Jake had made 9 points and 3 assists and was again the team name in the first period. The problem in this Elite team game was not in the attack because they lost only two attacks and one of them was a 3-point shot from Jake that missed and Mark cannot take the rebound. The problem was that the Allapattah team''s attack was very good and the Elite team''s defense was failing to stop them, Mark was doing well in defense and Aaron had only 4 points but Levi and Joshua had 12 points in the first period, so it was difficult for David and Harrison to defend against them. At the beginning of the second period the Allapattah team''s PG started another attack, he passed the ball to Levi who advanced calmly in the attack, reaching the three-point line he passed the ball to Joshua. Joshua easily removed Harrison from the play and passed the ball to his team PF, the PF passed the ball quickly to the PG again, the PG passed to Aaron who turned quickly to layup, Mark tried the block and ended up making a foul in Aaron. Aaron hit both Free Throw attempts and scored 2 more points for the Allapattah team, but Mark was not dismayed by the foul because he thought he might end up stopping Aaron. Jake received the ball and started another play for the Elite team, he advanced to the attacking block and passed to David who was close, David advanced with the ball and passed to Carter who had opened the right to receive. Carter got rid of PF''s opponent and went to the inside area, advancing he saw that he could not continue and passed the ball to Harrison who was more open, Harrison made the mid-range shot and made 2 more points for the Elite team. David and Harrison were anxious to do well the attack moves as they knew they were not able to stop the opponents in the defense. The Allapattah team''s PG advanced with the ball to start another attack, he passed the ball to Levi who advanced for a while and passed the ball to his team''s PF, the PF passed to Joshua who was more open. Joshua received the ball and made a step back to make the shot outside and make 3 more points for the Allapattah team, even if Joshua liked to make individual plays he did not risk doing much because of Jake. At this point in the game Jake must have realized that the PG of the Allapattah team was not really a good player and so did not have the ball for a long time, so Jake must be waiting for a chance to steal the ball, so the players took more care in their moves. Jake grabbed the ball and started another attack on the Elite team, he advanced until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to Harrison who was more open on the left, Harrison passed the ball to Mark who had left the inside area. Mark passed the ball to David who was more open from the right and David passed the ball back to Jake who was behind the three-point line, Levi and Joshua who were making the move moved to try to steal the ball from Jake. Jake who saw this easily passed with a crossover by Levi and Mark set the screen for Jake to pass easily, Levi who was left behind and Joshua who was fumbled by Mark tried to recover in the move, but Jake passed to David who was in the bottom of the block right behind the three-point line. David shot the ball out and scored 3 points for the Elite team, David made far fewer attempts at shots from outside with this new style change, but he still took advantage of the opportunities he had to score. The Allapattah team''s PG picked up the ball and calmly started another attack, he advanced until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to Levi who was advancing to the attack, Levi passed the ball to Joshua, Harrison appeared to disrupt the attack and Joshua returned the ball to Levi. Levi made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Allapattah team, it was a point-to-point game that the Elite team was not accustomed to doing in regional league games, opponents were really good and could be in the national championship on another occasion. Jake got the ball and started another attack, he advanced to the court and passed the ball to Carter, Carter who was making a good game passed the ball to David who was on the right, David passed to Mark in the inner area. Mark tried to turn, but Aaron was quick and followed all of Mark''s moves in the attack, so Mark returned the ball to Jake who was out of the three-point line, Jake took the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Elite team. What was supposed to be an exciting contest between the Center''s two teams ended with the two erased in the game, Mark could not get the attack because Aaron could follow all his moves, and Aaron could not attack because Mark had taken the right time on defense. Of course, this was because they had more attack options and did not have to force the moves otherwise it would be a much more exciting match. The Allapattah team''s PG advanced to another attack, he passed the ball to Levi before the middle of the court and Levi advanced to the right in the attacking court, Levi passed the ball to the PF of his team, the PF who could not Carter got the ball to Joshua. Joshua passed back to Allapattah''s PG, PG attempted to pass the ball to the PF again, but Jake anticipated the play and intercepted the pass making a steal, so Jake rushed forward to the attacking court. No one from the defense of the Allapattah team was able to keep up with Jake''s speed, so Jake went alone and only stopped after a dunk and 2 more points for the Elite team. At the end of the second period, the Elite team won by 9 points of advantage, even the Elite team did not miss many attacks and Jake got 3 more steals the Allapattah team managed to make some 3-point plays with Levi and Joshua shooting from outside to make the points. Jake already had 23 points in the game and 7 assists, plus 4 steals in the game, even though he was the only one had a highlight in the game, Mark and Carter managed to disrupt more of his opponents, even so, they did not have much advantage in a difficult game these. Nathan and Lucas were very excited to enter the third period and play the second half of the game, they were good at defense and could get in the way of the opposing team if Levi and Joshua scoreless, the game would be easier for the Elite team. David and Harrison knew they had a good game, but they had many defensive faults and so they could not help the team anymore in a game like this, even if they did not want to leave they knew that it would be best for the team of several ways. Chapter 178 New Game Style 7 Jake who saw this can not help but smile, it seemed that he was the only one who understood the thoughts of coach Mike, in a difficult game like these coach Mike would not risk changing two players of the team who were having a good game by two that came from the Middle School. Exactly as Jake thought coach Mike only spent a few plays with David and Harrison and neither thought to put Lucas and Nathan in the game, with all players besides Jake did not understand why. Coach Mike was worried that the team would become unstable with two players with less experience in a difficult game like this, even though Lucas and Nathan are even better at defense, their attacks may end up failing because of nervousness. If the Elite team was losing the coach could have to make the change to improve the defense of the team to try to win the game, but with the team winning was more difficult, after all the advantage was only increasing with the passing of the game. With that David and Harrison played more excited with the confidence of the coach and Lucas and Nathan had to understand that this was the coach''s decision and they were still new players who were already lucky to have the opportunity to play. At the beginning of the third period Allapattah Team PG started another attack for his team, he was the one with the most pressure on the team because besides not having the confidence of his teammates was still being defended by Jake who could steal the ball with any carelessness of it. The PG passed the ball to Joshua who was on the team''s attacking block, Joshua advanced and felt that Harrison was better in defense for that period, so he passed the ball to his team''s PF. The PF kept the ball while keeping the distance from Carter, so the PF passed the ball to Levi who was more open to the right, Levi passed the ball quickly before the defense came to Aaron. Aaron made a feint and moved away from Mark''s tight defense to make a mid-range shot and make 2 more points for the Allapattah team. Jake got the ball and started another attack for the Elite team, he advanced to the attacking field and passed the ball to Carter who was more open to the right, Carter made the feint and pass by the PF of the opposing team finished the move with a layup to make 2 more points for the Elite team. Carter was much more confident in his attacks after the team changed the style of play, many plays like this where the inside area is almost empty are perfect for Carter and Jake to try the individual play. The opposing team''s PG started another attack and after advancing for a while passed the ball to Levi, Levi advanced calmly and passed the ball to Joshua again, Joshua tried to get rid of Harrison. But Harrison was well on defense and Joshua tried to pass to his team''s PF instead of passing to his team''s PG who had lost the confidence of his teammates, but Jake hoped for it and intercepted the pass by making another steal in the game. Jake did not rush into the attack and passed the ball to David as he went into the attacking court, David passed the ball to Jake again and went to the right side of the court, so Jake passed the ball to Harrison who was free on the left. Harrison thought about trying the mid-range shot but did not try because he saw that Joshua was waiting for that, so Harrison passed the ball to Mark in the inside area, Mark who was well defended by Aaron passed the ball back to Jake. Jake passed the ball quickly to David who was free after Carter set the screen, David received the ball and made the step back to try the shot from outside and make 3 more points for the Elite team. By the end of the third period, the Elite team was winning by 15 points difference and had virtually guaranteed victory, Jake had 29 points and 12 assists throughout the game, during that time he passed the ball over to David and Harrison who were morally higher and so did not score so many points. Jake also had 8 steals now and was close to another Triple Double, he had been the main responsible for the team to increase the advantage by disrupting the opponent''s attack, so the Elite team had a bigger advantage. For the fourth period coach Mike placed Lucas and Nathan since the game was practically won for the Elite team, David and Harrison came out satisfied knowing they did their best in the game. For Nathan and Lucas who were coming in now would try their best to have coach Mike observe their skills and could trust them to enter a game like that in the future, Jake thought that was the right mindset if they wanted to join the team. Jake received the ball and started the attack in the fourth period, he advanced and passed the ball to Nathan before the middle of the court, Nathan who was in the mood to play well if they controlled and advanced calmly to the attack. Nathan passed the ball to Carter who was again open on the right to receive the ball, Carter passed the ball to Lucas who was on the left, Lucas pass by Joshua and advanced to the inside area and did a layup to make 2 more points for the team Elite. The Allapattah team''s PG advanced into the attack, he passed the ball to Levi who just as his teammates had not yet given up on the game, Levi advanced and soon felt that Nathan''s defense that had entered now was much better than David. So Levi passed the ball to the PF his team, the PF who also had difficulty the whole game with Carter in the defense passed the ball to the PG of his team, the PG quickly passed the ball to Joshua. Joshua felt a huge pressure coming from Lucas in the defense and felt that he could not pass for him, but the time of possession of the ball was ending so he tried a shot of mid-range with Lucas pressing. As Joshua was already tired in the fourth period of play and with pressure from Lucas defense he ended up missing the mid-range shot, Jake went up to get the rebound as Mark and Aaron were getting in the way. So Jake advanced calmly to arrange another attack for the Elite team, he advanced until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to Lucas who was more open on the left, Lucas held the ball for a while and passed to Carter who was on the right. Carter grabbed the ball a little and passed Jake who was off the three-point line, Jake quickly passed the ball to Nathan who was free in the corner on the right side, Nathan received the ball and made a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team. Jake was working more on the plays with Lucas and Nathan to give more confidence to them in an important game like this and the two were not disappointing him, Jake could feel that Nathan was improving a lot with each game and getting used to the rhythm of the basketball in the high school. Jake could already see why he was the MVP of the Middle School National Championship last year, the opposing PG started another attack on the Allapattah team, he advanced for a while and passed the ball to Joshua on the right. Joshua held onto the ball for a while and tried to make a feint to fool Lucas who stood firm in defense, so Joshua passed the ball to the PF of his team, the PF kept the ball for a time and passed to Levi, Levi who did not managed to get rid of Nathan''s defense passed the ball to Aaron who turned well and did the layup using his body to protect the ball and got 2 more points for the Allapattah team. Nathan and Lucas were very good at defense, Nathan could be at Mark''s level if he did not consider the position in the team, as MVP of the national championship was normal that he knew how to defend well. But Lucas was even better than Nathan in the defense, Lucas was at a level that surpassed Carter when Carter was in his first year after all Lucas could also play as PF because of that. Seeing that the Allapattah team was struggling to attack using Levi and Joshua, so they had to bet on Aaron who was being better defended by Mark, but Aaron was getting more advantage in the game. Mark realized this and did not like it because he thought he was being underestimated, Jake got the ball and advanced for another attack, he reached the attack and passed the ball to Nathan who was more open on the right. Nathan passed the ball to Carter who was on the right too, Carter held the ball a little and then returned to Jake who was out of the line of three points, Jake received the ball and made a shot from outside with a set shot to make 3 more points for the Elite team. The PG of the opposing team began to organize another attack for the team Allapattah, after passing in the middle of the court he passed the ball to the PF of his team, PF held the ball a little and had to pass to Joshua on the right because Carter was arriving to defend. Joshua tried to make a pass to Lucas, but Lucas was firm in defense, so Joshua passed the ball back to Levi, Levi quickly passed the ball to Aaron in the inside area. Aaron made a turn and tried to dunk, but Mark who was paying attention in the move jumped in time to make the block and reject the attack of Aaron, this time he managed without a foul. Jake got the ball and saw that this was Mark''s way of telling Aaron and the Allapattah team that they would not let them do whatever they wanted with him on defense. Chapter 179 New Game Style 8 Jake grabbed the ball and waited for everyone to calm down after Mark''s block, so Jake went to the attack and passed the ball to Nathan, Nathan was quietly advancing until before the three-point line. Nathan made a pass to Lucas who was on the left, Lucas held the ball for a while and passed to Carter who was open on the right side of the attack, Carter weighed if he should make a single move but decided to pass the ball back to Jake. Jake got the ball and read well the move making a pass over, Mark took the ball in the air and made the dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team, the cheer was lively with more this Alley-oop and well after Mark has made a block on the defense. With that move, the team morale Allapattah fell lower because they were even further behind on the scoreboard, so they lost the will to win as they knew it was no longer possible. After that, the game became much easier for the Elite team, so after a while, the game ended with the Elite team winning by 25 points, this was for sure the most difficult game they had. Perhaps neither the regional championship final that would be in the next game nor some state championship games were so difficult than this game, so Jake agreed that it was a shame that the Allapattah team was in the Miami area if they were in another state could even be in the national championship. Jake made 37 points in the game and had 16 assists, plus 11 steals, these numbers show how Jake struggled and played well in that game so Elite team could end up winning, he got another Triple Double to raise the record. After the end of the game, they greeted their opponents who made a great game and everyone began to pack their things to leave. Coach Mike was certainly the happiest after this game, this was a very difficult game that was not much pressure to have happened just in the regional championship semifinal, so the team had to see how effective this new style of play was. In addition, he can see the flaws that players had in this style against more difficult opponents as in this game, these flaws could now be corrected in the pieces of training between the games. Another good thing was that Coach Mike saw how good it is to have two reserves the time to come in and improve the team somehow and they had different characteristics from David and Harrison, so Coach Mike was very happy. Jake got ready to leave and did not forget to call his mother to tell him that he had won this game, Eva liked to use the phone and saw that it was much more practical after Jake got into his car and went home to rest. Over the next few days the Elite team was doing a lot of training to improve their flaws in the game, Jake was together as the captain because there was no mistake from him in the coach''s report, this was normal after all Jake played hundreds of times with this and other styles of playing in your imagination training space. Even though he listened carefully to all the tips and visions of the coach how to improve on those mistakes that the players made after the team made several training to correct these errors. Jake was still training after that on the athletic field, after just over a week of the regional championship final Jake would run in the Chicago marathon, so Jake asked Tiffany to notify the other sponsors about this event. Alan, who was the representative of the shaving company, said his company had never been interested in events like the marathon, but since Jake would run, and Jake is a company-sponsored athlete they asked for his brand to be put on the shirt Jake would run on the day of the marathon. While John, who was the representative of the energy drinks company, was very interested in this marathon, his company wanted to follow other brands in the tendency to sponsor various extreme sports and recognized sports like athletics and basketball among others. But even though the company is much bigger than the company of Tiffany and Clara they were still studying what would be the results of sponsoring Jake to see if it was worth investing in more sports. But since Jake was offering to do more of a sport for their company, he did not have John to deny, John actually even offered that his company would also put up marathon booths to give Jake water, so their brand might appear more. But as it was Tiffany''s company that it was more than fair that her company had exclusivity at least in this marathon, Jake also wanted that in consideration of Tiffany who was his friend. After all Jake was running this marathon to win, so Tiffany''s company could have been much more prominent if only they were supporting Jake in this race, Clara''s company would also have stood out because they were giving the clothes beyond the sneakers for the race. Jake went again with his 50km run, this time he would try again without using the stamina bar, so Jake ran at a speed of 30 minutes for every 10km, so he would have to finish in 150 minutes. With the canvas at the far right of Jake''s vision it was much easier for him to maintain a perfect running pace and not force his muscles, he easily passed the 35 km, but this time he did not eat any bar of stamina and kept running. Jake also passed the 38 km this time non-stop, so he continued and went through the 44 km before he could not take it anymore and fall from tired, but Jake was very happy about it because he finished the distance of a marathon and so he managed without the bar of stamina. [Congratulations Jake, I confess that I am very impressed with your willpower and effort to have managed to do this, even if you have the system, few could do what you do with so much will even having achieved so many things at such a young age.] "Thank you Fate, but I still have not got the 50 km, I know I''ll get it someday, and next year I have the confidence to finish the 50 km in 150 minutes without the help of the stamina bar." [I''m sure you can achieve this, but I think you''re forgetting something very important Jake, even though you''ve had that goal for you, you''ve actually forgotten the main purpose of it all.] "Main goal? Was it not to finish the 50 km without the stamina bar to strengthen my body and gain resistance to be sure to win the marathon?" [Yes, but that was the goal for the Olympics marathon that will be almost a year from now, your goal now should be to finish the Chicago, New York, and Boston marathon, but that goal was what you just got.] "What do you mean, Fate?" [You managed to run more than 44 km today in about 132 minutes, which means you made that time in about 2 hours and 12 minutes, but the marathon is only a little over 42 km.] [This means that you did more than the marathon in a time of 2 hours and 8 minutes without using the stamina bar, so you sure could get very close to winning the marathon with the best times and energy to spend yet.] [In addition, we can not forget that you still had a tiring class and did training of more than 2 hours with the basketball team, which means that when you started to run you were not even close in your best physical condition.] [So with you totally rested and more than two weeks of training I''m sure you can get used to doing this every day until marathon, missing 400 meters to the end of the race you will know by the system screen that marks the distance If you are still after someone in the race, you can even accelerate your speed for a while because you have the energy to run another 3 km.] Hearing what the system said Jake saw that it was true and that he would not have to cheat to win this Chicago marathon in just over two weeks, so he was very happy, it hurt his pride to know that he needed to steal to win the marathon. Jake always loved to run forever, so cheating to win was against everything Jake believed in his character, but Jake only wanted to do it this year because with much effort he was sure he could improve even more next year. Then Jake went home very happy with it, so he came home to rest, in fact, the system was the one who was most surprised by all this, the system was part of the destiny of the world, so all his predictions were almost perfect. But the only person who could go against the predictions of the system was Jake, the system predicted that Jake could get that time only next year if he trained with a lot of effort, at first the system had even been disappointed with Jake. Because Jake had suggested that he would use the stamina bar to win the marathon, so the system thought Jake would choose his third job and benefit from it and after a year of training in basketball himself Jake could win the marathon with the stamina bar. But over time the system realized that it was wrong and that Jake was just trying to save time using the stamina bar to win, in fact Jake trained a lot to be able to run a marathon without using the bar of stamina, but even so how depended on the resistance Jake''s raise and his own body was not an easy thing to do. Chapter 180 A Marathon to Enter History 1 So the system was forced to change its prediction again before it was a year of normal training and with the help of the third job and the stamina bar Jake could win a marathon. This went to in a year of extreme training as Jake was doing he could increase his stamina and with the help of the third job and without the stamina bar he could win with his own marathon effort. But Jake did not seem to be satisfied with that and managed to lessen that estimate in 4 months, the reason for this beyond Jake''s dedication every day in training was because Jake''s pride to always be honest made his potential mature faster. So his training was several times more effective and he managed to protect his pride, it was the same that happened when the Elite team was losing in the final minutes of the fourth period of the national championship final. In that game, his team was playing very badly and Jake had to try to take the team to victory alone, in that game Jake exceeded his limit several times and managed to lead the team to victory, this time Jake again broke his limits and managed to improve. After that Jake rested happily at home, even if Jake had a mentality of more than 40 years his body was still that of a teenager and Jake was always looking to do something new. He had to take responsibility indicating to Matthew''s company that they would go bankrupt if they did not switch to the digital camera, even though Jake knows the things of the future does not change the fact that trying to advise a company of more than 300 million to move to another product is difficult. Jake has also never ceased struggling every day in training his basketball skills; in addition, he has always taken on the responsibility of being the captain and main player of the team. Jake also had several sponsorship contracts that totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars all month, he had to play well and take care of his image so as not to harm these companies. Jake also had hundreds of thousands of dollars in investment which was very stressful, even knowing that this business is sure to work. Jake was now trying something much more difficult and important, which is to fulfill his dream of running in a competition, he had to train for months to get to that point. And Jake still had an even bigger goal that was to win several gold medals in the Olympics, he wanted to represent his country and hear the national anthem playing from the top of the podium. Jake was doing all of this at the age of 16 and would continue to try harder and more, just the goal of being the best basketball player in the NBA is already a goal that many have fought for a lifetime, and it is an honor for all life. After a few days Emily finally showed up with the reports Jake had requested, he knew it was difficult to do without the help of a computer, but Jake had asked Emily months ago so he hoped she had more than enough time to organize everything. As Jake looked at the reports that were more or less what he remembered the company''s growth in the stock market, Jake was afraid he might have influenced a bit about it, but it seemed that not. "It took me a while to get the reports because I''ve always been correcting the data with the stock market update." It seems she had noticed that Jake was a little dissatisfied with the delay, but that was not why Jake was really busy over the last few weeks, he wanted to have those reports to have the confidence to increase his investment. And in the stock market as soon as you made your investment more could give profits in a good phase as was the company Cisco in the stock market, Jake was very pleased also to see that he had the cash to receive dividends from the company stock. So he would have to invest less money from outside and could use his own stock yield, Jake had invested $ 250,000 in 1992, now in 1995 that figure had multiplied by 5, but that could not leave Jake happier. Because as he had no way to invest much in that time did not yield much profit, his actions which were money he did not move in 3 years was far less than he could win in a year of sponsorship. But if someone like Matthew or Tiffany and Clara had invested a few million would already have made a few million profits, but now Jake was also thinking of investing too much every year to have more in a few years. But Jake did not want to invest everything he had because he had other plans to make with the money, Jake had bought more than 6200 shares in 1992 with 250 thousand dollars, now he had 25 thousand shares I am worth a million and 250 thousand dollars. In those 3 years, he got almost 100 thousand dollars with dividends received for his actions, so he wanted to buy another 910 thousand dollars in shares that give more than 18 thousand shares, so he would have more than 43 thousand shares. Now he could use the dividend money to not have to spend all the money he had put together that year of sponsorship after buying the restaurant for Eva and also the car for him, now Jake still had close to $ 200,000 that would be used for other investment. So Jake told Emily to invest the $ 910,000 in stock and after she''d do it that she''d report everything to him, so Jake would have something else he wanted Emily to do in the next few weeks. Emily was very impressed with Jake because of these actions, after all, he was only thirteen when he made that first investment, even the great stock analysts thought that investing in tech companies was risky. Emily knew that Jake was investing everything he had and that his family was not rich and could risk losing that money if she were not just Jake''s assistant and lawyer in charge of making the investments she would have advised him to withdraw that amount investment while he had a profit. But time showed that she was wrong and stock values ??kept rising, so when Jake told her that she wanted to see the investment report of the past few years she thought Jake would sell his shares and stay with the profit. But Jake looked like he''d never thought of doing this and invested almost the value he''d invested before, a few weeks ago Emily had made a meeting with Oliver, Matthew, and his father and they talked about a lot of things. But one of the subjects that were most talked about was Jake, the four people were one of the few who knew that Jake had made that investment, at that meeting when she said that the actions had valued in 5 times Matthew and Emily''s father said they repented of not investing a few million. After all, they would have a 5 times valuation in the stock, but this time Jake was investing again and Emily was sure that her father and Matthew still would not have the courage to invest in these actions, now she had to see if Jake would be right again. After a few days if he spoke with Emily Jake passed in the restaurant to talk to his mother and Anna, the two congratulated Jake again for being in another regional championship final. Since they were always very busy and could not talk to Jake for long, Jake had come a few times a week in the restaurant so as not to bother the two in the restaurant, the business was going well as always with the always crowded reservations. So Jake talked to Lola for a while, but now it was dinner time, and everyone who had made reservations had already arrived so Lola as a receptionist was free for the time being. After talking for a while Jake went home to rest, it would soon be the game of the regional championship final, even if it should not be a game harder than the game the semifinal that opponents were at the level of the national championship, would still be a game with more pressure for being the final. The team was still training a lot to correct the mistakes in the style of game that happened in the last game, it was not much because the team managed to attack well in the game and did not waste many attacks which is important. As the game started to slip away, Mark and Carter were using their skill at pressing to successfully stifle the game. Jake tried to focus their attacks down the middle. However, Jake did not manage to connect with it, as his teammates had hoped, and the ball went out. So much so that when Nathan and Lucas entered the game Elite team defense had improved a lot and the opponents did not have much more space to attack, yet Coach Mike had more confidence in David and Harrison for important games like that. Jake agreed in parts with this, they managed to win last year with much more difficulties than that year, while Mark and Carter are playing well in defense and David and Harrison play well in the attack the team can be a winner as always. In addition, Nathan and Lucas were very skillful but they too were very young and so the coach was afraid that they could not withstand the pressure of playing in an important game, as reserves whenever the team needed they could play. With just a few days left for the regional championship final, Matthew called Jake saying he was going to go to the company, Jake had already been warned by Oliver and so knew that it should be the new digital camera that was being produced. So Jake was a bit nervous at the moment, after all, if the camera was bad the company would not be completely free of the risk of bankruptcy, Jake went to Matthew''s company expecting the first digital camera to be a success. Chapter 181 A Marathon to Enter History 2 Jake came into the company a little nervous still, but he calmed down when he saw that Matthew, Oliver, and the employee assigned to create the camera were quiet. Jake thought they were in this camera business a lot longer than he knew about cameras after all Jake did not know much about it, after all, Jake''s family never had much money in his past life. When digital cameras were starting to become popular it was when Jake had suffered the accident and only Eva was the one who was working at the restaurant and bringing little money home. When Jake started working again and they had more money the era of digital cameras had already passed and it was more common to buy a camera phone, so Jake had some cameras, but these had a much higher technology that was available in the year 1995 and even Jake did not know much about these cameras he had. That was how Jake was giving his opinion to an airplane, the only thing he could say was that he had to fly, but how to make the plane fly he did not know, so he suggested that Matthew hire people who understand the technology or who were already working on similar technologies. "Thank you for coming when I called Jake, the digital camera that will go to the stores in the next few weeks is ready, so I wanted you to see how it was and give your opinion." "No problem, Matthew, as it was I myself who suggested this nothing more just than I take responsibility and help whenever I can about it." After this Jake received the digital camera from the hand of the official who was responsible for creating this camera, Jake saw that this camera already had a small screen where it was possible to see the correct position that the photo would be taken. Jake could also see that this camera had no zoom and the quality of the photos did not seem to be very good, besides, he did not know what kind of storage the camera was using, but it was not a memory card and could save a few photos. Even so, Jake could not say for sure if this camera was good or not for the current technology, the storage system was a problem that all cameras faced before the arrival of the USB cable. And even after that, the storage of a computer was not very good at that time, so it was a problem for the digital cameras, if they increase the quality of the resolution of the photos, even more, the number of photos that could be stored would decrease. So Jake returned the camera to the clerk and asked to speak with Matthew and Oliver in private, he would not say he did not like the camera right in front of the employee who had the job of developing the camera. Matthew seemed to have understood what Jake wanted and took him to his office in the company, the employee seemed to want to hear what Jake said and was disappointed not to hear Jake''s opinions. "Matthew as you may know I do not know much about digital cameras, but I think the quality of the pictures is very low, moreover, it has no zoom system for the camera, in addition to the quality of the pictures being too low cannot store many Photos." "Where is the memory card system that I said I needed this camera is also very large, how much will this digital camera cost?" "It will cost around a thousand dollars, let''s see how it goes before improving technology, in addition, storage and with the floppy." "One thousand dollars? That''s too expensive Matthew, we have to improve this price, what quality of the photos and how many photos can save the camera?" "It''s 0.8 megapixels, we''re looking at ways to improve that." "That''s too bad, Matthew, we''ve got a lot to improve on, so you''re not going to get a place in the digital marketplace." In fact, it was that Jake''s knowledge about digital cameras came from the future that he was asking a lot of Matthew''s company, after all the reason why many companies that made film cameras go bankrupt was not out of lack of will. It is much more expensive to develop technology and create something new than just following behind big companies, Matthew himself had spent millions developing to be able to create this digital camera. That''s the biggest reason many companies went bankrupt, it was too expensive to get into that market and few expected the movie camera market to end up failing so they missed the opportunity, Matthew trusted Jake and his company had the capital to take the risk. As Matthew further invested in the company he discovered that this was really the future and now could be his chance to take his company to the world stage together with the big companies of digital cameras. In addition, Matthew saw that the most expensive is to create the basis in the digital market, then the values ??fall far more to develop these new technologies. And the digital camera from Matthew''s company could be considered good for the time, Matthew''s camera has 0.8 megapixels of quality and the biggest companies have only 1.3 megapixels, in addition, color cameras with values ??of less than thousand dollars were starting and developing in the market. And these leading companies in the market have invested hundreds of millions to create this camera, and Matthew has not even reached 10 million in investments, and much of that money has been selling some machines that would not be used to make digital cameras. All this was because Jake had said that the way that Matthew''s company had to follow, with a goal in front they did not waste time not knowing what to do so Matthew''s company keep up with market-leading companies. This first digital camera would be sold on the market just to spread the company name and remind the consumer of the company brand, not to mention that Matthew''s company was one of the only ones on the market that was from the United States, so consumers would choose a domestic company than an outside company. "Jake, this is the best our company can do today, that''s because I do not have the money to invest in new technologies before selling this camera after I get the profits I can continue to invest." What Matthew said was true, he put that price because it was the same thing the competing companies were doing, but to make those cameras cost only $ 600, so he could have almost $ 400 profit from every sale of that digital camera. Of course, if Matthew put the value he invested in camera technology he could make a lot less profit, so he would have to wait for the profits to be able to invest more. "The USB technology you''re talking about is about to be finalized next year, and besides, I heard that it was only in 1998 that the first computers were fully adopting this technology, we have time to be one of the first to develop that." "I''m already getting in touch with some companies that are developing the memory card, so our next camera may already have these two technologies, we''ll also try to improve the quality of the photos and zoom in on the next camera." That''s right while pitching a product to Matthew''s company already knew what to do for the next model of the digital camera, that way they saved time and money on it, so Matthew was thinking of giving a company share to Jake. "So fine, I just want your business to succeed, Matthew, do not forget to try to develop the technology so you can put the camera lens on a mobile device and on the computer, so you can even take the initiative to ask for a contract with the big companies." Jake remembered to hear since around 2000 the first camera phones were created, so Matthew was less than 5 years old to develop this technology, this was the future of digital cameras. If Jake told this to SONY they would not only develop the technology and they might even be the ones developing the first camera phone before 2000, so Jake was giving Matthew a chance at life. "Try also to make a bigger screen for the digital camera, it is better if it is a liquid crystal, this could increase the prominence of your company." So having said all he needed, Jake left, he realized that Oliver was there just to keep Matthew from talking to Jake about Liza and Joseph, Jake did not want to get involved in it either, so he left quickly. Jake was very curious to know how much Matthew''s company could get out of money from the sales of this new digital camera, but since this was not his business, Jake decided not to get involved unless Matthew wanted his help. After all, Jake had a lot of new ideas for investments, but he had to tell Emily everything before. After all, it would not do any good for him to have an assistant and not work with her when he needed something. As a few more days went by and the day of the regional championship finale arrived, Jake woke up early in the morning and ate breakfast for his mother, Eva was happy to make breakfast for Jake on game days. After all, living with Jake in the same house had seen him very little in the last few months, so she felt better doing her job as a mother doing at least Jake''s breakfast on the day of the game. After Jake packed his things and went to the scene, it was the first time Eva would not be in the stands in a final game, it made Jake a little sad even though Eva was very happy with the restaurant. Eric also was not in the stands for this game, so Jake could not see anyone he knew, after all, Tiffany and Clara were busy with their companies and did not have to attend a regional championship final. His other sponsors also did not send anyone to see the outcome of this game, even if Jake should be happy that these people trusted him, it was better than he had someone cheering for him. Chapter 182 A Marathon to Enter History 3 Jake saw that everyone had already arrived and Coach Mike was passing some instructions to David and Harrison and even Nathan and Lucas were there to see if they could learn anything they could do if they entered the game. One positive thing Jake had realized was that David and Harrison did not play any bad games again after the team had Nathan and Lucas in reserve, Jake did not know if it was because they had matured in the last year of high school or if it was by pressure from can be replaced at any time. Even though Jake thought this was the best thing for the team, Carter and Mark seemed to be very quiet for this game, Jake thought it was too dangerous to relax before a final, even if the opponent could be weaker because that could lead to mistakes. But if neither coach seemed to care much for that game Jake could not do anything, he was at least thinking of doing his best as ever, even if this new style of team play could lessen his control in the game, Jake could Use your skills to set the outcome of the game. The opposing team of the final of this regional championship was the team Brickell, that team had three players that had a greater prominence, the PG of the adversary team that was called Ryan, was a player who liked to pass the ball very much and made individual plays. Ryan was a player who did not stand out much in shots from outside and the team Brickell was known for miss many passes in the games, now Jake knew why his companions were more calm, that Ryan would be completely annulled by the defense of Jake. Another highlight of the opposing team was the SF Jaxon, Jaxon was the most skillful player of the opposing team who was very skillful in individual plays, mid-range shots and shots from outside, as well as being good at defense. But everyone on the Elite team was accustomed to the SF of the opposing team attacking quietly and making several points so it would not be such a big problem, Harrison was the one who was sadder by the bad luck. The other highlight of the opposing team was PF Thomas, Thomas was good at defense and in the attack, but he was no big player and everyone hoped that Carter could defend well against him, so Jake saw that the Elite team had the advantage in that game. Even though he would still try his best, even if he was not a tough opponent, Jake also wanted to try another triple-double that would be his 21st followed, this would be a near-impossible record to be broken in the future. After a few minutes the game of the regional championship final finally began, Mark got the first possession of the ball for the Elite team, Jake received the ball and went to the attack. Jake advanced for a time and passed the ball to David, David advanced more to the attack and passed the ball to Carter, Carter received the ball from the right and held it a little, Thomas already reached the defense and Carter passed the ball to Jake who was Welcome. Jake received the ball before the line of three points and passed to David again that was open from the right, David made the mid-range shot and made the first 2 points for the Elite team. Ryan received the ball and started the first attack for the Brickell team, Ryan passed the ball to the SG of his team, the SG advanced for a while and passed the ball to Jaxon, Jaxon quickly made a feint and easily passed through Harrison, then Jaxon made the mid-range shot to make 2 points for the Brickell team and tie the game. Jake got the ball and started another attack for the Elite team, after advancing until the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Harrison who was open from the left, Harrison advanced a little and Jaxon came to the defense, so Harrison passed the ball David was on the right. David passed the ball to Mark who was more open in the inner area from the left, Mark received and using his body to protect the ball advanced to do a layup and 2 more points for the Elite team. Mark was already one of the best in the attack along with Jake, only the rebounds he takes in the games already made him an indispensable player for coach Mike, with his good performances in matches he was already looked for by the best universities. Jake also thought that Mark was a good player, could not be a professional player in the NBA, but if he could have opportunities to improve at university Jake was sure he could see Mark in the NBA in the future, Jake even wondered why he did not see Mark in the NBA in his past life. Ryan started another attack for the Brickell team, this time he advanced until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to Jaxon, Jaxon advanced to the three-point line and Harrison reached the defense. This time, Jaxon did not attempt a single play and passed the ball to Thomas, Thomas held the ball and Carter came to the defense, so Thomas who was receiving pressure from the Carter defense passed the ball to the SG of his team. The SG was open from the left of the attack and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Brickell team, the opposing team as well as many teams knew what was the weakness of the Elite team defense and so could easily score points like this. Jake received the ball and advanced to organize another attack for the Elite team, he passed the ball to Harrison who was open from the left, Harrison held the ball and passed to Carter who was open on the right of the court. Carter passed the ball to Jake who was out of the three-point line, Jake who was still far from the three-point line fired outside, so the ball came in and made 3 more points for the Elite team. The game continued so at the end of the first period the Elite team was winning with a 5 point lead, even if the defense did not do a good job Jake got a steal and made a few 3-point plays. Jake had made 11 points and 3 assists, all realized that Jake was doing more in this game, but Coach Mike could not complain to Jake by making a good game, Jake had already compromised much of his offensive ability with this new style of play. Jake realized that coach Mike was again using that game to train the team more with the new style of play, but even if he did not talk to the coach he thought it was wrong to use a championship final for that, so he was just doing his part for the team to win. At the beginning of the second period Ryan went to another attack for the Brickell team, he passed the ball to Jaxon who was more open from the right, Jaxon easily passed pass by Harrison and passed the ball to Thomas. Thomas managed to get away from Carter and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Brickell team, as everyone on the Brickell team was already hoping that Ryan would be overruled by Jake in the attack, they decided it would be Jaxon who would take on that role as the point guard. team. After all, Harrison could not stop him from playing, Mark was making a good game also canceling the center of the opposing team, and Jake was having a hard time finding his teammates without leaving Ryan defenseless to score. Jake advanced to the attack to make another move, before the middle of the court he passed the ball to David who was ahead in the attack, David advanced a little and passed the ball to Carter who was open on the right, Carter saw that Thomas was far away and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team. Ryan picked up the ball to organize another attack for the Brickell team, after advancing until after the middle of the court he passed the ball to the SG of his team, the SG advanced a little more and passed the ball to the Center of his team before from David to the defense. The center took the ball a little and passed to Jaxon, Jaxon made a feint and pass by Harrison easily left, Jake appeared well after Jaxon was adjusting to make the shot and steal the ball. The moment was perfect and Jaxon did not even notice when Jake had left Ryan unprotected to steal, so Jake rushed forward to the attack, team SG Brickell and Ryan were racing along with Jake to try to defend. Jake swiftly left the opponent''s SG behind and reached the three-point line on the attack, Ryan tried for Jake with a foul, so Jake quickly crossover and passed Ryan and resisted the pull and continued advancing into the inside area to make the dunk and 2 more points for the Elite team. The crowd started to cheer up with this Jake play. Ryan was even impressed that Jake stayed on the same pitch even though he tried to foul, but that was normal because Jake was much stronger than all high school players and he did not want it to be difficult to make a simple foul. The game continued like this and the Brickell team was paying more attention to Jake and making the moves more calmly, the attack of the Elite team also did not miss almost any move and so the two teams continued like this until the end of the second period. At the end of the second period, the Elite team won by 12 points and everyone was satisfied, Jake made 4 steals in the game and was dissatisfied with Harrison''s defense, Jake had 23 points and 7 assists so far. In this third period coach Mike decided to put Nathan and Lucas into the game, this game was easier than the last game and even David and Harrison did not care much about leaving this game. Chapter 183 A Marathon to Enter History 4 With Lucas and Nathan entering, the defense of the team would be better and Jake was calmer with it, Lucas could mostly stop or at least disrupt Jaxon who had already done 14 points so far. This was because Jake managed to get in the way of Jaxon and his opponent was also 5 assists, but Ryan, who should have been ruled out by Jake, had made 8 points because of that. Even so, Jake thought that was not enough of that and he was thinking of a way to further improve the defense to further increase the advantage against the Brickell team, so he called Mark to talk for a bit. "What was Jake?" "Look at Mark, our team on the defense is me and you and Carter, but Carter has to worry about Thomas from the opposing defense, I''m trying to help my team-mates and so Ryan can also score more points." "Now that Lucas and Nathan have entered the defense of our team will improve, but I need your help in something, I want you and me to help Lucas in the defense and so we can stop Jaxon from the opposing team." "As a key player in defense, you need to learn from this game to defend against another player while defending against another understood?" "I get it, you can count on me, I''ll do my best to stop the opponent in defense." "Very good, I count on you if I go out to defend you do not need if I do not leave stay with you." After Jake talked to Mark they rested again to be rested for the rest of the game. At the beginning of the third period Jake went with the ball to the attacking block and passed the ball to Nathan, Nathan received the ball and went towards the three-point line, so Nathan passed the ball to Carter who was open on the right. Carter got the ball and held it a little, so Carter passed the ball to Lucas who had gotten rid of Jaxon and was free on the left, Lucas received the ball and quickly tried the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team. Ryan received the ball and started another attack for the Brickell team, Ryan advanced until the middle of the court and passed the ball to his SG team, SG received the ball and soon received pressure from Nathan''s defense and had to pass the ball for Jaxon. Jaxon hit the right and quickly advanced into the three-point line, but this time Lucas was the one who was defending him and Lucas did not allow Jaxon to open space for the shot, so Jaxon had to pass the ball to Thomas. Thomas made the turn on Carter and advanced to the inside area, so Thomas did the layup to make 2 more points for the Brickell team, Carter could not for the opponent''s attack in every move, but it was clear that with the entry of Nathan and Lucas the Brickell team was having a hard time attacking. Jake grabbed the ball and began to organize another attack for the Elite team, after passing through the middle Jake passed the ball to Lucas who was open from the left, Lucas passed the ball to Carter who was coming and ran into the internal area. Carter understood Lucas''s intention and passed the ball back to him, Lucas received the defensive ball in the inside area of ??the attack and had only to advance to layup and 2 more points for the Elite team. Ryan started another attack for the Brickell team, he advanced for a while and passed the ball to the SG of his team, the SG advanced to the attack and before reaching the three-point line passed the ball to Thomas. Thomas tried another attack, but Carter reacted quickly and accompanied Thomas with a good defense, so Thomas was forced to pass the ball to Jaxon, Jaxon tried the feint and got a space and passed by Lucas. As soon as Jaxon was thinking of doing mid-range Mark''s shot, Jaxon was not expecting Mark to come and only paid attention to Jake, but he thought quickly and passed the ball to the center of his team that was free now. But Jake covered Mark and intercepted the ball and made another steal in the game as Mark appeared in the defense Jaxon forgot to watch Jake that left the defense of Ryan and was waiting for that pass. So Jake did not rush for the attack to just calmly advanced as he watched the opposing team, before reaching the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Lucas who was on the left. Lucas received the ball and advanced shortly before passing to Nathan who was open on the right side, Nathan received the ball and held it a little while advancing to the three-point line, Nathan passed the ball to Mark who was in the inner area and Mark turned on top of the opponent center to do the dunk and 2 more points for the Elite team. At the end of the third period, the Elite team won by 21 points difference and had virtually guaranteed victory, Jake had 8 steals, 12 assists, and 31 points so far in the game, he was close to making another Triple Double. Mark was doing well what they combined and was trying to mess up as much as possible Jaxon, Lucas was also very good in defense and did not give Jaxon many chances, so other Brickell players had to try the plays. So Jake who was always watching closely the moves was managing to make more steals in the game, in the attack all were attacking even taking Jake who made the points whenever he saw the opportunity. The team Brickell had not given up on the game yet because it was the final, but deep down they knew that there was no chance of winning this game, Ryan was mostly the most discouraged with the game, he was being canceled by Jake and could not do anything in the defense. This was normal since Jake already had a skill level of a university player, only the best in defense of the high school could bother him, even though it was difficult to find someone who could even stop him. Ryan went to organize the first attack of the Brickell team in the fourth period of the regional championship final, after passing from the middle of the court he passed the ball to the SG of his team, the SG advanced a little more and passed to Thomas before the could arrive. Thomas made a feint and moved away from Carter to make a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Brickell team, Thomas was the only one who could do anything in that last period of the game. Jake picked up the ball and advanced to the attack, after passing from the middle of the court he passed the ball to Nathan who was on the right, Nathan continued advancing and passed the ball to Carter who was open on the right. Carter got rid of Thomas and went to the bottom of the court, Carter tried the mid-range shot and the ball did not enter, Mark managed to take the rebound and passed the ball to Jake who was out of the three-point line. Jake threatened the shot and passed the ball to Nathan who was free on the right, Nathan who received the pass made a step back and tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Elite team. Nathan and Lucas were improving so quickly since they got into high school, if it had not been for David and Harrison''s last year, Jake was sure that Coach Mike would make those two headlines in the national championship by then they should have improved a lot by then. The talent was a really unfair thing in the sports world, it was like Jake''s system that people had to be lucky to be born with him, after all, players like Michael Jordan who only trained a little more than the others maybe and had so much difference in the result. Ryan got the ball to try another attack for the Brickell team, then before passing the middle of the court he passed the ball to the SG of his team that was open on the left, the SG advanced a little and passed the ball to Thomas by left. Thomas tried another shot, but Carter was doing a lot of pressure on the defense and Thomas returned the ball to Ryan who was behind, Ryan tried a feint over Jake, but Jake was firm in the defense, so Ryan passed the ball to Jaxon on right. Jaxon receives the ball and had to try a move before the time of possession of ball ended in these last two periods he was very tired, Jaxon had to go through the good defense of Lucas which was already very difficult. Then he still had to pay attention to Jake and Mark''s position before making any move, and sometimes even paying attention Jake still managed to steal the ball. This time he managed to pass by Lucas on the right and saw that neither Jake nor Mark were coming to disrupt, so he advanced a bit more and was ready to try the mid-range shot. But when Jaxon was paying attention to Jake and Mark, Lucas recovered and followed up and got the steal to retrieve the ball, so Lucas passed the ball to Jake. Jake advanced calmly and passed the ball to Nathan after passing through the middle of the court, Nathan advanced to the three-point line and passed to Carter who was open from the right, Carter held the ball a little and passed back to Jake. Jake got the ball before the three-point line, Jake made a feint and passed by Ryan quickly and drive to the basket, Thomas tried to block Jake in the inside area and Jake made an unstoppable Spin Move and finished the play with a slam dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team. The crowd cheered again at the end of the game and the morale of the Brickell team fell further. Chapter 184 A Marathon to Enter History 5 Thus the game ended with the Elite team winning the regional championship with 30 points of advantage, Jake made another triple Double and finished the game with more than 40 points, Elite players greeted the Brickell team players for the good game. Then everyone joined and celebrated this victory, even if they won a lot it was always good to win a regional championship trophy, even more, this year they had some more difficult games, it was more exciting. Jake was also celebrating with his teammates, he was very happy for the win, but it was very strange that this year he did not have his mother to celebrate the victory with him after that final. He knew that Eva could not be in all the championship finals of his life and certainly would not be in university time, but he hoped to see his mother in the stands to celebrate together. After all, in this life, Jake was much closer to his mother and got used to being almost always with her, but this time he had to be content to celebrate with his teammates. After a while, the Elite team was finally called in to receive the first place medals and then Jake raised another trophy for his team and for his school, after celebrating quite a bit Jake was called to receive the regional championship MVP award. Jake was happy with that, too, and he''d put that trophy back on his prize stand, then everyone celebrated a little more and Jake left home, coming home he did not forget to call his mother. "Hi Mom, I won the final game, our team won the regional championship." "Congratulations, my son, I''m sorry I could not be there with you in this game, but I always had confidence that you could win as always, come here today for dinner, Anna also wants to congratulate you." "Alright Mom, I''ll go there later." So after resting for a while and taking a shower, Jake went to the restaurant, Jake took home on purpose because he knew what time the restaurant was less busy, so Eva, Anna, and even Lola came to find Jake, Eva came first and gave Jake a hug. "Congratulations again for beating my son, I was distracted all day in the restaurant until you call me, even if I knew you were going to win it''s hard to stay calm without being able to watch the game." "It''s true Jake, she was anxious all day today, congratulations on winning the game, I wanted to be there too." "Thank you mother, for caring about me, thank you too, Anna, for the congratulations." "I also wanted to say congratulations, Jake, very cool you have won the regional championship in high school, I hope you can win the state championship as well." "Thank you, Lola, I also hope I keep winning." Lola really thought it was cool that Jake''s team had won the regional championship, after all in the neighborhood she used to live before, there were a lot of young people of Jake''s age who played basketball, many of them did not go to school, but those who went there said how difficult it was to win the championship regional, and even more difficult the state championship and later the national championship. Lola knew that these young men were arrogant and liked to boast a lot, so for these people to say that a championship was difficult, it was because it was really difficult. Then everyone talked for a while as they sat down at a table and ate, actually everyone just listened as Jake told how the game was after he went to say that he also made another Triple Double and won the MVP award for the championship. Eva and Anna were already expecting something like that after winning for the fourth time, but Lola was really impressed and began to think that Jake played better than she imagined, Jake was very happy when he saw Lola''s reaction, even if he did not like it to show off was good when people recognized how difficult it was to do that. After that Jake said goodbye to everyone and returned home to rest after all the restaurant would still be open for a few more hours and Jake did not want to disturb anyone. Anna said that Jake needed to rest well for the next two weeks before the state championship began. Jake did not tell people that next week would be the Chicago marathon run, so he would not have time to rest. After resting well the other day Jake resumed his normal training, except that he did not train with the school basketball team and only trained basketball in his training space of imagination. The physical training he was doing was just for the marathon, Jake would have this training for another 5 days and rest one before race day, so Jake would be fully rested on the day of the marathon. Jake''s biggest goal for this marathon was to win without using the bar of stamina, he was already able to win if he used the bar of stamina, with the system Jake learned that it was much more difficult to increase the energy of your body than increase the overall resistance of the muscles in your body. After all, after more than 6 months of training, he had already strengthened his body muscles to keep running 60 km at a normal speed and 50 km at a speed of competition. Of course Jake did not know that this had only happened because he tried hard and broke his limits and improved more than normal for this marathon, Jake had to win this and the next marathon so he can enter the Olympics without anyone thinking which was a fraud. If he entered the Olympics for the first time people might suspect that it was something forged so that a young man could represent his country in the Olympics, after all the Olympics are the maximum event of athletics sports. But if he could win or be among the first in some internationally recognized marathons people would just think he was a genius, plus there was something else Jake needed to do that would require him to win a marathon. After a few more days training Jake could see that the system was right on a subject he was ignoring, Jake always did his training after taking classes all day and still doing the training with the basketball team. As he had become accustomed to this routine and knew that his body was not equal to ordinary people because of the system he thought it did not matter much, but these days even having to attend classes he was not going to training and so he can easily do the 50 km run in 150 minutes. It had been months since he was chasing this time, now just by not doing the training with the basketball team he can complete the training, this gave much more confidence for Jake to win this marathon. Two days into the marathon Jake was going on his last day of training, so the other day he would be resting for the marathon at his best, but Tiffany said he would need to talk to him. So Jake who was confident in winning decided to take more today to rest and so be better for the marathon. This time they met at another restaurant that was not Eva''s restaurant, because as her mother could not watch the marathon, Jake decided not to tell her until he won the race. So Eva knew only that Jake was marathoning soon, but she could not even imagine it was an international marathon and that Jake planned to win this marathon. "Hi Jake, sorry for calling you missing a few days for the marathon, you should be concentrating or resting, right?" "Actually I was training until today, but as you called me I decided to take that day to rest too." "What? Were you training a few days away for a major competition like that? You have to take at least a week to rest your body to be able to run that great distance, I hope you have the stamina to run that whole marathon." Jake knew nothing about how the other athletes were preparing for a marathon like this, but his body was different from ordinary people, so he did not have to worry about what others did. In fact now Jake had the contacts and the money to hire a professional trainer to prepare with the other runners for the day of the competition but he did not do it because he knew that his style of training would be different from the others using the system to improve. In addition, the coach probably could suspect his improvement that was several times faster than the athletes, in fact, Jake was doing his best to avoid going through national competitions and major training centers for a reason. He did not want to do a thorough examination so the doctors would not find out that his body was several times stronger than the other athletes and players, let alone that they could record their very fast improvements because that would cause suspicion at all. As for his strength, his muscles were not very developed, but his strength was very great, this could be explained if Jake said that his physical limits were smaller than in reality. "Well, if you think you will not have problems, I will not go any further with this subject, after all, who knows your body better is yourself." "I called you here to give you your uniform for the race, who was to deliver this was Clara, but as I was the one who organized this from the beginning she asked me to bring in, besides, I already prepared some employees to stay at the registered posts from the marathon and give you water all right?" "I believe you, on test day I''ll meet you before the marathon begins." "Okay then, rest well and do not train as usual." After that Jake went home to rest well after all the day was coming for a marathon that will go down in history. Chapter 185 A Marathon to Enter History 6 After another day of rest Jake told his mother that he was going to take a quick trip and took a plane to Chicago, Tiffany had arranged the plane tickets back and forth for Jake and even booked the hotel for him. Tiffany would go on another flight to Chicago, they were the employees of some of her stores in town that would help Jake with whatever he needed for the race, Jake was not affected by the trip that lasted just over 3 hours. Jake went directly to the hotel and did not even think about touring the city after all this was the first time he had participated in a marathon, and it was not just to have fun but to win, so Jake was focused. Jake was ready by 6 am he had arrived, it was very cold, but Jake did not even feel uncomfortable with that temperature, he took his kit and registration number and was ready to run. Even though the shirt he got with the registration number took away a bit of the view of the brands of the companies that sponsored Jake, they had already thought about it and also had in the running shorts. Even though Jake was very tall, on his face everyone could clearly see that he was a young man and he saw many looks that seemed to be scorning him, but Jake did not care about these people, besides, if it was not for the system he would probably have who only fight to complete the marathon. While still missing a time to start the marathon Jake managed to find Tiffany who was the only person who came to accompany him in this race, John did not care about Jake giving preferential treatment to Tiffany who was the longest with him, but he would not come to Chicago just to give support in this marathon. In fact, Tiffany also did not need to come, but after she had a good conversation with Jake she began to think of a corner of her mind that for the more than 4 years she''s known him since Jake was a child, that Jake could really win this marathon She herself thought this was crazy and even Clara who knows him and talked to Jake the longest with him thought so, but she really believed he could achieve this miracle. After all, she thought that Jake would not ask if she wanted to make a uniform for her sponsors if he just tried to finish the race, but even if Jake did not win, she would not find it a waste to watch that race. So Tiffany quickly told Jake at what stations her staff would be preparing water, then she said she wanted luck and waited for him at the end of the marathon. After that Jake concentrated to try to stay in the best possible shape, he went to find a place in the starting line, Jake would not be in the front because he had to control his pace, when it passed from 7 and 20 in the morning everyone started to prepare for the start of the marathon. The only person Jake knew best about the starting line of the race was what would originally be the champion of this event, Jake only became interested in the champions when he sought information about the marathon in his past life. As in his past life, this man would be the winner in Jake''s view he was his only competitor for this win, he was named Eamonn Martin and finished that marathon in just under 2 hours and 11 minutes. So Jake had confidence in winning this event after a few more minutes finally began the 1995 Chicago marathon. In the beginning, many started running quickly and took the lead in the race, the start of the race is a moment where you can see who had experience in marathons and who was new. After all, it was not smart for anyone who wanted to finish this race in a good time to increase the pace early on after all these people would have cramps and would have difficulty finishing the race in a few kilometers. And even those who were more experienced ended up having their race rhythm affected by these people and in the beginning, they increased slightly the race rhythm. The main enemies of the marathon runners were the wrong pace, temperature, and unexpected muscle problems, after all the people who trained to win a marathon were confident to finish the marathon in just over 2 hours. But these factors were some that could get an experienced marathoner out of the race, Jake did not feel in his body the temperature changes, he had also trained a lot using all the system''s resources to accustom his body and his muscles to run that distance in those last months. As for the pace being hampered by others, Jake was always observing the transparent screen that was in the upper right corner of his field of vision, in that transparent screen he could see that he was running at a rate of 1 km every 3 minutes. So he could finish that race in just over 2 hours and 6 minutes with that speed, of course, Jake would make adjustments in the last few km of the race if other competitors were in front of him. After the first 5 km keeping the same pace, Jake felt that he had passed by many people who accelerated at the beginning of the marathon, only the strongest still had to be exceeded. Even after that distance he was not yet tired and his breathing was steady, Jake could see that many of them would accelerate and pass through him and sometimes Jake would pass by these people. These should be people who had some training and experience and we''re trying to maintain a steady pace for the race. After 10 km of racing the first 30 minutes had passed and Jake did not know if there was still someone ahead of him at the time of the race, but Jake knew that even the best could be seen in the last few kilometers of the race. After 15 km of marathon Jake still felt great with his running pace, he was only paying attention to the transparent screen in the upper right corner and did not care much about other runners who were around him. Jake started to feel tired and Jake doubted he had more than 30 people in front of him at this point in the race, but Jake tried not to think much of anything and just to continue concentrating on his racing pace. Whoever was finding this all very strange were the people who were called by Tiffany to stay at the stations and deliver water and sponges to Jake, after all, they had information that Jake did not go through any of these stations to get water. After the first 15 km, these people even thought that Jake had given up the marathon, but some of the staff saw Jake driving through 25 km and 30 km, so he was still in the marathon, but he had not hydrated once in the whole marathon. Actually, when Jake ran every day in his training, of course, he had no one to deliver water to him during the race, so Jake, who had a much stronger body than the others, could run an entire marathon without moisturizing himself. After the 35 km race Jake already felt that the end of the race was near, he had already run for 105 minutes and began to feel his legs getting heavier and his breathing was irregular. At this point in the race, Jake was only thinking about winning this marathon, as he could not see anyone in front of him Jake thought everyone had been after him for a long time. If Jake could run at his pace and some would still win being too far ahead of him for the last few km and Jake could not even see these people he had to admit that he did not deserve to win this marathon and he would not even be sad about it. The Chicago marathon was a televised event, so while Jake was thinking absurd things the people of the United States were the ones who were much more shocked, after all, it was clear to everyone that Jake was very young. At the time of the race, he was the first in the race even though he himself was not sure of that, in the last few km it is normal for marathoners to increase their pace to get a better time at the end of each marathon. That meant that these people were at least a few hundred feet from where Jake was, and Jake, like everyone else, could also increase his pace in the last hundred meters. And everyone could see that only Jake was struggling to run he had no problem running through the end of this marathon, through his registration number the commentators could know some data from Jake. They knew that Jake was only 16 years old and was in his senior year of high school, could also know that this was Jake''s first marathon in life, a young man of 16 years to be leading a marathon for a few km already, even if he did not win would be a great story. Another interesting fact that the commentators realized that Jake had not hydrated once in this marathon, this was certainly one of the determining factors for Jake to always keep his race pace. What these commentators were most excited about was that Jake was a young American by birth, it was almost 13 years since the last American won a marathon in Chicago and even if they could not confirm they could be sure that Jake should be the youngest to win a marathon in history. At least since the marathon became more competitive, after all, a few dozen years ago there could be a young man who won by running in less than 2 hours and 40 minutes, so everyone was happy with this pleasant surprise. Even more so because it was the year before the Olympics in Atlanta that would be in the United States, so it was great to know that they could win another medal. It was a shame that since Jake had never taken part in any marathon, no one had any more information about him beforehand, yet everyone thought it was incredible that a young man could win. Chapter 186 A Marathon to Enter History 7 By the time Jake passed the 40 km and everyone could see that he had over energy it was almost certain that he would be the winner in the end, even though the runner up was over 4 minutes behind him. Jake, who had always kept the same pace from 1 km in 3 minutes decided to slow down to 1 km in 4 minutes at the end of the race, after all, Jake didn''t mind breaking records in his first marathon. He just wanted to win in the end, otherwise, he could eat a stamina bar and run under 2 hours and beat the considered limit for the marathon runners, so he did differently from the other marathon runners who increased the pace at the end of the marathon. Whoever was watching didn''t realize that Jake could control his running pace and thought he was getting tired at the end, so all the spectators who were present at the marathon site in the last kilometers of the race began to applaud Jake to encourage him to finish the race first. Jake was very excited about it and was thrilled too, he finally realized that he was close to winning an international major marathon, a dream come true for many marathoners worldwide. He who had started running just because he liked it very early and did it for two lives, Jake only stopped running in his past life because he lost his leg movements because otherwise, he would have run until he was very old. Also, in his past life, Jake had always dreamed of completing a marathon but had no chance, so in that final km of the marathon, he remembered that. Even so Jake kept up the pace that would give him the win, so to those who were cheering it looked like he was looking forward to finishing the race to win, little did they know that if Jake wasn''t conservative he could run like this up to 50km in total. Jake kept running and in the last km people were cheering even more excitedly, second place could almost see Jake in the end, but he knew it was impossible for Jake to lose in the end and just wanted to slow his own time. While Jake was closing the marathon one of the commentators got some information from him, was this commentator surprised, did a young man of 16 who was running his first marathon have any information to be discovered? But as soon as he saw the information he was impressed, Jake was from the city of Miami and must have come to Chicago just to participate in the marathon, he had also made a television commercial. Also, Jake was the last MVP of the national high school championship, what did that mean? That Jake was a basketball player and a very talented at that, maybe a future NBA player. In the information it said that Jake was in his senior year now, that means he won the national championship and became the MVP in his third year, so he could win again this year. In addition, Jake had a record of doing 16 triple Double in a row (the commentator was unaware of the 5 regional championship games that Jake raised his record to 21) this was something that not even the best players in the current NBA can achieve. This meant that Jake reached the top of the marathon and won a major marathon while he was 16 while focusing more on basketball, so it became much bigger news for everyone. Jake didn''t know that everything about him had been investigated by commentators and was in the last km, for Jake this was the longest 4 minutes of his life, it was a different thrill to win a marathon where many of the best in the world participated. Jake had to say that it felt better than winning the national championship with his basketball team, maybe it''s the difference of winning a championship with one team and winning a race alone or because the race had the best and basketball was just the best. High school players. So Jake kept running and the closer he got to victory the better he felt, when he finally passed the track first he finally relaxed, he looked at the time on the transparent screen and said 2 hours and 9 minutes. Jake slowed down and finished the race three minutes later than he could before, but if he really worked hard, Jake thought he could run in less than 2 hours and 4 minutes, after all, it was exciting to beat a record at one time or another. Jake was very happy to have won and very proud to have done it without the help of the stamina bar, he was happy to hear the cheering of the fans in this race. As soon as he calmed down Jake felt his legs were sore and he was very tired, Jake could see the doctors around, but he wasn''t that bad, Jake ate a stamina bar and took a bottle of water from Tiffany''s hands that had come to greet him. So he felt his energy recover and the muscles in his leg relaxed a lot from relieving the pressure, so Jake felt he could run another 20 km if his legs could hold on so Jake walked normally to a designated place for him. The doctors saw that Jake was fine and began to prepare to receive the other athletes who would come later, who was most surprised by this was Tiffany who saw how tired Jake was before and after taking the water and eating something seemed rested again. Tiffany thought Jake was more mysterious the more she knew him, how could someone so young do so many different things so well, she couldn''t even think it was back in the past because that was only part of the reason, the other was the system. She was very happy that Jake had won this marathon and that his prediction turned out to be correct, but she was more shocked than happy, after all even she who knew Jake was thinking it was amazing just as the commentator reacted. She wanted to talk to him for a while, but Jake was dragged into an anti-doping test as soon as the race was over, it seemed the event organizers feared that Jake would run away with how fast they brought him to take the exam. After all, he was consuming performance-enhancing substances was the only thing the organization could think of for Jake to have won this marathon since it was the first time he had run. Jake was the only one who was cool about it, he knew he ran as fair as he could, but it proved that Jake was right to run a major marathon before joining the Olympics. Because if even a national competition like this already thought Jake was stealing the Olympics would be much more complicated, then he would try the New York marathon and after those two marathons, no one could suspect that he was just running. After taking the exam Jake went near Tiffany, the corridors were still coming so the organization would be slow to set the stage for the awards, so Jake had time to over and didn''t want to communicate with the people in the organization who thought he was stealing in the marathon. Tiffany was calm too, she knew Jake wasn''t stupid about using substances for such a marathon when he still had basketball and several things that could be affected by it. "Congratulations Jake, I thought you really could win this marathon, but honestly I was very surprised by that result." "I told you that I would try to race to win, but this is just the beginning, I want to run and New York marathon and then the Olympics, but I have to worry about the state championship soon too." "I believe you can do that, I''ll say Matthew did an incredible favor for Clara and me, if he hadn''t introduced you to us it would be a pity, and to think that at first Clara thought he was doing Matthew a favor, she now knows it''s the opposite." They talked for a while and then the organization came to call Jake for the awards, the people of the organization were a little embarrassed after all they were so suspicious that Jake was using illicit substances that almost dragged him to take the exam. When they saw that Jake was clean everyone was very embarrassed, yet they sent the samples to the labs for a closer look, but seeing how calm Jake looked they were wrong, so Jake was washed to the place of the awards with the others. that was in the first place. Jake saw Eamonn Martin who had been the winner in his past life and now was second, Jake felt a little uncomfortable for a moment and then recovered, he already knew that to be the best he would have to change many things and leave many. winners in a story that only he knew. Even though Jake greeted Eamonn Martin before climbing to the first place podium, it was all very exciting for him to hear the national anthem and pick up the $ 100,000 prize. This money was important to the plans Jake was having in a short period of time, now he had 300,000 to make an investment if he could after that Jake said goodbye to Tiffany and returned to the hotel to rest, but before they agreed to have dinner together to celebrate this victory. Tiffany was very happy about all this because Jake had tried his best to show off his uniform with the sponsors and Tiffany''s company ended up being the highlight for being in the supporting marathon, and Clara''s company also for giving Jake the clothes and sneakers. was using. It really was another totally free advertisement for everyone who saw Jake who had won this marathon, Tiffany was thinking that John who had accepted well that Tiffany was the one to stay in the marathon was happy and very sorry at the same time now. Glad that Jake made an unexpected advertisement for his company and sad that he didn''t insist on being present at this marathon with Tiffany anymore. Chapter 187 A Risky Investment That Will Make It Right 1 After Jake returned to the hotel he finally can relax, Jake took a shower and then lay down to rest, but he still had to call his mother to give the good news, Jake tried to call several more times Eva was not attending so he had to give up. In fact, Eva was not sure how to use the cell phone and only Jake and Anna had her number, when Jake had a game Eva kept the cell phone nearby because she knew he could call but usually she leaves in her office while working in the kitchen. As Jake did not say anything that was running a marathon she did not even think he could call, Anna was even worse and had not brought the phone to work, but Jake did not bother with it, he would have to wait a few days before he could talk to them personally. So Jake thought of getting some sleep to rest his body before it was dinner time with Tiffany at night, but the system did not seem to want Jake to rest. [Congratulations to Jake for winning this Chicago major marathon, even if that was expected with the latest results from his workouts, it''s still incredible that you can win even with all the pressure of a real marathon.] "I''m really happy about it, it was a dream come true and now that I''ve won I want to continue to win other marathons and win the Olympics too." [It''s good to see that you keep trying even after you''ve won, I''ve talked to you even though you''re tired to give your reward.] [[For having won one of the 6 major marathons of the world you gain 1 point in Resistance and 1 point in Agility and greatly increased the proficiency in your abilities.]] Jake really had an unexpected surprise, he did not think he could get statistics points in any sport other than basketball, with that point in Resistance he could have more confidence in basketball and marathon. Even so Jake learned that the system statistics were not absolute, after all even though he could finish the marathon after a few months of training thanks to the system, but his Resistance is now close to the person in the world who has more Resistance in numbers. Even though Jake is still away from those athletes who can run an Ironman, it was that same marathon that he did and more swimming and cycling, if it depended only on the system he could only do this with 50 or more of Resistance, but these people have neither more than 40 in Resistance. After that Jake was learning not to rely so much on his statistics, even so, Jake was very pleased to gain a few more points in statistics because Jake was different from the others and could only rely on his statistics to get things. If he had reached 50 in all three physical stats he was confident in winning any sport that relied more on his body with some training. [I realized that you did not expect to score points with your third job, but you won one of the 6 major marathons in the world, after that there are only 5 major marathons, the Olympics and the athletics world that you could win statistics. [And if you win all those stats by winning those competitions you could say that you''ve reached the top of the marathon, and if you think the stats are not the same as the others you''re wrong.] [The difference between you and these people is the technique and skill if you had the same stats as now and were SS in the Second Lung and Iron Body skills you could be able to finish an Ironman competition.] [After all, even if it''s not like basketball is important sports that count on skill and talent if you think it''s that simple, it''s wrong.] So Jake realized that he missed out on many things with these people who had the talent to run and train for several years, it seemed like he had to think about how best his own abilities were. "Fate, let me see my statistics window of my third job." [Here it is] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 16 years] [Job: Runner] [Height: 1.89 m] [Weight: 87 Kg] [Force 32] [Agility 33] [Resistance 36] [Intelligence 58] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Techniques [Second Lung C] [Iron Body B] --------------------------------- So Jake can see that his stats increased a lot in almost 6 months, of course, this improvement is related to the 2 statistic points he won for the reward for winning the marathon, yet he could now understand why it had become easier for him run the 50 km in training. His two skills also went up only one rank, but thinking that the system had said he thought it was good, after all the system had said that these skills were not the same as basketball, it did not have several levels and when it actually reaches SS rank it would be the most he could get. In SS rank he could easily run an Ironman competition with a few more statistics, but even if Jake had an interest in that was not his final goal, he wanted to try to narrow the gap and get more into athletics in general. Of course, this was a plan for 5 or 9 years from now that would be enough to greatly increase his speed and stamina, even if it was a long time Jake would only be 25 at that time so he could think long term like that. After Jake finally could sleep for a few hours, when dinner time arrived a hotel employee said that Tiffany had come to the hotel hours ago and had said something urgent had come up and she had to catch a plane to Miami before. Jake was curious to know what it was, but Tiffany must have thought Jake was very tired after the marathon and decided to leave without saying anything to him, yet the next day Jake would have enough time to talk to her in Miami. So Jake dined at a nearby restaurant and returned to the hotel to rest for a while to catch the plane the other day, but nothing was going as Jake wanted, he received information that someone was waiting for him in the lobby of the hotel. Jake had to go to see who it was because it could be someone from the race organization to say something to him, but coming to the salon he found an elegant woman waiting for him. Jake did not know what this woman wanted, but it did not look like someone from the organization of the race. "Hi you must be Jake, I recognize you a bit of the television commercial I saw, but you were younger and younger than now, my name is Chloe and I''m the WBBM-TV reporter who is from CBS." "Hi Chloe, nice to meet you, I wanted to know what you wanted with me?" "I know you''re tired but I wanted to schedule an interview with you on television, it''s exciting to see a young American winning the Chicago marathon after more than 10 years after the last time an American won, and you still have many interesting facts." "I could even do this interview with you, but it looks like you did not get ready today and I have a flight booked for Miami tomorrow afternoon, so I do not think we''ll have the time." "You could go in the morning at the television station, then the station could pick up a car to take you to the airport, I wanted to even record it right here, but you chose a hotel that does not allow cameras to enter." "Alright, tomorrow you have a car get me early and then take me to the airport after the interview is over." "Combined then, see you tomorrow." Jake thought about rejecting this interview, but thinking about what he would have to do in the future he could use that opportunity to get what he wanted more easily, using television to solve a problem was not something Jake did. In the morning when the car arrived Jake was already ready with his things in hand, they arrived at the station quickly and Jake was taken to a studio to do the interview, luck would be recorded, if it were live Jake would not accept. "Hi Jake, thanks again for agreeing to give me this interview." "Alright, I just do not want to miss the flight later in the afternoon." After a while, the staff set up the cameras and made a brief check and then began the interview. "Hello everyone, I''m Chloe and I''m here today for a special interview with one of the most talented youngsters I''ve ever met, he''s the winner of the Chicago marathon that happened yesterday." "Jake is only 16 years old this year and he is an American from Miami, we are very happy to see an American win the Chicago marathon after more than a decade." "Say hi to Chicago Jake." "Hi, Chicago, I appreciate your invitation to be here." "We who thank Jake, what motivated you to participate in the Chicago marathon which is one of the world''s top marathons as your first marathon?" "I''ve always loved running, and I''ve always had good resistance since I''ve been a kid I run a lot more than the others and I do not tire so easily, and since it''s my last year at school since more than 6 months ago I decided to run this marathon." "And as I had to run I wanted to win too, so I trained a lot for that day and everything went very well." "It really is an incredible story, in his debut marathon with 16 years becoming now one of the top names in athletics is impressive, you say you trained for this marathon?" "Yes, I ran whenever I could almost every day on my school''s athletic field, at first I was running about 10 km, and over time I was increasing my daily running and increasing my confidence as well." "Your school is Elite school, is not it, this school is not very well known for athletics, but many should know that in recent years this school has excelled in basketball, and this has a lot to do with our guests today." Chapter 188 A Risky Investment That Will Make It Right 2 "That''s what makes him so special apart from the fact that he''s only 16 when he won that marathon, Jake here as well as a marathon runner is also a basketball player." "But he''s not an ordinary player, but the captain of his high school basketball team who was the national championship champion last year." "And there is more, Jake here was the MVP of the last national championship with a record of 16 games in a row making a Triple Double, and this record is now bigger because his team has won the regional championship, that record is 21 games now. "Jake like you, does a basketball player get time to train for a marathon and still win this marathon?" "As I said it is a dream of mine, I always wanted to run and I thought I could, I would train the team after school and after the basketball training I would do the training on the athletic field." "So you ran more than 20 km almost every day after attending classes and still attending your basketball team''s training?" "That''s right." "Really incredible, an inspiring story for people who dream of running the marathon and say they do not have time to train, if you feel like doing it, you can do it." "But one thing before finishing the interview, have you decided whether to go to a university or go to the NBA if you have the chance?" "I go to a university, I have not decided yet, but I want to continue studying after school." "Alright then, we''ll soon see Jake at college games, the university he''s choosing will have a basketball player and a marathon runner along, thanks for the Jake interview." "My pleasure." After that Chloe ended the interview and Jake took a ride and arrived in time to catch a plane to Miami, he wanted to rest at home today. On the same night that Jake left Chicago, some of the station''s sports newspapers and programs liked the interview and decided to run Jake''s interview on their shows, after which even the CBS headquarters spent part of the interview across the country. So Jake again became known to many people, much remembered Jake from the newspaper''s television commercial, Jake''s story was already known by people and if one day someone mentioned it again it would be easier to remember him. The other day after resting well at home from the weariness of everything that happened in Chicago, Jake first tried to call Tiffany to try to figure out what had happened, but Tiffany did not answer the phone as she always did. So Jake could tell that something was happening, but he had no way of knowing what it was and if he could help with something he was sure Tiffany would try to talk to him, so he decided to forget about it for a while. So Jake decided to go to the restaurant to personally tell his mother and Anna about the marathon, even though many had seen this story about Jake, people often forgot about these things, so Jake was still stranger in the streets of the city. Arriving at the restaurant Jake can see that Lola was busy and so went along to the kitchen to look for his mother, so he told Eva and Anna that he had gone to Chicago and had won the marathon there. Eva was very happy for Jake as always and hugged him and Anna was also happy that Jake had won a contest, but Jake himself may realize that the two seemed not to know what it meant to win a major marathon like Chicago. Thinking about it, it was normal for many people not to care much about athletics outside the Olympics, people usually only knew about sports better known to teams like basketball, but they only cared more about athletics when they got to the Olympics. Of course, after the internet made all the information more accessible to everyone, people started getting more interested in other sports more often, but Eva and Anna only knew the sports that were most talked about on television. So Jake was helpless as to this, he could not just teach them how great and important were the major marathons because that would be the same as showing up for winning, he was sure that if one day he could win a gold medal in the Olympics the two will realize just how important the marathon is. After having relaxed a little talking to his mother, it was time to go back to normal training with the school basketball team, after all the state championship would soon begin and the team had to be ready to win. David and Harrison were training very hard because they were really starting to be afraid of Nathan and Lucas, after all, everyone could see how the newbies were talented and improved very fast. Nathan and Lucas were also training very hard as well because they could feel that they could have the opportunity to get a place in the starting lineup, the one who was happier and satisfied with it was coach Mike. But he was also divided, in the beginning, he had never thought of taking David and Harrison out of the team because it was their last year and they were both good players and even if they had a poor defense they were good at attacking. But even he did not expect Nathan and Lucas to improve so quickly, they were very good at defense and were improving in the attack, not to mention that defense was now the most important for the Elite team in more difficult games. That''s because if it was necessary the coach Mike could count on Jake to make most of his team''s points, but not even Jake could alone improve the team''s defense, he could only help the team with just over 10 steals in the entire game. This was normal after all because basketball is a sport that depends much more on the team than on the individual''s only skill, so the training now was to improve the tactics that the team could do during the match. Only Jake did not receive complaints from coach Mike, the others even thought at first that it was coach''s favoritism, but realized that Jake did not make any mistakes like the others in training, this was normal after all when he started playing Jake was the one who had to decorate several tactics and plays to pass as hand signals to his teammates. Now Jake, who had an intelligence score of 58 could easily remember the tactics he decorated and follow much better than the others, so his teammates had to learn to do better and stop feeling jealous of Jake. After training with the basketball team Jake returned home only, he decided on the recommendation of the system to take a week off from his running training, after all the system could help maintain the shape of his body by that time. Even with the system helping your body to rest and recover better to not have many risks of injury, the system said it was better than Jake sometimes took a break so that his muscles could rest and breathe naturally. But Jake was only resting like that because in another month he would have another marathon to participate and he had won two points of statistics in the last marathon, so Jake felt he could rest because that point in Resistance was much better than training for 4 months. In addition, two skills also improved and Jake could improve on a Resistance spot if he won the next marathon, so he thought he could rest a bit. After a few days of training, Emily had finally come back with the investment report that Jake had asked for in more actions last time. "I got everything you asked for Jake, $ 910,000 invested gave over 18,200 shares as we expected." "Very good job Emily, now that I want you to investigate a person for me, I want to invest in his company, but for now you have to tell me if this person has already opened a company and what the current value of the company, then I want that you get a phone number so I can talk to that person." Emily was a bit puzzled by Jake''s request, he wanted to invest in a person''s company was up to normal, but from what she saw Jake did not even know the person''s phone number and not even if that person had opened the company just like he could invest in such a person. "What''s the name of this person, Jake?" "That person''s name is Jeff Bezos, he must be starting a company in Seattle, look for him for me and try to find him before the end of the year." "He has a company that seeks to make a profit on the internet, just like Cisco, but since that company has not yet entered the market, I think I can make a lot of it." "But how did you know about it?" "His family was from Miami and an acquaintance of mine told me about him, so I wanted to invest in his company because even if I invest little I can earn a lot in the future." "You can let me find him if he has a company in Seattle." "I''m counting on you, Emily." Amazon was one of the biggest companies in the world before Jake went back to the past, so he could not afford to miss out on that chance of investing in the beginning, if he could, he''d take all his shares from Cisco to invest in Amazon in exchange for more, but he knew that Jeff Bezos would not accept it, so it was better to be discreet and try to get at least 20 percent of the company. In addition, if he bought everything he had in Amazon shares he could not sell so he would not regret it, so he thought he was making the right decision by investing heavily in Cisco and selling it all in a few years, so he would have much capital to invest more and use for himself. After all, Jake knew that after he became an NBA player, he would not have to worry about a lack of money on a million-dollar salary, but now was the best time to invest. Chapter 189 A Risky Investment That Will Make It Right 3 In fact, Jake could not be considered as having much money now, these deals yielded up to 100 times more often, but even if Jake took out everything he earned even though he was considered successful he could get 6 million to invest until 2000. But so he could at most win 20 times more and that was not even a lot of money if it were to analyze things well, after all, Jake could make close to 300 million dollars in his career as a basketball player at least if he became a star. Thinking about it Jake would not earn much from these investments, so he wanted to invest in long-term companies such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook where he could invest millions to earn billions of dollars in the future. So Jake was just trying to earn more to invest more in these stocks, Jake was also thinking of giving 1 percent of the shares of the investment company to Emily who would be who else would work in that company. It might not seem like much, but if Jake had $ 1 billion in profit Emily would have $ 10 million, for the investments Jake wanted to make in the hundreds billionth that 1 percent could be worth more than the value of a whole midsize company in the future. As for opening a company of his own was not Jake''s style, even in his past life he wanted to know only about investing and not managing anything, and joining a company at its inception like it would with Amazon was the same as opening a own company as he would have to open up capital to invest in the company, he could end up with less money than investing in a company. As Jake waited for Emily''s response the day of the first state championship game was coming, the team was just training to improve the match and was ready to play anytime. Everyone was much calmer and confident in winning because everyone was more experienced than last year and also had two new players who could play as well as the team holders. Even if some players had a bad game they could still guarantee the victory with the substitutes that were the height, so it was quieter. As the days went by and the day of the first game of the state championship game, Jake woke up early in the morning and ate Eva''s breakfast. Even though it was the way Jake always liked it because he knew that only when you lose something that you start to add value, like when Eva went to all the final games, after a few times Jake was used to it. But when she had to stop going because of the restaurant that Jake missed most so he had to take advantage now, because when he was in college he would not have anything like that. After Jake got his things and went to the game site, so after a while everyone was ready for the game, the two teams went to the court and the game began, Mark went up high and took the first possession of the ball for the Elite team. Jake received the ball and calmly began to organize the game, he advanced a little and passed the ball to David who was open on the right, David advanced and passed the ball to Carter, later on, Carter held the ball a little and passed to Harrison on the left. Harrison got the free ball and ran into the inside area and did the layup to make 2 more points for the Elite team, Harrison and David were very excited in today''s game but they had to play thinking about the team as well. The reason for this was that the coach seeing the good performance of Nathan and Lucas in the games and mainly how the team''s defense improved when they were on the court decided to change their thinking. So coach Mike decided that each pair would play 2 periods in all state championship games if someone was playing poorly in the game would be immediately replaced, so the coach wanted to see their performance in the games to decide the national championship if they win. So David and Harrison wanted to prove they deserved to be the starters of the team at least playing those first games well, the problem was that they knew that Nathan and Lucas were thinking of doing the same from the third period. The best players on the opposing team of today''s game were PG Axel and PF Micah, these two positions had Jake and Carter who were the best defenders of the Elite team and so they were more relaxed for that game. Axel received the ball to advance to the attack, passing from the middle of the court he passed the ball to the SG of his team, the SG received the ball and advanced for a while until David reached the defense by pressing, so SG passed the ball for the SF that made the mid-range shot before Harrison arrived for the defense and made 2 points to tie the game. Jake received the ball and began to organize another attack for the Elite team, before the middle of the court he passed the ball to Harrison on the left, Harrison advanced and passed the ball to Mark, Mark turned easily and made the dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team. Axel got the ball and started another attack for his team, he advanced until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to the SG of his team, the SG passed quickly to the Center, The Center tried to make the move, but Mark was firm in defense. So the Center had to pass the ball to Micah who received and already made the mid-range shot to tie the game to his team, in those first moves Jake can see that the opposing team was not very strong in defense and attack. Even though the game seems to be balanced it was because the Elite team was still studying the opponent, but when the defense starts to press the opponents will not have so much room to make the plays with such ease. Jake advanced again with the ball and began to accelerate the pace of the game, before the line of three points Jake passed the ball to Carter who was open to the right near the bottom of the court, Carter held a little and passed to David that was behind. David received the Carter ball and made a step back and attempted a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Elite team, Jake saw that David and Harrison seemed to be more excited to make the plays as long as they did not lose an attack he did not would care. The game continued like this and the Elite team finished the first period winning by 8 points of difference when the Elite team began to press more in the defense the adversary team began to err more. The best players on the opposing team were defended by Carter and Jake, Micah even attempted a few plays over Carter, but Axel and a lot of opposing players were fleeing from Jake passing the ball quickly. So the opposing team was messed up by Jake and missed more, but at the same time, Jake did not get any steal in that first period of the game. Jake made 6 points so far in 2-point plays and also managed to make 4 assists, he was out because the opponent was weak and because David and Harrison were looking for more plays. At the end of the second period the elite team already led by 20 points and had the easier game, Jake struggled more in defense and made 4 steals in the game so far, Jake made 14 points and 9 assists, the Triple Double for that game was well underway. In the third period Nathan and Lucas entered and did not change much the result of the game, the Elite team finished the third period with 30 points of advantage and the adversary team was already more discouraged to play the game, thus the defense of Nathan and Lucas was a slightly erased in this game. Jake had 21 points and 12 assists in that third period, plus he got 5 more steals to complete 9 in the game so far, so after a while, the game ended with the Elite team''s easy victory in that state championship debut. Jake got another Triple Double and increased his record, even more, Nathan and Lucas were not very happy because they could not do anything to change the game, but the trained Mike understood well that they played better in games more difficult what was important for the coach. So Jake went home first because a win like this did not bring much satisfaction to him, coming home he called Eva who was waiting for the call and was happy to receive the news of the victory. So Jake went to rest to prepare for next week, even though he expected Emily to find Jeff Bezos quickly he knew it was impossible by now, in addition, he asked Emily to evaluate Jeff''s company now so as not to look like Strange to invest in it. Jake had received the news that the company''s digital camera began to be sold in stores across the country, it looked like the camera was selling well despite the price and the camera was not as advanced as the others on the market. Jake was surprised but realized that it was because the name of Matthew''s company was well-known for more than 30 years making cameras, so the public was more confident in the new product, and the camera was even of good quality taking the limitations. Jake also did not know exactly what Matthew considered well sold for his company, for the total value of the company if the camera sold 10,000 units would already be considered a success for Matthew''s company in the first few weeks. But for Jake 10,000 unit was too little to have sales for this camera, if Matthew was more determined he could start selling overseas for a slightly larger amount. After all, for a thousand dollar camera is worth to pay a value to export to Europe and Asia to try to sell at least one million cameras worldwide. Chapter 190 A Risky Investment That Will Make It Right 4 So Jake decided to go to Matthew''s company to give this county to him, after all, he had already gotten so involved in Matthew''s business on the market that it did not make sense anymore to be shy now. As soon as Jake entered the company was well received by employees who were all very polite to Jake after the company began to sell well digital cameras Matthew made an alarmist speech to the company. He told everyone that the company was actually close to bankrupt the way it was, even though everyone was very quiet and did not think about innovating in the last few years, even Matthew, who was always an animated man, began to lose his will and that was why thinking about closing the company. So when Jake told him that the company needed a change and could even develop more in the market, even if it did not risk the company to fail Matthew would have decided to create the digital cameras. And many company employees were against this change that could save their jobs, were it not for Matthew to have the absolute majority of the company''s stock could happen the company could not make that change. So the employees were very grateful to Jake who saved the company they worked for. Jake did not know any of this and thought everyone was just being polite and thanked him as he went to Matthew''s office. "Hi Jake, I did not think you''d come here today, I was thinking of calling you only at the end of the month when I got out the first month''s sales report." "I wanted to talk to you about something, how''s the sales?" "We sold 4,000 cameras in just over a week, I expect 15,000 sales by the end of that month." It was worse than Jake thought less than half of the sales that he considered good, but Jake understood the animation of Matthew, after all even after selling all the machines that would not be used more to make the digital cameras he still had to invest another 4 million just to be able to make the cameras. In addition to more than 12 million spent on technology and product development, even if most of these 12 million went to develop the technologies of digital cameras in the cell phone and computer was still a lot of money invested. Yet if it was only to count on the profits Matthew''s company could recover more than 4 million dollars in only 1 month of sales, it was impossible that he would not be happy. But Jake hoped that Matthew would not be blinded by this apparent good result and keep looking to sell more of these cameras, after all, it would not be that they would always be the market leaders with that little thought. "Jake I said I''d call you here at the end of the month, but since you''re here now I''ll tell you what I had for the end of the month now when you gave me that idea to save my company you said you wanted it I hired your company." "I know this was just to bring more credibility to what you were talking about, but I said that if everything went right I would give you a reward, and it seems like everything has gone much more than right, so I''m going to give you your reward now." "Jake, I''m going to give you 5 percent of the company''s stock of digital cameras for you, that''s the least I think you deserve, but I can not give you too much either, so I hope it can pay off at least a little What you did for my family." Jake was shocked at this, 5 percent of the company, even if Matthew had 80 percent of the company, that was a lot to give to someone, especially because Jake did not come up with any investment and gave just one idea so that the company Matthew did not fail. "I can not accept this Matthew, it''s a lot of money, it''s more than money is a piece of your family''s assets, I can not accept that." "I know it may seem like a lot, but if you think about it, it''s not that much, after all, if it were not for you, that company would have failed, even if we were quick and we would sell that company before it faltered we would lose a lot more than those 5 percent on that sale." "And even if that company can be worth 10 billion or more in the future it will all be thanks to your advice, then those 5 percent is little even for what you did to my company." "But I think stocks are a lot, after all, you''ll be giving me a share of the voting right of that company, so if you insist you can give me that 5 percent cash and you get the shares." "I''m going to tell Jake, I''m very worried about the future of this company, after a few years who will replace me here is Joseph, even though I know you will try to help him too, with those 5 percent you will be our family from now on." "And even if he does not want to hear those 5 percent you have can save that company, so please accept Jake." So Jake got lost in what to do, he knew that Matthew was being sincere in giving these actions and his motive is also very well thought it seemed so Jake did not want to deny after seeing Matthew asking him to accept. "All right, Matthew, I''ll take these actions, thank you very much, I''ll do my best to make sure you do not have a loss even after you give me those actions." "Hahaha you''ve done more than enough Jake, I''m still paying you for what you''ve done if you do what I said I''m going to have to give an even bigger share of the company." So Matthew asked that Oliver, who was also Jake''s lawyer, organize the transfer of stock, Jake did not insist anymore because Matthew seemed to have thought of everything, but 5 percent of that company now without increasing the value after the success in the sales of the machines is at least 16 million. So Jake got even more into the group of millionaires after being a millionaire with 15 years after his actions and his patronage surpassed that value, that''s one reason Matthew loved Jake so much, a young millionaire who came out of nowhere was someone that he should have in his company. "Well then Matthew, as you know I did not come to your company knowing that I would win these shares and we still have an important subject to talk about." "True, I had even forgotten that, well then what did you want to tell me?" "I''ll be honest with you Matthew, I thought this digital camera should not be released now, but it should still take another 1 year at least for you to improve the camera model to market another." "Still I have to admit that your vision is better than mine for sales as these cameras seem to be doing well in the market, but I honestly think this is too little for your company Matthew." "What exactly do you mean by Jake?" "I fully understand that the camera market was very full these past few years, every country was trying to gain from it, so you just sell your cameras in their stores is a great idea." "But you have to understand now Matthew is that his company now has become one of the leaders in the world market for digital cameras, they should have just over 10 companies that manufacture digital cameras in the world now." "And from what I saw your camera is in the top three in quality, so I think you should first increase your production and then sell in more points in the United States and Europe, you have to advertise this better with commercials for the television." "I''ll be honest, if I did not know you I would not even know that this camera was for sale in the market, I did not see any promotion anywhere." "You have to understand Matthew that you have to take advantage of this rare moment when you are one of the leaders of the world market and let everyone know your brand, so you must make many advertisements because even if you do not sell to everyone, know about your company." "You have to take advantage of this time when your camera costs a thousand dollars and you have a lot of money to sell to Europe and get everyone to know your business because in the future you will have to sell that camera at a maximum of $ 400." "At that time you do not have as much appeal to advertise to the whole world and still make a profit, but if people remember your brand they can buy because it will be quality and not very cheap." Matthew was listening to all this with a twinkle in his eyes, he realized that the years really left him with no ambition, Jake was right, they had to take advantage that they had little competition and win a large part of the market. And Jake was certain that in the future they would have to lower the price of one camera to be able to sell many, so this was the time to make their company one of the world market leaders. And Matthew realized that Jake was really thinking hard about it and was not being blind, because Jake suggested and Europe and not Asia that had several companies that dominate the market, Matthew also had to think about investing now. Just for that idea, he saw that it was worth giving the company''s 5 percent share to Jake, and Matthew was sure they would have a lot more opportunities to grow in that market. "I agree with you Jake, I was being very careful and I was treating this digital camera as one of the products I was selling before, but we have to take that opportunity to gain a piece of that market." "I''m going to invest in those first months all the money that I receive from profit in advertising and also to increase the production capacity of the company, how many cameras do you think we have to target to sell Jake?" "It has to be at least 1 million Matthew, at least one million and these cameras will patronize the entire future of your company." Chapter 191 A Risky Investment That Will Make It Right 5 1 million cameras sold, Matthew never thought about that number of sales for cameras of that magnitude and with that high-profit margin, Matthew would be happy if he sold 80,000 cameras in total. So Matthew could have 24 million profit to invest more in the company, and Matthew had only close to 40 stores selling their cameras across the country, that is to say, that these 40 stores sold 100 cameras on average each. So if Matthew could have 3000 stores around the world selling his cameras only in the country and Europe with more propaganda they could sell 300,000 cameras in a week at least, so selling 1 million was not just a dream but a reality. Not to mention that if they sold so many cameras so their profit margin will increase and the cost per camera will drop a lot, so they will only have to gain by investing in this goal, they can get to earn 400 million in profit from all this and increase a lot the production capacity and also the points of sale for the future. So Matthew can understand why Jake said that this camera could finance the future of the entire company after all this camera will pay for all the investments for the future and still give a lot of profit for the company. Matthew could never imagine earning more than his company''s profit worth in a product only, his company''s market value will ultimately exceed 4 billion in value, so the 5 percent of Jake could be worth 200 million in just 1 year. So Matthew said it was worth giving these shares to Jake after Jake left. Matthew did not hesitate and asked for the first time in more than 10 years a loan for his company putting part of his shares as collateral and began to invest in the future that he wanted. Jake had no idea that Matthew was going to be that decisive, but it was certainly best for the company, Jake was well aware that the brand of a company sometimes had to be worth more than the profit the company made. Now Matthew had to invest in increasing the brand value of the company, this could help even in the future negotiation to put their cameras in the handsets of the biggest companies in the future. After a few days Oliver handed over the document stating that Jake had 5 percent of the shares of Matthew''s camera company, Jake was wondering what he could do with it. After all, now he would have more money to invest if he needed to, but it would be too stupid to borrow a loan from Jake''s actions because all his actions always valued a lot in a short time. So Jake thought it better to expect another investment opportunity with Amazon to invest in the future, not to mention that Jake would earn a dividend fortune by the end of next year with the profits from the sales of that digital camera. After seeing that Matthew''s company was going again on the right path, Jake was only concerned about doing his training, he felt that he was increasing a lot of rambling his skills in basketball after he rose to the level of a college player. Jake knew it would be difficult, but he did not think it would be so much, fortunately by the end of his high school senior year he still had time to improve his skills a bit, after all, he wanted to get well into college not to be put in the staff when you arrive. But Jake knew that now the only way to improve his skills beyond constant training was to actually play with players better than him and thus further develop his potential. But there was hardly anyone like that in high school, this was his last year and Jake was thinking about doing something special, so he thought about being selfish at least for a game and trying to do something special that would mark his career. As another record, the only record he could get when he wanted now was just one of the most points made in a basketball game, the problem was that Jake did not know exactly what that record was. So he thought he could only make as many points as he could and of course break that record, so he would again make his mark on youth basketball history. But he could not forget to try the record with another Triple-Double as well, it would be difficult, but it would give Jake a boost in the next game, so he talked about it with the coach and his teammates. Everyone was shocked at Jake''s thinking, normally no one would ask that to the team before the game and it would just happen naturally, but so they understood that Jake was saying he could do this in any game and was holding on for the team''s sake. So everyone naturally backed Jake''s decision and said they would try to help as best they could, this was a game that the team did not even have to care much about the defense because Jake should make more than 60 points on his own if he wanted to break a record. More than a few days to go, Jake was thinking of training again for the New York marathon in just over a month. With these points in Resistance and Agility, Jake was much calmer for the next race, of course, it would never be easy to run with so many talented athletes, but Jake had to try if he wanted to win an Olympics. At the same time as the last time he felt he was easing the first 30 km of the race, he only began to feel tired after the 40 km, and ended more easily the 50 km of training, Jake felt he could even run 60 km if you tried. But it was not yet time to force the training with the marathon so close, so at least Jake felt he could do it again if he could run the 50 km in 150 minutes then he thought he could run the little more than 42 km of the marathon in less time. If he ran by taking 30 seconds per km he could finish the race in less than 5 minutes in the final time, of course, Jake knew that it was impossible for him at the moment because so he could achieve at the same time the record of 10 thousand meters. But if he took 10 seconds per km it seemed possible with a lot of effort, so he would have 7 minutes less in the whole marathon and could even beat the record below 2 hours, these were goals that Jake could try to follow for the next marathons. The other day he tried first to take 5 seconds per km, so he would take 3 and a half minutes at the end of the marathon, which means he could finish the race in just over 2 hours and 3 minutes which would be the record in almost all the proofs of the world. That was Jake''s goal for now before raising another point on endurance or a skill rank, it seems easy to decrease that time by km, but for runners who run in the limit any second down is a win. Jake tried to run in that time, but in km 39 he had to stop, the system warned that Jake was at risk of an injury if he continued running, so Jake who was exhausted sat and ate a bar of stamina. So he felt his energy coming back and his muscles relaxed a little, yet Jake sat still waiting, after all, what Jake was most afraid of was an injury, no matter how small. Part of it was because Jake had a trauma of being a long time without walking, Jake felt that if he stayed too long without walking he would wake up from a dream and still be in a wheelchair, even if he knew it would not happen, he could not take this fear out of your heart. Another simple point was that he had many things to do next week and an injury would ruin everyone''s plan, so Jake sat there for a few minutes until he felt safe getting up again and going home. This time he did not feel leg pain after walking, it was because this time he sat down immediately after the system gave the warning and also ate a bar of stamina that relaxes the muscles a little. Even so, Jake was brave and tried again the other day, this time he did 4 seconds less per minute, so he managed to run the 43 km before he stopped exhausted. It was not because of any system warnings, but because he felt he could not end anyway, so he at least felt he could finish the marathon, he would finish in 2 hours and 3 minutes and 40 seconds, already a great time for any marathon in the world. It was the limit Jake thought he could now after increasing a point in Resistance and a point in agility, so Jake understood that he should have been able to improve his skills before the reward and not after, otherwise the improvements would be more apparent. That was better for Jake because after that next marathon finish he could be able to raise those skills again with the reward for beating a major and thus getting more confident for the Olympics next year. Jake knew he was more excited now about athletics than basketball, first because he loved basketball and running in so much then because he was clearly seeing the improvement in athletics now. He was close to winning another major marathon and then it would be an Olympiad, then he could try something else for athletics yet, but in basketball, he had only the national championship that was harder to beat. Then it was college, and only after he''d get the most out of the basketball that was the NBA, it was normal that what was nearer to conquer would cheer him up, not that he was not happy with basketball as well. But now Jake had to think about the next game where he was trying to break a record, Jake wanted to at least make 80 points because then he would feel like it really was a record. Chapter 192 A Risky Investment That Will Make It Right 6 The days passed quickly and the day of the second game of the state championship arrived, this was to be an ordinary game, but as Jake was thinking about breaking a record the whole team was excited. It was incredible that after that interview on the television nobody remembered that Jake had also won a marathon, it shows how rare this situation was and that few people cared about the marathon at that time. This was shown in Jake''s interview with Chloe, even though he has just won a 16-year-old the Chicago major marathon reporter in the middle of the interview changed the subject to basketball. It was as if the reporter was more interested in the fact that Jake was the MVP of his basketball team than with him having won a marathon, many were like that at the time. Jake woke up early that day and ate Eva''s breakfast fondly, she was happy to spend that time with Jake even if it was only a few hours in the week that they spent together. Even Jake was getting used to seeing his mother for a short time in the week, of course, Jake would never allow it to be the same as in his past life, he accepted it well because Eva was happy in the restaurant with Anna. So Jake packed his things and went to the place of the game when he arrived everyone was more relaxed than normal, after all, today''s game for them was not about winning more, but about how many they would win. Jake''s luck was acting as usual and the team was on the same level as his first opponent, so Jake would have less difficulty in winning that game, his opponents were preparing tactics for this game that would be difficult for them. Jake felt sorry that Eric was not in the stands, in fact, few reporters who as soon as Eric thought that all the Elite team game could have anything were there. In fact Jake was not sure that he could get this record as his teammates said, he just warned his teammates before because today he would have to make several plays alone without passing the ball so he thought he had to warn before. As he wanted to try to make a triple-double was also agreed that in the first period he would try to get the 10 assists as well, and as much steal as possible, before the opponents lose their will to play. The opposing team was called Penguins and it was very balanced, only PG Maddox was the team''s greatest standout, the others had the same level of skill as the state championship, but they could not get more than that. After a few minutes the game began, Mark went up more than all and won the ball possession for the Elite team, Mark soon passed the ball to Jake, Jake advanced and passed the ball to David before the three-point line. David passed the ball to Carter who was open on the right and Carter held the ball for a while, when the defense came to press Carter passed the ball to Jake who was further behind, Jake passed the ball to Harrison who was free on the left and Harrison tried the mid-range shot to make 2 points for the Elite team. Maddox received the ball to start an attack for his team, he advanced until after the middle of the court and passed the ball of the SG of his team, the SG that received advanced to the attack and passed the ball farther left for the PF your team. The PF felt Carter coming on the mark and passed to the SF from the right who tried the mid-range shot to make 2 points for the Penguins team and get the tie in the game. As the Penguins team made the move Jake was watching to be able to steal as fast as possible, Jake picked up the ball and began to organize another attack for the Elite team, after passing through the middle of the block he passed to Harrison on the left. Harrison got the ball and tried to overpower the opponent, seeing that he could not Harrison passed to Mark who was in the inner area, Mark received the ball passed to Jake again, Jake received the ball and passed to Carter who was free on the right. Carter who received the ball already made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team, so far it seemed like a game like everyone else, the Elite team passed the ball and tried to make the points and the opponent did the same, but all the plays ended with an assist from Jake in that first period. After a few plays Maddox received the ball to organize another attack for his team, after passing through the middle of the court Maddox passed the ball to the SG of his team that was on the left, SG advanced a little and passed the ball to the PF of your team. The PF tried to pass through Carter and saw that he could not and was prepared to pass the ball, but Jake who was following the ball made a steal in the ball that was with the opponent PF, the ball was left for Harrison who advanced to the attack calmly. Before the middle of the court Harrison passed the ball to Jake who continued to advance, Jake went up to the three-point line and passed to Mark who just turned and did the layup to make 2 more points for the Elite team. When Jake made the first steal he already had 6 assists in the game and not a point, so when the first period ended Jake had 4 points and 10 assists along with 4 more steal that he got in 6 plays of the opposing team. With the first period, so the opponents were thinking maybe that Jake was trying to score fewer points in the same game, the Elite team was 8 points clear in that period. At the beginning of the second period Jake advanced until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to David, David advanced and passed the ball to Carter who was further ahead, Carter passed the ball back to Jake who was out of the line of three points , Jake tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for his team. Maddox received the ball and tried another attack for his team, after the line of three points he passed to the SG of his team, SG made a feint over David and can pass by David after the SG passed by David, Jake who was on the roof made the steal and got the ball. Jake advanced in speed and the defense of the Penguins team can not keep up so Jake kept running until finishing the play with a Slam Dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team. And Jake continued like this until the end of the second period, Jake made 31 more points for his team and he got the 10 steals, so Jake had 35 points in the game so far, his teammates were impressed when they saw what Jake had done the Triple Double still in the second period of play. But despite that Jake allowed Maddox to score 10 points in the game, in five plays he tried to steal the opponent''s PG ran out of defense and can make the points easily, so it was not something Jake could do with the better teams. Even though it would be harder than he thought to do 100 points in a game like that this was to be expected because he had only 32 minutes in total such a game and Jake still wanted to try the Triple Double along with his record. In the third period Jake kept trying to score points, he made 25 attempts from the outside, 21 came in and Jake had made an incredible 46 points in the third period, so Jake had 81 points in today''s game after the end of the third period. The Elite team had a 42-point advantage in the game and this was because the team''s defense today was more relaxed with Jake making so many points, after understanding what was happening the Penguins team totally discouraged and became practically an expectant in the game. In the last period, Jake scored 42 points and made a total of 123 points in the entire game, the Elite team won with a 70-point lead and all Jake''s teammates celebrated as if they had won the national championship. Jake was very happy with that as well, he felt he could have overstated, but he did not know what was the record for high school players so he had to do his utmost, of course, this was because he even tried the Triple Double together making 10 assists otherwise he could make 30 more points in total. Jake made 36 attempts from the outside and hit 30 of them, so he 90 points in the game with shots from outside, an average of 3.8 points per minute which is not the maximum he could do. The reporters were very happy and interviewed Jake with great joy, they knew that going to the Elite team games one day could give some result, this was certainly a record, even if it was not the game with more points was in the top 5 with assurance. The good thing about a game like that was that it increased one player''s average points in the year, Jake had an average of 28 points per game and now must have increased a lot with that game, his state championship average was at least 75 points per game. After that Jake thanked his teammates and went to talk to the opposing players, all were well with it and although they did not like to lose at least they were happy to see an incredible record being made. Jake knew that his opponents made it a lot easier for him in the last two periods of play, not pushing him too hard in defense and also not making too many fouls so he could not score more points in the game. Chapter 193 A Risky Investment That Will Make It Right 7 In fact, Jake did not know but he did not have the record of most points made in a game so far, in college basketball in the ''50s a player made 113 points, Jake was remembering a piece of news he read in 2012 where a player college students scored 138 points in one game. But Jake was now in 1995, so he was far from 2012 yet, at university he could try to break that record again with more game time, yet without the internet people just remembered Wilt Chamberlain''s 100-point record. But that record was far more impressive than Jake''s 123 points because even if an NBA game had more time, the opponents were much more difficult and the game was much more tiring. Jake still had a lot to improve in another 5 years to get the chance to do that many points, but nowadays this was impossible even with another 5 years Jake still thought it was impossible for him to reach that level even with the help of the system. After that Jake went home happy and satisfied, he had achieved a difficult thing and a difficult goal in a player''s life, so he was much more motivated to reach the NBA and improve even more. In fact Jake had heard of a 100-point curse in his past life, people who could make 100 plus points in a game ended up not playing for the NBA in their careers, so he was more than willing to do away with it. Jake did not forget to call his mother to tell him about the victory and also about the record, Eva was very happy with the news about the victory, but she could not even know how to react by listening to Jake''s record. After all, it was something that nobody talked about much, but as Jake was happy she was happy too, so Jake can rest well after a game like that. But the other morning Jake heard a piece of news that made him sad, that he had not been able to beat the record for more points made in a single game in high school, Eric was the one who had heard this from his fellow reporters and called to warn Jake about this. The record was for Danny Heater and it was in 1960, it was a record with 135 points in 32 minutes, Jake thought it was incredible he had a triple Double, but Heater had done 7 assists and 32 rebounds in the same game, which was more incredible for Jake. If Jake had not tried to keep Triple Double making 10 assists he could have made at least another 30 points in the first period, but now it was too late to complain, yet it was still an incredible record. Jake thanked Eric for warning him otherwise he could have been ashamed, fortunately, he told his mother that he had just broken a record and did not say he was the one who had the most points. Now Jake thought it was a good idea to forget about it, after all, he was very selfish in this game and should not try again. At school no one else commented on this, Jake was a little sad because this was a private school that was more focused on studies, so people cared more to get good grades than what was happening in the sport. Of course, at this point Jake was very respected for having the highest grade in the class, now they could say that Jake was the best student of the school with his perfect grades in the last year and still contributing with titles in the school basketball team. Joseph who understood more about basketball congratulated Jake a lot on this incredible record since he started dating Liza and still with the university coming they were less time getting together. Jake was also very busy with business, basketball, athletics, and his mother who thought it normal for Joseph to be busy too, but Jake did not know Joseph did not feel the same way. When they met the two were only 10 years old, Jake liked Joseph because he was very simple like him and had no friends and even being rich did not care about the money he had. But Jake forgot that in fact Joseph was still 10 years old at the time and was alone for not having friends, so he looked like that when the years went by as normally happens when he grows older Joseph''s personality also began to change. And Jake was still the same because his mentality was over 40 and would not change anymore, so after 6 years of friendship much changed for Joseph, he became aware that his family was rich and what it meant to have money. Before his friends were all selfish and so the money was bad for Joseph, but he was still young at that time and forgot everything, so Joseph sought to be the best student in the room and also to lose weight to look like Jake. After Joseph slimmed down and his grades improved and he still got a girlfriend he was proud to be better than Jake as his family was richer then Matthew and Oliver told Joseph that Jake had saved his family company with business tips. Also, Jake was getting acquainted with basketball and was earning his own money with effort, so Joseph''s pride became envious of his friend''s success, Jake was still more handsome, had better grades, was better at business and saved the company from Joseph''s family. And now Joseph learned that Jake helped the company a lot to make a lot of money and they could raise the company''s worth by more than 10 times in a few years, so Matthew had given 5 percent of the company to Jake. So Joseph''s envy only increased, Jake was playing basketball and doing business while he was the best student in the class, while Joseph was still having to stop seeing Liza just to be able to study harder to get a better grade. Even though he still liked Jake and still considered himself a friend of his, he was grateful that he helped his family''s company, he supported his grandfather''s decision to give 5 percent of Jake''s stock. Oliver, who was his father, perceived this very well, but he thought it was normal for Joseph, who was in his teens, all of which could help Joseph build his personality and character more by the time he grew up. So Oliver thought it was important to choose who was his son''s friend because it all influenced a person''s personality as he grew up, and Jake was the best friend Joseph could have. That''s because even though Joseph was jealous of Jake he was still a lot better than most of his age, but with Jake as a comparison he could be humble even with all that, and Oliver thought that humility was very important for a man to have. After Jake went to the basketball team''s training, he told everyone on the team that he had not broken the record and everyone was a bit disappointed as he was, so everyone asked what Jake would do. And so Jake said that he would forget about this subject that had not worked, but his companions did not agree with him if Jake had put as his goal to break this record it was better that he could do it. So everyone said they agreed that he had to try again to be worth it, even coach Mike and Liza weighed the same, so Jake would put the Elite team''s name back in history, even the school president agreed with this when he heard that Jake almost got in last game. Even Eric said that if Jake was to try again he would go to the game to register all this it was rare that a player could have confidence in breaking a record of this and to plan before a game, usually this was an accident and sometimes even if the player stayed alone on the court for 32 minutes could not make more than 135 points. So Jake agreed that he would try one more time, he would have just one more chance as it was almost impossible for something like that to happen in a semi-final or state championship final, the national championship was even harder to come by. While I thought Matthew had gotten more comrades across the country and in Europe too, with Matthew guaranteeing that these companies would not lose money selling their cameras, his reputation helped a lot. Matthew had also increased production at his factory, so he was prepared to sell 1 million digital cameras if customers wanted to buy, so the company''s stock market appreciated the company''s good income outlook. Matthew thought of going to Asia too, but Jake was against it, he thought it was not good for competitors to take notice of the company before they sold too much and were more entrenched in the digital camera market. The commercials were also being planned to go to television, Jake wanted to help in the commercial, but gave up when he learned that Matthew''s company had a department specialized in that, this was to be expected of a company that was more than 30 years in the market. Jake had no news of Emily as well, it was normal for him to be slow to find someone like that and Jake gave him more than 2 months of time, so Jake wanted to make sure this business worked out fine. The thing that worried Jake more now was Tiffany and Clara that did not give any news, as Jake had not been able to speak with Tiffany after returning from Chicago he tried to speak with Clara and also it did not obtain anything. So the two did not know that Jake had nearly broken a record, yet it was an incredible feat that could get some attention for his sponsors as John and Alan used for their company. But now Jake could not do anything about it as no one asked for his help, besides, Jake was busy thinking about the best way to break that record in a week, and he still had to train for the next marathon. Chapter 194 A Risky Investment That Will Make It Right 8 So in the week Jake continued his racing training, yet he could not do the 50km of training by taking the 4 seconds per km, but as soon as he could, he could consider himself ready for the marathon. After a few days, Jake was still in doubt as he could get the Triple Double and makeover 135 points in the next game while he was thinking about that Mark had the solution and came to talk to him. "Jake, I heard you have a hard time thinking about how to get Triple Double and make the necessary points, you know very well what you need to do, you do not have to have any regard for me." "I do not know what you''re talking about Mark, I consider you all, but I''m not doing anything special to you." "It''s okay, everyone on the team knows you are like that, I also think as a captain it''s cool that you consider the well-being of all your teammates, but in this game, you have to be selfish if you want to achieve that record." Mark was right, actually long ago Jake was being considered with Mark, but he thought his teammates had not realized this since Jake got over 1.85 m with his many training games it was obvious that he could always dispute and even win Mark''s rebound. But Mark always helped a lot with the rebounds in several games that the team needed, and when it was Jake who missed the shots outside or mid-range Mark was the one who helped the team not to lose any attack. In addition, Jake trained a while with Mark and learned the Center''s position with him, so just to further improve his achievements he did not think he needed to dispute the rebounds with Mark. But in this game, Jake needed an easier triple-double in which he scored several points, so even though it was not easy he could be like that without needing 10 assists in the game and could attack in all the plays. This was possible because Mark and Carter shared almost all of the team''s defensive and offensive rebounds, and yet Mark had a medley of more than 9 rebounds per game, Carter averaged 5 rebounds per game. "Okay then Mark, thanks so much for this, but only for this game, then we''ll get back to normal." So Jake was quieter after resolving this, he would not make the 10 assists and would try to score in all attacks if Jake could count on the luck he could even miss fewer shots from outside and less mid-range shots as well. But Jake learned that luck has no fundamental performance when doing more than 20 shots per game, otherwise it would be obvious that Jake had something different in every game, but at least in this game he wanted his luck to help more points. While Jake was doing his training for the game Emily called him saying that he needed to talk to him about something important, so Jake was excited to think that Emily had managed to find who he was looking for. They met as always in a separate restaurant because these deals were still a secret from Eva, when Jake got there they greeted each other, but the subject was not what Jake expected. "Hi Jake, I''m sorry to call you urgently while you were busy training, but I needed to talk to you." "No problem, so you managed to find who I was looking for?" "Unfortunately not yet, but in a few weeks I will have this information for you, the subject has to do with my father and other businessmen." So Jake was disappointed in this, he was anxious to do business with Jeff Bezos, it was like Jake thought that the longer it took him the more chance of going it wrong was, while Jeff had not yet sold stock Jake knew he could convince him. "You do not need to be so sad so I think something good for you, I always tell my father about working for you, but whenever we talk to the businessmen who are my father''s friends we speak that I work in a company the which is true." "So I told you that you had made an investment and had a return of several times the amount invested, so all of them were interested in investing in a technology company, but were afraid of losing a lot of money." "But they did not want to go into big investment companies for fear of being cheated, so knowing that I whom they knew worked in an investment company was working with investments they wanted to invest in the company." "But as the company is practically your investments I wanted to know what you think of it." This was really unexpected for Jake, he just created this company to take care of his own investments, after all, he was a minor and the values ??were high for a common business, so a company could help Jake better control his investments and pay taxes. But he never really expected the company to receive investments from other people, even when he suggested that Matthew, Oliver, Clara, and Tiffany make the investments, either they could do it on their own or find a really specialized company. Of course, he could not deny that with his future knowledge he could easily indicate which investments were right for these companies, now was a great example, there were several companies that were valuing themselves in the stock market because of the internet. But Jake knew exactly which companies would have the best returns and when stocks would have the biggest declines, some companies would fall in value in 2000 and then recover in a few years. Cisco would be a company that would have a huge fall in stocks, as a large company would recover, but it would never reach its peak again and would only recover in more than 15 years. Other companies like Microsoft and Apple would have losses and recover and earn much more in more than 10 years, so it would be worth investing a few million in stocks to have a millionaire retirement. But Jake thought it was not worth waiting that long, after 10 years he would earn that money from NBA salaries, so he invested in Cisco to make a lot of money and then sell it all. In contrast, it had Amazon that it would be one of the largest companies in the world in more than 15 years, so it would invest little and earn a lot, not to mention that more companies like Amazon would still exist in the future to invest. But for someone who did not come from the future as he companies like Cisco were too risky if he did not know the right time to sell, and companies like Amazon would only be recommended for those who have little money to invest. But Jake had a problem doing this, it was that companies like Amazon he wanted to invest as much as possible in a short time, these companies Jake would never recommend to others, but in a few dozen years the people who invested in the company would complain to see Jake billionaire that he did not recommend this company to them. So Jake said what he was thinking to Emily with other words and Emily just smiled as she answered him. "You do not have to worry about it, Jake, these people just want to work with your company for a few years at the most, no one wants to risk losing money so you can just help them make lots of money and they will not complain." "So I agree, but I want 10 percent of their investment profits to be worth my time to think of the best investments for them and once a group comes in we will not accept anyone else." "Alright, I''ll tell them about it." "In addition, we will have to separate the company into their accounts, my personal investments and the investments of these entrepreneurs, and you can not tell them about the companies that I am investing separately." "You can count on my ethics, I will not talk about it." "You''ve done a good job, Emily, hire people to always check the stocks we''re investing in and focus on finding Jeff Bezos for me, I was already thinking about it, you''re going to get 1 percent of the profits from all of that company''s business, you deserve it and work harder for it." "Thank you so much, Jake, I''ll do my best." Emily was well aware of how good it was to get 1 percent of the profits of an investment firm like these because she would not use any penny of her own money to invest and still make a living out of it. Jake, for example, invested $ 250,000 a few years ago and now earned more than $ 1 million, she would get $ 10,000 to invest nothing, and that was just the beginning, now Jake still had that money invested if he earned 5 times more she would earn 50 thousand this time. In addition to the salary she already earns that is little now, but Jake said that it would increase a lot in a few years because all the money that Jake wins he invests again and she also did not have much to do a few years ago. So after a few days, Emily warned Jake about the investment information, 23 business owners who were friends of his father would invest in stocks and let the company take care of their investments, Emily again asked the people who were known to Jake if anyone wanted to invest. But no one showed interest again, not because they did not trust Jake, but rather because they had to invest in their own companies, Matthew even had until he got a loan to invest in his own company. Still, Jake was surprised that so many entrepreneurs were investing in it, especially when he heard the value that these 23 entrepreneurs would invest, 30 million dollars, was much more than Jake initially thought. He felt bad for having charged 10 percent of the profits, of course, some people would invest more like Emily''s father who would invest 4 million dollars, and he promised that half of the profits would go to Emily. Jake asked Emily to explain exactly that some could lose something in a few years more than 15 years would gain much more while some would earn a lot and not lose anything in a few years. Chapter 195 A Risky Investment That Will Make It Right 9 To earn more in more than 15 years or to earn less in a few years, everyone obviously chose to earn a lot in a few years, many of these people were old and wanted to have the money in a short time and were investing only because they saw that they had much to gain from the internet. Nobody wanted to lose money even if it was to recover after more than a decade, not to mention that nobody believed that Jake could predict the market in so many years ahead, was what Jake really expected. So Jake told Emily to still invest everything in Cisco stock, after all, it was the most profitable company and Jake knew the exact time to sell the stock, in other companies the gain was smaller and Jake did not remember when it was the best time to sell. Even so, Jake thought this was the best time to invest in Cisco, the company would still appreciate nearly 20 times before the bubble burst, so that 30 million could become more than 600 million dollars. Also, Jake thought that 30 million was too much to invest carelessly after all could even have a large part of a smaller company and interfere with their moves, Cisco would still not care about those 30 million now. Jake might even say that these investors could have 40 times that amount in profit, Emily would certainly be a millionaire if he was entitled to half of her father''s profits, so Jake wanted everything to be on a notary''s record. Because if he earned 10 percent of that value he would even be rich just standing there waiting for everything, even so, Jake was still more focused on doing this deal with Jeff Bezos because, in the long run, it would certainly be more money. Too bad their friends did not want to invest now, that would be their last chance to make a lot of money on that investment, glad that Jake still knew more profitable investments in the future. But nothing would be like that to earn 40 times the value invested in 5 years only, only if they try to invest in a company like Amazon after opening and waiting for more than 10 years to receive the investment. But even Jake would not do anything like that, only if he did not really need the money by that time, so it might be worth it. After leaving everything in the hands of Emily in the company they returned to concentrate on their training, marathon training would take time to see some result, but in basketball, he was just preparing for the challenge in a few more days. At least now Jake knew how many points he had to make to break that record, he thought he would not have another chance to do it and now that he has again received the confidence of his coach and his teammates he should be able to break that record. When Jake told Eva that he was trying to break that record again, Eva could not know how important this was, but she felt Jake was very serious and focused on it so at least she encouraged Jake by saying that he would succeed. While Eva talked about this with Anna who also did not understand much about basketball Lola ended up hearing about it and was impressed, she was someone who understood well of basketball of so much to hear it of the young people who lived in its street. So she had already been impressed with Jake winning the MVP award in the national championship and having done Triple-Double in several games, she knew how difficult it was against a weaker opponent. So hearing that Jake would try to score more than 135 points, she honestly thought it was impossible, many young people on the street would show up when they scored 40 points in a game and said their goal was to score 50 points in a game. So making more than 100 points was impossible for Lola, even the pros could not do it, but as she listened to the conversation she heard that Jake had already scored 123 points in the last game trying to break that record and would try to get it this time. So Lola could no longer doubt that Jake could be capable of this, even more, she heard that this was an important moment for Jake, so she told Eva and Anna that she wanted to go to that game to cheer for Jake. She was really curious to know if Jake could actually do this and also wanted to be there to cheer for Jake in the game, she was the one who was most unoccupied sometimes in the restaurant, Eva and Anna knew Lola liked Jake and how it was Jake''s game, they let her make this surprise. And so the days went by quickly and soon came the day of Jake''s game, it was the third game of the state championship and everyone was more excited about this game, Jake woke up very early in the morning and ate his breakfast made by Eva. Eva did not tell Jake even after he left that Lola would come to her game, she knew that even though Jake was more mature for his age since always he always was happy when someone known would go to a game of it. When Jake arrived at the game site, everyone had arrived and was as relaxed as in the last game, Harrison himself said it would be good if Jake could try to break a record in every game, so they would be calmer. Of course, everyone knew that this would be true until the state championship final, then they would have to have increasingly difficult games, so in this game, they would have to see if Jake could break his record. The opposing team also had no players who could make a difference in today''s game, plus everyone knew what Jake did in the last game and felt that it could be repeated in today''s game, so the PG of that team was the most discouraged for having to defend against Jake. Jake looked at the bleachers and saw that there were a lot more reporters for this game, Eric had also come as he had promised so Jake took another look at the bleachers and saw that Lola had also come to see this game. Jake was happy about this, he was glad that someone he knew was in a game so important to him, Eva was sure he liked things like that. So after a while the game started, Mark took possession of the ball to his team and passed it to Jake further back, Jake advanced to make the first attack for the Elite team in that game. Jake passed the ball to David who was ahead, David advanced until after the line of three points and passed to Carter, later on, Carter held the ball for a while and passed back to Jake who was behind. Jake got the ball behind the three-point line and tried the shot from outside to make the first 3 points for him and the Elite team, so the opposing team started the first attack of the game a little apprehensive, they did not know if it was just a normal attack or if Jake was trying to make over 100 points again. So they made the move until it fell into the hands of the SF team that with space made the mid-range shot to make the first two points for their team, they realized that the Elite team seemed to be giving even more space for the play to end fast. So Jake received the ball and advanced quickly to the attack, as everyone knew that Jake had to try to break this record they had to make the moves as quickly as possible to have more attacks in the game. In the defense they could not give so much freedom to the opponent because Jake had to try to do 10 steals to obtain a triple Double also, so Elite team advanced quickly and the ball was passed to Jake that did another shot from outside to do 3 more points for the Elite team. So the opposing team saw that something might actually be happening, but they could not do anything about it, they advanced quickly too and tried the mid-range shot with SG, but the ball did not go in and Jake was the one who went up to get the rebound. So Mark, who saw this, knew he was right about what he said, so even if he wanted to play that rebound with Jake even though he was taller he would have lost that ball, so Jake was really letting the rebound for him and Carter. At least the defenders in the offensive rebounds Mark and Carter were still the best positioned to take the rebound, yet Jake was not rushing and even if the team attacked quickly he expected everyone to position themselves before attacking. After all, this was the third game of the state championship and they would have to respect their opponents if they did not want to risk being defeated. After more than half of the first period to have passed Jake had made 10 attempts to shoot from outside and hit 9 of them, so he had 27 points in that period already, it seemed that his request worked and his luck was working harder today. The opposing team had only 14 points so far losing 2 attacks that Jake took the defensive rebound, in that attack they were attacking quickly because they were following the pace of the Elite team, the SF of the opposing team passed the ball back to the PG. But Jake anticipated and intercepted the ball making the first steal in the game, Jake immediately advanced to using his speed left the defenders of the opposing team behind and finished the play, making a dunk to make 2 more points in the game. So the game continued and the first period ended and the Elite team was winning with 50 points against 20 only of the opposing team and Jake had made all the points, he tried 19 shots from outside and 16 entered so Jake still had a high average of the hit. Even the opponents were impressed with this was almost 3 attempts to shoot from outside per minute, of course, this was possible only because in the three attempts he missed Mark took the rebound and passed it again. Chapter 196 New Challenges 1 Jake caught five rebounds and made 3 steals in this first period, even though it wasn''t as good as in the last game everyone could see that Jake was trying hard to beat this record after a while the second period began. Even though it was impossible to win the game, the opposing team still tried to take advantage of the Elite team''s defenses of that game to score more points, which was what the Elite team wanted because Jake would have more opportunities to rebound and steal. Jake in all attacks still made the move normally before receiving the ball again to make another shot from outside, the opposing PG knew that this was not an ordinary game and did not force much in defense and did not try to make fouls. What many wondered was how Jake didn''t get tired after making so many plays in this and the last game, even if he could finish a 32-minute game wasn''t that impressive because the players weren''t always trying hard. In many plays the player just walked around the court until the team made the points, in more difficult games it was normal to see the players get tired and replaced, but Jake seemed never tired. Some reporters just knew how Eric was because Jake could also run a marathon if a person can run a marathon, he can play to the fullest in a 32-minute basketball game. So the game went on, by the end of the second period Jake had scored 94 points, he managed to score fewer points in the second period, but everyone was already impressed by that, almost 100 points in 16 minutes were impressive to anyone. Jake was still in the mindset of just firing off that game, so even though he missed a few he was counting on Mark to rebound to try again, Jake tried 18 off shots during that time and hit 14 of them, and the other 2 points. were in a dunk after a steal. He also got 9 rebounds and 7 steals in total, so the triple Double was on the way too, even though Mark had given up on the defensive rebounds so Jake had 7 rebounds in the game already, Eric and reporters were impressed with that. Anyone can get a lot of shots out of a game, just the selfish player and not thinking about hitting any of them, proof of that is the 3 Point Shootout Contest that the NBA does every year on All-Star. In just 1 minute they try 25 shots from outside and have hit more than 20 of them, it shows that it is possible, but no one tries because in a real game with a player in defense it is much harder. But today Jake was trying to show what the possible odds limit was, Lola was also impressed by that, she honestly thought it was not possible, but after Jake scored almost 100 points in the middle of the game she no longer doubted and just cheered. Of course, this was only possible because Jake had 32 strengths, much more than he had even in his past life, he could feel that it was much easier to try the shots off, and Jake didn''t have so many muscles that hampered his movements even with more than 30 strength. With the help of his luck and the distance to the three-point line being smaller than in the NBA, it helped a lot for Jake to achieve that, yet he was impressed to achieve that in one game. In the third period, everyone was excited to see Jake break this record just to be disappointed, Jake scored 36 points only in that third period of the game, everyone thought it was because he was getting tired of the game. But it was Jake who was holding on purpose, after all, if it went on like that he would stand out too much with this record, he still made 17 attempts at outside shots to hit 12 more of them, yet he deserved praise for it. Even though he had 130 points at the end of the third period and had already broken his own record, now he had to make 6 more points in this last period to break that record, just by having 2 straight games with over 120 points he would already be in history forever. Jake also had 14 rebounds and 12 steals in the game, even Mark already had 12 rebounds in this game, so Jake was happy for his teammates so everyone was excited for this last period of play. When another 8 minutes were up many were cheering Jake on the court, he scored 42 points over that period and far beat the record for most points made in a game, 172 points should even if a historical record hard to break even if the ball is given for some to be trying for 32 minutes to make that much of points. Jake tried 20 more shots from outside to hit 14 of them and score 42 points, plus Jake had 20 rebounds and 15 steals, a triple Double with a record again. Jake made 74 off-shot attempts to hit 56 off, Mark got a Double-Double with 20 assists as well as 16 rebounds, even David had 17 assists in today''s game, with the game past the average assist of his teammates were almost bigger than Jake''s even. Jake did some interviews with everyone including Eric who was not left out this time, after all this time everyone was sure the record had finally been broken so the story would be really interesting to them. After thanking his teammates and opponents again for all playing a fair game Jake was preparing to leave, after all with his stamina he was tired after that game. But on leaving the game site he saw that Lola was there alone, she wanted to congratulate Jake too, but he was surrounded by several people and reporters and she missed the chance, Jake felt a little guilty for forgetting her alone. "Hi Lola, thanks for coming to see the game." "Congratulations on winning and also on the record, when I heard from your mom that you were trying to score over 100 points in a game I didn''t believe it, but I wanted to see it in person, and it turned out you scored over 170 points." "I''m glad I got that, now I feel like I''ve done something important even in my high school days." "Don''t say that, if you win this national championship more would be your second time being the champion, if you win the MVP prize will be even better, I think winning is more important than just doing well once and getting nothing." "I hope you''re right, my mom didn''t even tell me earlier that you were coming here, I was really surprised." "I think she really wanted to surprise her because I asked her yesterday to come here." "I''ll take you to your house then, I came in my car." "Thank you, then." While Jake drove Lola to her house they both got to be talking in the car, then Jake drove her home and drove off, Lola was later upset that she didn''t take the opportunity to talk more in the car, but was glad Jake was a gentleman. and take her home. Jake went home after that and I call his mother saying that he had managed to break the record this time, so Eva was happy for him, she realized that this record was really important to Jake. So the news that Jake had broken the record for the most points in a high school game was mostly known in Miami where Jake was already well known, after all, it was more than ten times that he appeared in the newspaper and on television. After that happened Jake returned to the normal training routine, next week would be the state championship semifinal and in less than a month would be the marathon of New York. As for the state championship Jake was confident, but in the marathon, he did not know if he could lower the 4 seconds per km in a 50 km race, after all, he knew well that the marathon was much harder than in training. After all Jake finished the marathon smoothly because he trained to always run 7km more in training and even decreased his time to ensure that would have no problems, but he could not guarantee that would not always be so, after all, it was not easy to win a major marathon. Jake knew from John that thanks to Jake being representing the company sometimes with sponsorship mainly in the Chicago marathon they had a lot more sales in Chicago and Miami now, after all, everyone was curious about those companies that sponsored Jake who did so many amazing things. Tiffany and Clara''s companies had the best results in these places because they had been with Jake for a long time, so Jake was thinking of Tiffany who hadn''t been talking to him since he was in Chicago. Just as he was wondering if he would go there to find out what happened Tiffany called Jake saying she wanted to talk to him, but the place was in a hotel restaurant and not in the normal restaurants they met. Jake accepted and relaxed thinking that nothing had happened and he was thinking too much, after all, Tiffany was busy and has his private life too, he should not have interfered that much. So Jake thought she was calling to talk about her two games with over 120 points and her record was broken after all his acquaintances called to talk about it with him. But arriving at the restaurant he saw that things were not that simple, Tiffany had a serious face that from what he knew of her seemed even that she was angry or angry about something. Seeing this, Jake even cringed in fear that he had done something wrong, but he didn''t remember doing anything wrong, so he took courage and walked slowly to Tiffany''s table. When she saw Jake her gaze shifted to worry and tiredness, so Jake knew it was nothing to him, but he was curious what could cause such a strong woman such emotions as Tiffany. Chapter 197 New Challenges 2 "Hi Tiffany, you made me worry about you coming out of Chicago all of a sudden, I know I shouldn''t intrude on what happens in your life, but as we are friends I was worried about you." Jake was a little apprehensive, he was always a person with few friends in his life, so he valued the few he had and tried everything he could for them, but Jake''s relationship with Tiffany and Clara was not that simple. Even though he always thought of them as a friend, he didn''t know if they thought like that, because they were also his sponsors, and so Jake didn''t know if they treated him well because he was a friend or an important business partner. After all, Clara never talked to Jake about his personal problems and put a barrier between them, so much so that in recent months he had only talked to Tiffany most of the time. Tiffany also, although talking a lot about Clara didn''t say anything about her life people, Jake was different and told everything he felt for them. "I''m sorry I left so suddenly, but there was a serious problem that I had to address urgently, but I''m glad to hear you were worried about me." "I heard from your record in the last 172 points game, after a 123 points game, really I think no one else could do something like that, our companies will win a lot from that too, congratulations Jake you''re amazing." Jake wasn''t happy with Tiffany''s compliment because it was clear she was trying to change the subject, but Jake couldn''t force Tiffany to talk about anything. "Thanks, I was happy after this game, you called me here because you wanted something from me?" "No, it was more to apologize about that day I left without saying anything and to congratulate you on your amazing game." "Did something happen, Tiffany? I feel you have something that is bothering you so much, could that be the reason you left Chicago quickly? You know you can trust me so I can see if I can help anything." After Jake said that Tiffany seemed to be in conflict whether to talk about it with Jake or not, Jake just waited for Tiffany to make up his mind. "All right then, I''ll tell you, Jake, it''s not because I don''t trust you that I didn''t say anything about it, but since it''s not about me I can''t just talk about it like that, but as you''re indirectly involved I I''m gonna tell you." "It turns out that when I was in Chicago with you at the marathon a lot of things happened here in Miami." "Robert''s father, who was very ill, unfortunately, died after so many years, but without even waiting for his burial Robert filed for divorce." "Because they married a total division of property no one has to share anything with divorce, and Robert now that he has inherited the family business is thinking of making several changes and investments in his business." "So this madman said he had been talking to a major sporting goods company for months and that company has, we don''t know how, bought 30 percent of the company from shareholders on the stock exchange and wants to buy Robert''s 10 percent as well. " "If they can buy 10 percent of Robert their company will have 40 percent of the company and Clara will only have 41 percent so Clara will not go without the only voice in the company anymore." "Fortunately, although this company that wants to buy Clara''s company is so big, they don''t want to waste too much time on it and they want to buy Clara''s company, me and her father besides Robert or the rest of the stock market." "Fortunately Clara has acted fast and bought 5 percent more of the stock and has 46 percent again so with mine and her father''s shares that we will never sell, this company also seems to have bought 4 percent more and has 34 percent." "The other shares are with a bank that doesn''t want to sell because it''s making a profit, luckily Robert''s father was smart and knew he had been unfair to Clara in this and before giving the shares to his son''s name put a clause that Robert would have to offer Clara the shares before selling to another." "Now we have 5 years to buy these shares before Robert can sell to this other company, the problem is that these shares are worth 28 million now and neither I nor Clara has that money." "We have made a lot of investments in our companies and we have a security contract in our companies that we cannot loan our company shares to get that money." "Clara''s father can''t do anything about it either, and it''s impossible for us to raise $ 28 million in 5 years without borrowing, not to mention that our company is always valuing and so that value can be higher in 5 years." "If this other company can''t buy our company they''ll want to sell that 34 percent too, so we have to raise even more money for it." This seemed to be a pretty complicated situation, they can''t use any company money beyond dividends in those 5 years, this is impossible even if they add their salaries in the company. "Can''t you make a loan without pledging the company stock?" "We can, but we can''t do much with loans." "You can try to raise as many funds as possible in a short time and I invest that money for you, so in 5 years you can raise that money to buy Robert''s stock at least." "I think Clara and her dad won''t agree to bet the company on unsecured investments, Jake, I just wanted to tell you that, I don''t expect you to get that money." So Jake gave up trying to convince Tiffany, with 2 million invested now he guaranteed that he could raise that amount to at least 60 million, but it was like Tiffany said a venture investment, just not risky for Jake coming from the future, but no one knew about this. Right now Jake couldn''t really raise that money, in another year with Matthew''s profits he could if he borrowed Matthew''s stock as collateral, but that was impossible for Jake to do. In 5 years Jake would have that money for sure, but he couldn''t guarantee it for Tiffany and Clara, and even if they were very close friends he couldn''t give it to them, and lending wasn''t a good way either because he would have to wait. 8 years to receive at least. So what he could do was buy these stocks, even if it was a bad investment Jake would do it for friendship, after all, they would have a lot of money in 5 years, he just felt bad for not being able to reassure Tiffany that she was sad. After Jake came home he thought about it again, he could do nothing to help the company now, no one he knew would invest more than 123 million just to help Clara and Tiffany. Even Matthew, who was also a friend of them and would make that money from selling the cameras, would do such a thing, after all, it was pointless to do so. At least now Jake knew why Tiffany and Clara''s companies did not exist in the future, they would certainly be less successful than now, so Robert tried to sell his shares and then got Clara and Tiffany discouraged and sold their shares and the company has been sold. So Tiffany must have been discouraged and sold to her company, with Jake having changed things for the better. Clara had a way of reacting and still continuing with her company, and the other shareholders would not let Tiffany sell the company that is worth so much now. Luckily he still had 5 years to think of something, in 6 years he was able to get what he has today out of nowhere, so Jake believed he could do something in 5 years, one good thing had come out of it all was that Clara was finally free from the unhappy marriage she was. So Jake decided to forget about it for a while and continue his training routines, so he went to rest to continue training for the next game. The other day Jake went to the restaurant and talked to Lola a little about some trivial matters and then went to meet his mother and Anna in the kitchen. "Hi Jake, congratulations on winning yesterday and breaking the record you wanted so badly." "I''m not sure what Jake looks like either, but it must be amazing to score over 100 points in a game." "I was very happy too, you didn''t tell me anything about Lola going to the game yesterday at breakfast are you, mom?" "I didn''t think I needed to tell you why you would see her the same way, besides, she just went to see the game." After talking a little with his mother and Anna he went to school, everyone in his class was busy studying there, and Jake was the most relaxed in there, but he didn''t bring any other books to study in the classroom. Jake was very busy doing many things he didn''t even have time to rest, and after learning the Japanese language he spoke 6 languages with English, and he would use those languages more in restaurants or on the rare trips he would make. , so Jake was no longer interested in new languages. For a long time, he would no longer make his travels as he had no company, so the purpose of learning the languages that were travel was over Jake promised after having his second chance that he would not make travel alone anymore if it was something work he would do, but never to relax. After all, he retraced all the trips he had made in his past life in this life with his mother because he always thought he had some things that he had missed enjoying being alone. Chapter 198 New Challenges 3 As for the economics and business books he had read them for over 10 years if he counted his two lives, there was not much else he could learn from the books. After he did this by continuing with his perfect grades he finally got the recognition of all the teachers who considered him a student model for all classrooms, seeing that Jake regretted a little for being so adamant and insistent on taking the books to the classes in the past. Even if he wasn''t wrong, it wasn''t right to want to complicate things with the teachers, at least he had learned everything he wanted before finishing school, even though those hours a day in the classroom might seem like a waste of time when he got around. It was as busy as Jake. He knew well that after this time passed he would miss it all, another thing that also changed was that now many of Jake''s classmates were asking him for advice about things they didn''t understand in class. Before, everyone was afraid to ask Jake that he had problems with the teachers and seemed not to study in class, but after they started asking they were surprised to find that Jake was a great teacher. Even Joseph who thought Jake didn''t study was sorry for not asking Jake for help before, so many of his classmates had their grades improved long after Jake''s tips. Even though it seemed like Jake didn''t study now, it was because he had already studied hard in his past life, besides studying hard at school when he was this age he studied after the older ones over the internet, and the summarized teaching videos were much better than the lessons. normal to learn. Those with the worst grades and wanting to go to a good university even asked Jake for help after school, but he had to deny it because he was so much busier out of school than at school. After classes Jake returned to his training with the basketball team, everyone was happy that Jake had a great achievement breaking this record, with these two games all relaxed a lot and forgot the concerns of the team. But after all the excitement was over they remembered that they were in the state championship semifinal again and so the games would get harder and harder, even if they were the favorites to win the championship surprises could always happen as their opponent in the regional championship that was able to reach the national championship. Who was not very happy with these two games in which Jake was trying to break the record were Nathan and Lucas, both were very happy for Jake as they were very cheering for him but knew they missed good opportunities to prove themselves to coach Mike. After all, in these two games, neither the attack nor the defense mattered much, just everything was being done so that Jake could score over 100 points and break the record so Coach Mike didn''t even bother putting Nathan and Lucas to play in those two games. So they missed two opportunities to show that they could do more as a starter in the national championship, of course even David and Harrison didn''t make much money from those two games either, but as they were already starting out they weren''t losing much on that. Although Jake didn''t know that Nathan and Lucas were sad about it, he knew he had been selfish in these two games, so in training he did his best to help his teammates improve, always giving tips when he could. Coach Mike thought it was very good because it served to relax some players who were very tense to compete for positions in the team and also to try the second national championship in a row. The president was also insisting that the team had to work harder to win this national championship, Elite school was not a school known for being strong in sports, but with new investments, they won 2 national championships in a row from high school. Many new talents went to school so after a year''s break the team had been able to win another national championship and were heading to win one more, together with Jake''s record this year they were to be placed as one of stronger schools in high school basketball. Also, many talented players joined the Middle School team and they were fighting for the third national championship in less than 5 years, players like Nathan and Lucas were joining the team next year again. In addition to basketball training, Jake was struggling with his home bodybuilding workouts, he had abandoned the treadmill after he started training to run the marathon, but he could feel that his strength was falling behind in his physical statistics. Even though at the moment the agility and endurance statistics were more important to him in his two works, he could not give up on increasing his strength, because he could not forget that the system said that the strength statistic could increase his strength rate. mid-range shots and outside shots. Jake had a dream of getting more than 60 percent hit on the outside shots at least if he got 80 percent was much better, but for that, he would have to have at least 60 points in strength statistics. After all Jake learned that he enjoyed basketball in his past life in the wheelchair by shooting outside, in the NBA, too, he knew that in the beginning, he could no longer easily make his individual plays and layup and dunk in plays. All of his opponents will be high-level players and will not allow it, so Jake would have to rely on outside shots and mid-range shooting early in his NBA career to make his points. But just bodybuilding wasn''t helping, he could now earn 1-2 statistics points a year, so it would take almost 15 years for him to have the statistics he wanted in strength, you couldn''t count on it. In his marathon running training, Jake was also dissatisfied with his improvement, he was able to run 46 km at a speed of 2 minutes and 56 seconds per km, but it had been two weeks with this training and so he could not run the 50 km at that time before the New York Marathon. Jake knew how important it was to be confident for such a marathon, so he could run smoothly, any distraction could make Jake lose pace in the marathon and thus lose the race. But that was his normal improvement with training, he was improving fast earlier because of his pride in winning a marathon without using the stamina bar Jake had awakened his potential and so was improving in training quickly. After all Jake was already at the height of marathon competition after winning in Chicago, so he could earn system stats points as a reward, the system even acknowledged that it was difficult to improve with training and so gave reward points to motivate Jake to keep improving and break new records. Of course, since the system was something that helped him push his limits, he could still improve by training normally, but Jake was only 16 now, even if he took 10 years of running under 2 hours a whole marathon would be awesome. Jake was just being impatient now, he still had the statistics he could earn at major marathons, and when he got to the NBA with basketball, it wouldn''t take him ten years to beat those records. So Jake was thinking of doing what the system was against in the beginning, participating in various sports and having various jobs to improve his statistics faster, thankfully Jake was holding on for now. The system wanted Jake to learn to be patient and to learn that the way to be the best in all sports was his skills and not his physical statistics were the same for jobs like Jake''s Businessman. If he increased his Charm, Leadership and Eloquence statistics to the maximum he could get any contract he wanted even if conditions were unfair to his business partner. Jake could win over many women and make the biggest businessmen like Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Steve Jobs accept working for him with these statistics, which is why the system gave no rewards for these missions. If Jake alone could raise these statistics to the fullest it would be his merit, of course, Jake didn''t know about it himself, so Jake always depended on his intelligence to do his business and his people who weren''t even in the system. After another week of training, the state championship semi-final game had arrived, but perhaps the opponents were startled by Jake''s two consecutive 120-plus-point records and the Elite team easily won the game. Jake had a good grip on this game and scored just 24 points, he also got 18 assists and 12 steals with one triple-double, so Jake had 25 games in a row doing triple-double, many couldn''t even do that much in life as a player. basketball and that''s why Jake thought it was a good record. Nathan and Lucas entered this match in the third period, but as the opponents looked scared they could not be as prominent as the opponent nor attacked, so the Elite team also respected the opponent and won with an advantage of only 20 points. But everyone knew that it was impossible for the final game to be that easy, as both teams could win the state championship and enter the national championship if they only won the game, and the Elite team had a history of players with poor performance in games. important, that was an added hope for the opposing team. After the game, the Elite team had to retrain for the final and Jake was also close to the marathon, so it would be a lively week for everyone. Chapter 199 New Challenges 4 After Jake returned home he called his mother to tell him about the victory, then Jake went to rest to be ready for a busy week. Jake was very happy and in great shape in both basketball and athletics, even though he was finding his progress in slowing his time to the next marathon very slow, he was sure he could still win. So before the end of the year, he wanted to win this state championship and also the New York marathon and close very well this year which was great for him. Emily had hired a few people to help monitor Jake''s and the company''s investments as well, and since she had done it a few times for Jake, Emily had more easily bought the stock with the money she received from investors. Just as Jake had thought aside from slightly increasing the stock value that 30 million had not changed much for Cisco, it wasn''t even 0.1 percent of the company, but that was exactly what Jake wanted. Although he was from the future and knew exactly how to buy and sell the company''s stock, Jake didn''t know much about how it worked or what kind of products the company made to make it is stock so valuable, so he just wanted to be an investor. But Emily had not yet found Jeff Bezos, even though the store had not yet been opened on the internet and so it was harder to find him in Seattle until the end of the year Jake could still wait until Emily found him. Matthew had also improved production at his factory and got new distributors to sell his digital cameras all over the country and in Europe, with a few days of sales in new places he had sold another 10,000 cameras. So he was convinced that he had made the right decision believing Jake''s vision, that way they could even sell more than 1 million cameras, could end up being more than that. After a few days of training Jake had received an important visit; he had chosen one of the universities to study and play basketball in the coming years was the University of North Carolina. It was one of the top universities in the United States and not far from Miami, and it had a great basketball team that couldn''t beat NCAA in the years Jake could have been in college in his past life, but they were always among the best. They had a strong basketball team, and even good players where Jake played, but he was confident he could get a place in the starting lineup in the coming years, at least next year he wants to play more than 20 minutes per game at the end of the match. championship. All the universities had made early-year proposals for a sports scholarship without even needing an interview, with Jake getting the best grades in school he could easily get that scholarship. Especially after he made two games with more than 120 points and still had a record of 25 triple Double in a row in games, it showed that he was really capable of playing in the NBA and those two games with over 120 points weren''t just luck. The president of the Elite school was really trying for a long time to make friends with the University of North Carolina, after all, they had one of the best college basketball teams in the United States and could be great school partners. But this university was not interested in Mark and the rest of the basketball team, they were interested in Jake just like all the other universities, but the president could not interfere with Jake''s choice. So he was glad Jake had made this choice that would also help the school, the president was convinced that bringing Jake to his school had been one of the best things he had ever done in his career. Who had come to visit was the University of North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge, he had come to meet Jake who would play for his team in the coming years, Bill Guthridge was delighted to see that Jake had chosen his university. The coach was confident that with Jake on his team in the coming years he could have his team being NCAA champion, the team he was assembling now was very strong, but he needed a spectacular player like Jake to lead the team. Of course, the coach did not expect Jake to be able to do this in his first year, but in the coming years he would count on him, courtesy Bill first went to meet the coach of the Elite team who was Coach Mike to know some things about Jake. Coach Mike had a lot of respect for the big universities that had strong basketball teams, so he had respect for Bill who had the ability to coach such a team, Coach Mike just spoke well of Jake and said that since Middle School Jake was A great player and team captain. So during the training of the basketball team on the day Coach Bill just watched Jake, he also looked at other players in the team, but only Nathan and Lucas got more attention from him if they grew older could play on their team in the future. Bill thought Mark was very good too, but it was not enough to stand out on a university team, he thought Mark could be a good reserve for a weaker team if he got better he could perform well last year. college, but Coach Bill didn''t want to bet on that. Jake as always was very discreet in training, after all, it was just to train the team tactics and improve the rapport, yet Coach Bill really liked Jake''s ball control as well as his defense performance, was also pleased to see that Jake I really didn''t miss a pass in training. At least he showed the basics for a college basketball PG, of course, Coach Bill knew Jake was so much better than that, he had seen some recordings of some Jake games and was what he expected from a star. to your team. Even though in some games Jake showed a common performance, it also showed that he knew how to play well and as PG could bring out the best in performance from his entire team. After the end of the training, all the players left and only Jake stayed behind to talk to Coach Bill, all the players were curious to know who this person was watching and who Coach Mike was so respectful, they thought that they had seen him somewhere, but they could not remember where. Jake was also very curious who he wanted to talk to, he also felt that he knew Coach Bill, but didn''t know exactly where. "Hi Jake, it''s nice to meet you, I''m Coach Bill Guthridge, I coach the University of North Carolina team you decided to join next year." So Jake knew where he knew Coach Bill from, even though he didn''t watch many college games he knew some important people from the big college teams, Jake was also surprised that Coach just came to talk to him in person. "Hi Coach Bill, I''m very happy to meet you too, I''ve heard a lot about you." In fact Coach, Bill was still the assistant to the head coach of the University of North Carolina, but Jake knew that in 1997 he would take over the team, so Jake treated him even better to please Coach Bill to have a place in the team in the future. Even though he was very talented he knew it would be very difficult to be in the starting lineup next year, but he could play as the sixth man until Coach Bill became the head coach. Coach Bill was very pleased with this treatment, even though he was not the head coach, he was on the University of North Carolina training team for 30 years and so enjoyed being respected for it. "I came here just to meet you and watch a game of yours, we can talk about more things when you officially join university, so we won''t have any complaints from the other team coaches about it." "But another issue we will have to talk about after the final game so you don''t get distracted from the game, this is more important so be prepared." "All in coach, I''m going now then." In fact, Jake already got what Coach Bill had to say important to him, but Jake already had a solution to this problem, he would not only harm himself to please the university. So the week went by and Jake continued his training routines, even though he knew that Coach Bill was watching he was still training the same way he had before, that was very pleasing to the coach as well, but his teammates who had found out who was the coach Bill worked even harder for training. Even though it wouldn''t change things much they had to try their best not to regret it later, it actually helped Nathan and Lucas who were being watched by the coach as well. Jake was still training after the team''s training on the school''s athletic fields, he was still trying to run the 50 km in 2 minutes 56 seconds to get a better time and still have the assurance that he had the energy to finish the marathon at that time. But that was not easy for him, Jake even had to stop running several times during training because the system warned him that he could be injured, it showed that Jake was always trying to push his limits in training every day. Still, luck didn''t seem to be on Jake''s side this week, with a few days left to the state championship final and just a few weeks into the marathon, Jake was getting away from home every day in his training sessions. His mother was also very busy these last few weeks, Eva always left around 5 am and came back only around 23 hours, so almost always no one was home during the week, so Jake who was at school got the news that shook him a lot. Chapter 200 New Challenges 5 Jake found shockingly that his house had been robbed, reports from neighbors in the police investigation said that armed bandits broke into the house after arriving by car, after a few minutes these bandits left without carrying anything. After what happened Jake asked for a license from classes and training to go to his mother''s restaurant, he was sure Eva was much more shaken than he was when he arrived at the restaurant the police investigator was talking to Anna while Eva was still I was crying scared. As soon as she saw Jake safe she had a feeling of relief and almost fainted, Jake caught her scared and took her mother to her office, Anna and the investigator still talking, not seeing that Eve passed out. He himself was very shocked by what happened, but it wasn''t about to pass out in shock over it, so Jake didn''t understand why his mother was like this, so he warned the investigator that he would take his mother home and then pass the police station. Anna said she would take care of the restaurant, for Jake with everything that happened today he would close the restaurant, but as Anna could still take good care of things she told Jake that it was important to keep the restaurant open to meet customer reservations and keep the credibility of the restaurant. So Jake agreed with Anna and just took her mother home after Eve slept Jake also went to his room to think a little about what happened, he never thought he would be really robbed, even in his past life that bad luck happened something like this happened. It showed what he was doing could change the future he knew, and besides, Jake thought that with his luck at Maximo something like this couldn''t happen. As he was worried about his mother and in shock, Jake unthinkingly brought them to his house that had been robbed recently, but he thought everything should be fine because the police would be watching his house for a few months and the bad guys weren''t. would have the courage to return. "Fate, how could something like that happen, I thought I would be protected with my luck at Maximo in this life, did you even say something would never happen?" [You really will always be protected with your luck at Maximo, but sometimes the people closest to you could end up with some bad luck or even hurt themselves.] [Of course, it will probably never be very serious, but something like this can happen, what happened to you today was actually very lucky, because as you thought some bad guys have somehow discovered that you and your mom are rich and live in a house that is in an unsecured neighborhood.] [The cops must know that too, but the bad guys came armed and took nothing because they were actually trying to kidnap you and not steal the house, just like you two were out, nothing like that happened.] When Jake heard this he was shocked, now he understood why his mother was so nervous and lonely and soothed when he showed up, he had really thought something like this could happen but never imagined it would actually happen, especially with his luck. But what happened this time Jake was already thinking of buying a house as soon as possible, while his mother slept Jake went to the police station to give the statement and heard from the policeman the same as the system said. Jake didn''t really care whether or not the police would catch the bad guys, he would move house and make sure that none of this would happen again, after thinking about it he returned home to rest and stay with his mother after she woke up. Jake told all his friends what had happened to him, everyone was worried about what might have happened and they were happy that nothing worse happened, Jake asked Oliver to look for a house for him to buy with enhanced security and Oliver said he would take care of it of this. Since Jake couldn''t stay with his mother at their house so that something like that wouldn''t happen again while they waited for Oliver to find another house, Matthew offered one of his houses for Jake and Eva to stay while waiting to buy their new home. Although Oliver stayed in one of Matthew''s smaller houses, it was still almost a security-enhanced mansion in it, Jake had never paid attention to any of this before his house had been broken into. Jake was fine a few days after what happened and Eva started to recover, she was just afraid something might happen to her son and not her home having been broken into, so after a few days, she wanted to go back to the restaurant to help. Anna who was taking all responsibility on her own. "Are you sure it''s okay with you now mom?" "I''m sure Jake, something like this can''t bring me down for long, I just worried about you, but now I realized that everything was fine." "Alright then mom, stay with Anna and always drive back and be careful of your safety." "I''ll be fine Jake, something like that doesn''t happen often to one person, and you, my son, is everything okay?" "I''m fine too, mom, I just had to miss some training for the upcoming state championship final and marathon game, but I can still play quietly." "It''s true, you still have a game in two more days, with everything that''s going on I had even forgotten about it, are you sure it''s okay for this game, son?" "I''m sure mom, you can go easy." Jake really felt that everything was fine with him, he was just a little shaken by what happened and also knowing that something worse could have happened to him and his mother, Jake realized that could end up changing the future in a way that would not be. good for him and his family. He was just a little upset that he couldn''t talk to Coach Bill at the university anymore, but he wasn''t so worried about it because he already had a scholarship and knew he could do well in games. He spoke with coach Mike about the game because he was on leave from school for what happened, coach Mike confirmed that Jake''s place in the final was guaranteed if Jake thought he was okay to play. In fact Coach Mike has been worried these past few days about Jake''s situation, Jake is the team captain and also the best player of the team, with Jake they have never lost a game in several years and so the other players felt safe to play the best. But if Jake couldn''t play this state championship final which although not their toughest game of the year would have a lot of pressure to be a final, the whole team could play badly because of it. Luckily nothing had happened to Jake and he seemed to be fine for the next game when the coach told Jake''s teammates that they were all reassured after hearing that Jake would play. Only Coach Bill wasn''t very optimistic that Jake could play so well in the next game, but it still gave him insight into how important Jake was to the Elite team, so he further showed Jake''s value as an MVP for a team that was several national champions. So Eva seemed to be back to normal after a few days of rest and they were temporarily living in one of Matthew''s houses until Oliver found a good home for them. Thus came the day of the state championship final, Jake as always woke up early and ate breakfast prepared by his mother, Eva seemed to have forgotten what happened after those days and was fine again. She wasn''t worried about Jake either, because she was confident that her son was so much more mature than she would be, and she wouldn''t be too shaken by what had happened. "Are you alright for today''s game my son?" "I''m fine, Mom, even though I''ve been without training these past few days it won''t be a problem to play normally." "I believe you, Jake, Lola said you were going to watch this game too, you were upset that I didn''t tell you last time." After that Jake went to the game site with his things calmly, he arrived early and many had not prepared yet, Jake saw Lola in the stands as his mother had said and was happy for the support. Eric had not come to this game either, nor anyone else known, other than Coach Bill who was in a special place as an Elite school guest, the opponent was Callahan''s team. They were scared of Jake''s performance in some games, but could not just give up after reaching the final and with chances of playing the national championship if they won. The Callahan team had three most prominent players, PG Adam SG Evan and SF Jose, Callahan PG was very much according to several reporters, but his state championship performance was greatly overshadowed by Jake who was much better. and played in the same position. Even though Adam was not very jealous of Jake and admired the opponent who would probably be a great NBA star in the future, yet Adam still thought of playing his best in this game and at least not letting Jake do another triple Double in that game. None of the reporters knew that Jake''s house had been broken into this week, and neither of their opponents could imagine that, so they couldn''t think this could be an advantage for their team if they attacked more from the side Jake was defending. After a few minutes the match began, Mark went up well and took the first possession for the Elite team, Mark passed the ball to Jake who advanced into the attack and passed the ball to Harrison on the left, Harrison passed the ball to Mark who was inside. Mark turned and left the opposing Center''s defense, so he ended the move with a layup to make the first two points for the Elite team in that final. Chapter 201 New Challenges 6 The game continued as usual with the Elite team dominating, Jake was just watching the opposing team more and was not trying to make many moves, yet the Callahan team had their players avoiding him in the attacks. After all only the average of almost 12 steals per game can make opposing players avoid Jake when attacking, after all, Jake was almost always considered to be the best attacking and defensive player in the championships he played. The Elite team beat the opposing team by 6 points and Jake had only 4 points in the first period, he also made 4 assists and no steal. At the beginning of the second period, it was Adam who had the ball, the Callahan team knew they could not avoid Jake and the Elite team in this game and still hope to win, so from the second period they decided to risk and attack more. As Adam advanced for another Callahan attack, before the middle of the court he passed the ball to Evan who was open from the left, Evan passed David and made the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for Callahan. Jake caught the ball and went to arrange another attack for the Elite team, before the middle of the court he passed the ball to Harrison on the left, Harrison advanced for a while and passed the ball to Carter who was further on the right. Carter held the ball and passed it to David who was behind him, David attempted the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team. Adam took the ball and began another attack for his team, he advanced and passed the ball to Jose after passing the middle of the court, Jose advanced and passed the ball to the forward Callahan PF. The PF held the ball and passed it to Adam who was behind him again, Adam saw that Jake was far away and made the outside shot to score 3 points for the Callahan team. So Jake received the ball and began another attack for the Elite team, he passed the ball to David more open on the right, David advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Mark ahead. Mark held for a while and passed the ball back to Jake, Jake saw that Adam was coming and tried to pass the ball to Carter, but eventually missed the pass and the ball came out, Jake apologized to his teammates and the game continued. Adam was happy for this mistake by the Elite team and saw that if they tried they could have a chance to win this game, so he advanced to pass the ball to Evan after passing through the middle of the court. Evan advanced a little more and then held the ball for a while before moving to his team''s Center, and the Center managed to spin on Mark''s defense and lay up to score 2 points for Callahan. Jake advanced for another attacking move and passed the ball to Harrison before the middle of the court, Harrison advanced a little and passed the ball to David, David held and when Evan reached the defense Evan passed to Jake who was free behind. Jake tried the shot from outside and missed Mark so he did not expect so did not catch the rebound and the Callahan team got another attack. At the end of the second period of the game, Callahan was the one who beat Elite by 2 points, Jake scored 4 points and 4 assists without getting any steal, so Jake was close to a Double-Double, but it was difficult for him to get a triple-double in this game. Coach Mike had to put Nathan and Lucas to improve the defense of the Elite team and try to reverse the game again in favor of the Elite team. But Jake and some more basketball savvy like Coach Bill realized that it was Jake who was doing badly in this game, but since Jake was usually so good, even playing badly he was one of the best on the team. Jake was missing a lot more mid-range passes and shots from outside the box, not to mention that in defense he could not keep up with the moves to know when to make a steal and even Adam had passed him a few times. Jake was the same physically as usual and Jake couldn''t figure out what was wrong with him, yet Jake knew he wasn''t playing as usual but was still playing well so he could just pass the ball more and more carefully and not try so many times the mid-range shot and the outside shot. In the third period of the game, Jake was passing the ball more and only to the nearest players, Nathan and Lucas were trying to show that they were good and were making more points in his place.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Nathan and Lucas were also able to defend much better than David and Harrison and thus annulled the opposing attack a bit, so the elite team ended the third period winning by 2 points again. In this third period Jake scored 6 more points and 3 assists, he got a double-double and had already given up trying the triple-double because he had not got any steal in the game. Still, Jake missed far fewer passes during that time and also missed fewer mid-range shots, so people who thought Jake was playing badly thought they were wrong after this performance. But Coach Bill knew that Jake was still having a bad game, it looked like Jake had realized that and so was trying to hold on and play more safely, Coach Bill found Jake even more impressive after learning that. After all, if a 16-year-old player was having a bad game and with a scout-like him in the stands, the player would be even more nervous and play even worse until replaced. In addition, Coach Bill knew that Jake should be playing badly because he suffered a shock during the week of his home being broken into, yet Jake was trying his best to be a state champion. In the fourth period of the game Jake still had a regular performance and made 4 points and 4 assists, as in this game, he did not get a triple Double his record was ended with 25 straight games making triple Double. Most likely this record would never be broken again in high school basketball, just like the 172 points he scored in that state championship. The Elite team won 6 points more than the Callahan team, only after the game is over that Coach Mike can breathe a sigh of relief. Coach Bill had to go back to college and found it a pity that Jake had been affected so he couldn''t see Jake playing his best in the final game, but what he saw was that Jake knew how to adapt to his situation let him even more excited about Jake''s future. Coach Bill was sure that Jake would soon be back to normal and so the Elite team would win the national championship early next year. Even if Coach Bill had to talk about some important things with Jake, he would have to wait a few weeks before he could return to Miami and Jake was fine again. Everyone greeted the Callahan team who had a good game and lost only 6 points from the Elite team that was the national championship champion last year. Everyone celebrated this state championship a lot more, only Jake couldn''t be too happy about this game, something had never happened to him, Jake was worried about not knowing why and would happen again in a more difficult game. But he couldn''t think about that now because his teammates were so happy about this victory and this state champion trophy. Then everyone was called on to get Jake to lift the state champion trophy, just so Jake can relax a little and everyone celebrated Jake also got that state championship MVP award and was happy. After that Jake went back to the stands to take Lola away, Lola was very happy with Jake''s invitation and accepted, but even though Lola wanted to talk to Jake this time as they drove to her house, she realized that even having beaten Jake was not in a good mood. So she missed another chance to talk, when they got to Lola''s house, Jake got out of the car to take her to the door, so at least Lola took the courage to say a few words. "Congratulations on winning the state championship and MVP Jake award." "Thanks, I was glad you came today too." "I was worried that you couldn''t play normally because of what happened this week, I was shocked and worried about what happened to you and your mother Jake." "Thanks for worrying about me and my mom, I''m glad nothing worse has happened this time either." "I hope nothing like this happens again, but I was happy to see that what happened didn''t affect you in today''s game and you could still win as usual." After that Jake went home and called Eva and told her about the victory, Eva was worried that Jake wouldn''t win this time but was relieved to hear that Jake had won. With that Eva can relax that everything had returned to normal, soon they would have a new home and so everything would be even better and something like that would never happen again. Jake was no longer happy even after winning today''s game, he knew he had played bad today and couldn''t understand what was wrong, he felt that it was normal and even the statistics window said he was normal. Even if they still won today''s game and Jake managed to hold back and miss less, Jake knew that this was because his team had played today''s game so well, if it was up to him the team would have lost that game. But against a tougher opponent, the same could not happen again. Chapter 202 A Little Crisis 1 Jake didn''t even sleep well after the game and kept thinking about the final game, but he couldn''t think of anything, so he went the other day to train again with his team. Jake saw that everyone was acting normally with him and no one had noticed anything wrong, he even broached the subject indirectly with Coach Mike who found it all very strange and thought that Jake was fine as always. In fact, Nathan and Lucas who were very happy with this situation, with yesterday''s game almost nobody realized that Jake had played badly, the reason for this was that Jake had said he would normally play for a few games after scoring over 120 points in 2 games. So your teammates would have a greater opportunity to stand out with Jake playing like that, in this last game everyone thought Jake was just giving his teammates more opportunity. Nathan and Lucas who got into the game with the losing Elite team played very well both in attack and defense and so helped the team to win, everyone thought this was a difficult game different from what was expected. So Coach Mike was happy with the performance of his two new players and Nathan and Lucas were even happier because they could catch Coach Bill''s attention so they could be at the University of North Carolina with him in a few years. After a day of training, Jake got even more confused because he managed to play well in training as usual and scored 40 points causing his teammates to be discontented. After all, it was not necessary to score so many points in a training game with his teammates, then Jake did the same of the last days in his marathon training, so Jake thought this was an isolated case. But at home, he sometimes remembered what Lola said after the final game, that she was worried that Jake might be bad at the final game because of the bandits raiding his home. This was really shocking for Jake, especially since he knew after hearing from the system and the cops that the attackers were aiming for him and his mother. So Jake thought for a while that even if he had a system like in fantasy stories and his strength was greater than most people, that was the reality and someone with a gun could end his life and his mom''s life, just like every dream of his second chance. Jake also realized that his luck could not really do any miracles and that even if he learned a fighting technique and his stats were at maximum he would still be a normal human being. After thinking about it for a while even though he was a little scared he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his heart, because deep inside he could never really get out of his mind the thought that all he was living was a dream. So after thinking about it and resting for a day he returned to his normal routine, Jake had only a few weeks before the New York marathon and would need to continue his training if he wanted to secure the victory. Even though he was still worried about his performance in the competition after what happened in the final game, in training everything was back to normal and nothing seemed wrong. So he thought it might just be a normal day that he couldn''t play his best as all athletes had, after all, he wasn''t a machine, it was just that it had never happened because of the system.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Even so, Coach Mike has been a little worried since Jake came to ask if he had played badly in the final game, so he decided to give Jake a break until after the break. The rest of the team still had to train hard, especially Lucas and Nathan who were fighting for a place in the starting lineup, but Jake who had just been through a stressful and dangerous situation in his life and was the best player on the team deserved to rest. Jake accepted the coach''s good intentions and stopped going to the basketball team trainings after classes so he had more energy to train before the marathon, in classes besides Joseph who was always by his side after what happened nothing had changed. Joseph knew that Jake was living with Eva in one of his grandfather''s houses, while his father was looking for a good and safe home for Jake and Eva to live in, so he left his studies and his girlfriend aside and got closer to Jake again. because he was worried about his friend. Jake was also very thrilled about it and happy to have a friend like Joseph, even Liza in her last team training was worried about him. He was a little sad because it seemed that after the breakup Jenny no longer cared about him, Jake knew that even Liza seemed to be disappointed with her friend who claimed to like Jake very much. If something similar had happened to Jenny, Jake wouldn''t hesitate to look for her to find out how his ex-girlfriend was, but it seemed that Jenny didn''t think the same way. In fact, before that Jake still had Jenny in his heart, he hoped that after being in a better living condition she could look for him, or she could take courage and challenge her parents. But now he understood that he no longer existed in Jenny''s heart, so Jake reinforced the thought that he''d better not get involved in any relationship until after a few years. Jake liked Lola very much, but he just saw her as a dear friend, after all for Jake the age difference between them and the fact that she and her father worked at her mom''s restaurant made her someone Jake didn''t even think about dating. That''s because Jake had a mental age of almost 50 now, but his actual age was 16, and Lola was out of those two, if Lola was the one who took the initiative and said she liked him, Jake could change his mind, so Whether this relationship could work was entirely in Lola''s hands. After more than a week of training, the New York Marathon was a few days away, so Tiffany and John showed up to talk to Jake. Tiffany was worried about Jake and Eva for what happened a few weeks ago, even though they had talked on the phone, it was different from talking in person. Tiffany looked tired and a little pale at this meeting, she was worried about Jake and Eva who were her friends, she also had to worry about her company and Clara''s company that could be sold if they couldn''t find a solution. In addition, Clara was also a little depressed after her marriage ended and what was happening at the company, it was as if everything that had happened in the last 10 years was for nothing. So she was getting stressed by her friends and tired by the work that increased. John was also worried about Jake but was concerned only if Jake''s sports performance could fall that showed the difference between business partners and friends. "How are you doing, Jake?" "I''m fine, Tiffany, luckily I have a lot of friends who helped and are helping my family after what happened." "If it wasn''t for all these problems that came up suddenly, Clara and I would be there to help, too." "It''s okay, Tiffany, I know very well that the problem you are experiencing is much bigger than mine." "Do you think you''ll be fine for this marathon, Jake?" "I can''t say for sure, John, I know I''m going to finish the competition, but I don''t know where I''ll be." Jake had always known that John and Alan were different from Tiffany and Clara, which is why Jake didn''t think of having regular sponsors after getting rich with his investments. But as time went on Jake realized that this was impossible, he needed to sponsor John and Alan now and would need the support of larger companies after joining the NBA. There was no billionaire in the world who would refuse tens of millions in sponsorship just because they didn''t like working with people who fought for them. "That''s great, I''m sure you can bring us a nice surprise in this marathon too, Jake, so I want to be in New York this time to support you with Tiffany." "I don''t think it''s a good idea, John, you know at least for these two marathons it was Tiffany who solved everything and organized everything." "I know that, but it was an order from my superiors, I''m sure Tiffany won''t mind that another company that sponsors Jake is in this marathon." "I really don''t care Jake, I saw here just to tell you that because of the problems you know well, I won''t be able to go to New York with you this time, my city workers that will solve everything, now John here it can also help. " "That''s great so I''m going with Jake to New York for sure." So Jake had to accept John''s request, he himself thought it wasn''t fair to John and Alan''s company being set aside, as he knew that Tiffany was in trouble was good for everyone. So the other day, Jake said goodbye to his mother and went to New York to prepare for the marathon, he didn''t have to worry about a few days of school absences and had no more training with the basketball team and so can go before. John said he would go the day before the marathon, Jake would only rest for the next two days and be rested and prepared for the marathon. He still could not run the 50 km with the new speed and so decided to run only 20 km with the fastest running speed, so he was sure to shorten his time and still complete the marathon. Chapter 203 A Little Crisis 2 So he could at least shorten his time by more than 1 minute, Jake was thinking of the Olympics and also some years where marathons would become more recognized and stronger athletes would start competing. Records would be made under the best time Jake could run now, so he had to improve as much as he could while he had time to train, because he still wanted to train to compete in other track and field events. As far as basketball was concerned Jake was the most dedicated, even though he was away from team training he still did his imagination training, as usual, every day, Jake thought that before the national championship he could improve his skill rank which didn''t change much in the last months. Jake knew that now each raise could make a lot of difference in a game because now Jake was getting to the pro level, Jake wanted to secure that national championship more before going to college. After a few more days the New York marathon day finally came, as it was a major marathon, over 25,000 people were present that day to participate, Jake chatted a little with John and one of Tiffany''s staff and began to prepare. to the marathon. John said he would be waiting for Jake at the race''s arrival, probably he also hoped that Jake could win this marathon more. Normally Jake would be much more confident than in the Chicago marathon because this was not his first competition and he had even won in Chicago before, even more, so Jake improved a lot after winning the reward for winning in Chicago. But he was still afraid of having another bad performance as in the state basketball championship final, in that game he could count on his teammates and the level of the opponents was not very high. But now any mistake could cause Jake to lose this marathon, besides, he was with the best athletes in the world competing with him, these athletes would not be defeated if Jake couldn''t do his best. Even with the nervousness and the pressure, Jake managed to calm down when the race really started, he didn''t have much to think about after the race began, with his training he knew he had stamina and with the help of the system he could control better your running pace. Television commentators were also paying special attention to Jake, after all, Jake was just 16 years old and had just won the Chicago Marathon, many also knew that Jake had recently won the state high school basketball championship and was the MVP. of the championship. So it was normal for everyone to pay close attention to himself that they didn''t expect Jake to win this marathon either, after all, it was very rare for an athlete to win two marathons in a row and even rarer if it was in different marathons. Even more, the Chicago and New York marathon that took place at a break of just over 1 month, I 1 month many athletes would not dare to compete again, much less like Jake still did playing basketball while recovering. In addition to Jake other athletes also caught the public''s attention, but only last year''s winner was Mexican German Silva, even though many thought he could not win again. German was well known for having missed the marathon path last year. He even earned the nickname Wrong Way Silva, but it was amazing that even if he missed the path he had still won the marathon, in the last 5 years Mexicans had won the New York marathon 3 times and German could win 4 times in 5 years. Jake was also worried about German because he knew that German had won this marathon in his past life, now Jake wanted it not to happen again. After ten kilometers of running, Jake had already passed most of the amateur runners who just ran at a faster pace and didn''t even think about finishing the race. He was feeling good even running at a pace of 2 minutes 56 seconds per km, which was 4 seconds less than in the last race, it gave Jake more confidence by showing that he had to rely on his daily training, so he could finish this test with a good time. Even so Jake was realizing that his running pace was not as good as in the last race and in training, even though he managed to make the time he planned every 5 km, sometimes he would run very fast and then have to slow down. Jake knew this was bad because every time he ran faster he used up a lot more energy, after all, he was running to the limit to win the race, while other runners were often running in groups and some even had rabbits to set the pace right. Jake didn''t think he needed any of this after running the Chicago marathon, but in the race, he realized that there were points where it was more appropriate to slow down and other points where it was appropriate to accelerate. All of this was derived from the experiences of some past marathon runners, not to mention that running in groups or with rabbits was useful because the runner could protect himself from drafts coming in the opposite direction and tired him out. These were all things Jake had blindly missed since he was very confident in himself and the system and had won his debut marathon, this time he was a little unsure he realized that if he did how others could get some time yet best. Commentators who didn''t know Jake was passing and thinking were just seeing Jake running very well in the first half of the race, after all, they thought Jake had his own style of running after winning the Chicago Marathon. "Runner Jake seems to be doing very well in this marathon too, I confess I didn''t think he would participate in this race after running just under a month ago." "You can''t compare Jake to normal people, just because he''s running a high-level 16-year-old marathon and still playing basketball at his school shows he''s special." "That''s true, even though athletics is not as popular as basketball around the world, it''s even more impressive that at age 16 Jake is competing with the best with a chance to win." "Even more because he is an American and has appeared at the right time near the upcoming Olympics in our country, it is yet another medal promise for our country." "Do you think Jake had participated in the Olympics? I thought he would try a youth athletics world for his age."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "If I could win by competing with the best I would definitely choose to participate in the Olympics, he could have the honor of winning the gold medal across the country and still so young, I don''t think he would give that up." "It''s because he is so young that I don''t think he should, in 4 years he will be 21, he can participate in 4 more Olympics after that if he wanted as an athlete in the marathon, no need to risk everything now." "Then we can only wait and see what he will choose, the ability we all know he has for it." Jake didn''t know the commentators were talking about him and was trying to focus on the race and set his pace so he wouldn''t get bored in the end. After driving the 20 km he slowed his running speed as he had planned, but he seemed not in good condition and still could not run at the right pace accelerating sometimes after changing speed. Still, his body was still fine, which was normal if he considered that he would run even more than 20 km, so if he was feeling tired now he could give up the marathon. Even so, Jake was well ahead of the other riders at this time of the race, because the second group sometimes increased the pace at the best points and slowed down the hardest paths and Jake always kept the same pace. Before Jake thought he was doing right, but now he realized that he just tired more doing it, after all, they had points that he could run faster and hold on wasting time and in places, he had to slow down he forced to keep pace. After the 32km race he began to feel the marathon tiredness, Jake felt that he was worse than his workouts and than the last marathon, he did not know if he could finish the marathon running at the same pace as he was now. Unlike before Jake was feeling tired and also very thirsty and for the first time in his marathons went through a support station to get water. Since he was not used to doing this in training Jake ended up breaking the running pace he had finally set again and still took all the water feeling bloated afterward. "This is the first time I''ve ever seen Jake stopping at one of the support stations in this marathon, from what I''ve heard, he didn''t even need to stop in Chicago." "This is normal, it''s been over an hour and a half, and it''s about noon where the heat and wear are greatest, in Chicago that the race starts earlier and it''s colder it''s been able to go on and on." "Apparently Jake is not used to going through race support stations, he seems to have lost his running pace after the stop and the water didn''t do him much good." "We sometimes forget about this because he won in Chicago, but this is just his second official marathon and for Jake''s age I don''t think he has participated in any amateur marathon before." "True, but it also shows that he has a lot to improve and evolve even though he''s one of the best 16-year-old marathon athletes, who knows in the future we can''t see Jake winning every marathon in the year." "This is hard to imagine, he shouldn''t even have much time to train now and don''t forget that if one day Jake enters the NBA basketball this marathon routine is over for him." Chapter 204 A Little Crisis 3 "That''s true, in the NBA teams play a lot of games a month and have to travel across the country, I don''t think Jake would be released just to participate in a marathon." "This is if he gets into the NBA of course, even if he''s a good player we''ll have to wait a few years to see, seeing how well he goes in the marathon I find it hard to believe that God has given him so many talents." "But I think if he could choose for sure he would rather have the knack for being a basketball star than a marathon winning athlete." "Hahaha, that for sure."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Even commentators thought basketball was more important than athletics in the United States, but that was normal, so much so that in many countries athletes have no financial support from their countries to participate in athletics competitions. Even so, talented people like Jake would choose other sports or even a normal job than being athletes and bringing medals to the country. But more popular sports like basketball didn''t need government support for the players because the companies and fans were moving enough money to pay the athletes'' millionaire salaries. As Jake approached the 39 km race he felt much more tired, so Jake realized that he was definitely having the same problem he had in the state championship final and couldn''t make the most of his performance. The problem was that Jake discovered this too late and ran more than half of the marathon with a faster running pace and his body in its current state could not stand as the marathon was him alone he could not count on anyone but him. Even if that happened Jake was still very decisive, when he realized he couldn''t complete the marathon at his current pace he slowed his running speed, luckily he was 1 and a half minutes faster than the last marathon. So Jake remembered that German finished this race in his past life in 2 hours and 11 minutes, with Jake''s current speed he could finish the marathon in 2 hours and 4 and a half minutes, so he was close to 7 minutes ahead. Since Jake was just over 3 km away to finish the marathon, it was almost impossible for him to lose even if he slowed in half. So he was decisive and slowed in half to finish this marathon first, and as Jake thought even commentators already thought of Jake as the winner. "Just over 3 km to finish this marathon, if Jake continues at this speed he can, in addition, to win break the New York marathon speed record." "That''s right, the current record is for Juma Ikangaa who in 1989 finished the race in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 1 second, but in fact, if Jake can maintain that speed he could even break the marathon world record." "Yeah, but it looks like it won''t happen today, runner Jake now seems to be drastically slowing down his running pace, I think he might be in trouble right now." "It''s really a shame, but he''s still young so it seems he couldn''t control his running pace well and so it looked like he could break all the records, but now he must have little energy." "This is really dangerous, for him to slow his pace whether it is a serious fatigue problem or even a muscle problem, Jake seemed to have control of his pace and has already slowed down the race once before halfway through the race." "He sure has talent, but since he''s always running alone and without a group, he must have accelerated too much without realizing it and got tired." "That''s right, after all, it''s been just over a month since the Chicago Marathon and he was trying to run at a much faster pace, almost 5 minutes less." "Fortunately he has a lead of more than 7 minutes to runner-up so victory still looks guaranteed." Jake thought so too and ran a lot slower, but after another 1 and a half kilometers he saw that German who was second was approaching, meaning that in the end, he must have taken more than 2 minutes in that km. What shocked Jake was that the system had warned that Jake should stop running now because he was at risk of injury. This shocked Jake that even at his top training speed he was still able to go over 46 km before having a risk of a muscle injury, but now he ran the whole marathon much slower and shortly after 40 km the system said he could suffer an injury. Jake was outraged by what was happening, he did not expect the unknown problem to affect his physical condition so much, after all, he could accept that it affected his skill in basketball which also required techniques but was now physically affecting him. Jake was in a big dilemma now, if it was one of his workouts even if it wasn''t urgent as soon as the system mentioned a risk of injury Jake immediately stopped and sat until he was recovered. But now he was in the middle of a major marathon, he was first with great advantage to German who was second and also just over 1km to finish the marathon. Jake had three choices at this time of the marathon, he could give up and lose everything he did in that marathon and so would avoid an injury, he could also risk running even if he suffered an injury to try to finish the race in sacrifice and try to take first place. Or he could eat a stamina bar, Jake knew after experimenting a few times that the stamina bar in addition to fully recovering Jake''s energy would still greatly relax his muscles and take away the tension. If he ate the stamina bar he could easily finish the New York marathon first and avoid the injury, but Jake knew he really had only one choice. He could not give up because this marathon was not only about him but also had Jake''s responsibility to his sponsors, so he could not give up near the end and almost win. He couldn''t eat the stamina bar either because Jake knew it would be like cheating, so even if he won it would stay in his mind all his life. So the only option Jake had was to force himself to finish the marathon even risking injury, of course, he only took that risk because the marathon was ending and also because Jake had no more basketball or marathon games to run before February. from another year. So Jake knew that with the help of the system and his strong physical statistics he would not be injured for long, so Jake decided to ignore the system warning and keep running. The system that could understand Jake''s thoughts also stopped bothering with the injury warning and just watched the marathon ends. In fact Jake was overcoming a fear he had always had in his heart now, having been unable to move his legs in his past life for over 20 years, Jake was afraid of being injured and unable to walk for a while. But now he was facing this fear in order to win, Jake still kept his speed for a few hundred meters until he felt a sharp pain in his right leg. Even though he was prepared for the pain Jake still fell for a moment losing his stride, German who was approaching Jake, the commentators and the audience watching at home on television, as well as the local people, were startled by it. Even slowing down Jake was still almost certain to win a marathon under 1km to complete the marathon. Jake still struggled to get up and keep running, he just ran a little slower than before despite feeling a lot of pain in his right leg, he could only continue because his strength and endurance statistics were so high. German felt sorry for Jake that it was a track and field genius to be so unlucky at the end of the race, but he was a pro and would not miss this opportunity to win the marathon a second time. "Really unbelievable what is happening to athlete Jake, someone so young and talented has been so unlucky and it looks like he will lose this marathon." "It''s really a shame what happened to this young genius, but he''s human and after running a marathon just a little over a month from Chicago he''s straining his muscles a lot." "That''s true, I see he seems to have had a right leg muscle injury, Jake seems to be in a lot of pain and yet still runs like no injury I really admire this young man''s character and courage." "It''s a shame he will lose, I respect German who won last year and is about to win again, but Jake clearly deserved to win this marathon." Commentators said they respected Jake for striving to finish the same hurting marathon, but if they knew that Jake chose to hurt himself instead of cheating they would respect him even more. Only 200 meters to the end of the marathon track German finally passed Jake who was running fast despite being hurt and in pain, German looked at Jake with respect as he passed him. Jake was not too shaken by this since he had expected it when he gave up eating the stamina bar, he was glad he was guaranteed second at least, third place was still far behind. German won the New York Marathon with just over 2 hours and 11 minutes of running, and Jake came in second with 2 hours, 11 minutes and 45 seconds as the final time. Jake regretted not winning, but was pleased with the second place due to the circumstances of the race, he was angry to not know the reason for this problem that has upset him twice and even made him lose the chance to win this. marathon. But he would have to see that after he got home and had time to think. Chapter 205 A Little Crisis 4 Jake was second and so got $ 60,000, so he had almost $ 500,000 to invest in something, he had already defined how much money he would invest in Cisco shares every year and the rest was for something else. Jake did it because otherwise he could be tempted to invest all the money he had in stock, that wasn''t good for him, even if Jake was sure he would make it he might still need the money for other things. Just like the house, he would soon have to buy for him and his mother if he was out of money he would have to sell his shares to buy this house which would be a loss for Jake. As soon as the race was over Jake ate a stamina bar and regained his energy as well as relaxed his muscles a little, soon after the doctors arrived and Jake asked to go to the podium and get the reward before going to the hospital. As Jake had still run a few hundred meters after suffering the injury and the doctors found nothing serious about Jake''s right leg they allowed it. Jake did everything he had to do and greeted German who just won, German seemed a little guilty of winning because Jake had suffered an injury, but Jake congratulated him sincerely because he knew that if he wasn''t here German would still win. After that Jake still went to the ambulance hospital because he had a lot of pain in his right leg, so the doctors quickly went to the hospital because for an athlete to find out quickly what an injury could save his career. While on his way to the hospital Jake was thinking about what happened in the marathon that was just over, Jake was feeling a lot of leg pain and just insisted on staying at the awards to sort it out and be able to go home after leaving the hospital. He didn''t want to have to go places after leaving the hospital because he stopped doing some things because of the pain, but Jake felt it was better to feel a lot of leg pain than not to feel his legs within his past life. Analyzing the marathon Jake realized that the main culprit for his defeat was himself, even though this unknown problem affected his marathon performance as it disrupted the state championship final. Jake could still have won if he had been careful just as he still won the game in the final by choosing the best way to play, the problem with this marathon was that Jake had been too hasty to do things. After all, he knew better than anyone that he had no need to try to improve his running time while he completed his first marathons, because with a time before when he was running in Chicago he could finish the marathon in 2 hours and just over 6 minutes That time would be enough to break the records of many marathons or even the world record, but Jake forced to improve his time already in his second marathon and eventually lost the chance to win. After all Jake already had enough stamina to run nearly 60 km at his previous speed, so even if this unknown problem got in the way of this marathon, he could still win easily. The doctors gave him an ice pack so that Jake could begin to recover the muscle damage before he even got to the hospital, of course, Jake only got all this treatment because he was second in the marathon and even won in Chicago. If you were an unknown athlete even if you had a more serious injury than Jake''s, you might have to look for a taxi to go to a hospital. After arriving at the hospital Jake had all the exams and it was found that his injury was grade 2 and he would only need less than 1-month rest to be able to retrain normally. So Jake was released from the hospital to go to the hotel, they asked if Jake wanted to stay for a few days to recover at the courtesy hospital since Jake was a famous athlete, but Jake denied when he learned that his injury was not serious. Jake has already arranged a plane ticket to return to Miami the other day, as he would have to lie a few weeks it was much better to do this at home. John came to talk and say goodbye to Jake before returning to Miami, Jake thought John would be nervous with Jake for not winning this time and so John''s company had less visibility than Tiffany''s last time, but it seemed that he was wrong. "With you, Jake? I was very worried when I saw that you had gone to the hospital after the marathon was over, is the injury serious?" "It''s nothing very serious, I''m fine, in a few weeks I will fully recover, so I''ll be 100 percent when the national championship starts next year." "That''s good, so congratulations on the second place in this marathon, you got an amazing feat of being in the top 3 in two marathons in a row and this time you almost won." "Thanks, I was sad that I didn''t win." "You should be happy about that, you''re still young and you will have many competitions ahead in the next few years if it weren''t for the injury no one could predict you would have won your second marathon in a row." "But if something like this happens again you should give up the race immediately after having an injury, after all, you are still young and have many competitions ahead, besides you have to worry about basketball too and if it was an injury more serious? " After saying that John left, Jake understood that John was right to say that, he should have stopped running when the system warned, after all, that it was good to have a system warning of injuries that many athletes would dream of having if Jake didn''t hear and get hurt anyway? Maybe the hormones made him too hot-blooded to not follow his experience and make these imprudent decisions. As for John, it was normal for him to be very happy about it instead of getting angry only Jake knew he could easily win this race, for John and anyone it was a miracle that Jake would suddenly pop up and get in the top three in two. major marathons. But that was a valuable lesson Jake needed to learn to be less arrogant, after all, Jake was different from other normal athletes, he just needed normal training and the system would help him improve his physical statistics. Even though Jake was talented he knew that the main reason he got all he got was the system, so he had to use it better to be even better at what he did. So Jake decided that he would retrain in the time he did before and would expect his endurance to naturally improve before improving his marathon times after all this was just the beginning for Jake in the world of athletics and he still had to try other modalities after that. After that Jake felt like he was calmer after deciding what to do next, so he slept soundly and the next day returned to Miami using crutches as a precaution, Jake ended up not telling any of this to his friends and family so no one would worry with your injury. Only Tiffany called worried after learning that Jake had been injured after the marathon through John after Jake said it was okay Tiffany congratulated him and was also happy that Jake finished the second marathon, this was unexpected for her. So Tiffany remembered Jake''s conversation again that she was aiming for the gold medal at the Olympics, so Tiffany was very excited to think so because it would be so helpful to her and Clara''s companies. After all, after learning that Clara''s company could be sold in 5 years Tiffany and Clara decided to stop investing in the company and raise money to try to buy Robert''s stock within 5 years. Clara''s mistake was that she was very anxious and used almost all of her money to buy another 5 percent of the stock and prevent the adversary from buying more stock, but it cost Clara 15 million. Part of that money even came from Tiffany who in a moment of urgency took from his reserves and even the capital of the company, fortunately later this year with the dividends Clara and Tiffany will receive this money would be replaced, otherwise, Tiffany could even be sued for this crime. Even so, they could only raise 6 million a year even if the company stopped investing as Clara could not take her father''s share either, so if this year they had to replace the capital that was "borrowed" from Tiffany''s company they would have chances of accumulating 24 million in 4 more years. That means a lot of sacrifices would be needed just to buy these shares, considering that Clara and Tiffany''s companies grew by more than 30 percent in those 5 years that sponsored Jake, they would lose the chance to grow at least 25 percent in those 5 years. This made everyone very angry, only Robert who was primarily responsible for it did not bother at all, so even if this adversary company could not buy Clara''s company they would have hurt them in 5 years. Not to mention that Clara and Tiffany knew it would be impossible to buy back that 34 percent of the company would oppose even if they wanted to buy after all that 10 percent would already take 5 years to buy. Clara''s father was the one who was most sad about it, of course, they didn''t know that Jake was just waiting for the right moment to buy these stocks, even if it''s just to help them, even buy all those 44 percents who were in such pain upside them would be possible with Jake''s profits. When Clara learned that Jake was teaching she decided to talk to him after all these months, she already knew that Jake knew all about her situation through her friend Tiffany, even though she was annoyed with her friend at the beginning.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. But Clara was just grateful for everything Tiffany was doing for her at the hardest time of her life, and Jake was also a very important person in her life right now, mainly because she knew Jake was responsible for helping her company survive this crisis indirectly. Chapter 206 A Little Crisis 5 So while Jake was recovering Clara went to pay a visit, when she arrived at Matthew''s house where Jake was living, Jake was very surprised to see that Clara was even thinner now. This is usually a good thing for women, but the problem was that Clara had been thin before and had a slender body, but with her getting thinner from depression she looked like a sick person. But Tiffany and Clara''s father were pleased that she had set aside work a little to visit Jake who had suffered an injury. Even though Jake didn''t let it show he was shocked and just smiled at Clara as he invited her in. Jake had a right thigh stretch that was a mild grade 2 injury so he could still walk now with a limp. "How are you doing, Jake?" "I''m fine, this injury isn''t serious and I just need a little rest to recover, luckily I''m almost on my vacation, so it won''t bother me so much." Jake was trying to hide that he had hurt himself not to worry his friends, so he got a medical certificate to leave school for another week. Only Joseph cared more about Jake, but when Jake said over the phone that it was okay no one cared much about it. Since this time Jake had not won the marathon even though he had the attention of commentators and the media, his name was not mentioned very much in the news after the marathon. So if even after winning in Chicago many did not see the news about Jake at his school, now that he had come second much less. "I didn''t think you were so good at marathons if you wanted you could already become a professional athlete after finishing school." "I still prefer to stay in basketball and study for a while." Jake knew Clara was just kidding in saying this, after all, who would give up a scholarship at a guaranteed university? And basketball could only bring good things to Jake and his sponsors for years to come. "I''m more worried about you, Clara, I knew what happened to you and I also see that you don''t look very healthy right now, tell me how you are." Clara didn''t expect Jake to suddenly change the focus of her conversation, she had just talked to her friends and family about what had happened, but she felt like talking to Jake about what happened too. "I''m much better now than at the beginning, I knew from the beginning that this marriage could end at any moment, but I always hoped Robert would change his mind and that we could be together." "So I just focused on work and put personal matters aside, but in the end, it turned out worse than I thought." Jake just listened in silence as Clara vented. "But I don''t think Robert is so wrong so you know, he has the company that he needed to invest in a long time, but while his father was alive Robert could do nothing and I always suggested reinvesting profits in the company, so almost 10 years Robert can never use his stock profits for nothing." "I liked him even before my dad planned this wedding, so I was a little happy before I knew Robert didn''t like me, his only shortcoming is that he''s always been a little proud and jealous, so it all turned out like this." In the end, Clara was crying and Jake just put his hand on Clara''s arm to comfort her, he didn''t think Clara really liked Robert for what he heard from Tiffany, so he understood that her shock was greater after what happened. "None of this is your fault Clara, things happen and you were right to want to invest more to improve the company, I always thought a man should be able to be proud, otherwise he just becomes stingy." "If he needed the money to invest in his other company, Robert would talk to you before, I''m sure you would understand." "I think the end of your marriage was a good thing for you, now you are free to find your happiness, as the problems of the company things will end up resolving, don''t worry so much." After that, Clara looked a little better and Jake ended up comforting her even if he was being visited, so Clara talked for a while and left. Jake knew it would take Clara much longer to get over what happened, but he was sure a strong woman like her would eventually recover and come back stronger after that. But Jake was still in a little crisis of not knowing what was happening to him if it was a physical problem like the injury to his leg Jake would be quieter because an exam would tell when he would recover. But Jake had no clue when he would recover from this unknown problem, and unknown things always cause people more fear. So before bedtime, Jake remembered that the system might know something about it after all the system was the destination that knew everything and even knew its statistics and estimated its abilities. "Fate, do you know what problem I have?" [I know, you had a mild psychological problem caused by your trust after they broke into your home.]Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Jake was much more relieved when he learned what the problem was, at least it was no longer unknown, but Jake knew the psychological problems were the most complex for athletes. Some athletes have yips that as an example of psychological illness, archers also have something known as ''target panic'' that causes many of them to lose important points in competitions. Some are just temporary and some of these problems don''t heal for life, so Jake was a little worried about that. "But my mother had no problems with that." [Your problem is not serious, your mother may have an even bigger problem than this, but you who need your mind to be in perfect condition because of sports have discovered this before.] [This must have been a shock to know that something could have happened to your mother whom you have seen die once in your past life, in time it will pass by itself.] "But how long will it take for that? I have to be fine for next year''s national championship matches." [This is hard to know even for me, but it shouldn''t be a problem for you to win the national championship, it''s hardly going to last that long, besides, you can still play well and even win a marathon if you don''t do anything exaggerated, how much The less you worry the faster you will recover.] Jake was a little relieved to at least know that this would recover soon, if it was something serious the system would say, even after the national championship Jake did not intend to participate in any other marathon anyway, so he hoped that in almost 3 months he back to normal. [Most importantly, next time you should stop running when I warn you that you are at risk of injury, this time you suffered a minor grade 2 injury, and because you continued until the end of the marathon even injured the injury almost reached grade 3.] [If this happened you would be almost 3 months unable to walk and would lose the national championship for sure, your luck helped this time and you did well to eat the stamina bar as soon as the race was over so the injury returned to grade 2 milds.] Jake was really scared of it, it seemed to be more serious than he thought, Jake thought grade 2 was already overdone for him, but he was lucky, Jake expected only a grade 1 injury when the system warned. What Jake didn''t know was that the system protected his body from Grade 1 injuries, especially after increasing his Resistance stat so much so that any injuries would be Grade 2 at a minimum and in the future would be even more dangerous. [With my help and your high Resistance as you are you should fully recover in 2 weeks, tomorrow you should be able to walk normally with a little pain, but be careful next time if you don''t want to use the stamina bar give up the race.] Even if the system understood that Jake was proud not to use the stamina bar, the system did not think pride should be more important than Jake''s health in such a situation. Jake was surprised because it was rare that the system of such councils, usually the system just watched Jake make his own decisions, so Jake understood that it should be really important. Of course Jake hoped never to go through this kind of situation again, he understood that his decision was the wrong one for the situation. Now Jake was thinking that maybe it was time to get a trainer, he understood that his marathon training was wrong with him relying only on his statistics, but that would have to wait until after he fully recovered. The most important thing was to get a coach who knew the basics of training in all types of athletics that involved running from 100 meters to the marathon, after all, Jake didn''t need very specific training with his statistics and he wanted for various modalities. Also, the coach had to be very reliable not to talk about what happened to Jake in training, after all, Jake didn''t have a normal body thanks to the system and any coach would realize that. That''s why Jake hasn''t sought a coach so far, but in order to have more effective training and for the other running modalities he needed to have proper training. Jake just had to wait until after vacation and the start of another year to start thinking again about basketball and also about the marathons and the olympics that he would try for a spot so he could relax for a while until his injury recovered. But that didn''t mean he had nothing to do in the meantime, after the vacation Jake would finally know how much Matthew''s company had made in 1995, he knew it could be even higher than the company''s total value, so Jake, You could expect a very large profit share in your first year as a shareholder. Chapter 207 A Little Crisis 6 After all, Matthew''s company was worth over $ 300 million for now, so if more than 1 million digital cameras were sold by the end of the year as Jake had hoped they could have over $ 1 billion in sales. If they sold these 1 million cameras the company would have $ 400 million in pure profit, not to mention that it would greatly increase the total value of the company if all profits were distributed Jake would receive a 20 million stake. In addition, Jake was actually being conservative with the estimate of selling 1 million cameras, until public interest could wane next year he thought they could sell at least 3 million cameras. So Jake could get 60 million shares only and could buy part of Clara''s company shares and help her, of course, that was just Jake speculation and they would have to wait to know the exact values. Another thing Jake was hoping was that Emily would soon find Jeff Bezos, Jake thought that the more time passed the harder it would be for him to have a big stake in this amazing company. But Jake couldn''t rush Emily, because, besides the work of finding someone to be very difficult, she still had several things to worry about right now, after all, Emily''s father''s friends had invested $ 30 million in Jake''s investment firm. Emily had to closely monitor whether the people she hired were doing a good job, in fact, she thought that was the most important thing at the moment than looking for an unknown person. But Emily had great respect for Jake who conquered everything he was young and without the help of his family, so she still focused on finding the person Jake was looking for right away. After a few days, Jake could walk normally and not even feel pain in his right leg, if the system had not said his injury was serious Jake thought it was just simple to recover so quickly. At the same time, Jake was impressed by the resilience his body now had, Jake hoped that as his physical stats increased his resilience would increase as well. So the month passed quickly and Jake''s holiday came and this was the first time he had no trip to make, luckily next year his mother and Anna were thinking about how to reduce their workload. As the restaurant was in its infancy and still gaining customer trust and Eva still had to learn how to be a chef, they both had to spend almost 18 hours a day at the restaurant. But next year Eva who had already learned a lot from Anna and the restaurant staff already knew what to do so Eva would stay in the morning and Anna would stay in the evening, in the afternoon the two would work together like now. Anna was also busy thinking about what would change the menu to please customers, even if it wasn''t an upscale restaurant that always needed to be changing menus the restaurant had to at least have some news for customers. At breakfast, the restaurant made small changes every week as the variety and taste were more important than the menu, plus Julius''s desserts didn''t need to be changed as all customers enjoyed and always ordered the same dishes. Eva would be shocked to learn that Jake had been injured for over a week and she didn''t even realize it, which showed how much time she spent away from home, but that was also what ensured that she was safe in the incident of breaking into her home. Jake was waiting for Emily to start doing something in his vacation time, but who came to talk to him was someone Jake had already forgotten. It was Coach Bill Guthridge, he had said he would come back later to talk to Jake about something important and had to leave after the state championship final game, but Jake thought he would come back only after the national championship. But Jake didn''t know that Coach Bill thought he might be a second Michael Jordan to his university in the future and gave Jake a lot of importance, all the more so because Coach Bill was worried about Jake after seeing Jake''s poor performance in the last game. "Hi Jake, I said I''d be right back to talk to you, how are you?" "I''m fine coaching, I''m having some problems for important games but I don''t think I would have any problems for the national championship." Coach Bill was pleased with Jake recognizing that he had a problem and being honest in telling him that, Bill also thought that Jake''s problem should be a minor problem and should not affect Jake for so long. "I also think your problem is going to disappear soon, but what I wanted to talk to you about was an important problem that you must solve before you go to university." "And what problem is that?" "It''s the problem with your sponsorship deals, I don''t know how you got those deals even though you were in high school, but at university, this is extremely forbidden and the NCAA may even punish our university and you if it is not resolved." Jake hoped this problem would arise, it was normal for Coach Bill to already know about it, Jake before needed this sponsorship to leave his mother without having to do a bad job, so he might need to go straight to the NBA without being ready just for the money. This problem with forbidden sponsorship contracts for college basketball players continued even in the 40-year-old Jake''s past life, the claim that the NCAA used was that it wanted to let it go without much publicity to preserve the universities and the players and to keep it. the audience continued to watch the games. As a result of this, a lot of problems ended up and famous players like Kobe Bryant among others ended up directly entering the NBA after high school because of it. Now Jake no longer needed these sponsorships as he and his mother have a lot of money and investments, but Jake had solved this problem in a way that maybe only he in the world could do. "Coach, I don''t think my sponsorships will be a problem, because my sponsorship contracts are not for basketball, but because I''m also a professional marathon athlete, so I won''t break any university rules." Coach Bill was shocked after hearing about this, even though Jake was indeed a marathon athlete the NCAA rule holds true for all basketball players, so Jake could not be an exception in Coach Bill''s opinion. "I think my case is a special coach, I really am a professional athlete and I won the Chicago marathon and I was also second in the New York marathon, and these two are major marathons." "Not to mention that I intend to participate in the Olympics next year to try to win a gold medal for our country, so I think it''s normal that I can have some sponsorships, it would be great for the university''s image too, I don''t think people from NCAA would refuse to make an exception for me." Coach Bill wondered what Jake said next, really if Jake had won a major marathon and placed second in the other undeniable era he was a pro and very talented at running. If Jake could win a medal at the Olympics or even just win one more marathon while in college, it would be really great for them, and even if the NCAA made an exception for Jake, it was impossible for another athlete to meet those requirements one day, that would be an exclusive case. So Coach Bill thought it might even be possible, at least he could try to recommend it to the university. "Alright Jake, I''ll at least talk about it with the university, I think the NCAA might make an exception for you, but I don''t guarantee anything."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "Thank you, coach." "So since this subject has to be set aside, for now, knowing the problem you have and that you are soon going to university to have more difficult games I have prepared something for you." "What is this coach?" "You''ll see soon." Since Jake was on vacation and had nothing to do, he agreed to go with the coach to see what this surprise was for him, so he had just spent Christmas and Jake told his mother he was going to travel. So Jake and Coach Bill got on a plane and went on a trip, on December 29th almost at New Year''s Eve Jake found out what surprise Coach Bill had prepared and enjoyed it a lot. Coach Bill had brought Jake to watch an NBA game between Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers, Jake guessed that Coach Bill wanted to show Jake how Michael Jordan played in that game. Of course Jake also paid attention to Ron Harper''s performance playing in the same position as him, but Michael Jordan was the one Jake paid the most attention to. This was known as the best season and the best Chicago Bulls team in history, so for a 6-time team just in Michael Jordan''s time, it was really amazing. Michael Jordan averaged over 30 points per game, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, yet he was a player who knew how to play as a team and so they could be champions. Jake watched the game paying close attention to his idol and Bill also just watched the game without saying anything next to him, for Bill this game was a very important lesson and lesson for Jake for him to have a career goal of trying to be like the idol. It could also take away any arrogance Jake might be feeling for being high school MVP several times, as well as show that Jake was far from the NBA and college level. This could even help Jake with the psychological problem he was facing and return to play normally for next year, after all, Coach Bill wanted Jake to come to his team after being once again champion of the national championship and come full of confidence. Chapter 208 New Business 1 The game was as good as everyone else, the Chicago Bulls team won another game, by 120-93 against the Indiana Pacers team. This was the best time for the Chicago Bulls team to end this season with a record of 72 wins and only 10 losses, at which point the Bulls would have 31 wins in 32 matches. This year Michael Jordan would be MVP again after returning to basketball after a stop to play Baseball which was his father''s wish. Michael Jordan had scored 29 points in this game and only Jake knew he was seeing one of the games of a season that would go into history for the Chicago Bulls. It was a pity that Jake couldn''t play Michael at his best, even if he could play it was Jake who couldn''t play the best. "Did you see this game well, Jake? If you can play half of what Michael plays you could one day be a great basketball player in the future." Jake agreed with what Coach Bill said, but with the system, Jake''s goal was to play at the same level as Michael Jordan, even though it might be nearly impossible Jake was determined to try even if it took another 14 years before that. After all the system said that with higher physical statistics Jake could play at his peak even after 30 years old, so he still had plenty of time to develop his skills as well. After that Jake thanked Coach Bill so much for this gift, Coach Bill told Jake that he would try to talk to the NCAA university and organization to see if Jake could get permission to have sponsors at the university. So Jake returned to Miami while Coach Bill went elsewhere, Jake was already liking Bill as a coach and expected to see him again soon. After returning home, Jake went back to light training to fully recover, Jake was now thinking about how he could find a coach that suited his requirements and was still reliable. It wasn''t that Jake was worried that something really bad could happen to him because even all the technology in the world couldn''t figure out how the system improved his body and what Jake had different from others. But it would be strange if Jake were seen as different from other athletes in their physical appearance, he also wanted to be recognized as a talent above all. So Jake decided to ask Tiffany for help again, after all, she was the only trusted person Jake could ask for help now as Clara was worse than Tiffany because of the problems and Jake didn''t trust John much. Tiffany said she would look for someone suitable for Jake, the fact that Jake wanted someone who only knew the basics and was also trustworthy made things a lot easier for her. If he asked for an elite coach or someone famous, it would be much more difficult for Jake, who was still playing basketball, no professional coach would accept an athlete with keen attention. So Jake tried to prove himself while he was young, so he wouldn''t have so much trouble in the future, he knew Tiffany should take the entire vacation to find someone suitable because she was busy. So Jake waited again for news of Emily who promised to meet Jeff by the end of the year and could not keep the promise as the year would end in another day. But Jake didn''t blame her because she knew Emily had so many other things to worry about besides looking for Jeff, so Jake spent the year quietly with his mother and continued his training that intensified when Jake saw that he was recovering. While training and waiting for Emily, Jake received an invitation that was unexpected to him, it was a request from the football team to have Jake play in a friendly match for them over the weekend. Coach Jim knew that Jake had a great physical performance in PE classes and also playing for the basketball team, Coach even knew that after all the training that Jake was still running on the school''s athletic field. In fact, it was the football team that had the biggest problems after the Elite school decided to focus more on sports because it was essential that the school make the biggest investment in football that was America''s favorite sport. But while only making a promise to a few talented students for all sports including Jake and his teammates, the school could easily win state championships. Unfortunately, this was not possible for football, because it needed at least 33 very talented players to improve the elite school''s weak football team, which was almost the number of students called in for all sports. In addition, usually schools famous for being good at sports had two teams, and the VARSITY core team and the secondary team that was VARSITY JUNIOR, so they would have to have at least 70 good players to have some prominence.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Even if the school promising scholarships could invite these players and win the state championship it would be for a maximum of 2 years and then the team level would fall again. Even as the school was needed, it made a big investment, and in two years it got an American football team to beat class 5A in the Florida region, which made talented new students interested in writing at school. In the other 2 years, the football team still achieved good results thanks to the good work of coach Jim and even if they didn''t win the Elite school it was still well placed in those two years building greater confidence for new players to enter. But even so the number of good players the school had decreased and many ended up getting injured at the end of the year, so earlier this year as the VARSITY JUNIOR team also had a friendly and had no player for the first team coach Jim got not knowing what to do. So he chose the student he thought could best play among everyone in school, of course, he did it because he didn''t know Jake had just recovered from an injury. Even though Jake wasn''t a fan of football, he still knew the rules very well, and with his statistics, it would be very difficult for anyone to hurt Jake in normal contact, Jake was also looking for a sport that could improve his strength and football could. be a good idea. Of course Jake would never think of becoming a pro at this, but to play in his spare time would be a good idea if Coach Jim knew what Jake was thinking he would probably regret inviting Jake to the team. Jake showed up at the school''s football training ground, no one came to talk to him and so Jake stood by the field until a young man came to take Jake to put on his protective gear before starting training. As Jake was not used to the boy who was one of the staff assistants helped Jake put on his protective gear and uniform, as it was a rich private school everything was new and had lots of extra equipment for everyone. When Jake returned to the field, coach Jim stepped away from team training and came to talk to Jake as he was the one who invited him to help the football team. "Hi Jake, thank you so much for coming to help the team now that we needed it." "No problem coach, I was on vacation and it''s just for a game." "I''m glad you think so, for today you will just watch the training while the assistant explains some tactics and formations we use for you if you have any questions you can ask him." After that Coach, Jim returned to follow the team''s training while the assistant began to show in a small board various formations and schemes that were used by the football team just as the coach said. Jake listened very attentively while sometimes looking at the field to see the training, he asked many questions about things he did not understand to the assistant who explained everything patiently. It seemed that Coach Jim really wanted Jake to really learn everything and left the assistant all day to teach Jake everything he needed to do the assistant sometimes repeated the same thing over and over again. Jake wasn''t upset about that because he really wanted to learn everything the assistant said, so at the end of the training day, Jake was just upset about having to wear protective gear for nothing as he was not called to play. After Jake went home thinking that the day was lost, in fact, Jake didn''t know why the coach bothered to teach him all this, after all, Jake didn''t think he would even have a chance to play as he had not trained and that he was just there to cover the numbers. But if he could, Jake thought he could play as Running Back (RB) or Wide Receiver (WR), after all, Jake was certainly more agile and flexible than these other High School players. Someone from the NFL could be faster than Jake, but his stats were too high for his age, as the strength only the heaviest and biggest players could be stronger than Jake, but these players couldn''t keep up with Jake at speed. After all, it was impossible for anyone to have Jake''s strength without having developed muscles, it was possible for Jake thanks to the help of the system, and with larger muscles, players lose speed. After everyone left home, the coach arrived to talk to the assistant who stayed with Jake all day, Coach Jim was all day paying attention to Jake even while coaching the team. "So how did it go?" "He is better than the expected coach, from the questions I asked him later in the day it seems that one day he managed to memorize almost all the tactics I gave him." Coach Jim was very pleased to hear this, he thought that because Jake was the best player on the basketball team and was suddenly asked to help the school football team he would be annoyed to have to do all day doing nothing. just listening to the team tactics. But to Coach Jake''s surprise, he had no arrogance and listened attentively without even complaining about anything. Chapter 209 New Business 2 Jake thought the coach called him to the football team just to complete numbers, but he was completely mistaken, coach Jim paid close attention to the information he had long ago about Jake. In addition to his physical talents, Jake was also the best student in the class and the PG of the basketball team. In addition, the coach heard that it was Jake who led the team at the games and Coach Mike just coached the team during the week and spent all of their time. the instructions to Jake. Coach Jim also heard that in the beginning when the team had not played much time together that Jake passed the moves to the team players through hand signals, this all shows his intelligence and leadership ability. If Coach Jim wanted only players to complete the numbers he could call some from the JUNIOR VARSITY team, and the secondary team could recruit some players from the school, many wanted to play on a recently champion football team. Coach Jim didn''t know Jake was that fast from his games either, so Coach was thinking of using Jake to replace the two-quarterback (QB) who had been injured, the JUNIOR VARSITY team had only one player in that position who wasn''t so good. So Coach Jim was thinking of testing Jake in this position, so it was important that Jake memorize all team tactics before they could train other things after all the fitness coach knew Jake had. So Jake just had to train a few short passes or aerial throws during the week, it was Coach Jim''s big bet, but this was just a friendly one and he would only use Jake for once if Jake didn''t get a satisfactory result during the week, the Coach could just let Jake out of the game. After arriving home Jake continued studying the notes he had received from the assistant football team, this was all very interesting to Jake and even if he didn''t play he found it useful to learn some things like that. Jake had always taken everything he did seriously, so he was successful in many things, with Jake''s intelligence being very high and most of the time he spent studying these tactics Jake was confident that he would remember everything if necessary. The other day the assistant helped Jake put on his protective gear and prepared to teach Jake again about team tactics, but Jake said he didn''t have to because he had learned it all already. The assistant was not surprised and thought that Jake was just being arrogant and didn''t want to waste any more time studying, after all even the quarterbacks of the main team could not say that he had memorized all tactics. The quarterback usually learns only the basics of tactics and only studies those that can be used in the best games shortly before the games, otherwise, it would not take the time to organize the team in the attacks. Seeing how confident Jake was, the assistant asked several difficult questions while his tactics were in hand, he thought if he showed that Jake didn''t know everything he could continue teaching. But then the assistant was surprised how Jake had really decorated everything, so he went to ask Coach Jim what to do, Coach Jim was surprised because he didn''t expect to include Jake in today''s training. So he decided to go through the training that Jake would have to do the other day with the starting players while Jake would watch alongside the assistant explaining what Jake would have to do if he was in training. Jake accepted that and spent another day with his protective gear unused even once standing beside the field, yet Jake was glad that he was learning so many things he didn''t know about football training. The other day in the first part of the training Jake started to participate, first of all, he would have to do the 40-yard race for the coach to know his time, Jake had never done anything like this before but had heard many times on television. So Jake knew it was tough and he gave his race the maximum, he got a time of 4.61 in the race, that wasn''t considered very fast in the NFL, but as Jake was still 16 he impressed everyone. Even more, because it was his first time doing the 40 yard race, everyone admired Jake who had one of the best times of the team, in fact, Jake''s fort was more endurance than blast, he could keep his top speed for 200 meters for example.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. When Jake''s agility was over 50 he could even compete with sprinters because of it, then the assistant gave Jake the race course that Running Back (RB) and Wide Receiver (WR) would do. So Jake was happy because he was certain he would be in these positions just as he had thought, Jake was even wondering if he could make a touchdown, with his speed and strength he was confident of doing at least one in training. After several people trained the coach called Jake to talk to him, and Jake was excited thinking about how he could do a Touchdown. "Jake I know you already learned most of the team''s tactics in the early days and saw how we do the training so today you are going to play quarterback, I think you''ve seen what the trajectories WR and RB will do." After hearing that Jake was shocked, he never thought he would play quarterback after all this was the most important position of the team and Jake had never played football seriously before, so he had no confidence in leading the team to make the points without experience. Coach Jim saw that Jake was surprised and pleased with it, he thought Jake was capable of it but didn''t want to see Jake being too arrogant thinking that he could easily or would go wrong. "You don''t have to worry about that, the quarterback''s main job is to organize the team, know the right tactics to catch the opponent by surprise and make the passes and plays, you''ve always done the first two things, making the passes is the only one that you need to train." With training making the passes was really the easiest, but knowing the right time to make a pass while having the pressure of the game, with opponents trying to knock you down and your teammate receiving the pass has to be moving that makes it all harder. Not to mention that a good quarterback has to have a lot of strength and a good arm in addition to being spatially aware not to lose the ball before making the pass, but Jake doesn''t have to worry about that as he would play just one game. Also, it was great that this game was just a friendly one, but with the psychological problem that Jake is in he could end up playing very badly if the game was serious, of course, Jake didn''t even think he could play. So Jake went along with his assistant and was training how to do the oval ball throws, luckily Jake already knew how to do that from PE classes and playing a few times with friends in his past life. The assistant was surprised because Jake looked like he was used to playing with the oval ball and didn''t miss a pass, even when the assistant went further, it showed that Jake had at least the strength to be a quarterback. After a while the coach called Jake to do basic passing training while the WRs moved as agreed, Jake easily passed the training and missed none. It was easier because there was no one in defense, but even experienced quarterback could end up missing that training, Coach Jim grinned and was glad to see that he was right about Jake. At least he already knew that Jake could play on Sunday if Jake could make the hardest passes in the pressure of the match when everyone had a training with the teams of 11 of the attack against the 11 of defense Jake missed many more passes. This was because with a defensive player the WR could not move exactly as it was in training because he had to clear the defender, so the quarterback must read the move well and set the pass even with the WR out of the pass route. Even so, no one was mad at Jake who was playing for the first time with the team, just about him hitting the pass and receiving the ball from the Center without knocking it off his team-mates. Even though Jake still hit some passes and others it was Receiver''s fault that he dropped the ball even though Jake''s pass was right, all of which made the coach happy as they still had 3 more days to train and hit everything. After all Jake was just training to set his passing time calmly, but when the opposing defenders pass the Guards (LG / RG) and Tackle (LT / RT), Jake will have to learn to think faster and dodge the opposing defenders that will try to bring it down. Even though Coach Jim was very pleased with Jake''s performance, someone once said that a genius player in one sport could play in other sports and Jake was proving it just as Michael Jordan did. Too bad Coach Jim thought Jake was too old to start playing football, if Jake had started a few years earlier he might have had a chance to become a pro, but now that was almost impossible unless Jake had amazing talent as a quarterback. Luckily Jake wasn''t even thinking about becoming a pro football player, even though he enjoyed the sport was impossible for what Jake wanted to do in his life, Jake was thinking of playing basketball because he loved the sport and wanted to get very rich. He also wanted to run in athletics because he loved running and wanted to try to win several gold medals at the Olympics, so love was not the only reason for Jake to do these two sports. To win medals more easily he could only participate in sports that required more strength or even fighting sports such as judo, even swimming was better suited to winning the medals. But he knew that it was not possible to do various sports in his life and the marathon involved running and were similar to the method of physical training that Jake already did for basketball, so both sports could be practiced by Jake. Chapter 210 New Business 3 But if Jake tried American football too he would be at great risk even if he could become a professional player, after all the fatigue he would face with this sport that had too much physical contact would be too much and not even the stamina bar could help Jake improve. In addition, Jake could end up with several injuries that would hinder him with basketball and athletics, if running Jake had already had an injury it was impossible to expect that the same would not happen with American football. But Jake thought that he could try sometimes to participate in some games and training just to improve his strength, of course, these games would not be at the university or in an NFL team but with some friends. The other day Jake was even better with his passes, with his hundreds of games in his imagination training space. Jake had already learned several tricks to learn how to predict his mates'' passing movements at the right time. After all, even though in basketball the passes weren''t as difficult as in football, Jake''s experience still helped, after all, Jake was known to rarely miss a pass in basketball training and games. In football if Jake could hit a pass every 4 plays he could lead any team to champion, of course, that was easier said than done, Jake hit 1 pass every 10 attempts on his second day. When everyone saw that Jake was much better and more used to hitting pass times, the defense suddenly opened on the orders of coach Jim and the players of the positions of Defensive End (DE) and Defensive Tackle (DT) understood what the Coach wanted and knocked down Jake who didn''t expect it. Jake was a little confused by what had happened and soon realized that he had suffered a sack from the opposing players, it wasn''t that Jake didn''t know this could happen but that he understood that the coach was just training him and not letting his opponents go do that. In addition, Jake knew it should be his attacking teammates'' job to protect him as he made the moves, so as he stood he looked bitterly at the coach and his teammates. "Don''t be mad at your teammates Jake, I was the one who planned this, you as a quarterback always have to pay attention to opposing players as you prepare to pass, this time you understand that sometimes the team can make a mistake and you will fall like now." Of course Jake understood why the coach did that, but Jake couldn''t help being upset because he could defend himself if he knew his opponents would pass by his teammates and not suffer Sack. In the following plays, Jake was always preparing the pass while watching the opposing players, Coach Jim was pleased with it, he thought that if he made Jake caught unprepared he would be more aware after that. So Jake was now missing more passes but was trying to make passes faster because he was worried that opposing players would try another Sack, now Jake was acting more like a quarterback. Jake ended up suffering 5 more Sack in training because he didn''t have time to pass, but even the coach was surprised how Jake was still able to dodge the DE and DT opponents before being knocked down, which shows how Jake had agility. When training was over Jake took off his protective gear and went home tired to bathe and rest, Jake couldn''t help but think about how hard it was to be a quarterback even in training. Of course, this was because Jake was not used to it and he still had many limitations on his current training, but since everything was so intense Jake focused more on what the trainer said than what he remembered watching on television. While Jake was training without him realizing he had fully recovered his best form before the injury, the football team also had to do warm-up and physical training every day before tactical training. It was a different training from what Jake was used to and much harder than what he did on the basketball team every day, but Jake who had high physical stats and did a lot of physical training every day could do that training easily. It also made Coach Jim and the other players very surprised, after all, Jake seemed to do the exercises more easily than athletes who were used to doing the same every day, even Jake''s repetitive weightlifting training could easily lift more than 100 kg several times. For over three years Jake was used to doing weight training, even though he couldn''t lift weights over 300kg at the hip as many NFL players could easily lift over 200kg. The other day Coach Jim decided to call Jake to pass on what he had to do in the next days of training from now on, after all, Jake was being trained to participate in the game on Sunday and they didn''t have much time to fully prepare it. "Jake, you''ve been doing very well in the training we''ve had so far, but today we''ll have to do the full training every day until the game day if you don''t understand something you can ask me." "Complete training? As well?" "I speak training but more actually it will be more like various simulated games between the attacking and defensive teams, we will have all the plays of a normal game and even the races and score." So Jake understood, he wanted to do a touchdown or a Field goal, but if he could give a pass to a WR or an RB to touchdown he would be happy too. As the coach taught the players the way the assistant Jake always knew well came to explain what the training would be like now and also what moves he had to know to do. So Jake finally understood that his training was so difficult for him because he didn''t have many play options and not even the four down attempts that the attacking team usually has to attempt the touchdown.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. In games the quarterback usually has 3 different attack options, he can pass the ball and make throws for WR as Jake had been training, he could also pass the ball to RB to try the race or he could run himself to try to advance. Since in training everyone knew that Jake would only try to make passes as that was what the coach wanted, it was obvious that Jake and WR had a much harder time getting the move, as training started Jake awkwardly called the move they would make. He thought it was cool to watch the quarterback screaming loudly on television, but it was too embarrassing to do so, in the first play the assistant said that Jake should try the play with RB, Jake was happy because it was the play he found easier for QB do. Jake didn''t know how to analyze the level of his team''s players because he wasn''t used to watching high school football games, but he had heard from assistants that in the last 4 years the president of Elite school has decided to focus on sports the team School football has always had the best defense. This was not only because the school invited many talented students from other schools to the Elite school, and had more to do with hiring Coach Jim, he was on the coaching staff of one of the universities that had one of the best teams. Even though Coach Jim was not the head coach of this team he learned a lot from the coach watching him work and was also responsible for the defensive part of the team, in which one team had more than 40 players and three teams needed to have one. good coaching staff besides the head coach. Thus at least the defensive part of the Elite football team was guaranteed, and in high school, the attacks of the teams are generally weaker because it is difficult to find a QB who had the strength and good arm to play and who has intelligence as well. So RB racing is usually the main move, and a firm defense is the best countermeasure for a talented RB, seeing how difficult it was for his team''s RB to advance 2 yards in training, Jake saw that the easiest move for him was not Very helpful on staff. For lack of a good QB after the best student in that position invited by the school that the team was having difficulty winning the state championship again, in the other move Jake would try a race again. So RB advanced just 2 yards again and the attacking team had advanced just 4 yards and needed at least 6 more for the first dawn, so from what he saw on television Jake knew the coach would ask Jake to try a pass now. After all, even though there were 4 attempts usually the 4 attempts were made a punt so that the team would not risk losing the ball, Coach Jim asked Jake to try a pass this time as he thought. So with two WRs on his team, Jake had only two attempts, as the opposing team knew that Jake was not very experienced they could exclude Jake''s option by making a race, as this was the 3rd attempt they usually thought the team in the attack would try a pass. But what Jake didn''t know was that he only had one attacking team and one defending team didn''t need a punt on the fourth try, but Jake thought he was out of options, Jake received the ball in Shotgun position and moved quickly to the right where I had the most protection. The coach recommended that Jake make the move with the left WR that would run straight and cut in the middle, but midway through the play, he saw that the defensive team''s CB was waiting for this move. So he decided to play with the right WB who would run straight and cut out getting close to the sideline, luckily the right WB was more free when he cut right and Jake made a Lob Pass and the WB jumped to get the ball safely. With this move the attacking team had advanced 8 more yards and achieved the first dawn and would continue on the further attack, Jake was happy to get his first dawn playing as QB, he thought it was as satisfying as making points in basketball. Chapter 211 New Business 4 Coach Jim was the one who was most impressed, Jake decided on his own for a different play than the assistant had recommended, and that was the right decision to get the first down to attack. He didn''t expect Jake to get a first down on his first play, so the next play would soon start and it would be another race, this time Jake was in a position closer to Center and then passed the ball to RB. The RB managed to find a gap between the opposing defense and managed to advance 4 yards before making a slide, the attack was quite happy with that, but the defenders were upset with Jake who was a novice playing so well. This time again the assistant said that the recommended play was a race with the RB, the assistant always said it was the recommended play because the WB was always ready to receive a pass on every move. All coaches encouraged the quarterback to have more freedom to choose which move to make because the moves were always changing and the coach could not predict the opposing moves. This time the defenders were determined to stop the race, so Jake who was in Shotgun''s position saw that the race was a bad idea, so when he wondered who would pass he saw that an opposing DT had managed to get past Jake''s defenders and I was trying a sack. Jake used his speed to run to the right and get as far away as possible while trying to analyze the play, Jake still making the pass to the left WR that had cut in half again. The WR managed to receive the pass and the attacking team was able to advance another 4 yards, even though being knocked over by the DT after passing the pass Jake was still happy to see that he had succeeded. Even Coach Jim was shocked again to see that Jake had decided to change play correctly and still made the pass while walking away from the opposing player trying to take him down. It was hard to see this in a quarterback even though he had several years of experience, but Jake was a newbie so it was more surprising, a quarterback who can usually analyze the moves well while withstanding the pressure of his opponent and has a good presence of Pocket has the so-called Poise. That was the hardest thing for any quarterback to teach and it''s a kind of talent in itself, the coach was increasingly thinking that Jake could have a great career if he started early in football and could be an NFL player if he had the time. After the team continued training until the end of the day, Jake was even more tired than the day before and was very dirty and sore after being knocked down several times in the training rounds, so after removing the protective gear he decided to take bath in school just like the other players did. After Jake went home with a smile on his face despite being very tired, he was happy to make a good game and had much more fun with his teammates than on the basketball team. So over the next few days everyone repeated the same training routines and had games between attacking and defensive teams, Jake quickly got used to playing quarterback and even risked a few races to win a few yards in a few plays. So everyone finished the last training before Sunday''s game, Jake was sad to realize that this was perhaps the last training as the football team players, he became very friendly and had fun with the attacking team and even earned the respect of the team defensive after getting several moves. Jake thought that if he played on this team before he could have many friends in his high school days, but because of the risk of injury Jake had not risked playing football before, even though now he can play well with his teammates and having no risk of injury was because it evolved. He has trained his body with the help of the system since he was 10 years old, that means he was training for over 6 years, only playing a lot of basketball can greatly improve his technique and further improve his physique, the last year he also gained a lot from training to run the marathon. If he had tried to play only football before when he was over 10 years old he would not have been able to improve so quickly and be so prominent in the team, not to mention that he would be injured to have the physical statistics he had now. And surely he would have no sponsorship to help him and his mother like he did in basketball many years ago, Jake was not blinded by his current success and knew his priorities, so he could still have a lot of fun with American football sometimes. Before Jake went home on his last day of pre-match training Coach Jim called him in for a final conversation, Jake was also very grateful for Coach Jim''s invitation when he was feeling a little bad about losing the New York marathon and had nothing to do on vacation. "I wanted to thank you again, Jake, who came to help our team even if you were on your vacation." "Alright coach, I always wanted to know what it was like to play football and you gave me that chance, I really enjoyed my week here."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "Glad to hear that, I''m not going to invite you to join the football team because I know you already have everything going to college to play basketball and will be a great NBA player in the future, but I wanted to say I think you have amazing talent and could be an NFL star as a quarterback. " Jake knew that the talents that Coach Jim was talking about was what Jake had gained from his years of basketball experience and with the help of the system, Jake understood that even if he had some basketball talent before, it wouldn''t be enough for him to be a pro. So Jake knew that it was because of the system that he could play basketball so well and his talents had developed, so with the system, Jake could also have a chance to play in the NFL and be good at any sport. Still, Jake was very grateful to the system that was helping him fulfill all the dreams he had in his life. "I wanted to say that I was happy to see that I was right to call you for this friendly, you did much better in training than I expected and you will play as a quarterback on the attacking team in Sunday''s game." After saying that Coach Jim left, Jake was very excited to hear this, he hoped after seeing that he was training as a quarterback in every training session of the week he could play on Sunday, but hearing from the coach was different. Of course, he didn''t say anything about it to his mother, Eva never really liked American football because she found it a very violent sport when Jake played from time to time in her past life she always got angry with him about it. Even if he explained to her that the sport was very competitive and had a lot of tactics and required intelligence as well as strength to play, it was difficult to take Eva''s bias out of football, especially as she heard the news of players hurting themselves despite all the protective gear they wore. So Jake thought it best to keep it a secret from her, in fact, Jake felt guilty for doing so, even if it was not to make Eva worried, he already had many secrets and hid many things from his mother that he was always so close to. Eva didn''t know yet that Jake had an investment company and 5 percent of Matthew''s company, she didn''t know that Jake had been injured this time and many other things that Jake was hiding to make Eva quiet. When Sunday arrived Jake woke up very early and quickly prepared breakfast and went to the game venue, it would be in a small stadium in town that was made for even football games. The Elite school was still building a new stadium to host its games, which was one reason many players were still afraid to choose Elite school to study and play football. The opposing team for this friendly was a class 7 team and was much weaker than the current Elite team, but even so, they could bring a lot of work for Jake''s team today. They were chosen for this friendly because the attack from this team was strong and the defense was weak, so the Elite team could train their strong defense and have an advantage in the attacks, and the opposing team would win by having a strong team to train and see what the limits were. Jake joined his teammates to hear the moves that would be played in the coach''s game, Jake went to the assistant to know what he would need to do in the game, but those were just rehearsed play instructions and suggestions. Coach Jim left Jake to decide which moves he thought were best done, as this was a friendly game. Jake thought he wouldn''t have any psychological problems disrupting him. In fact, the problem could have been healed Jake didn''t know, but he knew that in this game he would be fine, soon the Elite team kicked off and the friendly game started, the opposing team''s comeback advanced a little and threw himself to the ground. start the first play of the game. Jake was on the bench watching as the Elite defense team took the field, Jake heard several times that this defensive team was the best in class 5 for 4 straight years, but Jake only knew that they knocked him down several times even when they weren''t.playing for real. Now Jake was just hoping that the defensive team was right in this friendly match that the opposing team could not achieve a touchdown or a field goal, yet Jake paid attention to the opposing team''s quarterback to see if he could learn anything else. But Jake soon saw that the opposing team''s QB had a very different style to him and began playing in the under center position, so Jake had learned that QBs who played from that position were usually because they had little agility or made many moves with RB. Jake preferred Shotgun''s position because he gave more time to analyze the play to try the WR pass or the RB race, and also gave more time to react if the opposing team went through their teammates to try Sack. Chapter 212 New Business 5 Jake saw the opposing team advance 37 yards before making the punt, so the attacking team along with Jake would finally have their chance to play, they would start from the 30-yard line, so had to get 7 runs to get to Endzone. The play suggestion was a race with the RB that was on Jake''s left, Jake decided to try this play and called the play with much more confidence than in the first practice after Hut Jake received the ball and handed it to the player RB that was on the left. The RB ran to the left trying to get out of the opposing defensive line, even though Jake thought both of his team''s RBs were too fast, before being knocked down he managed to advance 4 yards which was very good to get the first down. After the team quickly organized to start another play, again they would try a race, Jake received the ball and went to the left RB again who managed to advance 7 yards this time getting the first down for the team in the game. After a few moves Jake realized that the opposing team''s defense was actually much lower than the Elite team''s defense that Jake always had to face in training, only with the races did they get after many moves to advance more than 50 yards and less to go of 20 to reach Endzone and get the touchdown. Even though sometimes Jake had to change the suggested moves he didn''t need to make any passes for the WR, but in the last 20 yards, it seemed that the opposing defense started to improve suddenly and in the first 2 races they could only advance 4 yards. So on the third try the assistant said it was time for Jake to try a pass, Jake got excited and after receiving the ball from Center began to analyze the play, the recommended play was with the left WR, but both WR they were well defended on the routes they ran. Jake saw that the RB was also well observed by the opposing defenders, so within seconds Jake realized that he had no choice in this play, so he saw that he could be able to advance himself with the ball from the left. When Jake started running an opposing DT player had just passed the protection of his teammates, if Jake took another minute he would no longer have a chance to try the race. Jake managed to run trying to get as close as possible to the left sideline, he had a good run and managed to catch his opponents off guard and was knocked down after advancing 11 more yards. He was happy to get down after the move but was upset when he realized he was close to getting the touchdown he wanted so much when he was asked to play, of course, he knew it was very difficult for him to achieve as a Quarterback. Coach Jim was very pleased with Jake''s performance, it would have been worthwhile to invite Jake to this friendly for the football team alone, even though Jake wasn''t necessarily better than his team''s quarterbacks he had a different style of game. Just 3 yards to Endzone, Jake''s team was excited as opponents were afraid of falling behind, Jake, who had experience of being under pressure, only calmly organized the play. The assistant said the suggestion was a race, but that Jake could try the pass if he could get the Touchdown after that Jake received the ball and the right WR entered Endzone and ran into the middle unmarked. Jake didn''t miss this opportunity and made a bullet pass to the receiving WR and dived to the ground to secure the touchdown. After that Jake celebrated as if he had dunk or Alley-oop in the game, it was very satisfying to give a pass that ends with the team''s touchdown, so the Elite team was winning by 6 points. After the team kicker still hit the kick and made an extra point, now the Elite team had 7 points lead against the opposing team in the game, Jake returned to the bench to rest happily and was congratulated by his teammates. The opposing team failed to score in their chance to attack and punctured again after advancing more than 50 yards. In this first quarter ended with neither team getting any points and the Elite team continued to win by 7 points, in the second quarter of the game the opposing team managed to score 3 points with a field goal. Jake suffered Sack a few times because he had no play options and WR fumbled a few plays and the Elite team lost some chances to increase the lead. In the middle of the third quarter the Elite team was just 30 yards from Endzone, Jake was starting to get tired of the pressure of the game even though he had plenty of time to rest between plays. After two races they had advanced just 2 yards and Jake was in a dilemma about what to do, as the players were on vacation and we''re just playing a friendly with a weaker team, Jake''s offensive teammates were not taking the play very seriously. Fortunately, the coach had a lot of control over the defensive team that was doing his part, so the Elite team was still winning the game, but the opposing team was seeing an opportunity to win with the inattentive offensive team. Jake would only play this friendly as an Elite team football player, so he seriously trying to win differently from his teammates, so in this third race, Jake told the coach to put 3 WR into this play. That would make it obvious that it was a pass attempt, but Jake thought the WRs were at least playing this game more seriously and he might have a better chance of getting another pass down. Coach Jim had also realized the problem of the offensive team, but he could not solve it in the middle of the game and so agreed with Jake and put another WR on the field, the opponent had also made changes to defend themselves better. But Jake thought the opposing team''s defense was weaker and so they didn''t have much flexibility to adapt to unexpected game changes, Jake also asked the incoming WR to be higher and the coach put the 2.03 WR in feet tall. So after the play started and the taller WR ran diagonally from right to left, so Jake''s TE blocked the opponent a bit and the WR got free and kept running. Even so Jake held the pass as he saw that his teammates were able to hold their opponents longer, so Jake made the pass when a DE managed to pass and prepared to Sack Jake. Two players from the opposing team were chasing after the highest WR and so Jake did the unexpected and went to the right-hand WR, even though the opposing CB did not expect Jake to give up the higher WR and passed the ball. what he was marking for. The high pass that Jake made was very easy for WR to catch with his fingertips while jumping, it was so good that WR received the pass and still managed to stand and the opponent CB''s front, so he kept running. He ran as hard as he could yet be knocked down 4 yards before Endzone, so the Elite team would have 4 more chances to try the touchdown or Field goal, Jake was confident of getting it and asked the coach to keep the 3 WR for those attacks. Since the RB no longer seemed to want to attack and make the moves Jake thought it was best to try riskier passes, but if he got one of the three passes would be enough for the touchdown. In the first play, WR almost managed to catch the pass but dropped the ball and after struggling to maintain possession of the ball, so in the other play as they wondered which WR Jake would choose he decided to run left with the ball. The DE realized that Jake was attempting the touchdown and decided to intercept Jake before he attempted the slide, but Jake had no thought of trying the slide and when the DE appeared for contact Jake had the ball under his left arm. Endzone was only 4 yards away, but in Shotgun position, Jake received the ball a few yards back and so needed to run much harder to touchdown, Jake blocked the DE who weighed over 100 kg with his right arm making a Stiff Arm. So Jake managed to protect the ball and made the touchdown for the Elite team, now the Elite team had 13 points and was 10 more than the opponent, the kicker missed the shot and missed the chance to get an extra point, but all they knew the game was decided. Jake was happy to have made a touchdown, he used the fact that the RBs were unmotivated and asked for another WR for the coach, he asked for the highest WR and everyone thought Jake who had a good pass would use WR''s height to get the touchdown. So Jake got another breakthrough for the team by fooling opponents and even teammates, missing 4 yards. Jake kept the WR because he was thinking of using the 3 bait WR and getting a CB that could hinder his race to do the touchdown. So he got the touchdown even risking the whole team attack, that could be bad for a normal QB, but Jake wasn''t really from the football team and would just play this friendly, besides, he had made a good game and helped the team.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. He always wanted to do a touchdown and couldn''t miss that chance with the team winning, to ensure the touchdown Jake even used the Stiff Arm he had only seen on television to not risk the slide. In the fourth quarter Jake managed to get the Elite team to less than 20 yards to Endzone, so Coach Jim who saw that the Elite team had already won decided to make a Field goal to end the game, the kicker redeemed himself and scored 3 more points and increased the score to 16 points. So the opposing team also gave up trying to win the game and the game ended after a while with the Elite team winning 16-3, Jake left happy with this victory. Chapter 213 New Business 6 After the end of the game, Jake was tired and just wanted to go home, so after celebrating with some teammates that Jake had befriended he left home with Coach Jim saying that Jake should look for him the other day. So Jake went home happy with this training after he got home he was very pleased with his own performance and after playing a game worthless he was much more excited. Jake was feeling bad about having poor performances in both marathon and basketball, after all, it was hard for him to accept that he had a psychological problem when he went through everything he had before so playing well after resting for a while did very well for him. The other day Jake couldn''t go to school to talk to Coach Jim as he had promised because it was his birthday, he was so busy and thinking about everything that was happening that he even forgot his birthday. But Eva hadn''t forgotten, she knew Jake was going through some problems she didn''t talk to her about, this year she knew they couldn''t make the trip like every year because she was still busy with the restaurant. So she at least wanted to celebrate Jake''s birthday properly, so she called all of Jake''s friends so he could forget about the problems, only Matthew couldn''t come because he was in Europe tracking camera sales there. Even though Tiffany and Clara who were in a lot of trouble showed up, Clara seemed to be feeling much better after being apart for so long, she was happier after knowing she could still count on her friends at a time like this. So Jake was happy with the surprise and celebrated with his entire 17th birthday, after a simple celebration everyone congratulated Jake and went home, after all, they were very busy people. "Thanks for that surprise mom." "Glad you liked it, I didn''t expect this surprise to work because you always pay attention to your birthday and mine, but it seems like you''ve been so worried about your things that you even forgot." "You have nothing to worry about mom, I was training with some friends from the football team and so I forgot my birthday, nothing to worry about." "I believe you were really coaching football, but your that you''ve been worried about something, but if you don''t want to tell me okay, I just want you to remember that I''ll always be with you and that you can always count on with me and say what is worrying you, after all, I am your mother." After that Jake went to the bedroom to rest, he was happy to hear what his mother said, but still, he planned to say nothing about the problem he was passing to his mother, after all in a problem so she could not help anything besides giving support like she was already doing without knowing it. Jake was now 17 years old and this year he would have to do many things, besides the national championship basketball games, he would still have some marathons to participate in and try to get into the Olympics that year. Also, this would be his last semester at high school and his first semester at university, Jake just had to wait if Coach Bill could convince the university that Jake could continue sponsorship by himself as a marathon runner as well as a basketball player. With Jake choosing North Caroline University, the school president asked all the NBA people and other basketball leagues who were trying to talk to Jake to quit, it was better for Jake not to end up offending some of those scouts. The president didn''t mind offending these people because he thought he had much more to gain from the universities than from the NBA teams. So for Jake, this year of 1996 would be one of the busiest of her life, especially if Emily could finally find Jeff Bezos, so Jake would be much more relaxed knowing that his future would be guaranteed. The other day Jake went to school to meet with Coach Jim, Jake had warned that he could not go the day the coach asked because it was his birthday and the coach even apologized to Jake. "I called you here just to thank you, Jake, I knew you were tired after the friendly game, but I didn''t expect you to have decided to play with us the day before your birthday, after all, it wasn''t an important game." "I was glad I played that game, not even I remembered that it was my birthday so it was my fault anyway." Coach Jim really wanted Jake to play as his team''s quarterback, he was jealous of Coach Mike who had a great player to lead the team and was still polite and humble. Many talented players were arrogant with the coaches just for playing a few games well, most of these players did nothing openly, but talked badly about the coach with other teammates, which annoyed Coach Jim a lot. A good example was the friendly game in which Jake helped the team, I could well say that as both team quarterbacks were injured that the team can only win the game thanks to Jake''s good performance. Even though the current football team was one of the best and even won the state championship a few years ago, the main reason for this was Coach Jim who had reorganized the team and the best defense for several years in a row. But as it was a friendly game against a weaker team, the offensive team became arrogant and played very poorly and unwillingly in that game, fortunately, Jake had scored some points at the beginning of the game and then at the end with his passes and his touchdown. So taking advantage that Jake can''t come to training, Coach Jim did an analysis of the game with the players and stressed several times how the offensive team played badly and how he wouldn''t accept them playing that way again. So Coach Jim was happy even though Jake had joined his team for just a friendly match, so Coach wanted the players to say goodbye to Jake who would no longer come to the football team training. "Coach, could you hear a request from me?" "Of course Jake, if I will do what you ask if it is within my reach." "I wanted to ask permission to come a few times to train with the football team, just the physical training, it''s very useful to increase my strength."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "Of course, you will always be welcome here." So Jake just said goodbye briefly to the other players of the team, so Jake could continue doing the football team training that was much more helpful in increasing his strength statistics. As Jake would not participate in the training drills and other things would not disturb the football team, otherwise, Coach Jim would have to refuse Jake''s request. After settling everything with the football team Jake left school and decided to take a walk around town, so he enjoyed the rest of the day at the beach and went to the mall to buy something to give to his mother when he got home. How used to it Jake walked by the music store and bought a new CD from Kate, as he had promised her when they saw each other in Jake''s rehearsals, whenever he could he would go to the mall and buy a CD if he had one Kate''s new album. Contrary to what he thought she was a great singer and seemed to be very popular in current POP music, now she was 18 years old and looked like she would run for some music awards this year, even if Jake wasn''t a big fan of music in his life Last time Jake found it odd that he didn''t remember her name. Even though he knew he would not meet Kate again he was glad to at least know of a good singer to catch up with now, after he bought a gift for his mother Jake left. Jake wanted to take this vacation to rest well for next year, so he didn''t do any more training after recovering from his training injury with the football team, Jake could do it because the system could always leave his physical condition at the peak even though he did nothing. But that way he couldn''t improve either, luckily Jake still had his imagination training that was given by the system, in this training dimension he could train every day and always accumulate experience and improve in basketball. The other day Jake had to give up his plan to just rest on vacation, John called Jake and it looked like he had arranged with Alan for them to make a new advertisement with Jake together. It would not only be an advertisement for two companies like Tiffany and Clara did, but it would be the same day that he would record both advertisements and they would buy the same advertising space on television, just as Jake appearing more his brands would also be more remembered. As Jake had agreed when he signed the sponsorship agreement, he could not refuse it, in fact, John and Alan did not know that Jake was trying to take advantage of his running in marathons to continue sponsorship at the university. So they thought they were in the last months of the sponsorship deal with Jake, yet they were very pleased with this more than a year of sponsorship that could end after the national ballet championship. After all, they sponsored Jake for basketball and Jake still managed to win and then run second in two major marathons which were a great surprise for companies that were betting by sponsoring Jake who was still in high school. After all, they hoped the sponsorship would last only a year because if Jake went to college to play basketball he couldn''t get sponsorship and if he joined the NBA it would be their company that couldn''t afford to raise the value of sponsorship for Jake. Now they were even more fortunate because Jake was expected to get a seat in the Atlanta Olympics, even if Jake didn''t win at a young age representing his country he would surely be known for. Chapter 214 New Business 7 After a few days Jake went to record both John and Alan''s corporate commercials, he went to the same place where he recorded the commercial for Tiffany and Clara''s companies, of course, that was because Jake recommended them. John and Alan knew that Jake was a little famous now and would be even more so after this year and unlike the Tiffany and Clara companies they had been given a big budget to record a great commercial that could be used for a few years. So they wanted to use a well-known advertising company to record this commercial and so guarantee the quality, but as Jake had recommended they decided to give a small company a chance to do a good job. This small advertising company was bigger than before and had some success in some commercials, but as Jake was famous and brought two companies to make one commercial they still made a lower budget, so John and Alan, as well as their business, we''re very pleased with it. Before he started recording the commercials for the companies Jake toured the company premises and other studios, but he couldn''t find Kate again, Jake knew it was impossible to happen again by coincidence. But Jake trusted that his luck could help and he could find Kate again, but that didn''t happen, in fact, he even thought that as Kate was famous now she should work with a larger advertising company now. He didn''t even know why he decided to look for her, after all, they had only spoken once, Jake thought it must be because it was nice to meet someone famous and went back to prepare for the recording. The recording of the first commercial would be John''s company, it would be similar to several commercials that Jake saw in his past life, the company that was recording the commercial called several actors to impersonate athletes and Jake was the one that stood out. There were some scenes of Jake firing some shots off and hitting and other scenes of Jake running, in the end, everyone takes a can of energy drink from the company and smiles at the camera while holding the can and were sweaty after playing sports. After they put up a slogan showing that the energy drinks company supported sports, Jake thought it was very simple and didn''t look very good, but as the company that recorded the commercial and John found it very good, he said nothing. In fact, the commercial was good by the time it was recorded, Jake was the one who was used to more elaborate commercials in his past life, but he didn''t know that the purpose of John and the company that was recording the commercial was to send a message. positive for the commercial while the focus of the commercial was Jake who was handsome and would be famous as an athlete. Then Jake took a break while the recording crew prepared to make the second commercial, as Jake had learned to act a little in his past life was so easy for him to make a simple, speechless commercial without making mistakes. What Jake didn''t know was that there was a famous movie director in Hollywood who was watching Jake making these commercials, like someone from New York and with good memory this director remembered seeing a Jake commercial on television a few years ago. He also remembered that Jake had recently come second in the New York Marathon and on the broadcast said that Jake had won a marathon in Chicago and was a basketball player. As a film director, he didn''t care much about sports, but he thought Jake was very handsome and that he had an elegant style to be an actor and had a talent for acting, of course, he thought he could give only simple characters in movies for Jake to play. Athletes who performed in even talentless movies could lure their fans into the cinema and increase box office, and Jake could still perform normally which would be best for him if Jake could win a few more marathons or join the NBA would be a big blow. publicist having Jake in his movies. Jake who didn''t realize he was being watched began preparing to record another commercial, this one even though it was still simple Jake thought it was more elaborate than the previous one. In this Jake was in the room facing the door of the house, so he bends down and gets ready to go out for a run, first, he who is already in sportswear takes a sports bag and puts a towel and a bottle of water inside from the bag. Then he puts on his socks and running shoes, so he looks around as if checking if he has forgotten something and leaves the house, after a few moments he comes back with the bag and goes to the bathroom and gets a shaver from Alan''s company and says ''now I''m ready'', and then I grab the bag and run out of the house. The commercial was trying to show that shaving was also important for an athlete not to be sloppy at home, after all, it was a necessary kind of hygiene for athletes who always seek to improve performance. Jake again made the whole scene that was long without making any mistakes, it made them finish faster and also that the commercial seemed more natural, even the watching movie director approved of Jake''s efficiency.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. After that Jake, who had already finished recording, left for home while John and Alan stayed behind to arrange some more, Jake didn''t know that these commercials were what would finally make him famous. After all, Jake had always appeared in the media for many years, but this year he would have a lot of exposure with these two commercials, marathon races, the Olympics, and maybe even college basketball games. After that, Jake just rested at home and on the last day of vacation Emily finally came up with good news for Jake, she hoped she could get it much sooner, but she had the investment firm to take care of and so she was late. "I finally found who you were looking for, Jake, he''s really starting a business that sells books like eBay, I don''t know if it can succeed as you expect, but I got his phone number and address for you." Jake just laughed at that, Amazon sold books online, so it was completely different, but in the future, it would also sell several other products, so Jake found it funny that Emily had accidentally predicted the future. Emily thought Jake was laughing at her, after all, she didn''t do much research about the company Jeff Bezos started because Jake had just asked her to find the person and not investigate what that person was doing. "You did a good job Emily, I swear you just delayed because you were worried about company and stock investments, but even though it''s a lot of money you don''t have to check it all the time." "Just look at the stock change record after the stock market closes, only after 1999 I think we will have to be more careful with those stocks." Emily trusted Jake, but thought Jake was too confident and that could cause him to lose millions in the future, after all, she learned the stock market was a risky market where the investor always has to be alert to the indications that the stock may fall. It wasn''t like a risk-free investment like savings where you can just leave the money there for a few years and then withdraw when you wanted to, Emily thought Jake had a lot of talent for the stock market, which is why he was making so much money Having nothing before. So she thought that as Jake''s secretary it was her job to take care of the details Jake set aside, which is why Jake decided to give Emily a percentage of stock, talented and loyal people were what Jake would need in the future. But Jake was certainly not careless about the stock, in his past life he was also like Emily and checked the stock value several times a day for any sign before selling or buying more stock. Now Jake was calm because he knew what the future would be, but since he couldn''t tell anyone that, it was better than people thought he was arrogant. In addition, Emily''s father and his friends invested $ 30 million in Jake''s investment firm, so even though he knew everything was going as expected it was really good that Emily and her company''s employees were always on the lookout for moves of the stock market. So investors would be reassured that Emily and the others were really dedicated to taking care of their money, so Jake wasted no more time and called Jeff Bezos''s office to talk to him. Jake identified himself as an investor and said he wanted to talk to Jeff Bezos when possible, the company secretary asked if Jake wanted to schedule a meeting, but since Jake was in Miami that was not possible, so he had to wait to talk later over the phone with Jeff Bezos. By late afternoon his call could finally be made and he would talk to Jeff on the phone, Jake was nervous when the moment finally came, it wasn''t just because Jeff Bezos was famous in the future, but that depending on what they talked on the phone was very Jake could become one of the richest men in the future. "Hi here is Jeff speaking, who is it?" "Hi Jeff, my name is Jake Smith and I''m from Miami." "And what would you like to talk to me about, Jake?" "I''ve been investing in technology companies for a few years, I have a feeling this time is great to invest in these companies and make money." "But as much as I can earn from big business is very little, even 30 million don''t make the company pay attention to me." "So I wanted to invest in a start-up tech company that I felt had great potential, so I''ve heard about your company, I think the idea of selling books online is very good and can make it very successful." "And I think your company might develop a lot in the future, so I''d like to talk to you about the possibility of me investing in your business, what do you think about that?" Chapter 215 Bright Future 1 So Jake was sweating while talking on the phone, he had to take a deep breath not to show that he was nervous over the phone, he believed the first impression really was what it was like so he wanted to be confident over the phone to Jeff Bezos. That''s why he talked about how he had invested for many years in technology companies what was true and also how $ 30 million invested does not make a big company pay attention to the investor what was also true. But with that, he indirectly showed Jeff that he had been an investor since the dawn of the internet age and also that he had over 30 million capital to invest, if Jake could he would actually lend and invest millions from Amazon. But he knew that Jeff would never want to give Jake such a stake, so he believed he could just leave an impression of being a big investment for Jeff Bezos, all to increase Jeff''s confidence in Jake. And the reason was that he wanted to meet Jeff in person to discuss the details of the investment, and maybe if Jake didn''t do it Jeff could scorn Jake a bit for being too young at their first meeting in person. In order for this not to happen, Jake needed to show that he was a serious businessman before that, so he could even get more stock after a trade. "I can consider that, but for that, we need to meet in person, what do you think about me going to Miami to talk to you better?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "I think that''s very good, bring some detailed reports from your company and maybe we can close business on your trip here." "I hope so, see you soon." Jake was very happy and pleased with this first conversation so that he could talk more easily with Jeff in Miami and it would also be much easier to make a good impression on this meeting. Jake decided to leave the details of when they could meet and also Jeff''s reception for Emily to take care of, even though Jeff was in the future one of the richest men in the world, now he was just a businessman who was starting to develop the company. So Jake would have to show that he was only interested in the company and not its owner, this business had to work out because Jake had so much advantage in this negotiation by knowing the future. So in Jake''s first week of class, he couldn''t even focus much on class thinking about the upcoming meeting, Emily had talked to Jeff and he said he would come to Miami later this week. So after a few days, they met at a restaurant in the hotel where Jeff was staying, Jeff was not surprised that Jake was young because Emily had accidentally talked about it while talking about how amazing it was that Jake was a young athlete and businessman. Coincidentally Jeff had also seen a Jake commercial on television and some news about Jake winning the marathon, which made Jeff more willing to have Jake as an investor, after all, sports-related people generally have little interest in business matters. So Jeff thought Jake just wanted to invest in order to make more money in the future, that''s what Jeff wanted, an investor who just came in with the money and didn''t interfere with the way he ran the business. But that was very hard to find, usually, the more money one invests the more interested in giving one''s opinion on the company''s business, Jeff wanted to be the president of the company he created himself and would not accept anyone else for it. "Hi Jake, it''s nice to meet you, I saw you in a television commercial, amazing you''re a famous athlete at your age." "I''m not famous yet, I''m just starting out, but you had to have a lot of courage to quit a good job at a big company in New York to start a company in Seattle." "I see you know something about me, I wanted to take this excellent opportunity to start my own company, as you said on the phone this is the best time for tech companies." "I really believe that, with the government''s new project to encourage the development of the internet in a few years, more than half of the American population and the world will be able to connect with these start-up companies." "Everyone likes to read books, I particularly read in class, so I think your company has great growth potential, and if you want you can also expand to other products on the internet." "I also think like you, but I would like to know why you are interested in my company and not others that are also being created now?" "I''m interested in these companies too, I''ve been investing in Cisco for over three years ago and I''ve made a lot of money out of it, I also have a stake in a company that makes digital cameras, so I''ve always been looking for something that could give me more money in the future." "I believe you are a sensible person who can grow your business and make a lot of money in a few years, and I need to see your company''s business reports to be sure, but I think your company has a better foundation to develop in than others. " So Jeff stopped asking other questions and handed in the company''s earnings reports, assets, and future development proposals, just as Jake hoped the company was now valued at $ 40 million. In the company''s future development proposals they had information about starting selling electronics, software, video games, among other things, and also that the company intended to make the IPO next year. These were things Jake already knew well, yet he spent a lot of time reading all the information, many things he was reading about the future development proposals would not be accomplished. "How much percentage of the company are you willing to open mom for me to invest in?" "I have 60 percent of the company now, I have other investors who have another 40 percent, next year many of these stocks will have to be diluted for the IPO next year, we have to see how much you are going to invest." "I plan to invest $ 12 million in the company, and I can even sign a contract saying that I will always support your decisions at the company and not interfere with business, how much do you think you can give me?" Jeff didn''t expect Jake to come in with so much money at once, he could dilute the shares of the other shareholders and his own as well, so he wouldn''t need any more investors until next year''s IPO. What interested him most was that Jake said he could even sign a contract saying it didn''t interfere with the company''s management and would still support him, Jeff hoped Jake might not have much interest in the company, but didn''t expect it to be so much. Also, it seemed that Jake had a lot of confidence in him, so Jeff decided to accept Jake as an investor, with Jake''s investments he would have 45 percent of the company, but that was just the official company rating, as a technology company was worth a lot more than that. "I can give you 25 percent of the company''s stock, next year those stocks will be further diluted with the IPO and may be worthless, what do you think?" So Jake thought through the situation, he knew that Jeff Bezos had invested over $ 300,000 in setting up the company after Jake invested and got 25 percent, Jeff must have 45 percent and other investors even less. "I accept, but I have one condition, that my future shares may not be worth less than 12 percent, I may even add more capital to avoid further dilution." "Alright, so let''s prepare the contract for the stock purchase, no need to sign a contract promising to support me in the company and not interfere, I accept your word." Jake knew he had not changed the future that much now, he may have at most invested in place of other investors, but as Jeff had 45 percent and he had 25 percent of Amazon he thought that as Jeff would have more than 17 percent of the company in the future he would have less. After all Jake invested $ 12 million to have 25 percent, plus Jake had invested a lot more than other investors, not to mention that many will try to sell their shares after a few years. Even if Jake had a condition of having at least 12 percent in the future he would be happy even if he had 0.5 percent of the shares after 20 years, after all, he would still have a bright future with that. He had $ 500,000 before that and could borrow another $ 11 million to invest, so he would get some of Matthew''s company profit last year so he could repay that loan in no time. If he wanted he could only sell part of the stock when Amazon made the IPO and he would have the loan money back, in fact, he didn''t know he would need so much to buy those stocks in 1996, he didn''t know that Jeff had made a few rounds of investment and raised over 9 million before. But he was determined not to miss this unique chance of becoming a millionaire, so they broke up to settle the contract and Jake had to prepare the loan, so after another week he signed the contract and they were both happy about it. Now Jeff had more money to make the necessary investments in the company and Jake knew he was lucky to have gotten those shares, in fact even Jeff himself couldn''t know that his company would be the most valuable in the world in a few years. After all Jake remembered seeing in a report that Jeff told his investors that the company had a 70 percent chance of going bankrupt, it showed how well he considered the risks and so kept his company as one of the only ones that had gone through the crisis of 2000. After a few days, John and Alan said that Jake''s commercial would start airing on television, Jake was used to it and was no longer so excited about it, but both companies expected a lot from that commercial. Chapter 216 Bright Future 2 Many still did not know that these two companies sponsored Jake, after all the brands even if they were in Jake''s uniform were not recognized, so this commercial would serve to make the two companies known as were the companies of Tiffany and Clara. So they thought this commercial was very important to them, this commercial would be broadcast all over the country, after that, it was certain that Jake would be famous one way or another, after all, there weren''t many people who appeared in 2 commercials at the same time in the country. The company was thinking of focusing on its sales in Miami, Chicago, and New York, which were the places where Jake was best known and the commercial would have more effect in all the country. Jake thought it was a pity that Tiffany and Clara''s companies couldn''t do the same, after all, as John and Alan thought, this was a very good chance of advertising for the companies that sponsored Jake. But he knew it was impossible because Clara was trying so hard that the company wouldn''t value until she could buy more stock, she couldn''t boycott the company to diminish the value because Robert and the opposing company wouldn''t allow it and could even get Clara out of the presidency. But she wouldn''t make a commercial to further increase the company''s sales and value the value of Robert''s stock, Robert certainly didn''t like it, but he had no right to complain about how his stock was practically sold. The company that was trying to buy Clara''s company, on the contrary, was happy, after all, Clara''s company was competing with them and if they didn''t improve in those five years it would be worth it even if the company couldn''t be bought. After a few more days Matthew had called Jake to his house, Jake could hear from Matthew''s voice that it was good news, so he was excited because he wanted to know how much Matthew''s company had invoiced so far. "Hi Jake, congratulations on your birthday, you''re 17 now, I never thought I''d see someone as talented as you being so young."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. "Thank you." "I swear you''re excited about it too, I confess I didn''t expect us to be that successful, and it was all thanks to you." "Glad to have helped." "I think even you''re curious how much we sold last year." "I have to confess that not even I expected us to sell so much, but thanks to your county I made a strong investment and even a partnership with several major retail stores around the world." "So we sell just over 2 million digital cameras worldwide, only in Europe we sell 1.5 million cameras, so thanks to your county we could sell so many cameras." Matthew was very impressed by this too, he took out a $ 100 million loan by placing 32 percent of his shares as collateral, it was crazy that no one would normally be able to do. But with that money he can make a commercial to advertise his digital camera and also the company''s brand, he bought advertising space for television channels across the country and also in Europe. In addition, Matthew bought some new machines and hired some temporary workers to make 1 million digital cameras for inventory, he believes Jake said they would sell this 1 million camera. So he spent all the money and still went into debt because it would cost 500 million to make these 1 million cameras, in a few days the first sales reports excited Matthew, he used all the revenue he received from the cameras to pay for the manufacture of these 1 million of cameras. After 1 month he had already paid the cost of the cameras and had almost no more stock, so he saw that his effort was paying off, after manufacturing the first million cameras he kept manufacturing and can repay his loan and recoup the stock. Just as he had thought before, the more cameras he sold, the lower the total cost became, because most of the cost was technology development and employee salaries, and selling more than 2 million cameras would get lower and lower. So by the end of the year, Matthew had sold 2 million cameras and was still manufacturing more, he expected to sell at least 4 million more cameras in 1996 and that year he didn''t even think about making the new camera anymore. With the new 1995 earnings review, the stock value will increase greatly and the value of the company will be valued at $ 4 billion, that''s over 10 times the value of the company last year, just as Jake said the company would completely change if it followed the advances in technology. This was a big hit for Matthew and the entire company, it was hard to even for the biggest companies in the world to sell this much of cameras a year if they kept selling well after they developed cameras to put their company on smartphones and notebook the best in the world. Jake knew that Sony would have a total value of almost $ 100 billion in 2000, of course Sony does a lot of things besides selling cameras, they sell all kinds of electronics, but if Matthew''s company could be worth $ 10 billion he would be very happy. Jake was also happy and surprised by all this, so Matthew''s company was completely out of danger, and with this new valuation of the company, Matthew was now a billionaire with over 70 percent of the company. Since they made half of the sales value as a profit they made $ 1 billion this year, so Jake could get 5 percent, which was $ 50 million, so Jake could repay the loan without any interest and still have a lot of money. Of course Jake hoped that Matthew''s company would use all the profit to reinvest in the company, after all, they had the best chance of appreciating before this bubble burst in 2000, it would affect Matthew''s company as well and it''s market value would fall again. "As with a loan I made I already increased the company and this year we are not going to start selling the new camera that''s almost ready, I will only reinvest half of the profit I received this year." "So we can pay for the development of the new camera and also the inventory, next year we will earn more, I will use the profit better to invest and improve our company." Jake was surprised and happy about it, so he would receive 25 million profit distribution and still be able to easily repay his loan and the new home, he began to regret not taking a bigger loan to get more equity from the company. Of course Jake remembered that in a few years he would have another good investment opportunity, and it was always good to have a lot of money for emergencies that had happened a lot in those years, after all, he couldn''t count on the sponsorship that would be invested in cisco stocks. After that Jake was very relaxed about having no problem to worry about this year if he got more money maybe he could even buy Robert''s stock to help Clara, but maybe he had to wait a little longer for that. So Jake went back to running his 50 km marathon run every day, he went back to running the same time he did in Chicago for 30 minutes every 10 km, so he would no longer risk another injury. When he increased his stamina, even more, he could try to increase this time more, but he would not risk it now, after all, he had a good enough time to win any marathon in the world. He was also training with the football team whenever he could, he was just doing the physical training, and then he would leave as promised to Coach Jim. Also, Jake had gone back to training with the basketball team, he was just playing training because he warned coach Mike that he was doing physical training on the football team, coach Mike knew well that the physical training of the basketball team football was harder so it was not opposed to Jake''s decision. It was soon going to be the basketball team''s first match in the national championship and this was the last year with this team playing together, so Jake hoped he could win after all the NCAA championship. Now Jake no longer had to worry about his investments because he knew the future and had trusted people running his business, Emily had been annoyed with Jake when he made the $ 12 million investment in Amazon by even borrowing money from Amazon that. After all, investing in the Cisco technology company was much safer and more profitable in Emily''s vision for Jake to make, and this loan was very risky because Jake didn''t know when he could afford it. But soon after Jake would get the dividends from Matthew''s company and could pay back the loan and still have 13 million, so Emily understood that Jake knew what to do and stopped meddling in his decisions. Even though she thought Jake could earn a lot more if he invested all that money in Cisco stock, Jake also knew that this could be true in the short term, in 5 years he could invest that 25 million in Cisco stock and earn more of $ 1 billion. But that wasn''t necessarily true in the future, Jake could with that 12 million Amazon stock invested over $ 57 billion over another 20 years, and Jake could still hold on to that money by making more smart investments before 2000 and receiving many more billions of dollars more. An example of this was Google that the creators tried to sell in 1999, Jake was just wondering how he could make the most out of it without changing the future so much so that if he bought Google the creators wouldn''t just stay for work. So Jake could end up destroying one of the biggest tech companies of the future, but if he couldn''t get at least a few billion of it he would forever regret it. Chapter 217 Bright Future 3 Jake had seen many stories of people who knew about the future and used the best first ideas and became millionaires from it, some even hiring the original owners of the companies to be the presidents. But Jake knew this wasn''t real, even if he created a lot of things ahead of time and created patents for it didn''t mean it would work because he wasn''t aware of it as the original creators would have. Not to mention that these big companies often had too much luck to earn so much in the future, and hiring the original creators to work was even more impossible unless he gave them a large percentage of stock. After all, they created these companies with these ideas because they had talent as entrepreneurs and for technology, so even if they didn''t have that idea they would have other ideas to be independent, not so successful anymore these people liked independence. So Jake knew he had to deal with this opportunity to buy Google very carefully, it was best that he just come in as an investor, but he couldn''t wait a few more years and pay many millions, so that would be his opportunity. Besides, he remembered the many investment opportunities he could make if he could seize all these opportunities it would not be impossible for him to become the richest man in the future. After that Jake got another good news, her mom could finally organize her work schedules and stay less time in the restaurant, she would come in at 5 am as usual and leave at 6 pm so she would work 5 hours less. Julius also had a similar work schedule, but he would have to work harder to make various desserts and cakes and prepare before leaving for dinner time, the less important restaurant staff were lucky to have more time to rest. After all, the restaurant could hire employees to work both shifts, who would have to work the most was Anna who was the person who best understood how to take care of the restaurant, she would come in at 10 am and stay until 11 pm to close the restaurant. So Eva and Anna would work for a few hours together and take care of lunchtime, which was one of the periods when the restaurant was getting fuller, the restaurant was now almost completely prepared for the new routine that was supposed to last for many years. Anna and Eva did not think of opening other branches and even if they would open it would be in the franchise system, after all, Jake bought a great spot for the restaurant and the restaurant was very large in space, and now that it was completely full there was nothing else to develop. Eva just wanted to fulfill her dream of having a restaurant and not being out of work, Anna was paid a very high salary at Eva''s restaurant and was like a restaurant partner, so she just wanted to work for a few more years until she couldn''t take it anymore when I got older. Since he had no rent to pay the restaurant income was very high and he could quietly pay good wages for all the employees and there was still money left for Eva to keep and use as he pleased. Perhaps this was one of the only places in Miami that had good quality service and happy employees, Eva and Anna always came up with ideas for improving customer comfort, which in turn increased the restaurant''s popularity and income. Jake also knew that the new menu was almost done and he promised he would try their new dishes soon, Jake was glad that everything was going well for his mother, now he didn''t think he had to worry about her getting depressed again. Her other friends were fine too, Joseph was still dating Liza and they both seemed to be thinking of getting married after graduating from college, luckily it seemed that Matthew was so busy with the company that he had forgotten to demand that Joseph break up with her. Now only Clara''s situation that could not be resolved in a short time, but Clara had recovered somewhat from the shock of divorce that her ex-husband was trying to end with his company selling to the competitor. On the subject of Robert''s actions, Jake was sure he could buy a share within five years, but he didn''t know if Clara would be happy about it, after all, she seemed to want to put all the actions she could in her name, not even Tiffany It was different. After all, Clara asked Tiffany to lend the money so she could regain Robert''s stock and control of the company, but she never talked about Tiffany buying the stock and keeping it for her that Tiffany would surely do. If something like this were to happen when Jake decided to buy the stock to help Clara, he would not lend them money so easily, after all, it would be as if Clara was saying that she didn''t trust the people who were trying to help her. So Jake was just concentrating on his training now, he went back to doing his training easily running 50 km every day, he felt that he was fine and that this training was very easy for him. But since he knew it was not a good idea to risk increasing his running speed before increasing his Resistance after what happened in New York, he decided to try to increase his training load in a different way. Now he decided to increase the distance covered in his daily training, first he increased this distance to 55 km to see if he could run just as easily after all this would not disturb the official marathon even if his condition was not well on race day. After all, he needed to run just under 43 km anyway, after trying he saw that although it was possible he was still tiring him more, so he decided to continue this same training routine and if he thought it was too easy he would increase some more km. This training was only temporary, after all, Tiffany had been looking for some time for a coach like Jake had requested, it was not easy to find someone with the necessary qualifications and was still reliable in a short time, so Jake would have to wait. After a few more weeks the first game of the national championship was getting closer, nothing had happened at that time for Jake. But that day he had received the money from the distribution of profits and repaid the loan to the bank, at the same time Oliver texted Jake that he had found some homes in Miami that were in safer neighborhoods. Since he had been living in Matthew''s borrowed house for a while, he was eager to buy and move to his new home, as it was more to his mother than to him, so Jake called Eva to choose the house he wanted to live in. All the houses were mansions and were two-story thousands of square feet in size and dozens of rooms, the houses also had large space near them where Jake thought of making a field for his running training and also a basketball court. Even though he knew that soon he would have to move. Jake thought that since his and his mother''s house was, he would always live there whenever he had free time, so it was better to have a house that would meet all his needs. The houses also had large pools and other special things that even Eva might like, so it took longer for Oliver to find some houses for Jake and Eva to live in. Even though she thought all these houses were big and very exaggerated, Eva knew that this house would be bought by Jake because that was what he wanted so Eva didn''t complain as always that Jake was spending a lot and just focused on choosing a good house. After all, even though Eva wasn''t sure what Jake was investing in, she knew he was making a lot more money than she could imagine, so she was just so proud of Jake who did all the things she dreamed for her son''s life. Eva chose a beautiful white house that Jake had liked a lot too, so all that was left was to wait for Oliver to prepare all the contracts and the house would be theirs, yet Jake would still have to stay at Matthew''s for a while longer. Because he would have them put an athletic field and a basketball court on the grounds of the new house, Jake also asked his mother to take care of the decoration of the house and buy all the missing furniture. Meanwhile Jake asked Clara to send a team to set up a small gym in one of the employee houses so that he could do his exercises without worrying, even if he received the free products for sponsorship Jake decided to pay for it. So they would still have to spend more time at Matthew''s house, Jake didn''t want Eve to know more about the house cost more than $ 2 million and hundreds of thousands more dollars would have to be spent on decorating the house and renovating what Jake wanted.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Jake also asked Emily to take care of hiring new trusted employees for her new home, he had already asked for a security team to be hired after the new home was ready, so Jake would make the excuse that they were new home employees for his new home mom. So Jake would send a driver and a security guard who would always be protecting Eva when she was away from home or in the restaurant, other security guards would take care of the new home and some would take care of Jake himself when he was out of school. So he could rest assured that nothing bad happened to him or his family, while Jake also took the opportunity to make a new purchase, he would need to set up a better office for Emily and her investment firm employees to work with. Jake chose one of the places he had set aside to make Eva''s restaurant to buy and make his new office, this place was actually a well-located office building that would serve as a small restaurant for Eva''s business expansion. Chapter 218 Bright Future 4 But since his mother didn''t seem to want to do that in a short time Jake decided to buy to make an office for his company, but after a few more years this great place could be sold to someone else. To buy this place Jake had Emily prepare everything, he even let her decorate her new place of work, so Jake would spend a few hundred thousand dollars, along with the house he bought Jake had spent close to $ 3 million. Soon Jake received another news, it was Coach Bill who had made a call to advise that the university and the NCAA had accepted that Jake would maintain their sponsorships as long as he did not carry any marks for college basketball games. Everyone understood that Jake''s case was really very special and was really unique and would probably never happen to another player, not to mention that Jake was very talented in basketball and also talented in athletics. So the university understood that it would lose a lot if Jake gave up entering university and went straight to the NBA because of a little sponsorship, not to mention that the university didn''t have to pay Jake anything. So the NCAA could also use Jake''s example to soothe the media that was complaining that it was unfair for students not to receive sponsorship while playing for their university teams, they would show that a player would have other means to earn money. If Jake could participate in this year''s Olympics it would be even better for the university to have a national example as a student, it was less than Jake expected, so he was in such a hurry to win a marathon so he could show that he was a Talented athlete too. In fact, Jake no longer needed the sponsorship money, but he was thinking of continuing this contract to help Tiffany and Clara who can''t invest in Clara''s companies until they buy Robert''s stock. In addition, Jake already planned to use this money to invest in cisco shares and also pay the salaries of employees of his new home, he did not want his mother to even think of taking her money that Eva now earned in the restaurant. Other than that Jake had no income coming in every month, so even though he had millions invested in three companies, he didn''t receive dividends every quarter from any of the three. And as far as he remembered, Amazon would never pay dividends until the time he lived in his past life, so the money he received with sponsorship and winning the next marathons would make it unnecessary for him to sell his cheap shares for little money. Because of this, he thought he would have to invest in a company that paid dividends after receiving the money when he sold the cisco shares in 2000, of course, he didn''t need money now after receiving his profit share from the company. from Matthew. Jake was also curious that Matthew could spend the money he received from profit sharing this year, since if Jake had received 25 million taking 5 percent, Matthew would have received more than the company''s former cash value. Jake knew that Matthew would not use this money to invest this money and was curious if Matthew would consider investing this money, after all, Jake has offered several times to offer an investment suggestion to Matthew, but Matthew always said he was broke. Now Jake didn''t have the heart to talk about investing with Matthew again, not to mention that now Jake''s investment company was already best known for taking care of over $ 30 million in the capital. While Jake thought about it Matthew asked to talk to him again, even though he didn''t know what it was Jake went to Matthew''s house to talk to him again. "Jake, I called you here because I have an important subject to deal with you." "Say, Matthew, if it''s something I can help, I''ll do it." "You had talked to me about investing a few months ago, at the time I couldn''t do it, but now with this money I received I can take a part to make some investments, and as you and Oliver have been talking, I think I can make a lot of money from these internet companies." Jake was very happy to hear that Matthew had finally decided to invest, Jake''s biggest fear was that he would get rich and his friends would lose the chance to invest in that time and later criticized him for not encouraging them to invest. So whenever he could he could tell his friends to invest Tiffany and Clara were in trouble and didn''t believe Jake much, and Matthew always said he couldn''t invest so Jake was worried and at least knew he had tried. "I think you do very well Matthew, you can talk to Oliver about it, he knows my company''s investments right now are all in cisco stock, tell Oliver you want to invest that he buys the stock for you." "I want to invest for your investment firm Jake, I heard that you and a lot of investors are making a lot of money from your company and I wanted to join in as well." "I don''t think it''s a good idea, Matthew, my company charges 10 percent of all the profits our company makes for you on investments, so I think Oliver better make it for you and you get all the profit." Jake understood that Matthew and maybe his other friends misunderstood him, he was not interested in profiting from his close friends, he just wanted to help them make money after all this was the best time to invest that Jake knew. Even if his friends started investing now and sold the stock in 1999 to be safe they could still make a lot of money out of it, so Jake wanted everyone around him to make it. But Matthew did not know this and found it strange that Jake would reject him in his investment firm, in fact, Matthew was a little suspicious if he could make money even with these technology companies and knew that investing in stocks was very risky. But after several years Oliver had told him that Jake''s company had several times earned the initial investment, and now they had several investors who invested 30 million and were making a lot out of it in no time. Besides, Matthew knew well that Jake was very good at making money and besides having good ideas he seems to be very lucky, so now that he had money he decided to trust Jake and see if he could make even more money. But he didn''t expect Jake to refuse his participation and ask him to talk to Oliver, Matthew well understood that Jake''s company could charge 10 percent of the profits and that could be a lot of money. But Matthew saw it differently, the investment firm charges 10 percent of the investment''s profits, and Jake still said he thought Matthew could lose a lot by giving that 10 percent. This was to show that Jake was very confident in his firm that would work for several years taking care of the investment just to earn 10 percent of a possible profit, plus when Matthew and other investors handed over the money to an investment firm if they lost it would all be Jake''s and his company''s reputation that would be damaged. So for Matthew that 10 percent of a possible profit was more than fair to pay the company that would give him many millions if he gave this money to Oliver he knew that his son could not be all the time paying attention to sell the actions at the right time and earn more. "But did you talk a few years ago to leave with your company to take care of my investment?" "That was because as you are my friend I wouldn''t ask for anything to take care of your investment, but now I can''t take care of it without asking anything because I covered 10 percent of Emily''s acquaintances." "No problem, I think 10 percent is very fair, I trust your company can take better care of my investment than my son who is worried about many other things." "If you think that''s okay, I promise to take good care of your investment, how much do you intend to invest?" Prior to this conversation Matthew intended to invest giving 50 million for Jake''s company to invest after all he had to count on losing all that money by investing in stocks, but now he had changed his mind after seeing how confident Jake was in his company, his entrepreneurial instincts said he would regret not investing much more.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Also, next year his company would earn a lot more and he didn''t have to worry about running out of money, so he decided to invest almost everything he had received and would get only part of that money, if he made a lot he would be just happier than Oliver and Joseph''s future was guaranteed. "Then I''ll give you 300 million dollars to decide how to invest Jake if I make at least a tenth of that I would be very happy." Matthew knew it was very difficult to make money from stocks, so he also knew that the more he invested the more he could earn in a short time, Jake knew it too and was surprised when he learned that Matthew would invest 300 million, but was soon happy knowing that his friend would make a lot out of it. When Jake told Emily that she had a 300 million investment in the company she almost went crazy, she was very stressed about taking care of buying and organizing the company''s new office and still seeing the 30 million investments. But now she probably couldn''t even sleep with stress knowing she was working so hard, especially in a business that was too risky and uninsured. She didn''t even want to imagine what would happen if Jake''s company made a mistake and lost those over 330 million now, so she had to make sure she was doing a good job in the next few years. The person who was most at ease with all of this was Jake himself, after all, he knew the future and didn''t have to worry about any mistakes or falling stocks, he was just thinking of selling these stocks first to make sure it wouldn''t be his company that would accelerate the bubble burst. Chapter 219 Bright Future 5 After all, now Jake''s company would be directly involved with a few billion dollars in the next few years If Jake''s investment in Amazon were to be counted, that number would only increase. Of course, not everything was guaranteed, because when Matthew greatly increased his investment he might not want to continue to risk and ask Jake to sell the shares, after all now Matthew would invest 300 million dollars, but when that amount exceeded 1 billion he might not want to but keep on risking. Jake could be sure that anyway, he would make hundreds of millions of dollars in a few years with his company, even though Emily would be a millionaire with her stake in the company, Jake just had to wait and see how things would change. After that Jake no longer had to worry about business until the end of the year, only Emily would be busy at the time, yet he would be much busier with basketball and marathon than ever. Also, this year Jake would still have to worry about college in the middle of the year, with so many things to do he was glad his mom had more time to stay home so he could talk to her more to relax. This year because of the Olympics the national championship would start a few weeks ahead of time, and in February Jake had to participate in the qualifying test for this year''s Olympics. That would not normally be a problem for Jake, but this year at the Olympics from what Jake remembered the three marathon medalists were from the United States, so he would be practically playing an early final, if he could win he could win at the Olympics as well. Luckily Jake had decided to control himself at marathon running speed, so it should not be a problem to run the Olympic qualifying race in 2 hours and 6 minutes, plus he remembered that the final race time of first place It was more than five minutes longer than that, so it was good news for Jake. In the training of the basketball team Jake saw that Nathan and Lucas had improved a lot again, they had grown in height too, even though David and Harrison had also improved could not compare. After all, Nathan and Lucas were still in their first year of high school, it was normal for them to quickly improve their skills after doing better training and facing stronger opponents. While David and Harrison were already in their senior year of high school and used almost all the growth potential they could have in high school with their skills, even Coach Mike thought they were both far more talented than other players of the same age.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Even though Coach Bill, who worked with the top players at the university, was interested in their talent, they had no greater prominence at Elite school because everyone on the basketball team was used to Jake who was a much more amazing talent than the two. Of course, Jake should not be used as a comparison, after all his skills were at the university level, so Jake who knew this considered the two even more talented. So after a few more days the day of the first game of the national championship arrived, Jake woke up very early and went down to eat breakfast prepared by his mother who today had exchanged times with Anna to prepare breakfast for Jake. Jake could see that her mother was much healthier and happier now than before, Eva had fully recovered from the shock of having her home broken into and working less than before had more time to rest. How are you feeling for today''s game, Jake?" "I''m feeling it will be good, this year''s teams seem to be stronger than last year, but we have Nathan and Lucas on our team, so our team is also stronger this year." "I also think you''ll win again, this time I will try to go to the final game cheering for you again." "So I have to work harder to reach the end of this year." Jake was happy to hear that his mother could go to this year''s national championship final again, Eva was busy with the restaurant and so couldn''t go to the regional and state championship finals, but most importantly he was happy to have his mother over there. Jake also knew that Eva was struggling to go because it could be Jake''s last high school game and also in the next few years she wouldn''t have been able to go to other cities to watch Jake''s games as she had before in Miami. After chatting with his mother for a while Jake went to the game site, he got there after everyone on his team and after getting ready to talk to Mark while doing warm-up exercises and waiting for the game to start. Unlike Jake who was given a break from training because Coach Mike was worried about him, the other players trained normally, without a quality PG like Jake training was difficult to simulate a real game. And no one wanted to try to play in the impromptu PG position because they would miss the opportunity to fight for the vacancy in the team, Coach Mike was the one who was most satisfied with that, because David and Harrison were already good players, with Nathan and Lucas running for the job all improved and the team just had to gain from it. In the absence of Jake who led the team in training was surprisingly Mark, after all, he was now the best player in the team and what improved best after Jake, Jake himself told his teammates several times that without Mark to catch the rebounds they could miss several important games. The adversary in this first game was the Cats team that made it to the national championship every year, but this year they didn''t think they could go any further after facing Jake''s team. The best players of the Cats team were PG King and SF Amir after a few minutes began the first game of the Elite team in the national championship. Mark climbed higher and got the first possession for the Elite team, Jake received the ball and began to organize the first attack, after advancing a little he passed the ball to David, David advanced even before the three-point line and passed the ball to Lucas on the left. Lucas made a feint and managed to trick Amir into the left, Lucas continued to advance into the area and the opposing Center came on the cover, so Lucas passed the ball to Mark who was free. Mark received the ball and made the dunk to score the first 2 points for the Elite team in the match. In this match as Amir was good in the attacking team coach, Mike decided to put Lucas who is better in defense in the starting lineup. But he still put David on the starting lineup and left Nathan as a substitute, it was the first time Coach Mike had put just one of the two on the starting lineup, usually, he always put Nathan and Lucas together. PG King received the ball and advanced to the attack line, before the middle of the court he passed the ball to his team''s SG, SG advanced to before the three-point line and David arrived to press in defense. SG did not hold the ball and passed to their team PF, PF received the ball and Carter was firm in defense, PF still tried to get rid of Carter, but Carter was firm in defense, so PF turned the ball to King again who was behind him. King tried to make the move, but Jake was firm in defense, King tried several times to get the trick and passed the ball to his team SG when he saw that he could not get past Jake. The Cats SG received the ball and attempted a mid-range shot as the possession time was running out and managed to score 2 points and tie the game. Jake received the ball and started another attack for the Elite team, he advanced until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to Lucas on the left, Lucas advanced until after the three-point line and passed the ball to Carter who was on the right. Carter received the ball and soon the opposing PF arrived in defense, so Carter held the ball a little and passed to Jake, Jake received the ball and passed to Lucas who was free to the left, Lucas received the ball and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Elite team. And so the game continued until the end of the first period, the Elite team was winning by 4 points, Jake had only 4 points, but got 5 assists and 2 rebounds in that first period. After so many things that had happened in those months without playing, Jake had even forgotten about his psychological problem, but his subconscious seemed to be making Jake hold on and not push himself so hard. Lucas was also fine and had 8 points and 2 assists in this first period of play, early in the second period the Cats team advanced to make the first play of the second period with King. King advanced until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to Amir, Amir advanced on the right and went past the three-point line and passed the ball to his team''s Center, Mark was inattentive and the opposing Center managed to spin and make 2 more points for the Cats team. Jake received the ball and advanced to before the three-point line with the ball and passed Lucas to the left, Lucas held the ball a while and passed to Carter who was open on the right, Carter got a shot at the opposing PF and ran to the left bottom of the court to pass the ball to Mark. Mark tried to spin on the opposing Center, which was in defense and didn''t allow it. Mark passed the ball back to Jake, Jake got the ball and stepped back and tried the shot from outside to make 3 points for Elite. In the second period, Jake was more active in the game as he always was and the players got good plays, so the second period ended with the Elite team leading the way with 10 points more than the Cats team. Chapter 220 Bright Future 6 Jake had scored 10 points in that period and had also made 4 assists and got a rebound, so Jake was now 14 points and 9 assists and 3 rebounds, the trained Mike who was worried about Jake thought he was doing very well so far. But I couldn''t tell if Jake thought he was playing badly because his standard is too high, at least he was playing a lot better than in the last state championship game, it was better for Coach Mike if Jake was healed, because otherwise, it would be hard for them to win the national championship without it. Jake who had forgotten his problems had also played well in the third period and the Elite team increased the advantage even further, by the end of the first game the Elite team had won the game by 30 points. Jake had 38 points and 15 assists plus 5 rebounds, Lucas also had a good game and Harrison didn''t even get into the game, David had a modest game and was replaced by Nathan in the fourth period. Coach Mike was very happy with the outcome of the game and figured that even if Jake had a problem before he should have healed after seeing him play so well today, so Jake picked up his things and left after saying goodbye to his teammates. After arriving home Jake took a shower and rested and just got up when his mother came home and told her that they had won the game again, Eva was happy with it and made a special celebration dinner for Jake. After working in a restaurant for several months, Eva had improved her cooking a lot, but what she improved, even more, was the speed at which she prepared the food, she just had to wait for the fire, because her cooking skills made her finish the dishes quickly. This was normal considering she saw the same dishes being made hundreds of times and even observed the chefs ''techniques for preparing the fastest dishes, as Anna had said, years of experience only improve chefs'' skills. Even now that Jake could cook better than his mother, he was much slower than she was to prepare the dishes, but that only made Jake happy to see Eva cooking so well. At school during the week the tension was increasing as the last semester progressed, Jake was the most relaxed about it because he had high scores on both ACT and SAT tests, and Jake already had a university scholarship guaranteed. Joseph had also gotten a very high score, but he wanted to get even better before entering college, with Jake teaching when he had time all of Jake''s classmates had gotten good grades. The teachers now loved Jake and could not even believe how some teachers in the past might not like him, after all, they earned great bonuses from the Elite school on the higher their students'' grades. Jake even found time to teach some players on his basketball team and some close friends he had made on the football team, everyone who studied with Jake got great scores. But that was because no one who could get into a private school could be stupid, besides, the classes were always good no matter which teachers gave the classes, Jake had gotten a good grade even on the GMAT he did. Even if it wasn''t for the sports scholarship Jake could easily get into any university, Jake had also overcome his fear of another accident and could no longer walk, now he was convinced that his future would be great. Jake was in such a good mood that he even helped Liza with her studies, Joseph was smart, but unlike Jake, he was terrible at teaching and couldn''t help his girlfriend. In his last semester of high school even Lola came to talk to Jake, she offered to teach him how to do well on exams, he thanked him and said he didn''t need to be the best student in his class. He was grateful and didn''t want Lola to waste her time, and Lola ended up being embarrassed and embarrassed for it, Lola had to blame Eva who always bragged about everything Jake did and forgot to say that he was the best student of the school. This week Jake was a little tense too because on Saturday this week would be the qualifying event for the Olympics, so he had to train well during the week, he still ran the 55 km with a speed of 30 minutes for every 10 km. Jake wanted to make sure he could handle the entire race at his normal speed that would win the marathon, the second game of the Elite national championship would be on Friday, so he would have to go to Charlotte, NC where he would be the night of classification. This time he didn''t want anyone to go with him there, so John wasn''t happy anymore but he understood that Jake needed focus right now to try to win, there would also be a $ 100,000 prize for the first place Jake wanted to win. Tiffany had said he had not found any suitable coach for Jake, so Jake said he didn''t want any now until the Olympics were over so he could get a better coach and a coach now could hurt his training. After a week of training was the day of the second game of the national championship, this game was easily won by the Elite team, in the first period of the game they were 10 points ahead of the opponents. In the second period, they were winning by 22 points and at the end of the third period, they won by 32 points, as the opponent practically gave up the last period they won by 38 points difference because they held on. The opposing team was good and all their players played regularly, unfortunately at that time only opponents with high-level players could go through the defense of the Elite team and bring danger to them. Jake also played very well and scored 34 points, 12 assists and 4 steals in the game, so Coach Mike was sure that Jake had no more problems, the same day Jake went to Charlotte, NC to prepare for the marathon the other day. Even though he had forgotten this during the games Jake had already realized that he had gotten rid of his psychological problems, in the classification marathon he could be sure if he was completely healed. In fact, according to Jake had realized he should have no problem winning even though he still had the psychological problem, yet he was good at giving more confidence during the marathon to know that he was fine. During the race he would have to watch out for Bob Kempainen who was the one who would win the marathon today and also win the gold medal in the Olympics after a few months, Jake even knew that Bob Kempainen would win this marathon after getting sick at the end of the test. Even so, Jake had to try to win the marathon just as he was competing, because if he had to take pity on all his opponents, he better stop running and playing basketball too.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. On race day Jake did his warm-up exercises as he prepared to start running, in his after-marathon training he had learned how to get water at various points in the marathon without disturbing his running pace. Jake had also decided to run a portion of the group marathon to avoid wear and tear by facing the entire draft, but as he knew it would be at a much stronger pace than other runners it was better that he run alone again today. So began the qualifying race for the Olympics, Jake was again relying on the dashboard the system had given to mark his speed and average race time, he learned from mistakes in the past marathon and would also change by running stronger in the decides and more slowly uphill. Even if he didn''t make the best time he would tire less in the marathon and still gain experience to learn the best way to run, it was these little things that could often guarantee victory in a high-level competition. In the first few miles of the marathon he sought to run in groups as he had planned, he was always changing groups as one accelerated and another slowed if he did not see a very large climb, curve or descent along the way he would not change the racing pace. At one point in the race, Jake was recognized by some members who were running in a group, Jake was much more famous after appearing in two television commercials this year and participating in getting a good placement in some major marathons. Who recognized Jake was a pro too but didn''t plan on getting a test placement, so they decided to run at the same pace as Jake and always taking turns with someone in the group leading to block the wind and help Jake in the marathon. Jake was happy with that, but with the consideration of these people than necessarily with the help they would give him in this marathon, but what this group did not know Jake had the system and also this was the third marathon he would run. So this was meant to be Jake''s best performance in all the marathons he has run so far, so while the people in the group were intent on helping Jake in the marathon they would be helped and would be able to arrive with much shorter time at the end of the marathon. After all, everyone in the group was professional runners and had good stamina to run, keeping pace was their only difficulty, and with the help of the system, Jake was an expert in keeping pace. So only when km 25 passed did the people in the group fail to keep up with Jake''s pace and had to part with him in order to finish the race, even though it was helped Jake served as a rabbit for those runners who would get a much better time running. Jake, while he was with the group, managed to save a lot of stamina and even by slowing down the corners and turns and increasing the speed in the decides he was still able to keep up with his planned running pace, Jake was also stopping properly at the back stations to drink some water and cool off. This was by far Jake''s best performance in marathons and the more he ran the more confident he got. Chapter 221 Bright Future 7 Race commentators had also realized that Jake was running at a high level, now Jake was no longer a stranger and was respected in the world of professional marathon athletes. So this was the third time Jake had been running fast and commentators had already realized that this was Jake''s racing strategy, he won in Chicago and was second in New York and only lost because he had an injury after almost beat the race record. "And we see that as speculated Jake is really trying to participate in the Atlanta Olympics this year, this year he is 17 years old and everyone thought he was too young for that." "I don''t think so, this is the third marathon he runs, he got great results in the first two and has been keeping a very strong pace for this one too." "True, we can''t just see Jake as a young man, he is a pro and a favorite to get a place at the Olympics, but he forced a lot in the last New York marathon and ended the race with an injury, will he can you go well today?" "From what I''ve seen he''s running at a much slower pace than he did in New York, he also ran a portion of the group race preserving endurance and is preserving well-controlled running energy." "Now all that remains is whether he is doing this because he has learned to run more efficiently or because he has not yet fully recovered from his injury in the last marathon." While Jake was running commentators were trying to figure out what was happening to him, after all, athletes usually make mistakes and learn from experience by competing in multiple marathons before improving. But even with all the flaws, Jake had won since his first marathon, so he was a rarity that everyone liked to talk about, not to mention that Jake was only 17 now which made him even more interesting to commentators. Jake kept running at the same pace as he avoided wasting energy by slowing down the climb, so after 30 km of the marathon, he was still fine as usual. Jake could feel that he was clearly much better than in the first marathon that ran in Chicago and much better than when he ran in New York, now Jake was finally realizing the advantage of getting two stat points after winning in Chicago. Jake had a great advantage for the other participants while maintaining the same running pace as he went 35 km, only after that did Jake begin to feel his body heavy and tired.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Now with less than five km of the marathon left to win, Jake could feel that stopping for water at the support stations and other things he did differently this time helped a lot to make him run more comfortably this time. "It looks like Jake is really in great shape in today''s race, about five km to the end of the marathon and he doesn''t look exhausted like other competitors at this point in the marathon." "We can see that Jake seems to have found the right race pace and has run the same way as the other runners, he really seems to be our greatest hope for winning the gold medal at this year''s Olympics." "It''s true, the fact that Jake is so young and so stable in his marathons makes him one of the best marathon athletes in the world today." After driving the 38 km Jake slowed his pace a bit, after all, he had a huge lead for second place and was still afraid of what happened in the last marathon to repeat again. After all, he was still not very confident that he was completely healed of the psychological problem he had and could still win even if he held on to the final part of the marathon. After going through 41 km Jake finally relaxed and realized that he could win today''s marathon smoothly and get a seat at this year''s Olympics, he was even dreaming about the gold medal. "It looks like we already have a winner for this marathon today, Jake is almost entering the last mile of the race and has a huge advantage of over 3 minutes for the other competitors." "Second place finisher Bob Kempainen was ill at the last moments of the race, but he still stands firm in second and is well ahead of third place in the race." "So we will have our main representative for this year''s marathon Olympics a 17-year-old Jake Smith is his name." This time Jake had no problem at the end of the race and can easily win and secure a place for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Jake was relieved that it seemed his problem had been healed. He finished the race in 2 hours, 8 minutes and 30 seconds earning $ 125,000, $ 100,000 to win and $ 25,000 for breaking the race record, so he was pleased with that, then Jake made a point of greeting Bob Kempainen that it would be the winner if it wasn''t for him to participate this time. After talking with some reporters and saying that he felt very good to be able to represent his young country in an Olympics, especially this one being in his country. This was also the first time Jake had not eaten a stamina bar after finishing a marathon, he felt less tired today than in his training, Jake had decided that this year would only train for the Olympics and not participate in any marathon until the Olympics. So Jake would have to wait a few years before he could compete in all major marathons in the world, Jake was a little disappointed to earn no reward statistic points after qualifying for the Olympics. But that was normal, after all for the system this was just a qualifying competition and the Olympics was the real challenge they would have to face, Jake just thought it would be nice to have a few more points in the Resistance statistic before the Olympics. The same day Jake returned to Miami, he thought it was much better to rest at home than to stay in a pewter hotel, Jake told his mother when he got home that he had won the race and qualified for the Olympics. He hoped that as last time she wouldn''t mind much, but Jake was wrong this time, Eva knew the Olympics very well and cheered for the United States in all competitions. So she was very happy and congratulated Jake so much for being able to compete at the Olympics, Eva even said that it was for Jake to do everything possible to get a gold medal to bring home. Jake had many awards and medals at home, but an Olympic gold medal would be completely different from what he had now, Jake agreed with his mother about it, which is why he wanted to get several gold medals after a few years. Jake was seriously thinking that after this Olympics, in addition to trying to win the major marathons, he would start training for other sports as well, with his agility and Resistance now Jake thought the 5,000 and 10,000-meter race would be easy to beat here 4 years ago. But the 1,500 and 800-meter races would be much more difficult, the smaller the distance from the races the greater the difficulty for Jake to try to win, he thought he would have to have at least 42 stats in agility to try to win and that wasn''t easy to achieve in 4 years only. After winning 5 more marathons major Jake would get 5 more agility points and 5 Resistance points, it was a pity that Jake didn''t know if he could achieve more with the athletics world championship and the Olympics. Even though Jake knew he could not count on the agility points he would get from his normal training after all the system warned that Jake only got many points because his body was developing, but after this year he would not improve that easily. That was why Jake was thinking about how he could improve his strength statistics, after all, he could not increase running in marathons and it would take several years to think of earning any points with basketball. So Jake would have to see his Agility and Resistance is much higher than his strength statistics, and Jake knew from the system that he would need strength statistics to be able to improve accuracy on off-range and mid-range shots as well. The other week Jake decided to rest his body and did no training other than the training of plays with the basketball team, after all, would soon be the third game of the Elite team in the national championship. Now that Jake had recovered from his psychological problem nothing could hinder his team from getting another national championship trophy, then he would just have to think about university. Jake called John and Alan during the week telling him that he had won and qualified for the Olympics, they were happy about it and their companies would be even happier. John was a little worried after what happened in New York and was happy to know that everything went well. Jake also called Tiffany and Clara, but Tiffany was out of the country solving some problems with European stores and Clara said she wanted to have lunch with Jake to celebrate the good news. When Jake saw Clara at the restaurant he was glad to see that she looked much healthier than before, she still looked a little pale and thin but was much more alive and happy than before. She managed to recover faster after eating better and taking some vitamins, but especially after getting out of the depression that was due to the many problems, Clara realized that she had real friends by her side like Jake and Tiffany. "How are you doing, Jake?" "I''m fine, much better than before, things seem to be working out well now and I''m back to playing well and qualifying for the Olympics, plus my mom seems to be very happy and doesn''t have to work so much in the restaurant anymore." "And you look so much better than before, Clara, I hope you''ll be happy and confident again as it was the first time I met you." "Thank you, Jake, thanks to you and Tiffany that I am recovering so well, but I can only be happy again after I recover my actions from Robert''s hands." Chapter 222 Bright Future 8 Jake realized that the reason Clara recovered so quickly and accepted well what happened in her company and divorce was that she finally accepted that her ex-husband Robert was a scoundrel and was not worthy and did not deserve her love. It was only a matter of time before this happened and Clara woke up to realize the reality of life, Jake was afraid that after Clara lost her innocence what was left was anger and desire to take revenge on her ex-husband as it happened to many women. Luckily it seemed that Clara was not like this and just wanted to recover her company to get her life back to normal, seeing that Jake who was fine with everything that was happening decided to try to calm Clara by telling her situation. "I think you don''t have to worry so much about getting your business back Clara, I know you don''t trust my business visions, but I think I make good investments and by 2000 I could end up earning a few tens of thousands of dollars." "I know you don''t believe that, but my company is taking care of a multi-million dollar capital investment and part of that money comes from Matthew you know well." "Is Matthew even investing?" "Yes, I now have a small percentage of his company stock, and Matthew''s company made a good profit from the sales of the new digital camera, so he and I made good money on the company''s profit share." "Just as Matthew trusts me, he decided to invest with my investment firm." It was a pity that Jake couldn''t tell Clara the details of his dealings and the company, but Clara must have realized that Jake had indeed made a lot of money as she knew the rumors about the deals being done.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Clara was really surprised by this, she didn''t know that Jake was that good in business, she thought Jake lived only on the sponsorships she received, but it seems she was very wrong and Jake could be richer than she thought now. In fact, Clara couldn''t be blamed for thinking that, after all, Jake was only 17 now and it was already amazing the accomplishments he had in two top-level sports like basketball and athletics, so she couldn''t imagine that Jake had a talent for the stock market too. Matthew and Oliver knew Jake a lot better and had been listening to Jake''s business visions since many years ago, plus Jake gave many important tips to Matthew''s company and saved Matthew''s company from possible bankruptcy, so it was normal for Matthew trust Jake for the investments. Even with the crisis that was going on in her company, Clara would not think of giving money to Jake''s company to invest at a time like this, after all, she knew well that the stock market was risky and she could not risk the future of her company in that. Matthew was with his company making a lot of money from the new product and could risk an investment of a few million, but she could not make herself, Clara could change her mind if she heard that Matthew risked investing 300 million with Jake''s company, but Jake never would do it. "I don''t understand where you want to go with this Jake, it''s not that I don''t trust you, but I can''t bet my company''s future on the stock market." "I know that well, you made it very clear last time, what I mean is that when I can redeem the money from my investment in 5 years or even before that when I get Matthew''s company profit share I will buy the Robert shares of your company. " "But you have to agree to that first, then when you have conditions I can sell that 10 percent stock back to you." For a while, Clara was silent trying to understand what Jake was saying to her, after all, it was normal for her not to understand that if Tiffany she had known for over 10 years or her father bought these actions to help her, Clara would not be so surprised by that and would just be grateful. But she didn''t understand why Jake who until a while ago had nothing wanted to risk buying her company''s stock right now, if she didn''t know Jake well she might even think that Jake was buying those shares from a rival company. But she knew Jake would never do something as bad as that to her, and even though Jake was a close friend and her company-sponsored Jake when he was younger and more needed, Clara didn''t think it was enough to justify it. "Why are you doing this for me?" "Because you are one of the dearest people in my life, and I don''t think you deserve to lose your company for a mistake that is not yours, if I have this money I will definitely buy these stocks, because even if I keep them I know you''re efficient and can make my investment count." Even though he didn''t expect that question Jake just told the truth, Clara and Tiffany were very dear people in his life and helped him a lot at a time he needed, besides, Jake knew that Clara was efficient and a great company and worth the investment even if Clara didn''t buy those shares from him. After another 4 years in 2000, Jake would have billions of dollars in cash from his investments, in another 20 years, he would be close to 100 billion if all he thought worked out, so taking that 30 million to help a friend was worth it to Jake. When Clara saw in Jake''s eyes that he was being sincere as she began to cry, Jake was surprised by this and didn''t know what to do, he knew it wasn''t a cry of joy because he hadn''t bought the stock yet and nothing had happened. So Jake could only comfort Clara awkwardly, the crying Clara was having now was a bit of a relief, after all, she was still very stressed about everything that had happened in recent months. Even if her health was better she couldn''t be relaxed until she regained Robert''s actions, so seeing that Jake also wanted to help herself by knowing him a few years ago made Clara relieved to see that she didn''t have to go through this alone. It wasn''t a question of whether or not Jake could be 30 million in a few years when a few years ago he had nothing, but just the sincere intention to help make her happy. After a while Clara recovered and was embarrassed after realizing she had cried in a restaurant again and again in front of Jake, she didn''t know why, but she felt comfortable and relieved whenever she talked to Jake. She knew it was because she was so fragile and vulnerable these past few months with everything that had happened in her life, and Jake was now a man and always confident and cheerful at all times. It was a kind of charm and maturity that Clara had never seen in anyone, when Jake was a child he was not like that, and looked just cute, in a few years he changed a lot, thinking about it Clara can not help but smile, it made Jake more confused seeing Clara crying and then smiling. "What''s it?" "It''s nothing, I was thinking that a few years ago when I met you you looked so cute, and now that you''ve grown up you look very confident." "I thought I already looked confident when I met you." "Hahaha, no you just looked cute trying to be serious under 13." After that, they talked for a while and broke up when Jake went home, he thought she looked better after he said he would buy these shares from Robert''s hands, even if Clara didn''t believe him, Jake was very confident in doing that to happen. In fact, if Jake made a loan he could easily get the money to buy Robert''s stock, but he knew well that Clara''s problem would not be solved with just that, Tiffany and Clara had to think of a way to buy the stock adversary company that was 33 for sure too. After all, it was now as if they were working with the enemy and the opposing company could know everything they were doing and doing the same, or rather, would be a hopeless competition for Clara''s company. So Jake would rather wait a few years and get that money without any debt if he says that in the next few years Jake would make even more money from the profit-sharing of Matthew''s company. After that the week spent quietly with Jake doing just the training of basketball plays while resting this week after the marathon, Jake was afraid of having another injury if he continued training as before. After all, even though the system could warn before Jake had the injury this was only in the latter case, after all, it was only because Jake was overdoing the training that he always had the risk of an injury. After a few more days the day of the Elite team''s third national championship game came, the game was much more difficult for the Elite team than in previous games after the first national championship game Lucas always started the starting games. It was because the whole team and coach Mike felt safer to make the plays with Lucas in defense, in this game David started as a starter again, but it happened again that he underperformed as he had not since last season. So at the end of the first period of the game, the Elite team only led the score by 2 points because Jake was playing very well and scored 12 points only in the first period. Seeing this coach Mike was not slow and decided to put Nathan in the game in place of David, David was very upset to have left the game but knew it was not a good day to play and could end up hurting the team if he continued playing. In the second period the Elite team improved a lot in the game and the defense played better than in the other games and gave no chance for the attacking opponent, Jake also continued to play very well and still gave accurate passes to Mark and Lucas to score more points. So at the end of the second period, the team won by 10 points and Jake had 12 points and the whole game had 24 points. Chapter 223 Last National High School Championship 1 In the third period, the Elite team came back to dominate with good moves from Jake and the strong defense of the whole team, Coach Mike was pleased with what he saw and thought this was the best team to play this national championship. If it wasn''t for David and Harrison''s high school senior year Coach Mike would have replaced them after all the two new players were playing much better, especially in defense and now they had achieved the perfect match with the rest of the team.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. Not to mention that Nathan and Lucas would surely be the leaders of the Elite team next year, putting them in important games to improve and gain experience was the best he could do. By the end of the third period, the Elite team was winning by 18 points, and because the opposing team played well and demanded that everyone on the Elite team play as well as they could, Mark also excelled playing well in defense and making the attacks without failing when necessary. Not to mention that he had 13 rebounds at the end of this third period being one of the most important players to secure this advantage in this tough game, Jake has scored 14 points over that period and has had 28 points throughout the game so far. Unlike the other teams that played in this national championship before against the Elite team, in this third game, the opponents did not want to give up the game, so Jake and the other players did their best and guaranteed the victory of the Elite team. So at the end of the fourth period, the Elite team won 30 points more than their opponents, Jake finished the game with 44 points, 17 assists and 7 steals, his best game in this national championship, after all, he managed to perform well against a most difficult opponent team. After the game Jake chatted a little with his teammates and then left home, David was the only one who was not happy after this game because he would probably miss the chance to play in the starting team after this game. But no one could comfort David because Nathan, who had got the job, was also friends and teammates, everyone knew that only the best could play in the starting lineup and all were teammates. Overnight he talked to his mother after telling him that he had won the game, Eva was happy for her son and was no longer so nervous about games beyond the final game because she couldn''t even imagine Jake talking about losing after so many years. After all even though Jake had stopped playing for 2 years it was still amazing to think that it was 5 years since Jake had known what a defeat in basketball was, of course, Jake University games could experience more losses and in the NBA he would surely lose a lot of games. But at high school at least he still didn''t know what it was to lose a game, this might be Jake''s most impressive record of making multiple doubles or scoring over 100 points in two games. During the night after showering and getting ready for bed, Jake found himself thinking again about how things had worked out again in his life, so he wanted to see how he had improved after so long. "Fate, I''d like to see my Basketball Stats window." [Here it is] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 17 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: College Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 1.93 m] [Weight: 95 Kg] [Force 33] [Agility 34] [Resistance 37] [Intelligence 59] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Basketball Skills [Ball Handling B] [Body Control B] [Man to Man C] [Dribble B] [Layup B] [Set Shot A] [Block C] [Pass A] [Rebound B] [2 Points S] [3 Points S] [Free Throw SS] [Steal A] [Dunk C] --------------------------------- Jake was surprised to learn that in the physical he had improved a lot unknowingly, he hoped that after 16 years he could not change much, but was surprised to see that he had grown to 1.93 m in a short time he increased 4 cm in height. Of course Jake knew it was because of the system tuning, after all, he had grown so much taller than in his past life, now he didn''t know if he could increase his height even more than now, after all, he couldn''t control the system. At least he knew that the system did only what was best for him, and Jake had realized that the muscles in his body had increased a lot and were stronger, so his weight had increased too, this should be done by the system, so people wouldn''t suspect Jake''s abnormal strength with a thin body. After all, no matter how much he ate or exercised, his weight and body did not change at all, his statistics had also increased by one each, while his growth would stop, his statistics would not increase as easily. Already his basketball skills had improved almost nothing after all this time, only the skills with the lowest rank had improved, and Jake was training every day in his imagination training space. "Fate, could you explain to me what happened?" [I will explain everything until I am 19 years old your body will still be growing, circumstances that not even I control well must be met for your body to change anyway in the following years.] [But just as you said, no change should hurt you, the higher you should do better on some skills you have more difficulty now and also with your more muscular body reduces the risk of injury and does not hinder your agility.] [Your stats have kept growing at this time if you keep exercising, lately, you have been putting it a little aside thinking that it doesn''t help at all, but if you push yourself as before it might still work.] [As for your skills not improving much, partly as I had warned you before, as the college level of basketball is very close to the pro it''s much harder to raise ranks, but each improvement makes a lot of difference.] [Also, since you had a psychological problem this obviously affected your skill development as well, so much of the time training you had had that problem was to no avail.] "I''m healed now, aren''t I?" [Yes, you are healed, your problem was nothing serious, to begin with, but as you were under a lot of stress due to all the responsibilities you have taken longer to recover even with my help, thankfully it was right at the beginning of your vacation and didn''t affect you that much.] "You said my skills training had been impaired due to my psychological problem, but before you didn''t say no injuries would disturb my imagination training space?" [I said no physical injury could disrupt your training, but your problem was mental, so it affected it even more, and I didn''t expect you to ignore me and have an injury in life, so it''s your fault.] Jake was embarrassed to hear this after all the system had always warned the moment before he was injured, but this time Jake ignored the system warning and went for the injury, Jake''s mental problem was even rarer to happen and probably would not happen again. So Jake took advantage of the fact that he was talking to the system now and decided to see how he had progressed in his other jobs as well, the second particular employer was what Jake least looked at as having no rank-enhancing or statistical skills that Jake found useful. "Fate, show me the statistics window for my third job too." [Here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 17 years] [Job: Runner] [Height: 1.93 m] [Weight: 95 Kg] [Force 33] [Agility 34] [Resistance 37] [Intelligence 59] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Techniques [Second Lung B] [Iron Body B] --------------------------------- The physical statistics were the same as his first job, but both techniques were what Jake was most interested in, he was delighted to see that his Second Lung technique had improved further, after all not even 8 months from the last time he had seen an improvement. If Jake had won a major marathon and received a reward he would not have been so surprised, but he won only the Olympic qualifiers and came second in New York last year, and his race time had not improved. "Fate, because my Second Lung technique has improved in recent months." [Improved because of the marathons you ran, of course, competing has always been the best way to improve and gain experience ever, and even though your skills haven''t improved much because of your psychological problem, you still came second in a marathon major and won the Olympic classification marathon so you improved even without the rewards.] Thinking about it was not so strange that he had improved after having great results in two marathons in which he competed with the best in the world, now Jake was even more certain that he could improve even better if he won the Olympics. "Fate, show me my second job statistics window too." [Here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 17 years] [Job: Businessman] [Intelligence 59] [Luck 99] [Charm 39] [Leadership 28] [Policy 16] [Eloquence 39] -------------------------------- Active Techniques [See Through] [Business Vision] --------------------------------- Jake was not surprised by his statistics getting much better in his second job, after a long time he had not looked, and the system had said that other statistics also interfered with other jobs, so it was normal for Jake to improve. Even more, than Jake had gotten great deals in recent years and could make billions of dollars in a few years and tens of billions in more than 20 years, it shows that Jake has been doing well and improving his negotiating skills as well as leveraging his knowledge of the future. Jake was glad that his policy and leadership statistics increased, after all, he studied a lot about trade policy after receiving this statistic and many companies he worked for were important to the country''s national policy. His leadership stat must have increased after having several negotiations where he had to lead conversations and also what he went through on the basketball team and his challenge with the football team where he led a team to victory without knowing his Teammates completely. Chapter 224 Last National High School Championship 2 His stats of eloquence and charm also increased well, these were the two statistics Jake found most important that he received in this second job, even though leadership was important was more for his other jobs. Charm was very important to show confidence and the older Jake got his charm increased naturally, his commercials could be successful thanks to this statistic and even with relationships, Jake knew this statistic could be important. Eloquence was the key to everything when it came to business, there was a phrase that Jake heard was that if anyone wanted to leave an unarmed businessman they had to stop him from speaking.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. And that was the truth, an example of this was that Jake worked hard to find Jeff Bezos and be able to talk to him personally, even though Jake knew about the future and had the money to invest none of that mattered if he couldn''t even talk to Jeff Bezos. So did Matthew, if Jake couldn''t win Matthew''s trust and talked so well about the risk of bankruptcy Jake couldn''t have helped anything even if he knew the future. After seeing that he had improved a lot these last months Jake could sleep much more peacefully and happily, the other week Jake went back to training with full force, he participated in training with the football team, did the training of plays with the basketball team, ran the 55 km of marathon training and still did weightlifting and treadmill at home. As the system itself said that Jake could improve his physical statistics over the next two years he had to try at least not to mention that Jake''s body was already very different from other people if he rested for a day his body would completely recover from fatigue. If there was one thing he noticed from his training was that his Resistance had improved again, he had a lot more energy even after running, so Jake realized that maybe it was after the last marathon that he gained a Resistance point and his technique improved. After all, as the system even said that he didn''t get any rewards this time, he would still improve his skills and statistics as normal people did. So Jake decided to increase the running distance of his daily training again to 60 km so that he could work harder and improve his stamina as well, so with these improvements maybe he could improve his running time in the marathon. But since his current race time already allowed Jake to win this year''s Olympics, Jake decided not to risk it for now and just do the basic training, so he was considering only taking a chance after finding a coach and changing his training method. So Jake could hear from a pro whether he could run faster, but he would ask Tiffany to look for someone again only after the Olympics were over. In the training sessions with the basketball team, Jake was feeling much more comfortable making the moves after he had confirmation from the system that his psychological problem was healed. Even though no one noticed this small change because the focus of the training was again the dispute for a position in the starting lineup, Harrison was trying very hard in training after losing the starting position. But he himself saw that he might not have a chance because he saw that Lucas was improving even better than he was in training, and Harrison''s problem with his defense techniques couldn''t be solved by just training more. It was a talent problem too, after all in the beginning as he was starting to play basketball Lucas was already playing as PF and only later decided to move to SF position, so Lucas had much more defensive skill than Harrison who lost many years of training playing only in the attack. David was almost always a starter as he was a much better player than Harrison and was once a key player in the Elite team attack, especially when he developed his 3-point shooting skills much further. But because he played badly in the last game and Nathan came in as well as a substitute and pleased the coach he was afraid of losing the starting position on the team, after all, he could see that Nathan was improving a lot in training. In fact, Nathan was known for playing even better than Lucas at Middle School last year, so much so that he won the MVP award for the Middle School National Championship before. But when he entered high school he started playing very shyly and gradually improved by playing worse than his teammate Lucas, but that had a reason no one on the team knew. The reason was that despite playing as SG last year Nathan just stood out and played so well because he also played as team keeper and his playing style and place on the court were similar to Jake. The other players and not even Lucas who played with him before realized this was what was happening, of course despite having the same style of play Jake played more than 10 times better than him, even Nathan thought so. So when he entered high school he realized this problem and knew that he had to change his playing style to play better and have more room in the team, so he still played as well in defense as before but was having trouble showing his Attack skills. If Nathan had talked about this with the team he could probably already be the basketball team starter by that time, after all, Coach Mike could help Nathan find another style of play that he could do better. And Jake himself could play in many different ways on the court, as someone who had far more than 1000 experience games in every position in his imagination training space Jake was far more versatile than anyone thought. It was also because of this that he could adapt so quickly to the team''s changing playing style at the beginning of the year, Jake only always played in the current playing style because he thought he could help the team more like this. But if he found out that Nathan could play like that too, Jake would be free to try several different styles that would surprise his opponents. Even so, Nathan was now totally used to his new style of play after almost a year and could play his best again, so he thought the team would only have to win if he were the starter in those final games. With all this squad in the team the week went by quickly and the day of the fourth game of the national championship arrived, the opponent seemed to be even stronger than in the last game, knowing that coach Mike did not hesitate and put Nathan in the starting position SG. So the starting lineup for this game was Jake in PG position, Nathan in SG position, Lucas in SF position, Carter in PF position and Mark in Center position. If this team showed the same match they had in the last match, coach Mike thought he would have no problem winning this game even with the opposing team being more difficult. Before leaving home for the game, after eating breakfast Eva warned Jake that Lola would go to the game again, at which point Jake had realized that Lola felt something for him. But Jake was determined not to have any kind of relationship until after college after he could sell the shares he needed to sell and join the NBA. Jake wouldn''t have much trouble to solve and could think back to relationships. After all in 2000 Jake would still be 21 and even Lola would be 22, so if she still liked him by then Jake would agree to date Lola, of course, that was because Jake didn''t love Lola and didn''t feel very strongly about her. If he was in love with her, Jake wouldn''t have to wait all these years to make up his mind, yet he liked having Lola as a friend and was happy to have her at his games. So after the game started Jake was playing as well as ever and the moves with Nathan and Lucas were being done very well and they could find many loopholes from the opposing team. At the end of the first half, the Elite team won by 6 points, after all, even if the Elite team was playing well, the opposing team was also able to take advantage of the attacks. In that first period, Jake scored 8 points and played well as in the other games, but even though Jake had no problem scoring more points his teammates were also fine and he made more assists. At the end of the second period, the Elite team was ahead by 14 points with Jake scoring 10 points to 18 in total, and by the end of the third period the Elite team was ahead by 18 points and Jake had 8 points to the top 26 in total. In this game, the opponent was good in his attacks and could use well to make mid-range points and thus avoided the strongest defense of the players of the Elite team. Carter was also playing as well as ever and managed to force the opposing PF to make more mistakes, with everyone on the team playing so well Carter was sometimes overlooked, but he also improved a lot in defense and can contribute much more in attack after the style Elite''s gameplay changed earlier this year. By the end of the fourth period, the Elite team had won the fourth game of the national championship with a 24 point lead and Jake had scored 36 points, 14 assists and 8 steals, this was the game where Jake came closest to making a triple-double. after the record he had was over. The biggest reason for this was that this year''s national championship games were hotly contested and Jake didn''t want to be selfish and try to force a Triple Double. Now only two games left for the Elite team to be the champions again, even though they were confident that their team was playing so well this year Jake still couldn''t help worrying about how tough the semifinal opponent could be next week. This week of training everyone had to work harder on play training, and whoever played had to play very well, after all, only two games were left for Jake''s team to officially graduate from high school games. Chapter 225 Last National High School Championship 3 Even though everyone was training even harder to be able to play even better in the final two games of the national championship it was obvious that everyone was very confident and many were right about the victory. That was not strange after all the Elite team was almost the same as it was last year''s champion, in another year it was normal for everyone to think they got better and now they still had two great new players on the team to further improve their chances to win. Of course, the biggest confidence of them all was Jake who was a great player who had no one like him in today''s high school even though he didn''t break any records in every game like last year Jake was still doing a media 35 points per game in this national championship. Not to mention that Jake was still the team''s best player in defense and controlled the game with his assists, so Coach Mike expected Nathan and Lucas to play much better so they could replace Jake next year. Coach Mike knew it was impossible to find another player of the same rank as Jake to replace him next year, so he hoped that Nathan and Lucas together could do that, even if the team''s skill level dropped, they could still try win again the national championship next year. Coach Mike had heard a report that this year''s Middle School basketball team had two great players coming into high school next year, they were the Center and PF of the starting team when Lucas and Nathan were in Middle School and won last year. It looked like they should win the Middle School national championship this year too, so even though next year it was difficult for the Elite team to be national champions again in two more years they could try another two-time championship. But that had nothing to do with Jake leaving school after the end of this semester to go to university, this week he was doing his best in training if he put in hours his full training beyond his time in school would give 10 hours per training day. More than 4 hours for 60km running training, close to 1 hour for football team physical training, close to 1 hour of individual physical training, more than 2 hours for team play training at school and 1 hour doing the 3-point shooting drills he did whenever he could. Before his training was no more than 6 hours normally, and before starting marathon training he trained less than 4 hours a day, so the more time passed the heavier Jake''s training had to be in order to earn statistics points. If anyone saw his training routine he would not doubt that Jake could compete in both athletics and basketball, of course on days when he had a business to take care of his routine it would decrease by many hours and sometimes he would not do his longer running training. So while Jake was still doing his training during the week Oliver said he had something to talk to him about, even though the two of them were friends Oliver rarely called Jake to his house when he didn''t have an important subject to say.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please clickfor visiting. So Jake usually got tense when he was called, after all the last thing Oliver had to talk about was the problem with his friend Joseph''s dating, luckily Matthew seemed to have completely forgotten about that after the successful digital camera sales. "Hi Oliver, what happened to you calling me here?" "You''re my friend Jake, I can''t just call you to talk." "Of course you can, I''d be happy if you always called me in to talk and had no problem." "I called you here for two matters, the first is to say that your house is ready for you and your mother to move, even if the court and athletic field you asked for is not ready yet this place is too far from your home and shouldn''t bother you if you want to move there." Jake was glad to know that he could finally go to his own house, it was very uncomfortable to be at Matthew''s house even though the house was great and Jake was a close friend of Matthew''s, and Eva must be even happier about it than he was. As for the court and his athletic field would be something Jake wouldn''t have to worry about at the moment, after all, he didn''t need a place of his own yet, after finishing the national championship Jake would take a break for the Olympics and then go to university. That would be things Jake hardly even thought of using for now, what Jake cared about most was that his mother was comfortable in the new home and that her safety was assured, after all, Eva would be home alone when Jake was in college. "The other subject I wanted to ask was which university are you going to after high school?" "It will be the University of North Carolina." "So it''s a shame, but I don''t think Joseph is going to study at the same university you''re not?" "I don''t think so Oliver, actually I don''t know if he was in the same university as his girlfriend, but I think you can rest easy now Oliver, Joseph is no longer that boy from a few years ago." "He has changed a lot and is much more confident now, I''m sure he will have no trouble finding new friends at his new university." "I believe that too, but I would feel much safer if Joseph was at the same university as you Jake, you always took such good care of him." "I think it''s going to be good for him to mature even more by this time, he''s almost an adult now and he has to know how to take care of himself too, not to mention that even though we were going to do the same course at university he has to choose with the best teaching and mine will be the best basketball." Jake also thought that studying at the largest universities in the world like Harvard or Princeton among others, but he knew very well that a university degree meant nothing to his future. After all Jake wanted to be a professional basketball player and play in the NBA until he was 40 and still play other sports and win a lot of Olympic medals, even after that Jake spent a lot of time studying since he was 10 and also in his past life to learn about Business. In fact, Jake didn''t expect to learn anything new and just wanted to get his degree later, plus with Jake''s investments now in the stock market he would have tens of billions after retiring from basketball and would not have to worry about working ever again if you didn''t want to. But Joseph still had a lot to learn at the university, and it would be best if he continued to study after that, after a few more years Matthew''s company would be worth billions of dollars, and Joseph had to know how to handle it. Fortunately, Matthew was still in good health and could run the company for at least another 10 years, which would give Joseph time to learn what he would need, and Oliver would always be by his side for advice whenever Joseph needed it. "Not to mention that after Joseph University you probably think about getting married, maybe you''ll soon be Grandpa Oliver." "I don''t think they will do it anytime soon, but we have to see if my dad will approve of this relationship, at the moment he may be busy and has forgotten about it, but I don''t think it will always be that way." "And you Jake, are you thinking of having a girlfriend?" "Not now, maybe after college, after all, I''m very young yet, but you''re the one who needs to meet someone in Oliver, you get older every day and it''s best to find someone to stay with you now that Joseph has grown." "I don''t think about meeting anyone now, I don''t like people I know my age very much and I don''t think it''s right to meet someone younger than me, so I''ll have to wait and see if I can find anyone." After talking for a while Jake returned home after calling the moving company he had already booked since he bought the house, the other day Jake would finally move to the new house, he had to wait another day to warn your mother that she would come home at night. When Eve got home she was very happy to know that her new home was ready for them to move, she was also feeling uncomfortable living in a house that was not hers, but today would be the last day. In fact, she was the one who had been saddened to have to move to a new home, after all, she had the most memories of the house where she lived before Jake was born, but for her and her son''s safety, she agreed to move to a new home Larger house. The other day Jake made all the move to the new house while his mother worked after he handed the key to Oliver because he thought it was safer than leaving in the concierge, so Jake now finally had a mansion as he had always dreamed of in his past life. Several of his dreams had come true on his second chance, he was already very wealthy and had a mansion, the best cars, and a yacht could wait a few more years, his dream of entering a university to fulfill his mother''s dream it was also close to fulfillment. Jake had also been able to let his mother live happily, but that was something to do for a lifetime and was accomplished now, getting into the NBA and being champion would also take a few more years, the hardest thing was finding a woman he loved and having a family. But Jake knew he still had many years to live to fulfill all those dreams, now he just had to think about the weekend game that would be the national championship semifinal game. Nathan, who had started as a starter, played very well and received more praise than Lucas in the game, so now Carter was the player who contributed the least to the team in the games and yet he was still very good and could play on any team in high school. Chapter 226 Last National High School Championship 4 Mark was essential to the team''s rebounds and Nathan and Lucas had to do well in both defense and attack, only Jake who had no pressure and had to play what he knew only. The days went by and the day of the semifinal match was near, so Coach Mike decided to give the players a rest so that everyone was at their best on match day, of course, Jake didn''t change anything and he would still do his thing intense training in the same way. For Jake who had 37 Resistance points a common basketball game would not be enough to make him tired, maybe when he had a routine of several games in the week that lasted longer and were much harder as it would be in the NBA that he might need a rest before the game. Jake was quieter at least to spend more time at home, he was totally quiet in his new home, even though in his past life he didn''t live in a mansion and had several employees that wouldn''t bother Jake. But Eva still thought it was strange, she loved the new house with the new much bigger and comfortable furniture, especially the kitchen, it was big and seemed a bit in space of the restaurant, that was why Eva chose this house. But she couldn''t get used to seeing the housekeepers cleaning the house for her, it was a custom she had since childhood, and Eva didn''t even like Jake cleaning the house sometimes. Even so, she knew she couldn''t clean a mansion this size alone so the maids she could even accept, the cook Jake had hired was another thing Eva didn''t like, she preferred to cook the food herself. Jake knew this well so the cook didn''t live in the house and only worked when Eva wasn''t home or when Eva needed her, so Eva couldn''t complain and had to accept it too. The hardest thing was getting used to a driver and another man who took her everywhere, Eva couldn''t even go to a mall alone without the driver insisting on taking her, that''s what Jake had demanded of course Eva had freedom to go where she wanted and the security guards would just follow her from afar. After all, after what had happened Jake could not rest easy leaving his mother alone, he knew that after a few years Eva would get used to it after all the rich had security and used to live like this. Jake had complete confidence in the people who worked with him and cared for his mother because he had used his second job skills with all of them, so he knew that everything they said was true and these people were reliable. After a few months, Jake would always ask the same questions and use his ability to always ensure his mother''s safety, in fact, Jake suggested that Oliver hire Joseph a security guard after what happened to him. But Oliver said he didn''t think it was necessary and Jake didn''t want to talk about it anymore, Jake was so lucky he can''t help worrying about it, he thought Oliver was being too careless, after all, Oliver didn''t leave home very much and Matthew had the security guards near him. So after Matthew''s company was even more successful, Jake feared that his friend would also be targeted by bad guys. Of course, even Jake knew this was something unusual to happen, and his house was targeted because he was in an unsafe neighborhood, so a person being kidnapped on the street was much harder to do. But after what happened Jake realized that just because something is hard to happen doesn''t mean it can''t end up happening, and after a tragedy happens it''s no use complaining and regretting it. After a few more days the day of the fifth game of the national championship game, it was the semifinal in which despite being expected a difficult game everyone was confident with the victory.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Jake woke up very early and ate breakfast prepared by his mother and then left for the game site, when Jake arrived he saw that he was the last to arrive from his team and went to do the pre-game warm-up exercises. After another week of training, the starting lineup would be Jake in PG position, Nathan in SG position, Lucas in SF position, Carter in PF position and Mark in Center position as always. The opposing team was the Foxes team and had three players who were the team highlights, PG Sam, SG Joe, and Center Thiago, even though playing against the elite team that is the current champion the Foxes team players seemed confident in victory. After a few more minutes the semifinal game began and Mark climbed higher and got the first possession for the Elite team, Jake received the ball and began to advance to organize the Elite team''s first attack in the game. After advancing a bit Jake passed the ball to Nathan which was open on the right, Nathan advanced until after the three-point line and passed to Carter on the right, Carter received the ball and got rid of the mark and made a mid-range shot to Make the first 2 points for the Elite team in the game. Everyone besides Jake was very excited after the start of the game, even the quieter Carter was trying his best to score some points to help the Elite team win this game, after all for part of the team this would be the penultimate game if they won at high school. Nathan and Lucas were still starting and had 3 more years to go, but they were also excited to play well and take the chance to beholders in the final game if they won that game. Only Jake was calmer because there was still so much to play, but he didn''t think it was a bad thing for the whole team to be more excited and make a better game today. Sam picked up the ball and began to advance to the attack and organize his team''s first attack in the game after passing through the middle of the court Sam passed the ball to his team''s SF which was open on the right. SF advanced ahead of the three-point line and passed the ball to Thiago ahead, Thiago managed to get away from Mark''s defense and tried a mid-range shot to score 2 points and tie the game for the Foxes team. Jake received the ball and went into the attack, before going through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Nathan who was open on the right, Nathan advanced until after the three-point line and held even after Joe arrived in defense. Nathan passed the ball to Jake who was behind him, Jake received the ball and made a feint and could easily pass by Sam and drive to the basket to lay up and 2 points for the Elite team. The game was very much the same between the teams and although the Elite team had more skill both teams were able to take advantage of their chances of attacking, so at the end of the first period, the Elite team was ahead by only 2 points. Jake was playing well as usual and only scored 6 points because the moves were slower with the opposing defense being good, yet everyone was calm because this game was expected to be more difficult. At the beginning of the second period, Jake was much more active in the game and made a more individual play to score more points and so the lead also increased Mark also seemed eager to participate more in the attack and always tried the moves to make the points above of Thiago''s defense. Jake advanced with the ball until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to Lucas on the left, Lucas held the ball a little and passed to Nathan who was open on the right, Nathan received the ball and quickly passed to Mark who was asking for the ball again. Mark received the ball and after a spin made a dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team in the game, the fans in the stands were enjoying this game played and the many plays of Mark in the game. Sam received the ball and began to organize another attack for the Foxes team, he advanced and stopped before the three-point line and passed the ball to Joe on the left so as not to lose the ball in Jake''s defense. Joe got the ball and tried to make a shot on Nathan, but Nathan was firm in defense, so Joe passed the ball to Thiago again, Thiago used his strength and turned to make a dunk and 2 points for the Foxes team. Mark was very excited about the attack and was always asking the ball to score points with some dunk too, but Thiago was trying too hard and the dispute between the two excited the crowd in the stands, At the end of the second period, the Elite team was ahead by 8 points, this was thanks to Jake who was working harder on the attacks and scored 12 points in this second period, Mark had also done well in the second period and so the Elite team was more lively. Only Jake could not cheer up even after playing the entire game to an advantage, the more the advanced game the greater Jake''s feeling that something bad could happen, but he thought the Elite team was playing very well and had many chances to win. No player was playing poorly in the game and he himself was playing normally without any performance problems, Jake was all the time between the second and third period trying to understand this feeling, but failed. He also couldn''t ask for the game to stop just because he was having a bad feeling and so the third period started, Jake was playing even more seriously and everyone got more serious seeing the captain acting like that. Jake advanced with the ball and after passing the middle of the court he passed the ball to Lucas on the left, Lucas received the ball and advanced before the three-point line and passed to Carter, Carter held the ball and returned the ball to Jake soon after. Jake received Carter''s pass and feigned Sam, then Jake stepped back and attempted a shot from outside to score 3 points for the Elite team in the game. Chapter 227 Last National High School Championship 5 After that, the game continued with both teams playing well and the Elite team increasing the lead with Jake and Mark''s plays and the firm defense of the team that made the opponents make more mistakes. After half of the third period having passed Jake received the ball again to organize another attack for his team, in this third period as he was concerned that something bad might happen Jake didn''t pass the ball as much as before and scored the points in most plays. Before reaching the three-point line Jake passed the ball to Lucas on the left, Lucas received the ball and after holding a little passed to Nathan who was on the right, Nathan saw Jake asking for the ball again behind. But even though Jake could score the points if he got the ball he decided to pass to Mark who was also asking inside, Mark received the ball for the first time in the third period and made the turn after trying a dunk to make 2 more points for the Elite team. But Thiago was close in defense trying to prevent Mark from making another move on him again, so after making the dunk, Mark ended up landing after making the jump over Thiago''s feet. Mark in addition to tall was also heavy, so he fell with his 115 kg and soon both fell to the ground, Thiago was just in pain because Mark had stepped on his feet, but Mark seemed to have suffered an injury from falling wrong on landing. So the game stopped to serve both, after a time of service and tension Thiago raised apparently well-receiving applause from the crowd that was happy that he was fine, but Mark had to leave the court quickly to be served and the game continued. Coach Mike was worried about Mark as well as all the players, but the game would restart and he could not leave the team with one less, yet he knew that the team''s reserve center was much worse than Mark. So Coach Mike decided to improvise Carter in the Center position for now and Lucas who had already played as PF went to play in Carter''s place, Harrison was put in place of Mark who was being served in SF''s position. The game continued and the Foxes team took advantage that the Elite team had embezzlement and began to push trying to reduce the Elite team''s advantage by 12 points at the time of the third period. Jake realized this was what he was worried about and having a bad premonition, but there was no way he could do anything to prevent it and he kept playing the same way and working harder in defense to help his team after Mark left. At the end of the third period, the Elite team had only a 4-point lead. In addition to the defense that showed several loopholes for the opponents, the attack was also worse than before, Nathan who felt guilty for Mark''s injury ended up missing some attacks. After all, if Nathan had passed the ball to Jake and not to Mark this play would not have happened and Mark would not be injured, in defense besides Carter who was playing improvised was holding tightly Thiago. Lucas, who was always good at defense, played well in his original PF position, but Harrison could not stop the attacks of the opposing SF and Nathan was also playing poorly in defense giving more room for Joe to attack. Jake had scored 12 points in this third period and had 30 points throughout the game now, just him scoring so many points and playing well in defense that the team continued to maintain the lead, the coach decided to take Nathan who was playing badly and put David After all, even though David couldn''t help much in defense he could help more in the offense, now the Elite team had to try to play well in the latter period and hope that luck helps them qualify for the finals. The doctors attending this emergency semifinal match examined Mark and saw that he had a sprained foot during the fall after doing the dunk, it was no one''s fault it was just a gambling accident. Even if it wasn''t a serious injury it would take Mark at least a few weeks to recover, so he was out of this game and the final if the Elite team qualified, Mark was taken to hospital for more thorough exams and Coach Mike decided not to talk about it until the game is over. In the fourth period Jake again made even more individual moves and even attempted several 3-point shots to secure victory and the spot in the final, in defense David was doing better than Nathan at the end of the third period and Jake resumed playing as before and made some steals to prevent enemy attacks. David and Harrison were playing well too, just like Lucas so the Elite team had many ways to attack besides Jake, so by the end of the fourth period they still managed to win with a 5-point lead at the end. Jake had scored 45 points in the entire game and also had 11 assists plus 8 steals and 6 rebounds, in the end, he had to play with everything he had to ensure victory and qualifying for the team final. But even with the victory nobody from the Elite team celebrated, Thiago came to apologize at the end of the game after learning that Mark had gone to the hospital, even though it wasn''t his fault it was because of him that Mark was injured. As Captain Jake soothed the team that was all worried, Jake was also smart and realized that Coach Mike should know something he didn''t say to the other players, so Jake took everyone to talk to the coach. "Coach, we want to know what happened to Mark." "I don''t know just like you guys, he was taken to the hospital for more tests before we can know anything else." "Then we go to the hospital where Mark was taken, I take some in my car and whoever has a car also takes others who want to come, where he was taken, coach?" After knowing the name of the hospital through coach Mike they went to the hospital to find out about their friend''s situation, after all, they knew each other for 5 years and even Jake was worried about it. Jake knew Coach Mike should know something, but it was true that without a full hospital checkup all the doctors could do at the scene was to speculate about what happened. But Jake couldn''t rest until he knew what happened to Mark, after all, he felt a little guilty because he knew something wrong could happen, but he can''t stop his friend from getting hurt. Arriving at the hospital Jake asked his teammates to wait at the hospital reception to not cause any turmoil after all almost 10 people came together and could not walk blindly in the group. So Jake wouldn''t be waiting at the front desk as he should and went into the hospital to find a doctor to ask, even though he knew he shouldn''t, luckily after walking for a while in the hospital corridors Jake ended up meeting Mark''s mother. Jake had known her before once Mark introduced her to him in a state championship final game in the past, as he had a good memory it was impossible for him to forget his friend''s mother and that was helpful today. "Excuse me, would you be Mark''s mother?" "Who would you be?" "And I''m a friend of his and captain of the school basketball team, Jake." "So you''re Jake, I''ve heard a lot about you from my son, he considers you very well and says you''ll be a great NBA star." "Exaggeration of him, I came here with my teammates as soon as the game ended as it is?" "He''s pretty fortunately, it was just a slight twist when he fell, but I don''t think he can play in this national championship anymore." Jake had expected this, but he felt very bad for Mark now, Jake had also realized that his friend''s mother didn''t seem to like him very much and didn''t want Jake to stay long. She even looked relieved now that she knew her son''s injury was not serious and that Mark would no longer play basketball, even if she was quite discreet Jake realized that she didn''t even introduce herself to him. "So I''m going, for now, tell Mark that we won the game and that his teammates came here to wish him a good recovery." "I tell him." After that Jake told his teammates that Mark had sprained his foot and could not play with them anymore in this national championship, then decided to take everyone out, he and his teammates wanted to see Mark, but Jake knew that his mother just made excuses for not allowing and decided to just leave. Jake was Mark''s best friend on the basketball team, Mark said his mother didn''t like him playing basketball and just wanted him to study after all his mother thought the chance to study at a private school was one of the best for him teaching, was Mark''s chance. Mark was very smart and with Jake''s help he got good grades, he was able to keep playing high school basketball because he told his mother that the school required him to play to keep the scholarship and also that if he played well could get a scholarship to the university. So Mark just wanted to play basketball until he went to college and then got a good job as his mom hoped and quit basketball as a hobby, but Jake eventually changed his fate and Mark began to improve his skills as a player. So he got a college scholarship as promised to his mother and his mother chose him a university that was not so good at basketball but was good for his studies, Mark knew so maybe he couldn''t keep playing after college and wanted to make the best of him in this national championship.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. But it looked like he had no luck and got injured in the semifinal, so now Jake wondered how Mark must be feeling bad about not being able to play in that national championship anymore. Chapter 228 Last National High School Championship 6 Jake returned home after that and told his mother that his team had won and also that a friend had been injured and could no longer play with them in this national championship, Eva just as Jake could not be happy with his son''s victory knowing that someone had been injured. Jake also found this a pity, but he knew he had no chance of his friend recovering in the remaining two weeks before the game, even though it took Jake almost that time to recover from a much milder injury Mark had sustained. That''s because Jake''s body was so much stronger and had the system''s help to recover faster, and after recovering from the injury would still take time for Mark to recover his ideal form, it was very different from Jake''s situation. As Jake couldn''t see Mark for a while until his friend went to school he had to think now what to do for the national championship final in two weeks, without Mark in the game he had to think of a solution not to lose the game. After all, in Jake''s view, the most important person on the team after himself was Mark, even if the whole team played badly if he could play the best and Mark also played well they might have a chance to win. The reason for this was not so much Mark''s talent as Center but his friend''s ability to catch rebounds when the team missed the attacks and defensive rebounds, which was what guaranteed the team''s victory. So much so that at the end of the last game Jake missed some attacks trying to score more points and without Mark to catch the rebound the lead did not increase, and although Carter seemed to have played well improvised as Center the reason was that the opposing team had no time to prepare a strategy to capitalize on the weakness of the Elite team. But there were still two weeks to the final game, it was obvious that the opponents would prepare for it, but Jake didn''t want to think about it today and decided to sleep, but before he had a doubt to ask the system. "Fate, what was that premonition I felt in the middle of the game before Mark got hurt?" [So you felt a premonition that something bad could happen huh, this is unexpected.] "What''s unexpected, don''t you even know what happened?" [I didn''t realize this happened in the middle of the game, but I think I know what happened, as you know even though I''m kind of a system to help you, I''m both a part of the fate of this world.] [In addition, you came from the future, and even though only a part of me has gone back to helping you and also correcting the mistakes that were made, it still caused a small change in universe karma.] [Of course, it''s nothing serious and I was expecting this before I went back to the past with you, even though as I am a piece of fate I know what will happen in the near future thanks to this change in karma.]Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. [At the same time after going back to the past I merged with a part of your soul, so it seems that after so many variables in your life happened and I had to warn you so many times you could have taken a small part of my abilities.] So Jake understood why the system could warn before he was injured and so could avoid before he thought the system only knew well about his body and so could warn before an injury. But now he understood that it had to do with the system''s ability to predict the future, at the same time many things went through Jake''s mind after discovering it. "So you mean you knew my house would be overrun by bad guys and my friend would get hurt and didn''t warn me?" [Yes, I did, but I can''t warn you anything that doesn''t pose any serious danger to you and your mother, as your friend Mark was just a normal gambling injury, I couldn''t warn you of something ordinary like that.] Even if he didn''t agree with the system that it was better not to warn him about breaking into his house and his friend''s injury, he understood that the system was already doing a lot for him, just that he was back in the past it is changing and much to the natural order of the world. It was because Jake was so perhaps one of the reasons he was chosen to go back to the past, after all as the system itself said fate wanted to go back in time anyway to correct some mistakes Jake didn''t know about. Even so, Jake knew he was just lucky to be the one to go back to the system if there was any other reason why not even Jake knew for sure. "So from now on, I''ll also have some premonitions or visions of the future when something serious happens?" [I really don''t know about that, even if I was hoped that going back with you could cause some small change I didn''t expect you to have premonitions about the future, I hope this "skill" of yours doesn''t get any stronger, otherwise, it can end up driving you crazy.] Jake shivered with fear when he heard the system say that, he himself knew it must be true, even though in many stories predicting the future was often shown to be a cool skill Jake didn''t think so. The human mind can''t handle that much stress and even a premonition that something was wrong ended with his friend''s injury already leaving Jake feeling guilty about it, what happened was not Jake''s fault, but knowing it made him feel that way. If he always had premonitions like that he would go crazy trying to take care of everyone not to feel guilty later and if something happened, he would feel guilty for not helping the person, Jake didn''t want such a power. At least he knew that if something serious could happen to him and his mother, the system hinted that it would warn Jake of it, just as it warns before the injuries, so Jake knew that he and his mother were protected if something could happen. "Can''t you stop me having these premonitions in the future?" [No way, only the fate of this world could be powerful enough to do that, but I know that if I and the fate of this time get too close something even worse can happen, then nothing can be done.] As nothing could be done Jake decided to rest, in the coming days Jake just focused on training, whenever he could he ran the 60 km and increased his confidence for the upcoming Olympics, so he would make sure he could run quietly 15 km less in the marathon. In the training of the basketball team coach Mike told everyone the day after the game that Mark would be out of the national championship because of the injury, everyone felt bad about it and even those who didn''t care about Mark were sad because it meant that Elite team could lose in the final. Coach Mike could do nothing about it and began training more with the makeshift team that played in the last period of the semifinal game, Jake in PG position, Nathan in SG position, Harrison in SF position, Lucas in the position of PF and Carter in Center position. Jake was concerned that if the team played like this they would lose in the final after all the team they would face in this year''s final would surely be stronger than the Fox team they faced in the semifinal. Jake knew that even if he played the game trying to do everything himself would not work out as before, after all, he could do it only if Mark was there to secure the rebounds, after all, Jake knew that rebounds were key to winning a game, more than make several points. After coming home Jake kept thinking about it, he had to think something to change in his team, otherwise they could end up losing in that final, if he thought something would be great for his team, after all, he was sure the opponents would do strategies thinking of exploiting the failures of the Elite team without Mark in the team. The defense was not that important in Mark''s absence, after all, he and the other players could cover it, the problem was the rebounds, even though Carter could catch some offensive and defensive rebounds, it wasn''t even close to what Mark did. Only who could get more rebounds on the Elite team besides Mark was Jake, but Jake couldn''t do that ... Or could he? When that thought came to Jake''s mind he couldn''t stop thinking, he could actually play defense even better than Mark and catch rebounds better than Mark if he really struggled. Not to mention that thanks to his imagination training space he has played hundreds of times as Center since he learned to play with Mark, so in training he had theoretically more experience than Mark, not to mention that he was the second tallest player in staff only a few inches less than Mark. So Jake understood what he should do in the next game, he would play as PG in attack and defend as Center in defense, so he could cover the space left by Mark and catch the rebounds for the team, in attack he would also fight more for offensive rebounds. So the substitute for the team would be David instead of Harrison, after all, David was much better at offense than Harrison, so David would defend against the opposing player who was worse at offense, so Jake thought about it and found a great idea to tell the coach the other day he would make the decision. The other day Jake arrived earlier than his other teammates and called Coach Mike in for a private conversation, Coach Mike was curious about what was so important but even agreed to talk to Jake. "What happened so important to you wanting to talk to me before Jake training?" "Coach, I think I figured out a way for our team to play that would be better than what we are doing now and still catch our opponents in the surprise final as they must be preparing a strategy to take advantage of Mark''s absence from the team." Chapter 229 Last National High School Championship 7 Coach Mike was excited to hear this, he was worried that this time his team could really miss this national championship final, and without Jake next year would be even harder. But at that moment Jake came up saying that he had a solution to the team problem, Jake was certainly the player Coach Mike trusted the most, and Jake wasn''t a joker either when he knew the problems the team faced. So Mike knew that if Jake said he had a solution, it must be something Jake had thought about several times before talking to him. "If you have a solution to this situation that can help the team you can tell me." "I was thinking about the next game taking on Mark''s role in defense, in the offense I would still play as usual, but in defense, I would play as Center and defend in addition to fighting for rebounds." "Do you think you can do that, Jake?" Even though Coach Mike was still surprised, he still knew Jake should have some confidence to say that, and Mike had seen Jake training with Mark several times, Jake was as tall and as good at defense as Mark. For rebounds Coach Mike always knew that Jake was better than Mark in catching rebounds, even in the last game Jake caught several just in the second half of the game, so he just had to ask if Jake was confident of that. "I have confidence coach, in fact, the most important will be the rebounds, even if the opposing Center scores several points will not interfere with the outcome of the game, but the rebounds have decided victory and defeat in a difficult game." "That''s true, so we''ll have to think we can put David in the starting lineup and David will defend against who is worse off the other team''s attack. Coach Mike thought of the same thing as Jake, he was also more concerned about the rebound, it was impossible that all 5 of the opposing team would be good in attack, and even if any of them had to be the worst. Also, even if Jake said it didn''t matter if the opposing Center scored multiple points, Mike knew that Jake was even better than Mark in defense and something like that wouldn''t happen. When Coach Mike told the team how they would play the players were very surprised by this, even though they also trusted Jake who was the team captain they knew how different it was to play in PG position and Center position. But no one said anything against it after a few practice drills everyone was calmer when they saw that Jake was doing the defensive part at least in training. So everyone could relax more with that, Coach Mike was glad that next year a skilled Center would come from Middle School, otherwise, it would be hard to think about playing well with the reserves he had in the team now. Now that he had decided to play Center in defense of his team in the final game in almost two weeks, Jake would now play Center position in all the training he had at that time in his imagination training space. Usually Jake puts his opponents in the same skill rank as him to train better, since at the moment there was no one in high school who was of the same level as him in skill, so his current training could already be considered difficult as his opponents of the same Skills rank are at college level basketball.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. But now he has increased the skills of the opposing team''s Center one rank higher than his own and has also left opponents a few inches higher, so Jake was sure that his opponent in the imagination training space would be much harder than his real opponent in the final. After a few more days Jake was called by Emily, so Jake had no choice but to shorten his training routine on the day to talk to Emily, after all, he had warned her to talk to him only when needed. "What happened Emily?" "The place where it will be the company office was ready, I wanted to let you know if you want to see it." Jake had even forgotten about this office, he had Emily buy one of the places he had set aside for his mother''s restaurant to be the company''s new office, after all now JK Investing was working with hundreds of millions in investments. So even to preserve the reputation of the people who invested in your business you had to have a new office before only Jake''s money was invested so it wasn''t necessary, but now they worked with other clients and had employees. Even Emily who would always receive 1 percent of the company''s profits would not accept that the company would only work with Jake''s money, even if it was too much in the future. So Jake was curious to know what the office Emily had decorated was like and went to see, the office was big as it should be after all was to be built a restaurant so there was no way to be small. It was quite different from the office Jake had worked in much of his past life, it seemed to be more elegant, in place it had only three offices, one from Jake the largest, another from Emily and the third Jake didn''t know who it was for. Soon the other employees would also come to work here, they were all getting good salaries and were happy with the company, and Emily and of course a long time ago had received a raise, only Jake wasn''t getting a salary yet despite being the owner. Emily suggested that Jake receive a salary to encourage other employees, but Jake declined as he knew it could be considered fraud, especially now that the company has other people investing. "Whose other office is Emily?" "This is the company''s accountant office." "Did you hire an accountant? But we work with the accounting firm, don''t we?" "Yes, but I think as we are working with a lot of money it is better to have an accountant in the company before passing the data to the accounting firm, so we avoid the risk of being misled." Jake then understood why she had hired an accountant for the company, Jake knew this was not necessary because he knew that the accounting firm was reliable using his second job skill, but he didn''t want to upset Emily because it was he who had said that Emily would be responsible for everything in the company. Besides, he could understand why she was worried about that, so many companies that worked with Jake''s accounting firm also did something similar, so they had more confidence after the accounts were double-checked. "I really enjoyed how you decorated the office, I leave it all in your hands now, any problems you can call me." "Never mind, we''re always watching the stock markets and I''ll let you know if there''s any change." Jake trusted Emily a lot after working with her for a few years, and in the future, Jake would know that he would have a lot of money to take care of and might be a partner with several companies like him from Amazon. So it was essential to have someone reliable and talented like Emily to take care of business for him, after all, Jake was above all a basketball player and an athlete, so he would not have time to take care of all the business he would have. In several of these partnerships Jake might have to interfere if he saw that something could go wrong, he told Jeff Bezos that it would not interfere with the management of the company, this was because he knew how Amazon would develop in the future, but if he saw that the company If he was going astray he was sure to get involved and could even sell all the stock he had to avoid future losses. He was thinking that he could find more talented people to work with him in the future, even if he knew he couldn''t convince famous geniuses to work for him, it wouldn''t be difficult with his charisma and financial capital to convince some talented people to work for him. After saying goodbye to Emily, Jake had to go back to training, even if the Elite team was stronger this year, the opponents were tougher as well, with Mark out of the team in the final Jake was not so confident about winning. Even so, Jake was someone who was challenged, even though the situation seemed much more difficult than in other years he would try his best to break his limits and bring the team victory in this final match and also in this year''s national championship. On one day he had to run out of body rest training after several days of total training, Jake went to his mother''s restaurant after lunchtime, as he was busy and his mother was coming home every day more early Jake wasn''t going to the restaurant lately. So he decided to go on a day off to talk to Anna and Lola at the restaurant too after he was thinking of stopping by Mark''s house to see how he was after leaving the hospital, Jake knew that Mark must be bad for not being able to more play with your teammates and help the team win the national championship this year. Jake arrived at the restaurant shortly after lunch just as employees took time to rest before dinner after all the restaurant didn''t serve breakfast either, so they had time to rest after lunch and before dinner Lola was the first one who met Jake and went to talk to him happily. "Hi Jake, how are you?" "I''m fine Lola, how about you?" "I''m fine too, I didn''t think you''d come to the restaurant right now when you''re so busy thinking about the final game." "I decided to take a day off, overtraining can end up causing me an injury, I don''t want to hurt myself before the final game." "I hope you can win this final and be champion again, I''m trying to ask for a break to go to the final game, but your mom has decided to watch this game so I don''t know if I can make it." "I hope to see you there too Lola, but if you can''t go, just knowing that you''re rooting for me makes me happy." Lola was embarrassed to hear what Jake said, over time she was liking Jake more and more and with Eva and Anna''s support she was gaining the courage to approach him even if she worked for Jake''s mother. Chapter 230 Last National High School Championship 8 After hearing Jake and Lola talking Eva and Anna came out of the kitchen to call Jake to talk, they found it odd that Jake was calm while Lola looked embarrassed, but they knew Lola liked Jake and just called Jake not to embarrass Lola anymore. "Son, you didn''t tell me yesterday that you would come here today." "I decided today to get some rest from training today and I came to see Anna and everyone at the restaurant." "Glad you learned how to rest, I remember a few years ago when I found that you, besides training so much at school, still wore those weight machines at home, I got so pissed." "If I found out that you hurt yourself from training so much I would forbid you to do that again, but it looks like you have a strong body and luckily it never hurt." Hearing this Jake sweated cold with fear, he knew it was a good idea to hide from his mother who had been injured after the marathon, luckily she had not seen on television, otherwise Jake would have problems. Jake remembered how mad Eva got when she found out he was doing bodybuilding even though he was so young, but he managed to convince her that it wasn''t dangerous for him, Jake thought it over and knew that he relied heavily on the system risking getting hurt when it was new doing this. Fortunately now he realized that it was good to give his body a rest, but he did not regret having trained so much when younger, only because of that he saved many years and now could be stronger than others his age. "So you''re really going to watch the final game, aren''t you, Mom." "Of course I will, I promised I would, after all, I will also take Lola with me, after all, she supported you in several games this year, it''s only fair that she can see the final too." "I agree with that, she''s been working very well lately, besides, Julius sees working a lot in the last few months at the restaurant and can almost never take time off, he would be happy if his daughter could at least come out in his place." "In the next menus we have to get some dinner prescriptions that depend on Julius, so he will be able to rest more, Jake, enjoy that you came here today to the restaurant and try some of our new dishes." "I came here for that mom." "I''m sorry I can''t go to your game this time too Jake, I have to work here and it''s better if your mom goes, instead of me we can''t close the restaurant." "I know Anna, thanks for everything you''ve been doing for my mom in the restaurant if it worked out it was mostly because of you." "No need to say that Jake, I really enjoy working here too and I''m very happy to go back to a kitchen again in a restaurant after so many years, and as you said when you invited me to work here, I consider you and Eva part of my family." After that, Jake ate several dishes from the new menu and gave his professional opinion and as a customer, Anna knew that Jake knew a lot about cooking too and accepted Jake''s advice to change some details on the menu. After all, even though Anna was an experienced professional and had experience running a restaurant by herself for many years, the restaurant she ran had a very different menu from Eva''s current restaurant menu that had dishes from various countries, yet she wasn''t completely confident in making a perfect menu. After spending time at the restaurant Jake went to Mark''s house, Mark lived in a simple Miami home because he was actually from another city in another state and came here only to enter Elite school because of his sports bag that He managed to play basketball. This house wasn''t even theirs at first, it was a rented house that was bought just a few years ago by Mark''s family when Mark''s father got a job in Miami, Mark was an only child and his father didn''t hesitate to sell the house in the other city ??and the whole family moving to Miami for the sake of Mark''s future. That''s why Mark''s mother didn''t like basketball, she thought it wasted her son''s time she could enjoy studying for a better future, Mark''s father didn''t think so and he knew basketball was what gave him the chance Mark a scholarship at a good school and now a scholarship at a good university. Luckily when Jake came to visit Mark, Mark''s mother had left, after all even though Jake knew she had reason to dislike basketball didn''t mean he accepted being despised because of it. "Hi Jake, thanks for coming to see me at home today, I know you must be very busy training for the final." "You''re my friend, of course, I would come, the most important thing now is for you to improve so you can play at university after a few months." "I feel bad for hurting myself in the middle of a big game, if you lost, I''d feel guilty forever." "Don''t say that it wasn''t your fault getting injured in the game, something that happens even to the pros, we wouldn''t blame you if we ended up losing the game." "Even if you say that I know it was my fault, I was very excited about the game and in every move I just thought of doing dunks or other risky moves, so I got hurt by trying a lot of reckless moves, I thought you guys they were mad at me and so they didn''t come to visit me after I got hurt. " "We went to the hospital as soon as the game was over, but as we didn''t want to bother you I just told your mom we sent you some improvements and we left." Jake realized that it had been all Mark''s mother''s frame, she didn''t say that Jake and the others on the team came to visit because she should want Mark to give up basketball, but even knowing that he didn''t get angry and just calmly explained what happened. Of course, Mark was not naive and realized what Jake was implying and realized that his mother had lied to him, after all, he knew his own mother well and knew she would be able to do that. Normally he would have suspected she was lying when he said no one had come to visit him, but after getting hurt he was weak and was also feeling guilty about the team, so he eventually believed in his mother. Jake and the others didn''t come to visit Mark again because they knew the injury was not serious and that if Mark wanted he could just go to school and talk to them, Jake decided to come thinking that maybe something serious had happened, luckily he came without Mark''s mother was at home, so the misunderstanding was dispelled. So Jake decided that he would talk to Mark for a while and then leave before Mark''s mother arrived to avoid an unpleasant situation, the two decided to avoid talking about the misunderstanding and continued talking. "How is the team doing without me? Do you think we can win in the final?" "Without you, on the team, we have no confidence to win, it will be a tough game and we will have to try different things to try to surprise the opponent and try to capitalize on the team''s strengths in the final game."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Mark did not feel good to know that without him the team was bad, he would rather just be a reserve and win than the main star in an injured situation, luckily Jake was still on the team, Mark was the one who trusted Jake the most and I knew that after entering high school Jake never played as much as he could. "How is it going to be? Will Carter play in my makeshift position in the final?" "No, we have decided to surprise our opponents in this game and we will have no one in Center''s position in the attack, and David will take his place in the final." Mark was surprised by that, Coach Mike was really bold deciding to play without someone in Center''s position in the final, of course, Mark knew the team well and knew that Coach Mike had no one to play for Center in that game, not even Carter could do well and would only play worse in that position. "But how are you going to do in defense? Without a Center on our team to defend the opposing Center will play quietly, I don''t think David can help that much, everyone in the final is great players." "I will play in Center''s position in defense, David will defend against the worst opponent if we play well the opponent could have to make changes to not lose the game." Mark was very surprised to learn that Jake would play in his defensive position, but after some thought he saw that it was really the best, Mark knew that what the Elite team thought was important was not necessary to defend against the opposing Center but to catch the rebounds. Mark knew better than anyone that Jake was much better than him in catching rebounds, he was now eager to watch this game of the final to know what kind of game Jake would do, something would tell him that this game would be so amazing that he He would be lucky to get hurt so he could see that. Thinking back he could never guess that one day Jake could end up playing even in his position even if it was just the defense, Mark remembered that Jake asked to learn how to play in Center position, after some time Mark realized that Jake could be better than him in that position and stopped teaching Jake. Mark was impressed with Jake''s prediction, had it not been for him to learn how to play Center at that time this final game could have been much less likely to be won, of course, Mark couldn''t imagine that Jake had learned everything from him and played hundreds of times in this position in your imagination training space. After talking to Mark a little more, Jake left before Mark''s mother came home, so he was glad he had avoided an unpleasant situation, it was funny that Mark''s mother who was his best friend on the basketball team was the only one who didn''t like Jake. All the other moms and dads of his teammates liked Jake a lot and admired him a lot, especially after Jake taught his kids a lot at school and raised everyone on the team. Chapter 231 Last National High School Championship 9 After a day of rest Jake returned to full strength training, the days went by and everyone on the team was much more confident of the possibility of victory with Jake playing better and better in training in the Center position. Nathan clearly had completely recovered and was even better than before the last game, he was young but always had a stronger mindset than another of the same age is natural that he did not feel guilty for an accident that no one expected. In addition, he wanted to pay off the confidence that Coach Mike and his teammates put in himself by having played badly in the latter part of the last game, he would show that he was trustworthy and would help the team win at this difficult time with injured Mark. Lucas and David were also training full force for the final game, David wanted to do his best in his last high school game and be champion once again, and Lucas wanted to experience the feeling of being a national champion for the first time in high school He knew it would be much harder next year without Jake on the team. Carter seemed the least affected by all this, he didn''t have much hope of continuing to play at university with his limited talent, so he would try his best as he always did in the final game. Harrison was also training hard hoping to have a chance to play in the last game of the national championship, he knew this was no time to play position after what happened to Mark, but he thought he had more chance to play in the final instead of playing David or Lucas. Tiffany and Clara said they would go to Jake''s high school final game, Alan and John would also go, Matthew, Oliver, and Joseph would also go to the game, Eric also wanted to see Jake''s last high school game. Mark would see if his team would be champions again, after all, he would also win a medal if that happened and Eva and Lola would go too, everyone Jake knew would go to this game if they were available. So a few more days passed and it was already the night before the game, Jake had dinner with his mother and now was lying thinking a little before bed, even he was anxious before such an important game. Jake found himself thinking about everything that happened in his school time that was ending now, he went back to the past at the age of 10 so it''s been almost 7 years since he came back. Many would think it would be better to go back in time at an older age and not have to go through childhood again, but Jake didn''t think so, after all, he did so many things this year that could only be resolved with a long time. If he had gone back to the past he would have missed the opportunity to have friends and help Matthew''s company and more importantly he would have let his mother suffer working at that restaurant longer, now she had a restaurant of her own and was much happier. Not to mention that Jake would have lost his precious training time to play better basketball and even have a chance to excel in other sports, and he would have missed out on a lot of money-makings and getting rich in the future.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Thinking about it all Jake was just grateful to the system for giving him a great chance to improve his life all this time, in those early years he was putting his life on the right track and preparing for the future, now he could really start living fully. Jake also thought about the time he spent devoting himself to basketball and how he changed the way he saw the sport several times over the years, at first he thought he didn''t need a team to get good at basketball and go to the NBA that was always his own Goal and dream. Then he joined a weak basketball team just to train some system skills that needed him to play with other people, then he realized that his ability alone could not lead to the team victory and decided to join a better team. So he learned the joy of winning and struggling with his teammates, then he learned the importance of tactics and teamwork in basketball to win, for a while he stayed out of basketball because the coach didn''t like him. Now he was trying the second trophy of the national championship after returning to the team, he could not help thinking that he was very excited for a life of only 7 years, for all that he went through he had to give the best in the next game and win. After thinking and reinforcing the determination to win Jake was finally getting tired and close to falling asleep when the system decided to talk to him at that time. [Jake, I have a council to give you at tomorrow''s game.] "Advice? Which is?" [I don''t know if just talking like that will help you understand what I''m trying to say, but tomorrow I feel that if you don''t play the best you have you can lose, and this defeat could become a regret in your future as a player.] Jake didn''t know what kind of advice the system had for him, but he knew well that the system could predict the future related to him, just as if the system said that if Jake didn''t change the team would surely lose. [You are certainly able to play in the same position as Mark in this game, and I have to say that you can be even better than your teammate, the system you have makes everything you think possible come true with much effort.] [And yourself with your talent and having the system trained harder and harder than anyone in those years, so it''s impossible that you''re not as good as you are now in every position.] [What''s happening is that you''re holding on so much these past few years, you never play your best so as not to outshine your teammates, even when you scored over 100 points you haven''t tried your best.] [But in tomorrow''s game you have to give it your all, don''t care about anyone and just play your best, your team is not complete and they will feel insecure without Mark on the team, so you have to play well enough for your teammates are up to you.] [The opponents of tomorrow''s game are strong if you don''t do what I''m telling you you will lose, just do your best and try everything you can to score and defend successfully, don''t forget that you is able to beat opponents better than you in the space of imagination training.] Jake understood everything the system said, but since the system had said not even he knew what the problem was, it was the same when he had the psychological problem, he understood that he had set a limit on himself, but didn''t know how to get that limit. But he would really try everything tomorrow if he couldn''t, he wouldn''t regret it at least after that Jake ended up sleeping after relaxing. So the day of the final game of the national championship had finally arrived, it had been a long and stressful week for all Elite players, even if they trusted Jake they could not help worrying about the next game. Especially the younger ones who had never personally seen Jake playing at their best, they didn''t know that if Jake struggled he could lead the team to victory in almost every situation, for them it was a difficult situation. The opposing team was just the opposite, they were more confident than ever that they could win this game, even before they were not afraid of the Elite team, now they spent the whole week thinking of moves to win more easily. The difference between the moods of the two teams was completely opposite, coach Mike was concerned that with low morale they would lose this game of the final which would be terrible for him. Jake woke up very early and went down to eat breakfast that was prepared by his mother, as it was a late Eva had done a basketball and she and Jake ate a lot and have not even finished a portion of the prepared food. "I think you made a mistake, Mom, we''re home and not in the restaurant for you to make breakfast so much Hahaha." "You always say I prepare a lot more after the game you end up eating everything, we''ll eat later, don''t worry." "Not really this time around, I don''t think if I call the whole basketball team here they can eat it all today." "That''s a good idea when you win the game you can come here and eat it all to celebrate another title." "We''ll have to win first to think about coming here to celebrate." "Aren''t you confident, son?" "Until yesterday I was, but my friend of mine said I had a bad premonition about this game, so I was worried." "These premonition things don''t exist, trust yourself that you''ll win." Jake just smiled and said nothing about it, if it wasn''t for the system who had said it he wouldn''t have believed it either, but after this amazing thing happened to him and back in the past Jake didn''t doubt anything else existed. So Jake packed things up and then went to the game site with Eva, he was much more confident of winning with his mom watching the game again, plus he knew there would be several people in the stands who came to cheer for him. This time Jake arrived early and was one of the first to arrive, he did the warm-up exercises and watched his teammates and the opponents that would play in this game, it was the first time he saw a situation where his team was the discouraged and opponents who were confident of victory. Mark who was in the stands also saw this and was very worried about it, only Jake seemed calmer, but Mark who knew him well realized that Jake was much more serious than usual and seemed nervous too if even Jake who was always confident I was nervous the game would be really hard. After all Elite team players arrived and warmed up Jake decided to act as captain and talk to his teammates before the game. Chapter 232 Last National High School Championship 10 "I know you are all nervous about this national championship final game, especially since our colleague Mark won''t be playing with us today, I have to confess myself that I''m nervous today." "For some of you this is the last game in high school and the chance to win the second national championship, and for others, it''s just the beginning and the first chance to win the national championship." "We have to do our best in today''s game, Mark himself still hurt came to see us win this game for him, and he will also receive this medal after we win you don''t want your friend to feel guilty for getting hurt because we lose today isn''t it? " "I am going to play in a different position today, you all just have to do what you always did in previous games, but try your best today so there will be no regret later." "I am the captain of this team and I ask you all to calm down and play as best you can because even in a different position I will take responsibility and lead the team for this victory, trust me in this game and we will win. " Jake made no very exciting speech and just was sincere and said what he wanted from everyone, it was true that he would be doing the hardest in today''s game so no one had any excuse to play badly. Everyone felt calmer after hearing Jake''s confidence and seriousness and also the pressure of responsibility, they just had to do the best they could do, Jake would do the hardest. The Elite team for this game today was Jake in PG position, David in SG position, Nathan in SG position, Lucas in SF position and Carter in PF position in a false position David would play as Team Center but he would really play as SG as he always did. In defense, Jake would be what he would play as Center and he would take care along with Carter to catch the rebounds in attack and defense, Coach Mike gave an order that no one should fire many shots outside Jake who was free to try as much as he wanted had a high percentage of hits. Everyone gets ready for the start of the game and Jake was feeling even more pressure when he remembered what the system said the day before, Jake could play even better than he usually did and guarantee the team victory, he just had to find out how to do this. The opposing team in this game of the national championship final was the Dogs team, just as the system warned the day before that this year''s players were the strongest and most talented of the Dogs team in decades, even though they have won the national championship a few times in that year time. There were no major players in the team, but that was because they were all very high level and could not stand out from their teammates, the weaker player in the attack was the opposing PG, but in compensation this PG was what always organized the team''s moves with quality and was the best team in defense. Thus the Dogs team relied on the team''s PG to stop Jake''s attack in the game, as this PG was the weakest in the attack would be he who David would score when the Elite team was in defense. The opposing team''s coach was trying to guess how the Elite team would play in this game in order to give their players more instructions, but from what he could see it was Carter even playing as an improvised Center, he didn''t even think the Elite team would play without any Center and Jake who would make that position in defense. The Dogs'' PG was named Juan and was weak on offense but more in defense and organization of play, the team''s SG was Ivan and he was good at three-point shots. The Dogs'' SF was named Ashton and he was good at defending and also trying to play in the attacking area and drive to the basket, the opposing team''s PF was also medium in attack and a little better than Juan. The Dogs team center was called Rowan and he was the best player in the defense team and was also good at offense, much of the Dogs team''s attacking moves were concentrated on Rowan, Rowan was also good at rebounds not at Mark level, but it also helped the Dogs team a lot. After a few more minutes the game of the national championship final finally began, the high ball this time was played by Carter and Rowan of the Dogs team got the first possession of his team. Rowan passed the ball for Juan to start organizing the Dogs team''s first attack in the game, Juan advanced slowly for the attack while the Elite team positioned themselves in defense, after a few seconds everyone realized that Jake was inside the defense against rowan. This positioning of Jake took everyone by surprise, only Mark who was in the stands knew it would be so in the game, Juan was also surprised by this and realized that it was David who was defending against him.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Juan didn''t think that was an offense and understood very well that as he didn''t score many points it was normal that he was not well marked in defense, he also dared not underestimate Jake who was defending against Rowan, after all, Jake was the MVP last year and everyone, They knew he was excellent at defending and brilliant at attack. Before reaching the three-point line Juan passed the ball to SF Ashton on the right, Ashton received the ball and held while Lucas appeared to defend, so after attempting a feint Ashton passed the ball to his team''s PF on the left. The Dogs team PF did not hold the ball and went to Ivan behind, Ivan took the ball and took advantage of having more space and tried a mid-range shot to make the first 2 points for the Dogs team. From this play Jake can see that the Dogs team was really strong and well organized, it seems that the Elite team defense will make little difference in this game, after all, they worked the ball well before trying to score, so without many individual plays, Elite team defense could not do much. Jake received the ball and slowly advanced to organize the Elite team''s first attack in the game, so everyone realized that Jake would still play as PG in the attack as usual, so everyone could see how the Elite team positioned themselves in the attack. Nathan was wide open on the right and Carter was also more open on the right near the bottom of the court, David was open on the left and Lucas was also on the left closer to the bottom of the block. Elite team players formed a square with attack position, Jake was the only one who would move as he wanted without the ball and when players received the ball the team positioning varied with the player''s decision to attack with the ball. The Dogs team''s PF and Rowan were excellent in defense, but they were more prominent in defending the internal area, so the Elite team''s attack formation without any Center would make these two defenders uncomfortable while defending. After going through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to David on the left, David was excited to have the opportunity to start as a starter in the final game, yet he knew he needed to stay calm to do his best and help the team. David advanced and before the three-point line passed Lucas the ball to the left, Lucas received the ball and held for a while and when Ashton reached the defense Lucas passed the ball to Jake behind. Jake received the ball off the three-point line and attempted a shot from outside to make the first 3 points for the Elite team, even if Mark was not on the team to catch the rebounds Jake would not hesitate to attempt three-point attacks to ensure the victory. Juan took the ball and advanced, after passing the middle of the court he passed the ball to Ivan on the left, Ivan advanced and Nathan came to the defense before Ivan crossed the three-point line. Ivan was known for good three-point play, so Coach Mike arranged for Nathan to always press on the defense before Ivan even entered the three-point line, especially today that Mark was not in defense to catch the rebounds. Seeing that Ivan passed the ball to his team''s forward PF, Carter came to the defense by pressing and the PF returned the ball to Juan again, Juan was freer to work the ball with only David on defense after hold on a little he passed it to Rowan inside. Rowan received the ball and was alert with the balls in his hands worried about Jake in defense, Rowan tried to use force with his heavier body to push Jake before trying the play, but Jake was much stronger than Rowan expected and was Rowan that was pushed out. So Rowan, who saw he was running out of possession, used the ability to spin and attempted a mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Dogs team. Jake received the ball again and advanced to the attack slowly, after passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Nathan on the right, Nathan advanced to before the three-point line and passed the ball to Carter ahead. Carter managed to fake a shot and fooled his opponent and tried a mid-range shot to get 2 more points for the Elite team, the Dogs team manager did not like what he was seeing, the Elite team seemed to play as usual without Mark on the team. Worse, Rowan was now almost useless in defense, he had only Lucas to defend against, but Lucas after entering high school also changed his style of play and now only tried mid-range shots. So no one else on the Elite team thought of trying to play inside, so the Dogs team was having trouble defending. Chapter 233 Last National High School Championship 11 After a few more moves the game seemed to be very much the same between the two teams, it seemed that the Dogs team had more skilled players, but their defense was becoming useless in this game. On the other side without Mark playing the Elite team was with less skilled players, but Jake compensated for the team''s skill level, even though he was able to put more pressure than the opponent Dogs Jake was analyzing the game the same way everyone in the first half of the first period, everyone thought that Jake could do nothing in defense in this game, but Jake was actually analyzing in every move the Dogs team''s playing style. He had to understand how he could help more in defense playing as Center, in PG position he knew the right times to get out of position and intercept passes and steel balls, but in Center position, he knew that if he missed the time to leave would leave Rowan alone to make the points. The others were doing a great job, with this constant pressure on defense the opposing attackers will feel the pressure over the course of the game and ended up losing some attacks. Juan advanced with the ball again until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to Ivan, Nathan in defense was Ivan who had more difficulties in the first period, he had no room to try the three-point shots. Ivan advanced from the left and passed the ball to Ashton which was open on the right, Ashton held the ball for a while and passed to Rowan inside, as the game passed Rowan learned that playing against Jake he could only use his skills and not strength or speed. So he was able to spin again and tried the mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Dogs team, which Rowan didn''t know was that he was doing exactly what Jake wanted and Jake was taking advantage of this time to fully analyze the style Rowan''s game. Jake received the ball and began to organize another attack for the Elite team, after passing through the middle of the court he passed the ball to Nathan on the right, Nathan received the ball and advanced until after the three-point line and passed the ball to David farther back on the left. David received the ball and held for a while until Ashton reached the defense, David tried a feint and then failed to pass the ball to Nathan on the right, Nathan had space and tried the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the team. Juan received the ball and advanced again to attack, before reaching the three-point line. Juan passed the ball to Ivan, Ivan used his speed and advanced to the back of the court on the left. Ivan tried to pass the ball to his team''s PF, but Jake stepped forward and made the steal, all of the Dogs team were impressed with it, even Ivan who tried the pass was impressed. That''s because before he made the pass he saw that Jake was close to Rowan in defense, a moment later Jake advanced a few meters to intercept his fast pass, everyone knew that Jake was skilled at steals, but his speed of reaction surprised everyone. After a few more plays the first period of the game came to an end, the Dogs team were ahead by 4 points, Jake was doing well and had scored 9 points in a tough game like this, plus Jake had 4 assists and 2 steals in the game, plus 3 rebounds that he got in both offense and defense. Even though the Elite team played well in the attack they still missed a few mid-range attempts and even though Jake rebounded the attack missed more, yet they were losing just because the Dogs team got lucky and missed less. At the beginning of the second period, Jake had the ball advanced until after mid-court and passed the ball to David on the left, David advanced and passed the ball to Lucas on the left front. Lucas was out of space and tried a mid-range shot to get 2 more points for the Elite team, even though Lucas, Nathan, and David wanted to show off their skills they still followed the team''s style of play and passed the ball until someone was free to try the mid-range shot. Juan advanced with the ball to the offense, after passing through the middle of the court Juan gave Ashton the right pass, Ashton advanced to before the three-point line and passed the ball to his team''s PF. The PF held the ball for a while and when Carter began to press in the defense he passed the ball to Ivan who was behind, Ivan was on the three-point line and with space and so tried an outside shot to get 3 more points to the Dogs team. Both teams were still very evenly matched at the beginning of the second period, but as in all games after studying the Dogs'' first-half moves now the Elite team would increase the defensive pressure against the opposing team to try to force the opponent to mistake or steal the ball. Jake advanced until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to Nathan on the right, Nathan advanced until after the three-point line and passed the ball to Carter ahead, Carter made the feint and as the opponent was still firm in defense passed the ball to Jake further back. Jake made a feint and then a crossover and took Juan out of play and then attempted a mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Elite team, Jake also thought of becoming more active in this second period. Jake was playing well but couldn''t figure out why the system gave him that warning, after all, he wasn''t doing his best in attack yet and the Elite team was just behind the scorecards. Juan advanced for the attack and after passing through the middle of the court passed the ball to Ivan who was on the left, Ivan advanced until before the three-point line and when Nathan reached the defense he passed the ball to Ashton on the right.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Ashton received the ball and felt the pressure of Lucas''s defense increased a lot in this second period, so Ashton passed the ball to the Dogs team PF, the PF turned away from Carter and tried the mid-range shot and missed, Jake went up to catch the rebound in defense. At the end of the second period the Dogs team still led the scoreline with 1 point in front, the Elite team tightened the pressure on the defense and forced the Dogs team to make some mistakes. But the Elite team also missed the attack a couple of times and failed to pass the lead, Jake was trying more and more play, but he was holding on to the three-point shots because he had no one to catch the rebound. Jake scored 11 points in this second period and now had 20 points throughout the game, he also had 6 rebounds, 8 assists, and 5 steals, you could tell that the Elite team was still in the game just because Jake was playing very well. In the third period, Jake finally understood what the system meant they would lose if Jake didn''t excel and try his best in the game, the Dogs team''s true risky strategy began to be shown in the third period. In fact, not even the opposing team''s coach expected their team to be in front of the scorecards when they started, but that was even better for their team. The strategy they had for this game was simple, taking advantage of the Elite team lacking a quality center and betting more on indoor play, in the first two periods I could see that Jake had a hard time stopping Rowan''s attacks It was the player who had scored the most points for the Dogs team in the game after Ivan with the three-point play. It was actually that Jake was analyzing Rowan''s style of play and would begin to defend correctly from now on and thus nullify part of the opponent''s attack, but he did not expect the whole team to underestimate him. Jake knew he would have to do his best to keep his team from losing the game at the beginning of the third period almost every time the Dogs team decided to attack from the inside area. So the opposing coach was sure that his strategy was right for this game and his team had the possibility of being champion, on the side of the Elite team coach Mike did not expect this concentrated domestic game and could not blame Jake, maybe neither Mark could do something. Juan advanced to organize another attack, after passing the middle of the court Juan passed the ball to Ashton on the right, Ashton was skilled and after making a feint and a dribble managed to pass by Lucas and invaded the inside area to layup while disregarded Jake. The Elite defense began to fail after seeing their opponents skill and the gap in score increased, they knew that without Mark this game would be difficult and now the team''s morale was low, fortunately, they could still play correctly in attack and The advantage on the scoreboard was just 4 points. Jake advanced to attack with the ball, before the middle of the court he passed the ball to Nathan on the right, Nathan advanced and before reaching the three-point line passed the ball to Lucas, Lucas tried the shot on Ashton, but failed. So Lucas passed the ball back to Jake, Jake received the ball and attempted a shot from outside to make 3 points for the Elite team, yet it didn''t make the Elite team players more excited. Jake didn''t know what to do, but he knew he had to try something that would motivate his teammates because alone he couldn''t win the game, even though he didn''t know how to unleash his potential as the system said. So Jake remembered the system talking about how he played against opponents in the space of imagination training, the opponents were there at the college level and yet Jake could win. Chapter 234 Last National High School Championship 12 After playing basketball for many years at High School Jake came to understand that the players in his imagination training space even with better statistics played worse than the real players. The reason for that was simple, it was because the players in the imagination training space just having too many plays were all programmed like a computer, which meant they didn''t have the ability to improvise as humans did. So Jake thought that the high school students on the strongest teams played better than the players in his imagination, even if those players had college skill ranks. But since the system that knew everything had suggested it Jake decided to play as he practiced in his imagination training space, after all, he had few choices in a game like this, even if he hits all attacks and scores several points if opponents do The same is no good. Juan received the ball and began to arrange another play, after passing through the middle of the court he passed the ball to Ivan who was on the left, Ivan advanced before the three-point line and passed the ball to his team PF. The PF held the ball a little and passed it to Rowan who was inside, Rowan was no longer afraid of Jake''s defense, even though knowing the opposing PG was excellent in defense Center''s position was not easy for anyone to play. Rowan spun again using his ability and tried to finish the play with a layup, this time Jake stood still and with his incredible speed of reaction climbed along with Rowan to make the block and end the play of the opposing team. Rowan was shocked that Jake got a block on him, because Rowan was six inches taller than Jake, even if he was unaware it wouldn''t be that easy for Jake to do that. The crowd applauded this move and cheered for the Elite team again, this was a much more boring game than usual for the fans, they expected to see a show from both teams, but there were not many dunks or beautiful moves being made. All of Jake''s friends who came to watch this game were excited too, and they waited again for Jake''s victory in the game, Tiffany and Clara as Eva and Lola were the tensest about this game. After all, they were the ones who most understood how important this game was to Jake and also understood basketball enough to realize that even Jake playing this game very well was hard for the Jake team to beat.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Eva was mostly being the most emotional in the crowd, she could still remember how Jake told her that he thought this game would be too hard to win, Eva wanted to see her son happy and came to see the game for Jake to win again. Mark was another cheerleader who was deeply emotionally involved in this game, he was just like the players almost giving up waiting for an Elite team win in a game played like this if the third period ended with more than 6 points lead for the team From Dogs the game would be over. Even though it was not his fault that he was injured, Mark suffered when he saw that the strategy that was killing his team was to attack in the area he was usually responsible for defending. Eric was also apprehensive, even though as a journalist he should remain neutral in a game like this and not cheer for anyone, Eric has been following Jake for many years now and they are friends. So it was impossible for him to remain without bothering to see his friend''s team losing, but unlike the others in the crowd, he hoped Jake could do something amazing and change the outcome of the game, and it looked like it could start happening now. After Jake''s block, the Elite team again felt like winning the game, realizing that the Dogs team decided to strike the same way again to show that what Jake did was a lucky move. So after Juan commanded another attack the ball passed Ashton until it reached Rowan''s hands again, in a similar move Rowan tried to layup again, but this time he was alert to Jake''s attempt to intercept the move. Jake again reacted quickly and climbed along, Jake was playing just as he did in his system space drills and as a move, he made hundreds of times he was quick and decisive in moving his hands and making the block again. When Rowan can react Jake had already taken the ball if his hands with a touch, so the same block play was repeated again for the cheer of the fans and to raise the cheer of the players of the Elite team. At the end of the third period, the Dogs team was ahead by just 1 point again, it was amazing to think that the difference in the scoreboard reached 8 points in this game period, Jake made all the difference by making 15 points. In addition, Jake made 4 blocks in this period of play, so in total Jake had 35 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds, 9 steals, and 4 blocks, he already had a triple-double and was going to further improve his statistics in the game. The Dogs team coach could not believe what was happening, a game that was practically won changed completely because of only one player, even worse was that Jake was a PG and was playing better than his team''s Center in position from Center. In the fourth period the Elite team returned to play well and missed much less in the attack, it seemed that they had confidence in Jake who was the captain and could play with less pressure and miss fewer attacks. The Dogs team was in a dilemma, with Jake''s incredible plays in defense. The defense of the entire Elite team improved a lot, so they were even less likely to attack with mid-range shots and outside shots. Even though knowing that Jake would get several blocks the Dogs team had no choice but to attack inside, of course, it was impossible for Jake to block every move, if he tried always would end up making many fouls and being sent off. After a fourth period played again the Elite team finally managed to win the game by 4 points, with a minute left before the end of the game. Jake made a steal and got a three-point shot, so the Elite team eventually won. First, they complimented the opponents for playing very well, if it wasn''t for Jake on the Elite team the outcome of the game would be another for sure, then they finally celebrated, Jake and Carter went to the stands and brought Mark to celebrate the title too and catch the medal. Jake went to the stands again and gave his mother a hug near Lola, then Jake stayed close to Eva until they called him to the court again, Lola got a little jealous of Eva and also wanted a hug, but Jake just He smiled at her before returning to the court. After all Jake already knew that Lola liked him and did not want to act with her doing things that could generate misunderstandings and give false hopes to Lola, even though after a few years Jake intended to date her if Lola still wanted nothing was definitive. Jake returned to the court and celebrated with his teammates again, as the awards went on, some players like Mark, Harrison and David were crying to hear it was their last game together. Carter didn''t cry and Jake just smiled, he had been through a lot to cry for something like that, he understood the emotion well, but everyone would still play at university so it wasn''t like they were saying goodbye to basketball. And they could meet again in the future, with the emerging internet Jake knew well that people just wouldn''t talk if they didn''t want the distance would no longer be a problem, Jake received the national champion trophy again and celebrated again with his colleague''s Team. After Jake received the MVP prize of this year''s national championship too, in this final game he made 51 points, 16 assists, 15 rebounds, 12 steals, and 11 blocks, it was a quintuple Double that just for that Jake deserved the prize. After the awards, everyone from the stands left and Jake didn''t have time to say goodbye to his friends who came to watch the game, not even Eric had stayed after the game, after all, Eric was no longer responsible for interviewing high school players nor College players. Jake made a brief interview with the reporters nearby, again for the photos he tried to show his various sponsors along with the school uniform, after this game Jake would go back in history as one of the only players to score a double quintuple. Jake invited all his teammates to his house, eat his mom''s breakfast feast, Eva just laughed when she saw Jake invite his friends, after all, she was just kidding earlier when she told him to do it. All were less Mark was injured and had promised his mother to come home soon after the game, everyone was impressed with Jake''s new home, they still didn''t know that Jake was rich now as at the beginning at school he was a scholar and middle class like all of them. Luckily everyone was smart and no one talked about it, otherwise Jake wouldn''t know how to explain how he had so much money, after all, Jake now made money in many ways, only the marathon he won this year could pay his employees'' salary for a few months. Not to mention the 10 million that Jake still had in the bank, after everyone had eaten there was still food left, seeing that Eva had to assume she had actually overreacted for breakfast after everyone left Jake can finally rest. This game ended happily with the Elite team''s victory, and also marked Jake''s farewell to high school basketball, even though he lost 2 years in which he could have played it was a good experience those 4 years at Elite school. Maybe after a few years, Elite school becomes famous like many others for being where it studied one of the NBA basketball stars, but that is still just a possibility in Jake''s life as an athlete. Chapter 235 Preparations For The Olympics 1 After that game, Jake went to the basketball court saying goodbye to everyone, as there would be no more competitions this year. Jake saw no further advantage in continuing to train with the basketball team. He had already talked to this with his teammates the day before and was just warning Coach Mike, Jake could always train basketball at home and in system space as well. The physical training that was most important to Jake would continue to go on sometimes in the training of the football team or at his own home gym, in a few more weeks the court and the athletic field would finally be completed at Jake''s house. "I''m glad to have been your coach Jake, you are sure to become an NBA star in the future, and it will be a pride for me as it is now." "I also really enjoyed training with you Coach Mike, hope I can come here to talk to you sometimes." "For sure, you will always be welcome Hahaha." After that Jake would only have the classes to go to school, Jake already had the grades he needed to enter university, he knew that even if he took too much of his time school was an experience he would miss in the future, just as he had in the past. At the end of the day, Jake returned home and took his shower and went to the bedroom to rest before his mother arrived, with the maids at home Jake no longer had to do homework as he had before. He had run the 60 km again on the school''s athletic field, if others knew of Jake''s training routine would think he was preparing for the Ironman instead of the marathon. But that was the only way Jake knew how to prepare for the Olympics, after all, he didn''t need the race time to win better, so he could only increase the training distance to make it easier at race time. When he lay down to rest Jake recalled yesterday''s game, Jake himself thought that this was the best game he had ever played for his opponent''s results and difficulty, Jake felt he had climbed another wall, but the system said nothing. "Fate, what did you think of my performance in the final?" [You played very well, what happened in the game is that you were able to make the most of your skills after you stopped holding back, it was smart to get my tip on space training from imagination training.] "So you''re telling me that I didn''t really cross any of my limits and just did what I should with my ability?" [Exactly, to be exact if you crossed a line was the barrier you put yourself in your way, yet it was amazing that you were able to do it alone in times of need.] Jake was a little disappointed by that, in fact, what the system was saying was that he was incompetent before because he couldn''t use his own resource as a player, the only thing he did in this game is to get back what was his own. [Don''t underestimate yourself so much Jake, you did it because it was necessary, you shouldn''t always play your best against your teammates and weaker opponents than your team, otherwise, you can stand out and make people unhappy.] [The important thing is that you now know how to make the most of your skills when you need them, at university, you will never have to hide your skills because there are still a lot of people who are better than you now.] Jake knew that too and was excited for the new challenge, just as when he entered high school and was excited to face opponents who were better than him, unfortunately, he didn''t get that opportunity because the coach didn''t like him. But on the college team, Jake knew that the coach could give him the opportunity to play with stronger opponents than him, it''s exciting for Jake to start out weaker than others and fight to become the best in a few years. He knew that after college he would no longer have this opportunity, as the system said he would now be entering the world of professionals when he had enough skill to be the best at university he would be considered good in the NBA. That was a difference Jake had from other talented players his age, Jake knew why he had the system that wasn''t the best and wasn''t arrogant even though he was almost always the high school national championship MVP. So he never tried to stop improving, very skilled young people thought that being the best in high school would be enough to get into the NBA and become a superstar, so the coaches liked Jake who didn''t have that arrogance. In fact just as the system said Jake was different from others and thanks to the system could also be considering a great genius so if he went straight into the NBA with a few years playing he could become a star just the same. That was the difference between Jake and others, yet Jake still chose the best way to improve his college basketball skills, since what Jake needed most now was time to improve his skills. Even though this was an important year for Jake in his life in general because it was the beginning of college and also the Olympics, this time after the national championship was surprisingly a time where Jake had nothing to do. He didn''t have to worry about basketball games to play and didn''t have a business to take care of, Emily was watching the stock market, and even that wasn''t necessary for Jake who knew about the future. His partnership with Amazon was a success, and Jake knew that if he didn''t get involved with the company even though it had its tough times, it would grow to be one of the world''s biggest companies in the future, and Matthew''s company was just bothering to sell digital cameras and earn the profit. Of course, several people in the company were busy finished developing the new digital camera for sale next year and also in the technology to prepare digital cameras for placing on a computer and future smartphones. With Jake''s huge profit last year on the advice of Jake, Matthew gave great incentives and bonuses as well as raising the salary of all his technology development experts. That plus the company''s non-disclosure agreement would help prevent big companies from trying to steal their experts, Matthew also promised them that after this year their salaries would rise again. The advantage of Matthew''s company to the other big companies in the market was that they only specialized in selling digital cameras and developing this technology while other big companies had to share their investment with other electronics. This plus Jake''s knowledge of the right way forward would help the company become one of the leaders in the international market. Since Jake had nothing more to worry about, he decided to start preparing for the Olympics first, even though he said that all he had to do was continue training as he did every day. After all, they were still in March and there were a few months left to think about the Olympics, surely for Jake, the preparation for the Olympics was probably the simplest of all athletes in other sports. Of course few could run 60 km every day like him at Jake''s speed, Jake tried to increase the distance but realized that currently, 60 km was his limit, in physical training Jake was also getting close to his body limit. That''s because Jake remembered the system saying that it would only have 2 more years for his body to stop developing as it did now if now he needed 7 months of hard training to get a 2-year physical statistic it took almost 2 years to increase each statistic. So Jake decided that he had given up on such intense physical training after these two years, he would still do like other athletes, but it would not be as much as now because Jake understood that he could earn statistics points slowly now because his statistics were below 50.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. But next year Jake was thinking of fighting to win all 4 other major marathons, this year he would still try to win in New York to redeem himself from defeat last year, and after doing so he would earn 5 more stats points in agility and Resistance. So in those two years of physical training, it would be hard to even get 1 extra stat, of course, Jake also knew that after reaching 50 statistics he would be stronger than the others and no longer needed physical training and just skill. In fact, even the system was amazed at how fast Jake improved, and the system was estimated to take Jake about 10 years to reach the level it was now, with a number of statistics rewards Jake didn''t receive. The system still knew that next year Jake would further improve his physical stats, after all, Jake could only win the marathon because he had trained very hard and increased endurance very fast. So Jake could increase stamina by winning the major marathons, for the system that wouldn''t be possible before Jake was 20, as that was all merit of Jake who knew how to use the system well was just that he was better than the others your age. In early June Jake would have to go to the Olympic center, so it was still four months away if it wasn''t for his determination before Jake could still try to run the Boston Marathon as well. But that could end up drawing a lot of attention to him who would still compete in the Olympics, just as he was criticized after getting hurt by the media last year for competing in the New York marathon after a few months of winning in Chicago. While thinking he had plenty of free time Jake received an unexpected invitation, John had called Jake informing him that a movie director had invited Jake to a party at the Miami Beach hotel. It seemed that this director had met Jake when he was doing the commercial for John and Alan''s companies earlier this year, Jake naturally accepted the invitation. Chapter 236 Preparations for the Olympics 2 Jake was very fond of movies and also always wanted to act if given the opportunity, of course, he preferred many things before acting, but after suffering the accident that left him unable to walk in his past life and lose his mother, acting was one of few things Jake thought he could do. But that didn''t change the fact that he enjoyed acting and even trained for many years in his past life, so he had an easier time recording commercials that didn''t require a skill. Besides, it looked like this Miami beach party would have some Hollywood stars, as Jake had nothing to do It wasn''t a bad idea to meet maybe some of his idols. Jake had been invited by Cameron Crowe a Hollywood director who in addition to acting also wrote, Jake vaguely remembered him but was glad to have been invited no matter what the director wanted. In fact, since Jake hardly ever left home if it wasn''t for training or going to his mom''s restaurant or school, besides, wherever he went it was by car, so Jake didn''t know he was famous all over the country. And that was even more so for Miami who always had Eric and other reporters talking about him, when Jake was younger he was just a very talented child, but in recent years he has recorded three television commercials and still appeared after coming to the first few two major marathon placements and tests for the Olympics this year. Besides, Jake was very handsome and his friends even joked that he looked like a Hollywood actor, so it was impossible that he was not recognized, so it was appropriate for him to come to this party even more with the director''s invitation. So after two days, Jake went to the party, he was wearing a suit he had bought a few months as soon as he got the money from Matthew''s company, after all, someone with millions of dollars in the bank account not having a decent suit was a disgrace. Jake also thought of buying a better car, but eventually gave up on this idea, after all, he had his car less than a year and buying another was unnecessary, after all, no one knew that Jake was rich yet and an athlete usually did not earn much. When Jake left home with the same suit Eva thought her son was very handsome, even more so than her husband from whom Jake inherited some of his looks, she was proud of her son being so and was glad Lola didn''t see Jake in suit, otherwise, she would fall in love with him forever. Jake came to the taxi party and when he entered the party everyone looked at Jake at least once, the women looked over and over and sometimes didn''t even look away from him, Jake had arrived very early at the party so just stood in one corner from the hall and waited for others to arrive. Jake, who was very shy with people he didn''t know, felt a little lost in such an environment, even though it was a party, in fact, it looked more like a cocktail party where the music was just for accompaniment and the waiters carried trays everywhere. Even though he was invited by director Crowe, Jake didn''t really know what he was like despite knowing him by name, so Jake would have to wait until the director came to him while he waited. Jake tried to find someone famous at the party. After all that was what he came to the party for, unfortunately, it didn''t look like anyone famous had arrived at the party yet, thinking that it was normal for the most famous to arrive later at this party. After a few minutes Jake had understood the purpose of this party, he had heard that many people here were directors and filmmakers and also had some business owners as well as young actors and actresses who were looking for an opportunity to become famous. Jake wasn''t interested in any of this, if he really wanted to he could become well known for being a director or writer of dozens of movies over the next 20 years just using his knowledge of the future. But Jake thought that could be a lot of dishonesty, especially since he didn''t need it and could get rich just by making the right investments in the stock market, but he wouldn''t mind playing in some of these very successful movies. Thinking about it he remembered that Titanic had started production now, it would be very nice if he could participate in a movie like this, it was impossible for him now because he could not spend several months shooting. After a few more minutes Jake was having fun even though he didn''t talk to anyone, many women here were interested in him, but most were married or were accompanying someone. The young actresses were also more concerned with pleasing some producers and directors than talking to Jake even though he was handsome, so lucky for him that he wanted to be alone as soon as someone came near him with a glass of champagne in his hands. "Not many beautiful women here? But these are not good places to meet someone, these women are often much more tempted by interests than by people." Jake looked at the man who approached him, and just nodded and then looked away, this man was young and didn''t look ten years older than Jake, so Jake thought he might be the director. "I''m glad you came with my invitation." "I appreciate the invitation, Director Crowe." "I saw you that day when you were shooting those commercials, even though it wasn''t very complicated scenes, I was impressed that you did everything at once." "As you said the scenes themselves weren''t that complicated, and I have a good memory not to forget the little details." "This is another good quality for an actor, with your looks you could be successful in Hollywood, too bad you chose the sport, with your talent I think you have no interest in anything else." "That''s not true, I really love sports and basketball besides running in marathons right now, but I still do other things and think about doing even more if it can fit my schedule." That''s what Jake thought, he would do anything that interested as long as he had time for it, after all, he had priorities too, basketball was the most important and deserved prominence in his agenda for example. But Jake knew that there could always be opportunities to do something else, only when he entered the NBA that he wouldn''t have time to do anything else, before that he wanted to take any opportunity he had. Director Crowe was happy to hear Jake say that if Jake had an interest in the cinema everything could be arranged, even if a director couldn''t make the entire movie shooting schedule around an unknown actor some scenes would not be a problem. "This year are you competing for the Olympics?" "Yes, I qualified to run the marathon, I plan to bring another gold medal to our country." "After that, you''ll be much more famous than now." "I don''t know about that, nowadays nobody remembers many athletes who won important medals for our country, so I just want to do my part."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "But you can still get famous for playing basketball, can''t you?" "If I win, I will be known for it, this year our team won the national championship, now I''ll see if I can win at university too." Headmaster Crowe nodded in agreement, he knew Jake was gifted by what he saw on sports television, so it seemed like it was really worth inviting a talent like that to work with him. If Jake really got a gold medal in the Olympics would be a big promotion for his movie, after all, it was directly sports-related, and he saw that Jake was talented and good looking, so he saw only advantages for that. "I called you here Jake because I think you''re very talented and can be a hit in Hollywood, unfortunately, I don''t have any characters in a movie of mine for you to play in the near future." "But this year we will release a movie that has something to do with sports, so I would like to invite you to make a cameo with some scenes." "What is the name of the film?" "The name of the movie is Jerry Maguire, it''s a movie that tells the story of a sports agent who after a while gets tired of dishonesty in the sports business and decides to have fewer clients to be more efficient¡­" Then director Crowe kept talking about the movie with great enthusiasm, but Jake didn''t listen to anything else because he knew the story of the movie well and had even watched it several times, It was a movie that he liked a lot and was very successful critically and also at the box office. "So what do you think?" "I accept if I have a role that needs a test to try I am willing too, after all, I am playing few various sports, a while ago I played quarterback on the school football team for a friendly." "If it was another year I would call you, but unfortunately this year you have to participate in the Olympics and so we would have less time to film if you weren''t available with a bigger role, but if you get the chance I''ll talk to you." Jake understood that well, he was just excited, it was hard for him who had no acting experience to play a major role in an important movie like this one. Jake knew well that actors played a key role in the film''s end result. After a while, Tom Cruise showed up at the party and Jake cheered up and went along with the director to greet one of his idols, after all, he knew that Tom Cruise played the main character of the movie that director Crowe invited him to. The director also went along with Jake when he saw that the person who had arrived was Tom Cruise, so the director introduced Jake to Tom Cruise and Jake had to control himself not to ask for an autograph, after all, he would just embarrass the director by doing so. After Jake stayed a little longer at the party and left, he was wondering if he could really get a chance to participate in such a big movie, after all even if the director invited him it was hard to know if the director couldn''t change his mind. When he returned home late at night and told Eva who he met his mother reprimanded him for not asking her for an autograph. Chapter 237 Preparations For The Olympics 3 Jake was very excited about becoming an actor in a well-known movie, but the other day he went back to his routine normally as if nothing had happened. After all, the Olympics were approaching and he didn''t even know if the opportunity to actually appear in the movie could actually happen, but his training was real, that''s what he could count on to improve both in marathon and basketball. With his daily training of 60 km, a day he gained more and more in his running ability, proof of this was that in the last race he had managed to maintain a steady running pace with the help of the system. Many of these things he could only learn after running for many months or years, at some time he thought that he might not even need the system panel to know the right pace of running. He also spent part of his time every day in the school library teaching his classmates who had the worst grades, Joseph and Liza were not in this group because his grades were already enough. In the last semester of high school Jake became one of the most beloved students in both class and teachers after showing kindness by using his time to help many classmates, they regretted ignoring Jake in recent years. Unfortunately, they no longer had time to become friends with Jake that even though he was still kind he was hurt by all of them, it was normal for that to happen even if Jake had a more experienced mindset they couldn''t have cold enough blood not to suffer from the pain. the treatment he suffered from his colleagues. The players on the American football team were also very fond of Jake as a person and as a friend this past semester, but they didn''t have time to form a deep friendship with Jake either. But Jake was still happy about it because it was a sign that when people got older and without such prejudice, it would be easier for him to make friends, so maybe at university, he has the opportunity to make several friends. Jake also felt that Liza finally seemed to be maturing and maybe really changing to be with Joseph, Jake was curious how the friend who seemed so shy some years ago now had the charisma to make his girlfriend improve for his sake. So the only person who was still at this school that had disappointed Jake so much was precisely his ex-girlfriend, he was very sad that she didn''t even try to talk to him after the breakup, even more, when he had his house invaded and she didn''t even have to appear to hear from him. Jake had previously been heartbroken over his problem in his past life of having spent more than 20 years without a relationship, now it''s even closer, Jake knew that if it wasn''t for that he might already be dating Lola now. So a few weeks went by and Jake''s routine still hasn''t changed, Jake was still talking to some friends a few times at the time, just Tiffany and Clara he didn''t talk too much, after all, Tiffany was always busy right now and even though Clara improved she didn''t It was more like before. Just as she had told Jake until she could regain the actions that were in Robert''s hands she could no longer be happy as before, and she knew she could do nothing about it with Tiffany''s help for at least a few more years. Jake had thought that if he could get Matthew''s company profit share again, he would at least buy the stock from Robert''s hands to see Clara happy again. The same day thinking about his friends Tiffany had called Jake asking to have dinner with him, Jake naturally accepted but didn''t know why this time was a dinner as they usually talk about business at lunch. The place was a restaurant Jake had gone to only once, it was an interesting place to talk about business because it had too few tables and the places were isolated from other restaurant customers, so everyone had more privacy to talk to. When Jake arrived at the restaurant, it was still a few minutes to the time Tiffany had agreed with him, but when Jake said Tiffany''s name that he had reserved a table, it seemed that the receptionist had seen his savior. Jake was a little confused by this but saw that even the waiter who led him to the table in the closed room seemed nervous, as soon as the waiter opened the door to the room Jake smelled incredible alcohol from inside. "What is it? You must have brought me into the room with the wrong table." "No sir, this is the right room, it''s reserved for Mrs. Tiffany." "Then switch the room reserved for another without the smell of alcohol, this is not a service that a respected restaurant should offer, when Tiffany arrives, she''s sure she won''t be satisfied." "That''s not it sir, the lady who booked this room is already in there for a few hours." Hearing this Jake didn''t understand what the waiter meant at first, but soon understood why everyone seemed so uncomfortable, it seemed like Tiffany had been drinking here since a few hours ago. Jake knew that this restaurant was very strict in politics that although the rooms were private and offered a more private environment, it was just for business, it didn''t allow any kind of intimacy between customers nor what was happening with Tiffany now. But since Tiffany was an important customer for the restaurant they didn''t want to kick her out of the restaurant and lose an important customer and were waiting for Jake who was the guest to arrive to sort it out. Jake understood the waiter''s intent and didn''t care, he quickly walked into the room and closed the door and went to see how Tiffany was and why she was doing it, surprisingly despite having several open and empty wine bottles Tiffany had not yet passed out So much to drink.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Tiffany, what happened to you?" "Jake, you''re here, so it seems like my drinking time is over, at least I could relax a little." Surprisingly Tiffany wasn''t quite drunk yet and could talk to Jake, Jake was impressed by her ability to handle such alcohol. "Tell me what''s going on and you''ll feel better than drinking." "Oh, you talk like you''ve been through this without being old enough to drink." Jake just smiled bitterly without answering, in his past life he went through very difficult times and drinking was the only thing he could do as he had no friends to forget about the problems. But it never worked out no matter how much he drank, so he found that it was best not to forget the problems but to accept them, but only after suffering for many years alone. "I really intend to tell you what I''ve been holding in my heart for years, that''s why I drank before you arrived." "Then tell me." "You know I''m 31 now don''t you? I reached the peak of my career a few years ago, now I''m just trying to keep what I have, you ever wondered why I''m still single after so many years?" Jake had really thought about it, usually, working women got married a little later after achieving some of their professional goals, but even getting married later they still had some relationships in the meantime, but Jake never knew Tiffany had any relationship at all being as beautiful and successful as she was. "You may have wondered that too, just like everyone else, no one knows why I did what I did. My family doesn''t comment on it thinking I want to achieve something else in my life." "The truth is, I fell in love many years ago, I fell in love after I turned 21 and stayed in love until recently." Jake wasn''t surprised to hear that Tiffany was in love, after all, that would be the only explanation for her staying so many years without a relationship, which was odd was that Tiffany never even talked about it to Clara, and Jake only heard Tiffany talk about Clara when they talked. "Not even you should have imagined who I liked even being that clever, but earlier this week I decided to finally declare myself and end this romance at once, or the person I loved would accept me or I''d give up at once." "You must imagine now why I''m drinking so much today, aren''t you?" "You were right to at least try, otherwise you would be stuck in a hopeless relationship for several more years without knowing if you could be with the one you love." "You''re beautiful Tiffany, I have no doubt that if one day you fall in love with someone again that person will not reject you, just choose carefully." "You surprised me by saying that, I thought you would ask me who the person I liked or would tell me to keep trying to win over the one I love." "I''m not very good at giving advice on feelings, but I know that if you were as decisive as you are, you wouldn''t spend 10 years liking someone without saying anything if you didn''t have a very sensible reason for it." "Now you have declared yourself and been rejected, and you don''t seem to want to love this person anymore, so I hope you do what you have decided and don''t listen to others'' opinions about it." The more Jake spoke the more he curled up with the words, he really didn''t understand anything about the affairs of the heart, he was just saying anything to try to cheer up Tiffany and comfort her. Tiffany noticed this and also smiled, she was right to look for Jake to talk to him about it, she intended to tell him everything because it was important that Jake also knew about it and because Tiffany knew that Jake would never tell about it anybody else. But she ended up being comforted even though Jake was clumsy, because she felt the sincerity of the words he tried to say, so she decided to really forget about everything and just leave things as it was now. "I''m sorry to call you to dinner and not eat anything Jake, but I''m in no condition to eat and I won''t be good company for you today." "No problem, the important thing is that you get well, I eat at home with my mother later, after all there and better than the food of many restaurants." Chapter 238 Preparations for the Olympics 4 "That''s true, so could you take me home? I''m in no condition to drive or walk, to tell the truth." "Sure, I''ll take you, but without drinking like that again, you almost ruined the ''nice girl'' picture I had of you if you have problems just call me to talk." "Hahaha, so I was a nice girl to you." "Still, just don''t drink like that anymore." After playing a little to lighten the mood, Jake set a large amount of money on the table that should pay for all this wine and then supported Tiffany out of the room and they walked to the exit of the restaurant. Jake took Tiffany in his arms after apologizing and put her in the car slowly, then he did the same when he arrived at her house while traveling on the way to Tiffany''s house she fell asleep in the car and Jake saw her crying while dreaming. After leaving Tiffany on her couch Jake left, he couldn''t take her to her bed because it would be disrespectful and didn''t think he was that close to staying at her house taking care of her, so he could just put a blanket over she gets warm and then leaves. On the way home Jake couldn''t stop wondering who this person might have rejected someone like Tiffany, he didn''t know the circumstances, but he didn''t think there would be many people who were better than her in Miami. Of course, Jake didn''t ask Tiffany to say who it was because clearly, she was still suffering from it, just as he felt bad after seeing Clara frail after breaking up, he thought the same about Tiffany now. But at home, he stopped thinking about it, after eating with his mother he went to rest to return to his training routine the next day. A few more weeks passed with Jake focused on training, Jake received from Emily some reports on the stock changes Cisco had had in those months, unlike before the company now had hundreds of millions of dollars invested. So even if the report didn''t have to be monthly, she decided to do a half-yearly, it was much more exciting to see how stocks had appreciated at that time when profits were shown in the millions of dollars. Jake asked Emily to send a copy of the report to investors, Jake even put an estimate of expected stock growth in a year, which for him was actually growth as he already knew the future. Investors and Matthew were very pleased when they saw the profit and partly believed Jake''s estimated earnings on the stock, Matthew was mostly beaming so that it was possible for him to earn a 100 percent profit on that investment. A $ 300 million profit was something he did not even expect before seeing these reports, of course, he would have no way of knowing that it would actually appreciate more than 5 times his initial investment. Jake was now talking to Tiffany more constantly after dinner that day, Jake was glad to hear that Tiffany''s company had made a big profit last year, even though it had stopped investing in the company earlier this year she was getting the return from those more 3 years of constant investment. Company directors pointed out that Jake''s popularity last year in winning the marathons has also helped his company make big profits like that. This year Jake was even more on display after recording two more commercials, if Jake could really win a medal Tiffany''s company will still make a lot of profit even without investing anything. Tiffany also commented that Clara''s company also had a lot of profit last year, with Clara handling things carefully that didn''t make the value of the company further, and that profit made everyone happy. Even Robert saw no reason to complain even if the company was not investing anymore, after all in this way in five years he would receive part of the value of his shares in profit sharing.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The competing company that had a high percentage of the stock and also received good profit-sharing money, but they were not happy because they realized that Clara''s company had made more profit than they would in proportion to the size of the companies. Of course, the competing company received a lot more money, but they also had tens of years in the market and a valuation dozens of times higher than Clara''s company, which made them more decisive in buying Clara''s company. With that money, Tiffany and Clara received they were able to narrowly replenish the money Tiffany took from the company to lend Clara that she had to buy more stock, of course, Jake also strongly recommended that Tiffany never do something like that again. Jake was very pleased to receive these reports, he wanted to advise Jeff Bezos not to spend money to buy companies that would go bankrupt a few years later but eventually did not risk risking the future even more. After all, sometimes mistakes like this make the company cautious not to make similar mistakes in the future, and besides, a company that would be the most valuable in the world could not know what it was doing. Jake was doing the training very willingly and was very exhausting because there was no apparent improvement in his training, he knew naturally that these things needed years to have apparent results. But in recent years Jake got used to seeing immediate results in his training thanks to the system, it was hard for him to do such hard training without seeing immediate results. Jake was also waiting for a contact from director Cameron Crowe, it was exciting the opportunity to appear in a Hollywood movie if he could act in just one movie he would be happy enough about it. In the midst of his training, he was again asked for a seat that was unexpected to him, the coach of the football team had called Jake while he was doing his training with the football team as he always did. "Coach Jim, did you want to talk to me?" "Yes Jake, you''re really my lucky star, I need your help again, we have 1 game again the other week." "How can I help?" "Both of our team''s quarterbacks are injured again, this year we didn''t have much luck and even with the defensive line around QB being very good they ended up getting injured in the few Sack they got in the games." "Fortunately all is not lost and as you said you needed to use our field for physical training this past semester I registered you like our team''s reserve QB so now if you can play we can still play for the title this year." Jake was shocked by this coaching revelation, he thought that using the team''s football pitch just to do physical training had no problem, he didn''t expect Coach Jim to have to register him as a player for that. "But I thought the team was out of season now?" "Yes, but as we are a relatively new and unfamiliar team we need as much training as possible, and we are also taking part in a small tournament made by the city to give prestige to the school." Jake knew that there were rules for the number of games players played in the year, this was to avoid possible injuries and other problems, especially for the high school students who had the future ahead. Clearly, the Elite school was not very respectful of these rules and they were playing too many ''friendly games'' to train the team and build a new reputation for the school, the result being that the team''s QB had been injured again. Luckily Jake didn''t have to worry about injuries, the system said the Resistance statistic he had also helped prevent injuries from external factors, so he was much harder to get hurt by others in games. So Jake was thinking of accepting the coach''s request and helping the football team again, after all, he was a little tired of just training for months before the Olympics, it was better that he just did this game to train a little. "Alright coach, I''ll play this game." "Great, I knew I could count on you, so let''s go to team play training starting today as well." Jake accepted and went to play training again, the football team players already knew Jake well and were happy to play with him again, especially since they knew that Jake was not a rival for them to get a sports scholarship through the football Jake still remembered all the tactics he had studied at the time he trained while on vacation while doing physical training several times a week Jake also paid close attention to his teammates from other positions. Now he was more aware than last time who was the best WR and RB on the team, one of them being the tallest Jake had used as bait to win the friendly match during the holidays. It looked like he was one of the best on the team and so Jake can fool both teammates and opponents by using him as bait, after all completely believed that Jake would pass the ball to him at the most important moment of the game. Jake did simulated game training every day like last time, now it was much simpler as he had more familiarity and rapport with his teammates after spending several months training with the team. Jake wouldn''t let go of his normal training and ran the 60 km every day even when he was tired of training, he felt that at least the strength statistic could increase after a few more days. This was the one Jake most trained alone, after all, he would be left behind as he would gain some agility points and Resistance winning the competing marathons, Jake even asked the system what weight limit he could use as training without risk suffers no injury. Jake was confident of increasing his strength stat for at least 3 in two years of training, and that was also helping with his passing and throwing skills in football training. So the days passed and the day of the game had come different from basketball the game was later, so Jake left home without telling his mother that would play again. Chapter 239 Preparations for the Olympics 5 Coach Jim was a lot less worried this time than Jake''s first game on vacation, after which the team was just going back to training and everyone wasn''t excited to be playing on vacation. In addition, the opposing team was weak and the players were not very motivated, Jake was also just a bet for Coach Jim at the time and even he didn''t know if Jake could do as well in the game as he was in training. Fortunately just as Coach Jim thought Jake was a talented born athlete, he could probably play well in any sport with proper training as he had the fitness to do so, so Jake led the team to an easy win. This time the opposing team was much stronger Miami was a very big city and American football in the city was very important, so all teams had very skilled players. But with that Coach Jim was more comfortable because his players were well trained and motivated for this game and Coach knew Jake was skilled enough, and even if they lost it would not be a shame as it would be in the friendly holiday game. After the two teams were already set up and ready the game started the crowd that had come to see a game like this was much bigger than the crowd that would see a basketball team game, this showed how football was more important to Americans. This time it was Jake''s football team that would start attacking, so Jake was to start the first play, even though it was only his second game Jake was much more relaxed and confident this time around. Just as before the team''s first attempt was a race, Jake passed the ball to his team''s RB on his right, RB ran into a space that his teammates opened for him and slide managed to advance 3 yards. Quickly the team rearranged for the second attempt, Jake again tried the race with the RB, this time he tried out from the left, after advancing 5 yards he was knocked down. The third play was a race again, the RB managed to advance 3 more yards and secured the first down for the Elite team. Jake was impressed by the change in the attitude of his teammates to today''s game, he had heard in training that in addition to the team with the best defense in 4 years in a row the Elite team had not a strong attack. But the best players in the Elite team attack were the RBs, Jake didn''t believe him when he heard that, after all, he didn''t think the RBs were very good on this team and even on television he thought very badly of the players in the RB position. Jake thought that in addition to some very talented RB who could make unexpected plays and had the skill and the times the opposing defense failed, the RB was only used to gain a few yards. Of course, it was because Jake didn''t follow football very well to understand the game well enough, especially in high school that QBs weren''t always the team highlights and some lacked the strength and precision to make good passes during games. So the RBs were very important for the team''s attacking moves, as Jake had no problem making the longer passes he preferred to rely on the team''s WRs that also had quality. After a few more plays the WR failed to hold the ball and the Elite team missed the first attack of the game, Jake was making the passes correctly, but the opposing defenders also had the skill and disrupted the WR who could not receive the pass. After his second game, Jake finally realized that being a QB wasn''t as easy as he thought, the player in addition to strength and precision had to have a lot of intelligence and ability to understand the possible development of the move quickly. Having some agility was also important, above all QB was too dependent on his teammates to show his talents, even though for Jake as PG it was similar, he could still with his ability score several points and show his skills. But if all the teammates of a great quarterback were bad, no one could figure out his talents, in that team, Jake now saw that while the WRs were talented, they weren''t as good as he thought during the friendly holiday game. The best players were the ones who protected him long enough for him to think about the moves he had to make, fortunately for today''s game Jake could also count on the RBs who were performing well. Coach Jim naturally knew this better than Jake, the football team''s problem was just that, although the WRs were talented the team quarterbacks were very weak so the team could not properly train the WRs to receive passes with a defense difficult. So the offensive team left and the defensive team entered, everyone was resting and talking about something while the opposing team attacked only Jake and a few more players accompanied the opposing team''s attacking move. Jake was following and realized that this team they were facing this time was much better than the team they faced in the friendly, even with the good defense of the Elite team the opposing team advanced 70 yards. But the Elite team managed to prevent the attack of the opposing team that advanced 6 more yards with only 3 chances, so in the fourth attempt they tried a field goal and ended up missing. The game was very similar and Jake was not trying to invent much as the quarterback in the attacks and just tried the moves that the assistant coach recommended, the opponents could not get past Jake''s protectors once to try Sack. So Jake really believed that the previous QBs were just unlucky to get injured, yet the Elite team couldn''t advance more than 60 yards and couldn''t even try the Field goal. In the third period of play only that the opposing team got a touchdown and made the first 6 points of the game, it was a quick pass from the opposing quarterback when there was a defensive failure this time leaving a WR left free to receive the pass and run 25 yards and touchdown. The crowd was delighted to finally see the score go from scratch, but Jake was not happy to lose this game, he probably cared more than the coach for the win, yet he could not play alone and the opposing defense was destroying the goal Elite team attack. At the end of the third period the opposing team got 3 more points increasing the lead to 9 points, some of Jake''s teammates seemed to have given up the game but Jake was still trying to find a way out. If he thought it possible he would run the ball himself to attempt the touchdown, but Jake never saw enough room for him to attempt a race, he could win a maximum of 1 or 3 yards but could do no more. So Jake didn''t even risk and tried to find an opportunity to catch the opponent by surprise, at the beginning of the fourth period Jake had an opportunity but did not try the race and made the pass to just down and continue the attack. Jake felt he could not get the touchdown in this race and he could be being tested in this play, in the next few moves Jake always saw the opportunity to run and even did one without much enthusiasm to win 2 yards. After all, even a bad quarterback would try a few runs if the opponent always had that opportunity, reaching 60 yards in one attack. Jake started to cheer up, he asked to be placed 3 WR again and yet ran with RB in the first two attempts advancing 7 yards. On the third try, Jake was in the Shotgun position and pretended to try a race with the RB, again Jake saw room to run but did not try it because this time the WR on the pass route recommended by the assistant cut right and was free. Jake made a 15-yard pass and the WR received and still tried the race, after advancing a little further he was knocked down just 4 yards from Endzone. Jake and the whole team moaned so little that was missing, Jake kept the 3 WR for the first try, Jake was in Shotgun position and tried the race on the right, two Safeties seemed to be expecting it and tried to intercept Jake 2 yards away to Endzone. Before being knocked out Jake made a long side pass for the WR that had not advanced, it was a rehearsed move that Jake saw between plays and trained during the week, WR was alone and after receiving the pass advanced the final yards and made the touchdown quietly. Jake trained this move because he thought he could fool his opponents and because he was confident of making a good side pass after playing so many years of basketball, even if it''s different, it just required his adaptation. Soon after they still converted the extra point and were just 2 points behind on the scoreboard, after a few more moves the opposing team almost made a touchdown and the final pass was intercepted by the defender who still recovered a few yards into the attack before being knocked down. This time Jake returned to the original lineup with just two WRs and advanced the first few yards with a few RB races, Jake was convinced they were really skilled at being able to win several yards at important times.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. When they were running out of time the RB made a beautiful race with a Juke and a Hurdle and advanced 28 yards before being knocked down to gain precious time for the last attack at the end of the game. Jake also managed with a 20-yard long pass to get the team under 30 yards for Endzone, so if they hit a touchdown or even a field goal they could win this game and win that title. The opposing team took advantage of all the times they had and tried to delay the game as much as possible and end the final momentum of Jake''s team, Jake was calm on the last move because he had a lot of confidence in himself. Unfortunately the same could not be said for Coach Jim, even if he thought Jake could be a great player he would not risk a great chance of winning by putting the game in the hands of a player who did not even play frequently for the team. Chapter 240 Preparations for the Olympics 6 So at one time Jake was called by coach Jim to talk, Jake naturally respected the coach very much and rushed to hear what instructions he had for this endgame. "Jake you were doing very well in this game, I honestly didn''t expect us to get so close to victory and you contributed a lot to us getting here." "I said I would help coach so I am trying my best so the team can win." "I believe that but you don''t have much experience in football, so I want this last attack to just follow what the assistant coach says." At first, Jake didn''t understand, he was doing it from the beginning of the game, he just followed the assistant''s recommendations and only changed the moves when he saw a better opportunity or if he saw that the recommended play would not work. "I don''t understand coach, I''m following the assistant''s recommendations whenever I can in this game." "Exactly, what I mean to you is that in this final attack it''s not recommendations, it''s ordered, what he tells you to do you do, after all, we''ll pick the best option." So Jake finally understood, the coach meant that for the final play of an important game he didn''t trust him to make the decision, after all, he wasn''t really on the team after all and the coach feared that Jake would ruin everything. In the last game, the coach gave Jake full authority to make the decisions because it was just a friendly game, but now Jake was just following the team''s order. Jake felt a little offended by the lack of confidence but told the coach that he understood, Jake thought he had made good decisions and that is why the team came up with the last play with the possibility of winning. But he wasn''t really a player on this team and today could possibly be the last time he played football, so he would obey the coach''s orders and not care about the outcome of the game. Coach Jim knew he might have damaged Jake''s pride with that order, but he had his own priorities and would not choose to please a player who would not even continue his football career. If he won this game the Elite school would gain more reputation and the president promised coach Jim a prize, but when the second quarterback was injured he understood that against a strong opponent he would not have a chance to win. So he called Jake and left everything to him and said the game was unimportant not to put pressure on the young man, now that he saw the opportunity to win could no longer trust Jake who had no experience. Jake put on his helmet and returned to the field had started the first attempt for the down, the assistant told Jake to try a race and Jake did it and with a handoff handed the ball to the right-hand RB. The first attempt advanced just 1 yard for the team, Jake understood well that the opposing team had strengthened the defense and were determined to win this game, in the second attempt Jake tried the race again for RB to advance only 2 yards. On the third play, the assistant again recommended a run and Jake did it, the RB this time advancing just 1 yard and was knocked down. Jake was very disappointed by Coach Jim, in these 3 plays he saw an opportunity to make a pass and another opportunity to make a run, both plays could guarantee at least one more down. On the fourth attempt the kicker entered the game, they wanted a field goal that was recommended with Endzone less than 25 yards away. Jake looked down at the bench and saw that the coach and assistant looked very pleased, so Jake understood that they were thinking of betting on the Field goal from the start, so he was not allowed to try any different play. Unfortunately while Jake just watched he saw the kicker go wrong and the Elite team missed the chance of victory, Jake could see that everyone was disappointed to lose, the opponents cheered happily. Jake wasn''t happy about that, he hated losing, especially when he knew he had the chance to win, soon after Jake changed and after saying goodbye to the players he left home unhappy. Coach Jim thought Jake should be more sympathetic to the coach''s decision and was being irrational, of course, he didn''t know that Jake had two chances to maybe win the game and because he lost was even angrier. After all Jake was very busy with training, even though he had nothing to do officially, he still trained every day, so he agreed to do the coach a favor because he thought he could win and out of consideration for the coach. But he ended up losing because the coach who invited him ended up not trusting him at the most important moment of the game, Jake didn''t even want to complain about that respect for the coach as he knew the coach had a right to demand it and also because he thought he could be held responsible for the defeat if the coach were unreasonable. This was normal, after all, Jake was a winning athlete who always had good results in the most disputed marathons and would still compete in the Olympics and besides, was a captain of the basketball team that was respected by the coach, it was impossible that Jake was not a little proud and arrogant later and conquer it all. After arriving home Jake forgot all this when he had dinner with Eva, Jake wondered if there was still something his mother wanted in this life, she probably wanted to see Jake graduated from college and married. But Jake didn''t know if she wanted anything for herself, he realized her dream of having a restaurant and Eva had friends and a good home, Jake didn''t know if Eva ever thought of remarrying. Anna said she already talked to her about it and Eva said she never thought and didn''t want to do it, but he wasn''t sure about it, even though his mother always had it, Jake knew from experience how bad it was not to have a mate to love. Unfortunately, he didn''t have the heart to talk about it to her, maybe if Eva had contact with any man Jake could comment on that, but Eva didn''t talk to anyone but Julius and Jake knew for sure that, his mother didn''t like him. After a few days Jake returned to training normally, he would still sometimes train with the football team, but did not try and even refrain from talking again with Coach Jim, in a few more days the court and the athletic field would be ready in the house from Jake and he would no longer come to train at school. Jake also learned that Mark had recently recovered and Jake waited to meet his friend at school, but Mark, as well as all the players in the last year, would not come training with the basketball team after a few weeks that Jake left. Some really wanted to leave and so Coach Mike decided to say goodbye to everyone and enjoy the rest of the semester to train the new players who will be the pillar of the team next year, fortunately he still had Lucas and Nathan who improved a lot in that first year and would be the main players of the team in the coming years. Knowing this Jake had no choice but to call Mark and call him to talk at a mall dinner, after all, Jake didn''t even want to think about visiting Mark''s house and meeting his mother who must hate Jake now after he visited Mark when She was not at home. After a few hours, Jake took advantage of the fact that he had arrived earlier at the mall and besides buying a souvenir for his mother took the opportunity to go again to the music store to see if he could find any new album from Kate. After meeting her for just once Jake never forgot Kate again, just as he Jake is also very successful in the music world and has done many advertising campaigns that Jake saw on television. Jake knew that she probably should have forgotten him, after all, they only saw each other once and Kate was much more famous than Jake and in a different way, now Jake suspected she was one of the people the system said had an Unfair fate like him. The system said that when he went back to the past with Jake it would change their lives for what it should be, it was impossible that Jake had never heard of such a famous singer that she almost won several music awards even though she was just a little older than Jake. After seeing that there was nothing new about her in the music store Jake was the diner where he had scheduled to talk to Mark when Jake arrived Mark was already waiting. "Mark my friend, how are you? Have you fully recovered?" "Hi Jake, yes I am fortunately recovered, but it will still be a while before I can play again, fortunately, we are far from university entrance time and I can recover completely." "Glad to hear it, I hope you keep playing basketball at the university, I know you''re going to a university that is better at studying than at sports, but you have to enjoy this time well." "I will believe me." Jake knew well that Mark was a little disappointed by that, with the fame he made being one of the best players on the team who was a three-time national champion in four years, it was impossible for him not to receive university proposals with better basketball teams. But this university Mark was going to had a deal with the Elite school a few years ago and through the school, they spoke to Mark''s mother and convinced her that education was more important to Mark and Mark''s mother accepted the university''s generous offer. Mark knew he wasn''t so talented at basketball to become a pro, but he wanted to play and try to win some titles with a strong basketball team and then if he was lucky enough to get into a professional basketball team even if he went to Europe. But it seemed that Mark''s mother realized that her son was thinking about it and killed his dream by choosing a university that would not give Mark a chance to develop, Mark also knew it and gave up on becoming a professional. So Jake just wanted his friend to have fun playing over the next 4 years, at least it was certain that Mark would be the starting lineup from the first year and could perhaps improve playing with stronger opponents from stronger teams.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Chapter 241 Preparations for the Olympics 7 "And you Jake, go to a good university now, do you think you can get a place in the starting lineup from the first year?" "I don''t think so, maybe if it''s the same way Coach Mike did with Lucas and Nathan, maybe I''ll go into some reserve games and then start later if I play well." Jake knew it would be hard to become a starter playing at a university with a strong basketball team as it was the University of North Carolina; he was not arrogant to think that the coach would trust him right away. But as he talked to Mark the question was not whether he could become the team owner but when that would happen, Jake had a lot of confidence as his target was the NBA and Mark also believed that this would not be a problem for Jake. "If I can I''ll see you playing on television, I want to see how many titles you will earn at university, it won''t be as easy as playing with weaker opponents in high school, I''m sure some are even better than you." "I have no doubt about that, but I am confident that I will be able to improve until the end of university, as for winning the titles you know that it is not just up to me." "I know that, but Jake, we all want to see you in the NBA one day, my dream is that you will become MVP in a few years and I can be proud of my coworkers that I played with you, that I taught you playing as Center and you''re my friend." After finishing talking Mark eventually started crying, it must be hard for someone who loves basketball as much as Mark knew he couldn''t be a player if he decided on his own it wouldn''t be so painful. But he was pretty much obliged, Jake didn''t know how to comfort his friend, after all, Mark could be happier in the future having a good job than spending a lifetime trying to become a player. Jake also knew that knowing that Mark had practically given up on being a player broke the spirit of all of Jake''s teammates who were going to college this year.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After all, Mark was the best after Jake, if neither Mark could become a pro they also thought that unfortunately, they could not be the reality of thousands of young people every year. Many high school basketball geniuses did not even have the opportunity to enter a good university to showcase their talents, and many at the university did not have the opportunity to become professionals. Of course, this wasn''t everyone''s basketball dream, but many saw his dream of falling apart after years, Jake knew Mark wasn''t that skilled, he was good at rebounding and was improving fast. But if even Jake didn''t currently have the ability to stand out, his friend Mark and his other teammates much less, then Jake thought it might be better if they quit early as Carter and Harrison did. Of course, Jake didn''t know if Mark could get the chance to become a pro if he kept trying this way, so Jake had the best thing to do was back whatever decision they made. Jake knew he was lucky to have such an understanding mother as if his mother were like Mark''s, he might not have the opportunity to go back and everything would be different. "Are you going to race at the Jake Olympics?" "Yes I will, I didn''t think you knew." "Of course we knew, we all have a television at home, we saw your television commercials too, I didn''t expect you to be good at running either, that explains why you can play a whole game full of energy." "Hahaha that''s not true, all of us on the team can play an entire game without being replaced." "True, but seriously I hope you can win, so we''ll be much more proud to talk about playing with you." "I will try." After crying a little Mark seemed much more relaxed, they talked much longer before saying goodbye and Jake going home, Eva was happy to receive more chocolate from Jake. After a few more days Jake was still going through his training routine and finally got a call to record, but it wasn''t director Crowe to talk about the movie, but NBC asking Jake to help with making some recordings for the station to make some calls to the Olympics. After all Jake was one of the main subjects of this Olympics, unfortunately, it was not about his talent although he won the Chicago Marathon and came second in New York, it was more because he was young and also playing basketball besides participating in the marathon competition in the Olympics. Luckily, they now only gathered some information about him in school and sports, but didn''t get too deep into it if everyone found out about the sponsorship he received or even his various investments would be problematic for him. After all, a genius athlete in two sports and being young was already drawing too much attention, if it turned out that he was also a talented young millionaire and investor it would often be more complicated for him to get out of the media focus. What''s more, the sports media didn''t favor Jake''s chances of getting a medal, they thought that a lack of focus on a sport would make Jake stand out in neither athletics nor basketball. It was all too normal that even seasoned athletes would lose after getting nervous in competitions at the Olympics, it was perfectly normal for everyone to expect Jake to fail as well. Marathon competition would also take place only at the end of the Olympics, so they did not want to focus too much on an athlete who was unlikely to win and would not compete at the start of the competition. Jake was very happy that this happened, he didn''t want to stand out before the competition started, even though Jake liked to receive respect for his victories was only after he won. Jake was one day at one of the NBC studios and took several pictures and made some videos he didn''t even know would be used, Jake expected an interview too, but it seemed that the station didn''t think it was necessary. They just asked Jake to confirm some information about him that would be spoken on the broadcast and after that, he was dismissed, even though Jake didn''t expect much he didn''t think he would be so despised. It seemed that people thought very little of athletics athletes, Jake remembered seeing an old athlete saying that, only those who won the competitions and got a gold medal were a little respected. After all, US athletics was known to be the strongest of all countries, so if American athletes beat everyone they thought it was normal and if they came second they would often be considered losers. After that Jake continued his training for several weeks, the month of April had arrived and was almost over just as Jake''s high school time, in just over a month his last semester would end and Jake would go to university. Jake told his friend Joseph that he was much calmer after securing a good university for him and Liza, after all with good grades and the money the two families had, it was not difficult to secure a place. But Joseph seemed to have matured and was no longer so arrogant as in recent years, Jake found it interesting to see how his friend changed so much in his teens, of course, he knew this was normal, Jake just did not go through it because his mind was no longer young. Even though Jake also underwent some personality changes after going through adolescence for the second time, now he also slowly returned to his old personality, Jake spent many years trying to pretend that he was young was an important experience for him to train acting. "Jake, I know you''re busy with your training and the Olympics are coming for you too, but you''re not going to miss the school prom, are you?" "I don''t think I''m going to Joseph, it''s not for me after all the prom is nothing more than a dance party and I have no one to dance with me." Jake had already missed his first ball after suffering the accident, so he wasn''t interested in the second ball either, if he could invite someone outside he would take Lola to the ball, but Elite school was a private school and had several rules, One was that only people at school could attend the ball. So Jake had no interest in that anymore, after all, even though he''d made a lot of colleagues this past semester, everyone would be with his peers, and Jake didn''t want to hold sail for anyone. "Don''t say that Jake, you can invite any of our class, girls won''t reject you if they don''t have any partners so far." "I''ll think about it, if I feel like it, I''ll show up." Jake didn''t really want to go to the prom, for him the high school time was over after the national championship was over now Jake just had to stay and wait for the semester to end because of his student responsibilities. Even though after a few years he might miss high school it wouldn''t be now, and maybe he wouldn''t even miss it after a few years, after all, he had the opportunity to go through it twice. The university got Jake''s attention much more, besides basketball he wanted to know what the envy would be like, so jealous so many years after suffering the accident and missing the opportunity to study. He hoped he wouldn''t be too disappointed, after all, he would just go there for the moment, to play basketball and get his degree, after all, Jake didn''t think there was anything else to learn at university after reading books on economics and business administration for over 10 years. Also, Jake wanted to take his time at university to see if he could find some business talent to work with him in the future, even if he couldn''t find it at his university he was sure he could find someone at the other top universities. such as Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia. After all Jake is past the time to worry about how to make money, he already had a lot of money and also secured his future, he just had to think about how to manage his money in the short term to make the most of it. Chapter 242 Preparations For The Olympics 8 Even though he didn''t have to worry about making more money Jake wanted to take advantage of the opportunities that came up before the 2000s there were still plenty of opportunities for Jake to make money from his future knowledge.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After 2000 they would also have plenty of opportunities, so he needed to have business talents near him to make the most of the fortune he would receive and invest, even though he knew that in more than 20 years Amazon''s stock would appreciate, to become the company most valuable in the world didn''t mean so much to investors. After all, the company would not distribute its dividends to investors, so apart from selling Jake shares it could do nothing at this time of wealth, so even if he could not make that much money and invest in other companies he would need to earn something from it. It was a pity that the world''s most valuable internet-related companies didn''t pay dividends before 2000, the ones that paid would not return nearly as much as Jake invested. It would be much more profitable just to sell the stock after a few years than to invest a lot in low-return companies just because of dividends, so Jake was now even more determined to invest a lot in companies like Matthew''s. They were companies that could value a lot in a short time and Jake could make a large percentage of profits to offset the low total value of the company, surely it would be worth having 30 percent of an average company than 1 percent of a giant company market that paid no dividends. That''s why Jake decided to invest so much in Cisco''s stock even though he knew the company would devalue long after the bubble broke, so he could sell all the stock he invested without having any regrets that could have valued more. For the next few days Jake continued to train hard in preparation for the Olympics, Jake could now feel that his training was beginning to yield more results if he tried Jake believed he could increase the daily running distance to 65 km now. But he didn''t want to push his body a little over a month before the Olympics, his daily training could be shocking to other athletes at the moment, and Jake knew that once he got better now he couldn''t improve again until the Olympics. So forcing yourself to increase training would not be a smart decision, after all, if he did as he normally did in daily training he would guarantee victory, with this routine even if he is in poor condition on marathon day he would still win because he was used to running almost 20 km more every day. Jake was always someone who tried to be safe in everything he did so he scolded himself so much for losing in New York for being rushed, so he was giving the utmost importance to make sure he would win the Olympics this time because the marathon in New York was every year, but the Olympics was only every 4 years. So Jake couldn''t accept defeat knowing that he could win, even though he was still young now in another 4 years he planned to be at another point in his life, Jake was thinking that in the upcoming Olympics he would at least try to compete for 3 medals of gold. Jake hoped that after 4 years of training and winning 5 more major marathons, he could greatly increase his Resistance stats and so long-distance racing would no longer be a challenge for him. Fortunately, he would also gain 5 agility points which would further increase his chances of competing in competitions that demanded as much speed as Resistance, Jake was expecting a lot from the training he could do in the coming years with his new coach. The other day while Jake was getting ready to go training he finally got a call from director Crowe, Jake thought the director had already given up inviting him to make a cameo in the movie. After all, it was only a few months before the Olympics, and after the Olympics were over, the director''s movie would be close to release, but it seems that the director wanted to shoot some early scenes and call Jake only when it was time for the director to prepare the scene for him. Jake went to where the scenes would be shot, the director seemed to be shooting some scenes near Miami and thought it was the right time to call Jake to film. Jake met with director Crowe at a restaurant near Miami to talk before the movie, as they had no studio in Miami and the scenes they would shoot would be in the open The recording crew was in a nearby hotel. The crew would do some scenes with Tom Cruise who was in town too, so Jake was curious to know what kind of scenes he would do, he already knew the director didn''t give him any major roles, but Jake hoped to have some scenes with at least lines. "Hi Jake, thanks for coming when I called." "I appreciate the director opportunity, I always wanted to play a Hollywood movie, but after I started playing basketball I thought I wouldn''t have that opportunity until I met you." Jake was being modest of course, he couldn''t say that he was thinking of financing a less well-known movie to play in Hollywood, after all, Jake also knew about low-investment films that became famous. In a few more years Jake would even be able to finance such a movie to be able to act after all this movie had less than 60 million invested, Jake could finance 10 percent of the movie and have a chance to act and would not lose money on that movie yet which raised more than 4 times the amount invested. But he was glad he didn''t have to do it and had found an opportunity before, after all even if he could act he would be slighted for paying to have a chance to appear in the movie rather than receive like the other actors. "That''s good so you must be curious about what you''re going to do, aren''t you?" "Yes I am, I''m a little apprehensive about whether I will be able to perform correctly on such a great movie." "I trust your skills, in fact, the scene you''re going to do was not in the script and I thought about it after I met you." "And how are you going to be a director?" "I''ll give you the script for you to study, then there is the information of what you are going to do on the scene, if you do it well you will be remembered even if you have only a small part in the movie, but if it doesn''t look like I think I''ll have to cut in editing. " "Believe me, director, I won''t let you down." After that Jake went to a nearby hotel where he would be staying in the next few days, after all, he had money to pay the hotel did not make sense that he would come and go home every day, it was a very long distance that could disrupt the filming. Jake had never participated in any movies before so he didn''t know how it would be done or how many hours the crew would have to work every day, even if his scene wasn''t particularly big he would have some talk with Tom Cruise, that was enough to leave he excited. Over the next few days Jake watched some filming while he waited for his turn, most of the filming they were doing was with Tom Cruise, but Jake didn''t remember many of those scenes. Maybe they were all cut into editing, Jake remembered seeing somewhere that the best movies sometimes had more than 10 hours of footage to be edited for less than 2 hours, in the end, Jake knew this would be a great movie so maybe it was the case. As a guarantee he brought one of Matthew''s cameras that were camcorders as well, so he would leave a copy of what he did in case the scenes were cut and he didn''t appear in the movie, so he would post the movie on youtube after a few years. Since he was just a small character he didn''t have to sign any confidentiality terms, so it was not forbidden for him to record a scene he did, at the end of the recordings he wanted an opportunity to talk to Tom Cruise. But it was hard to find the right time to talk to the actor, after all when he wasn''t recording he was talking to someone on the film crew or the director, it seemed to be true that he took the job very seriously. But Jake knew he would have a chance to talk to him the day he was recording with Tom Cruise, he had seen that Cruise was very polite and talked to all the actors opposite him, even the ones he didn''t talk to much. Jake had decorated his lines and the lines of other actors while waiting for it so he was the only actor on the set without a script in his hands, the others just as Jake always watched when Cruise acted, after all, it was like a class for new actors. After a few days, everyone''s scenes were almost over and they got some rest and the principal took the opportunity to call Jake to do the scenes he had to do it because Jake''s scenes would be done at a school that allowed filming. So the headmaster had to be fast on recordings and it would take fewer people not to bother the students who were in school yet, thankfully the headmaster had Jake to shoot the scenes quickly. The first scene was in the athletic field, and Jake just had to do a run as he did in training and the cameraman would choose a part of the shoot to put a small part in the movie. Then Jake went to the court and in the school basketball team''s uniform would have to make a few plays with other extras for a small scene to be chosen. Normally the actors knew nothing about what the movie would look like so they just recorded the scenes as the director told them and had to replay the scenes several times, but Jake knew these scenes would be edited to form the scene that took place at the beginning of the movie. It would be a scene in the beginning when the character Jerry played by Tom Cruise would tell a story about several talented young athletes from many different sports, Jake understood why the director said he decided to rewrite the script after meeting him. That was because Jake would probably be presented by the character Jerry as someone who played two sports if Jake won the Olympics would be even better for director Crowe''s movie and in the future even more if Jake excelled in basketball. Chapter 243 Preparations For The Olympics 9 If Jake could ever win several gold medals and win some NBA awards, the director would be considered a visionary for talking about it in the movie, of course, the director was probably not thinking about it. In fact, Director Crowe didn''t even count on Jake being able to win the marathon at these Olympics, he just knew that Jake was really talented and that they would compete at this Olympiad and perhaps several other Olympics. So the director was thinking more about the short-term impact that Jake could have on the movie if Jake was good at the Olympics the director could use Jake as part of the movie''s marketing and attract more people to watch the movie. After all Director Crowe didn''t know about the future like Jake, he had no way of knowing that his movie even without Jake helping in marketing could become one of the box office champions that year 1996, if that happens after Jake appears the director might even relate Jake''s appearance with the success of the movie. Jake hoped something like this would happen, so he could have more invitations to perform in other movies in the future, so Jake could choose to appear only in movies where he knew the movie would be a hit or had good reviews. So Jake could be known for only acting in hit movies which would be good for his image as an actor, Jake was only 17 now and could still stay in the movie business for another 25 years with his looks. On the first day, Jake spent a few hours shooting the scenes that director Crowe wanted as the director hoped Jake had great acting skills and went through exactly what the director wanted in a few tries. It was impossible for Jake to get it all at first, even knowing what the director wanted him to do after all This was not just a regular commercial but a Hollywood movie that was known for its quality. After a few hours Principal Crowe and the film crew left school, the principal did not have time to check on the video if the scenes had turned out well, but the time they had asked for the recording school was over. As a guarantee, the director had asked for three days, but he didn''t think it would be necessary after Jake was acting after they returned to the hotel the director checked the recording and saw that they got better than he expected so the recordings of these scenes with Jake were closed. Jake still had one more scene to record and then his participation in the movie would end, after all the movie was more about American football than other sports, and Jake could not participate in those scenes. Jake was thinking that he could play Frank Cushman the "Cush", Cush was a quarterback that would be the number one pick in the NFL Draft, but even that Cush didn''t have many appearances in the movie. After checking Jake''s recordings for the day, director Crowe called Jake to dinner with him at the hotel, after all the director was also a big sports fan and hoped that Jake could really succeed in sports not just because of the movie. Because the director thought Jake was very talented and could also add a lot to the sport in the coming years, Jake didn''t know what director Crowe was thinking but accepted dinner with the director because he thought they would talk about the movie. "You were very good at recording today Jake, I thought you had talent when I saw you recording those commercials, but the way you performed today it seemed like you had taken drama classes before." "I''ve never done any of this in my 17 years of life, not because I didn''t want to, but because I never had time, having to go to school all these years I found it hard to have time to train for basketball games." Crowe also agreed with what Jake was saying, someone who played basketball and studied should not have time for anything, let alone do some drama classes, if that still showed Jake had a huge talent and potential for film. Prior to this movie director, Crowe just considered inviting Jake to his movie on a whim, but now it seemed that in the future he might give Jake a chance to play a bigger role in one of his future films. "You must have spent many years training to be so good at marathons too, haven''t you?" "Not really, I''ve started working hard for athletics in the last 2 years, but I was so successful because I''ve been training my body for basketball since I was 10, so I was over 4 years old before to start training."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Crowe was impressed by this, he had heard that basketball and football were the most demanding sports and training in the world, especially in the United States that had the NFL and the NBA. He even once heard that a player who can excel in the NBA or NFL could compete at a high level in any sport, now he had to believe that because Jake was proof that this was true. "Do I have to shoot any scenes, tomorrow director?" "Yes, luckily you did very well today so we could get our work done a few days, so let''s try to shoot this scene in the next few days so you can get back to your training." Jake was happy to have more scenes to shoot the other day, even if he wanted more scenes he knew this was impossible, so it was better to get it over with quickly and so Jake would be totally focused on his training until the start of the Olympics. Even if he had been expecting so much Jake knew he had a good chance he might not even appear in the movie after director Crowe was edited, but he would be happy to have recorded for that movie just the same. Not to mention that he had today''s recordings on his camcorder as well, after that they talked about a few more things before Jake left for his hotel, the next day he would record with Tom Cruise, so he was anxious. Arriving at the hotel Jake thought of sleeping early to wake up well-rested, but was very eager to sleep, he knew he had done well on the day of recording because he was alone and so could just do the way he knew. But he did not know how the scene would be recorded the next day, after all in the script just said he would have a dialogue with Tom Cruise, but did not say exactly how it would be done, Jake knew more or less in which scene this speech could happen, but that it was impossible to happen in Miami. Jake tried to calm down because he knew that being nervous and insecure could cause him to fail to act properly the next day, so while he was thinking about how to calm down and sleep the system spoke to him again. [If you are not confident that everything will work out of course why not make acting as your fourth job?] "You yourself said that having too many jobs could affect my focus, even if you said that for sports I think this goes for all my jobs, after all, I am trying to increase the statistics of my second job after I got it." [If that''s what you''re worried about, you can rest easy, this work won''t create any new statistics and can still give you some useful skills.] Jake was excited after hearing this, he knew that when the system said something was good that thing could help him a lot in the future, so Jake decided not to hesitate anymore and accept the councils of the system as he always did. "Alright then, Fate, I want my fourth job to be an actor." [So that''s done, do you want to see your statistics window?] "Yes, show me." [Here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 17 years] [Job: Actor] [Intelligence 59] [Luck 99] [Charm 39] [Eloquence 39] -------------------------------- Active Techniques [Emotion Control D] [Communication Skills B] [Photographic Memory B] [Positioning B] --------------------------------- Jake was happy to see his new statistics window for his fourth job, just as the system had already said no new statistics were created and just as Jake had thought before the charm and eloquence statistics were the most important he had received from the system. in your second job. In addition, the skills he had received were as important as the system had said, in terms of maximum utility and rarity they lost a little to the skills of his second job that were the most useful he could have for his life. But even if those skills were put in his fourth job, they could also be used in basketball games, even more, positioning was a fundamental skill for a Center and for him who was fighting for rebounds. Jake could also know that if he raised these 4 skills to the S rank he would be the best actor in the world, but of course Jake knew well that raising his skills to the S rank would be much harder until the skills of his third job and just a little easier than basketball. [I''ll explain these skills to you Jake, Emotion Control must be a skill you understand as it works the higher the rank of this skill the more you can control your emotions, you can hide the sadness or start crying suddenly.] [With the rank of this skill increases you will also be able to perceive the true emotion of others as well, so something that happened to your mother in her past life of hiding that she was depressed can never happen again.] [Besides, you can also express your emotion much better by your facial expression, so you could even act in a silent movie.] Jake was surprised that this Emotion Control skill was more useful than he thought before, he could literally control his emotions and know all about it, along with his See Through ability from his second job no one in the world could lie or hide anything anymore for him. With that Jake could start working as a detective or police officer and even get into the FBI, most importantly that he could better understand his mother and women in general, it would be much easier for him to find a girlfriend now. If the system knew what Jake was thinking he would go crazy if the statistic of charm and eloquence increased further with his current skills he could win any woman he wanted and would be the ideal man for many who expect to be understood by their husbands. Chapter 244 Preparations for the Olympics 10 [Communication Skills is the strongest skill for you in those you received with a fourth job, a skill that will make you much more sociable and will increase the efficiency of all your second and fourth job skills.] [The higher this skill rank increases the more your communication skills increase, so you can always find the best words to use in important conversations and also the best time to speak, even the right tone of voice to use in a conversation.] Jake could also understand how this skill would be extremely useful to him, and if used with the leadership statistic or policy would be even better depending on the situation, he could cheer up his teammates a lot and boost their morale even losing the game by dozens of points. [Photographic Memory is a skill you should be well aware of what you can do, it will improve your memory and further accelerate the speed of thinking you have.] [You thought you had an excellent memory before, but if this skill gets to the top rank you will be able to remember everything you see after one time, if you pick up a book and just skim through the pages you will remember of content.] [Of course, remembering the content does not mean that you will learn everything you read, but you will be able to slowly try to understand in your memory after seeing things, not to mention that you can also choose what you want to forget about the top rank of that ability.]Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Jake could also understand how useful this skill was, but for him, it was the least useful skill he had received in this fourth job, after all, Jake already thought his memory was very good and didn''t need to improve further. It would be different if he could learn all things just by looking, but it was not so, as the system said, he would only ever remember what he saw, there were things he might never learn even after memorizing everything. [Positioning is a skill you can understand well too, so knowing how to position yourself on scenes that you have to shoot instinctively in basketball just might not seem important, but you know better than anyone what that means.] Just as the system said this was an extremely useful skill for Jake, he could play basketball much more easily, having good positioning is considered a talent in many sports. In addition to basketball, American football and normal football were good examples of the importance of this skill, a good center forward in football would score hundreds of goals if it had a skill like that at most. After seeing the skills he had gained Jake was much calmer for the recordings of the other day, even though the rank of those skills was not high yet, Jake knew that just having those skills would greatly improve his acting skills and confidence as well. The other day later they started shooting Jake''s scene, Jake was in a hotel room that was the scene of the scene, just as he thought after remembering the movie, he would be in the scene where Jerry was played by Tom Cruise had just been fired after writing a ''goal plan'' and sending it to his colleagues at the company. He was fired because in his goals plan Jerry said that the company should have fewer customers and care more about them individually, so it went against the company''s interests. After being fired Jerry wants to take revenge on the company and leave the company with all the clients he has worked for several years, so in his office, Jerry calls several clients trying to convince them to continue working with him instead of the SMI company where he was fired. On one of these calls, he calls Jake and unlike the other calls he doesn''t ask Jake to work with him but says Jake doesn''t have to work with anyone to succeed and money and suggests that Jake leave the company too. So Jake says he''ll take Jerry''s advice and no longer have a sports agent, which is what Jake does in real life, but in Jake''s case, he doesn''t work with any sports agent because he thinks he doesn''t need to. After all Jake doesn''t think about playing basketball just to make money but to do what he likes so he doesn''t care much about having the best deals or sponsors paying him tens of millions of dollars a year. Jake is well aware that he no longer has to earn money to live or get rich, he can count on his investments for that, of course, he will want to earn a fair wage at least, if he is the best player on the team he will not accept having lower staff salaries for example. Jake really thought this might be the scene he was shooting, but in this scene, Tom Cruise wouldn''t need to talk to him, after all, Jerry would be sitting in his office talking to his clients and not personally, just a few that he talks to himself. After director Crowe explained to Jake that he would just have to hold a phone while pretending to be talking to Tom Cruise that he would not show up at the scene and would stand aside just talking as if he were actually talking on the phone. This would make it easier for Director Crowe to see what it would look like after editing, so Jake understood and prepared to record the scene, he was standing near the couch in the hotel with his phone in his hands as he prepared to start playing with Tom Cruise. After getting the fourth job Jake was no longer nervous, especially now that Tom Cruise would just talk to him and not appear on the scene, plus the director said that Jake would play him even in the movie so it could be natural. "Hi Jake, it''s Jerry speaking." "Jerry, how are you?" "Not well, I just got fired and I''m calling my clients to find out who will leave SMI with me." "But you, I''m not trying to take with me, Jake, I wanted to tell you that you no longer have to work with anyone to have a lot of money and success, you can count on your talent and you can do it." "If you''re going to leave SMI then I won''t work with anyone else, you know I only accepted working with an agent because it was you, Jerry." "Hahaha so that''s fine, I''ll have to talk to other clients." "Good luck to you Jerry." "Good luck to you too, Jake, see you around." It was just a few lines and Jake was very calm and relaxed, he looked worried when he heard that Jerry had been fired and showed gratitude when he heard Jerry''s advice, it was simple and this time Director Crowe thought it was perfect, but he still asked to Jake and Tom Cruise do the same scene a few more times to have more options at the time of editing. After the recordings were over Jake finally relaxed, he seemed calm thanks to his new skills and his confidence, but he was still tense with the pressure of responsibility while shooting the scenes, especially since director Crowe asked the scene to be remade several times. Jake knew that only a small piece of this scene would be left in the final edition, that if the scene was put into the movie, so he was happy and went off the camcorder that had recorded all the scenes he did and with Tom Cruise appearing in the scene. Tom Cruise was also surprised by Jake''s acting ability and the calmness of his recording, it was difficult for an actor to show empathy on the scene as Jake did as if he really knew some Jerry. Once the scenes were done he knew that the first time it was perfect, the director just remade the scene a few times to have more material for editing, he knew it as it was in the movie world a long time after the scene was over he decided to talk to Jake. "Jake!" Jake was a little surprised by Tom Cruise calling him, but he turned around after being called. "I meant that I thought you did very well in the scene you did, I even thought you were an experienced actor." "Thank you so much, this compliment from someone like you means so much to me." "I was just telling the truth." "Would you mind giving me and my mom an autograph, we are very fans of you." "Sure, no problem." Jake was very happy to be able to talk to Tom Cruise like that and still be praised, Tom Cruise was already very famous now and would be even more in the future, this year besides this movie he would be starring in the movie Mission: Impossible. After that Jake fired the camera crew and returned home, after all he had to train and had nothing more to do with the camera crew, not to mention that the team would leave town the other day. Before Jake left, Director Crowe still approached him for a message and an invitation. "A few months from now when the movie is finished we''re going to have a little celebration, but you should be at the Olympics when we do it, so I''ll invite you to a party if the movie succeeds at the box office or is nominated for some award." "So I''ll definitely go to this party, I have a feeling that this film will be a success at the box office and also will be successful among film critics and will compete for several awards, maybe even win some." "I hope you''re right, Jake." "I''m confident in my luck." After saying that Jake left home, this was the first time he had been away from Eva so long in his second life, he had to admit that he missed his mother, Jake was a little sad to realize that it would be even worse when he went to university. In a few months, he would also have to leave home long enough to stay in the Olympic village, it was like preparation of what was coming for the second half, Eva said he would watch the marathon competition on the last day, but before that he would not be doing anything. Luckily he could watch some Olympics competitions as a right, after all, he was an American athlete in an Olympics that was in the United States, it would be absurd if he didn''t have some rights. Chapter 245 The Olympics 1 Eva was very happy when Jake returned home and even more so when she received Tom Cruise''s autograph, she was very proud to know that her son would be in a movie with Tom Cruise. She didn''t have to wait long to see, Jake showed her the camcorder footage, the picture quality was much lower than the cinema, but Eva was happy to see her son performing with Tom Cruise. Of course Jake explained that if this was put into the movie he wouldn''t appear with Tom Cruise in the scene, yet she didn''t care, it was cool enough to see her son playing a great actor. Over the next few weeks Jake spent his training, he was focused on winning for sure at the Olympics, the school also ended after a few weeks and Jake didn''t attend prom as he said he wouldn''t. He wasn''t a party-keeper, and besides the people in his room and some people on the basketball and football team, he had no one he knew at this ball, and even if he does, it wouldn''t hurt everyone''s ball. Everyone closest to Jake who studied with him got great grades and went to the universities that took the test, of course, he still had to know if they would be accepted by the universities. Basketball and football teams would have the help of the school as promised to them when they all transferred to Elite school, of course not everyone would receive a scholarship. But just the opportunity to go to university would be something many young people would fight for, so everyone was pleased, having entered the elite school that had a good reputation helped all students get a chance at university. Jake had a party at his house after the prom and called all his classmates, his teammates in basketball and football, everyone who was invited to the party showed up and was surprised to see Jake''s mansion. Few students outside the basketball team knew that Jake was rich, many were prejudiced and also thought that Jake was poor for getting into the school through a scholarship, but now they realized how foolish they were, Jake never needed a scholarship with how he had as much money as he was smart. That was a happy day when they would meet maybe for the last time, some let it slip that Jake would attend the Olympics and everyone promised they would watch and cheer for Jake, Jake thought he was lucky not to say he had participated in the Tom Cruise movie. At the end of the party Jake stayed with only his closest friends, he talked much more with his basketball teammates, after all even though Jake intended to keep in touch with them was not something that could be guaranteed. He also wanted to keep in touch with his teammates he had before moving to Elite school, but now he couldn''t find anyone else to talk to, Jake didn''t even know if they entered a university or started work. That''s why Jake had the idea of ??having a party like this, he didn''t like the ball and so he had to create a similar event to have good memories of all his friends after everyone left only Joseph had been left behind. Joseph would later go to Princeton University to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, and Liza wanted to help Joseph after college if she was to marry him, but as they were not even engaged she decided to do journalism at Columbia University. So they would be separated for 4 years while studying, that would be a good test to know if they would really love each other even after 4 years without being able to spend much time together, Jake would also have to separate from his best friend. But their friendship was harder to break, after all, Jake would still always keep in touch with Matthew and Oliver, plus he would have 5 percent of the company stock that Joseph would have to take on in the future. Even though Jake felt emotional about having to part with a friend who stayed with him for 7 years, after those years apart Jake wanted them to remain, friends, Joseph felt the same way. "Our school time is over, isn''t it?" "At least high school is over, we still have university and a few more years to study and say it''s really over." "Are you going to be okay staying so long away from Liza?" "I will miss her, fortunately, we can see each other several times in those 4 years, after that we will be ready to think about marriage." "Study well over the next few years and you''ll be ready to take over your grandfather''s company." "I will, luckily I''ll still have you to help me when the time comes." "You can count on me." "I hope you succeed in college basketball at the university you are going to, and also in the Olympics this year if you have time to get a girlfriend for you too." They continued talking for some time and Joseph left later, so Jake knew it was official, high school was over, in a few days Jake would have to go to the Olympic Village and after that to the university in North Caroline. When Jake had to go to college he would have to separate from his mother too, it was hard for Jake to do that, luckily Eva would still have Anna and the restaurant not to be alone in those years. Jake had to think about how to get new friends at university, luckily he knew he wouldn''t suffer any bias for being a scholarship holder, and if he did well at the Olympics and basketball he would be easier to find new friends too. It was still a few weeks before the opening ceremony of the Olympics, so Jake continued with the training and stayed with his mother while he waited; he could go to the Olympic Village in Atlanta, Georgia in a few days. But he would be in no hurry to go there, after all, Jake would compete only at the end of the Olympics, Jake didn''t have many people he would like to meet at those Olympics, he didn''t follow those competitions very much in his past life and much less before this year He was very young. So Jake started to become a fan of some athletes only after a few years, and some of the athletes he was a fan of were even from other countries who took major US medals in various Olympics. Michael Phelps whom he liked best would not be in the Olympics this year yet, Jake greatly admired Michael Phelps because he knew he was one of the best Olympians of all time. In fact, Jake started thinking about competing in various competitions and trying to win several medals because Michael Phelps started it, of course, this is almost impossible for Jake to beat his idol in athletics, he could win 10 medals for Olympics if he didn''t try other things than running. So Jake wasn''t very greedy about it, after all, Jake had basketball too and Michael Phelps didn''t have that, if he could win more than 10 gold medals he would be very happy about it.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After spending a few more weeks at home training and staying with his friends Jake went to the Olympic village in early July 1996, he arrived at the place and went unnoticed by the other athletes. After all, not even the youngest he was, Jake was glad not to be recognized and found the place where he would be for the next 2 months, after arriving at the Olympic village Jake did not intend to leave until near opening day. Jake decided to go early to settle in with the place and the weather and also to get away from the reporters, he had decided that he would leave these next months to rest well and be ready for the day of the competition. After a few weeks of rest Jake had gone out a few times to talk to other athletes, luckily he could speak other languages ??and thus talk to many athletes from various countries. Jake met some people he knew would win competitions or be medalists after he got Photographic Memory skill he could remember many things he had forgotten in his past life in detail. So he worked especially hard to remember who had gotten good positions at the 1996 Olympics, he talked to Antonella Bellutti from Italy, Laura Flessel-Colovic and Marie-Jose P¨¦rec from France. Marie-Jos¨¦ P¨¦rec won two gold medals at these women''s and women''s 200m and 400m Olympics, so Jake had especially more to talk to her, these athletes from other countries were happy to talk to Jake in their languages ??even while in the United States. Jake also spoke to the German athlete Isabell Werth of whom he was a fan too, he took all his language skills to talk to these people, of course, Jake also spoke to American athletes that he was a fan. Jake also spoke to Michael Johnson who would win two gold medals in the 200 and 400-meter races, and also spoke to Amy Van Dyken who was a talented swimmer who would win 4 gold medals at these Olympics. Jake was very fond of her for her talent and took the opportunity to give her some tips to take care of herself after a few years, Jake remembered that she would have an ATV accident in over 17 years, but he couldn''t say something like that clearly. Even though it was hard for that to change anything, unfortunately, the system had prevented Jake from interfering with any accident that had nothing to do with his life directly. So Jake had to accept, he really wanted to warn the world of many accidents that would cause many deaths, so he was sad to be stopped, but already expected it when he returned in time. In fact, Jake had already changed the future a lot with all the things he was doing, at these Olympics he knew that there would be a terrorist attack that would kill a person, but he couldn''t interfere with that. After a few more weeks the opening day of the Olympics finally arrived, Jake was getting anxious to wait so long, he received the clothes he would have to wear at the opening ceremony and went to prepare to enjoy the show and parade with the other athletes. The opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics took place in the evening on Friday 19 July in the Centennial Olympic Stadium. This was the hundredth Olympics to be held in the modern age, a milestone that would also be the first time Jake would compete. Chapter 246 The Olympics 2 Jake was very nervous as the opening took place, nor could his Jake''s Emotion Control skill take away the excitement and pride he felt as he watched the opening of the Olympics that was held in his country. Seeing this only increased the desire to win a gold medal in the marathon, Jake remembered seeing the opening of these Olympics on television, he thought it was very beautiful and just complained about taking too long. But being in the stadium personally watching everything happening, he understood that it was a much more wonderful spectacle than watching it on television, the other athletes also seemed to be feeling the same emotion as him. After a while, it was time for the parade of the countries to participate in these Olympics, as the host country the United States would be the last country to parade and so Jake would have to expect all over 10,000 athletes from 196 countries competing in 26 sports pass before your turn came. Of course, probably not everyone was present at this opening ceremony, Jake personally would never think of missing such an event, when he paraded with the American athletes Jake felt much more proud. After Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic cauldron and the opening ceremony was over, even if Jake could participate in other Olympics he could not forget that moment. Then in the next few weeks, Jake followed the swimming and gymnastics events that he enjoyed most, and then also followed the events he knew the United States would win a medal.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Later when the athletic events started Jake never left Centennial Olympic Stadium where he had competitions where he was most interested and could learn many things as well. Jake didn''t even watch the television and just follow everything he could personally, he knew that the United States would be first in the medal table with 101 medals including 44 gold medals. So the Olympics passed quickly, on the day of the accident Jake couldn''t even sleep thinking he could have prevented this accident, as the system knew it was his fault that helped Jake erase that feeling from him. Jake was a little afraid after learning that the system could only erase his memories and feelings at will but soon calmed down thinking that if the system wanted to do him any harm he didn''t even have to give him a second chance to live. Jake felt very good to see the American athletes and their idols from other countries winning the medals, he managed to gain some friendship from Amy Van Dyken and Isabell Werth from Germany. They both found Jake very kind and charismatic when he said they were great athletes, Jake told Amy that she would win several medals at this Olympics and next after she won when he was watching she was quite happy about it. For Isabell Werth, Jake said this was just the beginning and she would still be one of the great athletes in Germany and the world for the next 20 years, which made her happy after winning the medals. Everyone liked compliments and Jake was speaking with sincerity and calm, not to mention that not many athletes respected them at these Olympics before Jake, in a few more years they would be recognized for being great athletes, but not yet. So finally came the day when Jake would compete, it was the end of these Olympics and some athletes even left the Olympic Village at that point, Jake was happy that his mother and friends were watching and cheering for him. The friends he made at this Olympics were also rooting for him, Amy would be happy that Jake won another medal for the United States and Isabell had no hope that the German athletes would win and was also rooting for Jake. The marathon was on Sunday, August 4, 1996. The race started at 07.55 local times to avoid excessively hot and humid conditions, Jake didn''t care much about the temperature or the weather. After training for over a year and training over 3 months running 60 km a day just to be fully prepared Jake was not worried about anything else that day, he knew that only he himself could hinder the victory of this Olympics. Many did not think so, but American commentators felt that Jake was certainly a favorite for this marathon, after all, he had three great results in the marathons he has completed so far. It showed that if he was in good shape Jake could end up winning the marathon and winning the forty-fifth gold medal for his country, who knew Jake during the Olympics and his old friends knew that Jake was very confident of winning this marathon. This was known as the most disputed marathon in the history of the Olympics, but that didn''t make Jake afraid it was even better for him, for the first 30 kilometers he could keep up a slower pace and in the final kilometers leave everyone behind. Jake was just worried about getting knocked out by other athletes, so he would have to run carefully so that didn''t happen as in training he could run 60 km he was not afraid of not finishing the race. At the beginning of the race, Jake did exactly what he planned, he managed to be much calmer after getting the Emotion Control skill that he used several times to calm down after he received. At the 1996 Olympics he saw in his past life he knew that South Africa''s Josia Thugwane had won and South Korea''s Lee Bong-Ju was second, this time they would be second and third if Jake won. In the first 10 km of the race, Jake was always in the top 20 and never in first, he kept a much lower running pace than he usually did so he was also getting tired much less than usual. "I think Jake may be able to win this race for our country, he may be young at just 17, but he has already raced high in two major marathons and took first place in this year''s qualifiers." "I also think he is certainly a favorite to win, the problem is that as the sports media said he is very young and an Olympic competition has a lot more pressure than a normal race." "Jake is really a young genius who besides competing for a marathon medal still plays basketball very well, he won the high school national basketball championship again this year." "In addition to winning the championship he also won the MVP award in the two years, he also has a record of more than 20 consecutive triple-double games and in this year''s national championship final game he made a quintuple double in the game to ensure the victory for your team." "I think he should give up basketball and focus only on athletics, he''s already one of the biggest marathon names in the world even though he''s so young, but in basketball, he''s just in the beginning, he has college before he even tried the NBA. " "It looks like he doesn''t think about giving up, he goes to the University of North Carolina basketball team, so clearly he went there to win titles." "He''s pretty smart having one of the best grades in the whole country, so I think he knows what he does." NBC commentators, as well as the others, did not think that Jake could really win at this early marathon all athletes were less than 30 seconds away from the first place so everyone could win. But after a few km of the marathon, some would start falling behind and others would open a good lead, so they thought Jake would be left behind after a few more km of competition. They were commenting to the American public so it was normal for them to say that Jake who was the best runner in the country could win even thinking otherwise, not to mention that they had no recorded interviews with Jake unlike the other athletes because they thought that He could not win. After 20 km of the race, many were still very close to the first place and some stayed behind just as the commentators thought, but Jake was still in the front and didn''t even look tired in the race. When everyone passed the 30 km marathon Jake was one of the first to realize why he had the system to show him the time, just as he planned he began to take advantage of the other runners ahead. "See, this is the first time Jake has been in the lead since the start of the marathon, he seems to want to take advantage of the other runners, do you think this could be his racing strategy?" "I think it''s quite possible, he has been growing in experience and performance since the first marathon he won in Chicago, in New York he was much faster than in his first marathon and ended up hurting himself by straining himself, but in that year he was first with a good time in qualifying for the Olympics." "Now that you have spoken he has a test time in Chicago of 2 hours and 9 minutes, in New York his time was 2 hours, 11 minutes and 45 seconds because he got injured and his time before that was for the world record." "In this year''s marathon he had a time of 2 hours and 8 minutes and 30 seconds and in this race, he seems to be much slower than he usually runs." A marathon is a competition that takes more than 2 hours to complete, so commentators have to prepare a lot of interesting things to talk about beyond the race, so they end up saying a lot of things they don''t even believe in just to get the audience excited. So they said Jake was among the first to say that he could win even though he didn''t really believe it could happen now they took advantage that Jake came first and started to take advantage to show that he could be planning this and going for the win himself who didn''t believe it. But after taking Jake''s data from previous marathons they realized that this time they might be right, Jake was actually known for always taking advantage at the start of the race or after 30 kilometers of a marathon. And he was really getting faster in the last marathons, so they really started to believe that this was Jake''s strategy to be the winner of this marathon that was so balanced from the start after all the commentators were Americans too. Chapter 247 The Olympics 3 This cheered not only the commentators but also all Americans watching the race, the United States had taken first place in the medal table for the first time after many years, many athletes stood out in this Olympics. This was the last competition and everyone wanted an American to win to close this gold-key Olympics, and Jake was the hope of all Americans if he were just an ordinary athlete they would not be very hopeful, but he was a winner two marathons, so they believed him. After another 5 km of marathon Jake opened a big advantage of second-place that was still close to third and fourth place, Josia thought he could really win this marathon and become a hero of his country. After that, he would be respected as an athlete and was in great shape to run today, but he realized that unless Jake got hurt or tired he could no longer dream of first place. Lee Bong-Ju of Korea also thought the same of Josia, he thought it would be difficult to pass competitors who were on the same level as him and were all running close, but he wanted to win another medal for Asia. But he also realized that he couldn''t get past Jake in this marathon even if he gave everything he had after Jake went through km 40 he had a huge lead for second place. "It looks like it''s already decided, after entering the stadium with this huge advantage for second place Jake comes to win this gold medal for our country." "Jake really seems to be another of our athletics pillars for the next few years, he was winning this 17-year-old Olympics, it will be his third marathon victory." "That''s true, at this age he could still compete in 6 more Olympics until he can''t run anymore, so he''s another big hope of medal for our so strong athletics." "In recent years African athletes have begun to stand out more and more in sports, especially in long-distance races, it''s good to see an American athlete being able to compete with them." NBC commentators had forgotten that they didn''t believe in Jake before the marathon, now they as well as everyone knew the young man would win this marathon. In the final meters of the race, Jake was no longer even worried about competitors, from the system dashboard he could see the time he was doing in this marathon, so according to his memories of his past life, Jake knew he had a big advantage for him. the second. After the middle of the race, Jake calmed down completely and just focused on his running pace and breathing so he finished this first marathon easily and managed to win the gold medal he wanted so badly. Jake finished the marathon in 2 hours and 9 minutes, it was a worse time than he did earlier this year, but he ran this marathon to win safely, after a few moments he was very happy to have won as he wanted and had trained so much for that.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Jake looked at the people at the stadium who were applauding him a lot and he was very happy and waved to the audience calmly, after a few minutes the second and third place came together to win the silver and bronze medal. "Really amazing feat of Jake winning this marathon and getting this gold medal in the end, he seems to have done it easily and celebrated quietly with the crowd at the stadium, it looks like he really was prepared and confident for the win." "True, I sincerely hoped that this final would be decided in seconds and it was very exciting as was the run for second place, but Jake was clearly much better than all the competitors and deserved to win this gold medal." Jake managed to hold on, but in fact, he was very thrilled, it was a unique feeling to win these Olympics, he felt a lot of pride and satisfaction after winning, now he understood why many athletes cried after competitions ended. Jake greeted the athletes who came in second and third and then waited on the track not knowing what to do, Jake did not know that he had won the approval of commentators and fans for greeting the other competitors. Also, everyone could see that Jake didn''t even look tired and was breathing normally after winning and the other athletes were exhausted and trying to recover this clearly showed Jake''s advantage over other competitors. After a while, the medals were handed over and Jake received the gold medal with an audience of thousands in the stadium and millions of people in the world, all were waiting to see the closing ceremony. When they saw Jake received the medal everyone at the stadium cheered him again, the friends he had made at these Olympics also applauded Jake a lot and were surprised to see him win, even though Jake looked confident before he was not arrogant at any time. Then there was the closing ceremony and so the end of these Atlanta Olympics in 1996, Jake was happy with the gold medal but was not satisfied with it, he knew it was just the beginning and that in the next Olympics he hoped to win. 3 more gold medals besides this one at least. Jake said goodbye to his friends at this Olympics and went to meet Eva who had waited for him after the closing ceremony, Jake was thinking of leaving with her as soon as the Olympics were over. The NBC film crew looked for Jake after the marathon and after the closing ceremony, but Jake wasn''t interested in talking to them now, they might have interviewed him before but disregarded him. Now Jake thought it was fair that he wouldn''t do any interviews either, next time maybe, mainly because he wanted to leave home soon to be with his mother before going to college that would be very soon. But even though he didn''t appear in any interview after getting a gold medal, Jake was now much more famous than before, now he was on par with some lesser-known actors in the movies. This big showing that was the Atlanta Olympics for Jake helped, even more, to identify with Jake''s commercials earlier this year and even remember Jake''s commercial for Tiffany and Clara''s companies. So besides Jake, the ones who got the most out of it were their sponsors who now had companies known internationally, when the internet became more popular in a few years these companies would gain even more prominence with what Jake did. Director Crowe was also attending these Olympics, he was very happy and surprised to see Jake get this gold medal, even though he called Jake for his movie because he would compete in the Olympics. The director didn''t expect Jake to win so he felt very lucky after that happened, on filming he realized that Jake was a great actor that could be used in his other films, and with Jake getting this gold medal would be a great advertisement for the movie to have a gold medalist. Jake came home with his mother and no one realized that, even though he was well known after winning this Olympics his house was totally safe, Jake decided to buy this mansion in this place with good security just thinking that something like this could happen. When Jake needed to pass the address to someone he would pass the address of his old house, so only his friends knew where he lived and could not visit Jake without going through security. Few also knew that Eva was Jake''s mother, so it was only good to raise the reputation of her restaurant, Jake had already provided the security guards who had always accompanied Eva since moving to the new home. Jake had only a few days to enjoy at home before going to college, just as he had said goodbye to almost all his friends so he no longer needed to spend a lot of time saying goodbye. The other day Jake passed the restaurant at a time when they were preparing for dinner time and so there was no one there when Jake arrived the first person he met as always was Lola. Lola was feeling very sad because she thought she would no longer have a chance to be with Jake if she couldn''t make it by now, after all now Jake was going to college and so it would be very difficult for them to see each other. If it was hard for her to conquer Jake before, now it was even harder Lola cried for a few days when she was home and took care that her father didn''t notice anything, only Eva and Anna knew what was going through her heart. They both tried to help Lola get closer to Jake, but they realized that Jake didn''t seem to really like Lola, if Jake was like other men he would surely pretend to like Lola to date her, after all, Lola was very pretty. Lola could be happy about this for a while longer would suffer much more in the future and Anna and Eva would be disappointed with Jake if he did so they didn''t interfere with Jake''s decision when they realized that he was just being honest with Lola. Jake didn''t tell anyone he wasn''t thinking about dating anyone right now because he still felt his heart closed after what happened to Jenny, nor did he tell anyone he thought about dating Lola if she still liked him after a few years. After all, if he did that was like leaving Lola stuck with him for those years waiting for something that might not happen, it was something Jake decided only for himself. "Hi, Lola, how are you?" "I''m fine Jake, congratulations on getting this gold medal at the Olympics, I was very happy for you." "Thank you, I was very happy about it, I trained a lot for several months to get this gold medal, I''m glad I did it." "When do you plan to go to university, Jake?" "I''m going for a little over a week, but I''ll be back whenever I can, by the end of the year I''ll be here for sure." "I hope everything works out for you there, both with classes and basketball." Chapter 248 The Olympics 4 Jake just said he''d come back whenever he could just to comfort Lola for some reason if Jake was really a 17-year-old he''d never stop dating a girl like Lola who was beautiful and affectionate. But Jake had a mindset of over 45 now, so he knew that if he did that he would be a scoundrel and would end up hurting Lola even more now, in fact, what kept Jake from trying to stay with Lola the most was that she was Pure of heart. He didn''t love Jenny either, but she was a girl who wouldn''t be heartbroken even if Jake broke up with her, so he tried to have a relationship with her, of course, he wasn''t just playing with Jenny and was really thinking about taking the relationship of them the serious. He didn''t expect it to be Jenny who would eventually break his heart, so Jake didn''t want to do the same to Lola, he quickly went out to meet his mother and Anna so as not to embarrass Lola who was almost crying. "Hi mom, hi Anna." "Jake, I didn''t know you would come here, congratulations on winning that gold medal, I was very proud of you, if you were in another country or even another city I''m sure you would ride the fire truck, you''re in Miami, the people here are used to champions." "Hahaha I''d say I was lucky then, I didn''t want to be ashamed of that, I know it''s an honor for some, but I''d be very embarrassed to do that." "My son is too shy to do something like that, but he looked like a proud peacock waving and celebrating with the stadium of thousands after winning the marathon." "Of course I would be proud of it, I trained a lot to win such a victory." "You didn''t bring me any autographs from Tom Cruise, Jake, you should get one for me too besides your mother." "You didn''t ask for me, I can give you an autograph instead, it''s not worth that much, but it''s a mix of an actor''s autograph and a gold medal winner at the Olympics." "So give me your autograph, that''s what I really wanted." After that Jake talked to Anna and Eva a bit more and left the restaurant, Anna wasn''t that sad about Jake going to college, after all, she knew Jake would come back whenever he could, and a city like Miami wouldn''t be home forever of Jake, Jake would be someone who would travel across the country after joining the NBA. The other day Jake wanted to talk to his sponsors, but Oliver called Jake to his house, he said Matthew would be there too, so Jake decided to say goodbye first of both, he knew he would still have to see Matthew a lot because of the company, but Oliver he wouldn''t see that much. "Hi Jake, sorry for calling you suddenly, I don''t know if you were busy with anything." "No problem Oliver, I''d come here after any way to say goodbye before I go to university." "I thought you wouldn''t come here, Joseph already went to New Jersey to see the university, I just wanted to say goodbye to you and thank you for helping Joseph so much in those years, if it wasn''t for you, he wouldn''t get this vacancy at Princeton." "He''s my friend, of course, I would help him out, besides, he''s smart and would get this vacancy on his own with a little more effort." "Glad to hear it, my dad is there in the office, you can go talk to him." So Jake went to see Matthew in the office, Jake believed he could still see Oliver many times in these upcoming semesters while Oliver still lived in Miami, after all, Oliver always helped Jake a lot when he could. "Hi Matthew, Oliver said you wanted to talk to me." "Jake, first congratulations on winning this gold medal, I watched that marathon and was very happy to see you win." "Thank you." "I called you here to talk about the company, with you at university it will be difficult for us to talk about the company easily like that." "Whenever you have something important to talk to me you can talk to Emily or to myself, I can come here or you go to college." "I know that I mean I can''t talk about things that aren''t that important, so it''s always good to hear your advice about the company''s products." "I invested some of that profit last year on factory improvements and building a new factory, and I hired a few more employees and definitely hired those who were temporary last year."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "I also increased the salary of those working on digital camera technology development and to shrink and refine the camera to be placed on cell phones in the future as you suggested." "Part of that money I left for product inventory and part of that I invested in advertising and new product developments, the camera we were expecting is ready and much better than what we''re selling now." "So early next year we will put this new digital camera on the market, and in the coming years we will start trying to talk to some mobile companies to partner with." To others, it might seem funny that Matthew who was the oldest and owner of more than 75 percent of the company was reporting the company''s progress to Jake who was much younger and had only 5 percent of the shares that were given by Matthew himself. But Matthew didn''t think it was wrong, Jake had saved the company and made their value so high in recent years, so Matthew believed everything Jake said until something could go wrong. Jake also knew that Matthew was very competent and so the company can improve so much with just a few councils he gave Matthew, it was always important to invest in technology and product development. How Jake helped the technicians who were developing the technology by guiding them on the right track, Matthew''s new digital camera was already far superior to other competitors and different from the camera currently on the market. "I think you are doing everything right Matthew, but tell the techs to continue and develop this new digital camera, we have almost 6 months for it, this camera that we are currently selling has served to open the doors of the market and put the name of your company to the international market." "But the next digital camera that your company puts on the market will have to be far superior to all competing companies, so that will be the pillar for you to negotiate with the mobile companies over the coming years for a partnership agreement." "Unfortunately, I did some research and I think it will be difficult in the next few years to partner with computer companies, Apple has already developed their own digital camera and a contract with Microsoft could end up bad for your company." After improving memory Jake realized that it would be much harder than he thought to partner with a cellphone or laptop company, the companies that started putting cameras into laptops after 2000 were the ones that had started producing cameras before. Even smartphone companies at first didn''t care so much about camera quality, they just cared about having a basic camera on their cell phones, so Jake knew it could be problematic for Matthew''s company to find a suitable partner. Not to mention that although Jake helped Matthew''s company he didn''t want to change the future, so Jake would have to have a partnership that would be worth it to Matthew''s company like Samsung or Apple. Matthew also understood that it would be difficult to exploit a new market and they would have to have a good business partner to secure a good future for the company, so for now, they would have to keep focusing on digital camera sales. "So you think we have to keep investing in this technology even if we don''t know if it can work?" "The technology is sure to work, the problem is just finding a handset company that has good sales and that won''t betray us by starting to develop its own technology while having an exclusive contract with your company." That was really the biggest problem Jake had with the new technology, it could easily be stolen and researched, so they had to have a partnership that would guarantee the company billions of dollars and thus finance their company''s future technology development forever being in the lead. Jake had the advantage of knowing the market by 2019 so unless they are not able to create the technology Jake knows it shouldn''t be too much of a problem to stay ahead of the rest of the market. Matthew also trusted Jake a lot, so he would continue to invest a lot in this technology, in the future they could at most sell what they developed to recover the money invested. Not to mention that developing this technology also helped Matthew''s company to better develop the technology of his new digital cameras, so none of this was lost, nor would Matthew have to spend much on an investment after the initial investment he had already made. "I had an idea, Matthew, your company is currently focused only on digital camera sales which made a lot of profit last year, but what do you think about taking advantage of this ready-made technology you developed to start selling a webcam?" Matthew was a businessman who always wanted to know everything about the tech industry, so he knew what a webcam was, he had a QuickCam in his office himself. But he didn''t have such a broad view of the market and hadn''t even thought he was developing a webcam-like technology, in fact, Jake had given him several insights into a technology that was ahead of QuickCam. "It''s okay if you don''t understand how Matthew can be done, just have one of the technology developers we were investing in for cell phones to do reverse engineer and disassemble QuickCam, so they immediately understood how to produce and file a patent if their company hasn''t done it yet." Jake knew that a webcam would be one of technology''s best inventions for years to come, so it was much easier for Matthew to dominate this market and do even better than Apple that would try to dominate this market in a few years. Chapter 249 The Olympics 5 Jake knew, of course, that webcam sales could not come in even a portion of digital camera sales, but it was only for webcam sales to fund future development for smartphones. Matthew understood this and agreed to do so and had this technology immediately researched, so Matthew''s company would have more products to sell, after which Jake left Oliver''s house and prepared to visit his sponsors. Since the technology that was better than the current webcam was ready, Matthew had only to worry about the cost of production if it would be much lower because Matthew had an excellent factory for production. When he got home, Jake began to think about the things he had said to Matthew, after he gained his fourth job skills. Jake''s memory improved a lot and he remembered one of the technologies he could leverage after his time back. Jake didn''t write famous movies of the future as his own because that would be a big change in the future of cinema and it would also be like stealing a person, but he just didn''t start a tech company before 2000 to take advantage of this great time for investments in the movie because he had neither financial capital nor the ability to run a business. But he remembered a great idea that just needed a bit of technology development and a patent to make Jake very rich in the future, so he couldn''t see why he didn''t take that chance. So Jake talked to some people who worked as developers of Matthew''s product technologies and asked them to recommend to him a group of university geniuses they attended for Jake to hire them. Jake just wanted to start a small tech company to develop this technology and didn''t need to hire these people for long if they didn''t want to if they wanted to keep working for him, Jake didn''t mind paying a good salary for a few years. After a few days, Jake asked Emily to register a technology company in his name, Emily didn''t ask the reason and just did what Jake asked, she really needed to talk to him about the yield on the company''s stock investments. Jake didn''t mind buying a building for the new company, after all, he would ask the young people to develop the technology at their own university, after all, Jake only imported the patent. After a few days 3 men showed up to talk to Jake, they were doing Ph.D. at Stanford, Jake thought it was very coincidental that they studied at the same place the google founders would study. The three seemed curious about the work, they knew that Jake, although younger than them, was very rich and intelligent, after all the friends who called them said that Jake was the one who gave the ideas for the technologies they developed. So the three who were very close friends decided to accept if it was a well-paid job like their friends at Matthew''s company, the most responsible of the three was named Charlie and he was going to talk to Jake about the job. "Hi Jake, my name is Charlie and I will represent my friends in this conversation, we want to know which technology you want me to develop for you and what is the salary." "Well Charlie, I want you to work for me at least until after the technology is developed, you''ll get the same as your friends at Matthew''s company for as long as you work for me." "Once the product is developed until it is enough for me to be able to file several patents on it, we''ll see if you want to continue working for me or if you want the freedom to work elsewhere." Charlie and his friends thought it was really best for them, so after they finished Ph.D. at Stanford they could decide if they wanted to stay employed or want to go to another company, the salary their friends earned from Matthew''s company was great for them too. Jake was pleased when he saw that Charlie and his friends liked the proposal he made so he first showed what the rewards were before telling them what restrictions they would have. "When the patents I want are authorized I will give you a bonus, but if you agree to work for me you will have to sign some confidentiality and intellectual property agreement agreements." The three of them didn''t get bored because they needed to sign a contract for that, but they understood what the contracts meant and figured out what they had to create was very important for Jake to create these restrictions.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Jake was just being cautious, he really had a lawyer as an assistant and wouldn''t waste much time creating those contracts that would guarantee his rights, Jake was very pleased when he saw that they accepted. After that Jake asked Emily to have someone bring the contracts for them to sign as soon as she could so Emily saw that Jake must be doing something important and set the investment firm aside to take Jake''s requests quickly. "The technology I want you to develop actually already exists, so I believe it will be much easier for you, I want a product that this technology can be used with, the technology is Multi-touch." In fact, they didn''t know this technology and so Jake explained what the technology was and what he wanted to be created from it in detail, the three of them were impressed with Jake''s knowledge and insight into explaining a product that didn''t even exist. So they could understand why Jake could help his friends develop Matthew''s technologies and products faster, after all, having a clear picture of a product of a technology that already existed was so much easier. Unfortunately, unlike Jake''s idea for this patent to be created, Charlie said they needed somewhere to work and more money to buy the components that needed to be created. So Jake understood that he was being very naive after all even though he wasn''t trying to create a smartphone he was trying to create the technology that was the fundamental part of the smartphone. Jake was also smart and just explained how the touchscreen worked and not what it could be used for, so it could stimulate their interest and not tell the most important application of the product. Jake was also thinking that if the three of them did a good job he could keep them in business by developing a prototype smartphone and android operating system that was the future of technology. But he was not in a hurry because he knew it would be many years before this technology was fully developed and patented, the android operating system could be a good contribution for Jake to buy Google in the future. Even though he had many plans Jake had to wait for the things he started now to be done before thinking so far into the future, Charlie and his friends stayed in Miami while they waited for Emily to organize the necessary things. Meanwhile Jake talked to Charlie about where they could open a place so they could develop Multi-touch technology more easily, after all, Jake said he wants to see it in at most 1 year ready to apply for the patent. After a few days, Emily arrived with the contracts ready and also with the company registration that Jake asked her to create while Charlie was studying the contract Jake went with Emily to another room because Emily wanted to show him the results of those months of investment. Jake wasn''t that excited because he already knew the future, but Emily was thrilled to see that the money invested had almost doubled with the stock price increase, it was normal for her to get excited, after all, she would receive 1 percent of everything Jake earn after these shares are sold. Jake said Emily would have to meet him at the university from now on if she wanted to talk business, and Emily understood that the least important things could be said over the phone. Charlie and his friends had already read and signed the contracts and so were officially hired by Jake after Emily left Jake began to fully explain the product he wanted to see and what functions the touchscreen would have to perform. So they finally began to see Jake''s ideas and visions and surprisingly found the idea viable and were excited, but they said that for the patent to come out they would have to plug the screen into something to be more valid. This was a bit more complicated in their view, but Jake quickly worked out what a smartphone would look like, so to get the patent he just asked for a calculator and could write some texts. After all, the biggest problem with creating a smartphone was making the connections with the signal, the battery, the memory, and the internet, so just using the touchscreen to make small texts and a calculator would allow Jake to get the patent on the touchscreen and Multi-touch. Charlie and his friends were impressed by Jake''s imagination and intelligence, probably in the future, they would say that the world''s first smartphone prototype had been imagined by Jake in 1996, but cannot be created by the limitations of technology. Jake was excited to see if his patent would be approved, even though in the future the original patent creators and Apple could exploit a patent loophole it was impossible to use this technology without paying Jake anything. They decided to start the company in Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, California, even though it was never one of the technology giants just because of the patent they would create would make them worthy of having a company in this place with so many companies. Not to mention that in the future Jake would often have to go to this place if he could invest in big business in the next few years as he planned, it would also be much easier to try to find the components needed to build a prototype smartphone. So Jake thought it better to start a business there now, after many years it would be much more expensive to buy a property when big companies came up, so Jake told Charlie to find a good place and then Jake would send Emily to buy the property. It was necessary to be quick and decisive in this kind of business, even more, when Jake already knew it could work, yet he impressed Charlie for being so decisive. Chapter 250 The Olympics 6 After resolving all of this, Jake had a few days to go to college, so he first called John and Alan to talk to the same restaurant they always met, Jake had to talk to them because he hadn''t warned them that could have sponsors at the university. These companies had signed a 4-year contract with Jake, so it was still just under 3 years before this contract ended, but John and Alan had already asked him to record the commercial earlier this year because if Jake couldn''t have university sponsors this The contract had a clause that could be canceled. The contract with Tiffany and Clara was longer and was still over 4 years old, Jake had told them that he was trying to continue this contract at university too, but they didn''t believe in Jake after all no one ever got it before. At lunchtime, they met at the restaurant and John and Alan didn''t seem sad even though the Jake deal would end this was because they also earned so much more than they thought even though they didn''t pay long after Jake won that gold medal in the Olympics. "Hi Jake, congratulations on winning that gold medal, everyone at the company is very happy for you and us too." "Thank you, John." "It really was surprising to me too, Jake, congratulations, we were so glad we made that sponsorship deal with you." "Thanks too, Alan, so I get to the point, I got a deal with the university and the college basketball organization so I can continue my sponsorship at the university."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. John and Alan heard this and had no reaction in a few seconds, they thought Jake was lying or playing with them, but knowing Jake''s character and the fact that he had a reputation for caring, they knew Jake wouldn''t play with something serious like this. "Are you serious Jake? This is very hard to believe." "Yes, this is a problem for thousands of athletes in tens of years and you say you just got a deal with them?" "Even though it''s hard to believe it''s the truth, I''ve been talking to them about it since last year, and now that I''m sure of it I''m communicating to you." "How did you get this, Jake?" "I wouldn''t like to go into too much detail about this, but we have some restrictions, in no basketball team game or activity I can do any advertising, just not basketball related." So John and Alan were confused for a while, but soon understood what Jake was saying, but they could still have their marks on Jake''s uniform when he competed in marathons and could still do television commercials. They were both very happy and surprised by this news, so they could enjoy the fact that Jake had a gold medal in the Olympics that had just ended a little longer. Soon they thought of a problem they had to solve if Jake could have sponsors while on the basketball team and after winning a marathon gold medal for sure, many other companies would like to hire Jake. So their company would have to think about how much to increase the amount they paid Jake to make sure they had a contract with him at least until college, so they would have to think about how much more they could pay Jake at that time. In fact Jake had another deal with the university, he could not have any new sponsors at the time he was at university playing on the basketball team, nor could he renew any contract with the companies he sponsored him now. But Jake didn''t tell John and Alan because they were just his business partners and not close friends like Tiffany and Clara that he would do his best to help, of course, Jake figured they would think of increasing the amount they paid for sponsorship him now. The university said nothing against it in the restrictions and Jake also felt that now it deserved to receive much more, after the end of the year he would appear in a major Hollywood movie, he was also the only sponsored college basketball player. What''s more, he was now an Olympic gold medalist, so even big companies like Nike and Adidas would want to pay a few million to someone like Jake who can reach several different consumer groups. Not to mention that Jake wanted to use John and Alan''s companies to show their advertising value to big companies as soon as he joined the NBA, after saying everything he needed for them, John and Alan left saying they needed to talk to their companies to know how much they could pay the most for sponsorship. After talking to them Jake arranged with Tiffany and Clara to talk, but only Tiffany said she would talk to him, it seemed that Clara was busy and Tiffany would represent both companies. Jake also knew that Clara was in a lot of trouble and Tiffany who had shares in Clara''s company was really well suited to represent both companies, probably both of them were also waiting for Jake to talk about terminating the contract. It had been months since Jake had been talking to Tiffany in person, they had been talking a lot over the phone, but Jake had been busy over the last few months with preparations for the Olympics and it had been a long time since he had spoken to Clara in person. "Hi Jake, congratulations on winning the gold medal, Clara and I are very happy for you." "Thanks, Tiffany, how are you?" "Well, I recover quickly for these things, the companies are doing very well too, we hope this year we can make a lot more money after you won this gold medal, it will surely have more effect than any advertising campaign that other companies do." Tiffany''s company was the one that made the most of it, after all, they had a product line that was natural sports drinks, Jake also knew that they were very tasty despite having no sugar in the ingredients of the drink. So all audiences could consume Tiffany''s product, then it was John''s company that made the most profit, but that was because in addition to the energy drink being widely consumed worldwide they had invested more with the commercials and their company was much older and reputable in the market. Otherwise, it would be Clara''s company that was trying hard not to increase market value and still make a profit, this year it was impossible for Clara to achieve this without some investigation into sabotaging the company, but surely the company would still profit a lot this year. That would make Clara gain more than lose from it since as long as she could regain the stock she could still develop the company much more easily, in the end, it was Tiffany who made the most of it. Her company is valued at 260 million this year in 1996, but with the repercussion of Jake''s gold medal increasing further in the next few years, Clara''s company would also value even more in the coming years. "So Jake, you called me here to talk about your sponsorship, didn''t you? We understand that you are going to university now and you will no longer be able to get any sponsorship, even if you could still our companies pay a lot less than you deserve to receive." "I want you to know that even without this sponsorship agreement we will still be friends anyway, Clara also said the same, we want you to be very successful at university." Before Jake could say anything Tiffany said what she thought from her heart, after all, she really thought they were paying too little for Jake if for the other situation they would think about paying more for Jake, but the company was in development and was now stagnant without being able to invest. Not to mention that anyway after Jake entered college their company would have to terminate that contract anyway after all a star-like Jake would get millions a year from each sponsor at least a year. Jake knew that too, but he still believed that Tiffany''s company and Clara''s company were above all his friend companies, so he would keep these sponsorships as long as he could even receive little just to help his friends. "Calm down Tiffany, you didn''t even wait for me to say what I meant, do you remember what I had told you that I would try to negotiate with the university and the committee?" "I remember, of course, but this is impossible, I know you wanted to comply with our contracts, but they would make no exception to anyone." "They made an exception for me, I will continue with all my sponsorship contracts even playing basketball at the university." Unlike Alan and John, Tiffany knew Jake wouldn''t lie about such a thing, so she was just surprised and happy about it, Jake told her all the restrictions just as he told John and Alan, but when she asked how he got Jake explained this time. "How did you get this, Jake?" "As I said to you, I have a lot of restrictions even though I have achieved this, and I used as a request to maintain my sponsorship contracts the fact that I am also an athlete and I won some marathons last year." "And what does it have to do?" "I said my sponsorship was because I''m an athlete who competes in marathons and not basketball, and I also used the fact that I was trying to get into the Olympics this year." That was Jake''s secret, and Tiffany understood why the university made an exception for Jake, for anyone getting the same treatment as Jake and having a sponsorship while playing college basketball was competing in another sport. It could have even higher standards, such as having to win one international competition and qualify well in others, after Jake actually qualified for the Olympics and still won Jake knew it was impossible for the university to change its mind. So Tiffany was delighted to still be able to keep a sponsorship deal with Jake and Clara would also be very happy when she heard about it, at university Jake had entered the story before he even started playing for the basketball team. Chapter 251 The University 1 After that, they continued talking for a while and Jake left home, in the next few days Jake packed his bags to the university, he would ask a carrier to come to take his car and go by plane. Even if he didn''t buy a new car just because he might not want to drive to the university for a few hours either, at first Jake planned to stay in a dorm and see if he would rent a house while he was at university.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. In the next few days even though she was still going to work, Eva would always come home early to spend more time with Jake in his last week, after all, they would be separated for at least a few months until Jake was organized at university. Not to mention that to return home Jake would also have to first check the schedule of games and with trained Bill to see if he could after all the university was not equal to high school, even if he was a good player Jake would have no perks on the basketball team of the university. So even if I didn''t need the basic training Jake would have to train with the rest of the team whenever he had training unless the coach released him before, of course, Jake was already prepared for it. After a week at home Jake finally got ready to leave the next day, he wanted to spend all day with his mother, but John and Alan wanted to talk to him, it seemed their companies had decided how much they would increase sponsorship agreement for the remaining 3 years of the agreement. Even though he didn''t want to, Jake knew he needed to sort this out, so he was determined to get things done quickly, and by then John and Alan had luckily arrived and had the new contract in hand. "So you decided with the companies?" "Yes, Jake, I talked to my company and we decided to increase the sponsorship amount for the next three years of the contract to 125,000 per month, 1 million and 750,000 a year." "Our company decided for the same value, Jake." Jake laughed when he saw that both companies decided for the same amount, it seems that they learned from what happened last time and had combined a value they thought was fair and decided between the two companies to pay the same. He really didn''t care how much the two companies would pay him a year, after all, he was determined to continue with them for the next three years, he just wanted to increase his business value when he joined the NBA. Now he would receive $ 4 million and $ 200,000 a year, much more than many athletes currently receive a salary in the NBA and more than some athletes receive sponsorship even though he won a gold medal like him. Jake thought that was fair value, maybe the two companies were trying to please Jake by paying more than they thought it was worth because they didn''t know Jake had been in a movie too, and maybe in others in Hollywood. Jake was preparing for a brighter future by getting these contracts now when he entered the NBA he would demand at least that amount per year from every sponsor he had, otherwise it was better that he didn''t even get any sponsorship for how much money he would have. After all, it would be amazing if Jake were the only NBA star in the future who got no sponsorship, that would be an advertisement for him as a person, but he himself thought something like this was impossible to happen. One thing Jake knew well was that it was not wise to sign a long contract with any brand of shoes, he would sign for a maximum of 5 years if the total value was high, because in 2003 Jake remembered a millionaire contract. LeBron James signed a contract of more than 80 million with Nike, so Jake wanted to be without a contract at that time to ask for even greater value if he had confidence in playing better than LeBron this year. Often the amount he earned was directly related to the player''s credibility, so Jake didn''t want to earn less than anyone who had the same ability as him. Sponsors will pay not only because Jake is an NBA player, but also because he is an athlete who will keep trying to win gold medals and win marathons and will also work as an actor whenever he could. It was only fair that Jake asked for a bigger sponsorship than the other NBA players, after all, he could not ask for a higher salary because of CBA restrictions if no one could give what Jake wanted he would rather not receive anything. After signing the contracts with John and Alan, Jake returned home and stayed with his mother the last day before going to college, Jake would catch a plane in the morning, so after dinner, neither left the table. "So you really go to university tomorrow, Jake." "I promised you would, Mom, after all, you always wanted me to graduate from a university so I will be doing that university so you are more proud of me." "If you really don''t want it you don''t have to, Jake, you''ve done a lot of things for me these last few years." Jake knew that his mother was not being honest at that time, he remembered in his past life that his mother had several wishes that could not be fulfilled before she died, he did not even know about the subject of the restaurant she wanted to open. Maybe also after working more than 20 years in that restaurant where she suffered so much in her past life, she gave up the dream of having a restaurant of her own, but he always remembered her saying that she wanted to spend more time with Jake and that he had been. graduated from a university. Luckily on his second chance, Jake can accomplish all the things he knew his mom wanted and many things he didn''t even know she wanted so he wanted to make that dream come true at college too. He also knew that even if he didn''t go to university he couldn''t go to Miami with his mother, he would have to go play in the NBA and travel all over the country, so it was better for Jake to stay a few years at university and realize Eva''s dream while improving his basketball skills to enter the NBA. "I want to go to university too, Mom, no need to worry." "I''ll miss you, son." "Don''t worry, Mom, I guarantee I''ll be back whenever I get a chance." After that, Jake stayed with his mother for a few more hours and they went to sleep later, the next morning Jake had a breakfast made by Eva and left to take the taxi to the airport, but he remembered seeing his mother crying when he leaves. This past year Jake has had to be away for several weeks sometimes, but now that Eva knew he was really leaving, she couldn''t stand it and cried. Jake was sad too but knew that fortunately in this life his mother would be fine even without him always around, Eva had the restaurant and Anna to keep her company while Jake was away. After a few hours Jake arrived at the UNC, he was the university secretary and confirmed his enrollment details and then went to the Old East dorm to find where he would have to stay for at least the first year. Jake''s car would arrive the next day as he overpaid for the carrier''s urgency, it was important for Jake to have his car where he would stay for at least a few years, after he left university he would give that car to someone. After all, if he could enter the NBA as he expected a car would be just a symbol of prestige, after all, he would earn a high salary and hardly use the car, so that car would have to stay with him for university time. As soon as he arrived he called his mother as he had promised, Eva was only relieved when she got the call from Jake, even if it wasn''t Jake''s first time traveling away, Eva was worried this time. "Hi, Mom, I just settled into the dorm and I''m calling you as I promised you would." "Glad you remembered, I was worried after you left, now I can calm down." "I don''t know why you''re so worried, it''s not the first time I''ve left home." "When you are a father you will know." Eva had forgotten that Jake had a problem before when talking about having children or getting married, that was because he had spent more than 20 years alone in his past life, but now Jake no longer felt so bad about talking about it. He went through an important milestone that was the age he had an accident that left him handicapped in his past life, so Jake began to forget about past traumas and was excited about his second chance. "How are things at the university, son?" "I don''t know, I didn''t have time to see anything, I just arrived and I called you, I don''t even know where I''m going to eat today." "Already missing my food? Now you don''t have your mom''s restaurant and food at home while you''re at university." "Even while I was in Miami I wasn''t going to eat often at your restaurant, but from your food at home, I''m really going to miss it." "Alright then, I''ll hang up now so you can find a place to eat, tomorrow tell me what the university is like." Jake was glad that his mother didn''t look so sad anymore after he made it clear that she wouldn''t recover so quickly, it would take a few weeks for her to adjust to a routine without him at home. Most importantly, she was not sad that he left, after all, Eva was not alone in Miami, she had Anna and other friends with her, not to mention that she would be too worried about the restaurant all day to worry about Jake. After he took a break to rest after the rush of change he became anxious about what his years at this university would look like, he was excited to have begun a new phase in his life. Not to mention that this time was something he hadn''t experienced in his past life, so everything at university was new to Jake, he hoped to play well and make friends like high school on the basketball team. Chapter 252 The University 2 That would be very difficult to happen in Jake''s opinion, first because his teammates would all be talented players and people who would have confidence in playing in the NBA if they made the most effort. It could be different for other universities, but at UNC things would be like this after all this was the university that had the basketball team Michael Jordan played and has one of the teams that won the most NCAA tournament. Jake remembered that many times this team had many players in the NBA draft, few universities were like that across the country, Jake chose this university even though he knew it would compete with the position on the team because he wanted to get this big university to have several. titles in a few years. Jake had confidence that he had the ability to do that, even if in the first year it was harder next year would be easier, it was important for Jake to earn the confidence of the current team coach Dean Smith. Maybe only Jake knew in the team that this was Coach Smith''s last year on the team, so he wanted to earn his trust this year because as he already had the confidence of the future team coach Coach Guthridge would be easier for him to receive. an opportunity in the team. Another problem for Jake to adapt to and befriend his teammates was jealousy, after all, he was the only player on the team who would be sponsored by this team, even if he was a Freshman and many of the more experienced players would think they deserved more than him. Of course, everyone would know that Jake only got this exception by winning a major marathon and a gold medal in the Olympics, yet it was impossible that they would not be jealous and unfair about the difference in treatment. This was something Jake would have to try to solve during the first few weeks of training, after all, it was important to have a good harmony with the team, maybe Coach Smith would leave Jake out of the team just to keep the team together. After thinking about it for a while Jake began to feel more hungry and remembered that he told his mother that he would look for a place to eat while he thought about going out to look for food two people entered the room. These two people seemed surprised to see Jake too, so the taller of the two began to laugh and closed the door after pushing the shorter one into the room. "You must be our roommate this first year, my name is Zack and this short one here is William, let''s share this room here the first year with one we don''t know yet." "Don''t call me shorty, you guys who are very tall and introduce us correctly, I''m sorry friend, my name is William Thompson and this ignorant is named Zack Roberts, nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you too, my name is Jake Smith, I''ll be counting on you for years to come." "I don''t know why presenting the full name, this is no business meeting, so we''ll all be calling each other by the first name, right Jake?" "I guess so." "Did you see that? I''ll get along better with him. " "Don''t give him a lot of room, Jake, Zack is too nosy, we met a few days ago and he wants to drag me everywhere now, who sees us thinks we''ve known each other for several years." Jake was surprised by what William said, he also thought that the two people who were so close should be friends for several years, but it looks like Zack has a lot of social skills. Jake was also very happy about that, he wanted to get a new friend at this university as he was no longer with Joseph for years to come, but he was always bad for making friends. Now he had 3 people living in the same dormitory as him, and one of those 3 was very sociable, Jake felt that if he became friends with Zack he could get a lot more friends in his college days if he had his 3 roommates as friends he would be very pleased already. "So Jake, did you look like you were going somewhere? Where are you going?" "Saw? You gave him the freedom and he''s already being nosy, what do you care where he was going, Zack?" "I just wanted to help, I came a few months ago to get to know the university campus and the city better, so why you complain that I take you everywhere, William is because you don''t know how to go anywhere alone." Jake saw that William was embarrassed after what Zack said, so it seemed to be true that Zack knows a lot about the city. "I just arrived and I really don''t know anything, so I would go out looking for a place to eat before it was too late." "You''ll eat? So we''ll go with you, I''ll show you the places I know around here." "You go, I''ll stay here." "No need to be shy William, we go back to the room just to take a shower and change clothes to go out to eat right? I say we''ll have to live together for a year at least, have to be friends quickly to avoid embarrassment. " So William gave up arguing with Zack and went to take a shower and then everyone went out to eat, Jake found the two very fun, he was happy that it seemed that he would not be alone in this time of college. That way he didn''t mind continuing to live in the dorm until the end of his college years, they left and Zack found a place with really good food, Zack also seemed to know a lot of people at the university and several people greeted him as they passed. As they ate, they talked about a lot of unimportant things and didn''t talk about their personal lives or about college, it seemed that Zack wanted Jake and William to be comfortable first before broaching them. Jake noticed these things because he was given some skills that made him more sociable, a pity that even those skills didn''t help Jake''s natural shyness much, so it was important for him to have someone like Zack around. In a few more days the classes would officially begin, yet their other roommate hadn''t shown up yet, but Jake knew he would have to come in the next few days, it would be nice if he could be friends with that person as well.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. William was 1.64 m, was white and had black hair and eyes, was 18 years old and was thin with just a little belly, his face was quite common and so he had no girlfriend before college. Zack was 1.72 m, was white and had blond hair like Jake, Zack had blue eyes and was thin too, was uglier than William, Zack was more sociable than both, but also had no girlfriend. The fact that the three had no girlfriend made them sympathetic, it was interesting to see the three walking together, after all, Jake was over 1.93 m, Zack was 1.72 m and William was 1.64 m, so the three had big differences tall and looked quite different walking the streets. William wasn''t very small, but he was a little complex with his height, so Zack played with him, so probably if Zack wasn''t with him he wouldn''t walk with Jake, after all, he looked like a child near Jake. Jake left a message for Coach Guthridge to meet him as soon as he could, after all, Coach Guthridge told Jake to talk to him when he got to university, and Jake wanted to do that a lot more now. After all, he was afraid that he might feel left out of the basketball team if Coach Guthridge didn''t bridge that gap between him and the other players, Jake was sure the coach would be willing to do that. Over the days he got even closer to his two new friends, so he found that William was in the same class as him and would have the same classes at the same times, Jake felt that his luck was helping. So Jake no longer had to look where he would have classes and could only follow William, Jake now had an excellent memory, so after only following William he would remember the way to class and also the schedules and teachers. Jake felt that university classes should be easier than classes at the end of high school, after all in high school classes in recent years there were a lot of subjects to study and some difficulty to learn. But these economics classes and everything related to Jake''s business spent more than 13 years studying the same subject, he read every book he found on this subject when he went back to his 5 years of study. Prior to that, he spent even more time studying with much more advanced study material and a much easier to understand teaching methodology thanks to several video lessons. Jake had not yet met his new dorm buddy and Coach Guthridge before school started, Jake and his dorm mates did not want to get involved with any fraternity if they could in this time of school. Even though Jake wanted to make the most of this new experience of studying at a university and making many friends, a fraternity and parties were not the kind of atmosphere Jake wanted and liked to attend. His roommates thought the same as Jake, so they decided to try to avoid these fraternities or just nominally enter in any case they needed, they didn''t want to participate in any of the activities. For Jake who didn''t even attend his own prom could be imagined how he disliked parties, at business dinners or cocktails where it was only necessary to talk and socialize how was Clara''s party or the hotel where Director Crowe invited Jake, he didn''t mind participating. On the first day Jake went to his class with William and Zack went to his class, Jake found the teacher very normal and also thought that there were too many people in each class that was given, Jake had to sit deeper because even with the layout from the living room he was still very tall and disturbed the classmates behind him. William, who had a tall complex was very happy to see Jake having trouble being tall, but still went to sit next to him in the back, thankfully Jake had good hearing and vision and can usually follow the class in the back. Chapter 253 The University 3 The lessons, as Jake hoped, were very easy for him, and Jake was very pleased because it seemed that as he was deep down no matter what he did the teachers didn''t care about him as long as he didn''t disturb the classes. That way, Jake knew that he would have no problem with the teachers just because he was a scholarship holder, he had already determined that if something like what happened at the Elite school would happen again, he would drop out of school and start paying tuition. He only accepted the scholarship because it was easier to get into university like this and was also indirectly proof of his basketball skills, but if he caused any problems he would not hesitate to start paying university fees. Unfortunately, even though classes only spoke of things he already knew Jake had no interest in reading other books during his classes, after all, Jake had no plans to continue studying after this university. He thought if he could do an MBA at Harvard after a few years, but now he didn''t think about it, Jake definitely wanted to join the NBA after finishing college, in fact, he was wondering which teams he could join the NBA in and what year. By the end of class, he and William had returned to the dorm, they had arranged with Zack to go out for dinner after a few hours, Jake wanted to enjoy before Coach Guthridge appeared to be closer to his friends. When they returned they saw that the other dorm bed was finally occupied, which meant that their last dorm mate had appeared just in time for the first day of school, Zack who arrived later realized that too. "Looks like our fourth dorm roommate has finally arrived, what do you think we wait a while to see if he shows up and so are we 4 going to eat something together?" Jake thought it was a good idea, after all, he was also very happy with the consideration of his roommates when he arrived, so he wanted his new colleague to feel the same, William also agreed with that. Even though their intention was good the reality was not quite so, after waiting for several hours no one had appeared and William wanted to go out to eat soon, so they decided they would not wait anymore and just left the three. When they returned it seemed that no one had arrived the entire time they had left, so they were relieved that they had decided to go out to eat only the back, otherwise they would have been without food for hours. The three slept very early and when they woke up the other day this new roommate seemed to have arrived quietly after they slept and left before they could wake up. "Now I''m really curious to know who our new roommate is, let''s do it like this, when we get back to the dorm we''ll bring food out and so we wait until he comes back, I don''t think he''ll take so many hours to come back today either." Jake and William agreed with Zack''s idea, they were also curious to know who this mysterious new dorm mate was, Jake realized that Coach Guthridge would not show up that day either, so he wanted to discover this mystery. Jake''s second day of class was with a teacher who taught a very interesting class, the subject itself was not so interesting, but the teacher had a good teaching dynamic that made the class more interesting. William thought so too, especially since unlike Jake he had come to university to really learn, and it was not like Jake who already knew everything the teachers said. Jake hoped more classes would be like this, yet knowing the subject he wouldn''t mind listening to the teachers talk for a few hours, after a few hours the classes were over again. Jake and William went to buy food at the place where Zack had shown before, they bought some more food and some drink to share with the new roommate when they arrived at the dorm Zack had already arrived and also seemed to have bought extra food. When they realized this, the three of them laughed that they had the same idea, at least they knew there would be no shortage of food, and after a few hours of waiting the dorm door opened and a tall man entered. Upon entering he was surprised that the three roommates were all looking at him as if they were already expecting him, so he did not know why and also faced the three, so inevitably the mood of the room tensed, realizing that Zack decided to undo any misunderstanding. "Hi, we were just waiting for you to let everyone in the dorm know each other, so we can be more comfortable later, my name is Zack Roberts, the taller blond over there is Jake Smith and the short one is William Thompson." Zack realized that this new roommate didn''t seem to have much of a sense of humor and introduced himself by speaking their full names out of respect, after all, he didn''t want to get in trouble. After introducing the three of them, they waited for the other to introduce themselves, but it seemed that he had no such intention and said nothing and just stared at the three, after a while, he finally spoke unwillingly just to get it over with. "My name is Aaron Williams." After introducing himself he just sat in his seat and picked up a book to ignore Jake and the others, William was annoyed by it, but Jake stopped him when he tried to complain, after all even though they were trying to be friendly, Aaron had no obligation to like them. Jake was also upset because he looked like he couldn''t get another friend, Aaron seemed to be six foot four, he''s black and had a face that looked angry, Aaron was also very strong and had more muscles than Jake. "See Aaron, we were expecting you and we wanted to invite you to dinner with us yesterday, but you came too late, just as we wanted to meet you we all bought more food, if you want to eat with us we have here for you." "I don''t want to eat with you, just leave me alone." So even someone like Zack didn''t know what else to say, but Jake realized that Aaron seemed to have some personal problem, in which case as they were not known it was better to wait for Aaron to solve this problem before trying to talk to him again. Jake just took the food he had brought and started eating, Zack and William saw that they had nothing to wait and started eating, in a few minutes they chatted excitedly while eating. As for now they couldn''t approach Aaron without irritating him, only the three of them talked in the dorm while Aaron always read when he was in the dorm with them, the other day, they had classes normally. Jake saw that Aaron was not in the same class as he and William, after classes on day Jake was coming back with William to wait for Zack to eat together again, but Coach Guthridge seemed to be waiting for him on the way, so Jake said goodbye to William and went to talk to the coach. "Hi Coach Guthridge, how have you been?" "I''m fine, do you seem to have forgotten to talk to me after you got into college?" "That I didn''t want to bother you when I had nothing important to say." "I was joking, congratulations on winning the national championship and MVP prize and also the gold medal in the Olympics, you made things a lot easier for us by making an exception for you." "Thanks, it was a good year for me." "I kept waiting for you to appear on the court a few days ago, yesterday I got your message." "It''s like I said coach, I''m worried that I might have problems with my teammates for getting this exception for sponsorship." "I think you did well to call me before you came, we and we had not thought about it, it shows that you are really worried about the team, I''m happy about it, now come on I''ll introduce you to the players." After a few minutes, they arrived at the Dean Smith Center for Jake''s first training on the team, by the time he arrived on the court they had all arrived at a while and were doing training exercises. Coach Smith also got closer as soon as he saw Jake come, after all, he had never talked to the player in person, the other players also knew Jake through television, after all, they knew that Jake would join the team a few weeks ago. Just as Jake hoped they were really feeling jealous that Jake had sponsors and they weren''t, but they could understand that Jake got it because he was an Olympic medalist. As much as they wanted a sponsorship they knew they would not have the ability to perform well in both basketball and other sports, yet they were still very jealous of Jake who could do that. "Well tube, come over here and listen to me, this is the new player for our team, Jake, some of you should know him, some of you should also know that he got an exception and will get sponsorship even playing on our team." "But this has nothing to do with basketball, he has sponsorship contracts since over 4 years ago, and mainly because he is one of the best athletics athletes in our country, he will not mix his sponsorship contracts with our university." "I was the one who invited Jake to our university with the support of Coach Smith, so Jake wants to make sure that everyone will be teammates and have no disagreements over jealousy." "Coach Smith and I support this attitude, you are all the most talented players in this country, I don''t want a disagreement over money if we realize something like that the perpetrators will be punished." With this warning everyone understood that they should not continue with this subject, after all, no one there had problems with money and even though they thought they were better than Jake in basketball, they knew they could not do Jake does.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Seeing that everything looked good Jake was relieved, so Coach Guthridge introduced all the team players to Jake, Jake was thrilled to see some well-known people like Vince Carter and Shammond Williams among others. Jake was very humble talking to them and everyone accepted him more easily seeing that he was not arrogant even having so many achievements and just coming from high school where he was a star. Chapter 254 The University 4 So he trained normally with his teammates, Jake didn''t know how to mingle with them, Jake wasn''t like Zack and so just did the training normally, in fact in the middle of the training few spoke to respect the coach. Only in the warm-up and when they had mid-range and 3-point shooting training, probably in play training or game simulation, they also talked, but at the beginning of the semester, they only had fitness training. They were in September now and Jake remembered that the first official game was in November, so they had almost 3 months to adjust the team before the first game, Jake knew it was almost impossible for him to be the team owner. So he had to show that he was able to play as a substitute in the games, his biggest rival in the team for a spot was Ed Cota and Shammond Williams if the coach decided to put him as PG. Jake knew that Shammond Williams was one of the coach''s favorite players and a junior who was in his third year on the team, and Jake knew that Vince Carter should be the starting man in SG position, so Jake had to fight to have 10 minutes of play in that first year. What Jake didn''t know was that thanks to Bill Guthridge who had spoken very well of him, in Coach Smith''s view he had the same game opportunity as Ed Cota who was also a Fr, Jake thought he was at a disadvantage because he came from the future and knew what Ed could do. Even so, he was confident that he could lead the Tar Heels to win the NCAA Tournament, which is why he chose this university, and Ed Cota couldn''t do it, even though he was so talented. The hardest fact was that Ed Cota had an incredible record of having made over 1,000 career assists, even though Jake had the confidence to do the same he thought he couldn''t unless he played all four years at university. Jake had more confidence in the steals record made in university time, only in his triple-double records in high school had he almost broken that record, and that was less than 30 games, with over 100 games he would do much more than that. At first, Jake wanted to beat all records in-game statistics in his time at university, after a while, he realized that it would be difficult for him to get a place in the team, let alone try to break the records. Not to mention that for Jake it was much more important to win than to try to break some kind of record, so if he could win the NCAA Tournament he wouldn''t mind coming in as a substitute for the games of the season. After training Jake considered talking to some of his teammates and idols, but the other players seemed to be ignoring him, so Jake realized that his teammates had not yet accepted the special treatment Jake was receiving.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Even if they didn''t try to cause any confusion or problems because of the coach''s order they could still just ignore him. So Jake gave up trying to find someone to talk to in the early days when he showed his skills he believed he could receive acceptance from his teammates. Jake returned to his room again to talk to his friends, his car had already arrived in the city and Jake left the car at the university, but as they only went to nearby places he did not use the car normally. In the early weeks, Jake was trying to get closer to his friends, because after a few more days he would have to resume his normal training routine when he resumed training he would not have so much time to talk to his friends. In a few more weeks Jake would have to go to Chicago to run the major marathon again, even though he could no longer gain statistics even if he won the race it was important to try to win out of respect where he won the first marathon. Even though Jake was overflowing with confidence after winning the marathon at the Olympics he couldn''t relax and stop training, the reason Jake became more relaxed was the great system reward he received. Jake can''t check in until a few days after winning the Olympics, but this gold medal had increased all his physical stats by 2 points! Jake didn''t really expect that he could get such an incredible reward, the system said the Olympics were the most important competition for any athlete and far more important than a major marathon, so it was normal that he could get it. So Jake understood that this was really the case, and after this reward on every unpublished gold medal he could get at the Olympics, he would earn an additional 1 point on each physical stat as a bonus. This made Jake much more excited and determined to continue his plan to participate in a number of different competitions at the Olympics so that he could get 10 more points from each physical stat in the next competitions. It also temporarily solved Jake''s problem to try to earn more points in the strength stat, the other training would have no effect on Jake after winning in New York. He was now 36 points in agility and 39 points in Resistance, so Jake who wanted to earn 1 more Resistance point to improve his training could not be happier to have gained 2 more points. Now he finally had the confidence to increase the intensity of his physical training to improve his marathon race time, after all, he had gained 3 points in Resistance since the last time he failed and ended up with an injury because of it. Now he has more confidence that he could run 10 km in 29 minutes and 10 seconds, so he could finish a marathon in less than 2 hours and 3 minutes, it might not seem like much of a difference, but that could guarantee Jake the world record for a few years. If he could do that now he could surely win the next major marathons and earn more Resistance and agility points and further improve his running time. Even though Jake was thinking of getting a new coach quickly for him this year, it would be difficult for him to get one, after all, he had to improve his basketball skills a lot and secure a starting position on the team. So he had to show dedication to training and was also planning to get closer to his new friends, next year he was thinking of competing in several major marathons so he could start with a new coach next year. The other day Jake took classes normally with William and then did his training normally with the basketball team, even though in the trainings they were doing you couldn''t know for sure the skills of the players could all see that Jake was very talented. Jake can also shake off his prejudices and realize that in fact, this college basketball training could improve his slowly improving skills with just the games in the imagination training space. It was several times higher than his high school training, Jake should have realized that one of the best college basketball teams that had Michael Jordan playing for them should have the best training. So Jake could train with real enthusiasm knowing that he could improve the rank of his skills, the coaches and players of the team also realized that Jake was training much more willingly than his teammates. Coach Guthridge was delighted to see that Jake was really the person he was looking for to help the team win again, Coach Dean Smith was also pleased to see that Jake was training hard. The other players saw the coaches impressed with Jake''s performance and also began to train more willingly not to lose to the new player, they did not know that this just made the coaches even more satisfied with Jake who encouraged his teammates. After training, Jake got a call from Emily informing him that the property he wanted to buy for the company in Silicon Valley in Palo Alto had been bought, and the three he had hired began to develop the technology and product Jake wanted for the patent. That made him very pleased, Jake was thinking he was lucky to have someone like Emily as his assistant because even though she was an assistant, Emily was the lawyer for Jake, president of his hundred-million-dollar investment firm even his representative sometimes. He''d been very smart to keep paying Emily in the early years even though he didn''t need her much at the time, Jake was also glad Emily had been with him for all these years. In the next few years, Jake would have to do several things and need her even more, so he decided that he would give Emily 1 percent of the profit the company would make would let Emily stay in the company for many years beyond her very high salary this year. Of course, it was still far from what big CEOs earn around the world, but at the moment not even Jake gets that much, and the investment firm doesn''t produce or sell anything, just invests, so she can make more with 1 by percent after they receive it. Not to mention that all of the company''s investments are driven by Jake and not Emily, so he who has the merit for the shares being valued and the investments multiplying, Emily understood that too, so she didn''t mind working as Jake''s assistant even now. Over the next few days the training routines were still the same and Jake was still attending classes and going out with William and Zack every day, sometimes a week Jake would also call his mom to tell her how things were going at university. It seemed like Jake''s life was finally going back to routine and he liked how things were, the only thing he missed was his mother and his friends in Miami, but Jake knew nothing could be done about it. Chapter 255 The University 5 After another day of classes and training with the basketball team, Jake returned to the dorm again, after Jake started training for the basketball team no one asked him what he was doing and they always expected him to come back for dinner together. The good part of the universities was that you could set up your daily schedule, Jake wanted a full training and so did a lot more classes and fit perfectly into the training time and coincided with having the same schedules as William. As classes were easy for Jake he intended in the future maybe the graduate and maybe more in the future, so he would make his mother more proud, that day when they went out to dinner Zack started talking what he was thinking a few days ago. "I think we''re already friends after spending so much time together before I decided we wouldn''t talk about personal matters to make you more comfortable but to be true friends we have to get to know each other better." "Of course one can choose what to say and what to keep to oneself, as I suggested it I''ll talk about myself first." "I was born in this very state of North Carolina, my family lived in a city not far from here, so I could come to university and that city first to know the best places to eat and where to go." "I have a living father and mother and they live in the city where I lived since it''s near here, I have a brother who is a year older than me and studies at this university since last year." "I''m doing this university just because my parents want it, I like to run sometimes, but just for fun." Zack was very honest and talked about almost everything in his life, so he left Jake and William in a situation that they had better say as much as they could to share so they wouldn''t look bad, it was William who spoke later. "I came from New York and wanted to study here because I''m a fan of Michael Jordan, I have a living father and mother and I have a little sister named Lili, I came to study here because I want to be a great businessman one day and make millions on the stock market. of values ??when I get back home." William talked less about him, but said things necessary for Jake and Zack to know a little more about his life, after the two of them it was Jake''s turn to talk more about his life, Jake was probably the one who had more to talk about and decided to talk only about things that people already knew. "I''m from Miami, I just have my mom with me named Eva, I''m on the basketball team here at school and I also run marathons professionally." "I came to this university to fulfill my mother''s dream to see me graduate from a university and also from the basketball team she has at that university and also to gain more knowledge about business and economics." The two just looked at Jake and said nothing, Jake knew they didn''t believe him, but it was the truth so he was calm about it, in time they would know everything anyway. "So you were going to basketball training after school every day, I confess I didn''t expect it, it''s normal for some people to come to that college for basketball." "Me and William here are also basketball fans and with your height, you can really get a spot, but what do you mean by running marathons professionally? I ran some marathons too, I didn''t finish, but I ran." "I say I''m a pro because I won a major marathon in Chicago last year, I came second in the New York marathon and got the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics that year." Zack was trying to make Jake''s statement more real by slightly diminishing what he said he was doing, but after what Jake said about his achievements as a pro he couldn''t say anything anymore. "Actually, I didn''t expect it to be so hard for you to believe that, didn''t you watch the Olympics this year?" In fact, neither of them had attended the Olympics this year, William was busy organizing things to come to college and never really enjoyed watching sports competitions like basketball and football and baseball. Zack hadn''t attended for the same reason as William, he sometimes came to the university to get to know the campus and the city and not feel lost when classes started, so he didn''t have time for that. Even though Jake was famous on television, it was only when he was in a competition or on a television show that no one watched the marathons or knew about Jake. Maybe some with better memories might recognize Jake because of the television commercials or the Olympic broadcast, but usually, people didn''t expect to see someone on television right in front and think it''s just like. Zack and William then had to believe that Jake was telling the truth, even if they didn''t quite believe that being on the basketball team was easier to believe and confirm. "If you''re a professional marathon competitor, why did you decide to join our university''s basketball team?" "I got a sports scholarship for being a two-time national basketball and high school MVP champion, and as I intend to become a pro in the NBA I chose a school with one of the best teams to win." That was another surprise for Zack and William, they thought Jake had signed up for the basketball team after entering college and because of the height and some basketball skills he had joined the team. They thought Jake wouldn''t even play on the basketball team and were just saying that because it was cool to be on the UNC basketball team even without playing any games, but it looked like Jake was chosen by the university for the team and would definitely play in the games. After a while they recover, it was better to believe him first and then if they found out it was a lie they would walk away from him, in fact, the most shocked was William who had come to university because of Michael Jordan and for being a basketball fan. They both thought Zack was very clever in deciding not to talk about his personal life when they first met, otherwise it would be hard for them to talk to Jake normally after learning that he was famous. Seeing how they reacted Jake thought it best not to comment that he had a few million dollars in investments and that he was being sponsored, otherwise it would be harder for them to believe him, the fact that he was an actor would also be discovered when the movie was released at the end of the year. After that, they really got a lot more comfortable talking about some more personal matters, Zack was always the one who led the conversation telling funny stories about his family and his brother. He seemed to be very close to his brother and very fond of him and was upset because his brother said it was better that they didn''t talk much inside the university, because his brother was tired of Zack always being the center of attention and stealing your friends. Jake might understand a little how Zack''s brother felt, but as Zack''s friend, Jake found Zack''s personality very pleasant, they always avoided talking about Aaron in the back, even though William didn''t like to be ignored he didn''t comment either about this. Jake thought it was cool that his friends had this attitude of not talking behind Aaron''s back, about his brothers they talked a lot, so Jake listened more than talked about how he had no brothers or many friends before. Jake sometimes observed his roommate, he had realized before that his roommate seemed to be having some kind of problem, not having too much proximity between them Jake decided not to intrude. After a few days, Jake realized that Aaron seemed to have solved some of his problems and was more relaxed in the dorm, so Jake thought about telling Zack that soon so they would try again to be friends with Aaron. The other day Jake also realized that his teammates were gradually accepting him, they no longer ignored Jake and did not exclude him from conversations, everyone was training harder because Jake began to show enthusiasm in training. Only after a few days when they realized that Jake never got tired of all the heavy training and they got exhausted at the end of the day, did they remember that Jake was someone who had a marathon gold medal in the Olympics. It was obvious that Jake had a lot more energy and stamina than all the players on the court, but they couldn''t talk to the coach who wanted the training to be lighter so they wouldn''t be embarrassed. So they decided to send Charlie McNairy who was the senior of the team and didn''t have so much trouble with Jake being the only one with sponsorship, so Charlie accepted that and went to talk to Jake after training because he didn''t want to have to train harder. Hi Jake, I''m Charlie McNairy, I''m a senior in college, do you mind if we talk a little bit about a diner near here?" "OK let''s go." Jake was very happy to finally have someone from the basketball team to talk to him, he needed to get in touch and befriend his teammates quickly to have a better chance to play and also have a better time at university. After they changed everyone left and Jake and Charlie went to the diner, the other players knew Charlie well and knew that he could settle the matter quietly, then they came to a diner that Jake didn''t know and Charlie as senior made the orders and paid to himself that Jake didn''t have to. "So Jake, what do you think about university so far?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "I''m really enjoying this place, I always thought about this university very well because I''m a big fan of Michael Jordan after I came here I really liked the university environment, I also made a lot of friends in my dorm." "Glad to hear it, you''ll like the university even more in the next few years, what did you think of the basketball team?" Chapter 256 The University 6 "I really liked the coaches, Coach Guthridge who invited me to come here and I also respect Coach Dean Smith a lot even though I didn''t talk to him." Jake avoided talking about the players because it would be weird no matter what he said because of the current situation he was in after all he knew he was being ignored and excluded from the team because of sponsorship. But they also had a lot of respect and were even a fan of some players like Vince Carter, so if he spoke badly it would be normal for the situation he was in and Charlie would not enjoy listening, and if he spoke well as he thought it would look like he was just being fake. Luckily Charlie understood Jake''s dilemma and didn''t press the issue anymore, after all, he knew the team wasn''t doing something right either and luckily everyone had already forgotten about it. "I know we haven''t been very nice to you these past few days, but some of you really get upset about this injustice in the NCAA and have come to discount you having nothing to do with it." "I apologize for my colleagues and I will talk to them so we can all be friends and play together." "Alright, I understand, I would probably do the same as you if I were in the same situation." "It''s good that you understand something else I wanted to talk to you about was training, we know you have almost infinite stamina and can play basketball and then run a marathon later." "But the rest of the team can''t keep up with your training pace, we are finding the training very difficult right now and I ask you at least not to increase the training load." Jake understood what Charlie said, he didn''t expect the other players to try to follow his training, he was just excited because he found that training could help him improve his skills. In his past life, he often saw that the top performers did a separate team training and stronger because they could take it longer, so Jake thought he could do the same, but now he understood that he had better stop. "I understand Charlie, I won''t do so much in training anymore, I can make my individual training later heavier." Charlie was delighted to see that Jake was very understanding and didn''t really seem arrogant like other players who don''t have humility. Even though sometimes the hierarchy was not highly respected at the university, those who respected it were appreciated by the more traditional ones like Charlie, so even if the other players didn''t talk to Jake during training he would do that. Charlie wanted to keep talking to Jake, but he had to talk to the other players that everything had gone well and he also wanted to give Jake some space, so the two broke up and Jake returned to the dorm. Jake was delighted to know that his team situation would improve after this conversation, even if he understood the indignation of his teammates he was not happy to be treated unfairly. He arrived at the dorm and was reprimanded by Zack and William who had been waiting for him, Jake had not warned that he had gone to the cafeteria with Charlie after he left training, it was difficult for Jake to get used to having people waiting for him in a place that was not at home. And so the days went by normally, Jake had gotten used to his class routine and fortunately liked most teachers, so even if he didn''t have much to learn he wouldn''t be bored at all. Jake at this university was thinking of doing the reverse of what he did in high school, he would do his best in every game so that he could improve his skills quickly and gain recognition when he joined the NBA. But in class he would try not to look so smart and stand out so much, he would help William and his friends in the dorm and just do enough to get the best grade in the room and get a degree. In training, the players no longer ignored Jake and even talked and joked with him, but no one approached him as Charlie did, only Charlie still talked to Jake several times and even called his other friends to get Jake into the team faster. Coach Smith was watching everything going on in the team, he was someone who valued the team''s unity and rapport to win the games, he believed it was better to have a team-playing game than someone who was like Michael Jordan in skill and didn''t know how to play in a team. So he still wouldn''t let Jake play if the situation continued as he was right now knowing it wasn''t Jake''s fault, of course, he intended to step in and demand that the players be jealous and accept Jake. But seeing how things were now he realized that the situation was improving and soon would be quiet, so Jake was a player that Coach Smith thought to give game opportunities. After all the team had recovered form and was ready to begin play training because Jake encouraged other players to train harder, the players themselves did not realize, but ignoring Jake they were already starting to respect him. So Coach Smith thought Jake just had to perform well in a game in order to gain acceptance from all of his teammates and fully engage with the team. As for Jake''s ability Coach, Smith was already convinced of that, he seemed to have a lot more hits in mid-range shots and 3 point shots, Jake also missed no Free Throw in training, this shows how good he is offensive. He also realized that Jake had a lot of ability to pass his teammates and control Jake''s ball, so his dribbling must be very good, as they had not done play training the coach didn''t know if Jake was well in defense either. The coach needed more than one player who could play both defensively as well as set up and score points, with Jake''s steal statistics that was so high for any player he was probably the player Coach Smith needed. The team had a lot of talents, veteran Center Serge Zwikker, a player who was good at both attacking and defending and catching rebounds with Antawn Jamison, was skilled but had no prominence in either defense or attack, just played well. Shammond Williams was the highlight of the team and very good offensively, scored several points and still helped in the defense doing the basics, helped with assists too, but did not show their full potential in games. Antawn Jamison was another big highlight on the team, the one who got the most rebounds and scored the most points in the games was very good at offense and helped in defense as well. Vince Carter was good at both offense and defense, was a very important player for the team this year, helped by scoring a lot of points, rebounds, and assists, another important player for the team.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Ed Cota was a player that Coach Smith thought very well and would be a key player if Jake didn''t have the team, so Jake was the outstanding player the team needed to win. The only question was how he could play in college basketball if he kept an average of over 35 points per game and 13 assists the team would already enter as a favorite to win the NCAA Tournament. Not to mention the average 7.1 steals per game Jake had in his senior year of high school and the average of 8.7 he had in all of high school, even if Jake did half of that on the Tar Heels team would be the enough for them to fight for titles. Jake didn''t know that Coach Smith trusted him so much even though he never came to talk to him, but even without that confidence, Jake was thinking of winning every game he could and winning the NCAA this year. The truth was that Jake had already decided to finish this university ahead of time, he wanted to get into the NBA and earn as many titles as he could, after all, he just wanted to earn playing at the university and have a degree to show his mother. It didn''t matter that Jake spent four years in college, so every year it mattered for Jake to be able to earn as many titles as he could and also to beat every record he could, he wanted to enter the NBA as a bigger star than LeBron James would be. In over 7 years he wanted to become the highest-paid athlete in the NBA and have several titles to get a better deal with the shoe companies, so he had to play the best he could. Even though Jake wasn''t so confident in his overall ability to be better than the others, he had to dominate all of his opponents with his physical stats, with those 2 points in all statistics he earned as a reward for the Olympic gold medal He was more confident. Jake was sure his statics were the same as many top-level NBA athletes and second only to the biggest stars, but next year after winning a few major marathons he would have more stats than anyone in the NBA for agility and endurance. So by next year, he was sure to dominate all his opponents at the university that was a level below the NBA, in fact even at high school Jake had games that made the most of his skills. But he never made the most of his stats for fear of hurting his opponents, he held on too tightly to contests and didn''t come close to using his agility to the fullest, so this year his agility would be even higher he would show what speed was to your opponents. He was already doing several tests in his imagination training space, in this space even with opponents a skill rank above him, Jake could still pass all easily, it was a pity that he would not do so many 3-point moves. In addition, Jake was prepared for tougher games where opponents would not hesitate to make fouls to stop play, it is in these plays that Jake will be able to show his physical superiority and get 3 or 4 point play after suffering a foul. Chapter 257 The University 7 After spending two weeks at university Jake finally decided to return to marathon running training, he had already completely adapted to the new university routine and the mood with the basketball team was very good. By that day Jake would be changing the way he normally trained, his system-strengthened body could be saying that Jake had a huge advantage over other athletes, his physical statistics being distributed to every muscle in his body. So Jake didn''t need to do any specific weight training, while his statistics improved he would be better than others who spend hours at the gym doing various types of training. For long-distance races such as the marathon, Jake has always used Agility and Resistance statistics more often, but in short distances, he would need more agility and strength statistics.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After all, strength was what would generate the initial momentum when he competed in the 100 meters, for example, of course, all statistics were important for a race, but some were more important than others. Also, the more strength the muscles usually have the athlete loses flexibility and elasticity of the muscles to make the movements easier, this was a problem that Jake would never have, so he could compete for both short and long-distance . The problem for Jake was that sprinting required a lot more technique than sprinting, so Jake wasn''t so confident of achieving it in a few years. With a coach, Jake could improve his technique, but he would not have much time to devote to training, so Jake could count on competing in these short distance competitions in another 8 years, not the next Olympics. In eight years, Jake would have had time to learn how to master general racing-related athletics, by which time he too would probably have accomplished a lot in the NBA and the business world. At that time Jake could spend a lot more time thinking about the medals, of course, that''s just the most optimistic scenario Jake had for the future, yet he thought that with much training was a viable goal. Jake''s current training would be pretty much the same, the difference being that he wouldn''t run 60 km a day anymore, but would only run 45 km a day, but with a faster running time when he got used to the new riding time race, he could increase the overall speed. Jake knew he could because he had run at a close time last year before the New York Marathon and now he has had 3 points more stamina and agility since that time, so Jake had a lot more confidence. Jake no longer had to run 60km because his body''s physical fitness through the system had already registered his peak state, so unless he got injured he didn''t need to redo that training. The reason Jake continued with this training was to increase Resistance and Stamina, but after increasing so much and continuing to increase when he gained more stat points would become temporarily useless training. So better if he tried to improve his running time, Jake preferred to rent an athletic field from a gym that was unused for his university training. When he was in high school as the Elite school did not have a good athletic team the athletic field was little used and few knew that Jake was a marathon runner at the time he was training. So few people tried to bother Jake in his training, but after winning the Olympics and at the UNC who had a strong track and field team he didn''t want to risk training at the UNC track and field. In the first 10 km of running Jake felt no problem increasing his running speed at a faster pace, he made that 10 km in 50 seconds less than normal, which gave 5 seconds per km less running time. When Jake reached the 30km race he was surprised to feel that he was not tired yet, he was surprised to realize that these 2 stat points he earned in Resistance and agility greatly improved his race. It was the first time he had run after winning the gold medal in the Olympics, and it had been almost a year since he had been trying to train at a faster running speed, yet he was surprised how easy it was. Jake continued his run and easily passed the 45 km, Jake was much more tired now, but he knew he could keep running, so Jake decided to complete the 50 km as he used to train so he wouldn''t lose his running pace. When he finished the 50 km he felt much more tired, Jake felt that he could continue running, but would not finish the 60 km as he did before, yet he was surprised at how easily he ran that speed. Normally this would be reasonable considering that Jake always ran 60 km every day and had gained 2 statistic points since the last time he was training his 60 km. But one must consider that increasing one second per km could be a huge challenge for any top runner, and Jake did much more than that and cut his running time per km by 5 seconds. Without getting those two statistics points, Jake would probably complete the under 43 km with great difficulty and risk even getting injured, after the New York Marathon his time was much longer than that. Before New York, he trained running 10 km in 29 minutes and 20 seconds which was 10 seconds slower than he did now, with time taking 4 seconds for 1 km he couldn''t stand the pace of the marathon race and got injured. Of course, a lot of it also had to do with the fact that Jake was having a little psychological problem at the time, yet it was a time that was hardening Jake''s muscles at the time. But 1 year after that he had achieved several Resistance and agility points and was trying a faster time than this in the marathon, in today''s race he made a time of just under 2 hours and 3 minutes at 42 km. With that time Jake could break the world record in many world competitions, only after 20 years would anyone be able to run below that time, in another 20 years Jake would probably approach 70 in statistics and would have run below 2 hours long. Jake felt that he could shorten his running time even further, so he decided to further shorten his running time the next day, Jake wanted to find out what his running speed limit was in training. That''s because Jake needed to decrease daily running training time and be more productive, Jake spent more than 4 hours on his training before running the 60km every day and with warm-up exercises. Aside from being a long, hard training that tired him both physically and mentally, after all, Jake still had training with the basketball team and classes every day, so at university, he couldn''t go on like this. After all, his training with the basketball team was very intense now and Jake still had classes and wanted to spend some time with his friends, a useless training of more than 4 hours was not acceptable to Jake now. Before the Olympics, Jake was still unsure of his performance and so did this safety training, but now Jake was even better than a few months ago when he won the gold medal and also had more confidence. By decreasing the running time and increasing the speed he could do more necessary training and also decrease the daily time he spent running, he could finish in less than 3 hours all his training. In addition, Jake had already stopped doing his personal bodybuilding training, so he would spend just over 5 hours training with the basketball team training, which was an acceptable time for Jake at the moment. Jake would have to do his marathon training every morning in the morning to have more time in the day, with his stronger body thanks to the system he could sleep a few hours a day and get enough rest. So Jake would wake up shortly after 4 am to run and after training takes a shower and change his clothes to go to the morning classes, then later he would do the training with the basketball team and go back to the dorm to talk with his friends and dinner. With this routine Jake could enjoy the whole day and still rest as long as he had classes at university before training the basketball team, he found that it was good to have this rest, but could not do with his schedule before. In-game days with the basketball team Jake would not do his running training, after all, sometimes the games would be in other states or cities, and also he could rest more for the games. The other day Jake came back in the morning to do the training, he would try to take another 1 second for 1 km and so would run in 2 minutes and 54 seconds for 1 km, in 10 km he could take 1 minute of his time at the Olympics. So he would take 4 minutes and 12 seconds out of the 42km marathon and finish in just over 2 hours, 2 minutes and 20 seconds, it would be harder for him to achieve, but if he could, he could keep up for a few more years until getting more Resistance and agility stat points. So Jake began training, in the first 20 km he ran without tiring almost the same as the day before, but after 30 km he began to feel the tiredness that his slightly faster speed caused. After completing the 43 km Jake was feeling much more tired than the day before and had to work harder to continue when he completed the 50 km Jake was breathless and very tired as he did not feel for a long time. So Jake finally figured out what his running speed limit was, he felt he couldn''t run faster than that and still make sure he completed the race or worse could get injured. Chapter 258 The University 8 Having discovered the limit that he could run in training Jake was motivated again to do his training, in a few more weeks he would have the Chicago marathon to run and ensure his fitness by then. Their training on the basketball team was going well and they would start in a few days doing the play drills and game simulations to decide the holders for the new basketball team season. With that decided everyone was very anxious and just Jake didn''t expect much of it, he knew he probably wouldn''t be the starter and wanted to secure the spot during the games this season, yet he would still train as hard as the others. The only problem with that was that he couldn''t get any closer to his teammates at this time, who would be tense with position disputes, after training Charlie stopped to talk to him. Charlie was closer to Jake than the others on the team, and he didn''t want to run for the starting lineup either because he was aware that he wasn''t as skilled as his teammates. "Hey Jake, do you think you''re going to get a starting position on the team?" "I don''t think so far, I have this problem with the team and Coach Smith wouldn''t risk putting me on the team in this situation, not to mention that Ed Cota and Shammond Williams could play in the same position as me." Charlie was surprised that Jake wasn''t expecting to become the starter at the beginning of the season like the others, it shows that he was more mature than the others and knew to wait for the right opportunity. "Even if you can''t play on the team starting the game, for now, you will be able to do it in the future with your skill, and even though it doesn''t seem like it now everyone was very grateful that you slowed down your training, so you''ll be fully integrated with the team." Charlie knew that Jake could have a much better chance of joining the starting lineup early in the season if he showed far better performance than others in training, but that would make the team players even farther away from him. After all, it was as if Jake was a supermarket owner who started his business in a city with several supermarkets that all had the same quality products and started selling much cheaper than his competitors. Customers would be very happy and start buying more at their supermarket, but competitors would be dissatisfied with unfair competition and would do their best to affect Jake''s supermarket sales. Jake knew this and was confident of getting a place in the starting lineup without having to cause problems to his teammates, he knew that his skills would stand out in the games, that was the difference between a talented team star and a star who He was a problem player. When Jake returned to his dorm Zack and William were waiting for him again, they went out to eat and left Aaron who was reading behind, Zack and William didn''t want any problems and so they learned to ignore Aaron because they didn''t want to bother their roommate. Only Jake thought differently and intended to talk to Aaron when he had another opportunity, Jake had realized that Aaron seemed to have overcome his problems and seemed to be shy and had no courage to start a conversation with either of them. After all, Aaron knew that despite having problems he had been rude to his roommates who just wanted to be kind, now he didn''t seem to know how to apologize. At the restaurant where they ate William and Zack were talking while Jake was distracted thinking about several things he had to do in the coming weeks, so Zack saw Jake distracted and started talking to him. "Jake, where have you been going early in the morning?" "I already told you to stop being nosy like that, Zack, if he doesn''t want to talk about it leave Jake alone." "No problem, William, it was no secret at all, I''m leaving in the morning to do my running training for the next marathon in a few weeks." After they talked about themselves in the conversation William and Zack asked several people and were able to confirm that Jake had indeed won the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics, they also confirmed that Jake was on the college basketball team. They couldn''t confirm if Jake really was that good at high school or if he really had won a marathon in Chicago and came second in New York, but they figured Jake wouldn''t have to lie about that. "Which marathon will you compete in?" "In Chicago, I won my first marathon there last year, I want to run there again." They were both impressed that Jake spoke so calmly about doing something amazing like winning a marathon with the best runners in the world, they weren''t used to Jake''s humility yet. "Can I run with you too, Jake?" "You can come, Zack, but we won''t be able to run together because you can''t keep up with my training pace, you can run at your pace." "I understand, so I''ll come with you on some days of the week to run." Jake knew that Zack was very fond of running, but his training was at a very high pace of running speed, not even other professionals could keep up, Zack might want to try training an Olympic champion to improve his race. Unfortunately Jake did not have very effective training, he was different from other athletes and just used the system to take advantage of others, after all his training could not be done without him having such high statistics and the system to recover his body. Still, he couldn''t just say no to his friend, not to mention that his ineffective training was better than no training for an amateur like Zack, if Zack ran every day with Jake even at a slower pace he could easily complete one. marathon in a few months. Since Zack wasn''t a pro, just completing a marathon could make him happy, not to mention that Zack had tried a few marathons before, even though he hadn''t completed one was a good experience. William was a little unhappy because he would be left out, but he didn''t want to do any kind of sport so he couldn''t complain, Jake could talk to William about business too and Zack didn''t bother with that. Of course Jake didn''t tell him about the investments he had, after all, he knew William for a short time and couldn''t talk about such important things, not even Joseph knew about all of Jake''s investments. The next day Jake and Zack were in the morning to run, Jake was surprised how excited Zack was even having to wake up at 4 am, so he was determined to help his friend get better. "Zack, like I said we can''t do the same kind of training, so first let''s understand your limits, take this time and run 10 laps on this track so we can see how you are doing your race, do your best."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Jake always trained on a race track with official dimensions, the track was 400 meters so 10 laps would be 4 km, as Zack intended to run a marathon of over 42 km he deduced that 4 km would be easy for him. Unfortunately, he could not pay attention to Zack and would have to finish his normal run before knowing how his friend had fared, not to be discouraged Zack Jake started running first so Zack would make no comparison. After almost 3 hours Jake finished the race and was very tired again, he had realized that Zack was lying down while Jake ran so he went to talk to his friend. "How was Zack?" "I''m very impressed with the crazy training you make you have run for 3 hours at a very strong running speed, so you did more than one marathon in your training?" Zack was no quarrel on the marathon issue, so he recognized how fast Jake''s running speed was, so by the time Jake ran he deduced that Jake had run at least 40km. "Yes, I run like this every day, sometimes I can''t train for some reason, but most of the time this is my training." "I had never heard of any pro training like that, and you still do training with the basketball team later, isn''t that dangerous? Aren''t you afraid of over-straining your body and getting injured?" "I know my body well and I know I can handle this training, not to mention that this is the only way I can guarantee that I can win a marathon." "I thought you were lucky to have talent winning at the Olympics and still playing basketball, but after today I see that you deserve to win with all this training." "Thanks for acknowledging, but you haven''t said yet how your race time was." "I thought you would forget if I complimented you, I couldn''t run the 4 km, I''m out of shape because I haven''t been training for a while, I only completed 8 laps on the track and this is my time." Jake was surprised by this but didn''t show it, even though he was out of shape he should be able to run at least 4 km unless he didn''t train for years and was overweight. Not to mention that his running time was horrible, he ran for almost 9 minutes by 1 km, if he competed in the marathon even if he could finish he would take almost 7 hours to finish the marathon. "So we have to change this training, Zack, you''re going to run with me 2 km a day every day, and in the afternoon while I''m training with the basketball team you have to go to the gym to do a treadmill and weightlifting to recover your physical form." Hearing Jake says that he Zack regretted asking to train with him, a few months ago that he did not train at all and even when he trained it was just a light training. But Zack didn''t have the heart to quit now, because he really liked to run and would be embarrassed to quit even though he knew that Jake did so much training every day, at least a little training he should be able to do. Jake didn''t know he had inspired his friend to train, he thought this training was too light and it was only for a few weeks until Zack was back in shape, he didn''t think this was the heaviest training Zack had ever done. Chapter 259 Starting the Season for Sports 1 For the next few days, Zack followed Jake''s training routine and got tired every day, seeing that William was no longer jealous of Zack and didn''t want to talk about it with Jake anymore. In fact, William was surprised by this, it was obvious that Jake did much stronger training than Zack, but Jake arrived well every day in the dorm and didn''t even look tired and Zack looked exhausted every day. After a day of training, Jake got a call from John, it seemed that his sponsoring company representative wanted to talk to Jake, Tiffany and Clara were busy with the company as they were the president and so John was assigned to talk to Jake about the marathons. John had come to Chapel Hill to talk to Jake and so Jake went to the dorm to warn his friends that he could not dine with them and went to talk to John, after a few hours Jake finally arrived at the restaurant where John was waiting. "Hi John, how have you been?" "Very well, thanks to you, our sales this year promise to break our previous record for a long time, after that commercial and the Olympics your media exposure has further helped our company sell more." After seeing the sales reports, the directors of John''s company were delighted to renew their sponsorship with Jake, while Jake was at university they could earn a lot from Jake while he was at university. In fact, they tried to pay Jake a higher amount of sponsorship by thinking of gaining his trust and perhaps getting a sponsorship contract renewal when Jake joined the NBA. After all Jake was now a college athlete which would be worth a lot of sponsorship only if he could wear something of the brand in uniform, and a marathon athlete wouldn''t be worth as much as they were paying, just because Jake did the two sports worth the sponsorship. But after seeing the increase in sales they no longer thought so and we''re glad they could renew sponsorship, a contract of more than $ 5 million over 5 years was a high-end contract even for professional athletes. They also knew that Jake had a $ 13 million sponsorship-only contract in 3 years if they counted all 4 sponsors, yet all of Jake''s sponsors would be willing to renew this sponsorship. "So Jake, we got an invitation from the Chicago Marathon organization to compete there this year, so I wonder if you plan to be there in the coming weeks?" "I''m going to participate yes, I already organized a regular registration, I didn''t think I needed anything like this." "You won last year and got a gold medal in the Olympics, so it''s normal for them to want you to participate in the marathon this year." "You can count on me, talk to Tiffany so you guys share ads in this year''s marathon, will you be there?" "Yes, I will be there, I will organize everything personally, if you need a registration for a marathon you can talk to me too, do you want to participate in any more this year?" "Yes, I will participate in New York too, this year I will win." John was glad to hear that Jake was still competing in two more marathons this year, which was best for his company, of course, it would be nice only if Jake had the intention to win, otherwise he would lose the spotlight he won at the Olympics. After that Jake and John talked for a while longer before John left, fortunately in a short period of time John and Alan didn''t plan on doing another sponsorship commercial, because they spent so much this year on advertising. As they thought it would be the last year of sponsorship with Jake the company spent a lot on the commercial earlier this year, thanks to Jake''s advice they were able to save a little and spend less on producing the commercial. Of course, they had an excellent return on that investment, but they didn''t plan on doing another commercial next year, maybe another 2 years in the last year of their contract with Jake they thought of doing that. In the next few days, things were going well for Jake, the team started doing the full training preparing for the first game in November, as the play drills started so everyone could see more of Jake''s skills. The most remarkable fact was that Jake did not miss a pass in training, even though not knowing well the style of play of his colleagues Jake could still read the moves well and be without any mistakes. Coach Smith could see that it was Jake''s experience that allowed him to play so well without knowing his teammates'' playing style, but it was impossible for Jake to have much more experience than his teammates who also played every game in high school. Not to mention that Coach Smith learned that Jake had been left out of the team in the first two years of high school, so it was normal for Jake to have less experience than his teammates, only Ed Cota had a similar skill to Jake and also missed a few passes. Jake had a lot of advantage over his teammates because he played over 1200 games in his imagination training space, it was very difficult for anyone to get over it, in saying that now that Jake was used to it he could train twice a day in his imagination training. This gave Jake more than 700 games a year of experience, it was essential for him in his quest to become the best NBA player, in fact, Jake already thought he was improving very slowly with all the training resources he had. Of course, the reason for this was that Jake wanted to split his training to play in all positions, so it would take him 5 times as long to have experience in all positions, which was what made Jake give the best passes knowing all the positions on the court. With that Jake got even more respect from his new teammates, they realized that maybe Jake was better than them in some parts of basketball, after training Vince Carter came to talk to Jake. "Hi Jake, I thought you played very well today, maybe you could become a team owner if you kept playing like that." "Thanks, Vince, coming from you is a big compliment, I think you play very well too, will be one of the highlights of our team this year." "I would rather win than be recognized, if we could win the ACC Tournament in a few months I would be very pleased if we win the NCAA Tournament I will be even happier." "I agree with you, I came to UNC because I believe we can win this year, the NCAA Tournament is a little harder, but I think we can win with more effort." Vince had hoped to win these Tournaments, but Jake knew they would win the ACC Tournament and reach the final four of the NCAA Tournament, with Jake on the team he thought they could win these two games and be champion. They talked some more and then broke up. Jake was happy to talk to an idol he had in his past life, he was already thinking about how he could ask for an autograph from Vince Carter as if it were a joke. Jake called his mother after training to tell the good news, Jake talked to Eva whenever he could and Eva was very happy whenever she knew Jake was fine and making more friends at the university. In high school, besides Joseph and the basketball team players Jake did not have many friends and even among the basketball team players, only a few were actually more friends of Jake. So Eva hoped her son would enjoy this time at university to make more friends and enjoy life more, after all, she knew that Jake already had a lot of money and that didn''t worry her anymore, just the fact that Jake didn''t have many friends and no girlfriends It made Eva sadder. After another week Jake was doing daily morning training with Zack, after a week following Jake''s training for him every day, Zack no longer tired running 2 km every day. Jake, who realized this too, took no pity on his friend and doubled Zack''s running routine to 4 km per day, the fitness training at the gym was still the same, Zack wanted to refuse this training and spoke to Jake. "I don''t think it''s a good idea to increase my training routine now Jake, I''ve just gotten used to this 2km distance per day, so maybe I better adapt before increasing the distance again." "I don''t think so, you can''t get used to a weak training routine like this one you have to force your body until you get what you want so after you move to 4 km and get used to it will increase to 6 km." "This way your body will always get better and you won''t stop until you can run a whole marathon smoothly." "If I do this I cannot end up suffering an injury? At some point, I will reach my limit."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "I do not agree if you always increase the distance by 2 km and one day you reach your limit the most that will happen is you fall on the track without power, only after you reach the extreme that can happen your body can not stand before your stamina." Jake knew what he was talking about, with this training method only when Zack reached the 20km run a day he would reach the limit, at which point Jake would have to make Zack run one day and rest the next. 4 km of the race is impossible to make a healthy person injured without forcing his body, and Zack doesn''t look like someone who would force his body to complete the 4 km, not to mention that Zack was running at a very low speed, so tired even less. "So at least let''s increase just another 1km, so I run 3km every day." "So you won''t feel any challenge, I want you to run a distance you can''t to the satisfaction of when you can, just so you will notice your improvement in the race." Jake''s training method might not be the best, but to finish a marathon was the right one after Zack wanted him could hire a professional trainer to compete. Chapter 260 Starting the Season for Sports 2 The other day with a rested body Zack managed to run the 4 km, but he was exhausted after running and ran slower than before, yet Jake didn''t interfere as long as Zack could. As it was, it would take a few more weeks for Zack to move on to 6 km training, when Zack''s fitness improves faster and he can complete 42 km. So next month Zack would improve much faster if he didn''t give up on training, it also served to show Jake the difference between him and another of his age, at 14 Jake could easily run that distance with the speed that Zack was running. And because Zack was supposed to have more than 14 on average statistics and had the advantage of being adult and having developed body that Jake did not have as a child, yet it was obvious what Jake could do better than others thanks to the system. Not to mention when Jake started training in just over 2 months he had greatly improved his time even running faster than Zack, it would probably take 7 months before Zack could run a marathon with Jake''s training. That''s because even if Jake''s training was much more inefficient than others, he could ensure that Zack''s body developed and when Zack could run a marathon once he could run several whenever he wanted to. In training with the basketball team, Coach Smith performed several different play drills after pass training, in dribbling and ball control drills Jake was among the best but did not surpass Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, and Shammond Williams. This showed Jake that there is always someone who can be better, of course, this is because Jake chose one of the best NCAA teams, if it was a weaker team he would be the best for sure. In attacking moves Jake outperformed his other teammates in mid-range and 3-point shots, not to mention that he was only slightly worse than his teammates in indoor moves such as layups and dunks. That with players with Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison and Shammond William who were considered skilled even in the NBA, surprised all of their teammates and Coach Smith. Impressed even Coach Guthridge who invited him to college, the coach had never seen Jake play at a high level and just heard what others said about him, so he thought Jake was good only at mid-range plays and shots from out. But that wasn''t really true, Jake just preferred to score mid-range shots and 3 point shots because it was so much more efficient and his opponents didn''t have the ability to hinder their shots. At Jake University he knew it would be different, so many teams would have defensive and strong players that even if they couldn''t block, they would still get in the way of their shots, so now Jake would have to use his skills much more to do inside scoring. So Coach Smith was thinking that even if Jake could not start as a starter, he could still go into the spin in the match and play for several minutes, just because he didn''t have a lot of rapport with the team. Maybe in more games, Jake could become the starter if he had good performances, it was the same situation in the high school Elite team, Nathan and Lucas were clearly better than David and Harrison and would still be the future of the team. Even so, Coach Mike couldn''t take David and Harrison out and leave them as starters because he had to think about how the two veterans had a relationship with Jake and his teammates. Just at the end of the season last year that Nathan and Lucas were able to play as starters, Jake was in a similar situation, but even more, complicated because his teammates were of the same skill level as him so the coach could leave Jake in reserve. Even though after these weeks of training, the basketball players talked more often with Jake and he was gradually getting in touch, Charlie was still talking to Jake more and Vince also talked to Jake more and more often. That day when Jake returned to the dorm his friends hadn''t arrived yet, Zack had gone off as he often did to talk to his brother, and William was in the library studying to do better in class. So only Jake and Aaron were in the dorm, Jake thought this was a great opportunity to try talking to Aaron again, if he was wrong and Aaron still didn''t want to talk to him, Jake would give up. "Hi Aaron, we tried to talk the other day and I realized you seemed to have some problems that day, but we''re in the same dorm so how about we go out to dinner and try to talk again?" Aaron who was reading his book looked at Jake surprised after more than 1 month of classes and he still couldn''t talk to his roommates, Aaron was shy and had already rejected Zack that day and so expected an opportunity to talk. He didn''t think Jake would understand his problems and try to talk to him first, so Aaron agreed with Jake and went out to the restaurant where Jake and the others would normally go, Aaron found it more comfortable talking to Jake than the three of them together. "So Aaron, I don''t know how to be as sociable as Zack and hope you have time to talk, can you tell me something about yourself?" "I lived in New York before coming to university, my father owns a transportation company and my mother died many years ago." "I have two older sisters who don''t have much contact and an older brother named Terrence and he works with my father in his company, I should also go to work in the company, but I had the opportunity to study and came to UNC. " Jake had realized that despite having a face that always seemed to be angry Aaron was actually quite calm, so he spent all day reading when not in a class, Jake was glad to have decided to talk to Aaron again. Just as Jake told a little about his life and family as he did with Zack and William, Aaron was also surprised to learn that Jake played basketball and still ran marathons, but did not doubt Jake as much as Zack and William had. After they talked about many other things and Jake learned that Aaron also enjoyed sports a lot and remembered that Jake had won the marathon at the end of the Olympics, he had not recognized Jake because he did not care much about the marathon winner. They also talked about various things that happened to them in middle school and high school, Aaron also got angry when he learned what the teachers did to Jake in middle school and what the coach did to Jake in high school. In a few hours of conversation the two found that they had many things in common, Jake said he played some high school football games and Aaron was impressed and a little depressed before talking about what happened to him. "I also played American football in high school, I always had a strong body and was pretty fast from a kid, so early in high school, I decided I would try to play football like I always saw my idols playing in the NFL." Jake really thought that Aaron had a lot of muscle for someone normal, so he was an athlete, many play American footballs in high school, a shame that most do not have enough talent to enter the university as a player. "I always trained my body at the gym and took care of my fitness, I didn''t want to end up suffering an injury for not taking care of my body, when I was a Sophomore I finally got into the starting lineup in the WR position." "As the years went by I secured my starting position on the team and made several touchdowns during the seasons I played, in the last year of high school I was the best WR on my team and I received scholarship offers from various universities." When Aaron kept talking Jake understood that he had misunderstood the situation Aaron was in, it seemed that he really had a talent unlike most and even got a scholarship to play with. But Jake understood that something must have happened for Aaron to tell this story without a smile and seems to be hurting to speak. "I ended up choosing to study and play here at UNC because I''m a big fan of Michael Jordan, besides, I knew I wasn''t that good at football and wanted to play on a team that I could play in." "My father was not very happy to hear that I did not decide to work at his company as my brother and I decided to study, but he also liked football and knew that studies could just do me good, besides, as his company is his I can work there anytime I want. "Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Unfortunately on my vacation before I came here I went to play a football game with my high school teammates and ended up suffering a rupture in my Achilles tendon." "So my father warned the university that he said that as the injury was caused out of an official game they would not help and that I would lose my scholarship as I could not play on the football team." Jake could understand why Aaron was so angry and nervous when they met him at the beginning of his semester at university, even though Aaron was wrong to end up hurting himself by playing outside of an official game they could be more supportive at such a time. "Fortunately my father was able and paid for part of the surgery that was not covered by my health plan, so I was just over 2 months unable to walk normally and fully recover." "Also, my father had to pay tuition and tuition here at the university as I had lost my scholarship, luckily my father can support me, otherwise my future would be lost, so I was having physical therapy before coming here and I''m still doing it." "I was angry at the beginning of the semester when you came to talk to me about everything that happened to me on vacation and I was also very angry with the university that can''t support me at the moment I needed it most and with the physiotherapy that was difficult to transfer sessions here and still bothers." Chapter 261 Starting the Season for Sports 3 "The new physiotherapist told me that it would take at least another 8 months for me to recover, which means that I would lose the first year of chances to play, not to mention that it will take longer for me to regain my fitness to can play again." "Actually, I don''t have any motivation anymore to keep playing football at this university, but I know that if I want to have any chance of joining the NFL I have to play there even if I don''t want to." "That''s why I ended up being rude to you at the beginning of the semester, I apologize, I know I had no reason to do that, but I ended up stressing over the situation." So Jake can understand why Aaron was like this at the beginning of the semester, he had already apologized and sympathized with Aaron, he didn''t know if Zack and William could understand and be friends with Aaron normally, but Jake was optimistic that the 4 would be great friends. "Don''t worry about it, Aaron, I think when you explain your situation to Zack and William they''ll understand your circumstances and forgive you and we''ll all be friends soon." "I hope so, I''ve missed my chance to play football at this university, if I can''t make friends either, I see no reason to stay at this university." Jake saw that Aaron seemed really mad at the university, Jake would probably be just as angry if something like that happened to him, luckily Aaron''s dad could afford the surgery, otherwise, the situation would be even worse and his career would be even worse Aaron as a player would be lost. "I understand you use anger at what the university did to Aaron, but I think you shouldn''t think about quitting football because of that, you should use this first year to do your physiotherapy and fully recover from your injury." "Then you have to take the rest of the time to fully regain your ideal physical strength and maybe even get stronger than before, so next season you''ll be back playing without any risk of injury." "I think it may even be a good thing that the university dropped you and took your scholarship, otherwise you would have more pressure to play again and could end up injuring yourself again if that happened your career would really be over." Jake advised Aaron with what he thought was really the best solution for his friend at the moment, even if Aaron didn''t listen to Jake he would at least remember that advice and could follow in the future. They would be friends after that and so after a while, Jake would gather everyone from the dorm for dinner so maybe everyone would become friends, that was what Jake wanted most and the others seemed to want the same. In the next few days, Jake went to train his race with Zack every day, just over a week before the Chicago Marathon and he couldn''t relax if he wanted to win. Jake had already gotten used to the new race pace and could run the 50 km without getting too tired, he was very happy to have taken those 5 minutes in the 50 km race time, Zack thought Jake was a monster and Jake never I would say that I ran 50 km and no less as Zack thought. Zack was also getting better at training and was not getting so tired running the 4km every day now, but Jake didn''t decide to increase his friend''s daily running routine to 6km for now, because Zack''s body hadn''t strengthened so much quickly like that. Zack''s stamina and energy improved a lot in these training weeks, but his training at the gym couldn''t keep up with his improvement in running, Jake couldn''t suggest further training at Zack''s gym because he knew it was his friend''s limit. Zack also realized that even though having managed to run the 4 km Jake had not increased his training again, he thought that Jake was giving him time to get used to it and was happy about it. Some might run a marathon even without training before if they had a good physique, and with a few weeks of training Zack could try, but Jake didn''t think that was right. Many did not know it now, but Jake had lived at a time several years in the future in his past life, with the internet and curiosity. Jake may know that several people so lacking in fitness eventually suffered serious injuries and sometimes they ended up dying. Running over 42 km is not something an average adult can achieve with training alone and can protect his body from having repercussions after the race, so Jake has always been so cautious about his training taking several months even though the system strengthened and strengthened. protected his body. Still, when he didn''t have a fully developed body, Jake nearly suffered several injuries if the system had not warned it shows how running without sufficient training could be dangerous. Jake didn''t want Zack to end up having an accident because of his training and was meticulous in scheduling his friend''s training, so if Zack followed Jake''s training he could even finish a marathon before 3 hours of the run. In training with the basketball team, they also had defense training and Jake stood out again, he was not the best in defense but was among the best and certainly was the best among them in intercepting passes and steal the ball of the opponents. Jake also lost only in rebounds, his teammates were far superior to him in that sector, yet when Jake had the advantage in positioning he could always get the rebound, with this year''s Tar Heels team being one of the best in rebounds Jake It was still fine. So Coach Smith thought that Jake was just left to do what to do in training in games and he would earn the respect of teammates, who might also get the position of team holder. So the days passed again and only two days before the Chicago marathon, Jake warned Coach Guthridge that training would have to be missed these days, Coach Guthridge had talked to Jake before about it. He talked about this with Coach Smith who allowed Jake to take a few days off training, they knew they couldn''t just ask an Olympic champion to stop running, so he allowed Jake to miss those few days. That day Jake still trained normally and went to Chicago in the evening after advising his friends, so the other day Jake would rest well so he could run in 2 days, Jake can rest peacefully in the hotel he had chosen. The other day Jake had all day to rest and kept remembering the race track last year to run more efficiently this time, in the last 3 marathons Jake had learned a lot about how to make the most of his energy in the race. Because of that, he can win more easily at the Olympics this year, Jake was very confident this time because he had gotten 2 points in Resistance and Agility stats and also because it was the first time Jake had ever run a track again. With his photographic memory, he gained from fourth job skill Jake could remember perfectly every detail of the track, even if he didn''t have the help of the Jake system he could still do some imagination training after doing it hundreds of times. So Jake can imagine the best route to use and also where he would have to increase and decrease his pace to save energy, after this marathon Jake would have even more experience running in New York just the same. In the afternoon of that day Jake was just resting normally, he had made all the preparations he could for the marathon the next day, in the afternoon John who was in town to support Jake in the marathon showed up to talk to him at the hotel. "Hi Jake, how are you doing? Ready for tomorrow''s race?" "Yes, I don''t think I will have problems running and I will try to win again." "Well, I''ll be at the finish line for you, I hope you can win too, but don''t try hard to have no risk of injury." If it was Tiffany or Clara he might think they were thinking of him and taking care of him, but as John was talking Jake understood that he didn''t want Jake to get hurt because he still had the basketball games and the New York marathon for Jake to try. "Did you talk to Tiffany and Clara to send someone to advertise for today''s marathon?" "Yes, I said, Tiffany, said she would send the same people last year to do this work for her and Clara." Jake didn''t care about Alan because the way he advertises a razor company was different, just commercials and having the company''s brand name in uniform can have some impact on them. The one who was making the most of it was John''s company, it was an energy drink company that was popular with young and amateur athletes, not to mention that despite his shared attention with Tiffany''s drinks company. John''s company was bigger and so it had a lot more sales, the one that profited most was Tiffany''s company, but John cared about that because they weren''t direct competitors, if it was Jake wouldn''t have a contract with his company. Many companies in the market partnered with other brands just to increase target audiences without losing customers, which is what John''s company was doing with Jake''s other sponsors. The other morning Jake was getting ready for the marathon, October 20, 1996, Jake was getting ready to run the Chicago marathon again, this time, however, he was trying to win for the second time and was no longer an unknown marathon runner. In fact Jake was the one who drew the most attention in this marathon, he was the absolute favorite after winning the Olympics and this year''s race, everyone knew that Jake knew the track well and should be very confident for this marathon. Also, the fact that Jake was a 17-year-old was remembered by everyone who saw Jake waiting for the start of the race, if nothing bad happened everyone knew that Jake could dominate athletics for many years to come.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Chapter 262 Starting the Season for Sports 4 Everyone considered Jake a rival in this race, but still expected to have many chances to win, a marathon is a race that can always have an unexpected result, the weather of the day, the temperature and even the condition of the athletes had to be taken into account to the result. Rarely did an athlete dominate the marathon events for many years without any rivals, it showed how unpredictable the sport was in its results, Jake also knew it and so always made such a hard training routine. The winner of this event in Jake''s past life was Paul Evans, this was a special year in which two UK athletes won this event in men and women, a result that has rarely happened in history. Paul Evans was the toughest opponent Jake faced in a marathon, after all, Paul''s final time was less than 2 hours and 9 minutes, only 1 time Jake managed to run in less than 2 hours and 9 minutes in his previous marathons. Of course, the reason for this was that Jake always slowed his running pace when he secured first place and therefore finished the race in a long time, which was the biggest reason Jake decided to start training before the Chicago Marathon with a speed fastest race. So Jake would be sure to finish the race first even if he decided to slow down the final kilometers after all Jake knew well that a race time in training could not always be repeated in the official marathon because of the pressure of the race. Jake was also thinking that if he is in good physical shape in the final kilometers and is confident he would try to race to set the current world record, it was a possible time for Jake after his new training and his strongest physical stats. After a few more minutes the 1996 Chicago Major Marathon officially started, Jake decided to run at a slower pace at first to keep up with the other athletes and after a few kilometers, he could take advantage of them. So Jake knew his first kilometers would be slower and he would have to push a little harder in the second part of the race, but it was worth it as long as he didn''t waste much time on those first kilometers.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "The annual Chicago marathon has officially started and after a few hours we will know who will be the winners." "Do you have any favorites for today''s race?" "I think the favorite for this race is for sure Jake, he won here last year and is trying again this year." "I also think he''s the favorite, Jake ran his first official marathon here last year at just 16 and nobody expected anything from him, this year is completely different, he took second place in New York after winning here this year past and still won the Olympic gold this year. " "No doubt he''s a favorite, plus his running time has only been improved since New York so far, Jake also seemed to have learned to choose the best path to run without wasting energy." "Yes, that comes with experience, this is Jake''s 5 official marathon, amazing to have those numbers with only 17 years and 1 year as a pro." "And in the last 4 marathons he came in the top 2 in all and won 4 of those events, that data really shows why he won a gold medal." Unlike other times commentators just praised Jake who had won so soon, a talented young genius is nice for anyone to see, and Jake is still an American who hasn''t had good athletes winning in marathons for a few years. Maybe it was Jake who could positively influence young people to compete and get more people to know and appreciate marathons if that happened these commentators would only gain from it as the Chicago Marathon broadcast. This time they didn''t mention the fact that Jake also played basketball for a university, many didn''t even know which university Jake was at because everyone thought Jake had decided to become a pro marathoner instead of basketball. It was what any normal person would do, it was impressive to compete in two sports when they were younger, but when you grow up you have to choose one of them, it was common sense for everyone to make that choice. Also, after Jake won a gold medal at a major event like the Olympics no one else could deny his talent as an athlete, even if Jake never won anything in his life from now on he would always be remembered as one of the top names of the sport. Of course, Jake didn''t care about common sense and wanted to do even more than that, he wanted to become an NBA star and win multiple titles, and also wanted to win many more gold medals and other athletics modalities as well. In the first few kilometers of the marathon, Jake just like everyone else was still running along with other athletes while taking turns leading the group, so they wasted less energy, in Jake''s group he was the leader among the athletes. Even when not leading the group they all followed the same racing pace as Jake because they knew it was the best thing to do, Jake didn''t care about that because he didn''t consider any of those in his group to be rivals. Fortunately, this was ideal for Jake who ran at his running pace as he did in training, so the group of 8 was the first platoon in this marathon, everyone realized that Jake''s running speed was too strong for them. But everyone in this group was professional and intended to reach the top 100 at least, so they thought it best to follow Jake''s pace in the first few kilometers and then slow down in the second half of the race. After 15 km of running the group was still far ahead of other competitors, with just this distance nobody felt tired and everyone followed Jake in the support stations to hydrate. They were still running at a much faster pace than they usually did, but as this was a steady pace they didn''t get tired that much, so this group of 8 people staying together was unusual in the races. Especially for everyone besides Jake they didn''t want to try to win, the reason for that was that Jake always kept the same running pace and didn''t try to speed up just to leave the others behind. Jake felt a little pity for the people who competed in his group, he knew this was good for them and wanted to help those people who were not his competitors have a good time. Unfortunately, they were unlucky to try to follow Jake when he was running at a much faster pace than he usually did so they couldn''t keep up with him for long. "Jake is in the first platoon leading the marathon, this group is a bit different and has no runner who has good placements in previous marathons, the best of this group managed to reach thirtieth in a past marathon." "Maybe they may have improved a lot and have a chance of winning this year, they are competing with Jake who is the first favorite." "I don''t think it''s like that, it seems like Jake is leading this group and setting the pace they run, I think the others can''t keep up like that for a long time." Just as the commentators talked, the athletes who knew their bodies well realized this problem close to 18 km of running, so they started to fall behind and Jake kept running at the same pace. The other 7 in the group slowed down together and knew they had to stay together, after all, they were almost 3 minutes ahead of the second platoon that was far behind, this second platoon also came at a fast running pace and the 7 had to slow down further your racing pace. Only then did they realize how strong their running pace was following Jake, they also realized that this was an excellent opportunity for them to be in the top 50 if they kept a running pace a little less than they normally ran they still had a very big advantage. Washing at least 10 km more for the top 10 runners to pass them if they slowed down their racing rhythms, Jake no longer cared about the athletes in the group he ran with. As he passed the 20km race the commentators were surprised again, Jake was running at a steady pace like a clock thanks to his experience and the system dashboard he had. "Jake has passed the 20 km mark and leads with a lot of lead to the runner-up, he''s running at an incredible pace of fewer than 3 minutes every 1 km, so he''s gone 20 km in 58 minutes." "He is really running fast, less than an hour and he has reached almost half of the marathon if his pace continued so he could beat the marathon world record." "Really, but it''s almost impossible for him to keep that pace, in New York he was running at a slower pace than that and suffered an injury in the final kilometers of the marathon and struggled to reach second, it was his worst time in a marathon. " "An injury happens to marathon runners, that was a coincidence and proves that Jake is able to run at this pace, not to mention that he''s much more experienced now after the Olympics." The commentators seemed to disagree about it, but both were concerned that Jake was running at a very strong pace and could end up getting hurt by it, after all, Jake winning would be very good for the organizers of this marathon and also for the commentators. Jake was over 25 km and still keeping the same running pace, in fact, he was having the best race of his life, the weather on this marathon day was very good and Jake knew the track well as he ran for the second time and did the Imagination training before the marathon. In fact Jake thought he was better now than in his everyday training, elite professional marathoners prefer to train on the regular road rather than on an official track like Jake did because running always in circles could slow down an athlete. Chapter 263 Starting the Season for Sports 5 That meant running a normal road depending on the weather could be better than running on a professional track, and Chicago was a great track to race, proof of which was that the world record had been broken four times in this marathon. After Jake had passed the 35 km he had not yet slowed down, Jake was feeling good and just a little tired, as he trained every day he knew his own body well and knew he could keep running like that. "He has already passed the 35 km race, still maintaining a strong pace, now just over 7 km to finish this marathon, even if he slowed down he would still win this marathon." "That''s true, it''s amazing to see how Jake can keep a steady pace of running, it''s like he''s looking at a watch, he has little difference in his average running speed." "He just seems to slow down on the toughest stretches on the track to saving energy, he''s not wasting too much time on the back-up, that''s the benefit of being first in a marathon." "Jake is over 3 minutes ahead of the runner-up, I think it was better for him to slow down his running pace." "The problem is that he doesn''t know how much advantage he has for his opponents, Paul also comes at a fast pace." "I think Jake may also be trying to break the world record in this marathon if he''s trying to do that with his current time he can really do it." This commentator spoke only of the possibility, but soon they saw that it was really possible. Jake had just over 7 km of marathon and clearly seemed to be comfortable with his current running pace. Even if he slowed the race too much he could still break the WR, so they were excited about that possibility and the viewers watching at home would be too. Jake was really trying to break the world record in this marathon, he saw that his running pace was good and he was comfortable running for over 50 km at this pace, yet to be cautious he slowed down the running pace. After all, it was just over a month since he was running at this pace and he didn''t want to push himself too hard and risk repeating what happened in New York, commentators realized that Jake had slowed his pace. After Jake passed the 38 km he had clearly slowed his running pace a lot, it was still too fast, but it was too big a difference to be a common thing, anyone who expected Jake to break the world record began to get worried. After all, it was really amazing to see someone breaking a world record, it would be a time for history even if Jake''s record was ever broken, and commentators, even more, wanted it to happen. "Just over 5 km to the end of this marathon, Jake suddenly slowed his running pace a few kilometers back and we don''t know why." "Jake always has this tendency to slow his pace in the final km of the race, but he seemed to be very comfortable with his previous race pace and he was noticeably slower." "He lost almost 30 seconds of time compared to the pace he was running normally, it''s a little worrying and we hope it''s just a running tactic." "If it''s a tactic it''s too risky, he may lose the chance of breaking the world record like that, breaking a record like this is something that can''t be done just skillfully and has to be very lucky." "As I said before, he may not know he has a chance to break the record and if he slows his pace this way he can safely win, maybe that''s the best winning strategy he has ever thought." Jake didn''t know what the commentators were talking about, he knew very well what he was doing, he also knew the time it took to break the world record and also knew Paul''s total race time was second. So he consciously slowed down and was prepared to win by breaking the world record when he can relax his tense muscles by slowing down the race he felt he would surely get what he wanted in this race, this year''s marathon was in the hands of Jake. By the time he crossed the 42 km he was still a huge advantage to the runner-up and was in the final meters to finish this marathon, he saw that he had a great marathon time and was celebrating the victory internally. "It''s amazing, who''s at home is seeing this amazing feat of Jake that is breaking the world record, he''s only 17 years old and breaking that record he puts his name among the top marathoners in history." "I''m excited to see that too, the current world record belongs to Ethiopian Belayneh Dinsamo, and was set in 1988 on April 17 at the Rotterdam Marathon in the Netherlands, with a time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 50 seconds." "It''s been 8 years since this record was set and today it will be broken by Jake by a few more meters, 33 years since an American broke the record last time." "This year is historic for Jake, he broke the Atlanta Olympic record this year of Carlos Lopes of Portugal in 1984, and now breaks the world record a few months later." "He must also be the youngest to break those two records at just 17, this year he has to win the AIMS World Athlete of the Year Award if Jake doesn''t win anyone he deserves." "And now Jake finishes this Chicago marathon in 1996 that''s going to be history, he finished the race with the time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 2 seconds, he officially breaks his now WR." "Really amazing, he''s going to be the future of athletics and already a great athlete at the present, he''s still attending college and should still be playing basketball, plus I think he''ll try to win again in New York in less than 1 month." "See, Jake already has some fans in today''s marathon, they have a banner written saying Jake is Captain America, Hahaha I think this nickname suits him, he''s not even tired after such a marathon." "For the few who don''t know, Captain America is a comic book hero from Marvel, an American soldier who was physically improved in a lab and got super strength and other powers, except in the comic he is Steve Rogers and not Jake Hahaha." "So Jake is the American Super Soldier who came to win a lot of marathons for our country, I have to admit it makes sense, if he really gets into the NBA he''ll already have a new nickname." Jake didn''t know he had been given a new nickname that would stay with him forever in the future, he was very happy to have broken and broken the world record, all the training he did was worth it when Jake won. After a few minutes, the other runners were arriving, the other 7 who ran with Jake in the group managed to finish all in the top 50, the fastest of them finishing fifteenth in this marathon. They were impressed when they saw that Jake had won the marathon, they knew how hard it was to run at the pace Jake was running, then they were more surprised when they learned that Jake had broken the world record, now they could tell this story to their children in the future. John who accompanied Jake in Chicago and was hoping that in the crowd near the finish line was so happy that his eyes sparkled, he expects a chance that Jake could really win in Chicago and that was very good for his company. But neither could he expect Jake to break the world record in this race, so Jake would surely make the list of the best marathoners in history, and Jake was only 17 so he could enjoy a lifetime of glory and make even more of the sport. After a while Jake went to the podium and received the prize for being first place and $ 150,000, $ 100,000 for victory and $ 50,000 for the world record, the organizers treated Jake very well for winning a second time next time year they would call him again.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After taking some pictures and answering some reporters Jake went to talk to John, all this time Jake had a huge smile on his face and was very happy to have won, this was just the beginning of Jake''s winning season in sports. By the middle of next year''s vacation, Jake would still have plenty of basketball games and still participate in many other marathons, if Jake could win anything that played this time would really be history. "Congratulations on beating Jake, amazing you could break the world record, I always trusted you would win, but I didn''t expect a record." "Thanks, John, I appreciate your support coming here, now I''m going back to the hotel if you need anything to talk to me." "Of course, good rest for you." They weren''t friends even if they worked together, Jake had won and even talked about John''s company, so John was pleased with that and could come back with a smile to report the good results to the board. Jake went back to the hotel and picked up the phone to tell the good news to his friends he wasn''t tired after the marathon because his training was so much harder than that, and mentally he got used to the pressure after the Olympics. "Hi Tiffany, I''m calling to let you know I''ve won the marathon." "I already knew from my employees, congratulations Jake, congratulations on the world record too, you were the best thing that has happened in my life in recent years." "Hahaha you say that because your company is doing well to sponsor me, I want all the best for you and Clara, you guys supported me at my hardest time, thanks to you guys that I took my mom out of her horrible job and I could start making money." "You''ve paid everything we did for you a long time ago, Jake." "I know I already paid, but now that you are in a difficult situation that you cannot invest in the company I want to help, in a few more years I will not be able to continue with the sponsorship agreement, I hope to help now." Chapter 264 Starting the Season for Sports 6 Jake was continuing this sponsorship deal just to help Clara and Tiffany''s company as they helped him a few years ago, most of all for the friendship they had. Right now Jake had to be very careful not to disclose his contract with Tiffany and Clara''s company, otherwise, John and Alan''s companies wouldn''t want to know that they were paying 5 times what Tiffany and Clara''s companies were paying. When Jake left college and joined the NBA that would be even truer, after all any Jake contract he got from the NBA would be at least $ 4 million a year, so he couldn''t keep getting so little from Tiffany and Clara''s companies. In fact, it would come to a situation where it would be better for Jake to give them both money than to continue with the sponsorship deal, Tiffany and Clara knew very well what Jake was in and understood very well and were grateful to him. "I understand that and I''m sure Clara also understands, we are very grateful for what you have been doing for us, if we are unable to greatly increase our profit in that time you still have to contract with our companies and buying those stocks would not deserve your help. " The sponsorship deal with Jake was the same as several television commercials and a lot of advertising that the company could invest, it was a worldwide ad with the visibility that Jake had now, and they spent the least on it paying Jake. So in the next few years they would have to secure enough profit to buy the stock from Robert''s hands, this year they had to use the money to repay Tiffany''s illegal loan to Clara by taking money out of the company, so in the next few years, they had to secure it close to 50 million to buy these shares. Tiffany and Clara regretted an agreement that they could not use their shares to make a personal loan, otherwise, Robert''s shares would have been bought long ago. "How is university life, Jake?" "Okay, I''m making a lot of friends these months, I''m also fighting for a spot on the Tar Heels starting basketball team and the classes are as easy as ever, you know me." "Hahaha I know well, they should have given you the diploma by now." "And how are you and Clara?" "I''m fine, as I promised you I never drank like that, I''m still recovering emotionally, it''s not easy to forget a love of several years, and Clara is fine too, as she always says she can''t really be happy until she buys the stock from Robert." It had been a long time since Jake had talked to Clara in person after they had a nice chat last time whenever he tried to talk to Clara about something she sent Tiffany to talk to Jake. Jake then thought that Clara should be bad because of the problems she had faced in recent years, and no longer tried to talk to Clara and always preferred to call Tiffany who always talked to him. After talking about a few more things Jake called his mom, he talked to Eva whenever he could and so allied a little to the longing he missed her, Eva said he''d watch Jake''s marathon on television and Jake wanted to hear her voice mom. "Hi son, you were slow to call me, I''m here at the restaurant with Anna, we watched your marathon on television, congratulations on winning and breaking this world record." "Thank you mom, I''m very happy about that, tomorrow I have to travel to university again." "I miss you, when you can come home, you said you would come whenever you could and you haven''t come yet." "I''m getting ready at university yet, so it''s going to be long before I can go out for many days like this to get home to Miami." "I understand, rest now so Jake, I''ll call you in a few days again." "See you later, I love you mom, send Anna a hug for me." After talking to everyone Jake decided to get some rest, the other day he would have to travel to Miami and get tired again, he could still remember the adrenaline he felt after winning the marathon, as he hoped won no reward this time even for victory and not for the world record. This was normal, if he earned one statistic point in each world athletics record he would have to earn another 10 points after beating everyone at the Olympics. After winning Jake felt that in this marathon was much easier than in the Olympics, it shouldn''t just be the 2 statistics points he earned in all for all physical statistics, so Jake decided to look at his statistics window again after so much time." "Fate, show me my third job statistics window." [Here it is] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 17 years] [Job: Runner] [Height: 1.95 m] [Weight: 97 Kg] [Force 35] [Agility 36] [Resistance 39] [Intelligence 60] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Techniques [Second Lung A] [Iron Body A] --------------------------------- Jake finally understood why he improved so much, and while 2 points in all physical stats improved his two skills also improved, Jake knew how important those two skills were to him, so he earned much more than he expected from the rewards of the Olympics. That would probably be the maximum for Jake too, maybe in another 4 or 5 years, he could raise the rank of these skills again, at which point he would be the best in the marathon and other track and field history. Jake can also see that his height and weight had increased again, he was 1.95 m now, he didn''t know how much the system would help him grow in the next 2 years he still had, after all, he was much taller than in your past life. Being tall wasn''t such a good thing, but for Jake who wanted to be the best in basketball that was a sport where height mattered he wanted to be as tall as he could, maybe no more than 2.10 m, but wanted to pass from 2.00 m, so he could compete with everyone for a rebound and make several blocks.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. At the beginning of his basketball training Jake had decided to be a PG because he had very good passing skills and knew how to organize play, but most of all because he knew he could not be very tall and was not very good at defense. After more than 7 years of training Jake felt these reasons no longer mattered, he corrected his weakness in defense, even if it could not be a Center he could play defensively in any other position. The system also did what Jake found impossible again and increased his maximum height so Jake had no more limitations in basketball, in high school he wanted to improve with PG and so fought not to play in another position. But he always thought that after entering university he would play where the coach asked him to play, he wanted to continue as PG but knew he had no ability to demand it yet, after becoming an NBA star he could choose where to play. Jake also saw that his intelligence statistic had finally increased after so many years, initially increased by over 5 in a short time and Jake thought it was easy to increase, now he realized why the system said it was random. Most worrying to Jake was his strength statistic which had only increased by 2 points with the system reward, was falling behind the other statistics and this difference would only increase over time. He could not easily increase his strength now and could no longer train with the football team, so Jake just had to accept seeing his strength statistic falling behind, thinking that was what he had always struggled to train at the beginning for the cause of the accuracy of your shots outside. Jake had finished this marathon early in the morning as he started before 8 am, before lunchtime he was at the hotel and called all his friends, so even though he wanted to rest he had to have lunch and couldn''t think of sleeping in the afternoon. So after launching at the hotel he got the call saying that someone was waiting for him in the hotel lobby, this was the same hotel he stayed in when he last won last year, so he thought John was the one waiting for him. But as he went downstairs to the first-floor hotel lobby, Jake remembered what happened last year, he remembered the reporter who came looking for him asking for an interview after winning last year. So Jake thought it might be her again, after all, John had his cell number and could just call him, thinking about it Jake went back to his hotel room and changed his clothes, he had showered as soon as he arrived, but wearing a regular outfit to relax. After slowly getting ready Jake was finally satisfied and headed for the lobby when he arrived and saw the same woman who came to him last year, she seemed bothered by Jake''s delay in appearing in the lobby. "Hi Miss Chloe, I hoped it was really you looking for me again with the same trick as last year." "Jake, how inelegant to call it a trick, it took you a lot longer than last year to show up after I called." "I had not arranged anything with you, so I knew a beautiful woman was waiting for me and I had to dress better." "I will forgive your delay for your compliment and consideration, just as you hoped I came again to request an interview, will you accept?" "Of course I accept, I won''t be so rude and reject an interview when you came here and showed me so much respect." "I heard you denied the interview with NBC after the Olympics, I thought you were arrogant after the success." "It''s because you don''t know the full story, but let''s not talk about it, I accept the interview, however, it has to be today because tomorrow I have to go back to university." "Today is fine with me, but it won''t be a live interview but a recording, do you mind?" "That''s fine with me, let''s go?" "Yes let''s go." Jake had already gotten ready because he intended to do this interview the same day and didn''t want to delay, after all, he had his responsibilities at university the other day and could not delay. Chapter 265 Starting the Season for Sports 7 After a while they were in a car that was asked of the station while going to the station, Jake didn''t care much about the car they were in and Chloe was making some calls to prepare the interview, then she hung up the phone and started talking to Jake. "You look a lot more like an adult now after just a year, how was that year for you?" "It was all right for me, I had a lot of marathons that I participated in and some basketball games, my personal life also had a lot of situations, and there were the Olympics and the university, it was a busy time." Jake gave a summary of everything that happened to Chloe, she was amazed at how many things Jake went through in just one year, especially the fact that Jake''s house had been broken into, of course, he asked her not to comment to anyone about what he said. Jake was someone who always liked to be honest whenever he could so he felt bad when he had to hide something for his mother or for his friends, but life is so everyone has their secrets. "I''m curious what you said happened between you and NBC, I promise I won''t tell anyone about it, I didn''t expect anyone young like you to have a problem with them." "I had exactly one problem with them, in fact, I think it was because I was young that I just had some kind of problem with them, my pride is so great sometimes." "You still haven''t said what happened." "Before the Olympics started NBC I called on a number of athletes who would be competing in the races if they didn''t call everyone representing the United States." "As you well know I do not refuse invitations like this from the broadcasters and went there, they took several photos with me and recorded some videos, then confirmed some information about my life and sent me away." "I had seen some athletes who had short interviews with them, almost all if not all of the athletics were called in to do short interviews and tell a little about their lives." "But they didn''t ask any questions or interview me, so I understood that because I was young they didn''t expect me to win a medal, so they decided not to waste time doing an interview with me." "So after I won a gold medal no one came looking for me after the closing ceremony, so I decided to go home with my mom and didn''t want to talk to anyone anymore." Once Chloe understood what Jake was feeling, he had gone to talk to the NBC team when they called and paid no attention to Jake who was young and thought he would not win, so of course Jake would not be happy about that. It turned out that it came to stand out as the only medalist who didn''t do an interview with NBC, as the closing ceremony was soon after the audience didn''t find anything strange, but Chloe and those who understood sports journalism knew this wasn''t normal. "Like you said it was just a small matter because of your pride, but they sure were wrong in that situation and you weren''t irrational in what you did our station would never do something like that." Chloe wasn''t trying to please Jake and really thought that she understood that maybe because there are 646 athletes representing the American team at this Olympics, a broadcaster might not have time to talk to everyone. But Jake was different, he was a marathon athlete who was only 17 years old and had won the Chicago Marathon and was second in New York and had still won the marathon qualifying for the Olympics. Someone like Jake clearly had a good chance of winning in Atlanta, and even if it wasn''t just his age, it was worth an interview, especially since Jake had already been called to the station. It was their failure not to expect Jake to win or Jake to be so proud, a news crew has to hope that anything could happen to make no mistake, even more so she understood that even if she asked for the interview later they did not personally go to the press Jake''s house to apologize.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After a while, they arrived at the station and everything was ready for the interview, Jake realized that unlike last time people looked at him with respectful eyes for what he did and everyone knew him that made Jake happy. After Chloe gave Jake some questions she was going to ask and what she was going to talk about and Jake agreed to everything, once again Chloe admired how easy Jake was to interview unlike others and was still handsome which was good for the cameras. "Hi Chicago, I''m Chloe and I''m here for an interview with one of the new stars of national sport, the Olympic gold medalist and winner of two consecutive Chicago marathons, Jake." "Say hi to Chicago Jake." "Hi Chicago, I appreciate the invitation to be here again." "We thank you for 17 years now and are one of the biggest names in the sport in the different world from last year that was just starting out, how do you feel about that, Jake." "I''m very happy with that, I''ve always trained with the goal of winning, I''m not so confident thinking I''m better than my competitors and that''s why I train so much, and when I can win I''m very happy with that." "Even if you are modest, this is your fifth official marathon and the fourth victory, surely any marathon you participate in will be a favorite." "A marathon is very unpredictable, I''ve lost a marathon myself for hurting myself, and a lot of things like that can happen." "That''s true, the experts thought you would not try to compete this year Jake, after all, you won the Olympics which is the pinnacle of any athlete in the world just 2 months ago, why did you decide to compete this year?" "I wanted to run in Chicago again, I love this city and I have a special fondness for this marathon which is the first one I participated in as a pro, so I decided to race here as I was in good physical shape and rest and was rewarded for it." "I''m so glad you said you really like Chicago, and it''s true that you were rewarded for your decision to race here again, Jake here in addition to winning broke the world record with the fastest marathon time." "Jake''s time was 2 hours, 6 minutes and 2 seconds, almost 1 minute faster than the previous record, and Jake had broken the Olympic record a few months ago, as it was to win the Olympics, Jake." "It was really amazing, one of the most special moments of my life, even more breaking the Olympic record, was almost as good as winning here for the second time and breaking the world record." "The pressure of running at such an important event as the Olympics where I not only ran for myself but also represented my country is a unique feeling, I hope to be able to participate again after 4 years." Jake knew that Chloe was taking the opportunity to talk about the Olympics because she knew that Jake had not done any interviews after winning, and Jake really wanted to talk about how he felt after winning the Olympics. "It was a special moment for all our country I''m sure, it ended with a gold key this Atlanta Olympics that our country managed to lead the medal table with Jake winning the last gold medal." "It was so unforgettable for so many people that after Jake won and broke the world record today here in Chicago he had a lot of fans cheering for him and one of them had a poster calling Jake Captain America, what do you think of that nickname Jake." Jake was surprised by this nickname, he didn''t expect to be called that and didn''t even know it had happened in the crowd when he won today, Chloe was smart to hide it from him before the interview. "I''m going to confess that I''m a big fan of this comic book hero, it''s one of my favorites and I''m very honored to be compared to him thinking about what he represents for our country in comic book history, but I don''t think I deserve that nickname." "I think you deserve Jake, many athletes have won many competitions and won many gold medals in history for our country, some have won several gold medals in the same competition." "But a test of endurance like the marathon is hard to see someone win so many times, especially you who are still young and in college and still playing basketball besides running." "By the way, tell us Jake, which university did you decide to go to?" "I was lucky to be accepted at UNC, I''m very happy studying there for a few months ago." "The UNC? So you decided to go to the same university as NBA star Michael Jordan, it seems like you still dream of playing basketball even though you have achieved so much in athletics with so many marathon victories." "Yes, I chose UNC for a variety of reasons, I''m a big fan of Michael Jordan and I also think teaching there is very good, it''s not that far from my house and the UNC basketball team Tar Heels is one of best basketball teams in history at universities." "I know that too, now that you''ve joined this team after winning so much at high school should you be going to win again?" "Yes, I hope to win a lot of Tournaments with this team, there are great players on our team this year, I think a lot will have a great NBA career in the future." "That''s a very high rating, who are you talking about?" "There''s Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, Antawn Jamison, and others as well." "A lot of people then, we can expect a lot from the Tar Heels team this year, do you naturally expect to join the NBA with those names you said?" "Of course, my goal is this, after finishing college I want to be on a team in the NBA." "So we see that Jake really wants to be Captain America, besides being in the elite of athletics winning several marathons and still wants to play in the NBA, we hope you get everything you want thanks for talking to me Jake." "I really enjoyed it, who knows next year I may be here again." After the end of the interview, Jake said goodbye to Chloe and got a ride in the station car back to the hotel, this may be the only time Jake can stay for 3 days for a marathon, usually, he would only have two days at most and would have to go back to university. Chapter 266 Starting the Season for Sports 8 In addition to his mother and Anna, it seemed that his friends at the university were watching Jake in the marathon, Jake had already said a few things about what happened to Aaron so Zack and William had no problem with him anymore. As the three watched Jake''s marathon they got closer and even talked and ate together and celebrated when Jake won and broke the world record, so things would be easier for Jake when he returned to approach the three. When Jake returned nothing different had happened, some who liked marathons and followed the news about the evidence would know that Jake won in Chicago, but these people would probably already know Jake from other marathons. Those most affected by this were the basketball team, Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge were impressed when they learned that Jake had won a big marathon again. Especially when he learned that he broke the world record, this was not something that was easy to do even for the best athletes, it seemed that Jake would continue to go out of training to compete and they could not complain because he really competed to win and brought more advertising for the university. His teammates watched the marathon because they knew Jake would be running, and were surprised to see him winning and breaking the world record, they understood that he was really different from them and deserved sponsorship just for what he did in marathons without regard to basketball. Everyone found it funny when they remembered trying to compete with Jake in training intensity a few weeks ago if he could break a world marathon record you could imagine how strong stamina he was. Vince and Charlie who were closest to Jake were the happiest with their friend''s conquest, all teammates were even happier when they saw him talking well about them and the university in an interview. When Jake arrived at the university he went to tell Trainer Smith that he had arrived and was soon to his classes, Jake had come to the first flight of the day, but had still missed some classes. He can''t even talk to William in the room so as not to disturb his classmates, so after class, Jake had to go to basketball team training and was happy when everyone came to talk to him about the marathon Jake had won. Even if everyone was basketball skill and some could join the NBA, it wasn''t every day that they knew someone they knew played well and could still participate in another high-level sport. Jake was happy to join the group, in another two weeks he would have to go to New York to participate in the marathon, so it was good that his coach and his teammates were not angry that he missed training, Normally it would be crazy to take part in a marathon two weeks after running one, John and his sponsors were not really specialists in the competition and so just followed what Jake wanted to do. So few believed that Jake would try this and only commented on it as a joke that he missed it last year, even Chloe said Jake chose Chicago because he thought he would rather run in Chicago than in New York. Jake would run because he had no problem with that, in fact, the day before he was in Chicago he had recovered after the marathon, he was just a little tired from the plane trips he had to do in addition to the marathon. But the next day he intended to train with Zack again in the morning, so running in two weeks would be no problem for him, after the lighter training he went to the dorm to talk to his friends. "Congratulations, Jake, for winning this marathon and breaking the world record." "Congratulations, we all watched your marathon on television and saw how well they spoke of you, even called you Captain America Hahaha." "Thank you all, I was very happy to have won." Afterward everyone chatted happily and even Aaron joined the conversation sometimes saying a few things to Jake, with Zack making some fun comments it was a nice conversation, Jake also saw that Aaron was talking more with Zack and William and so Jake decided to make the celebration dinner of his victory as a place for everyone in the dorm to be friends. At dinner everyone performed again and Zack and William understood what happened when they heard about Aaron''s story, everyone soon agreed to be friends and so Jake achieved his goal of making the dorm a nice place and making 3 friends. The other morning Jake went running again with Zack in his daily training, Zack took advantage that Jake went to Chicago and missed training in recent days, so he had to run the 4 km today to regain his running pace. Jake still did the same training as before, he ran the 50 km and at a much faster-running pace and speed than he did in the marathon breaking world record, Zack was impressed by Jake''s tenacity in his training. If he ran a marathon and just finished he wouldn''t think about reigning for the next two weeks, but Jake was still training every day whenever he could even win a marathon.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. With this commitment easy to understand because Jake could win multiple marathons in a short period of time, Zack began taking Jake as his goal and decided to train with him and stronger until at least he could finish a marathon. Zack always suspected that Jake ran more than 40 km every day, but never thought about the speed Jake could run, he thought Jake ran slower and so it took almost 3 hours, he could never imagine that Jake ran faster than its time in the world record and for 50 km. So after Jake finished training he went to talk to Zack, Jake was thinking it was maybe time for Zack to increase his training to 6km race every day, so before the mid-year break, Zack could run a marathon. quietly. "Jake, I want to increase my daily training, I think I can handle running more than 6 km every day." "I was thinking of telling you exactly that, but what happened to you suddenly deciding to come to talk to me about changing training?" "I realized I was being very relaxed in my training even though you were taking your time to help me when you were in Chicago, for example, I didn''t train any day." "I really love running, but I didn''t think of being a marathon runner, so I thought your training could be very hard." Jake really thought his training was too hard and would get even harder over time, Jake didn''t tell Zack but hoped his friend wouldn''t train when he was in Chicago and it might be good to relax Zack''s muscles. "But I don''t think so anymore, I saw you training with me every day and much more willingly than me to finish a marathon in the first place and still break the world record." "So I understood that I was actually missing out on an incredible opportunity in life to improve, who else can say they do the same training as the best marathoner in the world?" "I don''t think I have the talent or the desire to try to win marathons, but at least I''ll follow your training and finish a marathon and then I decide what I can do, I mean I''ll do my best in training going forward." Jake was very pleased with his friend''s change of mind, often a person''s will and attitude can influence the outcome of training and run, so as discouraged as Zack was Jake couldn''t do much for him. Now he would try to give the best training possible so that Zack could take it and in a few months to finish a marathon, Jake couldn''t give Zack a very heavy training that did not think of becoming a pro. If Zack decided to become a professional marathon runner like him after the first marathon, it wouldn''t be too late for Jake to improve his friend''s training, not to mention that Jake was first trying to improve Zack''s fitness and train him in a way that runs a marathon It was normal for him. So Jake told Zack to increase his daily training to 6 km and also reinforced the physical training that Zack had to do at the gym, Zack accepted the change of training and seemed excited to try. Over the next few days, Jake''s routine was back to normal, there was nothing Jake thought of doing other than attending classes and training with the basketball team, classes were as easy as ever for Jake. Zack had also been exhausted every day from the change of training, but he was still eager to continue with this difficult training, William and Aaron found it amazing that Zack was holding the training without complaining this time. In training the basketball team Coach Smith was more satisfied than ever, several players he already knew the skill well, but the newcomers were a pleasant surprise for him, Jake and Ed Cota were competing for the same spot in the team. In this match, Jake had the advantage in terms of overall skills and the coach realized that Jake had improved in skills since he began training with the team. It showed how strong his potential was, Ed Cota was the same and also improved after he arrived, but Jake was more complete in skills than Ed, Jake was much better in defense and in making points beyond passes. Even though the coach''s favorite was Ed to start playing, the reason for that was still Jake''s rapport with the not-so-good team, but that had changed a lot last month and Jake had already been accepted by his teammates. Even though the coach considered putting Ed in first because he thought he was the best for the team, Jake would definitely be in the game and could play many minutes even though he was not the starter. From the mentality of both, Coach Smith realized that Ed fought a lot more for a starting position and Jake didn''t seem to care much about starting out or not. Chapter 267 Starting the Season for Sports 9 The truth wasn''t that Jake didn''t expect to become a starter, it was that in his past life he remembered how well Ed Cota played, so it was normal for him to think that with his current skill level he was the team''s reserve. Also, Jake was very confident that he could get a place in the team after a few games, he could see that Coach Smith seemed pleased with his performance and that his teammates accepted him over time. So Jake thought that if they played multiple games scoring high points and playing very well, it was impossible for him to be left in the team reserve for long, it was because he was confident he didn''t care. In the team who had the most contact with him among the players, he was a fan of before was Vince Carter, what happened was that Vince had a very good personality and so he was liked by almost every player so Jake couldn''t get close to Jake for now. So the player on the team he was talking to most was still Charlie who was the first player to have a proper conversation with him, they both had a lot in common and after a while, they talked a lot about business too. Charlie never intended to become a professional basketball player, he had a talent in basketball, but he also had a lot of responsibility for his family business, in that respect Charlie was very similar to Joseph. So at the end of a training day, Charlie decided to call Jake to a diner so they could talk, Jake naturally accepted and warned his friends not to eat with them that day. "You''re really an interesting person, Jake, I think it''s our teammates who are missing out on making friends with someone like you." "Hahaha you''re very kind, I''ve been through a lot of trouble, that''s why you find me interesting." Jake told some of his stories like when he got his first sponsorship and that he used that money to get his mother off the bad job where Eva was. Jake also told how he raised money and earned money from other means to build a restaurant for his mother and that this restaurant was a success, also told some stories about his playing high school basketball. Jake just didn''t comment on some of his personal life and his investments, yet they talked about which companies might be better off investing at this time. Knowing the Future Jake spoke quietly about companies that he knew investors could earn a lot from by investing if he knew the right time to sell his stock, Charlie thought all these tech companies were too risky to invest. Jake also knew a little about Charlie''s life who had gotten a college scholarship as well, Charlie always worked in his family business that was related to agriculture. What Jake didn''t know was that Charlie was a very successful investor in the future and that he would be CEO of a large agricultural investment company, if he knew that he could give Charlie some more investment tips. "I didn''t know you had entered this university with such high grades, you''re also very smart, it looked like you really didn''t need a sports scholarship and could get a scholarship like me." "I didn''t know you were that smart and had good grades either, I confess I thought everyone on the basketball team could be smart, but they wouldn''t have good grades." "It''s good that you learn to put bias aside so you won''t be so surprised at what happens, you said you haven''t joined any fraternity yet?" "Yes, it''s not my way to join a fraternity, I don''t like parties very much and I don''t like meetings with a lot of people, my roommates think the same." "I don''t agree with that, you have to go to a university to make the most of your university time, you said yourself that you wanted to enjoy your university time." "Yes, but I don''t think it suits me to be in a fraternity." "You have to learn sometimes how to do what Jake doesn''t want, maybe you can get closer to your teammates if you have a fraternity and you will belong to a group, this is very important for your social and professional life afterward. to finish college." Jake started to think and saw that what Charlie was saying was true, he himself knew that sometimes people knew each other or started to relate just because they attended the same fraternity, even though they knew each other after college was over. It was like cheering for a football team and other well-known sports teams, sometimes people became friends just because they cheered for the same team after all the world as a society. "Come to my fraternity then, Jake, so you will already have an acquaintance in that fraternity and because I am a Senior I will have no trouble facilitating your incoming baptism and even allowing you not to attend any meetings you do not want."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Won''t that cause you problems?" Fraternity entrance ceremonies were a very important ritual for many fraternities, Jake had never heard about anyone having any kind of exception, so he was worried that Charlie would have trouble because of him. "Don''t worry, the fraternity I belong to is the Phi Beta Kappa you know for sure, it''s one of the most respected in the whole country, but this fraternity has a very tight grade restriction that someone has to have to be invited to. " "But for you, the grade requirement was easily fulfilled, besides, you have a lot of important achievements like winning multiple marathons and even a gold medal in the Olympics so I think they would want someone like you to increase credibility for my fraternity." Charlie really thought so, he was very proud to be in this fraternity and one of the points that interested him most when he decided to enter was that many US presidents and many Nobel laureates had attended this fraternity. So he thought the achievements were very important to the image of a fraternity, and Jake had and could have many more achievements in the future, he did not say that only a few could join the fraternity in the first year. Jake was tempted by Charlie''s offer, he really thought he had to live his university time to the fullest, so a fraternity was important, not to mention one of the best-known fraternities, and Charlie was promising him so many facilities that it was hard to refuse. "Alright then, Charlie, I accept your invitation to the fraternity, let''s see if I will actually be accepted and if you will get some of those things you said to me." "You can count on me, I''ll do my best." So Jake went back to the dorm and told his friends that he was considering joining a fraternity at the request of a basketball senior, his friends understood that and even got jealous of Jake. They had agreed not to join any fraternity because they had no interest in joining any fraternity since the most interesting ones had very difficult entry requirements, so Jake was lucky to be recommended by a Senior. Charlie was quick to do what he said and after a few days, Jake had received a letter saying he had been accepted and was invited to a fraternity integration ceremony, as Jake requested it was just a few formal procedures and Jake joined the Fraternity Phi Beta Kappa and learned the secret handshake among other things. Jake was pleased after joining the fraternity, even though he was never interested he had to confess that he was jealous of some of his friends in his past life who always had fraternity friends and went out to eat together. When Jake told his mother about this, Eva was very happy to see that Jake was really enjoying his time at university, she missed him so much when he was home, thankfully she spent a lot of time in the restaurant and had Anna and other friends to keep company with. One person Jake couldn''t talk to after he went to college was Lola, the times he called the restaurant he talked to several people in the restaurant, but Lola never showed up to talk to him. He also didn''t think about calling Lola personally because he didn''t want to give her false hopes while they had no relationship, Jake would be happy to know if Lola met someone and could move on, he knew he hadn''t been fair to her in his time in Miami. When he left college Jake thought he might relate to Lola if she still wanted to be with him, but by that time he would probably be in the NBA and wouldn''t have much time to be with her either. Eva and Anna never talked about Lola either, so Jake didn''t mention her in conversations either and so they got farther and farther away from Jake''s time at college, Jake could only know about it on vacation when he went home. Over the next few days, the basketball team''s training got more and more intense and they always did play training and even several game simulations during the week, when Jake played on the reserve team the game got exciting and he always did on average 30 points in the training games. That''s because these games had less time than the official university games, he also made several passes and steals, as well as catching rebounds, yet he always lost the games when his team was fully in reserve. Even if it was only for a few points and the reserve team players were also skilled, they could not match the starting team with Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, Antawn Jamison, Serge Zwikker and Ed Cota. Even though Coach Smith was impressed with Jake''s performance in the simulation games, in fact, he just didn''t merge teams to increase competition because Jake was on the reserve team and so the game was played. When Jake joined the starting lineup instead of Ed Cota, the game became even more uneven, the starting lineup won by dozens of points, not only the coach but the other players also noticed the difference. Chapter 268 Starting the Sports Season 10 The other week training continued to be more intense because it was a few weeks before the team''s first game, unfortunately for Coach Smith, Jake had applied for another two-day license to compete in the New York marathon. This eventually broke the team''s pace of training, but Coach Smith had to accept it because he knew Jake was competing for the win and even the university would want Jake to compete. But this assured the coach that Jake would not be in the starting lineup in the early games as a punishment, after all, he could not set up a stable group if a starting player missed training a lot. Jake also knew he wasn''t right and promised that this was the last time he would do it at the end of the year, he just wanted to win all major marathons once to get the bounty and help even more in his training and also in the games themselves of the basketball team. After all with these extra statistics on Resistance and agility, even his basketball performance would be much better, but he had no way to explain it to Coach Smith and had to accept the consequences of his decisions. In the few days before the New York Marathon, Jake didn''t even think about resting and always did his daily training with Zack, after those weeks of training it was much easier for Jake to run the 50 km at a speed of 2 minutes 54 seconds for 1 km. Jake was not confident in increasing his training at all, after all he could not increase his speed and also do not want to increase the distance he ran per day, with 50 km that was more than the distance of a marathon he was almost over 3 hours in training, if he increased the distance would have to run longer. By the time Zack''s increased training intensity was almost accustomed to a distance of 6 km a day, this wasn''t hard to do even for amateurs, so with more training at the gym, he could soon run longer. Zack himself had not noticed any of this, but Jake with the help of the system had realized that Zack''s physical condition was improving every week, he was much more physically prepared than the people who do basic exercises. So by the end of the year, Zack would have a physical condition to run 12 km every day which was the same intensity as some elite runners, that was Jake''s goal when Zack could run 32 km every day without tiring him would be ready for a marathon. Maybe early next year when Jake had a new coach to run another track sport Zack would also have a better method of training, after training another day Jake and Zack returned to the dorm. William was also waiting for both of them, after all, he had to wait for Jake to go to classes with him, as William was not training with both of them and was not jealous when he saw Zack''s suffering, he can realize that Zack was much better physically than before training. But who most noticed this change from Zack besides Jake was Aaron who was also training to play American football before getting hurt, he can see that Jake''s training was very effective. After attending classes with William Jake got a call from John before coming to basketball team training, it was no coincidence that Jake passed the times he could answer the phone for John and Emily. "Hi Jake, I just wanted to call to see if it was all right for the New York Marathon?" "Yes, I''ve already spoken to Coach Smith and will arrive a day earlier in New York." "That''s great, the folks at the New York Marathon organization have also sent you an invitation, they might be one of the few who thought you''d accept to run after a few weeks." After winning the Olympics, marathon organizations began to show interest in inviting Jake to compete in marathons, this was especially true for Chicago and New York where Jake had competed before. That was a respect that they could show to the best runners and even more to Jake who was an American, these were really the marathons Jake thought most about competing, after all in other countries it was harder for Jake to compete having to come back in a few days. After a few days as planned Jake went to New York the day before the marathon after training with the basketball team in the evening, so he would compete for the next day in the marathon and return to the same day the university, so he would only lose 1 day of training. Knowing that Jake would try to do something like this Coach Smith himself said that Jake didn''t have to work hard and could take 3 days to rest better, but Jake assured that he didn''t need to. After all, he had to get used to this training routine if he really wanted to run after becoming an NBA pro, he didn''t think NBA coaches who paid a huge million dollar salary would allow Jake to skip training just to run. He came to town tired and went straight to the booked hotel to rest, luckily New York was near the university where he studied and so the trip was less tiring, Jake had a much stronger body than usual and knew that after a few hours of rest would be fine. The other day he woke up early in the morning and went to the marathon start, John showed up and said he would be waiting for Jake at the finish line, after doing the warm-up exercises Jake again was the center of attention in the running. Some of the professional athletes hoping to win were even mad at him who was trying to compete again a few weeks after winning in Chicago and breaking the world record, it was obvious that everyone felt pressured by Jake competing. Normally athletes would participate in a maximum of 3 marathons during the year, so if they had to live on the prize money, they didn''t know if Jake needed the prize money, but they knew this was Jake''s fourth marathon in the year. Of course, even if some didn''t like it they wouldn''t have the courage to say anything to Jake, after all, he was an elite and the best marathoner in the world today after achieving what he got. Jake didn''t care what others thought, he was too focused for today''s marathon, he had rested for two days before that marathon without doing his daily training with Zack, and just did the training with the basketball team that was a light training for Jake. What made Jake happy was that Zack was doing his daily training running the 6 km even without Jake having participated, which showed that he was serious about trying to improve to run a marathon. After a few minutes of preparation the marathon for Jake began, he started running normally with the starting group in the race and hoped to continue like this for a few kilometers, the only competitor he thought was Giacomo Leone who won this marathon in Jake''s past life with the time of 2 hours, 9 minutes and 54 seconds. This was an easy time for Jake to normally do in training in just over 2 hours and 2 minutes, but after what happened last year Jake learned to never underestimate a marathon. "The 1996 New York Marathon officially starts, the weather today looks good for a race, only after a few hours can we know who of those runners can win this marathon." "Even if we have to wait a few hours to know who is the winner, we can know that we definitely have a favorite to win this marathon." "Oh, we have someone like that? Tell us who it is then." "This year''s highlight is 17-year-old marathon runner Jake Smith, after his debut last year this will be his sixth marathon." "So Jake will be competing this year too? I don''t know if he can be a favorite for this race, last year he ventured like now in running a marathon less than a month after winning in Chicago and wounding himself, the same could have happened today." "I don''t think so, even though he was injured by bad luck last year he still came second in this marathon, this year he is much more experienced and got the gold medal in the Olympics and broke the Olympic and world record this year." "I still think he may end up hurting himself again after forcing his body." Jake did not care about the commentators arguing and ran with the first platoon at a normal race pace, after 5 km he still continued with the first platoon, after so many marathons Jake was much more experienced and learned to save energy in these races. Many competitors who heard rumors about Jake joined him in the first race squad, some elite runners pulled off and moved away from this squad in the first place and others slowed down, no professional wanted to have their racing pace dictated by Jake. But the elite runners who had no hope of winning followed Jake because they heard the rumor that everyone who ran with Jake nearly half, finished in the top 50 in Chicago. Of course, no one in that group was running today because they were still recovering from the Chicago Marathon, but they told this information to several people, so always in this race, a group of almost 14 people was near Jake.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The rumor was that Jake didn''t try to get away from the other runners and always kept the same running pace, even if that pace was too strong all professionals could run at that pace for a few kilometers. After all, what was most important to runners was the steady pace of running that kept an athlete from getting tired more than necessary, all 14 of those people were elites and could take Jake''s pace. "Look at the group of runners around Jake, something like that happened in Chicago, everyone who could handle almost half of the marathon with him finished in the top 50." "Some experts have already analyzed Jake''s marathon, for the first few kilometers he always maintains a very strong and steady running pace and so doesn''t lose much stamina." Chapter 269 The Beginning of the Season at College Basketball 1 "This may be the key to Jake''s success in marathons, so others learned from him and decided to accompany him in that squad until the end of the marathon." "Yes, but this is just one of the things that makes Jake the best marathoner today, few can keep up with him for more than 30 km, and if they try recklessly they may not even finish the marathon." "That''s true, the stamina and stamina he has also determine how he can win several marathons in a row." Just as the commentators were saying the reason Jake didn''t mind having several people running with him was that his running speed was too strong, keeping his pace steady was important to a marathoner. But having his own running pace that matched his abilities was the most important thing, Jake didn''t have to strain to run like this, but those who ran with him in the same platoon had to strain to keep up. This group also did not disturb Jake in the support stations to get water and also took turns leading the group without Jake having to lead once, Jake just slowed the race in the most difficult parts, so everyone won with that. After 15 km of the marathon as in Chicago, Jake''s platoon was again leading the race, many rushed ahead of them for a few kilometers, but no one could stay in the lead for more than 15 km. "This is really amazing, it looks like I''m seeing a repeat of the Chicago Marathon, after 15 kilometers Jake''s platoon leads again, and everyone looks like they''re in good shape and can continue." "Their race time is almost the same as Chicago too, so Jake always runs at a high level, unlike last race also the runners who are with Jake are all elite and all finish at least thirtieth as the best time they have done, one of them even came in the eighth position in a marathon." "True, it may then be that they can continue with Jake for more than 18 km like last time." Just like in Chicago, this was the second time Jake had run in New York, even though he hadn''t won this marathon last year, he still remembered the ride, so he did a marathon imagination training and knew the best places to run without getting tired so much. Even if it didn''t make much difference to Jake who had enough stamina to run 50 kilometers, it was the effort he could make to ensure the best race possible, who made the most of it were the other runners who were in the same platoon as Jake. After passing the 22km more than half of the marathon had passed and only at that point did the Jake platoon decide to move away and run at a slower pace, which greatly benefited Jake who didn''t have to race against the wind for more than half of the test. Unfortunately, the weather and temperature were not ideal as it was in Chicago, yet Jake felt he could try to break his own world record in this race, he would not do it just because it was not smart to try so hard. After all, he already had the marathon world record and it made no sense to break his own record, and after winning the New York marathon he would earn 2 more stats, 1 Resistance, and 1 agility. That meant that next year Jake would be even better off running if he could win a few more major marathons he could break a world record much more easily, so he had no reason to risk injuring himself to win. After going through the 30km race Jake wasn''t feeling too tired yet, but still decided to slow down his race to make sure that this race was over, Jake was thinking of trying to run a little longer than in Chicago for this marathon. "It''s really amazing how much he can run at the same pace and speed for 30 km, there may never be a runner who has this kind of control over his pace, some may be faster than him, but this control is hard to break." "That''s true, and we can see that he doesn''t even take a watch for the race, that is to say, he keeps that pace with intuition, now we see that he''s slowing down his running pace." "It''s already become a habit of Jake in the marathons he runs, he keeps a pace well below the world record for much of the marathon and then slows in the final kilometers of the race." "He was expected to do something like this, Jake doesn''t seem to be trying to break the world record today either, it''s normal because his body must not have fully recovered from the Chicago marathon." "We hope he doesn''t get any injuries like last year and can win this marathon." "He''s now called Captain America, a hero doesn''t hurt running Hahaha." "Hahaha it''s true, I liked that nickname, if he wins here in New York this year he will also find that nickname suits him." No marathon expert doubted Jake''s ability to win a marathon anymore, commentators were only apprehensive because they were afraid Jake would be injured again. There have been several big names in the sport of having a kind of curse to run in one place and not being able to win, some soccer players with the world cup, some baseball players with the world series, and some athletes with the Olympics. Jake naturally didn''t believe that and knew that the reason he lost in New York last year was his wrong preparation and his psychological problem, but today everything was perfect for him to win this time. After just missing the 42km race Jake was near the end of the race and his condition was great, he was just a little tired but still thought he could run another 10 km quietly. "And Jake is reaching the final stretch of this New York marathon, he''s really winning again this year, this is the fourth marathon he wins in 1996 that will be a historic year for the world of athletics." "It''s really amazing, Jake is still young at 17 and doesn''t have the problems that some older professional runners have, after a few weeks of breaking the world record in Chicago he''s winning again here in New York." "Now we can see that what happened last year here was just an accident and a piece of bad luck for Jake, yet he doesn''t seem to mind it and is winning again."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "There you go, Captain America Jake crosses the finish line and wins the New York Marathon in 1996." "And with very good time too, he ran this marathon in 2 hours, 6 minutes and 55 seconds, he broke the record of this marathon that belonged to Juma Ikangaa from Tanzania which was established in 1989 with the time of 2 hours, 8 minutes. and 1 second." "This year was really special for Jake and for the whole American sport, he broke the records of all the marathons he has run this year, and it looks like he''s still holding on, see how he doesn''t even look tired after running today." "He should just protect his body by doing that, that''s right for someone his age, see Jake''s fan posters again saying Captain America, it looks like that nickname really got it." "It''s great to see young people taking an interest in marathons, Jake can be important to that as he is young too." Jake was very happy to win again, he wasn''t really tired just as the commentator noticed, it had been several months since he needed to eat a stamina bar that he got from the system. So he had a lot more than 100 saved again, he always did his 3-point shooter training and so several times got the reward of doing a thousand 3-point shoots, in basketball games he didn''t need to either. But he didn''t know what it would be like after joining the NBA, he knew a basketball game could tire as much as a marathon, so if he had to play several times a week and still do daily training running 50 km he could need to eat a stamina bar. The 14 other marathon runners who ran with Jake in a large part of the marathon were also in the top 50, it seems that in the upcoming marathons other runners would consider doing the same, in fact, some were among the first. Jake waved to the fans shouting his name, he was happy to know that he already had fans after just 2 years running, he was happy to win this marathon because he lost last year, so it was like taking revenge on him. Of course with last year''s defeat he learned a lot of things he was doing wrong and so he could win every other marathon he ran, but he would rather not learn anything if he had to lose for it, Jake learned that he hated to lose. After a few minutes, he went to the podium and received $ 125,000, $ 100 for winning and $ 25,000 for breaking the marathon record, $ 275,000 in less than a month running in two marathons, which was just under 1 month he received sponsorship. After Jake went to talk to John who had been waiting for him all this time, John was smiling as usual and didn''t seem to mind appearing in all of Jake''s marathons, his company made a lot of money this year with Jake being his sponsored athlete. Even if next year Jake wasn''t going to have any marathon competitions to run, they would still win big just because he existed, Jake didn''t even have to participate in any marathon next year. And John still knew that the good part hadn''t even started, when Jake started playing basketball at university games on the Tar Heels team that was the same team as the legendary Michael Jordan, that would be big publicity for them. If Jake could win the NCAA Tournament and the ACC Tournament would be even better for them, winning it all John learned not to be so greedy and even sharing advertising exactly with the other sponsors. So he inadvertently ended up earning a little more of Jake''s goodwill who saw it after the marathon, Jake was most grateful to John who always organized Jake''s marathon stakes and showed up in all competitions and didn''t take all the credit for the race his company. Chapter 270 The Beginning of the Season at College Basketball 2 "Congratulations on beating Jake, another broken record this year, this year was amazing for you, should this be the last marathon you''re going to run this year?" "Yes, it''s my last marathon this year, thanks for helping me out so much this year." "It''s just my job, I have to thank you for always winning marathons, as I was the one who came up with the idea of ??hiring you for our company to sponsor, I''m gaining a lot of recognition for that." "I''m glad to hear that, I don''t think we''ll see each other again this year, have a happy holiday season and wait for some good news from me at basketball games." "Thanks, I''ll see you next year." Living together can make a new friendship come to life, even though they never really liked John because their contract was just about business, after receiving his goodwill and help for so many months Jake began to want to be friends with John. Maybe their relationship could never be as good as it was between Jake with Tiffany and Clara, but they could at least talk friendlier, not to mention that after a few years they might not even talk to each other anymore. Jake had lost several friends in this time he lived after going back in time, even though he always appreciated friendships things just happened that way, everyone he studied with Jake had no more contact. It had also been several months since he''d had any conversations with Eric who always sought to talk to him, maybe he could meet his school friends when the internet-connected more people and meet Eric when he joined the NBA. After talking with John, Jake decided to go back to the hotel and get some rest before catching the plane at the end of the day for university again, the other day even if he didn''t do his daily running training he would still have to train with the Basketball team. After all, it was only a few weeks before the day of the first game, so, Jake, the team would have to be ready by that day, he didn''t want to end up losing that game for lack of training, it would be an important game to decide Jake''s future in the basketball team. In New York Jake had no interest in doing an interview to talk about his marathon victory, he did the interview in Chicago because he knew Chloe and had free time this time, however, he knew no one and was in a hurry to return to the university. Unfortunately, Jake''s desire to just rest while waiting for his travel time didn''t come true, after a few hours at the hotel when he had already changed and eaten and was preparing to rest the hotel said someone was waiting for him.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Even though he knew it wasn''t someone Jake knew it had to be someone with contacts to find out where he was when Jake came down he saw a man who looked to be thirty-four and wearing a black suit. "Mr. Smith, thank you for coming down to talk to me if you didn''t know me." "No problem, I was just resting, who would you be?" "My name is Martin Hans, I am a representative of the Nike company, I was sent to talk to you about the possibility of a sponsorship agreement of our company with you." Jake was a little surprised that he wasn''t expecting it at the moment, but after thinking a bit he realized that it was very normal for something like this to happen, Nike has always been known to compete with other shoe companies to sponsor the best athletes in the world from many different sports. While currently, they do not have most of the basketball players, soccer and football, they''ve had many contracts with athletes, and in the future, Nike just grows and further dominates the footwear market. Even though not all athletes were sponsored by them, Jake had already won several major marathons and the Olympic gold medal, as well as breaking the world record, thinking that it was normal for a company like Nike to look for him with a contract. Currently Jake could not have any new sponsorship contracts because he was at university and had made a deal with them not to have any new contracts while playing on the basketball team. But he could talk some details with Nike until after he left university, if the contract was good he could make a deal with them and when he entered the NBA he would sign this contract with Nike. "You don''t have to call me sir, you can be less informal and call me by my name." "I''ll do it so, you might be wondering why our company hasn''t contacted you before, that''s because you suddenly came across as an athlete and we didn''t have time to prepare a contract proposal for you." "When you won in Chicago last year and then came second in New York, the directors just got to know your name and so decided to wait and see." "Unfortunately we ended up missing our opportunity to get a contract at that time, after all this year you qualified to race at the Olympics and eventually won, after which as you would go to university we thought we had missed the opportunity and would have to wait." "But right now while you are at university you still have some sponsorship deals, so we realize we missed another chance." "It''s true, unfortunately right now that I have some sponsorship contracts I can''t have a new contract in my university playing period." "Yeah, we know that and so we decided to wait until you finish college to talk about a contract, but after you won in Chicago and New York this year we decided to talk to you at least." The company''s marketing people realized that they missed a lot of opportunities to make a contract with Jake this year, he''s a brilliant young man who has accomplished a lot in athletics and may also have a chance to get into the NBA. In fact, Nike knew they already had teams that wanted to talk to Jake right after he left high school, so it''s almost certain he could join an NBA team, so a contract with him would just be more valuable. Jake was also interested in that, if it was a good deal he would accept now, after all, it would only be for a few years, in 2003 he would want a much better contract for him, or he could just run out of any contract. "What is your company''s proposal?" "We have a $ 5 million proposal for a 4-year contract. Every major marathon you win would get you another $ 50,000 and every world record you break would earn you another $ 50,000." That had been a very thoughtful contract by the marketing team, and in a few more years when Jake left college they wouldn''t know whether or not he would play in the NBA and if he would still have a high level of track and field performance, it was a risk to them, but for an athlete it was a very good contract, the best they could offer today. It might seem like a great contract for an average athlete, but Jake thought this contract was very bad, had the least consideration for being one of the best for athletes they could offer, but Jake knew it was too little. This contract was even smaller than Alan and John''s companies paid, he sincerely expects a lot more from a company like Nike, maybe they would have thought of getting a great deal if Jake became a professional basketball player. But Jake knew he would surely become an NBA player and with the help of the system he could even become a star as the best players in history, so this contract was a joke for Jake If he entered one more type of athletics as he thought this contract would no longer be worth it. It was better than Jake just renewed the contract with the companies that were with him now, and Nike hadn''t even offered a shoe line by his name which was the wish of every athlete in the world. "I''m sorry Martin, but I will have to decline this proposal, it''s far below what I sincerely expected." "Could you say what made you dissatisfied with this contract?" Martin sincerely thought it was a great contract for a marathon runner, and Nike was a big company that every athlete wanted to be associated with, so he didn''t understand what made Jake dissatisfied. "This is a great contract for a regular marathon runner, but you are forgetting that I am also a basketball player, this contract shows that you are not confident enough in my future as I am." "You had to work out a contract thinking of me as a basketball player as well as a marathoner after all this contract is after I leave college, if you have a good view you can even profit from an early contract." "We are considering that you can become an NBA player, so the value is higher than an average marathoner, but we can have no guarantee of that, so it''s a risk and if you are a big player this contract is just for the first 4 years, then we can renew with a higher value." "If you think it''s a risk I''d rather wait until I leave university to talk about it again, I have confidence in myself, not to mention that I won''t get the value now anyway." "And for you to know how I think the value you offer is low even a sponsor of mine currently pays me more than this contract." After saying that Jake went to his room and went to rest until he had to go to the airport at night, he was a little disappointed with what Nike offered, he would accept a minimum of $ 4 million a year to sign now." Jake had always heard that the Nike company was smart and so they always made the best deals, but that didn''t seem true to Jake, maybe if he was someone who needed the money and didn''t have confidence he could sign the contract. After a few hours he left the hotel and arrived at the university after a few hours, after winning again he was certain that Coach Smith would not be angry that he missed a day of training. Now he needed to focus on basketball and forget about the marathons, in a few weeks it would be his first game at university and he was anxious. Chapter 271 The Beginning of the Season at College Basketball 3 When Jake arrived at the university everyone was asleep, he also went to sleep when he felt tired, when he woke up in the morning it was almost time to go to classes, Zack had left to run in the morning and William and Aaron praised Jake for winning more a marathon. After attending classes with William, Jake went to basketball training to do the training and warn Coach Smith that he had returned, the coach had to know that he could count on him for the rest of the pre-match training. For Jake and the team, this marathon stop was great before the first game, Jake had received the same statistic reward he received the first time he won in Chicago, with 1 more Resistance point and 1 agility point better for the first game. In addition, this would make Jake''s 50 km high-speed running training much easier, and basketball training was not a problem for Jake at the moment, but it could be when the basketball team games started. Jake also talked to his mother about the race victory and Tiffany who was very happy, after basketball training he can talk to Zack who also congratulated Jake on winning. After that Jake focused only on his training with the basketball team, Coach Smith decided to leave Jake in reserve and play with Ed Cota as a starter, Shammond Williams would play part in the position of PG and part of the game in position of SG. So Ed Cota and Vince Carter who would spend a few minutes taking turns, Jake would also play PG taking turns so Shammond William would probably play more in SG''s position and Vince would have to stay a few minutes in reserve. Makhtar N''Diaye would play in PF position and so with Antawn Jamison playing as SF the team was complete, Coach Smith also planned to let Jake play as SF and put Antawn Jamison as PF at some points in the game. So Center Serge Zwikker would be the least likely to have to take their position in the game and could play longer on the court, Coach Smith had problems with how to scale players but was happy to have those skilled player problems left in the team. This was the team decided for the first game, after forming this team Coach Smith organized more specific training to train players for the first game of the season. Usually, the first games of a new season at university were more complicated, because sometimes some players were still out of shape and the team would have to get used to the new players. After a few weeks, the day of the first game had arrived, on November 22, 1996, the first opponent was the Arizona Wildcats team, the Wildcats had won the NCAA National Tournament after eliminating the Tar Heels team that Jake was now. So you could see how strong the opponents of the first game were, in this game in Jake''s past life the Tar Heels team had lost that game, so this time probably the same would happen if Jake didn''t play in the game. Even though Jake wasn''t worried about that, the opposing team was strong and if Jake couldn''t play many minutes he knew it wouldn''t make much difference in this game, the game would be at Springfield Civic Center in Springfield, MA. The whole team was excited for this first game, even if the opponents had tradition no one was afraid because the Tar Heels team also had the tradition, of course, if they knew what Jake knew would probably be different. Coach Dean Smith did a great job of motivating and encouraging the players, for the most talented players often working with the confidence of the players was more important than the tactics that had already been put into training. College basketball rules were different from high school, the games had two 20-minute strokes each and a 15-minute break, so Jake''s Resistance would make a lot more difference if he played a full game. Everyone knew on the day of the game what position they would play in or if they would be in reserve, Jake naturally as he hoped would be in reserve, but he did not expect Ed Cota to stay in reserve either. It would be Shammond Williams who would play in PG position and Ademola Okulaja would play as PF, Vince Carter would start in SG position and the others were the same as training when the game started Jake was very excited to finally be playing his first game in university. Jake knew the skill of his teammates very well and so was paying more attention to the opposing team players in the first half of the game, Michael Bibby was the opposing team''s PG and Jake knew him a little. He played in the NBA for 14 years as a pro and then became a coach, never managed to win an NBA champion ring of the season, but took his team to some playoffs, earning some NBA All-Rookie honors in 1999. He was not a player Jake considered very good, but had a stable performance usually averaging over 12 points per game and 5 assists plus a few rebounds, yet managed to play for 14 years in the NBA which was impressive. Michael Dickerson was playing as SG and sometimes switching positions with Miles Simon and playing as SF, Michael did not play in the NBA long after leaving university because of an injury, he was a player who scored many points in the game. Miles Simon started playing as the team''s SF and made a great pair with Michael Bibby, Miles didn''t play long in the NBA after college either, he was along with Michael the team''s top scorer. Bennett Davison was the team''s PF and didn''t play in the NBA either, he averaged less than 10 points per game and caught a lot of rebounds with A. J. Bramlett who was the Center who played the NBA for a short time. Jason Terry was an SG and played as the team''s sixth player entering important moments, Terry played many years in the NBA over 19 years, won the NBA championship with Dallas in 2011 and was a great sixth player and also very good at the shooting of 3 points. The reason Jake chose this team besides being a fan of Michael Jordan was that it was a very strong team that didn''t win titles, he could play with the legendary coach Dean Smith and several players he was a fan of. The biggest weakness of this team oddly enough was that they didn''t score much with 3-point shots, the players didn''t risk much and missed a lot in important games, even though Ed Cota who debuted in the games was a big PG with In his assists he did not make many points. So most points were scored by Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, and Antawn Jamison, and the three did not have many games with more than 20 points which made the situation of the team complicated. Jake''s strength was the 3-point shots and he made more than 30 points per game on average, so Jake thought he could be the player this team needed to be a champion, not to mention that he could make multiple assists and defend well too. At the beginning of the first half, the two teams were very much alike in the game, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison were playing better and creating more moves besides making a few points, the commentators were also excited about an equal game like this. "The game is very popular here at Springfield Civic Center, in those first 5 minutes of the game Vince Carter scored 4 points and Antawn Jamison scored 6 points, we received information that both are a classmate and so has a lot of rapport." "Yes, even though Shammond Williams is not as talented as PG as he is in SG position he is making a great game too, yet the opponents are equally talented." "The Wildcats team is playing a great game with Michael Dickerson performing well and freshman Mike Bibby doesn''t seem to be debuting today and is playing very well." "Speaking of freshmen, Jake is also a freshman who had a great time playing very well in high school being MVP for two straight years and also getting a sponsorship even though he was in college after winning several marathons and a gold medal in the Olympics." "Yes, but we have never seen him play so we can''t say he plays that well, and Coach Smith doesn''t seem to trust the freshmen so much and has left everyone on the bench, even Ed Cota who also got the spotlight is on the bench."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Especially with such a game, I don''t think Coach Smith would risk a change that would break the balance of the game in favor of the opponent." Just as they said Coach Smith did not think of putting anyone in early in the game, yet he had thought of a tactic and after a few minutes put Ed Cota in place of Ademola Okulaja and Vince Carter defended the opposing PF when Ed was on the court. Shammond Williams played as SG when Vince moved in defense and Ed Cota was the team''s PG, so Shammond Williams had more freedom to drive to the basket or shoot from outside. "Both teams have different playing styles, while Wildcats try more from outside and mid-range shots, Tar Heels tries to score more in the opposing area, both tactics have their advantages, but if the Wildcats have a good aim they won this game." In the first half of this game the two teams remained very much the same, only Ed Cota, who was in reserve, entered the game for a few minutes while coach Dean Smith rotated the players. By the time the 20 minutes into the first half were over, both teams were tied for points, Ed Cota was making good plays and assisting as he entered the court, which pleased Coach Smith. Jake didn''t look like he''d have a chance in the first half, maybe it was a coach''s punishment for missing training in marathon competitions, even if he had won and the university was happy with that, the coach wasn''t happy to split his player with another sport. Only Jake was more apprehensive because without him on the court the game ended the way he saw in his past life, if it went on they would lose. Chapter 272 The Beginning of the Season at College Basketball 4 The game was tied and in the 15 minutes of the break the coaches just encouraged the players more, it was just the first game of the players of the season and the game was tied so there was no reason for the coaches to complain. If there was any difference between the teams it was that Michael Bibby who was a freshman was getting more confidence from the coach and was excelling more in the game, Ed Cota just helped with assists and had little defensive presence. When the second half started again Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison excelled in attacks, Shammond Williams was not having a good game and missed a lot of shots from outside, so in the first minutes of the second half, he could not do much. After 10 minutes had passed in the second half the game was already different, Mike Bibby started to play much better in the second half and neither Ed Cota nor Shammond Williams was able to score it because they did not expect him to play so well. Michael Dickerson was also playing very well in the second half and soon they opened a lead of 5 points on the scoreboard, and you could see that the Wildcats team was better prepared for this game. Coach Smith naturally realized this and decided to give Jake a chance to play a few minutes in this game when he was called in by coach Jake was very happy and took off his jacket getting ready to play. "The Wildcats team is dominating in the first 10 minutes of the second half, as the two teams are very much equal in the game a 5-point lead when only 10 minutes left can decide the outcome of the game." "Really, Dickerson is playing especially well in the game and has already scored 3 three-point shots in 4 attempts, it seems that after seeing that he is fine he is gaining confidence for this endgame." "Both teams are among the favorites to win the NCAA Tournament this year, I know it may be too early to speak, but as a freshman like Mark Bibby and a player like Dickerson they can be champions this year." "It seems that Tar Heels coach Dean Smith has decided to make a change to try to regain the game''s balance, he''s putting on this year''s freshman sensation Jake Smith, he''s an Olympic medalist only in another sport." "Hahaha, all the scouts gave Jake''s top rating, he averages over 30 points per game and over 9 assists plus 6 steals, if he can do half of that at university we''ll see a new genius." Even though Jake always had good professional ratings many were skeptical about his basketball skills, Jake seemed to everyone to be devoting most of his time in marathons, so he has won almost everything and broken several records. The experts were just reporting what they saw, Jake managed to lead an average team to two national championships in a row, proof of this was that he could be twice followed MVP championship. Jake ended up replacing Ed Cota, Shammond Williams was having a bad game and was left in reserve, so the team was Jake as PG, Vince Carter in SG position, Antawn Jamison in SF position, Ademola Okulaja in PF position and Serge Zwikker in the position of Center. Jake was defending against Mark Bibby who had already scored 16 points in the game and wanted more, Dickerson had scored 19 points and had hit 4 shots out of 5 attempts, so the end of the game would be much harder for Jake''s team. When Jake entered the opposing team was having another attack on Bibby with the ball, so Jake soon prepared to defend against Bibby, in the whole game Bibby was having more freedom to play and did not expect to face the pressure of Jake''s defense. Still, he didn''t worry because, with 30 seconds of possession, Wildcats liked to circle the ball until someone had a chance to try the Field goal from any position. Bibby passed the ball to Dickerson open from the left, so Dickerson protected the ball and dribbled into the three-point line and passed it to Simon who also played very well and was only overshadowed by the performances of Bibby and Dickerson. Simon tried to force his way through Jamison''s shot, but Jamison was defending well against Simon in that game so Simon passed the ball to Dickerson who was open from the left, Vince Carter was away from Dickerson and couldn''t make it in time to block the attempted shot from outside Dickerson who was full of confidence. Luckily this time Dickerson missed the shot and Jake went up to get the rebound, Jake protected the ball and then passed Carter on the right, Carter advanced to the attack line as Wildcats retreated to defense. Carter advanced and passed the ball to Jake on his left side, Jake received the ball and accelerated while Bibby was fumbling for Carter, Jake quickly passed Bibby and when Simon tried to stop his advance Jake passed Jamison who was unmarked. Jamison did not miss the opportunity and advanced to layup and 2 points more for the Tar Heels team, so with a rebound and assistance from Jake they reduced the advantage to 6 points, the advantage was 8 points before Jake came in when Dickerson hit Another shot from outside.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Coach Smith applauded Jake''s ability in the play, even though he was an amateur he showed personality and led the play, it seems that it had been the right decision to bring Jake into this game, he wasn''t sure of Jake''s abilities as he had not personally seen in-game. Coach Guthridge who brought Jake from high school was delighted to see Jake playing so easily at an important moment in the game, he went against the idea of ??Coach Smith putting Ed Cota instead on him, both were freshmen and Jake was clearly superior even in training. After this play the opponents became more cautious with Jake in the game, they knew Bibby was a freshman and could play so well so they had no intention of underestimating Jake''s skills. After a few moves Dickerson had hit another three-point shot and now had 7 attempts and 5 hits, so the lead increased to 9 points and was now the attack of the Tar Heels team. Jake broke off with the ball dominated and soon passed to Carter on the right, he and Vince Carter were closer in training and so made several plays together in training, Carter soon passed the ball to Jamison forward with who also had a lot of rapport. Jake broke off with the ball dominated and soon passed to Carter on the right, he and Vince Carter were closer in training and so made several plays together in training, Carter soon passed the ball to Jamison forward with who also had a lot of rapport. Jamison set off for individual play on Simon, after a feint he managed to get past Simon and tried to move inside, Dickerson had returned to assist in the defense with the intention of making Jamison back off, Bibby was defending against Carter who was more important. So Jamison did not hesitate to pass the ball to Jake who was behind free, Jake received the ball off the three-point line and did not hesitate and tried a shot from outside and the ball went in to increase the score by 3 for Tar Heels and return the difference in the scoreboard to 6 points. Soon after the Wildcats team made a quick and organized move through several players and stopping at Dickerson''s hands again who tried another shot from outside to make three more points and increase the lead to 9 points again. "This season-opening game for these two teams is very exciting, one attack after another and the Wildcats team retain the 9-point lead, Dickerson has been making a historic game and has 6 hits out of 8 3-point shooting attempts." "Indeed, after Jake joined the Tar Heels team, he has found the right way to react, but Dickerson is taking all chances of the Tar Heels team reacting." "Jake really got on very well, he made an assist and 3 points with a shot from outside, plus a rebound in just 3 minutes of play, Bibby couldn''t make any points after Jake came in." "It''s really a shame for Tar Heels fans that Jake didn''t get into this game before, another result could be showing right now." "We couldn''t predict either Coach, Dean Smith, that even though Carter was so good at the attack so far his defense left a lot to be allowed allowing Dickerson the freedom to hit so many 3-point shots." "See what an engaging play from team Tar Heels now, after the ball goes through many players Jake got an excellent pass for Carter to make 2 more points with a dunk and thus narrow that gap to 7 points again." "With less than 7 minutes to go, we''ll see if we have a reaction from the Tar Heels team at the end of the game." After Jake made the pass for Carter to make 2 more points he returned to defense, Wildcats seemed to be in no hurry to attack, they had to spend 30 seconds of possession to find an opportunity and increase the lead again. After a few exchanges, the ball went back to Mark Bibby who was full of confidence after having a great debut as a freshman, unfortunately, in that debut, he also made a lot of mistakes and had a lot of turnovers. Bibby tried to pass the ball quickly at the end of possession, and Jake intercepted the pass that would go to Simon, Bibby could not imagine that Jake was leaving a purposeful opening so he could intercept the pass. So Jake was in no hurry and returned the ball with Jamison who was behind him, Jamison advanced with the ball and passed to Carter when he reached the court, Carter advanced and passed to Jake again. Jake again used his agility to slip past Bibby easily into the inner area, the defense tightened and Jake passed the ball in style to Center Zwikker. Zwikker was free and did not miss the opportunity and made the layup to make 2 more points for Tar Heels and reduce the lead to 5 points. Chapter 273 The Beginning of the Season at College Basketball 5 It seemed like a reaction was going on, just Jake wasn''t that quiet, he could have changed a few things coming into the game but he couldn''t stop Dickerson from making his points. While defending against Mark Bibby was already tiring and difficult for Jake, he again understood that university games were different from high school, only by using his agility that had greatly improved since high school that Jake could have some advantage in that game. So Jake couldn''t help anyone in defense while scoring Bibby, as Bibby was the PG of the team he was the one who set up the moves, yet Jake defending against him couldn''t help much in the game. In another Wildcats attack with an engaging play again Dickerson was left free and tried another 3-point shot to miss this time, Jake again was alert and managed to catch another rebound. Jake passed the ball to Carter who advanced while Jake went to position himself in the attack after Carter advanced without the opposing defense disturbing he passed to Jake the ball again, Jake pretended to make a pass for Jamison and Bibby was tricked. So Jake seized and stepped back and tried another shot from outside to make Tar Heels 3 points further and reduce the lead to just 2 points, all quickly rearranging themselves in defense and Wildcats was no longer calm and advanced to the attack. "What an amazing game my friends, from a lead that reached 9 points dropped to just 2 points, only one attack can bring the upset to the Tar Heels team." "It looks like the Wildcats team is relying a lot on freshman Mark Bibby and Michael Dickerson, they are having a great match, but everyone can go wrong and in two mistakes the Tar Heels team made the difference." "We have to give a lot of merit to Jake who got into this game very well, he was directly responsible for this turnaround and in these two errors of the opposing team Jake got a steal and a rebound in addition to an assist and 3 points made." "It''s really amazing what he did with just 6 minutes on the court, now the game is over, let''s keep watching to see if a historic turnaround can happen." In the next attack by Wildcats, Jamison made a mistake in the defense and left Simon with a chance to score, Jake had to abandon Bibby''s defense to prevent Simon from making the move freely. So Simon saw that Bibby got free and passed the ball quickly behind when Jake was getting in the cover, so Bibby was free to try an outside shot and make 3 more points and return the lead to 5 points.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Tar Heels struck again shortly after, this time Jake only touched the ball twice and it was Jamison who eventually made the pass for Carter who made a feint and drive to the basket to make a layup to make 2 more points and decrease the difference to 3 points. In the other play, Simon could advance again on Jamison''s defense and made 2 more points bringing the difference back to 5 points, the game was coming in the final minutes and the advantage was not diminishing. As the players from Tar Heels became impatient and Jake received the ball less, Jamison passed the ball to Zwikker who was heavily marked, so Zwikker turned the ball over to Carter who was off the three-point line and attempted the shot. Unfortunately, as he was not well-positioned, he missed, so Jake was far behind and could not fight for the rebound with Bennett Davison, so they missed the chance to lower the score again. With less than 2 minutes left, Jake''s teammates became even more impatient and attempted a foul on Bibby to stop the clock, soon after another foul was committed by Carter on Simon. That was the seventh collective foul, Simon easily converted the free throw and the lead increased to 6 points, coach Smith shouted at the edge of the court to stop the fouls, this would not help anything the advantage had in the game. Jake took the ball and moved forward to arrange another move for the Tar Heels team, After advancing he passed the ball to Carter who was on the right, Carter advanced and passed the ball to Jamison who was on the left. Jamison tried a feint in Simon who was in defense but Simon was alert and steadfast in defense so Simon passed the ball to Okulaja who was in front, Okulaja couldn''t make the move and turned the ball back to Jake. Jake used his agility and with a crossover and was able to pass by Bibby easily and went inside, Simon tried to stop Jake on the move and Jake managed to pass by Simon as well and drive to the basket and ended the move with a dunk to score 2 more points to Tar Heels and decrease the lead to 4 points. In the next play the Wildcats attacked and after the ball went through several players ended up again in the hands of Dickerson who tried again the tenth outside shot to make 3 points for the Wildcats team. Then in the last seconds of the game, Vince Carter still managed to score 2 more points, but the Wildcats team still came out with victory just as Jake remembered in his past life, he can prevent Mark Bibby from making some points, but can''t change the end result of the game. Arizona Wildcats won 75-70 against UNC team Tar Heels, the score was different from what Jake remembered in his past life and Jake felt his team only lost because he can only play for 10 minutes and Michael Dickerson from the opposing team made a great game. Jake didn''t like to lose any games, but he couldn''t do anything about it and just consoled himself into thinking that the outcome of the game could be different if he played longer. "This was a really great game, a season-opening game being so good is a sign showing that the season for college basketball this year is very good." "It is true, even though the difference in the final score was only 5 points the game was not so disputed, in the first half the two teams were very balanced and even ended the first part of the game tied." "But the Wildcats were rewarded for their coach betting on freshman Mark Bibby who may be one of the top names for this team next year." "On the other hand, Tar Heels lost this game as a result of Coach Dean Smith''s indecision to trust younger players." "Only Ed Cota had more playing time than Jake and clearly Jake could make the outcome of this game completely different." "In the few minutes he was on the court he could give Tar Heels a real chance to lead the scoring, with more time on the court he could definitely do that." After the game was over the commentators criticized coach Dean Smith for having no confidence and putting Jake in the game, the reason being that a freshman like Mark Bibby was a major contributor to the Wildcats'' victory. Even though Coach Dean Smith didn''t think he was wrong and didn''t bother with the criticism he received, he thought it might be lucky that Jake had played so well in this game, one of the reasons the team lost was that Shammond Williams was the holder in PG position had a poor performance in this game. So in the early games at least he intended to keep Jake still in reserve but would give him more minutes of play, after all, if he had a player who could do so well in a few minutes it would help a lot in the team games. Everyone came back upset that they lost the game even though they played so well, but they didn''t bother much because they knew it was normal to lose a few games this season and the Wildcats team played very well in that game. As soon as they arrived at university everyone returned to their dormitories and Jake talked to his friends about the outcome of the game, everyone felt bad for Jake who had lost the game but understood that this was normal in a basketball season. Jake also called her mom to tell her about the game, Eva was surprised and sad that Jake had lost the game, even though it was normal for others it was not normal for Jake, for over 5 years Eva had not remembered hearing that Jake lost some game. "I think your coach is wrong Jake, how can anyone who plays as well as you miss out on a game like this." "I didn''t stay out, Mom, I played for 10 minutes." "Still, doesn''t this coach know how many universities wanted you to go to play as the team star? Now that he has you on the team not letting you play at least 30 minutes is a waste." "That''s normal, mom, he still doesn''t know how I can play at university, games are much harder than at high school, if I played for 10 minutes in a high school game I could easily score 16 points and still make 5 assists." Jake was honest in what he was saying, in a high school game in 10 minutes he could do what he said, but in that game, he only scored 8 points and got only 3 assists, which served to show how much more difficult it is. That''s because Jake has been able to greatly increase all of his physical stats and abilities in recent months, otherwise he could achieve even worse performance in this game, Jake could feel that perhaps in the next few years of college he could not reach a level of skill that made it superior to all other players. After talking to Eva, Jake was much more comfortable even after losing a game after so long, which comforted him was that with more playing time he could do more and change the results of the games he remembered in his past life. Not to mention that since this was an ordinary game it didn''t matter whether it was lost or not if it was an ACC Tournament or NCAA Tournament game he might not accept defeat so easily, so what Jake could do was play the best he could something like that wouldn''t happen again. Chapter 274 The Beginning of the Season at College Basketball 6 In the next few days, Jake returned to training routine normally, in the morning he had daily running training with Zack and later he did training with the basketball team. After two days he knew he would not be starting again the next day''s game, he was a little disappointed by that, but he understood that this was Coach Smith''s decision, Coach Guthridge tried very hard to convince Coach Smith to allow Jake played and failed. Jake wanted to secure a place in the team using his own skills and he was sure that in a short time he could end up convincing Coach Smith if he went to another university that the team was not so strong Jake would never have this problem, but he wanted just one university with a strong team to win many Tournament. The other day Jake didn''t do his daily training running as usual and just woke up at the normal time to attend classes because he had to be rested to play the game in a few hours. Jake spent time with his friends after school and then had to go to the Dean Smith Center to prepare for the game, after some time the whole team had done the warm-up exercises and was ready for the game. After the last game, Jake was much more in tune with the whole team, Vince Carter mostly helped Jake get a lot closer to his other teammates, especially Antawn Jamison who was a close friend of Carter got closer to Jake. This made Jake very happy even with the defeat and still remaining in reserve, Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge passed some tactics and positioning to the players before the game. Before the last game as the team, in debut was Coach Smith only worked on the confidence of the players, but after the defeat Coach Smith passed on in detail what mistakes they made in the last game so they could learn and not make the same mistakes in Upcoming games. After a few minutes, the opposing team arrived and they began to prepare to start the game, the opposing team in this game would be Richmond Spiders, they had a weaker team this year and so it would not be a big challenge for the Tar Heels team. But as they had missed the debut game this eventually put pressure on the players, Coach Smith did not want to calm the players down and put more pressure on them to win the game. Jake was pretty calm about it all, Coach Smith had praised his performance in his debut game while criticizing all the other players, and as he would start in reserve Jake didn''t feel the same pressure from the other players. Especially when he remembered that the Tar Heels team had won this game in his past life if he could play longer and the team won as he remembered it would be the best result for Jake. After a few minutes, the game started in the early minutes of the game the Tar Heels team that had much more skilled players began to dominate the game when the team led by 4 points for a few minutes everyone started to calm down and played even better. Everyone was fine in this game and just 6 minutes into the first half that Coach Smith decided to put Jake into the game, Jake replaced Shammond Williams who was playing well in that game. In 3 minutes playing in the first half, Jake managed to make 5 points, 2 assists, and 1 rebound and was soon replaced by Ed Cota, it seemed that Coach Smith wanted to put several players to play a few minutes and gain experience with a weaker opponent as was the Richmond Spiders team. At the beginning of the second half, Okulaja eventually started on the bench and Shammond Williams was more advanced in his position, Ed Cota continued playing for another 2 minutes and Jake joined the game again. This time Jake played 11 more minutes and made 8 points, 4 assists 3 rebounds and 2 steals, he managed to make fewer points but helped the overall team more, Shammond Williams came in his place and played the last 7 minutes of the second half. Team Tar Heels dominated the entire game and won with a score of 90 points against 71 of team Richmond Spiders, Vince Carter was the best in the game and scored 25 points and got 6 rebounds, after the game everyone returned to their dorms and Jake counted To your friends the good news. His friends were very happy for him after Jake called his mother who was very happy to know that Jake''s team had won, but was angry again to know that Jake played a few minutes in the game, Jake thought differently. He knew that in his past life Coach Smith and even Coach Guthridge had a difficult time casting the team with Ed Cota playing so well, so Shammond Williams had to play a few minutes in Vince Carter''s position and a few minutes in Ed Cota''s position. And Shammond Williams has always been a big player in Jake''s memories, so this time the coaches still had more Jake to make that decision even harder to make in a short time. Even so, Jake could play longer in this game and played even better, while Ed Cota played a lot less time than Jake and less than in the last game, which showed that Coach Smith was deciding to use Jake as the team''s sixth player. Jake felt bad for Ed Cota, but he wanted this place in the starting lineup to help his future as a basketball player, if he ended up in reserve and didn''t have much time to play, he would have to try to transfer to another university with a more weak team to have more playing time.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. In the following days, Jake continued his training routine until the day of the third game of the season arrived, the game would be again at the Dean Smith Center, playing at home was always better for the Tar Heels team. Jake felt the difference from high school having to play several days a week, he could see that those who played the longest or had the worst fitness were a little tired before the third game. Before that, Jake found it strange how the most skilled players who made a big difference in the outcome of a game like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James were replaced in games several times. For him, a 48-minute game with a break of several minutes was not so tiring for several of these players sometimes having to rest for 13 minutes, but going through it personally he understood why this was happening. In addition to playing the 48 minutes with a lot of pressure for the result of a high-intensity game with peers, players often had to play several times a week and sometimes had to travel long distances between these games. It was even worse when some games came in at halftime, so even the best-fit players would have to rest at least 7 minutes to avoid the risk of muscle strain injuries. Good thing the university game season was only for 6 months, otherwise many players could end up hurting themselves with so many games, players like Vince Carter who played for over 20 years at both the university and the NBA were even more amazing. The day before, Jake knew he would not play as a starting man, so when he heard that he was a little disappointed, but he still understood Coach Smith''s position, he remembered that even playing so well Ed Cota often started reserve games in his first year even though it played almost 30 minutes every game. After a few hours, both teams were ready for the game to begin, this third game was with the Pitt Panthers team, the Pitt Panthers team was not a particularly strong team this season either. They got a better campaign by trusting Vonteego Cummings and Mark Blount who played in the NBA and were very good players, Jake also remembered that the Tar Heels team easily won in their past life. Again Jake started the game on the bench, Shammond Williams started as a starter and could feel the pressure of competition with Ed Cota and Jake for his position, if he could not play as SG he would have less and fewer minutes to play. In the first 7 minutes he played well and scored 6 points but was still replaced by Ed Cota, Ed Cota different from Shammond Williams thought more about the collective game and made only 2 points and made 3 assists in the 5 minutes he played. Jake took the place of Ed Cota and was playing for 8 minutes until the end of the first half, Shammond Williams still played another 5 minutes in place of Vince Carter in that first half, Jake had a great performance. Jake made 7 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, he played thinking of the team and also made his points, could you say he had the best of his competitors for PG''s position in the team. Ed Cota started the second half and played for 3 minutes before being replaced, Shammond Williams played for 8 minutes before being replaced and Jake can play for another 9 minutes in that second half. Jake had 12 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals playing in those 9 minutes in the second half of the game, this time Antawn Jamison was the best player in the team scoring 26 points and getting 5 rebounds. But everyone could say that actually the best player on the team was Jake who played just over half the time Jamison played and did a lot more for the team in general after that game everyone had accepted Jake on the team and knew he was really talented as they. With Jake playing basketball so well and still winning several marathons and breaking records, no one else on the team could say he was jealous of him being the only sponsored player on the team. Clearly Jake was a better athlete than them, some might still think they were better at basketball, but Jake did a lot more than all of them overall, Jake still had great grades in school and everyone knew he was smart. So it could be said that Jake was greatly easing the situation for the university and the basketball organization that allowed Jake to be an exception and receive sponsorship, he did everything so well that if used as a reference no one else could get sponsorship. Chapter 275 The Beginning of the Season at College Basketball 7 In this third game, Team Tar Heels won even more easily by 91 points against just 58 points from Team Pitt Panthers, Jake could play longer and knew that at least he had secured the spot as a sixth player and could play longer in the next games. Jake went back to the dorm and told his friends about the win, then called his mother to tell him about the win, Jake was someone more modest, and although he always told his win friends he didn''t talk about how many points he made at the games. So for a while, his friends thought that maybe Jake wasn''t even playing games and so didn''t count what his performance was like, but after the third game, they found that even though Jake wasn''t a starter he still played many minutes and scored several points. Just as they were their friends, they decided to watch Jake games that were played at the Dean Smith Center, so many already watched those games so they thought they had to do it for Jake at least. Jake didn''t know that and really missed seeing someone he knew in the stands, fortunately in those early games he was so focused on trying to play well and doing his best in the minutes he couldn''t remember staring into the stands. The days passed and Jake continued his training routine, he had only 2 days to train while his teammates rested because he had a game every 3 days. The fourth game was against the Bethune-Cookman team at the Dean Smith Center, again Jake would start in reserve and enter the game when Coach Smith thought the time was right, Coach Guthridge always tried to convince Coach Smith to put Jake in the starting lineup, but could not. The Bethune-Cookman team was also considered weak for this season, they had no players to stand out either, so the Tar Heels team that was coming from a 2-win sequence was very confident in this game. Jake wasn''t blindly confident like the others and just remembered that in his past life the Tar Heels team easily won this game by a large number of points, in fact, he thought these victories could be more dangerous for the blind team confident even winning against weaker teams. In this game Jake played 22 minutes, he scored 22 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals, this was one of his best games at the university and the team won the game by 112 points against 60 points from the Bethune-Cookman team. In this game, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison scored 25 points each and were the best of the team in the game, but again Jake was the most efficient in enjoying the time he had in the game, after this game he would have scored 62 points, 22 assists, 17 rebounds, and 10 steals in 63 minutes played in 4 games. He was already the third player to score the most and was the most assisted and steals player in the team even playing on average half the time of his teammates, this is the report that Coach Guthridge made to convince Coach Smith letting Jake play as a starter. This report was different from seeing a player play in person, it showed accurate performance data, so comparing Jake with his teammates it was impossible for Coach Smith to keep leaving Jake in reserve. He didn''t mind the criticism of others as he decided what was best for the team, but if he didn''t put Jake in the starting lineup he could now be called blind and be doing something that would hurt the team.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. So unbeknownst to Jake he had been placed as a starter for the next game, Shammond Williams would have to play sometime in the positions of Jake, Vince Carter and Ademola Okulaja, so he could play a few more minutes and help the team. Unfortunately, Ed Cota had lost this match and would have to stay most of the games in reserve, coach Smith put Ed Cota to play because he was confident he could play very well and do great things for the team. But with someone like Jake on the team, Coach Smith could not place someone as a starter who played less than Jake himself, now he had to wait for Jake to respond positively to his expectations. Jake realizes during this game by chance that his roommates came to watch his game, it made Jake very happy, his roommates were also very surprised to see how well Jake played in this game. They thought Jake played better than the team stars this year that was Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, after all even though they were better at some things, Jake was someone who played for the team and with quality. Jake called his mother again to tell him that he had won, Eva was very happy for him and thought that this winning streak was normal for Jake as a player, of course, it didn''t depend on Jake and it was the team''s ability. But the media did not think so and had already made Jake one of the best newcomers of the year, Jake was not the best at the moment because he had no opportunity to play as a starter in the team as other newbies already did in other teams. For the next few days Jake kept training hard without knowing he would be a starter, so the day before the game it was Coach Guthridge who personally called Jake to talk, as this had not happened many times before Jake was curious why he had been called. "Jake, I have good news for you, Coach Smith has decided to put you in for the next game." "Thank you so much, coach." Jake was delighted to know that he could play as a starter in the next game, he knew that did not mean that he could always play as a starter nor that he could play a whole game, but he would try his best to take advantage of this opportunity. "It''s good that you''re happy with that, but know that these upcoming games will also be a test for you." "What do you mean, coach?" Jake naturally knew that his starting games would be a test, if he didn''t play well in some games he could end up going back to the team reserve and getting back into the starting lineup after losing coach confidence would be much harder. But Jake felt that Coach Guthridge was mentioning something else when he said that Jake would have a test, it was not about the games themselves, but something else that Jake didn''t know what it was. "This is a time of great pressure for the players, classes are over and the team will have two games in two straight days with no rest days, and after these two games with the tired players you will have the tests in school to worry." Now Jake understood what Coach Guthridge meant by hard testing, really for other players this would be the worst time to come in as a starting lineup, after all for players like them who always have to play and train and travel often don''t have time to study. And the grades are also important for the player to stay in the team, not to mention that many players were tired after this game and will have to play for two games in a row, it could be said that this was the worst time to play as a starter. "Thanks so much for the advice, Coach Guthridge." But it wasn''t like that for Jake, so far as he was playing only half the game he had no problem with his stamina and could still play a lot more games, and classes weren''t a problem for Jake who had learned almost everything. So what would be a fire test for other players would be just a normal game for Jake, if he could perform well even with the coach thinking it was a tough test for Jake, it would be even better to ensure the coach''s confidence. Jake was also very grateful to the coach Guthridge who had given these councils to him, after all, many players would not think about these things too much and would just be happy to have the opportunity to play as a starter. So the Tar Heels team with a 3 straight winning streak came full of confidence for this game, everyone knew this was an easier game and the next one that would be more complicated because of tiredness. On the day of the game, everyone knew that Jake would be the first starter in the team and he received the sincere congratulations from the whole team, everyone who saw Jake''s last games knew he was very talented and at some point would get the place as a starter. After a few hours, both teams were ready for the game, the team''s opponent Tar Heels for today''s game was USC Trojans, this was a team that had a good team for this year''s season, it wasn''t a favorite team to win But it was a good staff. In the first half Jake played for 14 minutes and was replaced by Ed Cota, in that first half Jake scored 18 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals and helped the team a lot in the defensive part. In the second half, Jake played for another 15 minutes and scored 13 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals and even helped the team in defense too, in this game Jake was deservedly the best player of the game and made a double-double in his game debut which is amazing. Team Tar Heels won the game with 110 points against 75 points from the USC Trojans team, all celebrated this fourth straight victory a lot and served to take some of the stress out of some players who were stressed out for the week if evidence was coming. Jake was highly praised by everyone and even Coach Smith who didn''t think Jake could play that well, scoring more than 20 points was normal in college basketball, but scoring over 30 points and still getting a double-double was harder to achieve, and Jake had played less than 30 minutes. So with this performance, Jake confirmed that he deserved a place as a team starter, yet Coach Smith''s test was not over yet, the next game would be the next day, and the team would play even more tired than today. Chapter 276 The Beginning of the Season at College Basketball 8 After the game, that day he celebrated with his teammates on the phone and then did not forget to call his mother to tell about the victory as always did Anna also I was glad Jake was winning. The next day the team had another game if it were in another situation the coach Smith could even think of putting only a reserve team to play and save the holders, but as the team afterward would have a rest of a week until the next game he decided to Play with the team normally. Even so, he would have to do more rotation among the players in today''s game, for coach Smith This would be the hardest game they had since the debut game, the opposing team was South Carolina that this year had a very good team. The next day the players were already ready for the beginning of the game, Jake would again be on the initial team as the holder and he was determined to do his best in today''s game, different from the worries of coach Guthridge he remembered that the team Tar Heels would win again today''s game. Even though the result that Jake had seen in the past meant nothing to the game today, he was confident that with him on the team they could only have an even better result than in his past life.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. In the first game Jake can play for 16 minutes before being replaced, he did 15 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake again led the team score in the first part of the game and always had more than 60% hit in the Field goals. In the second part of the game, many players were tired so Jake can play for another 16 minutes in the game, in that second time Jake made 14 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals, after playing again so well he won the confidence of the coach. The Tar Heels team won for 94 points against 73 points of the South Carolina Team, it was an easy win considering the situation in which the team was Antawn Jamison again made a great game and Vince Carter too. It seemed that with Jake playing as PG the whole team was playing much better, with Jake the moves were more easily worked on the attack court and also the defense was stronger, so far all the PG of the opposing teams were annulled by Jake. Jake also made more three-point shots which helped the team to do more points in fewer plays, in addition to making several passes, catching the rebounds and making several steals preventing many opponent''s attacks. All the team''s productivity went up with Jake''s entry into the team, with Ed Cota playing less time in the game the team would theoretically have fewer assists, but Jake also did what Ed Cota and Shammond Williams did. So it was difficult for coach Smith to try to keep Jake in the reserve team, he had the best qualities of the two players and still had qualities that the two had not, now that Jake was on the team and doing well the coach was Satisfied. Coach Guthridge was also very pleased with it because he was the one who brought Jake to the team, he failed to see Jake playing the best he could at the high school, but still trusted Jake. After the game ended Jake celebrated with his friends, was the fifth win followed in 6 games and Jake had already become the team''s holder what was the reason to celebrate, Jake also did not forget to call his mother to say that he had won the game. In the next few days was rest for the players and Jake was no different, he was mentally tired by this sequence of games, of course, he could keep playing because he had no problems with his stamina, the game routine was Harder than he expected. Jake wanted to take this one-week break to go home, but it wasn''t possible because he still had to do the tests this week even if he had no trouble taking the best grades. This week also all his roommates were concentrated in the studies, Zack would also stop running for a week to have more time studying, in the early days Jake also decided to rest his body and would not do any kind of training. So while resting in the dorm Jake stopped to think about the last few months, after winning the gold medal in the Olympics he stayed home a little while and then had to go to college. He still ran into two marathons that can win and break the world record in Chicago and finally win in New York, at that time also Jake had to spend a lot of time in his training both to run marathons as to play on the basketball team. Fortunately, he had several friends in his dorm in this first semester of university and even Zack still ran with him, his training in the basketball team also gave results, he felt he improved a lot in skill and got a vacancy as the Tar Heels team holder. So time passed quickly and it was more than 4 months since he was at the university, even though he thought he could go home more often this semester he couldn''t go home once. Even always talking to her mother on the phone and knowing that she was happy working at the restaurant and with several friends like Anna taking care of her, Jake still couldn''t let her miss her mother. He was seriously thinking of going home when the College Games had a stop in January, he wanted to spend his birthday at home, as he will not take classes in that time he will be free to go to Miami. While I was thinking about life Jake decided to take a look at his stats that he hadn''t seen since a few months ago, he knew he had improved because he can see the results in training and on the court. "Fate, show me my first job stats." [Here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 17 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: College Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 1.96 m] [Weight: 99 Kg] [Force 35] [Agility 37] [Resistance 40] [Intelligence 60] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Basketball Skills [Ball Handling A] [Body Control B] [Man to Man B] [Dribble B] [Layup A] [Set Shot S] [Block B] [Pass A] [Rebound B] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] [Steal A] [Dunk B] --------------------------------- Jake was surprised to see how his skills improved since the last time he had seen him, he thought he was better than when he left high school had improved a lot but didn''t think the ranks of his skills would improve either. Now all his skills were at least in rank B, even the defensive skills and the ones he wore less in the games improved, his shooting skills that were always easier to increase reached as much as possible at the College level. For Jake it seemed that all his skills that were without much improvement for nearly a year at the high school suddenly improved when he joined the Tar Heels team, now he knew he had no way of improving his skills so much in the coming years in the College. "Fate, what happened that my abilities have improved so much in these months?" [That was what I had already explained to you a few years ago, your skills greatly improve with training and especially with real games, you have done all the training possible by training almost twice a day in the space of imagination training.] [The other way to improve your skills in both rank and the overall level was naturally with your advancing age, so you managed to get to College level even while you were at high school and trained a lot at that time.] [So when in addition to the training you also had the correct age and still disputed games your skill naturally improved, I thought you would have already noticed this when your skill level was similar to your teammates who will be stars in the NBA.] When Jake stopped to think about it he found that the system was right, he was very focused on the information that the system had given that many players didn''t even reach the top of the skill rank at the college level before graduating or going to a league of Professional basketball. So he didn''t think he could get to the top of his skills so early, but he was just thinking of the normal college-level players, the high-level teams like the Tar Heels where he was currently playing naturally would have players with level Higher skills. So if he could play with players of the same level as his team he should also have high-level skills, Jake was more excited because that meant he had skill to play in the NBA even though at a basic level. [I wanted to remind you that it will not be so easy to increase your other skills to the highest rank of the college, mainly because you are a complete player who seeks to improve all your skills.] [These players usually strive more to improve on a defined game style and so they can improve faster, so even if you take more time to get to the same level, it will be even better for you.] Jake naturally did not expect that he could overcome all players quickly, he was accustomed to improving his skills quickly, but now that he was approaching the professional level would be increasingly difficult, so he was surprised to improve his skills quickly this time. After talking to the Jake system decided to rest, he wanted to relax well this week before the game sequence began again, but that Jake''s desire could not be satisfied so easily. The next day Jake who had no morning training woke up later and just made his proofs of the day, it was easy as expected for him, Jake still tried to teach his friends in a few hours, but it was impossible for everyone to learn the matter so easily. After the evidence he received an unexpected call, only a few people had his current phone number, so he answered quickly. "Hello, I''d like to talk to Jake Smith." "It''s me, who''s talking?" "I am from the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS), I would like to inform you that you have won this year''s prize." "What prize?" "It is the AIMS World Athlete of the Year award, this award is given to the best athletes of long-distance competitions, with their various victories in many marathons and in the Olympics and Your world record we decided to give you the prize that year, congratulations." Chapter 277 New Stage at College Basketball 1 Jake was very happy to know that he had won this award, even though he didn''t know much about the world''s athletics awards it was obvious that this award was very important to long-distance athletes like him. He had never won any awards in the years he played basketball, prizes like Mr. Basketball or was selected for McDonald''s All-American Game, he never thought his first prize in the sport would be by Run in the marathons.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The only thing that consoled Jake was that not even Michael Jordan who was his idol had won prizes while playing at the High School, so Jake could console himself that he was following a different path from the others. "Thank you very much for the prize, How do I receive?" "We will have only one reception in a hotel in New York and you must go to receive, in fact, this award took longer than expected that year, the winner among women has already received the prize." "Why did it happen?" "Because we planned to give this award to someone else, after you won the gold medal at the Olympics we decided to wait to make another assessment, but soon after you won the Chicago marathon and broke the world record and so won the prize." The person on the phone ended up summarizing the situation, but Jake understood that the situation had been much more complicated than this person was talking about, the important thing was that he had won in the end and would receive the prize. So the following night Jake traveled after making the proofs for New York to receive the prize, he hoped that this reception at the hotel would be very lively and that many people would be present. But it turned out that only the people of the AIMS were present at dinner, Jake received the prize and was applauded and then took some photos and talked to a staff of the association, as already Had come to New York Jake stayed for quite a while and chatted with several members of the association before leaving. Still, he was very happy to have won the prize and even asked for some copies of the photos at the dinner in which he received the prize after all this was the first international prize he won since he started running. Some members of the press were also present in this award and so this award would also be published in the newspapers, Jake also asked them to send some copies of the paper to him when they published. Everyone liked to talk to Jake who had a very good personality and was humble when he talked to everyone, all the members of the press knew that Jake was now a college basketball star beside a great athlete. Reporters asked some questions about the games and the team, as well as asking about the marathons that Jake had won, Jake was very polite and answered all the questions, even the most personal. Sports reporters were happy to have come to this award because they had the opportunity to ask several questions that Jake had not responded to anywhere before, so Jake decided to stay in New York and go away just the other day. The next day while Jake thought of a good time to leave he received another invitation, it seemed that the news that Jake was in New York had spread to the middle of sporting News. "Hello, I''d like to talk to Jake Smith." "It''s me, who''s talking?" "I am Joe, a representative of Sports Illustrated, we have learned that Mr. Smith is here in New York and we would like to invite you to take some photos and do an interview for our magazine for the month of January." This was not an invitation to receive a prize, but it was also a great honor for an athlete, even though it was not for the cover of the magazine it was still very cool to be in a great magazine like This, not to mention that it would be another great Advertising for their sponsors. Jake did not know this because he was too busy with the Games, but his fame climbed on another level after this sequel of 5 victories on the Tar Heels team, now he was widely recognized for being talented and succeeding in two different sports. Before when he was younger he gained some fame by participating in competitions in two different sports, but he was still at the high school and had won only one marathon. Now things were different, he was participating in a high level of two different sports, he won several marathons and managed to break a world record in athletics, and in basketball was on a college team that had a history of several Tournament won. So his feat was much better and difficult to repeat, so Jake was having more visibility than ever, if he could beat this NCAA Tournament would be even more surprising, so of course, the great magazines would want to interview him. "I accept yes, you can send me the address I go there." After a few hours, Jake had arrived where Joe gave the address, Jake had said on the phone that he had to travel to the university, so the magazine staff quickly organized the photo section and the interview that would just be written. The photos were with Jake holding a basketball and a replica of the gold medal he won at the Olympic game, of course, the real medal was in Miami and Jake would not have time to catch. Jake took just a few pictures as he wouldn''t be on the cover of the magazine, but the photographer found Jake very photogenic and the photos were all great, so the photographer spent almost 1-hour taking several photos. The photographer just stopped when the reporter who would do the interview said it was already good, the photographer was unhappy with it, he thought that if Jake were on the cover of the magazine with his appearance the women would be the most who would buy these magazines for their Husbands. Shortly afterward was the interview, Jake received a list of the questions that would be asked to prepare him, the only question that Jake refused to answer was about his sponsorship, after all, he had overcome this matter with his teammates and was not good Touch the subject again. "Today, we will have a special interview with Jake Smith, the basketball player of the UNC team Tar Heels who has been playing a very important role in this impressive sequel for as long as 5 consecutive victories." "Smith is also a great athlete who has been dazzling the world of athletics this past year, began to race by winning the Chicago Marathon with only 16 years and has since won a total of 5 marathons in 6 disputed." "Being one of those marathon-won marathons in this year''s Atlanta Olympics with the Olympic record and another of these victories in their second time running in Chicago where he broke the world record." "Thank you for accepting our invitation, Mr. Smith." "I appreciate the invitation, you can call me Jake, I feel more comfortable like this." "All right then, Jake, How did your interest in sports come about?" "When I was 10 years old I always liked to run, I ran just for fun often, so I kept running whenever I could." "But I was too small yet and there was no one my age who could run with me, so I started and play basketball alone too." "I had never learned basketball before the age of 10 and knew that at high school they didn''t teach basketball to anyone who didn''t know, so I decided to train alone for a while." "In my neighborhood, I didn''t have many open basketball courts, and the courts they had were occupied by the older boys." "What I liked most about coaching when I was alone were the mid-range shots and the three-point shots beyond the free throws, after many months of training alone with my mother''s support that even rode a block in the basement for me I attended a tournament of Street basketball and ended up winning the competitions with young people up to 15 years. " "So I thought I was ready to play basketball on the team at my school, and that''s how it all started." It seemed that the reporter did not expect Jake to tell the whole story of how he became a basketball player, but he still wrote every word and saw that it might be interesting to put that story in the interview. Jake told the truth about how he was interested in sports, but he mixed up what happened in his past life and what happened in that second chance, in his past life he really enjoyed running and never found anyone to run with him. Jake also didn''t have the guts to try to run a marathon because he was very young, so he started practicing other sports besides running, but he never had much enthusiasm for any. What he least liked to play was basketball because he was as bad as Center and PF that were the only two positions that let him play, what he liked most about playing was American football. "So what made you like basketball was actually athletics, this is unexpected, I thought you liked basketball more, but it looks like you just started playing basketball because there was no one to run with you." "It''s basically this, but I''ve always loved basketball so even if I started competing running I''d probably still play basketball." "If you had to choose between basketball and athletics which would you pick?" "I can''t answer that, I love them both and I''ll try my best not to abandon any of the two sports." These questions could seem complicated to answer, but before the interview Jake already knew what questions would be asked and so could think long before in what answers would like to give, not to mention that when he didn''t want to talk about something the interviewer didn''t press. "What was the most special moment for you in sports?" "This is also hard to answer, I was very happy the first time I won a trophy when I was still a child, I was also happy when I won my first national championship in both Middle School and High School." Chapter 278 New Stage at College Basketball 2 "I was also happy when I won my first MVP award, I was very thrilled when I won my first marathon when I won the gold medal in the Olympics too, I was happy when I broke the world record, there were several moments." "You can see that you''ve had a lot of exciting moments and so you can''t decide." "It''s true, that''s because every time I conquer something I feel that all the hard training I''ve had has been rewarded, so there''s no way I''m not happy at all my achievements." "This year you have entered your college life too, what you have found so far." "I really liked the university, the classes are interesting and as everyone has to stay in the dorm I ended up managing to make new friends, the basketball team is also very good and all the other players and coaches are very kind to me." Of course Jake did not talk about the uncomfortable situation that he stayed with the basketball team at the beginning of the season, he was determined not to talk about his sponsorship in this interview, he did not want to create an uncomfortable situation with his companions of Team. "At the beginning of this interview we talked about your basketball team Tar Heels that has a sequence of 5 victories followed at this beginning of the season, you also had a lot of importance in this sequence of victories." "You have 122 points in these first 6 games, with an average of over 20 points per match and still starting the first games as a reserve, how do you feel about it?" "I''m finding everything amazing, I was lucky to be in good condition to be able to make so many points in these first games and my teammates also supported me, it is natural that as a freshman I start in the reserve in the first games." "When I got the best results on the team the coach gave me the opportunity to start playing as a holder, I think our team is very strong that year and so we have this sequence of victories." "Do you think this sequence of victories will continue?" "I think so, this winning streak can be even greater and our team is struggling for that year to win the NCAA tournament." After answering several questions The interview ended, the reporter was very happy because Jake was very open and answered all the questions he did even when he responded evasively on some question that could cause problems for him. After doing the interview Jake returned to the hotel and soon went out to catch the plane back to the university, the next day he would have more evidence and could not waste time strolling, Moreover, he wanted to return to his normal training after resting for a few days. Returning to university Jake told his friends that he had won a prize and would appear in a magazine, his friends were very happy for him and were impressed by Jake leaving so quietly at the university when the week of evidence was Happening. After all, usually this is the tensest time for students, even for athletes who need to have good grades to keep playing, even the most confidence did not think to travel during the week of proofs as Jake did. Jake also told his mother about the prize he won and that he would appear in the magazine, Eva was very happy to know it, also was proud to know that his son had been recognized for his achievements even internationally. Eva was also very homesick for her son, it was the first time Jake spent so much time away from home, she wanted all of Jake''s games to go on television and so could see the son even though not personally. She naturally knew that Jake was busy at the university and so could not go home, he could not just leave the university for no reason saying that he missed his mother, Eva just hoped that Jake could have time at the beginning of the year and Spend your birthday at home. In the coming days Jake returned with his normal training routine, he ran all the moves alone because Zack was still focused only on the week of evidence, and in the training of the basketball team, all appeared to train even with the week of evidence. It was different from Zack''s case because they had an appointment with the basketball team and Zack just did the training because he wanted to, and right after the week of evidence would have new games, so the Tar Heels team couldn''t stop training. Jake was now a holder and was respected by all his teammates, even by Shammond Williams and Ed Cota who lost the seat of headlines to Jake, so the environment was very good for the team to train. On the basketball team Jake was still closer to Charlie Mcnairy and Vince Carter, besides Antawn Jamison who approached him more thanks to Carter''s help, unfortunately, on team Charlie did not have many minutes of play. So Jake, Carter, and Jamison often joined up to train together, a few moves and even tactics that they could work together, Carter and Jamison also trained like this before and so they had so much rapport in the games, but with only two of them Could not make many moves in the training. With Jake training together with them it would be easier to do several pieces of training of different moves, even if these pieces of training do not bring immediate results still helped in the hardest games where sometimes a play can decide the result of the game. Coach Smith was also very pleased to see the three coaching together, they were undoubtedly the most important players of the team and besides being friends also train more time together, it was good for the team as most of the plays pass by them. Training with Carter and Jamison, Jake also discovered that his friends had a great physical preparation and so they could play for so long, so Jake found it a pity that Carter had injured himself in his past life playing in the NBA, it was a pity because he could play much better if you were never hurt. After a few days had passed half the week of evidence, so Jake received a call from director Cameron Crowe, a few months ago that they did not speak, the director Crowe was very happy to have invited Jake to Participate in your film. He thought Jake could do a little promotion for the film after participating in the Olympic Games, but in the film besides acting very well, Jake still won a gold medal in the Olympics and would do marathons after that and was playing very well in the Team Tar Heels in college basketball. That''s still because the director didn''t even use Jake''s name in the film''s publicity and just said that Jake would make a cameo as well as many other famous players, yet Jake''s popularity in the country was very high. Basketball is one of the most beloved and followed sports nationwide, athletics in the Olympic competitions have also always been proud of the country and hope for medals, and Jake managed to participate in a high level of the two sports gaining the affection of a part of the American public. He even got a nickname from Captain America that shows how he is representing the American people that year, not to mention that with Jake''s appearance he can win the favor of the feminine audience much more easily. So Jake''s sponsors were all very happy and we''re earning a lot and saving on advertisements, Tiffany and Clara mostly who did not pay a high sponsorship value to Jake and were taking advantage of the same as the big companies had to Advertising.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Their case could portray perfectly because companies sometimes gave a percentage of the company''s stock as payment to have some sponsored players because sometimes a sponsored athlete is worth a lot more than several advertisements on television. "How have you Been, Jake?" "I have been very well, I can say that by taking some things that were the best year of my life, both professionally and personally." Jake just couldn''t say that this had been a perfect year because he was very sorry to have to get separated if his mother for several months, but he was happy to see that she was being independent as she liked and was happy working at the restaurant. "Glad to hear it, I called to tell you that today will be the premiere of the film, soon I go to a premiere section, the premiere already happened, I did not invite you because I knew you were busy." When director Crowe said this Jake finally remembered that the premiere of the film should even be at this time of the end of the year, this left Jake excited again, he had accomplished his dream of acting in a Hollywood movie and was still a great film. Now he could finally see himself in a Hollywood movie, so Jake couldn''t stop going to the movies and watch his movie personally and he would also invite his friends to watch the movie with him, and he would have to tell his mother that the film would be in the movies. "Thanks for telling me director, I had forgotten to check it out and could end up losing my movie debut." "Hahaha, of course, I would tell you, having you participating in my film helped a lot to attract the audience to watch the movie." "I thank you, but as you''re saying this means you let me appear at least for a few seconds after editing, don''t you?" "Hahaha this you will have to see personally, but surely you appear in the film, who knows we can work again together in the future." "I would also love for this to happen, director, do not forget that you promised me that if the film succeeds you would make a great celebration party, then I will appear." "Of course I haven''t forgotten that, but for that to happen we will have to be a success in theaters all over the world, so it will take a few months for this party to happen if we make a great success." "Then you can start preparing the party, I guarantee that we will have more than 150 million dollars in all of America and more than 250 million in total income worldwide, will be among the 10 movies with more box office this year." Chapter 279 New Stage at College Basketball 3 "I really hope you''re right, every director wants your film to be a success, then you can charge me for a big party." After talking a little more with director Crowe he hung up the phone and then called his mother, she''d be mad at him if he lost that premiere. "Hi Mom, I called to tell you some good news." "Good news, great then, you can tell me what it is." "I just talked to director Crowe who directed the film that I attended a few months ago, he called me to tell me that the film debuts today, so I called to tell you to go watch the movie with Anna." "That''s really great news, Jake, you can be sure that I''m going to go watch the movie with Anna and some more people from the restaurant, I''ll even close earlier today, we don''t have many reservations anyway." "So tomorrow you tell me what everyone thought of the film and my performance." After talking to Eva, Jake told the news to his friends who had just returned from the evidence and was preparing to rest, all, of course, they are happy for him and said they went with him to watch the movie. "So you had made a movie and didn''t even tell your friends." "I wanted to surprise you, and I didn''t know if the warden would cut my scenes in the movie, if that happened I''d be ashamed to tell you I made a movie." "I''m not even surprised, I don''t know anything you can''t do, Jake." "It''s true, let a little space for normal people also have a chance, you''re doing 3 things that everyone would dream of doing." "Has anyone famous participating in this film?" "There is yes, the main character is made by Tom Cruise that I met in the filming of the film, has also Cuba Gooding Jr and Ren¨¦e Zellweger, plus several famous people. When Jake told who was participating in this film, Jake''s friends were finally shocked, they were impressed when they heard that Jake had made a film that would debut that day. But they thought it was a common film or at least with unknown actors and so Jake had been called to participate in this film, but now they realized that this film was more incredible than they thought. If Jake were invited to make a movie like this now they wouldn''t be too surprised because he''s very well-known all over the world after doing so many things, but from what Jake told this film was recorded several months ago even before the Olympics, so it''s difficult not to be surprised how Jake managed to participate in a film like that. Jake did not know that his friends were impressed with him and went out to invite Charlie, Vince, and Antawn to go with them to watch the film, those were Jake''s best friends on the basketball team.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. They were also surprised that Jake had acted in a Hollywood film and yet another film with many stars, so they accepted the invitation to watch the film and after the 7 went to the movies together. Jake confirmed with director Crowe and asked for 14 debut tickets for him, it wasn''t because he was greedy and couldn''t pay for the tickets, but because he thought it was possible that he and his friends couldn''t find available tickets. Director Crowe was very efficient and organized the 14 tickets to be withdrawn at any cinema in the country in the name of Jake or Eva, so he could watch with his friends and his mother could watch in Miami, he hoped that she would not go with more than 6 people to watch the movie. After a few hours, all came out of the movies satisfied and went back to the university, Jake had appeared in 2 different scenes, he stayed more than 1 minute on the scene and was very pleased with it. Just as he hoped to have watched the film before he appeared at the beginning of the film and after Tom Cruise''s character had been fired and talked to his clients on the phone, Jake had to confess that it was much cooler to watch the scenes he had Feit In the movies. Mostly in the scene where he talks to Tom Cruise''s character on the phone, when he recorded the two if he spoke in person and so he didn''t know how the scene would look after Tom Cruise recorded his part of the scene and got pretty cool after that Tom Cruise off IGA The phone he keeps whining about losing Jake as a client. And even the sporting agent who fired him gets annoyed when he calls Jake and he doesn''t answer the call and he realizes that he lost a client, it was a lot of fun watching it in the movies, Jake knew he didn''t have much talent to act and so just characters that n They demanded much work for him. So maybe a movie like this might be the most he can do in the movies, even more with great actors as he worked this time, only if he could get it with help from director Crowe or Tom Cruise getting other films to participate. His friends also liked the film and found that Jake''s participation in the film had been up long, after all, he was only making a cameo and was not really an actor. After arriving at the university with his friends Jake did not forget to call his mother to know what she had found of the film, Eva naturally liked the film and especially the participation of Jake in the film, even Anna said she liked it. So Jake was very happy to know that, he liked to act and liked, even more, to see himself on a movie screen and know that millions of people would also look, it was a pity that for many years he might not have the opportunity to act anymore. After all, in his first year at the university he almost had not even time to go home to visit his mother, he made some trips, but just because the situation demanded urgency and he can stay only a few days in other cities. Maybe he could make a quick visit to Miami if he wanted to see his mother, but he knew well that Eva was busy with the restaurant and so could not just make her close the restaurant to spend a day or two with him. In the coming years either at university or in the NBA, if he gets a team to play, he sure would have less time, maybe when he''s out of season it would be time for him to do his thing. But he has to schedule himself to spend time with his mother and his family in the future, besides, Jake is organizing several trades, he is involved with four companies directly, not to mention his investments in stocks. Jake is in a situation where a year is a very little time for him, so it would be very difficult for him to find time to find a good film to act, even more so that the filming team would have to organize an agenda just so that it would be more comfortable for Jake Act. So after a few more days the week it was to be a lot of rest ended up being very agitated for Jake, yet he was very happy and satisfied with everything that happened that week and was prepared to return to play. It was a pity that Jake could not visit his mother, but shortly after a few more games they would have a break for a few more weeks and Jake wanted to spend all this time at home, now it was time to concentrate on the games again. The team now came from an incredible sequence of 5 consecutive victories and after returning from this one-week stop had to continue with this pack of victories, coach Smith was not so confident and was concerned that team players would end up Underestimating opponents because of the current sequence of victories. In fact this 5-track sequence was unreliable in the vision of Coach Smith, in those 6 games they faced two teams just that he considered strong and lost in the debut game for one of these teams, so much so that the NCAA also considers the level of opponents to send invitations to teams to play the national championship. Jake did not bother with the thoughts of the coach, these first 6 games were great for him, even though in the first game he could not play enough he can analyze as well as played the team that was the champion of this year''s season in his past life. And in the other games, he managed to have a stable performance by what he could play and with that, he got a vacancy from the starter on that team what he knew was hard to get as a freshman playing on a team of coach Smith. So came the day of the seventh team game in the season, they were in a sequence of Vitorias, but we''re also in a long sequence of games as a visitor, so it was even harder to continue winning. The team also looked tired even after a week without playing, this was because several players did not dedicate time to study in the first months of the semester and took advantage of this week of proof to see if they could study and go well in the exams. The smartest people who ever studied how Jake and Charlie were quieter, even though coach Smith would put the same full-time team together and that the weariness that the players were feeling could serve as a lesson so they wouldn''t let Further studies aside. After a few hours, the two teams were ready for the game, Jake was the most tranquil among the starters as he did not need to spend much time studying in these last days, so he would have to take responsibility in the game. The opposing team had some good players but had some problems adjusting on the court and so they lost most of the games this season, on the contrary, the team Tar Heels was much more intertwined and Jake, Carter, and Jamison were even more Comfortable in making moves together. Chapter 280 New Stage at College Basketball 4 In addition, the team Tar Heels was strongest in terms of the individual skill of the players, with this the favorite team was obvious, coach Smith was concerned for nothing because the players of the team Tar Heels did not underestimate the opponents and prepared To play seriously. In the first time the game Jake can play for 16 minutes, the team was in good shape and Jake was playing as always, so he did 18 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals, after him Jamison made 12 points in that first time playing a little longer than Jake. In this first game time the team Tar Heels had already made 58 points and opened a big advantage in the scoreboard against the opponent, yet the team did not relax and just felt less pressure by the result. In the second game time Jake played for 16 minutes and had a great performance too, he did 15 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal so the team Tar Heels can easily win by making 114 points against only 63 points of Team VMI Keydets. With this performance Jake stood as the main player and star of the team, this because the role of Jake was to arm the plays and he did it very well also, usually 16 points of the team at least come out of assists Jake, so he usually directly participates in half of the team''s points. After this game, coach Smith went on to trust Jake even more and was more confident in leaving Jake as a Tar Heels team starter, after all, he needed talent players to lead the team not only to make good games but also to win titles. And often teams with 3 talented players can lead the team to victory, coach Smith believed he had this with Carter, Jamison, and Williams, but Shammond Williams, despite being good at scoring many points, was not such a good point guard these days. Just a player like Jake or Ed Cota who had the skills needed to make players like Carter and Jamison could play their best, between the two Jake was infinitely better and a complete player who though not Is great at all could do a lot of things. Proof of this was that Vince Carter was not the player who made the most points on average of the team, he was only third among the best punctuators, this was because he did not have enough support from the team''s PG. Now Carter was the second-best in scoring on the team almost tied with Jamison, but even if it looks the same as before the difference was that his average points per game increased, which showed that the team with Jake was attacking better. Not to mention that Jake also added a lot of defense to the team, with his defensive majority rebounds and his steals he helped the team stop many attacks from opposing teams and could still gain more attacks for the Tar Heels team. After three days the team was playing again as a visitor, would be the fourth game followed as a visitor which made the games more difficult and wore even more players, only Jake did not feel the fatigue of the game sequences.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Still, with a cheering sequence of 6 victories the Tar Heels team was on very high morale, the opposing team of this eighth game of the season was the LSU Fighting Tigers team, the LSU Fighting Tigers team was another opponent who had a weak team for this season. That was what worried coach Smith, the team was in a great sequence of victories, but they were gaining only against weaker teams which were essential for the Tar Heels team to win these games to be able to think of winning the NCAA tournament. In this first game time Jake played very well as always, he played for 15 minutes and managed to make 13 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals, the rest of the team, on the contrary, was not doing their best performance. Many attacks were lost and so even with Jake making more assists his companions could not make so many points, the team would happily rival also was not having such a good game so, then the team Tar Heels was still with the advantage. In the second game time, Jake can play for another 14 minutes and made 12 more points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block, with the whole team making mistakes and not playing as well even Jake ended up having a performance below normal. Another reason that Jake failed to play as well as it normally was that even though he was the best player in the team during the game, coach Smith decided to let Jake play for less time in the second half of play, maybe even coach Smith wouldn''t mind that the Team was playing poorly. Even so with the good performance of Jake the team ended up winning with a score of 81 points against only 44 points of the team Lsu Fighting Tigers, was a game in which the opposing team was playing very good and the result could be much better if the team was playing normally. After the game, everyone was happy for this seventh victory followed, but soon the animation cooled when Coach Smith gave a scolded in the whole team, he used this game to show that players could not relax and had to take every opponent seriously and play as best they could. No one knew how to explain why the team was playing poorly in this game, fortunately, with the good performance of Jake the team can also play a little better in part of the game and they ended up doing many points in the final score of the game. So Jake understood much less why coach Smith decided to let him play almost 3 minutes less than in the last game, as he was improving the overall performance of the team he should be able to play more time as he had physical conditions for it. Even though not understanding Jake did not complain and just accepted that this game had been different from the others, and playing 29 minutes was much better than in the time he was in the team reserve, Jake''s goal was for the team to win the games and the tournament that would come to. After the game ended and they went back to university Jake called his mother after talking to his friends about the win, Eva was very happy that Jake would continue winning, but she had gotten used to Jake playing for several games without losing, his friends, on the contrary, they were very excited about it. As basketball fans, they naturally understood that a college basketball team have a sequel of 7 consecutive victories was an amazing thing to achieve, so they were very happy for Jake and hoped that the Sequence of victories continued. Even basketball critics were praising the Tar Heels team campaign, they naturally understood that the team was facing many opponents who could be considered weak and who had more chance of winning, yet have more Advantages and winning the games were different things. This sequence of games was not so tiring so for the team because the classes had finished and were only 4 games before another two-week break for the players, Jake just felt a lot that could not do his pieces of training normally with so many games like this. Before he did his daily training run 50 km every day at a speed of 29 minutes for every 10 km, he still continued with his training whenever he could, but on days of games, he did not do his racing training to save energy for the game. So he ended up losing a day of training every two days with this sequence of games, fortunately, thanks to the system he did not even need to train if he did not want to maintain the physical condition for the marathons. But without training he also could not improve his statistics in that last year he had before his accelerated development ended, he would soon be 18 years old and with 19 years the system had said that he could not improve more as quickly as now. This sequence of various games also helps Jake much more than training in general, even his basketball skills improve slowly in every game he makes, but what he even needs is more intensive training to improve his endurance and Your strength. Especially his strength that was now Jake''s lowest physical statistic, and that would only get worse after winning a few more major marathons and getting the rewards, so he has to seize this time to improve his strength as much as he could. While preparing for the next game Jake received a call from Charlie in Palo Alto, California, a few months ago since Jake passed his idea to Charlie and his Ph.D. Friends at Stanford. "How is the development of the technology and the product that I asked for you, Charlie?" "I would say that you are doing very well, with the resources you gave us and with our contacts here at Stanford to get the components of the products in which we are testing, we are optimistic about getting a prototype of the product in just over 1 year." It was a much bigger time than Jake had previously talked to Charlie, but Jake knew that this time was still not what it would really take, he was prepared for it to bring 2 years more, even so, he wanted to negotiate a lower deadline to press the 3 to work harder. After all, even though Jake had talked all about the technology and what he hoped to see happen, he was talking about a technology that was actually much later than he described. So Charlie''s team would have to practically create a whole new technology from older technology and would still have to optimize it to fit only on a small screen. It was not for nothing that all of the technological worlds were impressed with the first iPhone, after all, it was a technology that no one thought to use with such efficiency and that greatly facilitated the life of consumers and established the Empire of Apple. "And what are you working on now?" "We are still working on the development and study of the touchscreen, we have to develop a little more before we advance to the multi-Touch, then we will have to develop even more the multi-Touch." Chapter 281 New Stage at College Basketball 5 Jake understood that the most important part was to develop the touchscreen technology because it was the basis of the entire product and what would ensure its patent, and how he thought the work was almost at the beginning and so it would take even more almost 2 years to get ready. But the important thing was that Charlie''s team could do a great job in this product and technology development, so he could in the future maybe start a smartphone company, the next step would be the development of the Android system. But that would only be possible if Charlie''s team could quickly finish this product, fortunately, Charlie and his friends signed a contract that protected Jake from the possibility of Charlie and his friends developing technology with other companies. "Very well, work well in this part and do not fail backward, the touchscreen will be the basis for our product, try to work as much as possible to put this on a small screen and that is very efficient using almost all the screen space as a touchscreen." Charlie liked to talk about it with Jake because it looked like Jake talked about the product as if he had used it before, so it would be easier for him to continue the product development, and as Jake had said the part of the technology development and the product was much more important. Even if they took the longest time it was better not to have many flaws in the product, otherwise, it would be much harder to fix the flaws after the product almost ready, Charlie was happy to work with Jake who understood that they had to take to do a good job. "Keep Me informed of the progress of your work." Jake had had some ideas in these months about several ways he could use touchscreen technology before even trying to make money with the patent if Apple still decides to make the same product. Jake was planning to invest a lot in this project and wanted to have some returns of this, after all after he had the patent in hand he could create the product he wanted without having to worry about his product being copied without him receiving any money that. After all, from the beginning he thought of making money with the patent of this and not with the product itself, he could end up earning a lot of money with the sales of products with the Multi-touch, but he would not bother to gain anything from it. It''s been a while since Jake talked to Emily too, he had let her take care of all his investments and projects and asked not to be disturbed unless something very important had happened until he returned to Miami. Because if he didn''t do that, Emily would almost always disturb him by talking about the profits he had made with his investments, he already knew very well how much he could win and when the time was right to sell the shares for example. So, he didn''t need Emily to always talk to him about how the stocks surrendered in just a few months, he understood how incredible all this could be in her vision, but for him, it was something natural. When he returned to Miami to be with his mother in a few days he was sure that Emily would go there to talk to him, Jake also had to talk to Matthew, he was curious to know how the company would come out with this year''s profits, it was expected to be more than last year. The other day the Tar Heels team had their ninth game, they would be playing as a visitor again and that would be the penultimate game before the end of the year parade, the Tar Heels team was now running a 7-player sequel and wanted to further improve that sequel to today''s game. The opposing team was the UMarse Minutemen team, they had an average team that year and were well compared to some previous opponents of the Tar Heels team, they came from a defeat in the previous game and so far, didn''t have a good season. Taking all this into account in this game the team Tar Heels was with an advantage in both player skills and morale for the results this season, coach Smith was still uncomfortable with this excitement of the team, but believed that after the sermon he had given to the players after the last game they would not underestimate the opponent. In the first game time, the entire team played well and although they did not show an incredible performance was very good for the coach, Jake can play for 16 minutes in that first time and did 19 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, was a great performance that led the team. In the second time, they still led with ease the score and Jake can play for 16 minutes achieving 18 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals, was one of Jake''s best performances this season and the game he made more points. Thus, the team Tar Heels won the game for 91 points against 66 of the team UMarse Minutemen, this was the eighth win followed by the team and coach Smith was also beginning to be satisfied with this result. Even Jake who already knew it would be so was getting excited about this sequence of victories, when he was at the high school it was easy to maintain a much larger sequence of victories than this and still be the national champion. But he knew that the games at the university would be more difficult and even with his skills he could not make so much difference in the toughest games, fortunately, he had now a team that could be champion even without him on the team, so Jake was confident of winning the NCAA tournament this year. The other day Jake was resting after his daily racing training, he had much more ease in making the 50 km even running faster after winning the 2 points of reward statistics by winning the New York Marathon. Of course, it was far from enough that he could get enough physical preparation to further increase his running speed, but after gaining a few more points of statistics he could try again. If Jake could increase his running speed and lower his current time by km in 3 seconds he might be able to break the 2-hour barrier at the final time of the marathon, with a time like this he would be the fastest runner in history by dozens of Years old. Of course, with his current stats if he ate a stamina bar in the middle of the race he could easily break this barrier from 2 hours and get even 2 minutes below that time, but he couldn''t bear the shame of using it to break the record. Not to mention that he had all the time in the world, usually elite runners who win marathons can run up to 40 years old and Jake was still 17 at that time, who knows until then he could earn another 30 or 40 points of statistics and become a superhuman for sports. Zack was also running every day, he now trained more times in the week than Jake who could not train on game days, all his roommates decided not to come home and would be at the university until Jake went to Miami. Jake was very happy with the consideration that his friends had with him, yet he recommended several times that they would go home to spend more time with their families and not just stay for him. Unfortunately, even if some of them had a good relationship with their families, they didn''t want to stay longer with their families and preferred to travel or stay with their friends, none of them had the same close relationship that Jake had with Eva. Even so Jake couldn''t say anything to them as counsel, because if he hadn''t seen his mother die in his past life after she suffered so much to take care of him, he might as well be the same as his friends. As his friend Zack was running every day, Jake saw that his physical form was getting much better after a few months of training, after all, Zack also did a training routine at the academy last night by Jake. So, Jake decided to increase the intensity of Zack''s training at the Academy daily so that he would improve even faster and reach the pinnacle of his physical form, as for the 6 km per day race training was enough for Zack today. Zack wanted to just do training to run a marathon, but Jake was trying to create an elite athlete and improve the health and physical quality of his friend, even Zack could do his daily training in much less time than when he started running.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. In his training with the basketball team, he still did more training of plays with Carter and Jamison, Jake could learn several things while playing with both, after all, Carter and Jamison were excellent players in their positions as SG and SF. As they played in the NBA for many years although, in the present, they did not have the same skills and experience they will have in the coming years, they still had enough skill to show several useful moves for Jake to learn. Jake also watched Serge Zwikker and Ademola Okulaja, they were excellent players in their positions, Zwikker knew to use his height and strength very well to fight for many rebounds in the games, Okulaja was also good at the rebounds. In fact, after Jake joined the team, they hardly lost a defensive rebound, the offensive rebounds were also often achieved by Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, coach Smith was also clever and always took some players out of court at different times. So Shammond Williams who was also very talented could play more time in various positions, the same happened with Ed Cota, so the team was certainly stronger and more efficient that way. Jake had learned a lot from his teammates at the high school and with all his experience in the imagination training space, but the level of the players at the university was something that Jake could not compare in other positions. Just in the position of PG and SG that Jake always put more effort to improve that he could even be better than his teammates, he could also play as well as SF, but had no way to compare to Antawn Jamison of his team. Chapter 282 New Stage at College Basketball 6 After a while finally came the final game of that year, then the players could rest for two weeks before the next game, Jake was also eager for it, he liked to play basketball and his friends at the university, but he missed of your mother after so many months. In that last game, the coach Smith was very worried and anxious to know if the team could win, the opponent of this game was the team Princeton Tigers who despite not having a very strong team in the individual skill of the players was very strong as a team. This was one of the best seasons for the Princeton Tigers team, and the team''s defense was very strong even if their attack was not too strong, so they kept a low average of points in their games and could win the victory several times. The Tar Heels team arrived early at Princeton to compete in the game, so Jake decided to take a walk around the university and see if he was seeing Joseph who was studying at Princeton, but soon he knew that his friend had left shortly after the end of the holiday classes. Jake so deduced that Joseph had gone out to visit Liza who was his girlfriend and had not gone home to see Oliver and Matthew, he got a little upset in not being able to see his friend after so long, but he had not arranged anything with Joseph and if it had been he would have gone on vacation to go home too. So he went back to where the team were to prepare for the game in a few hours, Jake was not so worried about the next game because he knew in his past life the Tar Heels team had won this game, but the opponent was very difficult and the result of the game was very close at the end of the game. Even the team players not having many points individually the school is known to adopt the offensive strategy called ''Princeton offense'', this is a strategy where players do not have positions predetermined in the attack. So even the opposing teams studying this game strategy was very hard to beat them using strategies, the best way to win this team was to rely on a better offensive, and that was exactly what the Tar Heels team did, with an offensive Strong using Jake, Vince Carter, and Antawn Jamison they were always trying to make more points than the opponent. Even if it seemed simple needed talented players and if any of the three had a bad performance in the game the points that the team did also diminished, this was something that did not greatly affect the Princeton team that did rotations in the whole game. The luck of the Tar Heels team was that the opposing coach was new and was under pressure to replace one of the biggest names in the university, so the team was undergoing minor changes at the beginning of the season. In this game coach Smith emphasized much that they had to be careful with players entering the inner area in the plays, he also said that it was for players to use all their individual skills in the attack and not be annulled by the defense of the opposing team. Coach Smith had easily analyzed the important points of the opposing team, this was really a season in which the Princeton Tigers team would have a great series of games losing few and would still have many players in the best defense of the season. Fortunately, the Tar Heels team had the right players to make these kinds of plays, Jake, Carter, and Jamison, the three had the individual capacity to score points even in a tight defense and had the rapport to cross the defense of the Princeton Tigers team with Jake''s assistance. At the beginning of the game was a tied game as coach Smith said it would be, in the few opportunities that the Tar Heels team had to make the shots they were fumbled by opponents, and the Princeton Tigers team was also erring quite the plays. In a play, Jake received the ball back near the three-point line and with game vision managed to make a pass that crossed the defense of the team Princeton Tigers and Jamison received the pass to make the layup and make two more points for the team Tar Heels. In another move for the first time, the Princeton Tigers team was rapidly passing the ball as it circulated in the attack waiting for an opportunity to cross the team''s defense Tar Heels and make the points. After more than 4 minutes of game Jake had already analyzed part of the play style of the Princeton Tigers team, so when Brian Earl found that he found an opportunity he passed to Steve Goodrich who was entering the internal area of the defense of the Tar Heels team after getting rid of the mark of Serge Zwikker and was ready to receive the Earl pass and make the layup. But Jake had also noticed this move and intercepted Earl''s pass to Goodrich, Jake used his superior agility and soon accelerated to counterattack, when the Princeton Tigers team players tried to get back to mark Jake found that they couldn''t keep up with Jake''s speed. So Jake ran up close in the painted area and made the dunk to cheer up his teammates, all were accustomed to Jake''s speed in training, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison currently had skill levels similar to Jake, Anyway because of Jake''s speed he always gained the advantage in the plays. In another move, Jake made one feint in Mitch Henderson and seized an opening in the opposing defense and drive to the basket, but Goodrich tried to stop Jake who was faster and made a sudden stop and passed the ball to Vince Carter who was entering the painted area behind Goodrich. Vince Carter received the pass and did not squander the chance by making a dunk to make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, so at the end of the first time, Jake played for 16 minutes and made 12 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. This was the hardest game for Jake so far playing on the Tar Heels team, so he failed to make many points as in other games, but his quick and precise passes could cross the hard defense of the Princeton Tigers team. In the second time the game remained the same, even Carter and Jamison had difficulty attacking efficiently playing against the defense of the Princeton Tar Heels team, it was incredible that a high-level team that did not offer sports scholarship could play equally To the same with the Tar Heels team. Fortunately, Jake was doing an excellent defensive game and the opposing team was also having difficulty attacking, yet with Jake making full use of his agility to make precise attacks the team Tar Heels still led quietly the game score. The two teams were having difficulty finding good opportunities to make three-point shots, even Jake did not risk any shooting from outside in this game, as it was a risky move, he preferred to make individual moves to get the points for the team.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. In the second game time Jake continued making precise passes for Carter and Jamison who could make the points with great difficulty, Jake also made precise attacks and took advantage of the steals he did to arm counterattacks and use his speed to make more points. So, Jake played for another 15 minutes in the second game time and made 16 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals, was a great performance in other statistics that were not the points that in this game was below average. The result of the game was a comfortable win of the Tar Heels team thanks to Jake''s performance, but it was not an easy victory for opposing defense performance, the Tar Heels team made 78 points against 56 of the Princeton Tigers team. With this difficult victory of this game the team came to an incredible sequence of 9 victories followed this season against only one defeat in a total of 10 games, after winning a strong and difficult team to face as the team Princeton Tigers coach Smith was satisfied and more confident in the performance of the team this season. Mainly Jake who had been a talent discovered by coach Guthridge was the most important player for the team now for coach Smith, he did not know how Jake had not been awarded several times in his time at the same high School Playing it that well. Usually, the coaches of the university teams relied greatly on the judging of the experts who gave the prizes and always sought to recruit these players, Vince Carter was a great example of this. But Jake was one of the best but the best freshman in all of this year''s college basketball season and not even received any nomination for the high School players'' prizes. This was a mystery that coach Smith would never know about the answer, Jake didn''t know either, but he thought it might be because he didn''t play the first two years or as a reserve for his basketball team. Or the fact that his team has fewer games than other teams in other states during the season, maybe it could be by slander from coach Philips when he was the coach of the Elite school at the time that Jake was off the team. Jake had naturally been upset about it, but he cared only for the most important NBA prizes that were what could give more glory to him in his professional career in the future. Coach Smith did not mind losing some games as well since they ended up being champions at the end of the season, after all, he knew that his whole team had to lose in some time and had no way to maintain a sequence of such great victories in the season. But what he did not want to see was that by the inattention of his players or by underestimating the opponents they ended up losing the games, but he would have to wait for the players to return from the holidays to work in their mentality for the upcoming games. After returning to the university Jake celebrated with his friends for victory and soon started packing to travel home, he did not want to waste time and wanted to stay at least a week at home. Chapter 283 Small Vacation at Home 1 "I''m coming home, this year''s games are over and next year we''ll have a sequel of over 3 months of nonstop games and I won''t have a chance to visit my mother." Jake had to tell his roommates that he would be coming home even though it wasn''t for long, that''s because they were his friends who stayed at the university to keep him company, even though some just didn''t want to go home he Liked the consideration of his friends. "Of course we knew you''d go home when you had the chance, you only talk about your mother and how much you miss her Hahaha." "Zack''s right, we all knew you''d go home in less than two weeks you''ll have to come back even, bon voyage." His friends naturally knew Jake well and knew that he did not see the time to have time to return home, In fact, Jake even says that he regretted not missing a week of classes at the beginning of the semester to go to Miami before starting the games with the basketball team. Of course, everyone knew that Jake was just joking, he would really miss classes if he could and just go home, but he can''t do that this semester because he wanted to show commitment and gain the confidence of coach Smith to play more time. It turned out to work and now Jake played more than 30 minutes per game, but he can''t go home ever since he arrived at the university as he had previously promised his mother, so Jake sacrificed a few things to have more game time. "I know you guys already expected me to go home as soon as I had a chance, but I wanted to say that you guys should take advantage of going home for a few days at least, I''m sure your family will like it." Jake still wanted to convince his friends to spend more time with their families while they had the chance, but their friends said they didn''t want and that a few days did not make difference, just Zack who did not care because he could see his family whenever he wanted how his parents lived nearby. So Jake ended up quitting convincing his friends and packed his bags, he''d travel to Miami on the first plane in the morning in a few, hours, even if the coach got mad he was determined not to come back in at least 1 week and a half. He knew that it was now important to the team and wanted to just spend more time at home even if it ended up irritating coach Smith because of this, after all, Jake could not even spend his birthday with his mother because of the games. The other day Jake left early to travel and was soon in Miami again, he ended up even missing the city after a few months out, so he asked for a taxi and went to the restaurant. He knew that Eva should not be at home as he had not warned that he was going home, so it would be a good surprise for his mother and the others at the restaurant when Jake entered the restaurant the first person he saw was Lola. It''s been a long time since he''d seen or talked to her, the many times he called the restaurant or his mother Lola never showed up, Jake thought it was better for them not to have any kind of misunderstanding between them. "Hi Jake, how have you been?" "I''ve been fine, a little homesick for my mom and my friends these months, but it went well at university, and with you?" "With me is fine too." The two were staring at each other while they were in awkward silence, Jake did not know what to say to Lola that he hadn''t seen in a long time and Lola did not want to lose more pride trying to show Jake that he liked him. In those months she tried to forget Jake, she tried not to talk or think about him and even when she knew that Jake was communicating with Eva, she didn''t even come near the kitchen, she couldn''t forget Jake these months, but at least she didn''t feel another Feeling so strong, until he saw him again that day. When Jake suddenly appeared in front of her Lola felt as if she had gone back four months before he went to college, she felt a dereliction at that moment as if everything she had gone through was for nothing. Jake didn''t understand what Lola was feeling at the time, he also thought that Lola was trying to forget him and so he didn''t want to talk to her much, so in this situation, the two could only remain silent. Fortunately soon Julius came to talk to Lola and realized the situation in which the two were, Julius was very happy working in the restaurant of Eva, at first he was very tired of both making sweets and cakes besides several desserts. He was very happy that his work was being recognized and soon he and the restaurant were popular and were always crowded, besides the hotels that were the place where they received most customers the restaurant also began to have frequent customers of the city of Miami. So Julius naturally thought that his work would always be the hardest as he the main reason for the success of the restaurant, even tired he did not care because he was happy with the work and liked to cook and see satisfied customers eating the desserts he made. But he was wrong about that, after a few months Eve and Anna organized and divided the schedules and some employees could work less time, even if Anna hadn''t arranged a right time for Julius at that time because he was very important to the Restaurant she managed to organize a timetable that Julius could rest much more hours than before. Julius was already satisfied with it, but just as Anna had promised she succeeded with a few more changes in the menu to maintain the quality on the menu and give more time for Julius to rest and an almost fixed time to work. While he worked almost all the time he still had time to realize the situation in which his daughter was, as a father he naturally hopes for Lola''s happiness, but as a man, he understood and respected Jake''s attitude. It was clear that Lola liked Jake and even Jake had noticed this a long time ago, but he had no feelings for Lola and so did not give up hopes and even diminished the interaction between the two. Even though he was a father, Julius naturally knew that his daughter was a very beautiful woman, so if someone without character could lie that she was also in love with Lola just to take advantage of her fragility, but Jake wouldn''t do that. "Lola, I want to talk to you about something, can you come with me for a moment?" "Sure, Dad, I''m coming." "Welcome Jake, Eva is in the kitchen talking to Anna, I''m sure the two will love your surprise." "Thank you, Julius, good to see you after so long." So Lola went out with Julius and Jake can finally breathe relieved to get out of this troubling situation, it was even more uncomfortable than it was justly Julius who was Lola''s father who ended this embarrassing situation. Soon Jake went to the kitchen to meet with his mother and Anna, he hoped his mother would like the surprise when he entered the kitchen Anna was the first to see Jake coming in and making a sign that Anna did not deliver what he had arrived to surprise. Anna smiled and nodded and returned to pay attention to Eva who had her back to Jake while developing a new recipe for the restaurant menu, she was so focused she didn''t even realize that Jake was right behind her. Even though Eva was the owner of the restaurant, she and Anna always talked about the next plans to improve the quality of care and customers in general, Eva had been Anna''s student and even now she always lets Anna make the final decision for An To take. Anna naturally likes it because it showed the confidence that Eva had in it, so Anna suggested that Eva also participate in the development of new recipes that next year would enter the menu. Eva at first did not want to prepare new menus because she was afraid to present something less quality to the customers, but after a while, she got excited and began to work seriously on it. Jake realized that maybe Anna was trying to prepare Eva for when she could no longer work in the restaurant because of her age and was passing her experiments to her, Jake hoped that Anna would still be well enough to do what she liked for many years. After a few seconds still explaining about the new dish for Anna, Eva realized that someone was standing behind her a long time ago, she had noticed this before when she was explaining, but she thought it was someone from the kitchen that always passed through there. "Jake, you''re here, what a surprise I didn''t really expect you to have time to come yet this year." When he turned and saw that he was his son, Eva soon got emotional and gave Jake a hug with tears in her eyes, she was really missing her son after staying 4 months without seeing him, so when she saw him again she couldn''t stand it and cried. "I came as soon as I had a week off, I''m sorry it took me so long to come home, I said I''d come before, but I didn''t have time, I wanted to surprise you, but if I knew you were going to cry you wouldn''t have done it."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "She''s crying for joy, Jake, Eva has always missed you, but she didn''t want anyone to be worried about her and so she held on and didn''t talk to anyone about it." Jake always felt bad about seeing women crying near him, especially when this woman was his mother, in his past life even having died of depression he never saw Eva crying near him, in this life, on the contrary, he was getting used to seeing. At least this showed that Eva was also different in this life and trusted Jake more to show the feelings near him, which would leave Jake more relaxed because it seemed that he had no more possibility that his mother would get sick without him to know. Chapter 284 Small Vacation at Home 2 "Anna is right Jake, I''m just glad to see you after so many months." "I also missed you, Mom, I hope that next year I may have more time to get home, after the basketball season is over I will definitely stay here a long time." Jake was even thinking about it, as he more than three months straight playing nonstop he knew he would have to stay a long time without coming home, so he had to enjoy it after the basketball season ended. Not to mention that he had a lot to do right now and these things would just get more complicated to solve if it took many months to solve, so he at least had to better organize his time since from here to front his life would always be so. Then they talked for over 1 hour and Jake took the initiative to go home so as not to bother his mother that he had to start working at the restaurant, He knew that if Eve could, she would stay home only and not work at the restaurant during this week when Jake would be home. But Eva also had her responsibilities and couldn''t do it the same way that Jake couldn''t just drop the training and classes to go home for missing his mother. After a few more hours Eva would finish her hours at the restaurant and go home, so Jake went quickly home with the taxi and just left his stuff before entering the taxi again and going to Matthew''s house. He wanted to talk to Matthew because he was sure that they had a lot to talk about after almost 4 months, he didn''t have time to know the business progress of the company, but he knew that before he went to university the sales of digital machines already Had surpassed the value of the previous year. As soon as he arrived at Matthew''s house the housekeeper opened the door and let Jake in to go out to warn Matthew that he was here, Matthew had already warned his employees to treat Jake as they treated his own family. "Jake, what a pleasant surprise, I didn''t expect you could still come that year, I''ve been hearing about how you''ve been busy at the university, it looks like you''re really going to be an NBA player from here a few years." "Oliver, I''m glad you''re here at your father''s house, I was going to spend later in your house, you seem to have been doing well in those months." "You also look very well." Oliver was really impressed with what Jake had done that year, he used to think that Jake was going to pursue a career as an entrepreneur and just play basketball and run for a hobby while he was studying. But that year the things Jake did change Oliver''s thought, Jake had totally shown his talent running in marathons winning many marathons that year and even won the Olympic gold medal and broke the world record. After that Oliver knew that Jake would not stop running even after graduating from the university and would continue as a professional runner, this was normal after all he was already at the height of the sport even being so young, so he could continue his whole life Running and winning and creating a legend. Shortly after Oliver learned that Jake was also playing very well basketball at the university, and still played well on the UNC''s Tar Heels team that was where Michael Jordan played a few years ago, so Oliver understood that Jake could actually also become a professional and get into the NBA if you want. This made Oliver quite confused, other people did not know, but Oliver knew well how successful Jake was in the business world even before he was 17, now with almost 18 years Jake could be considered a successful entrepreneur. In addition to the stock market investments that Jake''s company made that had given many profits, Jake still had a 5% stake in his father''s company that thanks to Jake''s counties not only fled from bankruptcy as he also gained more than 2 billion of sales last year and won, even more in that year. So it was normal for Oliver to think that Jake would follow a career as an entrepreneur, he was even doing a course at the university related to administration and economics, now Oliver was confused about what Jake wanted to do when he was successful in everything he did. "And Joseph? Did you come home for the holidays? " "He showed up at home for a few days just to visit, but then went on a trip with his girlfriend, I didn''t like any of this because they''re not married yet, but even Liza''s parents didn''t care so I couldn''t say anything against this trip." "I went to Joseph''s university to play a game a few days ago, but they said he had gone out for the holidays, so I thought he might be here." It was like Jake thought, even though Joseph spent some time at home on vacation he was now traveling with Liza, Jake knew that Liza was not with Joseph because he was interested in his family''s money and really liked Joseph. But her family was more interested in the money that had Joseph''s family than in his personality, so they wanted Liza not to lose the opportunity and stay as much as possible with him, after all, they wanted Liza to have a good marriage and had an easy life after getting married. As Liza also loved Joseph it was clear that she would not refuse what her family was thinking to her, Joseph was not dumb and should also know about it, but how he loved Liza he did not care and wanted to stay with her on this vacation after spending a few months long and hers. Even though Jake was a little sad about not being so close to his childhood friend he knew that after a few years they would have to get close again anyway because they would work together for Matthew''s company. After Joseph mature and married Liza, he would think more of his friends and see what he had only Jake as a close friend, so naturally, they would be close again. As they walked into Matthew''s office they talked about several things, it seems that in those months Oliver was working more with Matthew in the company than in his own law firm that he left in the hands of some competent officials. After all, Matthew''s company was also a client of Oliver''s law firm, and after Jake gave some advice and Matthew''s company was growing and selling a lot in those months it was natural for Oliver to be busier. After Jake warned him about the time that Matthew''s company was at risk of failing, Oliver was more concerned about the company''s progress that his son would assume in the future, and Matthew was happy now that Oliver was a lawyer, because Oliver''s firm helped Matthew in many judicial matters that Matthew understood nothing. This included some patents on the company''s new products that they were creating after Jake''s tips, this digital camera business was a market that Jake had not researched much in his past life. So he could give only a few counties about technology and product development, Jake also talked about future market projections as he knew well the future was very useful to Matthew. But Jake did not know who owned the patents of the products he suggested that Matthew''s company would develop, so he gave a county so that Oliver would try to get as many patents as they could to prevent competitors from imitates them and also to win some money in case the competitors broke their patents. Incredible that it was many things that Jake had given counties and the company Matthew had developed had no patents about it, and the few things that had patents did not affect the United States, so they could produce their products quietly. "Jake, what a great surprise you were showing up around here, I didn''t expect you could still come that year. " "Hahaha Many said the same thing as you Matthew, it seemed that no one expected to see me that year, and how have you been?" "I have been good thanks to you, you should also be very well, I heard everything you conquered in that no, I was very impressed to see how you have grown since you were a child, your mother must be very proud of you." "Thanks for the compliment, so Matthew, I''ve come all the way here because I''m curious as to the sales of the year, you should be almost closing the financial statement this year, I have to go back to college in a few more days, so tell me Sales that year. "Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Hahaha I imagined that you would be curious about it, it was all better than we expected, it seems that these two years were the turning point for the fate of our company, already gave to pay the shares that I rewarded you dozens of times." Matthew was really happy to have trusted Jake, he was selling this digital camera just to take care of the company for a while and Jake always said that what they could earn more and longer was when they sold the cameras along with the companies that make mobile phones. Not to mention that these cameras that they were selling were just a pre-sale to gain more resources, it was the most modern in the market because Jake passed a very advanced technology to them. But the next camera that was already ready is that it would truly be the most modern digital camera, so Matthew had much more hope for the sales of this new digital camera. "I''m seeing that you''re really curious to talk about sales so I''m not going to do any more mystery, first I''ll talk about the sales of the webcams you recommended we do." "We started only a few months, with higher quality than the webcam that is currently best sold in the market we achieved some good results in sales." "We still sell for a price similar to the current camera, we got 100 million dollars in sales in those few months, and nearly 40million dollars in profit in those sales." Chapter 285 Small Vacation at Home 3 Were really good sales figures, analyzing that the internet was not well known yet and only a small part of the population had computers at home, the first camera sold in the world had only 500,000 sales in almost 3 years. Matthew had already achieved twice that in just a few months, of course in 1996 many more people had computers compared to three years ago and the webcam of Matthew''s company had much more quality than the competitor in the market. Especially since Matthew''s company began to become internationally known as a quality camera brand after these two years of digital camera sales, it was normal for them to get more sales. "It''s really good Matthew, this webcam can continue to be sold for up to 4 years, close to the 2000 years we have launched another line of webcam with better quality in the market, at that time the number of people with computers here will overcome 50%" "The important thing is to try to make the public aware of our product, do some propaganda, the ideal is that the sale of webcams can pay for the development of technologies that we will work with mobile companies." "Let''s try to do this, now let''s talk about the main point, our sales with digital cameras in 1996 reached 4 billion dollars, with more the 2 billion in 1995 we sold 6 billion with this camera." Jake was very happy about it but knew that this was just the reality of the time, a camera costing a thousand dollars could yield this much, but they would have to sell two or three times as much as they sold now to win that much in a few years. Not to mention that the profit would be much lower because the cameras would need the constant development of technology, so Jake told Matthew that partnering with a mobile sales company would be much more profitable. After all, when smartphones start selling hundreds of millions of people can buy, even billions of people in a few years, after all, the smartphone will serve people to talk on the phone, access the Internet and still take pictures and even play games. If with a partnership they get $20 of profit per smartphone sold they would get more than 14 billion if the phone has good sales, with 14 billion profits even if they are with 10 different mobile models would be worth it. The hard thing is to convince the company not to start producing the cameras themselves, so a long contract of several years with a fine millionaire resizable could make it happen. After more than 20 years the sales of all companies would fall a lot, so he could promise that Matthew''s company would grow and improve from the beginning of 300 million that was worth a few years ago. In the future, it can be worth more than that, many of the big companies of the future would be worth 10 billion at least, Matthew''s company could be worth up to half that value if it continued with those sales. It would already be much more than 10 times the current value of the company, not to mention that the profits would be high every year like this, the Canon, for example, came to be worth almost 70 billion at the height of the company, so if Matthew managed to manage the company he would have much to gain. Still, it was incredible to sell 4 million digital cameras in a year even though it was sold worldwide, so in total the first digital camera sold by Matthew''s company sold 6 million units worldwide. "Of course these were the approximate values, in profit, we achieved 2,095,300,000 dollars for the company, again we will invest half the value and the rest will be given as profit share for the shareholders here a few months ago." For a company like that of Matthew so much investment would not have felt, they produced few products and were not prepared for such a big growth, even if the company had increased in value and in profit, the company itself had little change plus a few more assembly lines, machines, and employees. The reason for this was that Matthew was cautious and did not expect the company to sell billions of dollars every year, a few years ago if the company sold could get a few million dollars would be great. Jake thought that Matthew was right in doing this, he always invested half of his profits in the company and so had a lot of cash flow if he didn''t invest in many things, so the company wouldn''t have trouble lacking money to produce more machines to sell it. In addition, the company of Matthew increased so much in the value of shares because the shareholders were receiving dividends that exceeded the value of shares in many times, if Matthew wanted to invest after a few years he could simply sell his The actions. After all, he still had more than 70% of the company''s shares, he could sell over 18% and still have the absolute majority of the company and raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the company, it was the best time for Matthew''s company. This time Jake would receive more than 104, 7 million dollars in his shares, as Matthew would invest half of that value Jake would get 52.3 million dollars, it was more than double what he received the last year. Jake still had over 10 million dollars that he had left out of last year''s earnings share plus the sponsorship he received in those 4 months and that profit share Jake had now 62,982,500 dollars in the bank. Apart from all the money he had invested in the stocks, it was a lot of money even thinking normally, but the amazing thing was that Matthew was much richer thanks to Jake''s counties, with this profit share that each would receive half Matthew would have more than 785.7 million dollars. More than twice as much as he could with the sale of his company two years ago, the most incredible was that he had almost the same both in shares of the Cisco company that Jake invested last year he had now 717 million dollars After having invested only 300 million dollars in the beginning. Taking away his shares of the company Matthew had a patrimony of more than $1 billion after listening to Jake''s counties in just a few years, Matthew even believed that this value would still multiply in the coming years. "I just have to thank you, Jake, I saw that my investments had almost doubled in value in just 1 year in the stocks that your company invested, I won almost the same as half the profit received from the company." "Then you should invest the same much that year, in a few years you would be much richer." Jake was thinking of Matthew''s good when Jake sold all the shares he had and that the investment company had they would often get the amounts invested, if not for Jake investing in Amazon that in more than 20 years would be worth billions of dollars he would have invested in the company. "I think better not, do not need to get too rich, the money I have invested already makes me very happy." Matthew refused with this excuse, but Jake knew well why Matthew did not want to invest more, he relied heavily on Jake and Oliver and so gave them 300 million dollars to Jake''s company investing in stocks, but Jake insisted that they could not sell before they Jake wanted to. Matthew at first did not care and accepted this as well as Emily''s father and the other investors a few years ago, but after little has these actions valued twice the value if it were not for this agreement Matthew would have sold his shares right now. Emily''s father and the businessmen who invested first also wanted to sell the shares they had, but the deal didn''t allow it, they even tried to talk to Emily privately to convince Jake to sell the shares. Fortunately for Jake, Emily was very honest and totally believed in Jake and even told what the entrepreneurs were wanting, Jake had made this deal for their good and for them not to lose money and even for the bubble not to burst Before the hour if they sold billions of dollars in stocks ahead of time. They were not afraid of losing a few million, but when that value was valued for hundreds of millions of dollars they were increasingly afraid of losing, the same happened to Matthew. Another point that neither Matthew nor the initial investors were happy was that Jake would stay with 10% of the stock sale, at first they accepted it and found it fair, but the more the stocks valued less they liked to divide 10% with Jake. Jake knew that and would not insist on this matter anymore with Matthew, he found it a waste that his friend stopped earning billions of dollars for fear but also understood how risky the stock market looked to people who did not know the future as Jake. And Matthew was right to think so, after 2000 he would have billions of dollars in stocks and would be too rich to spend all his life, he probably would regret not investing more with Jake when he had the chance. "And when will the new camera be sold next year?" "It will be sold in February, the price will be only 100 dollars more expensive than that was, but the overall quality of the camera will be much better, we can also better fix the display screen of the photos, the zoom, and the memory of the camera will be better." The digital camera of Matthew''s company was already the best in the whole stock market, with these new improvements and many others that Matthew did not need to say the camera sold next year would be much better. While the other companies were studying Matthew''s cameras to create a better product, Matthew''s company would launch another much better camera on the market, just as Jake said this was the time to make money and leave the company brand well known. After all, in a few years, they can no longer be in the market leadership of digital cameras, if they could possibly enter the smartphone market too, but it would be a risk that Jake would not advise Matthew to take.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Chapter 286 Small Vacation at Home 4 "Matthew, you know well that I have little time here in Miami before I have to go back to university, so if you can get me the money I have to get, I appreciate it." "Of course, I know you''re busy this time, I''ll deposit it to your account today. "Thank you, then." It wasn''t normal to do something like that, but Jake knew that Matthew could do something for him, not to mention that it would be Matthew''s company that would pay the profit share anyway, he just had to send the money to his own account later. After talking a few more things Jake left home, he wanted to be with his mother today because the week would be very busy for Jake. Jake stayed up later talking about everything that happened at the university in those 4 months, they talked on the phone, but speaking in person was different, Eva was happy to hear that Jake had made several friends. She was worried about Jake who usually didn''t have many friends, he only had Joseph at school as a friend of his age, he was also friends with the players on the basketball team and on the American football team. But it was different from the friendship he had with Joseph, not to mention that Jake since his last life when it was easier to communicate with people wasn''t much of a telephone or internet talk. Jake was the kind of person who believed that just face-to-face conversation was a real conversation, so when his friends traveled far away they usually stopped being friends, in this life, it would probably be the same. Eva was also happy to know that Jake was playing normally on the basketball team and was happy there, she knew Jake had the ability and could choose from several universities to go to play in one so she could not accept if the coach did not give opportunities to Jake play. As for the marathons she can watch Jake''s races on television, she was thinking of setting up a television in the restaurant just so that customers could watch her son''s races, Eva also learned that some of Jake''s basketball games would be televised. The other day Matthew had already sent the money to Jake, so he wasted no time and took advantage of his had to go to the restaurant to call Clara with whom he had not spoken for many months. He thought about calling Tiffany too but thought it better to talk to Clara first and if things went well it wouldn''t be too late to call Tiffany, Clara said she was busy for Jake, but when he said it was important she had to go to the restaurant. As it was Jake who invited him he first arrived at the restaurant, so he saw when Clara arrived, she was much better than before and didn''t look any pale and looked the same way he first saw her. Even though Jake could see that there was something different about Clara, she didn''t look as happy as she was before, even though she had recovered from the shock of separation and what Robert had done to her, Clara''s heart didn''t seem to have recovered from it. "Jake, how long we haven''t seen each other." "Yeah, it seemed like you had ignored me in the last few months, did I do something you didn''t like?" "No, you didn''t do anything wrong, I really have been really busy trying to sort out the company situation and I''m not as excited to talk anymore." The situation of the company to whom it saw the reports seemed great since Clara was avoiding investing in the company in those years and yet the company''s revenue kept increasing, they sold a lot more since Jake became known across the country. Even though she was having a lot of problems because she didn''t want the value of the company to increase but the revenue could increase, by the end of the year she was finishing the balance sheet, even if they had the biggest profit in the company''s history in 1996. not even close enough to buy Robert''s stock. She didn''t have a company like Matthew''s where she could just have a popular product that with new technology and high-profit margins could make her a millionaire, the most expensive products she had were gym equipment. But even with this equipment, she had to pay most of it to the company that creates the product and she couldn''t put the price she wanted because her company had several competitors selling for the same price margin. So business was different between companies, she had to rely on a line of tens or hundreds of products that had to sell hundreds of thousands of units for her to make a good profit as she had this year. It was as Jake had thought before, maybe in her past life, the same thing had happened with Clara''s company, as she wasn''t sponsoring someone like Jake even though paying so little Clara must have given up on her company and sold it to the competitor. After all, right now having such good sales, Clara seemed to be starting to get discouraged about her business situation, of course, Jake couldn''t question Clara''s willpower, many in the same situation she was in would have given up and sold the company. After all, she would be profiting a lot if she sold only her share of the company compared to how much she initially invested and over the years, not to mention that in those years she was receiving her share of the company''s profits. "That''s why I thought I had done something you didn''t like, it''s usually during the tough times you can count on more friends, you can always come to me to let off steam." "Thanks, Jake, I know that you and Tiffany have always been my great friends and are helping me a lot in my difficult time, it''s thanks to your support that I can keep fighting, but this is a subject you can''t help me." Jake couldn''t say anything about it, Clara''s company really was in a situation where only money could help her, and Clara thought Jake couldn''t raise that money on her own in the next 4 years until the deadline to buy her actions are over. Also, with the profits that Clara and Tiffany''s companies made this year, they knew they could raise enough money to buy the stock from Robert''s hands in a few years, so Clara was tired but motivated to keep working if she didn''t see no hope could have given up. Jake naturally knew what situation Clara was in and after so many years finally had another opportunity to help her, so he had asked for this advance to Matthew, Jake knew that could end up losing hundreds of millions with this act, but he would just be pleased doing this. "So I think now I can help you, Clara." "What do you mean, Jake?" "I received my share of this year''s Matthew company profit distribution and I don''t intend to do anything with that money, so I thought about buying those shares from Robert''s hands." "So you can re-invest in the company without having to worry about losing most of the company''s equity stake, it won''t solve the whole problem because the competitor will still have part of your shares, but you will no longer be in one such a difficult situation." For a while Clara had no reaction because she didn''t expect Jake to talk about it, she even thought Jake was joking, but knowing his personality she knew it was impossible. She never thought it would be Jake who would eventually help her buy these stocks, she even thought her father would end up doing something about it even if it annoyed his brother, but never thought Jake would buy those stocks. "Jake you know I need at least $ 32 million to be able to buy that 10 percent stock from Robert''s hands." "Of course I know, I''ve talked about this several times with you and Tiffany, I have the necessary money." Clara trusted Jake but was worried that something like what happened to Robert would eventually happen to Jake, with Robert she was lucky that his father had placed a restriction that she had 5 years to buy the stock. But with Jake she couldn''t do the same as she knew he was doing her a favor, so she had no choice but to accept that Jake bought these shares so that her company and Tiffany''s company that was also impaired could invest and develop again. Jake also knew what Clara should be thinking, so much so that he noticed how Clara just lent Tiffany''s money to buy the stock and never suggested that Tiffany buy the stock, it was only natural that she was suspicious after her own husband cheated on her. He would only be annoyed if she suggested that he lend her the money or suggest a restriction, but it seemed that even thinking about it would rather trust Jake than suggest something like that, it made Jake more relaxed and pleased with Clara''s actions. "Don''t worry Clara, I wonder what you''re worried about, I had thought of signing an agreement that I will not sell the shares to anyone other than you and give you all the voting rights." Jake had suggested making a similar deal when he invested in Amazon, but Jeff Bezos eventually said it wasn''t necessary, of course, because he didn''t know what the company would look like in the future, or he would regret that decision. Clara was embarrassed by Jake suggesting what she thought, she was suspicious of everything in the last few years after what Robert did to her, so when Jake suggested it she realized that her friends had already realized she was suspicious of them and realized that what was Doing was wrong. Of course, she didn''t know about Jake''s investments, if she did, she wouldn''t think Jake would be interested in hurting a small business like hers, after all, Jake would only have 10 percent of the stock and couldn''t hurt the company in a few years.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Chapter 287 Small Vacation at Home 5 "You don''t have to sign any such deal, Jake, I know you''re just doing it to help me, I just ask that when I can afford to buy the stock you can sell it to me." Clara understood that it was not right to do a friend who was doing her a favor by signing any kind of contract, yet she was determined to buy all the stock she could back to not have that kind of problem. Even though she understood that she would first have to raise money to buy her rival''s 34 percent, it would take her many years to succeed, not to mention that after this crisis had passed she would have to re-invest in her business properly. Also, she can''t keep asking Tiffany''s help to buy that 34 percent from the rival company, after all, Tiffany also had to take care of her company for years to come, she knew well that her friend lost two years of potential company growth and even risked being arrested to help her buy these stocks. "Fine, I''ll invest in your company just so you no longer have to worry about Robert selling the shares to the competitor, but I don''t have much interest in continuing to be a shareholder if you can buy those shares would be better for me." Since Clara was his friend, Jake decided to be honest with her and to tell him that he was not interested in her company stock, after all, he would surely be losing money that could be made quickly if he invested in stocks. Clara was really surprised by Jake''s lack of interest in her company, she knew that her company could not compare with Matthew''s company that Jake had invested in, but she was proud of how her company was developing. What she forgot was that even though Jake had 5 percent of Matthew''s company stock, in fact, he had not invested in it but had gained the shares, and Jake had to do some work so that Matthew''s company would make the profit that it had now. If Jake owned a larger percentage of Clara''s company he could even advertise for free even after joining the NBA, so Clara''s company would save hundreds of millions of dollars in a few years. With that 10 percent he had bought himself, Jake certainly wouldn''t do free advertising, otherwise, he could end up lowering his own marketing value and other companies wouldn''t want to give millions of sponsorship.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After that, they talked about a few more things and Clara called her lawyer to immediately contact Robert to sell the shares as stated in the contract that said Robert''s father, knowing that somehow Clara had gotten money to buy his shares, Robert didn''t like it. In fact, he thought that in those years Clara and his father had helped him, after all, he would have sold these shares a few years ago for less than 28 million to Clara''s rival company just because he needed money to invest in his own company. With his father''s contract, he didn''t know, Robert would have to wait 5 years to sell the shares he had and couldn''t make any money on it when he knew that he was very angry with his father and Clara. But it turned out that in those two years he received $ 7 million from his profit share and his shares had appreciated, so he made a lot of money on that if he continued to receive that money he would not have thought of selling Clara''s company stock. If it took 3 more years to buy his shares as stated in the contract he could receive at least 10 million more and sell his shares for much more money, unfortunately, he was forced to accept what was in the contract since deciding to sell his shares. In fact, Robert can''t even see Clara and Jake and just got his lawyer''s contract and signed in to later receive the money, at the current quote he received 33 million and would soon receive his 1996 profit share. Seeing this much money Robert was happy again, now he could invest in his company quietly and not have to get involved in these problems with Clara anymore, as he had promised Robert called the company that had thought of selling his shares and reported that Clara had bought his shares. The other company then realized that they would no longer have the opportunity to acquire Clara''s company, but they were already expecting it when they could not buy Robert''s shares, anyway, they would not be losing money on it. Just like Robert they had also made a lot of money in those two years, $ 24 million was as much as they had made in those two years, it was almost 10 percent of the stock they paid two years ago. Even if they would no longer receive their profit share if Clara''s company went back to investing, they would still receive a lot in selling their shares back to Clara in a few years, so they would only profit from that business. Jake thus received 10 percent of the shares of Clara''s company and had as much as Tiffany, he would still receive his sponsorship agreement for a few years and then no longer renew and at that time it was better than Clara could invest more in the company and prepare to keep up the good sales without Jake. He thought about having a celebration dinner with Clara, but she had to go back to work to finish organizing the financial statement as the year was ending and start planning the investments that would be made next year. Jake understood that Clara wanted to make up for a lost time in those two years and Clara had been very grateful to him and even wept with relief when she saw that she would no longer have this problem to think about for years to come, it was a huge relief to her. Now she had finally severed the ties she had with Robert and never wanted to have any contact with her ex-husband again, she now had to keep working to be more successful with her company. So Jake called Tiffany to tell her the good news, he considered calling Tiffany during the negotiation, but things have happened very quickly since Jake decided to buy the stock and he bought from Robert. He didn''t tell Tiffany what it was, but she accepted dinner with Jake because she thought he just wanted to talk to her since he hadn''t come to Miami in a long time and they couldn''t talk in that time. "Hi Jake, how many months we haven''t seen each other, how have you been?" "Very well, things at university have been going very well for me, even better than I expected, and with you, all right?" "Yes, with me everything has been great, especially in the company since you did so much this year sales have been better than ever, luckily our company sells sports drinks so even without much investment as long as we have stock we can meet market demand." Tiffany was really very happy with all this, her company can''t invest in the last few years because she was trying to help Clara, but even without investing in the publicity that Jake gave her company they had sold a lot in those years. Because of this her company had almost reached Clara''s market value even though it had a much smaller initial investment, investors were very excited about her company and so her company shares were very traded in the market. Especially because in the last two years she had paid dividends, and they were values ??even higher than the value of the shares because she was not holding the valuation of the company as Clara did, so this year her company would value even more. Jake was very happy to hear that, he knew well that in the beverage market and even across the food business it was very difficult for smaller companies to grow and develop without being under pressure from the larger companies. Luckily Tiffany''s company had chosen the sports drinks market that went a little out of the way of the biggest brands in the market and had a lot of market and consumer attention because of Jake. So it was as if they had protection to grow in the market, after a few more years they could end up becoming a billion-valued company like Matthew''s. "Glad to hear you and your company doing so well these months, I have some good news to give you, Tiffany." "Oh, so you didn''t just call me here to talk, what''s the good news?" "I received money from Matthew''s company profit-sharing this year and as I had nothing to do with the money I decided to buy the shares of Clara''s company that were in Robert''s hands." "Today I went to talk to Clara and already bought Robert''s stock, now Clara is free of her ex-husband and your company and your company can go back to investing again without having to worry." Tiffany was shocked for a while and only then understood what Jake was saying, she couldn''t describe what she was feeling, it was so hard in those two years to have to stop investing in the company and suffer some shareholder pressure to help Clara not lose the company. Now all of a sudden all the problems were resolved in no time, it was great news for her and Clara, but Tiffany felt for a moment that everything she had been through these past two years was for nothing. "I thought I''d call you to the negotiation, Tiffany, but it all happened so quickly and I didn''t even have to meet Robert to buy the stock, then Clara had to go back to work and I decided to tell you the good news." Jake didn''t understand how Tiffany was feeling, he just helped because he could and didn''t want to see Clara and Tiffany companies wasting precious time growing in the market just to buy stocks he could easily buy. Even if he had to lose hundreds of millions of dollars if he had invested his stocks, it was worth it to have a clear conscience that his friends were doing well and to be able to play basketball quietly. Chapter 288 Small Vacation at Home 6 Jake always had trouble understanding women''s feelings, so maybe he couldn''t get a relationship even though he had so many qualities, thankfully his fourth job skills Communication Skills and Emotion Control helped him understand that something was wrong with Tiffany. "Aren''t you very happy about it? I understand that you went through a lot to help Clara with these stocks, but I did it just because I didn''t want to see you guys struggling so hard to succeed having difficulties and seeing your companies stagnate even though I can help." "It''s not that, I''m very happy that everything went well and this problem is solved, I''m happy for Clara and me too that now I can focus again on the development of my company." "I was just thinking that since you solved everything so easily, everything I''ve done in the last two years has been kind of useless, you know?" "I''ll be honest and say that I don''t quite understand what you are feeling right now because I''ve never been through anything like that, but you have to understand that since I knew about the problem Clara was going through and that you were also having trouble help I''ve always been thinking of helping." "I always said you could count on me, so once I had the opportunity I helped as I said I would, I don''t want to have any regrets in this life, so of course I would." Jake knew that Tiffany must be feeling helpless that he couldn''t do things as easily as Jake, he understood that and knew what it felt like to do nothing when he saw Eva dying in his past life and it was because he didn''t realize she was sick. But he understood that life was like that, as you fight your whole life to achieve some things, some luckier people get it in a few months, people might be jealous of it, but have to accept the situation, Jake was still trying to use them that he had to help his friends before thinking only of himself. Tiffany just laughed when she realized she was being very immature, after all, she was being comforted and receiving advice from Jake who was only 17 years old, she couldn''t put her feelings in order at the moment. "I don''t think you''re in the mood to celebrate, so I think you better go home and rest, take time off from work and get your feelings in order, and then work well for your company to make up for the lost time and grow even more." "I think you''re right, Jake, I''m going then and another time we can celebrate." After Tiffany left Jake was alone for a while smiling bitterly, he did something he thought was right and helped his friends the way he wanted, but he just can''t celebrate with Clara and Tiffany. He even wondered if what he did was really right, after all, no one seemed to be very happy about it, but Jake soon comforted himself that he did what he thought was right and he felt better after doing it, at least he was sure it didn''t hurt Clara and Tiffany with that. After that Jake went home to spend more time with his mother which was what he had come to do this week he was here, he would not say what he did today to his mother because he did not like to talk much about stocks and investing with your mother. After all, it was a business that for many people was a risky investment, only Jake knew it was safe because he knew the future, yet he had to be careful not to end up losing everything if the future changed with him here. The day after Eva went back to the restaurant, Jake called Emily, he had only one week in Miami and wanted to work out what he could before he went back to college and had to focus on basketball games again. Emily didn''t show up because she didn''t know Jake was in Miami, otherwise she herself would have come to sort out some important matters with him, in the office, she organized the important documents Jake had to see and then went to Jake''s home. Since Emily was her assistant on behalf of Jake, she didn''t have to leave home to talk to her, so Emily also preferred a quieter business environment and went quickly to his house. "I didn''t know you were home, Jake if I had known I would have come before." "I arrived a few days ago and was doing other things, so even if you came before I couldn''t talk to you, did you bring the reports?" "Yes, I had already separated them all, as you read I''ll summarize the important points for you."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. So Emily recounted the things she considered most important to Jake, first she reported changes and forecasts to the stock market, especially to the Cisco company they were investing in. Jake knew what had happened and what was going to happen better than analysts had predicted, but he still listened to Emily who had the trouble of organizing all the information for him. After Emily told Jake what was going on with the Amazon company too, they reached 180,000 customer accounts that month and her revenues were $ 15.7 million, she wasn''t very excited about it because it was little considered what had been invested. What Emily had not considered was that the company had been started recently and was still growing, Jake was not concerned about the company, he could simply forget that he had these shares until more than 20 years later. "Even though sales are not doing so well, it seems that the company''s IPO is expected to be very well, who owns company stock may end up with millions after the company enters the stock market." Emily was so excited that she said it incorrectly, after all, Jake had invested more than 12 million in the company, so it was normal that he was a millionaire when the company went to market, she should be referring to who had invested little in the company. By the time the company goes to market Jake''s 12 million will soon be worth 120 million, so Jake would have made a lot of money since then, of course, Jake expected his share of the company to fall because of the company''s IPO. But with his contract he would have no less than 12% of the shares, that would be great for him anyway, of course, Jake didn''t want his share percentage to go down, but he was prepared for it. She then talked about the Palo Alto company spending on developing Multi-touch technology, it was a lot of spending adding up what they used for electronics and plus the salaries of Charlie''s team, but it wasn''t much for Jake at the moment. Jake''s own investment firm spent much more than that every year, of course, it was important because they were taking care of hundreds of millions of dollars in investments. After receiving all the reports, Jake signed some necessary documents and finally settled everything he needed on this trip to Miami, but before Emily left Jake had to take care of more investments. Last year he had received a 25 million profit share, had to repay the 12 million loan he made to buy Amazon stock and another 3 million to buy his current home with the renovation and another building for his company of investments. The rest of the money he did not invest because he was saving to buy those 10 percent of Clara''s company stock or for an investment, he was considering making in some companies in a few years. But now he had already bought Clara''s stock and still had over 30 million to invest again, so he decided to invest more money in the Cisco stock and leave the rest for emergencies and future investments. He would invest $ 23,900,000 and leave $ 7 million without moving, next year he would probably receive more profit share from Matthew''s company and maybe also from Clara''s company. With more of the money he would receive from the sponsorship he could think about how to invest this money again later next year, Emily received that money and thought for a moment and decided not to say anything and just go out to make this new investment. "Are you thinking of anything? You can tell me, I want to hear your opinion." "I was just thinking that it is very risky to keep hundreds of millions of dollars invested in just one company, I have made some market research and have dozens of companies that are growing as attractive as the Cisco Company." "But when I was thinking of suggesting this to you, you decided to invest even more money in this company, so I realized that you wouldn''t listen to my advice and might even think I''m doing it because my dad asked." Emily thought her father and Matthew were a little right to be concerned that their stock was appreciating so much and might lose everything at once, so she was in favor of selling at least some of it and giving it back to investors because so their company and their investments would only work with the profit. Jake couldn''t answer what Emily said, everyone who works on venture capital stocks knows that it is better to diversify his investment portfolio into dozens of companies, so if some of those stocks were to devalue other stocks could rise and discount that loss. But Jake was just investing in one company, so if the stock depreciated they would lose all the money invested, it was very high risk and not recommended and could only increase the bigger the investment. Jake even in his past life made his money in the stock market by diversifying his investments in various stocks, he lost some more money made much more so, of course, he regretted not investing more money in some companies as well. But now he was just choosing the company he knew would make the most money instead of unnecessarily diversifying money into several companies, not to mention that it would be easier for him to sell in the future. "I understand what you''re saying Emily, the stock market is a high-risk investment like you said, sometimes higher risk investments can make you earn more, that''s what I''m doing right now." Chapter 289 Unhappy Beginning of Year 1 Emily naturally didn''t agree with Jake''s point of view, but as she''d said before she knew something like this could happen and so didn''t want to talk from the start, even if she didn''t agree with Jake, Emily trusted Jake''s vision a lot and hoped for the company to make more profits from these riskier investments. Jake respected Emily very much and knew he was lucky to have her working for him, unfortunately maybe he couldn''t use all of Emily''s investment talents, yet he wanted her to know that she helped him a lot. "Emily, I know you want only the best for the company and are concerned about investments, but I want you to know that I have complete confidence in my vision for investments." "I think I always review and choose the best investment option and it''s impossible for you or anyone else to change my mind about it, maybe if one day I could make a mistake I won''t take your opinion of it anymore." "Still you help me a lot and it''s critical to the company, I trust you and all administrative and employee management decisions of the company are yours, you are also my personal representative and lawyer." "So the best way to help me is to keep doing what you have been doing, especially since over the next few years I will be very busy with basketball and marathons." Jake knew he might sound arrogant saying something like that, but since he couldn''t tell anyone he knew what would happen in the future, he better say he didn''t want to hear other people''s opinions because he was overconfident. So even if he seemed arrogant no one could criticize his decisions unless he made a mistake, after all, he really would need Emily''s help in the coming years to handle his business. This time she might not have been very upset that Jake hadn''t listened to her advice, but in the future, she might be dissatisfied thinking he didn''t trust her, so it was better that he looks arrogant now and make Emily give up advice. After that Emily left her house to make the investments Jake requested, she didn''t seem bothered that Jake heard him, but it seemed she found it unpleasant that Jake was arrogant like that. Jake was very fond of Emily as it would work and even with a friend, but he always tried to keep a distance and treated her as his assistant and business partner, he learned from his experience in his past life that keeping some distance with employees was important. The fact that Jake always tried to be humble even with everything he achieved could make others think he was very easy going, so for Jake a bit of arrogance was necessary to look natural. After talking to Emily, Jake had finished all the business he had to settle in Miami, so for the next few days he spent plenty of time at the restaurant to talk and spend more time with Eva. After another week Jake said goodbye to his mother again and went to college, he wanted to spend more time at home, but coach Smith asked the players to return before the end of the year. Jake naturally refused and only came back on January 2 when two days left for the first game of the year, Jake knew he might end up angering the coach, but he was willing to face the coach''s anger to spend both holidays at home. When Jake returned he went first to the dorm and talked to his friends who were all still in college, just as Jake though none of them ended up deciding to come home for a few days as Jake did. Only Zack went home before Christmas because he had no excuse not to spend the holidays at home when he lived so close to the university, yet he managed to take William and Aaron home with him. "Jake, you had to see what Zack''s brother was like, he''s called Brett Roberts, he''s taller, a year older and prettier than Zack and even nicer, now we understand why Zack never introduces his brother to ourselves for him to study at the same university." "It''s not true, he''s no cuter than me and I''m not jealous of him, I don''t call him because he always likes to tease me." Jake had heard about Zack''s brother himself, Zack said he didn''t have a good relationship with his brother who always told his parents about the confusions and problems that Zack caused his parents. From what Jake understood this Brett was the typical older brother and even though he was only a year older he was forced to mature early to take care of Zack who was the younger brother, but it seemed that Brett had a lot of affection for Zack and was much more responsible after taking care of Zack for so many years. But if Zack didn''t want to introduce his brother to him, Jake would never force it and didn''t want to ruin the good friendship he had with Zack because of it, after all, Jake was very unsure about his friendships, William and Aaron were different and didn''t care about what Zack thought before they tried to be friends with Brett. After arranging all things Jake went to the court to train with the basketball team, he happily greeted his teammates and talked with Carter, Jamison, and Charlie, they were closer and talking while doing the warm-up exercises. Even though Charlie didn''t have so much playing time he always came on the court at every game and was respected as a senior student, not to mention that Charlie was more skilled than normal players at other universities, he was a reserve in this star-studded team. Then he had normal training as he had before the start of the season to regain the shape of the players who had a little break at the end of the year, naturally, even though he arrived 4 days later Jake was the best fit. Even though throughout the training Jake realized that coach Smith seemed to be looking at him a lot, Jake figured it was because he had disobeyed the coach''s orders and arrived a few days later. Jake naturally hoped something like this would happen and didn''t care much, he knew he was wrong in this situation and thought the coach was unreasonable in asking players to come back before the end of the year. Many, like their roommates, preferred not to travel home and had no problem retraining before the end of the year, but Jake had gone to Miami and wouldn''t be back after just a few days at home. After training coach Guthridge, who always liked Jake very much, called him in to talk, Jake knew it should be something important, so he didn''t even warn his roommates that it might take time and went to coach Guthridge''s office. "Did you call me coach?" "Yes, Jake, you can sit there." "I called you here to ask why you didn''t come back for training 3 days ago like the other players?" "I''ll be honest, coach, I just wanted to stay home longer with my mom, I went to Miami the day after our last game, and after just over a week the coach has asked me to come back." "I understand there are players who couldn''t even go home because they lived farther away and training was important, but I didn''t want to go back to university after such a short time, after all, I don''t have classes."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Coach Guthridge only sighed after hearing what Jake had to say, he understood what Jake meant and even hoped that he didn''t have any reason not to come when he was called by Coach Smith. But he also knew that Coach Smith had not done so badly and had to prepare the team for the first game of 1997, so it was only natural that he had to call the players a few days earlier. So you had to look at the players'' commitment and their need, if you were a player who didn''t care much about college basketball you would arrive later just as Jake had. But if it was someone who loved basketball and college or needed it to join a team in the NBA surely would have come a few days earlier, Jake was halfway between the two. "I understand, Jake, you made your choice, now you should know that probably in the next games you might not even play them if you are going to stay in reserve and come in for just a few minutes." "I understand and accept Coach Smith''s decision, but I have to say that if I don''t play at least 30 minutes like I was doing in these last games, I think we could seriously lose those next 3 games, and put myself in less than 20 minutes will change the outcome of the game." "You can leave now, Jake." Coach Guthridge was annoyed and nearly kicked Jake out of his office after hearing what he said, the coach knew that Jake was a great player and could change the outcome of a game and had helped the team win a lot in recent games. But now he was talking like it was indispensable and that the team would lose the next three games without him, that was a lot of arrogance, coach Guthridge now agreed with coach Smith and thought that Jake had to stay a few games in reserve to learn some humility. After all even a few games ago Jake was still doubtful if he would play more time in the games, he was playing starter position with Ed Cota and Shammond Williams, Jake was managing to play longer because he had more skill and was better for the team, but coach Guthridge didn''t think Jake was indispensable to the team. He was so annoyed that he ended up talking about his conversation with Coach Smith that he was also annoyed by Jake''s arrogance and even laughed in anger, even if the team was in a losing streak he wouldn''t hear it from a freshman, yet but now that the team came from a 9-win streak and had such a strong team this year. He wouldn''t let Jake play as a starter after hearing this and really wanted to see if the team would lose if Jake didn''t play this game. Chapter 290 Unhappy Beginning of Year 2 After Jake left the basketball court he regretted saying that to coach Guthridge, he always liked the coach very much and was liking the Tar Heels team and the university, so when he knew he wouldn''t play he decided to say it because it was the reality he knew in his past life. So he said it without thinking why maybe coach Guthridge could warn coach Smith and the team would have a chance not to lose this game, but he understood after saying that and seeing coach Guthridge furious that he shouldn''t have said it because it seemed too much arrogant. It was a shame, but as he had already said it was no use going back, the team could lose that game if he didn''t play and what Jake said would be on coach Guthridge''s mind, he hoped coach Guthridge and coach Smith wouldn''t be resentful of it and their teammates didn''t know. The other day before the start of training he apologized to coach Guthridge and coach Smith, he said in apologies that he spoke without thinking, he was not forgiven, but the coaches were no longer so angry. Jake made a point of saying in his apology that he "spoke without thinking" and not that he made a mistake and told a lie, so the coaches didn''t forgive him, yet he didn''t want to lie saying he didn''t think what he said because it was the reality. The next day was the day of the first game of the year, it was another visitor game from the Tar Heels team and all the players were used to it, they had a straight 9 wins in 10 games and were rested after spending almost two weeks without playing. Everyone was in top form, it was ACC''s first Regular Season game, and everyone wanted to win to get well, Jake talked a lot with his friends who, although they found it odd that Jake didn''t start playing, didn''t think much about it. While they prepared coach Smith repeatedly emphasized that they would not underestimate their opponents even though they were in a 9-win streak after all the opponent also came from a 9-win streak without losing a game in the season. Even though coach Smith and coach Guthridge did not like Jake to say that without him on the team they would lose this game, they could not deny that the opponent was really too difficult. The opposing team in this game would be Wake Forest Demon Deacons, it was a team with whom Tar Heels had a rivalry for playing at the same conference, as coach Smith had already warned this was one of the best seasons starts for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons team. The main player and highlight of this team are Tim Duncan who would be a great star and one of the best players in NBA history for years to come, 5-time NBA champion and 2-time NBA MVP of the season. Duncan was a versatile player who could play as Center and as PF, in games like this, he would play as PF so Loren Woods who was expected to replace Duncan could play as well. After all this year Tim Duncan would go to the NBA, so Jake was so sure that the team would lose this game without himself if the future could change, both teams were very confident of having a winning streak, but Duncan could do a lot. difference in a game like this. Coach Smith probably underestimated the importance of Duncan in this game as he did not know the future of this NBA star, this would probably be the reason for the team''s defeat, as both teams had the same offensive style of play. Both teams preferred the internal attack taking advantage of their players'' ability to attack and catch rebounds if they could make a mistake, and in such a game this would certainly favor the Wake Forest Demon Deacons team that had Duncan in attack and defense. Meanwhile, the weakness of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons were the outsiders and the team''s PG and SG, of course, they had the skill and made many points for three-point play attempts. But in a high-level competition playing was usually the same as a flaw, so if coach Smith considered Duncan to be an elite player he would have switched the team to a three-point play strategy as well. If it had been in Jake''s past life this could also be considered a weakness of the Tar Heels team who only relied on Shammond Williams as their top scorer on the outside shots let alone Carter and Okulaja. However, this season was different because the Tar Heels team could count on Jake who had an average of 72 percent in the hit rate of three-point shots because the team played in an internal play style. If coach Smith asked Jake he could try 9 or more three-point play in this game, not to mention that he guaranteed 65 percent of hits, along with Shammond Williams they could use a different style of play to try to beat the Wake Forest Demon Deacons team. Even so Jake couldn''t guarantee they would win, without him on team Jake saw no chance for team Tar Heels to win this game that was not won in his past life, just a few months after fully adapting to college basketball Jake could guarantee victory. After a few more hours the two teams were almost ready for the game, the Tar Heels team had a different starting lineup before the end of last year, Shammond Williams was PG, Vince Carter SG, Antawn Jamison SF, Ademola Okulaja as PF and Serge Zwikker as Center.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The Wake Forest Demon Deacons team came with Jerry Braswell as PG, Tony Rutland as SG, Ricky Peral as SF, Tim Duncan as PF and Loren Woods playing as Center, the coach decided on this lineup to better defend against attacks by Team Tar Heels and gain an advantage in attack. Everyone was confused as to why Jake, who had been the star of the team, was out of the starting lineup in this difficult game, yet the crowd and the audience were expecting a good game and soon they would find out which of those teams with excellent campaigns this season would continue with victories interrupted. What everyone expected was the favoritism of the Tar Heels team that had both Carter and Jamison attacking inside as well as Jake and Williams attacking outside, in this game this versatility would be very important. In the early minutes, Wake Forest led the game and the score with relative ease, they attacked very well and efficiently without making a lot of mistakes, and in defense, they managed to block some attacks from Team Tar Heels. Duncan was being the name of the game and was controlling the rebound by winning in both offensive and defensive contests, he was winning in disputes against Jamison and Zwikker who were the most rebounding players after Jake. "If more than 4 minutes have passed and the lead is entire with the Wake Forest team, they dominate both attacking and defending, Duncan instead playing an incredible game and using his height to win rebounds." "It''s not just the height advantage, it''s a talent test to catch so many rebounds like that, Tar Heels''s Jake is nowhere near the top of the team and has the average rebounding advantage in games." "You''re right, talking about Jake I miss him in this game, with Jake the Tar Heels team could make much better use of the ball in offense and would be strengthened in defense." "Soon I think coach Smith will put him in this game, see it looks like Williams will be replaced." Willians wasn''t having a good game that day because he didn''t get many balls to try the shot on and off and he had to organize the plays, so after more than 4 minutes he left but it wasn''t Jake who came in is Ed Cota In his place coach Smith wanted to insist on internal strikes and Cota was better on the pass. Even though in the next few minutes the result of the match did not change with the entrance of Ed Cota, the team could not make good plays and even if he hit the passes his teammates still failed to score points against the strong defense of Wake Forest. In addition to Tim Duncan, Woods and Rutland were also having a great game, even though Carter and Jamison were also playing well they were missing compared to the opposing defense in that game. Serge Zwikker and Okulaja were even worse off in both attack and defense, it should be said that Wake Forest was doing very well in this match, so just after 13 minutes, Jake entered on the court. "Coach Smith put Jake Smith in the game after 13 minutes, I don''t know what the coach was thinking, I even suspected Jake was injured and couldn''t play in today''s game." "I confess I thought the same, I don''t know the cause, but putting the best player of the team in these last games just after 13 minutes is inexplicable for me, now the Wake Forest team is almost 9 points ahead on the scoreboard, I don''t know if Jake can make a lot of difference." Jake also did not expect coach Smith to be so radical in his punishment and to put Jake in just 13 minutes of play, and coach Smith clearly gave the message that he wanted to keep trying the inside game and it wasn''t for Jake to just insist on shots from 3 points. Jake didn''t know what coach Smith was thinking, but he was a pro and would play his best at this game and do what the coach asked, if the team lost that game he would leave with the quiet conscience that he did his best. After a play with a mistake by Wake Forest, Jake received the ball to work on his first play in the game, he soon passed the ball to Carter who did not seem so excited about that game, Carter advanced and passed the ball to Okulaja who had to leave the three-point line to get out of Duncan''s defense and receive the pass. Okulaja soon felt the pressure of Duncan''s defense and passed the ball back to Jake further back, Jake received and made a feint and tricked the opposing defense and passed, when another defender left Jake passed the ball to Jamison who ripped the defense. Chapter 291 Unhappy Beginning of Year 3 Jamison received the pass entering the inside line and soon finished the play with a layup after protecting the ball, the opposing player risked committing a foul and thus Jamison scored the 2 points for the team Tar Heels. Only quick plays like this bypassing Duncan in defense were most effective for Team Tar Heels, and soon after Wake Forest made another move that ended with Duncan pulling the defense for Woods to enter alone and lay up to score 2 more points. This was the most common type of offense for the Wake Forest team, they were inside and if there were two players defending Duncan the ball would go to Woods if there was only one player scoring Duncan the ball would go for him. It seemed simple, but it was a move that always had to be worked out and trained and depended on Duncan''s talent to make it work, Jake couldn''t say anything because it was the right move against Duncan. Zwikker was a good Center, and Okulaja also did his job well as a PF, but neither had the ability to score Duncan alone in defense, so players like Duncan, Jamison, Carter, and Jake were more likely to score at the university. In the NBA there would always be players who could take care of Duncan''s defense individually and the opposing team would not have as much advantage as in this game, not to mention that the other players in the Wake Forest team also did a good job in this game. In another move Jake was organizing the attack for the team to have Heels, after moving to the attack court he went to Jamison which was more open on the right, Jamison advanced and pass by Peral easily. When another player arrived in defense Jamison went to Okulaja who had left the painted area to receive the ball, Duncan soon arrived in defense and Okulaja moved to Zwikker inside, Zwikker tried the mid-range shot and Woods fumbled. Jamison tried to catch the rebound, but Duncan was quicker and took another defensive rebound for the Wake Forest team, Duncan tried to get out quickly and Jake took advantage of his careless moment to steal the ball. Duncan did not expect to have the ball stolen on his defensive court and when he recovered he saw Jake making a dunk to score 2 more points for the Tar Heels team and the cheering crowd, soon after the game restarted again. Jake played for the end of the first half and did what Coach Smith asked by focusing only on the two-point play, so Jake can only make a three-point play in that first half, in 7 minutes he made 9 points, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 rebound. Even though not playing, as usual, Jake was the best player at the end of the first half and brought more confidence to the team that missed the least in attack and played better in defense, yet they finished the first half 7 points behind on the scoreboard. Even though Jake played well he did not have much time to change the score of the game and Duncan was also playing well the same way, if they were playing in the same position one could restrict the other, but in different positions the two played quietly. In the second half, Jake hoped to start playing so he could make more plays and maybe reverse the difference in the scoreboard, but Coach Smith decided to start with Ed Cota playing as PG and Williams playing as SG. "I don''t really understand what team coach Tar Heels is thinking, Jake clearly played very well in the few minutes he can play, but is he out of the team early in the second half?" "Maybe it could be a game strategy change? Carter seems to be starting in reserve by the second half." "What change could be effective in this game? They could change their strategy to make more three-point play, but Jake was clearly better than Ed Cota." "This we will have to see in the next few minutes." Maybe if Jake hadn''t said that to Coach Guthridge the day before, Coach Smith would have realized that this game was headed for defeat and would have let Jake play longer, but after what Jake said he couldn''t stand to let him have more than 20 minutes in this game. If it were another player who said something like that, perhaps Coach Smith would have removed that player from the team, but since Jake was one of the best players on the team, the coach could give a few punishment games at most by playing for less time. This change made even the players of Tar Heels confused, the opponents with the full team decided to take this chance to further increase the lead on the scoreboard, was again seen the team Wake Forest dominating the game. After 5 minutes Coach Smith took Shammond Williams to put Vince Carter in the game, but Jake didn''t join him as the commentators had hoped, Jake can only come in after 10 minutes of the second half in place of Ed Cota. At that point, the team was losing by 14 points and even the Tar Heels players were starting to get discouraged in the game, when Jake came into the game the Wake Forest players started paying special attention to him. That''s why in several plays Jake had no opportunity to go inside to score, yet he took advantage of this difficult situation and made more assists when the defense on him had more than one player. Even though Jake had a tight defense he didn''t make a turnover and could always continue the play, so Carter and Jamison who was suffocated the whole game had more freedom to make the play. When Jake was given a lot of space he found an opportunity to try the shot from outside, in 3 more attempts in the second half he could hit two of them and thus help the team a little to recover the score. In another move, Jake received the ball out of the three-point line, as he had already scored 6 points from that position in the second half of the game when opponents were paying more attention to him when one left the inside area to press Jake and another player was waiting. the conclusion of the play. Jake was quick and passed to Carter who was entering the indoor area, Carter soon received another player''s marking and passed the ball to Jamison who had been free, Jamison ran and made a dunk to score 2 more points for Tar Heels. Jake took full advantage of the attention he was getting from the Wake Forest team defense and even failing to score more points he made room for his teammates to have more freedom. So after a few more minutes, the game ended with the Wake Forest team winning by 14 points, even though Jake played well they could not diminish the Wake Forest team advantage before Jake entered the second half. In that second half playing for 10 minutes Jake scored 8 points, 4 assists, and 2 rebounds, was a good performance considering he was very well marked and thought more of assisting than making points. "This was another big game from Tim Duncan and the Wake Forest team that won their tenth straight game and a bad game for the Tar Heels team who lose their second game of the season and finish their winning streak." "I also didn''t understand why Coach Smith let Jake play only 17 minutes in this game, the time Jake was on the court were the best moments of the Tar Heels team in this game, more plays could be made, the team gained more quality in the shooting of outside and Carter and Jamison had more freedom to make the moves." Like commentators, everyone realized that it was a wrong decision to give Jake so little court time in this game, many even associated that Jake''s absence for most of the game had to do with the team''s defeat. Even though Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge came to think of this several times from the warning Jake had given before the game, in the next game Coach Smith was still undecided about whether to leave Jake out of the next game as well.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After the game, the players were not very excited about the outcome of the game and hoped that in the next game the team could win again, everyone was smart not to mention why Jake was out of that game because Coach Smith was so prestigious in that team. Fortunately, everyone was happy to remember that in the next game they would play at home and this was the last game as a visitor, so playing at the Dean Smith Center they were more confident in winning. After returning to university Jake didn''t even have to tell the bad result to his teammates who had watched the game on television, his friends just said losing was normal and that the Tar Heels team would win in the next game. Jake called to talk to his mother and learned that she had also watched the game and was very annoyed that Jake had not played long enough and said that Coach Smith was to blame for the team''s defeat. Jake knew his mother was like that and didn''t argue and just listened to her talking on the call, then she comforted Jake just saying that they would win in the next game, which Eva didn''t know was that would make Jake even sadder because he hoped the team lost again in the next game. The next day Jake returned to his daily training running 50 km, as usual, Zack seemed to be running the 6 km much more easily and asked Jake again if he should increase his distance traveled every day. Jake agreed and so told Zack to run 8 km every day, which Zack didn''t realize is that after a few weeks he was running the 6 km daily in much less time than before, that was Jake''s goal for Zack, after all. Finishing the most disputed marathons has to be run in the shortest time possible. Later the basketball team had their training normally, the players were saddened by the defeat the day before and the training mood was not very good, yet everyone trained hard so they would not lose again in the next game. Chapter 292 Unhappy Beginning of Year 4 And so it was for the next two days, Jake did his training every morning with Zack and the afternoon trained with his teammates, none of the coaches came to talk to him and Jake didn''t want any more problems either and wanted to play again as soon as possible. On January 7 which was the day before the team''s second game of the year, Jake had one more surprise, Eva had arrived in the morning and Anna was with her too, they had come from Miami and closed the restaurant that day to celebrate Jake''s birthday. Jake was very happy with this surprise and that he could spend his birthday together with his mother again, they decided to throw a small party for Jake in a restaurant near the university, all players of Jake''s basketball team and his roommates were called. Even though some of Jake''s classmates had been invited, this was Jake''s 18th birthday which was an important date for anyone, everyone laughed a lot and most of the party Jake had spent with Eva and Anna who didn''t know anyone. After the party Eva and Anna left for Miami again, they did not like to spend the night in hotels and in the morning had to open the restaurant again so decided it was better to travel back at night. After going through this celebration Jake was excited again even trying an unfortunate start of the year, even though the team could miss these next two games when Jake resumed playing normally he had to make sure they wouldn''t lose anymore. Even if they lost a few more games at least in the NCAA tournament games he had to make sure they didn''t lose any games and be champions, another thing Jake worried about was whether he could continue to participate in marathon competitions this year. After all, he would have to miss training or even games during the season, with Coach Smith''s personality it was hard to think that the coach would accept that Jake lost any games in the season. These were concerns Jake had for the season, in fact, he honestly had to admit that he had underestimated the difficulty of college games, he thought he would have more freedom and could do more things than in the NBA, but it seemed he had even more things to do than in the NBA. On his birthday several of his friends called to congratulate him during the day, so Jake can be even happier feeling dear to his friends, even Joseph called congratulating Jake and apologizing for eventually falling out during the holidays. It looked like Joseph had gone back to college earlier this year and said that if Jake was going to play again there they could talk again, Jake knew they wouldn''t meet, but said nothing about it and just agreed. After spending the whole day happily celebrating the birthday the other day Jake had to worry again about the team''s next game in Regular Season, after the first loss everyone wanted to win the second game, only Jake wasn''t excited about that game. He hoped he didn''t have the opportunity to play many minutes in this game either, so it would probably be his team''s second straight loss, yet he would still do his best while on the court. Unlike the game against Wake Forest that had Duncan making a difference in the game, his next opponent had no player who would make such a difference, meanwhile, they had a very strong team. The other day later the Tar Heels team went to the Dean Smith Center to prepare for the game, all the players did the warm-up exercises and the players wondered if Jake would play normally in today''s game. The opponent did not look as strong as Team Wake Forest in the previous game, they would face Team Maryland Terrapins who also came from a sequence of over 11 straight wins earlier this season. They also lost a game, but it was a tough game against the Georgia Bulldogs team that was also having a strong season this year and that game was even for overtime.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. This was the Maryland Terrapins team''s only defeat this year, so Jake thought it was only fair for the Tar Heels team to lose this game in their past life, surely Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge had the same opinion of him. After a few more hours the two teams were ready for the game, the Maryland Terrapins team came with ?ar¨±nas Jasikevi?ius as PG, Laron Profit as SG, Rodney Elliott as PF, Keith Booth as SF and Obinna Ekezie playing as Center. Four of them played for some time in the NBA and the best player of this team this year was Keith Booth who had almost 20 points average in all games and 8 rebounds as well, Booth was playing very well and was compared to Jamison this season by the experts. Just like Team Wake Forest this Maryland Terrapins team played more attacking inside, the difference is that the Maryland Terrapins team did not have a player like Duncan as a reference in the attack and the team Tar Heels could defend better. If they changed their attack style to attack more with the three-point play they could win this game more easily, it was the same solution as the last game, but as the Tar Heels team would have the same initial formation as the previous game it didn''t look like Coach Smith thought of doing this. In the first minutes of the game, the team played much better than in the previous game, yet the Maryland Terrapins team had the advantage in control of the game and in the scoreboard, even with the whole team playing better lacked a differential to bring them control. about the game. Shammond Williams was playing well and hit two three-point shots, but he couldn''t organize the team as well as Ed Cota and Jake, so in the attack Carter and Jamison''s plays were limited. After 6 minutes Coach Smith decided to put Ed Cota into play, but the team lost in three-point play even though they gained more momentum with Carter and Jamison and without Williams bothering with a three-point play the Maryland Terrapins defense came back to focus on internal defense. "Ten minutes have passed in the first half, the game is still very close, but the Maryland Terrapins team has clearly taken the lead in that game." "I can see what happened in the past game repeating itself in that game, if the Maryland Terrapins team had someone like Duncan on the team they would be more advantageous, clearly Tar Heels'' offensive strategy is wrong." "True, in this game it was a mistake to take Williams off the team, one player was missing to set up the moves, so Jake would have had to come in and Carter would have to leave for Williams to play as SG." "It''s like you said, again we don''t understand why Jake isn''t playing in this game unless he''s injured. These two games were perfect for him to make a difference and bring victory to the Tar Heels team." Coach Smith seems to have realized this was the case and put Jake in place of Ed Cota and let Williams play in place of Carter, so he had done what the commentators thought. Unlike the past game, coach Smith told Jake that the strategy of the game was to make more three-point play in that first half, so Williams had joined that game with him, when Jake came in the defense didn''t care about him and continued defending in the internal area. So after two minutes in two plays, Jake had fired two shots off and hit both of them with 6 points, so Maryland Terrapins'' lead on the scoreboard dropped to just 2 points. After this move, Maryland Terrapins decided to score Jake more closely in the three-point play, so in another play Jake passed the ball to Williams who tried another three-point play and missed. But Jamison caught the rebound and passed to Zwikker to make the 2 points with a layup, so the game was tied again, the Maryland Terrapins team reacted by making 2 points with Booth, but the advantage was only 2 points. After a few more minutes, both teams finished the first half with Maryland Terrapins ahead by 2 points, but the Tar Heels crowd was still looking forward to a second-half turnaround. In that first half, Jake had played for 10 minutes and made 13 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and steals, clearly, he had been instrumental to the Tar Heels team keeping the slight difference in the score. "Again the team Tar Heels changed completely with Jake''s entry into the game, from an 8-point lead to just 2 points in the first half." "In that game, Jake came in long enough to change the tempo of the game, we hope Jake can start playing in the second half and play longer." "I think Coach Smith is aware of the team changes and knows that it is important for Jake to start playing and they continue this three-point play strategy." Coach Smith naturally understood that in this game Jake could be the key to victory, he also remembered what Jake had said to coach Guthridge and had to assume that he respected Jake''s game vision at a time when the whole team was excited about the winning streak. So in the second half, Jake started playing and Williams also took the place of Carter, the Maryland Terrapins team noticed the Tar Heels offensive strategy change and also changed their defensive play. So in the early minutes, Jake was not having opportunities to try out plays and was having to leave for inbound play and make the 2-point play, Jake also had more freedom to pass the ball to Jamison and Zwikker to make more points. Williams was having the hardest time making the moves, so Coach Smith put Carter in place of Williams, yet the team''s attack strategy didn''t change, they still tried the three-point play with Jake and Okulaja and even Carter. That way any countermeasure that tried to use Maryland Terrapins would still leave room for Tar Heels to attack, in another play Jake received the ball from the left and as the defense approached it passed to Jamison ahead. Chapter 293 Unhappy Beginning of Year 5 Jamison received the ball, but did not attempt the move into the inside area, when the defense arrived he passed to Carter on the right, Carter made the feint and invaded the inner area and when the opposing defense arrived he passed to Okulaja. Okulaja passed the ball back to Jake who was free, Jake waited for the defense to arrive and made a pass tearing the defense for Jamison, Jamison received the ball with freedom and advanced to layup and 2 points for Tar Heels. With Carter joining the Tar Heels team, they were now with more options in offensive moves, Jake and Okulaja could try more outsiders and Carter and Jamison could continue trying in-house moves. "In that second half Coach, Smith made the right decisions by leaving Jake on the team from the start and shifting the offensive tactic to three-point attacks." "True, early in the second half he put Williams in to focus more on the three-point play and Maryland Terrapins defender began to defend more outside the box and Jamison had more room to attack." "Then Coach Smith noticed this change in defending Maryland Terrapins and put Carter back in play to further explore this opening in defending Maryland Terrapins." "It''s all because Jake is on the court that the Tar Heels team has won several attack options, perhaps we can see the Tar Heels team gaining the lead on this match." After a couple of plays, Tar Heels got the lead after 2 minutes, which was when the Maryland Terrapins coach decided to give up three-way play and defend more inside. That was the right decision because at that point in the game, Team Tar Heels had the strongest offensive inside with Carter, Jamison, and Zwikker, and the Maryland Terrapins defense was stronger inside.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Jake was still tagged, but only one player remained in defense, even though the tactics were set by the Tar Heels offensive lineup being stronger in the inside plays Coach Smith did so because he trusted Jake. So it was in another play when Jake organized the attack after taking a defensive rebound, it was the chance for the team Tar Heels to increase the advantage that was 2 points, Jake passed to Okulaja who left to receive the pass. Okulaja received Jake''s pass and then advanced to the back of the court on the left when the defense came to press him, Okulaja moved to Carter inside, Carter managed to get rid of the player who was marking him and advanced into the inner area. The way he advanced had two players from the Maryland Terrapins team and his fellow attackers Jamison and Zwikker were well marked in this defensive formation on the Maryland Terrapins team, so Carter moved to Jake who was off the three-point line. Jake received the ball and easily got rid of the player who was scoring him and tried the shot from outside to score 3 points for team Tar Heels, the defense of Maryland Terrapins did the right thing, but using the individual skill of the players Jake managed to make 3 more points and increase the lead on the scoreboard to 5 points. "What a great move from Team Tar Heels this time, after getting a rebound even with the Maryland Terrapins defense well assembled they managed to find a space to make the 3 points. "This is Jake''s 4-point three-play in this 5-game game, he''s been getting a good average of hits in the last games and this game is clearly better." "Jake has confidence in his three-point play, we can clearly see that he only shoots off when he is sure he has a chance to hit, not to mention that he trusts his teammates to catch the rebound if he misses." It was just as the commentators said, Jake firing only when he thought he could get it right and he could always firing with confidence when he knew his teammates could get the rebound. In the game against Wake Forest, he had no such confidence because he knew that Duncan could end up catching rebounds, yet he ended up not missing so many three-point moves in that game. After a few more moves Jake got a steal in anticipation of the opposing team pass, he used his speed to advance to the attacking court but had two players on the Maryland Terrapins defensive court reacting in time and Jake had to wait for his teammates. Luckily Jamison and Carter were quick and the fast play turned a three on three attacks, this was a chance to increase the lead to 7 points and Jake didn''t want to miss this opportunity. So Jake ran farther to the right where Jamison was attacking and near the three-point line he seemed to make the pass for Jamison, the opponents also thought the pass would go to Jamison and shifted the defensive to the right. At the last moment, Jake made his move unique that he created ''elastic pass'' and with his fingertips changed the direction of the pass to Carter, this move took everyone by surprise and Carter almost let the ball slip out of his hands. Luckily he recovered quickly and finished the game with a dunk to make 2 points for the Tar Heels team, the game was 15 minutes into the second half and 7 points ahead Tar Heels practically secured the victory. "Another incredible move from Team Tar Heels, Jake started with a steal and advanced with speed, he was smart to wait for his teammates to appear to continue the attack." "So he tricked his opponent with a different play and Carter got the free pass to make the 2 points." "What an amazing move from Jake, let''s see in the replay¡­ see what an interesting move, he totally fooled his opponents and even his teammates, his whole move was to pass the ball to Jamison, even though his body was adjusting from that way to give the pass." "But in the end with his fingertips, he managed to change the trajectory of the pass for Carter to receive the ball, Carter was surprised by that and almost lost the play." "I don''t know if I''ve ever seen a similar move in basketball before, but I''m sure no one can do something like that at speed and fooling opponents even with body movements." After another 2 minutes, Coach Smith still decided to take Jake out at the end of the second half, yet Jake was applauded by the crowd at Dean Smith Center, clearly Jake was responsible for that win. Jake played in this second half for 18 minutes and scored 22 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals, so he practically guaranteed the team''s victory in this tough game, Jake knew this more than anyone else because in his past life his team I had lost. The game ended with Tar Heels winning at home by 88 points against 83 points for Maryland Terrapins, it was the first game Jake could change the result he had seen in his past life and knew he could continue to do so and secure the win at the NCAA tournament. Coach Smith was very happy to win but was upset when he admitted that Jake was right, without him in this game they would have lost again and maybe after a two-game losing streak the team would get discouraged and lose the next game as Jake said. Even though he was proud he was not stupid, he realized that Jake was right and not arrogant and had to accept it and let Jake play again, originally he thought of leaving Jake out of the team just for a few minutes in the wake forest match as punishment because Jake was late for training. Coach Smith coached basketball teams for many years and coached the team that had Michael Jordan playing too, he knew that sometimes there were some great players who did different and special things without being arrogant and he had to accept that Jake was a genius like this. After the game Jake celebrated with his friends who had gone to watch the game in person, Jake saw them when they were in the break from the first to the second half, everyone was happy to see the Tar Heels team winning this game and Jake being happy about it. After Jake called his mother who was very happy when she watched Jake win in the restaurant, she said on the phone that the team only won because Jake played longer in this game and if Jake had played so long in the last game they would have won again. Jake did not know what to answer because he himself did not know if the outcome of the game would be different if he were playing, he knew that they would have lost with fewer points, but did not know if he could have changed the outcome of the entire game. He could know if it would be any different the next time they faced the Wake Forest team, so Jake went to rest happily after winning this game over. The next day he did his daily training with Zack as he did every day and later went to basketball team training, everyone was very happy to have won this game and seemed to accept that Jake was really a special player. Some still wondered if Jake was the best player on the team because they still had Carter and Jamison who played very well in different positions, but how PG Jake was certainly the best player with his assists and how he controlled the game. None of the coaches came to talk to Jake in training and it seemed like they wanted to forget about the subject that Jake talked to Coach Guthridge, Jake really wanted to forget it and was happy that Coach Guthridge didn''t seem to be mad at him anymore. Jake respected Coach Smith a lot, but he cared more about what Coach Guthridge thought because Coach Guthridge was the one who brought him to the team and he was the head coach next year. The team had to focus on the next game because they had lost from what Jake remembered in his past life, he thought it was because they lost two games in a row, but there could be another reason he didn''t know, so it was better to train harder for them change the outcome of this game too. Chapter 294 Unhappy Beginning of Year 6 So this week besides training Jake did nothing different, some asked about the move Jake had made in the last game and were impressed when Jake said it was no accident and that he had trained a lot to make that move. After another two days of training they traveled to play the next game as a visitor, it was the third game of Regular Season and they had a win and a defeat, it was better to win this game and not lose more to get a good NCAA tournament ranking. After a few hours, they arrived and went to do the pre-game warm-up exercises, just as the previous game Jake would still start on the bench, but no one doubted that he would still come in during the game to help the team. The team they would be facing today was Virginia Cavaliers, it was a team that was not having a good season even though they had a well-balanced team, they had a three-point attack strategy with internal attacks. So depending on the opponents they could have the upper hand or be dominated, perhaps in this game where Jake remembered that the Tar Heels team lost, they got lucky using the three-point attacking tactic and ended up winning. But with Jake on the court, this was harder to do because he would nullify the opposing team''s PG and could still make some three-point plays, that was if he had enough time on the court that would depend on Coach Smith''s strategy. After a few hours, both teams were ready for the game, the team opponent Tar Heels was the Virginia Cavaliers team which this year had a much weaker team than the previous opponents they had. Even though Jake was apprehensive about this game, Coach Smith and Coach Guthridge were apprehensive because of Jake''s advice before the game, they hoped this could be an easy game, but it was better to be careful and not underestimate the opponent. That''s why Coach Smith said several times in training for players to stay focused on this game, as Jake was also very serious in training the other players also began to feel an unknown pressure. The Virginia Cavaliers team came with the team formed by Harold Deane as PG, Courtney Alexander as SG, Jamal Robinson in SF position, Norman Nolan in PF position and Colin Ducharme playing as Center. In the early minutes of this game, the Tar Heels team played cautiously and worked the attacking moves well as the players struggled in defense, perhaps due to the caution of the team they eventually realized that the Virginia Cavaliers players were playing very well in the match today. So much so that even playing as in training they could not open any advantage on the scoreboard and were equal with the team Virginia Cavaliers, if in other games they might not care about it and just go for the attack. But from the unknown pressure caused by the coach and Jake in training, they became even more cautious and just did as in training, this continued until almost 7 minutes from the first half. "We''re seeing an unexpected game here at University Hall today, the Virginia Cavaliers team has had a shaky season with some great games and other stumbles, but today they''re playing very well." "The Tar Heels team that has had a great season with just two losses have not rushed either and have played a calm and well-controlled game, so we have an even game so far." "True, in terms of individual talents, the Tar Heels team clearly has the upper hand, but as a team, today Virginia Cavaliers players are in great shape to keep the game that way." "Maybe if the Tar Heels players did as in other games, it would be Virginia Cavaliers who would have the upper hand and then it would be hard to recover." "I think the Tar Heels team is right not to hurry because Coach Smith still has Jake on the bench who can probably get in at any time in this part of the game." Just as the commentators said Coach Smith was aware of what was happening on the court right now, he wondered what this game would be like if it wasn''t for Jake telling Coach Guthridge that. They would probably have two losses in two Regular Season games and players would be very agitated thinking about winning the first game against a weak team like Virginia Cavaliers and losing the game. So after 7 minutes of the first half, he decided it was finally time to put Jake on the court, Williams left after scoring 4 points and having a normal game and didn''t care because he would probably take Carter''s place again. Jake was analyzing the game and the opponent while on the bench and saw that Virginia Cavaliers had no special strategy for that game, only that in this game their overall strength of their team was slightly stronger than the team Tar Heels. As the Virginia Cavaliers team, this season was known for having a good defense, they would naturally win this game if it continued as it was, so Jake just had to do as in training. Jake was soon to mark Courtney Alexander who was making the most three-point moves and Carter was to mark Harold Deane who was stronger on the inside plays, this was the way to disrupt the Virginia Cavaliers attack in that game. After a few moves, Zwikker caught a defensive rebound and then passed the ball to Jake to set up the counterattack, Jake this time not accelerating the play but just waiting for the team to go normally for the attack. When the team was all in attack Jake passed the ball to Carter who was behind him, Carter received the ball and attempted a feint on the opposing player and managed to pass through the left, inside the three-point line Carter passed the ball diagonally to Jamison on the right. Jamison received the ball and then passed it back to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and made a deep throw for Zwikker who made his free-kick inside, Zwikker received the pass and then dunk to make 2 points for the team Tar Heels. In another move after making the move, Jake received Jamison''s pass further back and feigned an outside shot to count in and drive to the basket to lay up and 2 points for the Tar Heels team. At the end of the first half, Jake landed a steal intercepting an opponent''s pass and making a counterattack that ended in a Carter dunk after receiving Jamison''s pass when Jake drew all the opposing defense. In the first half of this game Jake played for 13 minutes and scored 12 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, it was a great game where Jake worked harder to assist his teammates when he was well scored. After all Jake was the team''s top scorer with an average of over 22 points per game, it was normal for him to get special defense attention, as Jake was a PG he took advantage of that special defense attention to create more opportunities for his teammates. "This first half was completely dominated by the Tar Heels team, especially after Jake came in before the first half." "True, it was a well-balanced game played between the two teams until Jake came in and broke the balance completely bringing the advantage to the Tar Heels team." "It''s interesting to see how Jake uses the opposing defense to create more opportunities for his teammates, he''s a PG that all teams would want to have." "We hope Coach Smith will keep Jake early in the second half to have a more exciting game and we''ll see if the home team can react to that game." "I find it hard to do that, the difference is 6 points after the end of the first half and the Virginia Cavaliers team is already playing the best they can in that first half." "We''ll have to keep watching to see what happens, which is why I say college basketball is so exciting, anything can happen before the end of the game." Coach Smith naturally realized how important Jake was in this game and didn''t think for a moment about taking him off the team, after a few minutes of the second half Jake got another steal and used his speed to counterattack. This time he was alone against just one Virginia Cavaliers defender, so he bet on his speed and after the three-point line was just behind the defender who couldn''t find the right time to try the steal. When Alexander thought of missing Jake to stop the move Jake tried a high-speed crossover to fool Alexander, as Alexander thought of missing, he was not fooled by Jake''s dribbling and didn''t get the foul. Jake was surprised that his dribbling went awry, but soon recovered and made the unstoppable Spin Move which was LeBron James'' special move and after turning on Alexander ended the move with a dunk. "What an amazing move we saw now, Jake''s wonderful move scoring 2 points for the Tar Heels team after a steal." "Really an amazing play that just happened by luck as Alexander tried to foul and didn''t fall on Jake''s quick crossover." "It was a powerful move, after a high-speed play and a failed crossover. Jake made the turn and soon finished the dunk, this is a game that requires a lot of the player''s knee and requires a lot of strength in addition to agility." "I''m sure the home audience loved the play as well as the people who came to watch the game here in Charlottesville, Virginia while cheering for the Virginia Cavaliers team are standing up for this amazing move."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After this move while Jake was praised the game continued, after a few more moves Jake caught a defensive rebound and after making the move went to Jamison who came in alone to score 2 points for the Tar Heels team. Just when the game was 3 minutes to end, Coach Smith took Jake to put Ed Cota, in that second half Jake played for 17 minutes and scored 26 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals. An amazing double-double that brought applause in the stands in the game, seeing that Coach Smith decided that while Jake was playing well and not behaving badly he would keep playing. Chapter 295 Using a Coach as an Assistant 1 "And we came to the end of that game, a game that was supposed to be normal as it was just the third game of Regular Season, but it turned out that the Virginia Cavaliers team played surprisingly well today and the Tar Heels team played even better." "With Jake performing flawlessly throughout the game and making a double-double with 38 points and 12 assists plus 8 rebounds, 6 steals and a few more incredible plays leading the Tar Heels team to an easy win in a tough game." "That''s right, we have to keep watching to see if freshman Jake keeps playing so well by becoming the team star instead of more experienced Carter and Jamison." Tar Heels ended up winning 85 points against 71 Virginia Cavaliers points, Jake led the team in a good game and Carter and Jamison still played well, so the team was starting well with two wins in 3 games of the season. Jake was also very happy and called his mother and talked to his friends after returning to university, after all, it was the second game that Jake knew the Tar Heels team should have missed and he managed to change the result with his ability. So now Jake knew that he had the ability to change the bad results and keep the best results, it remained to know if it would continue like this all season and they could win the NCAA tournament. Now he knew that he had complete confidence from Coach Smith, in the coming months the team would have more than 10 games in which Jake could earn even more coach confidence and so maybe he could get a release to run in marathons this year. Even if he only got one day off he could make a sacrifice and strive to run this year''s major marathons, so he knew he would get more statistics and could have more chances to win the next games. The other day Jake continued his normal training routine, the things he had to do every day just increased now that classes had started again, Jake was still careful not to stand out too much in class and even getting good grades couldn''t get attention. Luckily he was in a good university now and many students besides him were able to get the best grades with a lot of studies, even Charlie from the basketball team got the best grades even playing basketball, Jake respected him a lot. After all their circumstances were different, Jake got the best grades easily because you had a lot of skills and his system stats and had many more years to study in his past life and high school, but Charlie had none of that and could still stand out. After more time passed even though Jake was getting closer to Carter and Jamison during training outside of him, it was with Charlie who he talked to most, Jake even talked about investing with Charlie and tried to give some tips. But since Jake couldn''t say he had already made a few million investing, he couldn''t convince Charlie to invest while he had time, it was a pity, but he couldn''t easily expose his secrets just to help his friends, in time Jake could help his friends in other ways. During those days before the next game who spoke to him was Tiffany, she said she would talk to him in the coming weeks and Jake thought that was impossible because he had to go back to university, but it seemed like Tiffany had not forgotten what he said and decided to come to Jake''s university to talk to him. Tiffany said she would be coming to college after a few days, but Jake had no way of knowing exactly when that day would be and so far he could have a lot of games, so he ended up dropping the subject and refocused on his training. In recent games Coach Smith found that the weakness of his team was that they had only attacks inside to focus on the current formation of the team, they could do a formation for much three-point play, but it would be with many more players weak individually. In the lineup that Jake remembered in his past life, they would put Williams, Carter, and Okulaja to try for more three-point plays, so Coach Smith had to normally try in-field play which was the specialty of the team''s strongest lineup. But now Coach Smith had Jake on his team if he put Jake and Williams into the three-point play they would be as strong as the teams that usually did the most three-point play. And since Jake the team could also stand out more in the indoor moves because the passing quality and the organization of plays were much better with Jake on the team, so Coach Smith decided he would no longer leave Jake out of the team. Even more so after the last game, Coach Smith began talking to Coach Guthridge about their ability to play a strategy for the stronger teams like Wake Forest that required more attack and defensive versatility. Coach Smith was thinking of a strategy where they could keep the fort in domestic and three-point attacks, of course, that would only be possible with Jake playing, but if it worked out the team''s disadvantage would no longer exist. So the days went by quickly and the Tar Heels team had more games at that time, they had a game against the NC State Wolfpack team that had an average team this year, Jake started playing for the first time since the last 3 games. He was 16 minutes before being replaced in the first half, Jake managed to score 17 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals in the first half and led the whole team to have a better game and to perform well. In the second half he played for another 16 minutes and scored 16 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, so the game ended with the Tar Heels team winning by 74 points against 58 points from the NC State Wolfpack team. This was a game that the Tar Heels team had also won for what Jake remembered in his past life, but it was a much more difficult and close game in which the Tar Heels team won by a few points lead. This showed how they were playing much better with Jake playing as team PG, unfortunately in this situation, Ed Cota had an average of only 8 or 9 minutes per game, luckily everyone could see his skill within the few minutes he played. Ed Cota''s predicament in Jake''s past life was also saddened by his skill, Ed Cota was someone who had everything to be one of the NBA big names playing as PG, but because of his height, he was eventually left out. from the NBA and never had a chance. Even so, he had a successful career for a few years playing in European basketball, even though he was 1.83 m tall and was considered small by NBA standards even when playing PG. Maybe that''s why the system decided to raise Jake''s height compared to what he had in his past life, with Jake''s current height he would have no problem even if he wanted to play in positions other than Center. With another double-double with 33 points and 11 assists Jake had another incredible performance and was once again the highlight in the team, as well as in the other games with his multiplayer passes also had an excellent performance. Of course, everyone was overshadowed by Jake''s performance in the game, if it was in high school Jake would fight for the team to score more points or he would score fewer points to give more opportunities to his teammates. But in this situation, he would have to show the best performance he could to be sure to get an NBA seat when he left college, even though they were friends the team players were also competitors. After the game Jake didn''t forget to call his mom to celebrate and celebrate with his friends who had watched this game in person as it was a home game, the next game would also be at home. Such a sequel could help players relax for a while without having to travel to play, the next day beyond their daily running training with Zack and training with basketball team Jake also went out with Zack to do some things of brotherhood. Jake was interested in various philanthropic actions and the good of the community, usually the sport-related things to raise funds for some sympathetic action was the kind of activity that Jake and Charlie were almost always together. Even in some cash donations, Jake always thought that after spending his time when he needed to invest a lot of money in investments that were until 2000 he would participate in many donation campaigns.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. But in his time at university and especially in the fraternity he learned that he did not need to donate tens of thousands of dollars to help in some solidary causes, he could help with small contributions and with thousands of people coming together for one cause it was possible to help many people. Sometimes Jake also showed up at some university parties not to be too antisocial and even though it was fun, he always refused to drink any alcohol, he was not yet old enough to drink and never really liked drinks. Jake still enjoyed some wine or beer on social occasions, but parties weren''t the kind of place where Jake liked to drink, especially now that he wasn''t old enough for that, he knew that as a basketball player he should be careful if his image social and try not to break any rules or laws. Luckily with Charlie as a Senior, it was much more reassuring for Jake than anyone would care even if he didn''t drink, yet there were few opportunities he had to go to these parties. Now the team had a 12-win streak and only 2 losses in the season and in the regular season of the conference they had 3 wins and only one loss if things were as Jake remembered in his past life this would already be one of the best. team seasons in history. But that was unimportant without a title at the end of the season to top off this performance, Jake wanted to win as much of a tournament as possible to get satisfied from his time at university. Chapter 296 Using a Coach as an Assistant 2 After a few days Tiffany had not yet appeared at the university and Jake concentrated only on training, on the 18th the Tar Heels team soon had another home game, this was a game that inevitably the whole team was relaxed and even Coach Smith it was like this. After a few hours, both teams were ready to start the game, Jake would be starting the game again and the opponent was the Georgia Tech Yellow team which this season was with an especially bad team. They were having a rough season, and from what Jake remembered it would be a bad season for the team, another thing Jake paid attention to was that it could be his reality if he didn''t decide to join the UNC that had the Tar Heels team. This team had Matt Harpring who was an NBA player and a skilled SF, he is a good player and has had good seasons in the team, but the whole team is weak and his individual ability can''t make much difference. If Jake had gone to another university with a weaker team thinking of being the absolute leader of the team something like that could happen to him, so he chose a university with a stronger team even if he had to stay in reserve. Even though the opponent for this game was weaker Jake still didn''t relax and was careless and focused on the game, so the team ended up getting a little more excited seeing Jake trying his best. Jake can play for 17 minutes in this first half, he scored 24 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals, with a good first half Jake can lead the team to an absolute lead on the scoreboard. The team cheered on Jake''s performance and even the players who started as a reserve played better, only Jamison was having a harder time with Harpring in defense on his side. In the second half Jake continued playing in the game that could be his best offensive performance, Coach Smith approved the team playing as well and decided to just let the players play as they would like the team to win.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. In the second half Jake played for another 17 minutes and can make 27 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, thus leading the whole team in a good performance, Carter can also make 16 points, Jamison scored 13 points and Zwikker 9 points. At the end of the game Jake ended up with a double-double of incredible 51 points with 11 assists, plus 8 rebounds and 7 steals, the Tar Heels team ended up winning the game by 112 points against just 42 points from the Georgia Tech Yellow team. That was the second game in the year that the team scored the most, but the amazing thing was that it was almost 40 points more than this game had in Jake''s past life, Jake can hit 9 three-point shots in just 12 attempts in the game. Jake had always had a great hit rate this season so far, an average of more than 63 for sure on his three-point attempts, in 15 games of the season Jake had made 53 right-score plays making 124 points in less than one-third of the season. When Coach Smith and the commentators thought of this hit rate they found it incredible, especially since Jake had an average of less than 6 three-point attempts per game, which showed what Jake said only trying when he was sure he could hit. And it couldn''t be said that Jake had such a high hit rate because he tried fewer shots because if he keeps that average he can even break the record for most points made with three-point shots this season. After all Jake had a current average of a few minutes per game for spending the beginning of the season in reserve, so if he continues to play for 32 minutes every game he can make even more three-point plays. Also, this was the game where Jake scored the most points this season, he took advantage of the team''s good momentum and his opponent''s weakness to have a game as he did in his high school days. After a few days, Jake took advantage of the good phase of the team and in which he himself was facing another tough game against the Florida State Seminoles team, this was a game against the team that had beaten the Tar Heels team in Jake''s past life. The Florida State Seminoles team was having a good season and had a well-balanced team with two future NBA players, plus it was the university team where Jake was considering studying in his past life. Of course, he didn''t plan on playing basketball there and just went to study, so they weren''t good memories of what happened, nor was it the only university he thought of studying in his past life as there were others in Florida, but it was most likely for him. Jake knew that Coach Guthridge had confidence in him again for what happened in the last games and also that the team could have even lost all three games just as Jake had said, so he told the coach that he thought they had to be careful to Don''t miss this game. This time was different from the last time and Jake was already starting at the games, so Coach Guthridge understood that Jake was giving a warning to the coach to remind the team to be careful, after all, he was not the high school captain. In the days before training Coach Smith said the Florida State Seminoles team was a dangerous opponent and it was better than the players were careful, so Jake knew that Coach Smith had been careful. On game day the team was again focused and focused on the game, so in the first half even having a difficult game they managed to dominate the opponent, Jake played for 17 minutes and scored 16 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 5 steals. The first half was not easy for the Tar Heels team and the Florida State Seminoles attack was very strong in this game, luckily the players were focused and Jake had a great defensive performance for the team to take the lead. In the second half, the game remained difficult, but the Tar Heels team gradually gained control of the game with a good advantage which diminished the spirits of the Florida State Seminoles team, so they got the victory. Team Tar Heels scored 89 points against 84 from Florida State Seminoles, Jake played for 16 minutes in the second half and made 14 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, and 6 steals, he focused more on defense and developing plays. So much so that in 6 steals he made in the game in which he managed to keep possession he only scored points in one of those plays and assists in another two plays, 3 of the plays in which he caught the steal he did not participate directly in the play. In this game, Jake also played an important role and was instrumental in winning even though not scoring as many points as in the last game, Jake showed all his versatility in these two games by scoring many points in one and being critical in defense in the other. Jake was the name of the game not only for the points as well as the 30 points and 11 steals double-double, Jake knew that he had changed the outcome of the game he knew in his past life again, so he was very happy about it. In the next few days the Tar Heels players would have a little more days between games and a little more rest, Tiffany seems to have figured that out and appeared the next day of the Tar Heels game against Florida State Seminoles. Jake already knew the city better after spending a lot of time with Zack and can recommend some restaurants for them to eat, Jake knew naturally that Tiffany had not come to thank him for buying Robert''s stock, but it should be something important for her to come from Miami "Hi Tiffany, I didn''t expect to see you anytime soon, and more here at the university." "You talk like you don''t want to see me." "You know that''s not it, so what''s the reason you came here." "Alright, you''re right, but I also came to thank you for helping Clara buy those stocks, so you helped me too as my company can''t grow in the last two years." "I came here too because finally, I could find someone to be your coach after so long, I''ve been looking a lot these past few months, but you asked me several times to stop looking because you were busy and it took too long." "That''s right, actually right now I don''t have time to commit to athletics training, on several days I can''t even do my daily training for running marathons on game days." "I understand you are saying that you don''t have time to commit to training and coaches usually seek commitment and results from their athletes." "That''s right, so I guess now is not the best time for me." "That''s why I said it was good news, you asked for a coach who had experience in various modalities of athletics and only knew the specific training of each sport, and the coach would have to have a description to not tell his secrets right?" "Yes, that''s more or less what I asked for." "The truth is that when you asked me to stop looking I had already found several candidates to be your coach after you won the Olympics and broke the world record, so I just decided to look further for a coach who could fit your tight schedule." "Luckily I found a coach who has all the requirements you are looking for and you shouldn''t mind much even if you delay your training or even do your training." When Jake heard this he was surprised, being a champion he could have one of the best coaches if he wanted to, but he didn''t demand it because he knew that without commitment to competitions and training no winning coach would want to coach him. So he decided he just needed a coach who knew how to train an athlete and wasn''t very famous, so the coach could accept that Jake trained for less time on days when he had to play basketball. But he never thought he could find a coach who didn''t even care if he trained or not or if he competed. Chapter 297 Using a Coach as an Assistant 3 Listening to Tiffany talk about someone who didn''t care about training his own athletes, the first thing Jake thought was that this coach had no integrity and could be a fake pretending to be. "I know what you must be thinking, it''s not a scam or someone with no integrity, the situation is that this coach has some people issues that make him really need a job." "He is not a famous coach and tried to train some athletes who out of luck eventually failed and he needs a higher salary than a university or school can afford for him, so he must have been included in this list that I asked to do by mistake." So Jake understood what Tiffany was thinking, a coach usually dedicated to coaching an athlete to win multiple competitions beyond a salary he can receive depending on whether a player is affiliated with a professional team or even the state. Even if a coach ended up working at a very good university he would receive an average of $ 45,000 a year, it would be different if he coached an American football team or an NCAA team. If he needs a bigger salary than that he would need a lot of luck and could probably make some exceptions even if he was a very good coaching person, Jake was one who could, of course, pay far more than a university paid. "So you''re saying if I pay him well may not care even if I don''t do my training?" "Yes, that''s what I think, besides, you miss some training because your circumstances are unique and everyone knows that you are an elite athlete even doing it for years, so paying well I think this coach can accept training you even without the commitment of other athletes." "It''s great news really if I meet someone like that I won''t have to worry about my training being ineffective, you can talk with that coach, Tiffany." "So as soon as I get back to Miami I''ll call him to come here to talk to you." After that they talked a lot more and celebrated talking about how all things worked out at Clara''s companies, Tiffany even said that she was quite happy to have someone like Jake partner with the company. She also said how life was full of unexpected things, because of Matthew''s recommendation that she herself had been against in the beginning she and Clara ended up meeting someone like Jake who had helped them so much. After the conversation, Tiffany returned to Miami to settle the affairs of the company, just as she had said she had gone to college more to celebrate and talk to him because the subject she had could be said over the phone. It was really good news she gave Jake, after all, he was starting to give up his idea of ??having a coach, after all, he knew well that his future days would be increasingly complicated and only for a few months in the year could he have more freedom. So Jake thought it would be hard to find a qualified coach who would agree to work with him just because of a better salary, of course, he would still have to know that coach to know if he was really qualified. Of course, he trusted the information that Tiffany was right, so he just had to wait for this coach to come to know what he really was like, so Jake decided to forget about it for now and focus on his training. The Tar Heels team had 16 games this season in which they won 14 and lost only 2 games, at the ACC conference they lost only one and had 5 wins and came from a 5 win streak. In this good season, the Tar Heels team was very strong and already considered one of the favorites to win the ACC tournament, after all, there were still a few months left to think about the NCAA tournament. After a few more days they get ready for the next game, after a day more rest and having a home game the team Tar Heels was in high spirits for that game, after a few hours both teams were ready for the game. The opponent of this game was the team Clemson Tigers that had been having a good season this year and had a strong team, they had a strategy of attack in the internal area as the team Tar Heels. Even though they had good players there was no player who could unbalance in this game, so the Tar Heels team was confident in stopping the attack of the opposing team, Jake also preferred to score players who attacked inside than players who made three-point plays. That''s because it was easier for him to be able to defend and even get a steal against a player who made three-point plays, it was much easier to end up foul while in defense. Just as Jake thought the Clemson Tigers team attacked more with in-house plays and thus made it easier for Tar Heels to make the save, in attack they had the advantage in individual confrontations and had Jake to make the three-point plays. Jake can play for 16 minutes in this first half of the game, he had no qualified player to defend against him and it was harder to get an attack on the inside so he scored 19 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals. So Tar Heels had the lead and in the second half continued the same way, Jake could play for 16 minutes and made 18 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, performing well in a simple game. Team Tar Heels can easily win by 84 points against just 50 points from the opponent, it was again a much bigger score than Jake remembered that team Tar Heels won last year. Jake had a great offensive performance in this game and hit 7 three-point shots from 9 attempts in this game, it was a high hit rate in a game where the opposing team did not have a player who could score Jake properly. This was the sixth straight win of the Tar Heels team that came strong this season, it was still more than half of the season and so many did not know if the Tar Heels team would continue to win the games. After this victory everyone was even more excited for the next game in a few days, they were in a 6-win streak and would play against a great rival for team Tar Heels and team Duke Blue Devils. It was a historic rivalry between the two universities in all sports, and this time the Duke Blue Devils team came from a defeat against the strong Maryland Terrapins team, so even if they were playing as a visitor they were confident of victory. For this game everyone was very confident of victory, even knowing that the team Tar Heels had lost in their past life from the results in the last games Jake was confident of victory just like all his teammates. Even the coach was excited for the victory of the team Tar Heels, so after a few days of training, the team went to the next game, even playing as a visitor they were not intimidated by the pressure of the opposing crowd and just thought of winning. Just as Team Tar Heels was confident of victory, Duke Blue Devils players were being cautious and worried about the next game, so everyone could see that Team Tar Heels had a stronger team and Jake as a star. After a few hours, both teams were ready to start this game, Jake was starting again playing as in the last games and they had the same initial formation of the last games. The Duke Blue Devils team came with Steve Wojciechowski playing as PG, Trajan Langdon playing as SG, Roshown McLeod playing as SF, Ricky Price playing as PF and Greg Newton playing as Center. This year''s Duke Blue Devils teams were having a great season, they were one of the strongest teams at the conference, but they didn''t have a strong individual team, no player was so prominent, and even though some of them played in the NBA after a few years they still haven''t very successful. This team used a lot of strategy and a lot of game reserves, they tried a few three-point moves, but they also attacked more than mid-range in 2-point moves, this was a team that relied on coaches to coach a competitive team. After a short while the game began, Jake was playing as usual in the first few plays and realized that his teammates were feeling the pressure of Duke Blue Devils defender, they were not so easy to pass and missed a few attacks. Jake was still playing well but did not get the ball so much because of the opposing defense''s position, yet they still had a slight lead on the scoreboard, yet Jake felt this was a strangely comfortable game for the opposing team and problematic for them, but thought it must be because they are playing at home. "In those first few minutes of the game, the Tar Heels team has had a small advantage in the game, but it''s a harder game than expected."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "It is natural that it is a difficult game after all the two teams have a strong rivalry between them, so we cannot expect a normal game, moreover, even if the team has the advantage in the ability of the players they are playing as a visitor." "Even though Jake is playing well it seems that he is having difficulty making moves or even receiving passes with Duke Blue Devils'' play strategy, Steve Wojciechowski, though small, has a good defensive ability." After a few more plays the first half ended with Tar Heels ahead but it was still a game played between the teams, Jake played for 16 minutes and scored 14 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block. He made a first-half very well considering other games but felt that it was not good enough, his whole team also scored fewer points than normally, in the second half he would have to see if he could do differently. Early in the second half the game continued the same way and Jake started playing again, he tried more plays but his teammates were being hampered by the opponents and only Jake had more freedom to attack even being separated from his teammates. Chapter 298 Using a Coach as an Assistant 4 Meanwhile, the Duke Blue Devils team also had a normal game attacking efficiently and trying not to be far behind on the scoreboard. In the second half while finding the game strange the team Tar Heels was always ahead in the scoring, the advantage was always only 2 or 4 points and never passed that, yet the team Tar Heels was confident that could win the victory. After halfway through the second half Team Tar Heels still won and the two teams looked like they didn''t care if the score went on, Team Tar Heels just wanted to know about the win and Team Duke Blue Devils seemed to have accepted defeat and not I wanted to lose so badly. "It''s not really the game I expected to see considering the rivalry of the teams, I expected a tougher and tougher game, but it looks like Duke Blue Devils have given up on the win completely since the start of the second half." "The two teams don''t have such a different season, team Tar Heels has 15 wins and only 2 losses and team Duke Blue Devils have 15 wins and 5 losses, they lost more because they played more games." "We can understand that the Tar Heels team is stronger considering the player''s ability, Jake seems to be being forgotten by the opponents and is not getting many passes." "It seems like a Duke Blue Devils team strategy where they are isolating Jake from the rest of the team, they let him do more points, but they can keep him from doing what he normally does as PG is to arm the moves well." "It could be a good strategy, but the Tar Heels team is winning this game." The game continued like this until 16 minutes into the second half when Jake came out of the game, the Duke Blue Devils team who seemed to have given up the game started to react and the Tar Heels mood had cooled. Without Jake on the court, Duke Blue Devils team played with a strategy in which they focused fully on the defense inside and placed two players when Jamison or Carter caught the ball. After another two minutes they had turned the score around as when Jake left they were just 2 points behind on the scoreboard, so with only 2 minutes left the Tar Heels team was losing 2 points. Jake thought Coach Smith would put him on the court again and soon got ready, but contrary to what he expected Coach Smith didn''t do that, he saw that Ed Cota was better helping the team than Jake. So Jake just had to watch and hope his teammates did something for them to win, so in the next minute, each team made a move and scored 2 points each, so the last-minute difference was still only 2 minutes. In another play, Ed Cota was with the ball and even with Wojciechowski firm in defense he tried to advance and went to Okulaja which was open on the right, Okulaja tried the individual play and could not move and can only pass to Jamison. Jamison made a feint and went to the back of the court with the ball in his hands, yet a two-point move would not change anything, so he saw Carter free across the block, Carter thought the same as Jamison and stepped back and tried the three-point shot. Unfortunately, Carter''s shot went wrong and Duke Blue Devils got the ball missing 42 seconds and with 2 points in front of the score, yet being anxious about the result Tar Heels returned to defend. The Duke Blue Devils team was smart and held the ball as long as they could, they had 30 seconds to spend and end the game, after 26 seconds Langdon went to make the mid-range shot and Carter missed it. It seemed that this was planned because Trajan Langdon was the one who had the best average free throws hit, in the first attempt Trajan Langdon made the shot calmly and made another point increasing the lead to three points. On the second attempt he calmed down and then fired again, but this time the ball didn''t come in and Zwikker was quick to catch the rebound, so Coach Smith soon called for time, even though Trajan Langdon didn''t seem to believe he missed the second attempt. Asking for time for the Tar Heels team to begin the midfield attack, the referees reviewed the video and saw that the game was stopped with 14 seconds left to the end of the game, so the Tar Heels team had plenty of time to make the move. Jake was prepared to come in and didn''t know why Coach Smith hadn''t put him up so far, after all, he could have made two three-point plays in those last minutes and secured the advantage. But this time it was obvious that he should join the team after all the best players on the three-point line was him for sure and he showed that the coach could trust him for those important moments. "What a thrilling game this one is at Cameron Indoor Stadium, a whole game that was very warm and seemed won for the Tar Heels team, but in the end, we had a turnaround and Duke Blue Devils almost won that game." "Now we only have a few seconds left and Duke Blue Devils is 3 points ahead, we can still see Duke Blue Devils win this game or Tar Heels can try the three-point play and take the game for the extension." "Whatever the outcome, the Duke Blue Devils team made an unexpected and decisive endgame that took them to their advantage in the game today." "It may have been a strategy of the Duke Blue Devils team from the beginning of the game to win this game where the Tar Heels team had the advantage from the start." "After Jake left the second half that Duke Blue Devils team started pushing harder and took Tar Heels by surprise and turned the game around in just two minutes." "I realized that too, I don''t think it''s a coincidence and was surprised that Coach Smith didn''t put Jake back in the game at that difficult time." "I also find it strange, it seems Coach Smith doesn''t trust Jake, yet Jake today has scored 28 points so far so of course, he''s doing great even though he''s not as good as his last games." "True, and even though he is isolated by Duke Blue Devils team tactics he still made 6 assists, of course, Jake is one of the best college players in the world today." "Now is definitely the right time to put Jake in the game, just one move and he''s best suited to hit this three-point move with this late-game pressure." Even though everyone said that Coach Smith put Shammond Williams in place of Vince Carter, but didn''t put Jake in the game even with time that he asked for almost over, so Coach Guthridge called him and said something to him. Clearly everyone was expecting Jake on this last move and it was not logical for him to miss out on such an important three-point move, at the last minute Coach Smith put Jake in place of Ed Cota after saying something to Williams and Jamison. Early in the possession of the ball no one was inside Duke Blue Devils and had two taller players defending where Jake was, there was one more player over Williams and one player over Okulaja. Clearly no one expected this final three-point ball to be attempted by Jamison or Zwikker, the last player of the Duke Blue Devils team was trying to hinder Jamison from making the initial pass. Antawn Jamison moved to Zwikker and soon everyone moved closer to the three-point line, no player entered the Duke Blue Devils internal area if anyone wanted to make a 2-point play could make and lose the game. Time passed quickly and Jake kept moving to get rid of the two players defending against him, he tried to use speed but he had little room to move and still get the pass and try the three-point shot. With only three seconds left Jake was not yet cleared and expected to receive the ball the same way and try the three-point shot, but to everyone''s surprise, Zwikker made a screen, blocking the defender of Shammond Williams who received the ball. No one expected this and Williams was free to make the three-point shot and hit to tie the game with only half a second to finish, so the game was almost over and overtime. "What a move from Team Tar Heels, nobody expected Williams to attempt this three-point shot in this final play, everyone paid special attention to Jake and so with Zwikker''s screen Williams was free to score all three." "A really good and ambitious move, everyone hoped that Jake who had an average hit of over 70% would try this final move, even the Duke Blue Devils defense put two players in to score him." "Shammond Williams is also a great player who has a lot of skill in the three-point play, so he seems to have the confidence of coach Smith and we will see this game go into overtime." While the players waited for the game to start Jake wondered what happened, he admitted that it might be a bit arrogant and was sure the ball would be passed to him on this last play even if there were 3 players scoring it. But he thought this because he knew he had the ability to do it and they were more than 50 percent sure that he would hit the three-point shot even if he had three players scoring it, yet Jake had to admit that Coach Smith''s planned move was smart. Not even did he expect it to be Shammond Williams who would get the ball to try the last three-point shot, but he wondered if that was proof that Coach Smith didn''t have as much confidence in him as Jake had thought before. This was not only because of not receiving the last ball and also because in the last 2 minutes of the game Coach Smith did not put him on the court, so he stopped thinking about it because it would not help anything in the game.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After all, even if that were true, it was undeniable that Jake would still have to keep playing on the Tar Heels team for his college years, but that meant that if he did, Jake would never be loyal to the team. Chapter 299 Using a Coach as an Assistant 5 The game then as nobody expected was for overtime, now there were 5 more minutes for the outcome of the game to be decided, the biggest problem was that the teams were tired after playing for 40 minutes. Even if neither player played the full 40 minutes they would still be tired the same way, of course even tired they could still keep playing, but both teams could probably make more mistakes. Jake was an exception to this because he was fine to play another 5 minutes and Vince Carter as well as Shammond Williams also because they took turns in court time, Coach Smith naturally let Jake start playing in overtime. No one knew if the coach had any idea what was going on in Jake''s mind or maybe he didn''t even care after all the most important thing now was to win this game against the Duke Blue Devils team. Many said the advantage was all with Team Tar Heels because Team Duke Blue Devils only got upset because the strategy in them had worked now, however it was different and Team Tar Heels would do their best in those 5 minutes. Jake was not distracted by his thoughts and played the best he could, as in the whole game Team Tar Heels was clearly stronger than Team Duke Blue Devils in this game, this time they took the opponent seriously and Jake even if tried harder in this game. So after 5 minutes, Tar Heels ended up winning the game as expected, in that second half with extra time Jake played for 21 minutes, he made 25 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. In the extra 5 minutes, Jake played as he wished and with the most tired opponents, he managed to score 11 points and a few more assists, with 3 shots of 3 points in a few plays in a row. It seemed that Jake really wanted to ensure the team''s victory in those few minutes and almost did the same points of the entire second half in a third of the time, the team Tar Heels won the game by 104 points against 98 points of the opponent. By that score few would think it was such a close match that it was even for overtime, it showed how Jake struggled to secure the team win, Jake got a double-double with 39 points and 10 assists. "What a game we could see today, a game that seemed easy for the Tar Heels team eventually went into overtime after a surprising Duke Blue Devils end game and ended in an easy win for the Tar Heels team again." "If we can summarize the game we could say that the Tar Heels team underestimated their opponent, at the end of the game they almost lost by carelessness and even Jake played an average game in normal time." "It can''t be said like that, Duke Blue Devils'' strategy seemed to isolate Jake in the game so he couldn''t play his best performance unless he passed the ball to his teammates." "But it really looks like he was underestimating the Duke Blue Devils team during normal playing time because he scored 11 points and hit three three-point shots without missing any overtime if he did something like that during the game Team Tar Heels I would have no difficulty winning." "This is the first time I''ve seen a genius perform amazingly and still get criticized, even though he has an overtime Jake hit 9 three-point shots out of 11 attempts in the game, an average of 82% on 27 points, I can say that went down in history as one of the best performers in the three-point line." Everyone praised Jake and was surprised by his numbers, yet Jake was less praised than Stephen Curry at the same time at university even though he had better results on the three-point line. That''s because even with these results Jake was not a player who made many attempts at three-point play in a game, usually players who had three-point records averaged 9 attempts per game while Jake has averaged 6 so far. It was rare to have an overtime game where Jake tried more than 10 shots of three while the best in three-point shots usually tried 15 times or more in the best games, so Jake averaged over 60% while the best had 44% of hit average. By the end of the year if Jake could win a championship he would surely have more reputation than Stephen Curry had, the difference was that Jake would probably not only be known for just the three points but for getting a lot of points and having high average statistics on the box score as it had now. After all, more than half of the games of the season were left, if the team could keep advancing in the NCAA tournament they would have only more games, so it was too early to talk about the final stats Jake would have. After an exciting game like this everyone went back to university tired, luckily the next games would be a sequence of three home games so players would get less tired. In addition, the team came from a sequence of 7 straight wins in which they were approaching the sequence they had earlier this year before losing to the Wake Forest team, even though they almost lost the last game as it was against a strong rival no one surprised that it was so hard. Reporters now said that the current Tar Heels team could be one of the best players in history, being recognized as one of the best teams in history would surely be great for everyone. From what Jake remembered Team Tar Heels after this game against Team Duke that was lost in his past life would have an incredible winning streak by the end of the season because Ed Cota had started playing longer in the games and the team it got better. This time, however, Jake joined the team much earlier and scored more points than Ed Cota, so the team must have started this winning streak before, but Jake didn''t blindly trust that as he knew he had changed that story. After a few days the Tar Heels team soon returned to play, the game was at the Dean Smith Center and the two teams began to prepare for the game, even though coming from a game in overtime against a rival the Tar Heels team had strong players and had almost completely recovered. Jake hadn''t spoken privately to the coaches and neither of them bothered to explain his decision at the end of the last game to Jake, he didn''t care as long as he kept playing, but in his heart, he didn''t forget that. The team they would face today was the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders team, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders team had a good team this year and even losing several games they had a good season so far. Even though the opponent was strong, the Tar Heels team was doing very well today and all the players were in good shape, Jake can play for 17 minutes in that first half and scored 16 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals. It was a game in which he realized that his teammates were in great shape and made more assists, because of that the team ended up missing more and he got more rebounds, compared to he scored fewer points than in other games. In the second half realizing this Jake tried even more assists in his court time, in another 16 minutes he made only 11 points, but in comparison got 11 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. It was the first triple-double he had since entering college and Jake was very happy about it, the key to doing so was to slow down his attempts to get more points and try more assists. After all, for every 10 assists he tried in the game his teammates sometimes missed 2 or 3, and that is because Jake''s passes were always accurate, so it was harder for him to have 10 assists than to have more than 30 points. This was not exactly the problem with rebounds, but many players always wanted to fight rebounds either on their team or the opposing team, so sometimes the luck of having the right position can guarantee more rebounds for one player. The Tar Heels team won by scoring 111 points against only 42 points from the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders team, this showed how this game was dominated by the Tar Heels team, Carter scored 22 points and Jamison scored 26 points. So only the three scored more than 70 points, this is considered the strongest attack of all college teams, and this was considered Jake''s best game of the season, even better than the game in which he scored 51 points. With the Tar Heels team continuing their winning streak, everyone on the team was very happy and even Coach Smith was very pleased, he had not told anyone he intended to leave the team after this season. Nothing would be better for him than his team winning the NCAA tournament in his senior year coaching the team, so he had to admit that it was Jake who was leading the team to perform well. After this game they would have another 4 days rest until the next game, Jake as always celebrated with his roommates and called his mother to talk. The next day Jake did his daily training running the 50 km, he himself thought that maybe he could decrease his total time a bit further by increasing his running speed, but it wouldn''t make a big difference in the upcoming marathons and Jake was waiting for his trainer to see if he would change his training style. After running with Zack who had already gotten used to running five miles every day, Jake soon believed that Zack could run a marathon, but he wanted to train him longer and so said nothing. Not to mention that with his new training method something could change in Zack''s training as well if his trainer had a better training method he would surely pass on to his friend Zack.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Jake was not arrogant to think that his current marathon training method was the best, for he who had the system was more appropriate, but for ordinary athletes, it could end up being harmful and less effective than other training. Chapter 300 Using a Coach as an Assistant 6 After returning from classes Jake did the training with the basketball team and got a call from Tiffany, he perked up thinking it should be about the coach he was expecting. "Hi Jake, I called to let you know that I was able to talk to that coach I told you about, he said he would get to university today to talk to you." "So fast, did you check him for me?" "Yes, all is well with him, this coach has trained several universities without complaint and seems to have traveled around the state and even abroad to improve his coaching skills." "How does someone so qualified need money?" "I checked that too, his reason is legitimate, but it''s very personal so I''ll let him tell you in person, but I think it''s very likely that you will eventually decide to hire him unless you are very picky." After talking to Tiffany, Jake didn''t have to wait long hours to see this coach she spoke so well, he appeared to be a healthy 5-foot man, black hair with a few white strands, was probably wearing a social shirt because he knew that He would find Jake, black eyes and a common face. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Smith, my name is Frank Davis, I spoke to a woman named Tiffany on the phone and she told me that I should come here to talk to you in person."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Davis, I think we''d better go to a restaurant to talk better." After a few minutes they formed a restaurant near the university, Jake had not eaten anything early and Davis also did not seem to have eaten and seemed tired from the trip as soon as they ordered the food to the waitress again. "What you said is right, I asked you to come here through Tiffany, I''m looking for a qualified coach and I think you might be the right person, but I know you have some personal situations that may be involved, so I would like to know some things about you." "That''s right, I''m 40 years old, I have a degree in physical education and I did some muscle recovery massage courses, then I did a few more specializations and even sought to improve my ability abroad." "I worked at some universities for a few years, but I was not satisfied with their investments in athletics and athletes, in many places athletes had difficulty even paying for travel to compete and even for basic living expenses." "So athletes had to look for sponsorship to compete, they had a lot of problems with that, so I decided to open my own gym with the money I had received." "In that time I coached a lot of athletes, but none achieved outstanding performance in sports, the best ranking was eighth in a marathon that didn''t have good athletes competing." "But I could still support my family and have a good standard of living, and I knew it would take years to prepare good athletes and had to be lucky to find someone talented, so I was pleased." "The problem was that my 6-year-old daughter was diagnosed with a rare disease, the disease could end up killing her and there was no cure, so we had to pay for a series of emergency surgeries." "After she was out of danger we found that we had to pay for expensive medicine every month for her to stay healthy and have a normal life when she grew up." "But at that point, I had sold the gym to pay for surgery costs and my wife had quit her job to take care of our daughter, now I need a job that pays better than I can expect to earn to pay for my medicine daughter and support my family." "This situation continues for a few months, I have a job and I still have money left from the sale of my gym, but I don''t know how many years we can afford my daughter''s medicine, and I found out from a coach friend that you were looking for a coach." Just as Tiffany hoped Jake felt touched by the life story of coach Frank Davis, someone capable but unlucky in life, he remembered him in his past life who also went through some such situations. Also, just as Tiffany had said Mr. Davis was more than qualified to be his coach, so Mr. Davis also needed money so he should accept some demands from Jake. Jake had no problems with money, in fact originally the money he received from sponsorship was precisely for him to pay a coach and devote himself to the sport, Jake never needed it and was always successful and so his sponsors never charged anything like this. "Well then, Mr. Davis, I was really convinced that you may be the person I''m looking for to train me, but I first need to know how much you need to pay for these drugs to get an idea of ??how much you need to get paid." Even if Jake had a lot of money he could not pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a month as salary for a coach, so he should know how much he could offer a salary for coach Davis. "My daughter''s medicine has a monthly dose that costs $ 10,000." A monthly dose for $ 10,000 meant that he would have to pay $ 120,000 a year, which was not too high for Jake, but for a lifetime remedy it was a considerable amount, and Coach Davis would have to receive more. $ 15,000 a month to support your family and still pay for the medicine. "I understand your situation, I can offer you a salary of $ 20,000 a month, should be enough for you to take care of your family." "Thank you, Mr. Smith, I appreciate the opportunity very much." "But before we agree to that, I have some conditions involving the training." "Sure, you can tell." "As you may know I''m studying at UNC University and playing basketball on the Tar Heels team, so I play once every two or three days for several months a year, and in the future, I plan to join the NBA so it will be harder to find time available." "Still, whenever I can, I do my private training, but even if you are my trainer, I probably won''t be able to have any training schedules and you will have to adapt to my free time to organize my training." "I know it seems weird to think like that, but I managed to get everything I have in marathons by doing things that way, so it''s a reality you''ll have to accept." Frank Davis thought for a while what Jake was talking about, that would mean that he would have no coaching authority and would only have to follow through with his training plans when Jake was available. Normally this would be unacceptable for a coach who had to have authority over his athletes in training, but he understood that Jake''s situation was different as he had many things to do and was still a basketball player and intended to continue as a professional basketball player. Also, just as Jake had said he was only 18 now and already an elite and best marathoner in the world, so it was clear that Jake didn''t need to change his training, so it seemed that Jake just intended to improve his training methods and not the time he spent training. "I understand, I agree with that." "Great, there''s one more thing, everything that goes through our training including my physical condition, my training method, my physical and medical exams has to be kept in secret, I want a confidentiality contract for that." "Of course, I have no problem with that." "Another thing is that we will not have a normal coach and athlete contract, so you get no commission from my sponsorships or from the rewards of the competitions I win." "I agree with that too." Jake was doing this to make sure there was no way his secrets could be uncovered. Athletes usually take several exams of all kinds so that coaches can do the best training programs that fit only the athlete and the athlete to have the best enjoyment. Jake knew that well, but he usually shied from taking these full exams, he just took the exams to prove that he had not ingested any substance that would improve his performance in official races. But Coach Frank Davis would definitely ask for all sorts of exams often, and once he won a few more major marathons he would greatly improve his overall stats and surely something would change. There was no way anyone could be suspicious that he was back in time or that he had a system in his body, and even if they were suspicious no one would believe it and they would have no way of proving it, but the more accurate exams and performance tests would surely have big changes with these improved statistics. So to avoid problems it was better to ensure the secrecy of coach Frank Davis, as to why the coach was not entitled to participate in sponsorships and the rewards of competitions he wins in the coming years was another situation. The sponsorships Jake received were more from basketball than from athletics, and when he joined the NBA he would receive tens of millions every year from basketball, so it was normal that he didn''t want to mix things up with his athletic coach. While participating in the rewards of competitions he won was because he didn''t want coach Frank Davis to keep insisting that he participate in multiple marathons during the year just to receive a commission from the races Jake won. That was a reality so it was better to be forewarned, for Coach Frank Davis it just seemed like Jake was being stingy if it went on like that he would not be a coach but an assistant to Jake who was just taking orders. But as he needed the money he had to accept all the demands that Jake made, besides training Jake he would be training the best marathoner in history, for sure in the future he could work elsewhere and get a good salary to take care of his life daughter in a few years. "So it''s all settled, from now on Mr. Frank Davis will be my athletic coach, after you sign the contracts my lawyer gives you, you can come here to talk to me again." "Call me Coach Davis instead of Mr. Davis, in a few days I''ll be here." Chapter 301 Using a Coach as an Assistant 7 Emily soon came to university with contracts prepared for Frank Davis, Coach Davis was also very decisive and as he knew he would work with Jake for many years under the conditions Jake imposed, so he sold his house in Austin, Texas. Soon he found a hotel to host his family, he didn''t know where Jake would live in a few years so it was better to wait until he bought another house for his family, with his salary they could easily live in a hotel and wait for Jake to leave college to see where they would buy a house. His wife Zoe had quit her job to look after their daughter, and since they had nothing to hold them somewhere, it was better than the family always lived in a comfortable hotel than in Austin, Texas, just the two of them living alone. That way things were easier for Coach Frank Davis who soon returned with his family to Jake University, then he met Emily and signed the contracts, so Emily returned to Miami and Coach Davis was hired. Jake was kind enough to pay his first upfront salary as a kind of bonus and soon they started preparing for Jake''s training, first Coach Davis followed Jake''s daily training to learn how he prepared for marathons. After all, Jake was a multiple marathon winner and had the world record, it was normal to hope that his training could help Coach Davis improve his training routine to pass to other athletes in the future. So in the morning, Jake went to do his daily training as usual accompanied by Zack, Coach Davis went with them and took a timer and notebook to take notes, after doing the warm-up exercises Jake started running the 50 km. After training was over Coach Davis was still calm and writing down some things in his notebook, after they got back to university and walked away from Zack they started talking. "What did you think of my training?" "Do you do this training every day?" "No, I did before, but now at least twice a week I don''t do this training because I have to conserve my stamina on days when I have games with the basketball team." "If you were doing this training every day before and have never had any injuries while still playing basketball, I think this training may be very good for you." Jake was surprised by this, in fact, he found his training routine very intense himself, this training only served him because Jake had the system and would not easily get hurt and his body recovered quickly. He knew it was possible for elite athletes just like him to run 50km every day, but not at the running speed he did that was below the world record, so he didn''t expect Coach Davis to say that this could be a good training method. "I understand that you expected me to say something else, and I understand why you demanded that I sign a confidentiality agreement, and I was honestly surprised when I saw that you run below your own world record for 50 km." "But it''s not that weird as training, it''s just your running speed, and I suppose at the time of the competitions you don''t want to risk it and so slowed your running pace." "But I think you are very careful, if you run every day at this pace you can surely run just over 42km at this pace and finish the marathon smoothly." "If you''ve never had any injuries even training so intensely this shows that your body is incredibly tough and your stamina is amazing too." "So before deciding how to improve your training routine I want to ask you to do several exams at the clinic and then let us rent an elite gym and test your physical limits." Just as Jake hoped he would have to take some exams before he actually started training with Coach Davis, but just because he hadn''t neglected the training method he had been using since a few years ago, Jake had already liked Coach Davis more. Knowing this Jake took some exams in the coming days before the next team''s Tar Heels game, the exams were tedious, but Jake still did all the tests at the academy were more complicated because Jake wanted a secret about the test results. So it took longer to achieve, but since Jake was famous for being a great marathon runner and having the world record in the marathon he got a guarantee of secrecy about his tests, few people were present at the test sites. Several tests were done on the most modern machines of the time and Jake tested for various sports, just as expected Jake''s results on the performance tests were shocking. In many sports, Jake almost achieved the same results as the Olympic champions other than the marathon, and in some reflex tests, Jake was also impressive. In endurance tests then everyone was shocked to find out the limits of Jake''s stamina, several hours on a treadmill race were needed to reach the limit, and this with a considered fast test speed. In part their stamina and lung capacity were better than Olympic swimmers, the people who were collecting the results regretted signing a confidentiality agreement, otherwise, they could publish some of these results to shock the sporting world. After that no one doubted why Jake could compete in marathons and still play high-level basketball, after that they returned to college, Coach Davis needed to wait for the results of Jake''s clinical exams before preparing his training. So while waiting for Jake to refocus on basketball, the next day came the next game for the Tar Heels team, it would be another home game and the players were more rested after four days of rest. That was the number 20 game of the season and the Tar Heels team had an 8 straight winning streak and only lost 2 games all season, it was for sure one of the best seasons in the team''s history. The last match between the two teams this year the team Tar Heels came out with the victory after a difficult game with a small points advantage, so all players were concentrated for this game that should be difficult. Jake started playing again and had another good performance to help his teammates, in the first half he played for 16 minutes and made 12 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals, again he saw that his teammates were having a good game and took the opportunity to improve his assist statistic. So with Jake being well-marked and not trying to make too many plays his teammates had more opportunities, Jake didn''t know that because he was thinking of making more assists, but he also won the favor of his teammates and Coach Smith. Everyone liked a star player, but for the team, it was much better to see a talented player who did a lot of assists like Ed Cota than a player who just scored dozens of points. In the second half the team continued to dominate this game, Jake can play for 17 minutes and made 13 points, 11 assists, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals, so the team can easily win this game. Team Tar Heels won by scoring 97 points against 64 points for Florida State Seminoles, Jake made another triple-double with 25 points, 21 assists, 11 rebounds, and 6 steals, it was another good team game and 9 consecutive wins. The players were also excited about this sequence and were waiting for the next game, the team mood was very good with all the animated and calm players, it was good to have a winning streak to calm the player''s mind. For the next few days Jake continued training with the basketball team, he talked even more with Charlie, Jamison, and Carter, yet normally the 4 didn''t usually get together in training. Charlie trained for a different position and had his own training partners, and they both talked more about business and fraternity, with Jamison and Carter he talked more about sports and general affairs. But in training he spent more time with Jamison and Carter as the three often practiced plays together, they could be considered great friends after spending several months together. The three of them had goals of joining the NBA and so it was normal for them to enjoy talking about the future, Jake felt strange because he saw the two of them play in the NBA for a long time on television. As they talked about the future Jake couldn''t stop thinking that he knew what their future could be, luckily both of them would have good careers, Jamison played as well as he could for several years and Carter even with some injuries played for over 20 years. The one with the most uncertain future among the 3 was himself, Jake was very confident that his future would be bright and that he could achieve more important things and fulfill all his dreams, he was satisfied with the things he had now and just wanted accomplish a few more things. Of course, that wasn''t why he would stop after a few years, he would always want to achieve more and more, but the pressure of being successful would no longer exist in his heart.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Chapter 302 Using a Coach as an Assistant 8 Jake was happy with his performance on the basketball team Tar Heels, he was known as one of the best college basketball players and the best freshman of the year, was likely until he could win this year''s awards. But he was also unhappy because of his year as a marathon runner, this is a pivotal year for Jake in basketball, it was his first year on the Tar Heels team and even as he started the games he didn''t know if he had the confidence of Coach Smith. So he predicted that he would have to miss a few races this year to get the coach''s approval, so on February 1st he missed the first marathon he intended to participate in the year. It was the Tokyo marathon, the truth was that although the system had given a reward to every major marathon that Jake won the concept of major marathon at that time was still different from the future, these marathons were not yet recognized by the athletic association and did not give Special rewards. So much so that the Tokyo Marathon, for example, did not have the same format it would have 10 years later, yet Jake knew that if he won he could achieve both statistics points in stamina and agility. But this marathon was the same day as Team Tar Heels against Team Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders a week ago, so it was impossible that Jake could lose the game to run this marathon. Whether it was a day earlier or a day later he could get a permit from Coach Smith, but the same day was impossible, luckily Jake was an American runner who never ran out of the country so no one could know he intended to run earlier this year. So Jake didn''t know if he could race in Boston or London, maybe after the NCAA tournament final was over he had a chance to race in those marathons, but if it was like Tokyo he would have to lose. So he would have to postpone until next year his plan to win all 6 major marathons, which might take a few more years, luckily Jake was still young and had many years to try these races. After just a day of rest and training, the next Tar Heels game came, it was another home game with a winning streak, so the Tar Heels team was confident of victory. Fans were also excited about this game and even came early to watch, Jake''s friends also came to watch all of Jake''s games to support his roommate. William was improving his grades and getting investment advice from Jake, meanwhile, Aaron was hoping his leg would fully recover, it was much better now and he might even run, but it would take a while for him to play again. Both teams prepared and were ready to start the game, the opponent in today''s game was team Virginia Cavaliers, in the last game team Tar Heels could win easily, yet it was an opponent that Jake was careful to have beaten the team Tar Heels from what Jake remembered in his past life. Only Jake was more careful in this game and his teammates were more relaxed, even Coach Smith who was pleased with the team''s performance just talked about the game strategy and didn''t ask for any special care. What the coach used to cheer up the team was that they had a 9-win streak just like at the beginning of the season before they lost to the Wake Forest team, so the coach wanted the team to increase that streak to 10 games. No one wants to lose again, especially when the team could outperform their best performance of the year, only Jake didn''t get excited about Coach Smith''s speech and focused on playing well. Jake would again start playing and the Virginia Cavaliers team was prepared to defend against Jake especially, after all in the first game he was the main cause of the team''s defeat in that game. In the first half, Jake not only struggled to play for the team as in the last games and made more individual plays as well, so the team Virginia Cavaliers did not know how to defend against Jake. It was hard to find a team that could stop the attack of the Tar Heels team that had Jake, Carter, and Jamison to make the offensive moves, the three of them were players who could do all sorts of attacks and combinations of moves together. In that first half, Tar Heels took the lead easily and Jake played for 17 minutes and managed to make 15 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, it was a good first time for him as in the last games. In the second half, team Tar Heels continued to dominate the game and Team Virginia Cavaliers was having difficulty defending, after what happened in the game against Team Duke they no longer relaxed until the end of the game. Jake played for 17 minutes in the second half and scored 16 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals, so he got another double-double in this game and the Tar Heels team secured another win easily. After getting used to the whole team''s style of play Jake can play more easily and a few games in a row had always managed to make at least one double-double, yet Jamison and Carter have also been having good games. Some games are Jamison and others are Carter which performs well, besides them Williams who has been playing for a few minutes in place of Carter and Okulaja has also been performing well in many games.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Defensively Zwikker and Okulaja have also played well and even in offense they have an important performance in Coach Smith''s playing strategies, with the whole team playing well they have been increasingly considered among the favorites to win the NCAA tournament. Even from the university and coach background that often make a difference in the toughest games, Jake has always been shown a special performance for a freshman player. He has been playing so well that even the fact that he is the only sponsored player has been overlooked by reporters and the media at large, even his marathon victories and world record are coming second in comparison to his performance at the University. It is also mentioned that Jake had a smart choice to choose to play at university rather than directly to the NBA since if he entered the NBA directly from high school he would most likely stay at least two years in reserve before having a chance to play. Unless he joined a low-level team, but then his chances of winning an NBA title would be very low for a few years, so after staying for a few years and showing what he can at university he could even play as a starter since your first year. That was just what Jake thought, of course, the main reason for him to go to college was to fulfill his mother''s dream and graduate from some degree, so he could also have a college background and gain more visibility. Tar Heels won this match 89 points against 56 points of Virginia Cavaliers team, this was the tenth consecutive victory of the team and would probably continue without losing, the crowd was even happier. Tar Heels'' next match would be as a visitor so they could not watch the games at the Dean Smith Center for some time now, yet they expected the team to continue winning in the away games. In the next few days, players would have a few more days to rest before the next Regular Season game, they wouldn''t really rest as they would still have the training, but training was much less tiring for players than games that had a lot of pressure. Jake more than anyone would have no time to rest, on the day of this match against team Virginia Cavaliers Coach Davis had already received the results of Jake''s clinical examinations, so he can see that, of course, Jake was in perfect health. He had no muscle problems, no blood, bone, or any part of his body, his training also left no injuries hidden, even the one Jake had a few years ago had been completely recovered. Seeing this Coach Davis found it impressive and was even happier, he finally had an athlete who was very talented, willing to train and was physically very strong too, so Coach Davis was convinced that Jake''s current training could do no harm. Jake naturally knew and expected these results, after all, he had the system that always took care of his body and strengthened his body every time he gained new statistics, otherwise, Jake would have injured himself several times as a child and had no developed body and tried to exercise heavy. Knowing this Coach Davis was pleased and knew that he could create a suitable training plan for Jake, so the day Jake played Coach Davis spent the whole night creating a training plan for Jake to start the next day. So the next morning Coach Davis woke up early and went to the place where Jake and Zack always trained, Jake had finished warming up and started running when Coach Davis arrived. Seeing that Jake had started training Coach Davis decided to wait for Jake to finish his race before talking to him about the new training plan he had made, after all, it would have to be approved by Jake before they started. Chapter 303 Using a Coach as an Assistant 9 Jake did not actually expect to see Coach Davis anytime soon, he hoped that after the exams arrived the coach would spend several days preparing to create a suitable training plan for him. Shortly after Jake had finished running Zack returned to university alone while Coach Davis and Jake went to a nearby diner to talk, Jake had seen a stack of papers in Coach Davis''s hands and knew what the matter was. "I received the results of your exams yesterday, as you have no health problems or with your body, I decided to make a training plan for you that I had already thought a few days ago." "After seeing how you have been training now I''m sure you have very big stamina and a natural talent for being a marathoner, which means a lot of the problems other normal athletes have that you don''t have." "This is a big plus and can also be a disadvantage, even if other athletes don''t train as much as you can still finish the marathon in a shorter time, you have to adapt to a quick time to win." "Fortunately for you, this does not seem to be a disadvantage as you can still get better, maybe just someone like you can try to break the barrier and run a marathon in less than 2 hours." Jake knew that it wasn''t really his natural talent but the system that did it for him, but he was surprised how Coach Davis realized that quickly, to Jake''s relief it could be considered a ''talent''. Jake was a little embarrassed looking at Coach Davis''s well-made training plan, he was waiting for the right moment to tell the coach about his ambition, but Coach Davis ended up working faster than he was. "Coach, I''m sure your training plan is very good, but I have something I didn''t tell you about my expectations for the next few years in athletics." "You should know that I always enjoyed running and so I started training for marathons on my own, but that was because I thought it was easier to compete in marathons without good training, and then I found that I had the talent for it." "In addition to running I had another dream that was getting a lot of Olympic gold medals, so I think I can try to compete in other long-distance and even short distances." "But I know that for these modalities it is important to have proper training, so I was looking for a multi-modal trainer to at least try so I wanted a training plan that involved other modalities of athletics." Coach Davis''s first thought of hearing this was that Jake was very greedy and wanted so much from athletics, just specializing in one sport could take several years and needed training and talent to keep up. Besides, Jake, though very talented, was not only training in athletics and also training in basketball, so it was harder and hoping to compete in various sports, but after thinking a little he decided not to say that. It wasn''t just because he knew Jake had hired him just because he planned to compete in various sports, but because of the physical exams and fitness tests, he had done with Jake a few days ago. In these tests, Jake achieved better results than all athletics champions in long-distance competitions and slightly lower than athletes competing in short distance modalities that required more technique and speed. Even though these exams didn''t show everything a coach needed to know, at least it showed that Jake was much more likely to compete in those competitions than someone who has never competed in any sport before. So he thought it wouldn''t hurt to do some tests for a few months to see if Jake had the ability to fight for medals in these competitions or not, to do that he would have to change his training plans. "I will be honest, Jake, I don''t think you have a chance to win multiple medals in different modalities after all long-distance modalities have very different talent requirements than long-distance athletes." "But we can do some tests over the next few months to see if you can do it or not, but I think for long-distance competitions like 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters you might be able to compete to win now." Coach Davis wasn''t just trying to appease Jake and really thought that for 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters competitions Jake had a lot of chances to win, after all, Jake had a lot of talent for long-distance running. Most important for these races besides fitness and training was knowing how to run at the right pace, so Jake could win in several marathons in a row while other elite athletes had fickle results. As Jake easily ran 10 km in 29 minutes he didn''t have to increase his running pace so much to have a chance of winning, so if Jake had stamina and endurance to run for 50 km every day it should be no problem running faster at a distance smaller. If Jake could run 12 seconds faster per minute he could guarantee a winning time which should not be too difficult for Jake to get with a few months of training, for the 5,000 meters would be a little harder but it was not impossible. If he could do that would make history and win three gold medals in one competition, his training would not be much different from the current one and only a few months of some competition he should focus more on. "If you get enough time to compete in these 3 modes, let''s try and see how you do from 1500 meters and 800 meters, and so on, I don''t think you have the talent to try the 100 meters, but let''s see with the time." For training he used logic even when he thought Jake could be very greedy in trying to win various sports, it made Jake satisfied and convinced that Tiffany had found the right coach for him. "I know I''m trying to do something seemingly impossible coach, let''s try to focus first on the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters modalities, then we have time to try the other modalities." "But I want to be ready for the upcoming Olympics to compete in the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters, if we can we will try more modalities as well." So Coach Davis just nodded, he thought that 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters in more than 3 years would be a reality for Jake if he had the talent, otherwise, Coach Davis would try to get Jake to give up on that idea. After that Coach Davis returned to the hotel where he lived to redo the training plan, luckily it would not be much different as Jake was not thinking of competing in short distance modalities for years to come. What Coach Davis didn''t know was that Jake wasn''t in a hurry to start short-range competitions because he knew he would get a lot of statistics over the next few years, so it was only natural that Jake wanted to wait until he was in top physical condition. With 4 more agility points Jake did not believe that he would not approach the natural talent of the best athletes in the world, maybe he could even become faster than some, after all, Jake would pass the 40 agility points with those 4 points more. After speaking with coach Davis Jake, he focused back on his basketball training, of course, he continued his daily training with Zack, but for Jake at the moment basketball was more important. A few days later came the day of the next game of the team Tar Heels, after resting for a few days but the team was very excited even if the next game was as a visitor after all the team was in good time this season. With a winning streak of 10, they were behind the eleventh against a team they had beaten earlier this season, after a few hours both teams were ready for the game. The opponent for this game was again the NC State Wolfpack team, the last game ended with an easy victory of the team Tar Heels even if it did not perform very well of the players of the team Tar Heels. And it looked like it would be the same in that game, in the first half the players of the Tar Heels team were performing far below what they had in the last games, the NC State Wolfpack wasn''t good offensively either so they focused on defense further disrupting the Tar Heels team to make points.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Even though Jake was affected by the poor performance of the team and even getting some points made less than in other games, in the first half he could play for 16 minutes and made 12 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. In the second half the game remained very still and was difficult to watch for the people who were present or even for those who were at home, the two coaches seemed to expect such a game and made no change in strategy. So in the second half, Jake played for 16 minutes and made 12 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal, Jake himself was not satisfied with the game he had, but the important thing was that the team Tar Heels came out with the victory. The Tar Heels team won by 62 points against only 42 points by the NC State Wolfpack, it was a game with a lot of advantage, but with only 62 points made by the Tar Heels team. Chapter 304 Using a Coach as an Assistant 10 Even though Jake was not satisfied with his performance and the rest of the team were all happy to have won this game, they now had a winning streak of 11 and were more confident about the next games. Now there were only 5 games left until the end of Regular Season and they saw that they had a good chance of finishing with an amazing winning streak and so an excellent season, at the conference they had only one loss and every season just two losses and against two teams strong. At this time of the season, they were leading the Atlantic Coast Conference, and if they won 5 more games as well as remaining conference leader they would have much more confidence for the upcoming ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament. All media that talked about college basketball always highlighted the performance of the Tar Heels team this year, the whole team seemed to have a lot of strength in every position, even though in some positions the players didn''t stand out so much they were still fundamental to the team. The biggest highlights were Jake, Vince Carter, and Antawn Jamison who accounted for much more than half of the team points in all games and most of the rebounds as well, even the reserves like Ed Cota, Shammond Williams who had even more time. of the court were also spoken. "I think the Tar Heels team is definitely the favorite to win the NCAA tournament this year, they come very strong with two very good winning streaks and just two losses all season."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "It could have been said before that it could still be too early to talk about favorite teams, but now there are only 5 games left for Regular Season, then we go to the ACC tournament, so I think it''s time to see who''s favorite." "I agree with that, the Tar Heels team lost only two games this season, and those two defeats were for teams that can also be considered favorites and have a very strong team for this year." "Wake Forest is definitely a favorite with a very good season so far and with Tim Duncan on the team who is an excellent player and should go to the NBA draft this year and is a favorite to win several top player awards of the season." "The other team they lost to is the Arizona Wildcats team that for the past 10 years has been showing their strength in college basketball and is a favorite to win this NCAA tournament with a good team making a good season." "That''s right, besides, we have to point out that Jake is one of the best freshmen of the last 30 years or so in college basketball and comes with scary statistics this season fighting even to be the best player of the year." "He has an average of fewer than 30 minutes per game, playing the position with Shammond Williams who has been playing very well this season and Ed Cota who was one of the hopes for a great season this year." "Jake averages over 30 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals per game, plus an average of over 60 percent on both the three-point and field goal average." The commentators who were talking about Jake were impressed by this average box score statistics for this season''s games, not nearly the biggest names in history, but in that, much more competitive 90''s basketball was hard to even for players'' geniuses score 30 points per game in a season. "That''s because this season in more than 5 games Jake played for less than 20 minutes, in the two games that Team Tar Heels lost he played less than 20 minutes in the whole game, so I think with him playing more 30 minutes these two defeats would not have happened." Jake''s confidence in this commentator was surprising, but the others had to admit that the dice matched that description, so if Jake had played for more than 30 minutes the result could really be different. Everyone knew that at this time of the season it was almost impossible for Coach Smith to leave Jake out of games, so they could know if that was right in the next games, which was certain with Jake on the Tar Heels team they were stronger. "Also, let''s not forget that Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison are still on that team, these two are excellent players that are highly anticipated on NBA teams in the coming seasons." "Even though Jake averaging nearly 30 points per game these two also maintain an average of more than 15 points per game, the three usually make more than half of the team points in all games." "Serge Zwikker and Ademola Okulaja have also been having a great season, both with more than 10 points per average game, even though Okulaja playing less time than the others he is still important to the Tar Heels team strategy." "Not forgetting coach Dean Smith who has been leading this team for several seasons, he''s one of the most successful coaches in history and knows how to organize a good team." With all this, they had to admit that this year surely the Tar Heels team was a favorite to win this year''s NCAA tournament, in the next 5 games the Regular Season would end and they could see what it would be like afterward. Over the next few days, the Tar Heels team continued to do hard training to continue the winning streak, Jake also continuing his daily training while waiting for Coach Davis to finish his training routine. So as soon as the day of the next game came, it was a game with the weak Georgia Tech Yellow team against whom they easily won this season with the Tar Heels team making double the Georgia Tech Yellow points. So along with the 11 game winning streak, it was normal for players to be confident about this game, even though Jake didn''t believe this game would be any problem, yet he would concentrate on playing the best he could. It was another away game so the opponents were confident in this game even though they lost so much in the last game, so at least in confidence, both teams were equal for this game. In the first half, Jake was playing well as always and so the whole team had a good first half, yet Georgia Tech Yellow was unexpectedly playing well in the attack and gave some problems to the defense of Tar Heels. Even though they finished the first half with a big lead on the scoreboard, Jake played for 17 minutes in that first half and made 21 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, thus leading the team in a good first half. In the second half, Tar Heels continued to dominate the game and so Georgia Tech Yellow started attacking less and trying to defend more, but with Jake having a good game it was difficult for the defense to stop him. Thus the game ended with a comfortable victory for the team Tar Heels, Jake played for another 17 minutes in that second half and made 23 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals, with another good game led the team to victory. Team Tar Heels win by 89 points against 68 points from Team Georgia Tech Yellow, with another double-double scoring 44 points and 11 assists Jake brought Team Tar Heels for another easy win. The Tar Heels team now had a 12-win streak and their next game would be at the Dean Smith Center, the perfect setting for a rematch game against one of the only teams that defeated Tar Heels this year. This upcoming game against the Wake Forest Demon team was a much-awaited game by all the media and players of the Tar Heels team, everyone was confident that with Jake on the team they could beat the Wake Forest Demon team even if their opponents had Tim Duncan on the team. Jake was also confident of victory in the next game, after all the same time the two teams were different from the beginning of the season, the team Tar Heels was the leader of the conference while the team Wake Forest Demon was second. Even if they expected to win this game in order to have a chance to finish Regular Season first, the Tar Heels team would play this game at home, so the Tar Heels team was considered a favorite for the next game. So in the next few days the Tar Heels team spent preparing for the next game after a few days game day arrived, the Dean Smith Center bleachers were full that day and Jake''s friends were present to watch this exciting game. After a couple of hours, both teams were ready for the game, the Tar Heels team had the same initial formation as the other games with Jake playing as PG, Vince Carter playing as SG, Antawn Jamison playing as SF, Ademola Okulaja playing as PF and Serge. Zwikker in Center position. The Wake Forest Demon team came with the same team from the last game they beat Team Tar Heels, Jerry Braswell as PG, Tony Rutland as SG, Ricky Peral as SF, Tim Duncan as PF and Loren Woods playing as Center. This was to be expected after all as they had won the last game they did not need to change the initial lineup, yet the opposing team coach was more concerned with the change in the initial lineup of Tar Heels. After all unlike the last game between them, Jake was starting in the game, it showed that the team Tar Heels hoped to win this game and would not give the team Wake Forest Demon chances to do as in the last game. Chapter 305 1997 ACC Mens Basketball Tournament 1 Before the game began Coach Smith assembled the team and made a speech to motivate the players, he did not do it in every game and only in the most important games, it gave even more pressure to the players. "9, 12 and 0, do you know what these three numbers represent this season?" "At the beginning of the season we had a 9-win streak, and we lost to the Wake Forest Demon team and our winning streak dropped to 0 and our losing streak went to 1." "In today''s game our winning streak is 12, does anyone want to see that number turn 0 again? If you don''t want to see this don''t think about losing this game." "With that only 4 games left until the end of Regular Season, and we are in first place at the conference which is a great honor, I want to continue like this and have no defeat for the next games." After Coach Smith finished talking the whole team was much more excited and excited for this game, they knew they were favorites again and didn''t want to miss this game either, plus there was one more thing Coach Smith didn''t have the heart to say. In the last game Coach Smith had left Jake in reserve and did not put him to play for many minutes, this game was different and Jake was from the beginning of the game and this gave more confidence to his teammates. Everyone had to admit that Jake was very important to the team even though he was just a freshman, after all, Jake helped by making points, assisting, and still defending, so they were not ashamed to say that they were somewhat dependent on Jake''s good performances. This game was no different and if the Tar Heels team won everyone knew that part of the merit would be for Jake who made the difference, so after a few minutes the game began. In the early minutes the Tar Heels team started strong, they pressed harder on defense and put more effort into attacking moves, yet Coach Smith put no special defense against Duncan. Unlike Coach Smith, the opposing coach left two players to defend in Jake''s position, which was because the coach was confident that Duncan could put pressure on the defense even though he had one less player in his defensive area. After a few minutes Jake received the ball and advanced to the attacking court, after passing the middle of the court he passed the ball to Carter, Carter advanced to the left and after the three-point line went to Okulaja which was more open. Okulaja received the ball more freely because Duncan did not want to risk leaving the inner area to defend against him, but so another player who was responsible for marking Jake had to leave his position and defend against Okulaja. Okulaja seemed to expect something like this and passed it to Jake who was behind him, Jake received the ball and easily got rid of his marker, with space he tried to shoot three points to make 3 more points for the team Tar Heels. This was the second time a move like this had happened, with only one player defending against him, Duncan was easily able to make individual plays and points, while with two players defending against Jake the Tar Heels team was freer to make the plays. So Jake had some opportunities to make 2 three-point plays for the Tar Heels team attack, so the Tar Heels team had the advantage in the first half, the game continued like this for a few minutes. With Duncan inside, the Tar Heels team did not attack much in the indoor pitch, so Carter and Jamison were getting more balls, just as Okulaja didn''t risk three-point shots because Duncan could almost certainly get the rebound. Seeing this Coach Smith risked and put Williams in place of Okulaja and so wanted to see if that would give the team more chances to attack while weakening their team''s defense, this made the players of team Tar Heels more excited. "With more than 9 minutes into the game, Coach Smith seems to want to risk more than at the start of the game, putting Shammond Williams in place of Ademola Okulaja the three-point attack plays strengthen as the defense weakens." "From the beginning of this game we can see that Coach Smith wants to compete to see which attack is stronger, normally I would say it''s the safest attack with Tim Duncan that has only one player scoring him, but with Jake in the plays of three points, I can''t say that." "It''s true, from the start of this game we can see that team manager Wake Forest Demon is very concerned about Jake putting two players in, yet Jake has scored 8 points so far 6 points in two three-point plays." "That''s why I understand what Coach Smith is trying to do, after all, Okulaja has been going out for several unmarked plays and has only made 2 points having missed two shots off with almost no marks." "We''ll see the rest of this first half if Coach Smith''s bet pays off." As it was said with Williams joining the team, the defensive force of the team dropped a lot, in another game almost after Shammond Williams joined, Jerry Braswell charged forward and passed the ball straight to Duncan. Duncan was being tagged by Zwikker after Williams entered the game, yet Duncan was not intimidated by the new player on defense and after a spin made a dunk to score 2 points for Wake Forest Demon.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. This was Wake Forest Demon''s most played move in this game and so Duncan had 8 points in the first 10 minutes of the first half, he fears the ball with his back to the basket and either passed the ball or spin and made the points. Still, team Tar Heels had the most points leading the scoreboard, after a few more free runs Shammond Williams was able to hit 2 shots out of 3 making 6 points in 4 attempts and Jake hit 1 more shot from outside in two attempts. So when the first half was over Jake had played for 18 minutes and scored 17 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 4 steals, twice Jake managed to steal Tim Duncan''s ball after offensive rebounds. With this, the team Tar Heels finished the first half with great advantage and although Duncan scored many points his teammates were well scored and did not perform well in the first half. "With the end of the first half we can see that Coach Smith''s strategies are working more in this game, the Tar Heels team had the advantage in the whole first half, but after Shammond Williams took the place of Ademola Okulaja the Tar Heels team further opened up the lead." "True, even allowing Tim Duncan to play more freely on Team Wake Forest Demon he could not make so much difference on his own doing just two-point plays, on defense Duncan can''t help much either because Team Tar Heels attacks just far from where he defended." "And they were right, everyone knows that Duncan is very good at offense, but plays much better at defense, just as Team Wake Forest Demon did not hesitate to send two players to mark Jake, team Tar Heels also did not hesitate to give up many attack rolls to avoid Duncan." "Surely if at the beginning of the season the Tar Heels team had played like that they would have won, one still doesn''t understand why Jake didn''t play that game since his games before that game had been with Jake''s great performances." In the second half, team Tar Heels continued the same style of play and still had the biggest advantage on the scoreboard, after a few minutes the coach of Wake Forest Demon decided to take one of the defenders against Jake to mark Williams. He thought that this way team Tar Heels would make a change and put Okulaja in the game and team Tar Heels would lose the three-point play, but Coach Smith wouldn''t do something like that and kept Shammond Williams in the game and Jake had more freedom to play. So Jake was told to keep trying outside shots to make more three-point plays, Jake naturally accepted that and with only one player in defense, he was much easier to attack. When the second half ended, Tar Heels team won more easily than anyone expected, Jake played for another 18 minutes in that second half and scored 25 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. "What an unexpected game we had here at the Dean Smith Center, we all came to see a rematch between two strong teams and favorites to win the NCAA tournament, but what we saw was an easy win for the Tar Heels team." "At the beginning of the season Duncan was still very underrated and with two Centers playing together the Wake Forest Demon team took advantage of that to win many games early in the season, but later in time everyone understood that only Duncan played so well on that team." "So either teams put more than one player to score Duncan or let him play just like the Tar Heels team did, so many times the Wake Forest Demon team ended up losing like today." "What defines how opponents face this Wake Forest Demon team is how much confidence that the team has in attack and Coach Smith had full confidence in Jake Smith and Shammond Williams in the attack." "And so we saw this game with the Tar Heels team winning easily and Jake having a great game hitting 10 three-point shots in 15 attempts and scoring 42 points at the end of the game." Chapter 306 1997 ACC Mens Basketball Tournament 2 As commentators have said with Coach Smith''s strategy at work, the Tar Heels team easily won by 89 points against just 66 points from the Wake Forest Demon team. Tim Duncan still had a great game and got a double-double scoring 26 points and 13 rebounds, but did not score more than Jake so Tar Heels team won with Jake winning the star clash with more points but helping less to the team. This showed many media people the strength of the Tar Heels team in this clash between favorites and what many thought if Jake played more time in the first game this season the Tar Heels team would probably have won. After this game, the Tar Heels team reached an astonishing 13-win streak and players were confident of winning the remaining three games of Regular Season and arriving with more confidence for the ACC tournament. Even though they were confident everyone knew that the next games would be difficult because they would face two opponents who were having a great season and had two very strong teams and would play as a visitor. Also, with all of these games in the season the team was starting to feel tired and only players like Jake didn''t look tired, so in the next games Coach Smith would have to make more rotations in positions and let the reserves play longer. Only Jake coach Smith intended to keep playing for a long time in every game, the team''s fitness coaches have often said that Jake had a lot of stamina and stamina and had no risk of getting injured or getting tired in matches. This was better for the team, and Coach Smith believed that because he knew that outside of Jake''s basketball team training he was still training for the marathons he played, which showed how much stamina Jake had. After a few more days the day of the next game came, team Tar Heels traveled to face the next opponents that were team Maryland Terrapins, in the last confrontation between them was a difficult game with only 5 points difference. But that was because Team Maryland Terrapins was very strong and had a great season, and the last game this season was right after Team Tar Heels lost to Team Wake Forest and Jake didn''t even play 30 minutes in that game. So in this game, as Jake would start playing and play longer Team Tar Heels was not worried about the game, if the team had a good game Coach Smith would use more reserves to rest the main players besides Jake. After a few hours both teams were ready to start the game, as the last game was won by the Tar Heels team by a few points and today they would play at home the Maryland Terrapins team was confident of trying to win. In the first half, the two teams were very equal, Jake could make some smart moves and so the Tar Heels team still had the advantage, but the Maryland Terrapins team also had a strong team and made the game difficult. In the first half Jake played for 19 minutes and scored 18 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, with a great first half he could get the Tar Heels team to take the lead, but the points difference was not much.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Just as Coach Smith thought some players were removed from the starting lineup a few minutes earlier and let the reserves play longer, on the contrary Jake had more playing time if it wasn''t for Ed Cota having more difficulty playing in other positions Coach Smith could Let Jake play longer. In the second half, the game remained balanced, the Maryland Terrapins team playing well and Coach Smith giving more time to the reserves, so even with Jake playing very well the Tar Heels team never got a big advantage in the game. After the game was over the team Tar Heels still got a good win, in that second half Jake can play for another 19 minutes and made 22 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals, so playing was critical to the team''s victory. "A great game for the Tar Heels team, in fact, it should say it was a great game for Jake, the whole team of the Tar Heels team played today, both early players and the reserves." "Still with the performance of Jake who managed to organize the plays and score several points with the starting team and the reserve team the team Tar Heels still got the victory." "True, Jake is the typical player who can be said that the longer he plays the better the performance, today he played for 38 minutes and almost quadruple-double in that game, he scored 40 points, 12 assists, 9 rebounds and 8 steals, it took Jake more time to go down in history for this game." "With his performance, this season Jake has certainly entered history as one of the best players on the Tar Heels team." "Coach Smith is lucky to have him in the team, we can clearly see in this game that he intended to make a rotation in the team formation to rest the key players and Jake supported the team well for them to win." "But doesn''t Jake have to go into rotation either? He has been playing for a long time and always doing well if he has a player who has to be protected from fatigue and injury it is for him to have a chance to win the ACC tournament." "If it was another player I would agree, but don''t forget that Jake is also known for being a very successful marathon runner who has won Olympic gold medal and has the current world record, I would not doubt his stamina to play these games." Team Tar Heels won the game by scoring 102 points against Maryland Terrapins'' 85 points, Jake getting a double-double this season, now they had a 14-game winning streak with two games left before the Regular Season finale. Coach Smith was very successful with Jake''s performance and have been able to rest the top players longer, he would do that in the next game as a guarantee and so would have the team rested for the last Regular Season game and the entire ACC tournament. After a few more days was the day of the next game, it was the penultimate game of Regular Season and they had to travel again to play another game as a visitor, the early players like Carter and Jamison were more rested. They were looking forward to playing even though they were tired to see the team win, but with Jake on the team, they knew they could rest for a few minutes in the games after all the next games were more important and they wanted to win the ACC tournament. Even though everyone was excited to have a winning streak of 14, they all expected a tough game against the fourth-placed team at the conference, all the more so because they were a strong team and they were playing as a guest. The opposing team for this match was Team Clemson Tigers, in the first game between the two teams this season Team Tar Heels easily won by more than 20 points difference, but nothing could guarantee that this game would be equal. Still, the Tar Heels team had a better season and a better team in that game, and the Clemson Tigers team came from a losing streak over the last few games, so it seemed that they were favorites to win. After a few hours, both teams were ready for the start of the game, Coach Smith would also rotate the team during the game so Jake would play longer and have more responsibilities during that game. In the first half, both teams had a well-balanced game with the Tar Heels team with a slight advantage, it was a similar game to the last one, but the Clemson Tigers team seemed to want to take advantage of the rotation of the team Tar Heels players. So they tried to let more players defend against Jake, but even then the early players and the reserves also had quality and even playing less time could still make a lot of space to make the moves. In that first half Jake played for 19 minutes just like in the previous game and can make 15 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals, even with more than one player in defense against him, Jake can still make the moves. In the second half, the Tar Heels team was still maintaining the lead on the scoreboard even though the rotation, even with more than one player defending against Jake the overall result of the game did not change. In that second half, Jake can play for 18 minutes and made 12 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals, even though scoring fewer points being better scored Jake still managed to make a good game and a triple-double. They might hinder Jake''s individual result in the offense, but in defense and as PG Jake could still play very well even with two players in defense against him, so the Tar Heels team can win. Team Tar Heels won by scoring 84 points against Team Clemson Tigers 71 points, all who entered the game did their part and so with another good performance from Jake Team Tar Heels won the game and Coach Smith successfully rotated the team without losing any games. For the next games, the Tar Heels team would be with all their most rested players and would still have a 15 win streak this season, they would go all out for the last Regular Season home game with the support of the fans. After these games, Coach Smith was convinced that what the fitness coaches said was true and he could use more Jake in the next games longer and so the team would be stronger. Chapter 307 1997 ACC Mens Basketball Tournament 3 Before the match against the Clemson Tigers team Coach Davis finished the new training plan for Jake, so he sought out Jake the day before the match against the Clemson Tigers team. Coach Davis knew naturally that Jake should be busy for the next day''s game, but his job was just to create the training plan and see how Jake was executing that training plan. It was Jake who decided which day to train and if he agreed to follow that training plan, Coach Davis also followed up some Jake training with the basketball team that also included training at the university academy. Even though Coach Davis was required to be flexible and did not add any gym training to Jake and just ordinary training, he also decided to maintain Jake''s 50 km of training and just added some aerobic and cardiovascular exercises. That was Jake''s daily training routine and some training would also have to be changed a few weeks before competitions or when Jake was on vacation, with that training enough for Jake to be able to run in the three modalities he wanted to try for a gold medal at the Olympics. With more time Coach Davis would also add some positioning training and other techniques needed to run shorter distances, with the lack of training time that was what he could prepare for Jake. If Jake was a full-time athlete he could prepare for training at various times of the day and even elsewhere besides the track where Jake was currently training, unfortunately, Coach Davis knew that Jake was trying hard to take some time to train. So Coach Davis made sure to give Jake this training plan and explain why it was so similar to his current training, Jake understood what Coach Davis was saying and was happy with the coach''s consideration. Jake agreed with the coach that on his vacation he would have more time to know what Coach Davis''s full training was like, after all, Jake still had the classes he attended every day and another month of games with the basketball team before the holidays. If the team reached the NCAA tournament final there would still be 10 games left by the end of the season, so naturally Jake wanted the team to reach the NCAA tournament final, the reason Coach Smith is rotating the team now is the ACC tournament. If the team reaches the final they would have to play 3 games in 3 straight days without any rest, Coach Smith naturally had confidence in his team and hoped they would reach the ACC tournament final. After the last game the Tar Heels team spent the next few days training for the last game of Regular Season, they now came from a sequence of 15 straight wins and already had one of the best seasons in history for the Tar Heels team. This last Regular Season game would be even more special, it was a game at Dean Smith Center against their rival team Duke Blue Devils, in the last game they had a tough game even with Jake playing the whole game and doing a double-double. So everyone hoped that even though the Tar Heels team had the advantage would be a difficult game, Jake was glad to hear that his friends would be watching the game and the Dean Smith Center should have the bleachers full of fans waiting to see the Tar Heels team win. On the day of the game players were nervous even though they were playing at home, even though Jake was a little nervous about this game, Coach Smith didn''t even need to cheer up the players because everyone knew how important winning this game was. After a few hours, both teams were ready for the start of the game, Team Tar Heels was the favorite to win this game, but Team Duke Blue Devils was the second team in this conference. At the beginning of the game contrary to what everyone expected Jake didn''t have a double mark and only one player was placed to defend against him after all the team coach Duke Blue Devils knew that the whole team was strong and not just Jake. With an average of over 30 points per game and several double-doubles, everyone was thinking that only Jake led the team in victory, but if it was well observed the rest of the whole team was having a great season in Jake''s shadows. Antawn Jamison averaged over 20 points per game and took just slightly fewer rebounds than Jake, Vince Carter also with his dunk and good indoor moves had more than 15 average points per game because he played less time sharing his time on the court with Shammond Williams. In addition to them, Serge Zwikker and Ademola Okulaja were also having a great season and even Charlie McNairy and Ed Cota with less court time also played very well at the time they were on the court. Only by having such a team could they have 24 wins in 26 games of the season, only Jake alone could not do that if he was on a weaker team, so team coach Duke Blue Devils knew that if they couldn''t stop Jake with just one player in defense they could not win. It was a bet by team coach Duke Blue Devils based on trust in his players, so in the first half different from what happened in other games Jake was performing well and his colleagues were having a hard time playing. So in the first half, the game was more equal between the teams, yet Jake could more freely find the ways to get his teammates to receive the passes and he scored several points himself. In that first half, Jake played for 19 minutes and managed to score 18 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, so Tar Heels team managed to open a small lead on the scoreboard at the end of the first half.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. In the second half of the game, both teams made some changes in strategy, but the focus of the game was still on Jake, he was a good player and playing in PG position what he did determined if the team played well. Also, even though Jake had the freedom to play, he never forgot to make moves so that the team scored the points and not that he had more points, so Coach Smith trusted Jake to be the PG, otherwise Coach Smith would already have placed Jake as SG. In that second half, Jake can play for 18 minutes and managed to score 20 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, so he made another double-double and led the team to another victory, the Duke Blue Devils team played a lot well, but the Tar Heels team was simply superior. "And so we see another amazing game to crown the end of this Regular Season, we follow the top two teams from this conference, Duke Blue Devils team made a good game, but Tar Heels team still came out with a comfortable win." "This was expected, the Tar Heels team has had a better season and their players are better, even some of the Tar Heels team reserves could play in other teams in the initial lineup." "Also, Coach Smith has been doing a great job with this team, we can see that they have a lot of different ways to score the points on each move, so it''s hard for a team to defend against them." "That''s true, and there''s Jake who can become the leader of any team at all universities, this is just his freshman season and he''s been doing that, I hope to see for years to come." "With Jake as an opponent it is difficult for a coach to organize the defense strategy in the game if the Tar Heels team were weak it would be easier, but with such a strong team if two players were placed to defend against Jake the rest of the team can play quietly." "Soon we will be watching the ACC tournament games, and these teams can meet again, and at that moment we''ll see if the Tar Heels team can win again." "I think the Tar Heels team is a favorite to win the ACC tournament, no team rivals them this season, only the Duke Blue Devils team they lost today and the Wake Forest team can threaten them, but I think this year the team Tar Heels will be champion of the ACC conference." Team Tar Heels won the game by 98 points against Team Duke Blue Devils'' 87 points, so Team Tar Heels ended this year''s campaign in Regular Season with ACC''s # 1 conference team with 16 wins and a loss in 17 games. With all this, it was impossible to say that the Tar Heels team was not a favorite to win the ACC tournament and even the NCAA tournament, after which game players would have four days to rest before the first ACC tournament. With the rest, the players had in the last games with Coach Smith''s rotation they would have to be at maximum physical strength after that rest after all the ACC tournament would be in 3 straight days of games. Only someone like Jake would be comfortable with this sequence of games, Jake was confident of victory because in his past life the Tar Heels team had won and this year he would also be playing. Over the next few days, the team had only rest without any training before the first ACC tournament game and Coach Guthridge came to talk to Jake personally banning him from running in the next few days. Jake knew he would have no problem even if he trained, but as the next few days were important to the team he agreed to be without any training, after all, it would do just fine for him to be the next few days without any training. Chapter 308 1997 ACC Mens Basketball Tournament 4 Since in the coming days there would be no training Jake took the opportunity to go out and spend some time with his roommates, they have become very friends in these last 6 months, almost whenever Jake was at university the four went out to eat together. Jake trained every day with Zack and always talked to him about the marathons he ran, they also talked about other things and got very close, with Aaron that Jake became friends last he also talked a lot. They always talked about various things about American football that Jake was very fond of watching, Jake didn''t have many stories on the high school football team as he played only twice with them. But Aaron had several stories about his high school years and the expectations he still had to play at university in the year 1997, Aaron also talked a lot about his father and the older brother who lived in New York. With William, he always went to class every day, in these two semesters they had all classes together, so it was normal for them to always talk, William had much better grades with Jake teaching him. They also talked about the stock market, Jake didn''t mind giving William his knowledge of market movements in the coming years, but unfortunately, William''s family couldn''t afford to invest in stocks now. So Jake gave the advice hoping William would gain some understanding of the stock market, Jake looked at the stock market now just as given as he knew what would happen in the coming years.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. But for William who knew nothing about the future he could study how the market worked and use Jake''s tips to understand how to invest, Jake always reminded William that the stock market situation was now special and something like that would not happen again. Jake also said that the market was now forming a stock bubble, where people could make a lot of money by investing, but they had to know the right time to exit before losing everything. He hoped that with these tips William would realize his dream of becoming a great wall street investor if William wanted to become a manager he could work with Jake after a few years. Jake needed someone with a talent to help Emily take care of his investments, he just didn''t think about calling William now because clearly William had no thought of just working in a joint venture and wanted to work with the stock market. When everyone was sitting together eating lunch and William seemed to be waiting for someone, only Jake realized that and the others were just worried about eating, Jake was curious to see if it was any woman William was looking for. After a few minutes who appeared was a tall, elegant man, when this person arrived William gave a strange smile as if he was up to something and Jake thought he might know this person who soon walked to the table where they were. "Hahaha, you finally got Brett, I wanted you to meet Jake for a few months ago." "William! I told you several times not to call my brother when we went out to eat." So Jake finally knew who it was, it was Brett Roberts Zack''s brother, so Jake thought he knew him from somewhere, Jake had seen a picture of him on Zack''s desk in the dormitory and they looked a bit too. Clearly it was a kind of revenge William was plotting for Zack, William was always annoyed by some Zack jokes and knew that only Brett could stop Zack and so William became friends with Brett. "Don''t be like that Zack, your brother wanted to meet Jake who is the only one in our dormitory he doesn''t know, you said you would introduce Jake to him, but several months went by and nothing." "This has nothing to do with you, this is a matter between me and my brother, Jake has been busy for the last few months after we get back to the dormitory you''ll meet me." "Zack, don''t be like that with your friends, so I always have to keep an eye on you, I thank you, William, for inviting me today." After talking to Zack and William, Brett looked toward Jake, he seemed to be quite calm and cool, but Jake felt that he was also very serious and strict. "It''s a pleasure to finally meet you, Jake, my brother always speaks well of you to my parents when he goes home, I knew you helped him in marathon training, I appreciate always taking care of my brother." "It''s natural to help a friend, and Zack always keeps me company in my morning training, it''s nice to have someone to train with, it''s nice to meet you too, Brett." "I know you are very busy with basketball games and studies and you have also been showing your training to Zack, with an elite athlete like you teaching him Zack will easily improve." Jake liked Brett, he seemed to be very sociable even though he was more serious, Jake knew it wasn''t just because he was a year older because he himself had a mindset of someone over 40 and didn''t act so different from Zack and from others. "So to thank you guys for taking care of my brother, I was thinking of taking you to a batting cage to relax a little." "Great idea, I haven''t been in a batting cage in years." William quickly nodded enthusiastically and Aaron also seemed excited about it, even though Zack who was angry before was happy with the idea, Jake had not been in a batting cage for many years but also liked the idea. They went somewhere far from the university that even Zack shouldn''t know where it was, everyone rented safety equipment to play with because they didn''t want to buy it just to play this time. As it was monday the place was emptier, everyone had played in the batting cage before and so no one had to go to the 50mph batting cage or lower. Everyone talked for a while and decided to choose the 70mph batting cage, one that everyone could hitch and no one would be ashamed of, Zack and Aaron wanted to go to the 90mph batting cage, but Brett said it was best to stay together. 70 miles was not at all slow and William who was first able to hit only 1 ball out of 20 attempts, Aaron did not want to be ashamed as he had previously asked to go to the 90mph batting cage. Even so, he missed the first 4 hits, only after the fifth ball he hit and then hit a total of 12 of the 20 hits he tried, even though it went well he was ashamed to have asked for faster balls before and everyone laughed at him mercilessly. Zack was also afraid that they would laugh at him and so Brett was throwing first, he missed the first and then started hitting, even though he missed a few he still hit 15 of the 20 hits. Even so, he didn''t say he was good at batting and just said he came here many times over the last few months, everyone knew he was being modest, yet Aaron and Zack used that excuse that they didn''t hit long and everyone laughed at them again. Zack was still scared to hit and so Jake passed in front of him, Jake was not very good at batting in his past life and he always stayed in the 60mph batting cages and still missed a few. The first ball Jake just let go and saw if he could hit, so on the second ball Jake moved quickly and hit easily, then it was a sequence of 18 straight hits without missing a single one. Jake didn''t want to stand out, but with a machine just throwing the ball at the same speed, it was impossible for Jake with 37 agility stat points to miss, with that agility if he took a formula 1 car, in just 10 laps he could catch the way to ride. His reflexes and speed of thought were much faster than normal people, of course, thanks to the system, and not that anyone who was fast also had these benefits. Zack regretted letting his brother and Jake go in front of him, yet he actually got 14 hits in 20 attempts, better than Aaron and worse than his brother, as they were just kidding and not competing all kept beating. After a while, more people arrived and Brett told them to get out of the batting cage as they had been for a long time, but before leaving they all went to the 90mph batting cage for Jake to bat down. Jake knew they were going to do it so it was just like it was just for fun, the first ball Jake again just let it go to catch the rhythm, the second he hit the ball, it was pretty fast and his hands got a little cushioned with the impact. The ball came again and Jake hit again, Jake felt that if the non-metal bat would break with him bouncing at that speed, William and the others were amazed at how easily Jake hit the ball. He would start bouncing just as the ball came out of the machine and did not swing the bat very fast, yet every time he bounced the ball he would always hit the machine back hard. Seeing this his friends thought they would never have the courage to throw some balls at Jake, if the machine wasn''t protected they thought Jake would have hit them a few times, of course, they didn''t know that Jake had control over what he was doing. But if they knew that he had control in hitting at that speed and with such force, then they wouldn''t have the courage to hurl Jake who could hit them whenever he wanted. Chapter 309 1997 ACC Mens Basketball Tournament 5 After Jake hitting the 90mph hitting cage without missing a beat Brett told Aaron and Zack to try, the two didn''t want to be ashamed of the 70mph hitting cage. But Brett insisted and everyone realized he was doing it on purpose, Zack knew well what his brother was like and gave up and went to try to counter, he just regretted trying to show off before, Zack still managed to hit 5 hits from 20 attempts, but if embarrassed anyway. After Zack went Aaron also had to go and try to hit the 90mph batting cage, he hit 7 out of 20 attempts and came out a little less embarrassed, yet everyone had fun thanks to Brett. Even though Zack spoke so badly of Brett he was one of the most fun and was like a kid, after going to the batting cage they went to a mall in Jake''s car to watch a movie. They went to see the movie Jerry Maguire in which Jake appeared again to Brett who did not watch being able to watch, seeing for the second time they could enjoy more of the movie and even laughed at the scenes where Jake appeared. To their surprise after the movie, two girls who appeared to be high school age turned up to ask Jake for an autograph, he was well known to people after appearing so often on television and in commercials. Also, these girls had just seen Jake appear in the movie and with him being so tall it was hard for them not to recognize him, then his friends joked that Jake was so famous that he had to wear glasses. It had been a few months since Jake had been shopping, so he went to the music store and bought several new Kate CDs and even gave her friends a gift, his friends knew her too because now Kate was known all over the country, even more, famous than Jake. After they still stopped at a diner in the mall to eat and talk some more time, it was hard for them to have some free time to hang out with friends to talk to so they had to enjoy it. "So we find out today what Jake Smith''s future is in sports, he''s going to be a great baseball player and win the world series." "True, with that batting talent you can win any game you want Jake." "I thought he would play American football like me, Jake already played in high school so it''s more possible than baseball." "Don''t forget that there is still football, we have to go to some field and see Jake kicking a ball to see Hahaha." "You say that because you''re jealous, I can play a lot of sports and you none, Hahaha." "Oh so Jake knows how to be arrogant too, then we''ll see how you fare in boxing." Everyone joked because they knew Jake''s talent was so great, only Brett didn''t joke much because he didn''t have much intimacy with Jake, Jake was happy to see that everyone was joking and no one was jealous. Of course, it wasn''t because he could easily hit a fastball thrown by a machine that he would be a baseball genius, in fact of all sports Jake was least interested in baseball. That''s because he always thought baseball was the sport where it was hardest to become a star and to be the team''s highlight, there are over 160 games in a season and each team has several hitters who can do the same for the team that is making home runs. Defensively the player can only cover a small part of the field, pitchers can do more than others and have highlights, but pitchers are most likely to get hurt in games and can become heroes or villains with a single pitch. So just having a lot of talent one could think of standing out in baseball and would have to have a good mindset to withstand the criticism that would surely come, then came American football which also has a lot of risk for players to get hurt and few games in a season. And there was basketball, which was the sport that Jake had heard from his past life that he had the talent of many people, it''s a sport Jake loved and even though he has over 80 games a season there is no risk of injury if he is not very unlucky. That''s why since his last life Jake thought that if he had a sport he wanted to play it was basketball and he wanted to win various awards and NBA rings, while athletics Jake didn''t think it was possible and just enjoyed running. Of course, he wouldn''t tell this to his friends and just treated it all as a joke, Jake also knew that if he was a talented player throwing the ball to himself even if it was slower than 90mph he would still not be able to hit. Not to mention that baseball was not just about hitting and had many fundamentals to be a good player, Jake could do well in baseball if he tried today, but that''s all because he gained so many running and training statistics in basketball. If Jake wanted to start playing baseball from the age of 10 and trained for many years he couldn''t even join a normal team even with the help of the system with his lack of talent, so Jake always remembered how basketball and Athletics helped him with basketball being the main one. After relaxing with his friends for a day Jake spent the other days doing nothing and just relaxing his body, he thought of doing various things before entering university, such as running multiple marathons or even making movies. But just a few months after entering college Jake found that he had no time to do anything he thought, fortunately after the NCAA tournament final he would have several months to rest and do whatever he wanted. Even if Coach Smith didn''t like it he would only re-train with the team after the start of next semester in late August, by then he would have four months of freedom. In those days when he was resting, Jake wondered how Matthew''s company was doing this early in the year and whether Tiffany and Clara''s companies had already started investing better for their company. But Zhang Yi knew that if he started thinking about business he would be very busy and couldn''t solve all the problems that would arise until the first game of the ACC tournament began. So for the next few days Jake was really just resting and hanging out with his friends and even with the basketball team''s Charlie, Jamison and Carter they found time to go out and talk. After all, this rest finally came the day of the first game of the ACC tournament, the day before this game on day 6 the NC State Wolfpack team beat Georgia Tech Yellow in the first round. No one cared about this result and only Jake knew that the NC State Wolfpack team would surprise and become the first team to leave the first round and reach the final of the ACC tournament, of course, they would lose in the final to Team Tar Heels as Jake wanted. So on Day 7, while Team Tar Heels faces Team Virginia Cavaliers, Team NC State Wolfpack will beat Team Duke Blue Devils if everything happens as Jake remembered in his past life. Even though none of this happens Jake had the confidence to beat the Virginia Cavaliers team and any opponents they had in the final, after a few hours both teams were ready to start the game at the Greensboro Coliseum.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. Since the game was in North Carolina, the Tar Heels team felt they were playing at home, from the first minutes of the game the Tar Heels team pressed their opponents into attack and defense. Team Virginia Cavaliers this year was not that strong and Team Tar Heels was having one of the best seasons of recent years, they were coming to that game with a 16-win streak. In the first half, Jake could play for 18 minutes and managed to score 15 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals, so he helped the Tar Heels team to have a good lead at the end of the first half. Even though it was not an easy game, the Virginia Cavaliers team knew they would not have much opportunity to win the NCAA tournament and so the ACC tournament was their last chance to win something this year. At least they didn''t want to be eliminated in the first game, so Virginia Cavaliers were making a lot of effort in defense and were determined to have a difficult game. Even in the second half the Tar Heels team had difficulty setting up plays and players had to use individual skill to gain space to make the move, so with Jake, Jamison, and Carter playing well the Tar Heels team had the advantage. In addition, Team Tar Heels had the most restful and stamina players in this game, as Team Virginia Cavaliers did not have the opportunity to rotate the starting team because the reserves did not have the same strength. So throughout the game Team Tar Heels always had the lead on the scoreboard even though Team Virginia Cavaliers was trying hard to win, in that second half, Jake played for 17 minutes and scored 16 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. Jake can do one more double-double and Tar Heels team won 84 points against 69 points Virginia Team Cavaliers was a good start and the other day they would have another game. Chapter 310 1997 ACC Mens Basketball Tournament 6 Just as Jake expected the NC State Wolfpack team beat Duke Blue Devils in the quarterfinals and would soon advance to the next game and will likely beat Team Maryland Terrapins by surprising everyone and reaching the final. As for the Tar Heels team would face the equally strong team Wake Forest Demon and Jake hoped that his team would leave with the victory, but since the opposing team had Tim Duncan, Jake did not dare to despise the opponent. So the next day they had the second game of this ACC tournament, of course, the favorite team to win this game was the Tar Heels team, so all the players on the team were relaxed in preparing the game. After all, they were more rested and the team season was better, on the individual side the players of team Tar Heels also had the advantage, Jake had even more confidence because he knew that in his past life the team had won this game. His friends were also watching this game in the stands and Jake was sure his mother was watching this game on television, so he had to give his best of it in this game. After a couple of hours, both teams were ready to start this game, Team Tar Heels knew the strategy to beat Team Wake Forest Demon, it was just to let Tim Duncan freer and focus on defending the other players of the team. It was the strategy they used in the last game and it had worked, after all the Tar Heels team was confident of their players'' offensive capability but had no confidence to stop Duncan in that game. Wake Forest Demon had no way of stopping Jake in this game, they couldn''t leave Jake free to play because if they did Jake would make several three-point plays and still find a way to pass the ball to his teammates. In the first half of this game everyone realized that this game would not be played as much as everyone expected, Jake was playing very well and so was Duncan, but the rest of the Wake Forest Demon players were not playing that well. On the side of the Tar Heels team, the players were all having a good game and so naturally the Tar Heels team had an advantage in this first half of the game, Jake played for 18 minutes and scored 20 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 6 steals. With such a performance the players near the three-point line had difficulty playing near Jake, and inside was Carter, Jamison, and Zwikker in defense, as well as Okulaja who despite defending against Duncan still hampered other players. Duncan managed to score 12 points and 6 rebounds in the first half, yet he alone couldn''t make much difference in this game. In the second half Team Tar Heels continued to play well and dominated Team Wake Forest Demon, everyone was playing well and Team Coach Wake Forest Demon did not know what he could do to reverse the difference on the court. In that second half Jake played for 19 minutes and scored 22 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 5 steals, with this triple-double and 42 points in this game Jake led the Tar Heels team to great advantage against Wake Forest Demon. Duncan also had a great game and did a double-double again but couldn''t change the situation on his own, besides Jake Jamison also had a great performance in both games so far, besides the two other players of the team also played very well. Jake was happy with the triple-double, he hoped maybe to get another double with the rebounds, but playing against Duncan that was impossible for now, at least the team went to the ACC tournament final. In this game the Tar Heels team scored 98 points against just 69 points from the Wake Forest Demon team, everyone who expected a difficult and exciting game was disappointed, but at least they saw a game with several good plays from the Tar Heels team. Just as Jake expected the NC State Wolfpack team beat the Maryland Terrapins team and would face Jake''s team in the final, so Jake can be more relaxed about it because in many ways against the NC State Wolfpack team they were more likely to win this ACC tournament. After a night''s rest the other day the Tar Heels team had another game again, it was the 1997 ACC tournament final, the Tar Heels team opponent in that game was their rival NC State Wolfpack. This was an unexpected game for everyone but Jake who knew the future, yet while Team Tar Heels was tired of playing for two days in a row, Team NC State Wolfpack played for three days in a row. In addition, the team''s season Tar Heels and the players were much better than the opponents, Jake intended to play everything he could again to secure his first trophy at university, they would be the champions that day. After a few hours, both teams were ready for this game, the Greensboro Coliseum was full of fans and most were Tar Heels team fans, Jake was more excited about this game.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. The favorites were the Tar Heels team, but in the last three games the NC State Wolfpack team was not the favorite and they still won in the end, so no Tar Heels team player looked down on their opponents. The initial formation of the Tar Heels team was Jake playing as PG, Shammond Williams playing as SG, Antawn Jamison playing as SF, Ademola Okulaja playing as PG and Serge Zwikker playing as Center. In the last two games, Zwikker and Okulaja were playing very well and Williams was also joining the team as a reserve and playing better than Carter, so Coach Smith decided to make that change in that game. The initial formation of the NC State Wolfpack team came with Jeremy Hyatt, Ishua Benjamin, Danny Strong, Justin Gainey, and Clint Harrison, with this team they didn''t have much strength to fight for rebounds and seemed unwilling to. The NC State Wolfpack team didn''t make much three-point play even though their players didn''t have the time to try hard for indoor play, so Coach Smith decided to try to attack more with the three-point play with Jake and Williams to try to win with more easily this game. In the first minutes of play, the things were exactly as planned, the team''s defense of the Tar Heels team was very strong in the painted area and gave more space outside the three-point line, so they made the NC State Wolfpack try more plays of three points. On the other side was just the opposite, the NC State Wolfpack defense was stronger off the three-point line and weaker within the painted area, so in the early minutes Jake had a lot of time in the ball in several plays. He worked well several moves with Zwikker and Jamison and the two also knew how to cooperate and so the team Tar Heels made many moves in the painted area, Jake also attacked well and when the opposing defense came with two players he passed to Williams to make the moves. So in the first half, the NC State Wolfpack team missed many three-point attacks and could not make moves in the painted area, while the side team Tar Heels missed much less with Jake in charge of the attacks and organizing the moves. In that first half, Jake had 22 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals, with this Jake performance Tar Heels team led by many points towards the end of the first half. "The Tar Heels team has been dominating the game in the first half and has a great advantage for this second half, dominating the three-point balls, dominating the plays in the painted area and dominating in rebounds." "It''s true, the NC State Wolfpack team looks like they have given up on painted area rebounds and rebounds, but you can''t give up one of the fundamentals of basketball without paying the price for it." "We can see that the Wake Forest team, for example, had a great season because they dominated in rebound statistics, which means that the Wake Forest team could attack more in games." "Another thing that has been going on a lot in this game is that the NC State Wolfpack team has been making a lot of mistakes, they missed more than 12 three-point shots, if they hit half of those attempts the game would be different in the first half." "Not to mention the great game that Jake, Jamison, and Zwikker are playing, Zwikker scored 13 points in the last game and it looks like he will repeat the performance in that game and Jamison has been playing very well too, with Jake they have been catching almost every rebound of that game." "A lot of this has to do with the fact that NC State Wolfpack is trying to stop Tar Heels''s team three-point play, so Jamison and Zwikker have the freedom and ability to make more points with Jake''s assists." "And the NC State Wolfpack team couldn''t quite defend the three-point play because Jake still scored more than 20 points in the first half, let''s see if we''ll see another triple-double from Jake in this game." What the commentators were saying was right and it was obvious that the coach and players of the NC State Wolfpack team knew this too, but unfortunately, they could do nothing to change the situation in this game. The scoring on Jake was already very strong and yet he still managed to score 22 points in the first half plus many assists, if they changed the defense to the painted area it was not guaranteed that they would achieve for the attacks of Jamison and Zwikker. And if they did that Jake and Williams would be even easier to make the plays in the second half, and even if they wanted to fight for rebounds they had no ability to face the Tar Heels team players. Chapter 311 1997 ACC Mens Basketball Tournament 7 In the second half of the game with no choice to change the style of play the NC State Wolfpack team came to try to change the outcome of the game and come out as champions, so they knew that if they missed the three-point move less they could change the outcome of the game. But it was easier said than said, they never had players who used to have a good hit rate on three-point plays, so to hit more they would also have to try harder and make more mistakes. Since the rebounds were from the Tar Heels team in this game they would be giving the opponents plenty of counterattacking opportunities, but they had no other options than trying to make such moves. Jake remembered watching this game in his past life, the team Tar Heels also dominated the game he watched, the problem was that they missed many moves and had many turnovers and therefore lost several chances to make more points. So in this game Jake was keen to own the ball and control and organize the plays for the Tar Heels team, Jake also said he would do that for Coach Smith and received the coach''s approval. After all Jake rarely had a turnover in games, so he was the one who had the most security with ball possession, so by the end of the first half Tar Heels team had a big lead on the scoreboard. And the second half continued the same way, the NC State Wolfpack team tried more three-point play and missed more and rebounded the Tar Heels team, on the other hand, the Tar Heels team had the three-spot and three-point moves balanced points. The Tar Heels team also missed much less and so by the end of the game, everyone knew who the ACC tournament champion team was. In that second half, Jake played for 18 minutes and made 17 minutes, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 6 steals, with this brilliant performance of Jake the Tar Heels team easily won this game. Jake had made a quadruple-double with 39 points, 15 assists, 12 rebounds, and 11 steals, after the game all just gathered in the center of the court and celebrated a lot, Jake was congratulated by his teammates for quadruple-double. Even though everyone was happier to be ACC tournament champions, it was great to win that way because they knew they would not leave without any championships won this season and would try their best to win the NCAA tournament. Team Tar Heels won this game and became champion by scoring 87 points against only 49 points by Team NC State Wolfpack, Jake remembered that this game in his past life was much harder and Team Tar Heels won with fewer points. "What an amazing game we saw today here in this final game that decided who is the 1997 ACC tournament champion team, this time the NC State Wolfpack team failed to perform another miracle and their cinderella tale ended today, the Tar Heels team is the champion." "All merit goes to Jake who got a quadruple-double that will go down in history, and to Antawn Jamison and Serge Zwikker who dominated the game in the painted area in both offense and defense." "Shammond Williams also played very well today, but his performance was overshadowed by Jake''s quadruple-double, Jake hit 9 three-point shots and Shammond can only hit 3 in that game." "If the NC State Wolfpack team had someone with the same percentage of three-point shooting hits as Jake or Williams they might have won this game." "True, total merit for Team Tar Heels, for Jake, for Zwikker and Jamison and even for Coach Smith who organized this incredible team, but we have to accept that part of the reason for the defeat of the NC State Wolfpack team was the very low achievement. of the three-point shots." "That''s right, but it really can''t even be said that the three-point shootout was very bad because it''s actually average for normal teams, is that comparing to the team Tar Heels'' hit rate is really a difference huge in performance." "That''s not what I mean, their performance can be considered normal for a team that is bad at three-point shots, what I mean is if the team is that bad at three-point shots because they tried harder 50 shots of three points in one game!" "The coach must know the quality of his players, so if he knew that the team was bad on all three points to try no more than 50 times! It''s an ACC tournament final game and not a training joke!" As the other commentator was saying, this commentator just realized the error of the NC State Wolfpack strategy because the Tar Heels team played so much better than them in every way. As far as Jake remembered no one criticized the NC State Wolfpack team for attempting several three-point shots even though they had missed so many as in today''s game. "Think about it, Jake had an average of 60% three-shot hits today, which is considered a poor performance for him this season if he were on the NC State Wolfpack team and tried 50 three-point shots as they tried him would make 90 points alone! Now, do you understand why I think the difference is absurd? And that was a bad day for Jake." With such a comparison even the people watching at home thought it was really a bad game for the NC State Wolfpack team, they were very bad for the opportunities they had in the game. "But you can''t use the performance of a player like Jake as a comparison, so look, he made a quadruple-double with 39 points on a day you said he had a poor performance on three-point shots." "How many players in college basketball history do you think did what Jake did?" While the commentators discussed what had happened in the game, the Tar Heels team players were celebrating the victory a lot, the NC State Wolfpack players seemed to be completely convinced later and see the performance of the Tar Heels team. They weren''t even sad about losing this game, everyone was already proud to have reached this final after starting in the first round, this NC State Wolfpack team had already made history. As the players celebrated the players began to be interviewed by reporters and went to the live television broadcast, shortly after some of their teammates were interviewed Jake was called in for an interview as well. "Hi Jake, first congratulations on winning the championship and for your amazing performance in the game today." "Hahaha, thanks, the victory today is thanks to the effort of the entire team and the organization of Coach Smith." "How do you feel about winning the ACC tournament in your first year playing at university?" "I''m very happy, I have to thank my teammates who helped me better integrate into the team and adapt to the college level basketball game, I also have to thank Coach Smith who gave me the opportunity to play in those games."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Jake, tell us your secret to having such a high three-point hit rate?" "The secret is a lot of training, a lot of training and strength too, sometimes in games like today luck also helps the ball get in more often, and it is my teammates who help me get the chance to shoot three points with more freedom." "And how does it feel to quadruple-double in such an important endgame like this?" "I was very happy, I''ve had opportunities to do things like today, but in such an important game and with a strong opposing team like NC State Wolfpack is much more significant." "One last question, what do you expect from the NCAA tournament after winning the ACC tournament?" "This has not changed since the beginning of the season, our team has always been working hard and training to reach the NCAA tournament final and win at the end, after winning the ACC tournament what changes is that our team''s confidence will increase." While Jake was talking to reporter Serge Zwikker was taking down the nets to celebrate the victory, Jake naturally also took a piece of the net and left the rest with his teammates. After they received the ACC tournament champion trophy and took the photo for a souvenir, everyone was very happy about it and the prizes continued, Jake was naturally chosen for the first team of the ACC tournament. Lastly, Jake was chosen as the ACC tournament MVP, this was normal thinking about his performance in the last two games and today''s game mainly, he celebrated with his teammates and was very happy with today''s game. After all the celebration the team returned the same day to university, they would have a week rest after today''s game before the start of the NCAA tournament, if the team played well as Jake hoped they would play 6 more games after that. Jake hoped this season would end with the team also winning the NCAA tournament, Jake had to admit it was much better to win the ACC tournament than the national high school championship. So he was eager to know what it would be like to win the NCAA tournament which was much more important than the ACC tournament, he could only hope for it, for now, he would wait another week to rest before the next game. Chapter 312 1997 ACC Mens Basketball Tournament 8 One thing Jake had discovered and taken aback at this game now had to be taken into consideration, he thought would never tire of his much larger stamina even than marathon athletes. But in this game, he realized to his surprise that after playing for three days in a row just not feeling he was tired, he realized this because his average hit of three points dropped so much in this game. Even though he already had a much higher average than other players with the help of the system he could get a lot more three-point shots, and he always tried to shoot three points when he was confident he could hit the three-point shot points. "Fate, do you know why I ended up making more mistakes in this game?" [What happened was that after three straight days of playing you got mentally tired, your stamina was normal, but your mind was tired after so much pressure from important games.] [This will happen many times yet and this is also one of the reasons why coaches sometimes leave their top players more time on the bench several times during game periods.] [The more important a player is to the team, the more pressure they end up feeling, you''re no different, but you don''t have to worry because it happens rarely and even if your accuracy drops a little, you''ll still play better than the others on your team.] Jake did not expect this, of course, he knew that everyone could get mentally tired, it happened to him several times in his past life when he slept briefly and when he studied too much, but in this life had not happened once. Knowing this Jake can be relieved because just as the system said was normal and very difficult to happen, not knowing why was much worse for him, he was lucky to always be able to ask things he had doubts to the system. "Fate, show me my statistics window of the first job." [Here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 18 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: College Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 1.98 m] [Weight: 99 Kg] [Force 37] [Agility 37] [Resistance 40] [Intelligence 60] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Basketball Skills [Ball Handling S] [Body Control A] [Man to Man A] [Dribble S] [Layup S] [Set Shot SS] [Block B] [Pass S] [Rebound A] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] [Steal S] [Dunk S] --------------------------------- Jake was glad to see that several of his strength statistics had improved in recent months, the other statistics would hardly improve with training after earning so many reward statistics. Several of his skills have also risen in rank after these months playing on the Tar Heels team, he has played this season so far more than he had in two years at high school and was always up against skillful opponents. So it was normal for his skills to improve quickly, after all, he already had more experience than many NBA lifelong players, but he could always gain more experience playing with people with intelligence than with system-controlled players in his space of Imagination training. Once again Jake thought he had made the right decision by coming to college instead of going straight to the NBA, otherwise, he would have to spend at least two years playing very little time until everyone recognized his ability. After all, he can quickly get better than his college basketball teammates after a few months, but in the NBA he knew he still had a lot of players who were better than him. He felt it was a shame he didn''t get any attribute points as a reward after winning the ACC tournament, but he already expected it as the system said he would have to become a pro before earning more attribute points. Also, the ACC tournament was something like a regional tournament, so maybe if he could win the NCAA tournament he would get some attribute point as a reward, so he would have to work even harder. As he would have a week before the start of the NCAA tournament Jake decided to go to Miami to stay with his mother in the coming days before returning to rest to play again, he would have his own training ground at home to do the daily training that Coach Davis prepared for him. So the day after the final game Jake went home and arrived at the restaurant to surprise his mother, this time he didn''t meet Lola as he always did when he entered the restaurant. Jake went straight to the kitchen and saw his mother talking happily with Anna, it looked like they were talking something to put on the restaurant menu, Anna was the first to notice Jake and then went to talk to him. "Hi Jake, I didn''t think you were coming anytime soon, just yesterday we saw your game in the final, congratulations on becoming the champion, you deserve it." "Thanks, Anna, I came here to see you, hi mom, I miss you." "Jake, I didn''t expect you to come either, aren''t you going to have a game in a few days?" "Yes I will, so as I enjoyed coming today, our team gained a few days off from Coach Smith before the first NCAA tournament game." "You should have stayed at university resting these days, son, in less than a month the games will be over, aren''t you?" Since she had complete confidence in Jake, Eva was counting the games until the NCAA tournament final, so in less than a month the final would happen. "That''s right mom, but I still have classes until two months from now, so I enjoyed coming here this week." Eva was so involved with Jake''s basketball games that she had even forgotten that he had gone to college to study, after all, Jake had never had a problem getting the best grades in college. This week the teachers wouldn''t even miss Jake because they knew the players must be tired, and even if Jake had this week of fouls would be his only in the semester. Jake missed his mother after several months, and took the opportunity to come this week because on vacation he could not spend all his time at home, he would have several marathons to compete in his vacation months. In addition, soon he would have to sort things out with his investments and the companies he was involved in. Matthew''s company had started selling the new digital cameras in February of this year and this year Jake could expect more profits. Jake didn''t know if Clara and Tiffany''s companies had already started investing, but he was just worried about them and didn''t expect to receive profits from those stocks, so if they don''t come to talk to him, Jake won''t ask about anything either. Jake also hoped that by the end of next year Charlie''s team would be able to fully develop a smartphone prototype and Jake would try to get as many patents as he could, then he would have Charlie''s team start developing a prototype of the Android system as well. Jake knew many things that could give him a lot of money in the coming years, but he had no energy and no time to invest in these products, so he chose these two products that would be the world''s most lucrative future market. If he could successfully invest in Google, he wouldn''t even have to worry about the Android system and would just wait for a few years to start selling his shares, and so would have money for a lifetime. If he had shares in Google and Amazon he could become the richest man in the world in another 20 years, but those shares paid no dividends, so Jake would not hesitate to sell his shares to have real money on hand. So Jake could make donations to those he needed as he always wanted and could invest back in other companies that would pay dividends and still have growth in the future.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. After all, according to Jake, he knew that the smart thing to do with stocks was to sell when they were valued and still worth it, he didn''t want to continue with stocks that wouldn''t be worth holding unless it was to help a friend as he was doing with Clara''s company. Jake also knew he couldn''t count on Emily showing up in the next few days because he''d let her see what was going on with Amazon that soon this year would have the IPO. For the next few days Jake stayed home training and talking to Eva every day so he rested his tired mind and prepared for the NCAA tournament games, Jake hoped his team would win, but no one could know what would happen. Not even he who had come from the future could know what would happen in the coming days since just being playing on the Tar Heels team in those years had already changed the future he knew, he hoped that nothing bad would happen in the coming days. After three days at home he returned to college, he did not want to challenge Coach Smith and risk missing out on the initial team formation of the Tar Heels team in the early NCAA tournament games. At university, he continued his daily marathon training as he shared part of the training with Zack who was already running 14km every day, in the coming months Jake would continue to increase Zack''s training for him to run a marathon in a few months. After all, after these more than 4 months of training, Zack was already in good physical shape and could start increasing daily running intensity without risking injury, in fact, if he ran slower, Zack could run for more than 20 km every day. Jake also returned to daily training with his basketball team, everyone was much more rested after a few days and was very excited for the first NCAA tournament games. Chapter 313 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 1 After a few more days of training the first game day the NCAA tournament arrived, the game would be at the Lawrence Joel Coliseum which was where Wake Forest team normally played, if Team Tar Heels won they would play the next game there too. After a few hours, both teams were ready for the game, Team Tar Heels was the first seed in this NCAA tournament and would face Team Fairfield Stags who were not having a good season so far. So it was only natural that everyone expected the Tar Heels team to win this game very easily, everyone expected it and even Coach Smith was not worried about this game, Jake who knew that the team would win with some ease was not worried either. But he remembered something that could end up changing the outcome of this game if he wasn''t careful, Greg Francis who was one of the highlights of this team would be playing very well that day and would hit 8 shots from three points. So Jake didn''t know what position he would play in this game but made a point of asking Coach Smith to personally score Greg Francis, Coach Smith trusted Jake as a defender and accepted Jake''s request. That made Jake very happy, so he would defend Greg Francis the entire game and at least not allow the opposing player to score so many points in that game, as Coach Smith was confident in the team he decided to change the initial lineup for that game. Jake, Carter, Zwikker, Williams, and Jamison were playing very well in the attack of team Tar Heels and Jake, Jamison and Zwikker also stood out in defense, so Coach Smith decided to let the five players in the initial lineup and leave Okulaja on the bench beginning of the game. Coach Smith believed that in this game if they scored more points with this team the defense would not matter so much and they would still win, plus he was confident in defending his team for this game. "Today all our viewers will be watching home the first round of this NCAA tournament, a first seed game from East Regional North Carolina Tar Heels against team sixteenth seed team Fairfield Stags." "Everyone looks forward to an easy win for the Tar Heels team in this game for the great phase the team has had 28 wins and only 2 losses to that match and comes from a winning streak of 19."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "It''s normal to think that in addition to winning a lot of games they have great players like Jake, Jamison, Carter, and others, and still managed to win the ACC tournament." "But we all know how unpredictable basketball can be and nothing is decided before the end of the game, the Fairfield Stags team can surprise us all in today''s game." In the early minutes of the game, Fairfield Stags seemed to be in for the win and soon a very strong and unexpected attack began in the early minutes, only Jake expected it and was like a shadow defending closely against Francis. Just in the first two minutes of play, Jake gave some space on purpose and soon saw Francis receive the pass when Francis tried the three-point shot Jake was already prepared and approached quickly and went to the block. Francis was 1.90 m and did not expect the block, so Jake can easily take the ball off his 1.98 m, a few minutes later Jake again got a block against Francis. After these two plays, Jake was sure that Francis''s confidence was shaken and that he would hesitate to try the outside shot with Jake around, Coach Smith was very pleased with that on the bench and thought Jake was particularly good today. In the first 5 minutes Jake also managed to score 5 points and 2 assists so Tar Heels team had the lead, Jamison and Zwikker were a little distracted at the start of the game so it was still a difficult start. "Good start to the game for Jake in this game, it looked like the Fairfield Stags team was planning to start pushing in those early minutes and maybe open up some advantage, but Jake broke their hopes." "These two blocks at the beginning of the game were unexpected for the Fairfield Stags team and maybe even for the Tar Heels team, after all, Jake had only 3 blocks in the whole season and made over half of it today going to 5 blocks this year." "The most amazing thing is the detail of these plays, Jake defends closely against Francis and only for a few moments moves away from the defense, but is still watching closely Francis when Francis leaves the three-point line and receives the ball Jake still does not move." "Only when Francis starts the move to try the three-point shot that Jake quickly advances and still jumps after Francis to get the block, that''s both." And that went on, the whole first time Jake realized that Zwikker and Jamison were not playing well so made more moves with Carter and Williams, the two matched by scoring a few points. Jake also calmed the team and valued each time before completing the play, Jake still hit 4 shots from 3 points in 7 attempts and was therefore unable to support the team with several steals and rebounds as in other games. In compensation by the end of the first half, Jake had made 6 blocks, 5 of them in Francis and yet Francis managed to make three points in that first half, it did not look like he had lost confidence even after several blocks of Jake. In the first half, Jake played for 19 minutes and managed to score 18 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and 6 blocks, with this excellent first-half performance of Jake the Tar Heels team was winning easily. "What an incredible first half Jake has been leading the Tar Heels team in this game, a normal performance for him in offense considering the other games, but in defense, he has been saving the Tar Heels team from perhaps finishing behind in that first half." "You say normal, but he was directly 34 points out of the 42 points that the Tar Heels team scored in the first half, we can''t treat that as normal even if he does the same every game." "He seems to be really paying attention to Francis in this game, Jake made 5 blocks in Francis in the first half, we don''t know if any of these three-point shots would hit, but Francis certainly has the team''s confidence in this game." In the second half, the Fairfield Stags team played at the same pace trying to win the game, but the Tar Heels team improved a lot in the second half, Jamison and Zwikker who was not playing so well began to show a great performance. Especially Zwikker who was taking several rebounds and doing more than double the points in the first half in that second half, Jake still controlled the game calmly and always defended against Francis. In the second half, Jake made another 5 blocks and 4 more of them in Francis, yet Francis still scored 6 more points in this second half of the game, even though Jake could feel that Francis could have a better average hit than him in this game if Jake allowed. Before halfway through the second half everyone knew that the Tar Heels team would win this game, Coach Smith was calm and even smiling when talking to the players, it was completely different from the difficult game that Jake saw in his past life. In that second half, Jake played for 18 minutes and managed to score 15 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 5 blocks with another triple-double. Jake secured an easy game for the team and he disrupted the best player of the team Fairfield Stags in this game. Team Tar Heels won 94 points against 61 points for Fairfield Stags, it was a difficult game that was made easier because Jake was on the court, yet Jake did not perform so well and even missed a lot of three-point shots. Even though he was pleased with the triple-double and being able to make 11 blocks in this game, it was shameful for him to have made only 3 blocks this season, so he took advantage of knowing that a player from the opposing team would have a great performance and even made several blocks. "And so ends that first round of the NCAA tournament, a great game and an easy win for the Tar Heels team, Jake Smith as always controlling the game and Serge Zwikker having another great game as well as Vince Carter." "Defensively Jake did exactly what he set out to do and so the Fairfield Stags team failed to play so well and lost by so much difference, just by those 9 points that Francis did even with Jake in defense already showed how he was inspired by this game. " "Hahaha, that''s true, I''m sure Francis will have nightmares with Jake after this game, a player who had only 3 blocks in the whole season decided to play very well in this game and made 9 blocks in it, Francis must be very angry." "This is another game that perfectly illustrates Jake''s versatility as a player, I''m sure he will make history in the NBA as he is already making history in college basketball." "That''s right, a few games ago Jake made a quadruple-double and now he shows that one day maybe he can make a quintuple-double playing like that." Commentators naturally praised Jake for the great game and because the Tar Heels team seemed to be doing well to win this year''s NCAA tournament, so reporters came to interview the players. The first interviewee was Greg Francis who had made an interesting dispute with Jake who was the best of the game in this game, reporters were curious about what Greg Francis was thinking. "What did you think of this Francis game?" "I thought the Tar Heels team played very well and deservedly won, our team did what we had trained to do and yet we lost by a large margin of points." Chapter 314 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 2 "What did you think Jake Smith marked you all this game and made 9 blocks?" "Was it 9? I didn''t think it was that many, I can say that neither I nor the team was prepared for it, Smith didn''t have a history of blocking this game, our team had planned that I would have more three-point play attempts." "I was feeling very good and confident in my ability for this game, proof of this is that I still scored 9 points even with Smith making 9 blocks, I can say that Coach Smith and Jake Smith are to be congratulated for coaching this." They expected to see Francis more nervous, but he was just sad to have lost and admired Jake''s skills, so soon someone went to interview Coach Smith to find out why he had Jake defend against Francis in this game. "Congratulations on winning Coach Smith today." "Thank you so much, I am very pleased with my players'' performance in today''s game and happy with the win." "Coach, I''m curious what you thought when you told Jake to defend against Francis in this game? Francis is the best player on the Fairfield Stags team, but Jake doesn''t usually play as well in defense as he does today." "Actually, I didn''t order Jake to defend against Francis in this game, he asked for it before this game, and since Jake is one of the best players in the defense of the Tar Heels team and never asked for anything like that I just agreed." "Even though I was a little surprised by Jake''s 11 blocks in this game, I always knew about his potential in defense, he''s one of the best players in the team''s defense and can do more than he usually does in games." "From the 9 points that Francis still scored in three-point shots even though Jake made several block defenses against him, I can see that Francis was in great shape today, so I''m glad Jake stopped him." Everyone was surprised to find out that it was Jake himself who asked to defend against Francis in this game, but by the time they considered interviewing Jake, he had already entered the locker room. So it was Charles who asked Jake why he had decided to defend against Francis in this game and made 11 blocks in this game, when Charles asked about it all the other players paid attention to Jake''s answer. "In fact, I asked Coach Smith to let me defend against Francis because he is the best player in the Fairfield Stags three-point play." "And I managed to block this game because Francis tried more three-point shots, it''s hard for me to find a three-point player playing against our team who tries so many three-point shots." When Jake said this everyone accepted that it must be true because he had logic, Jake had naturally thought of it before even asking Coach Smith to let him defend against Francis. After all Jake could not say that he asked to defend against Francis because he had come from the future and knew that Francis could get 8 shots of 3 points in this game and could harm the team and that''s why he had the easiest to block Francis. After that everyone went back to university because in two more days they would have their second NCAA tournament match at that same venue, the coach was happy with the whole team at that game and hoped they would continue to do so. Jake also talked quietly with his roommates and still did his daily training for athletics, it could be said that Jake did much more than any player on the Tar Heels team. Coach Davis was already receiving his salary after signing the contract with Jake and was quiet even after he had prepared Jake''s daily training routine, every morning he followed Jake''s training at university. He also knew that Jake was very serious with his training and had trained even while in Miami visiting his mother, so he could just oversee Jake''s training and teach the correct running positioning for short and medium distances. Coach Davis had no problem because Jake was very talented and did everything he said, plus Jake''s training was considered too heavy even for other elite athletes so Coach Davis couldn''t even think of increasing the heavy training until Jake is on vacation. After a few weeks training Jake he could well understand why Jake could win multiple marathons and break the world record while playing basketball and studying at university, it was because he was very dedicated to training and talented. In classes after nearly two semesters studying Jake could not hide his intelligence either, as they say, that even hidden gold is still the same, everyone realized that even playing basketball and doing other activities that did not know well Jake still always got high marks. Jake, even trying to sneak around, still taught some classmates how he used to do in high school, and these friends he taught got excellent grades too, even in a room of over 50 people Jake still stood out. Luckily everyone thought Jake was just humble and he had no problem even standing out in class, Jake was glad that at university things were different and so he could rest easy. Many also found that in addition to playing on the basketball team Jake had been an actor, with Jake''s current fame it was difficult for him to go unnoticed anywhere, much less at the university where he played who had many fans of the basketball team. Jake didn''t know, but the movie in which he appeared a few minutes ago was earning more box office because almost everyone at UNC watched Jake''s movie at least once, at university the fans were much more intense than normal fans. Of course, the companies that sponsored Jake were also getting a lot of attention and the products were selling better, the university and the college basketball association pretended not to realize this because Jake never advertised the companies that sponsored him at the university. At Jake''s request even the companies they sponsored kept description and did not talk about college basketball, which of course greatly enhanced UNC''s prestige too with Jake being so talented. After a few days came the day of Team Tar Heels''s second game in the second round, the opponent was Team Colorado Buffaloes who beat Team Indiana Hoosiers in their first game. The Colorado Buffaloes team was having a great season and had a great player who was Chauncey Billups, Billups played for 17 seasons in the NBA and played in several teams and even won an NBA championship. But as far as Jake remembered Billups didn''t play so well in this game and so Jake didn''t take much interest in him, yet Jake would probably be sent by Coach Smith to defend against Billups. After a few hours, both teams were ready to start this game, everyone expected it to be a much more closely match than the previous game and so were excited, only Jake knew it would not be so. Zwikker and Carter who had a great game a few days ago would not be playing very well and it would be Okulaja and Ed Cota who would perform well in that game, but Ed Cota would not play if Jake was on the team and Shammond Williams would play well in that game either. Coach Smith seemed to have realized something like this and put Williams playing SG and took Carter out to put Okulaja in the initial line-up, even if Zwikker wasn''t quite offensive, he would still catch a lot of rebounds and play well defensively. It was very good for Jake to remember what it was like in his past life because this way he could know who to pass the ball to and who he could tell the most in this game for reliable play. In the first half of the game, Jake was playing well as usual and made more plays with Williams and Jamison than Okulaja, the Colorado Buffaloes team was playing well defensively, but in the attack, there was no player featured. So in the first half Tar Heels team managed to open a good lead by playing well, Jake played for 19 minutes and managed to score 20 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals, Williams and Jamison also received some assists and managed to play well. In the second half the team Tar Heels continued to play well and was opening more and more advantages and thus the willingness to attack and defend the team Colorado Buffaloes diminished and the game became easier. Jake was well on the three-point shots in this game and the defense could do nothing against him, and his assists found the players of Tar Heels team in the best position, it could be said that in a different way from the last game Jake led the team to the easy victory. So after a game that was under Jake''s control the Tar Heels team could win, in the second half, Jake played for 19 minutes and managed to score 22 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals. Team Tar Heels won the game by 88 points against just 48 points for Team Colorado Buffaloes, with another triple-double Jake managed to lead the team for another easy win and Team Tar Heels advanced to Sweet Sixteen. Jake was happy that the team would continue to win the games they won in their past life and hoped they could win the semifinal and the final as well and so the Tar Heels team would be the champion in the NCAA tournament. After this game the team Tar Heels returned to university to rest before the next game in a few days, even Jake was a little worried about the next game and was happy that the team would have almost 1 week to rest before the last game.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. At university, he called his mother who watched the game and celebrated with his friends who were excited about the Tar Heels team advancing so far in the NCAA tournament in those years and Jake leading the team in the victories. Chapter 315 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 3 Jake was happy to have a week to rest and just doing his training that was easy for Jake, he wouldn''t risk going home even though he had almost a week to rest before Sweet Sixteen, it was obvious that Coach Smith would not like it at all. For the next week Jake was planning on just hanging out with his friends and relaxing beyond training, but the next day Tiffany called saying she wanted to meet him at a restaurant near the university. Jake naturally accepted and was glad Tiffany came to the university to visit him again, only she and John came to visit him at the university in almost a year he was studying, of course speaking of people Jake has some business with. Last time Tiffany had come more to talk than to tell Jake about Coach Davis, so this time Jake hoped Tiffany had just come to talk to him this rest week. So after classes and training with the basketball team, Jake went out to meet Tiffany, she was beautiful with always wearing a very elegant suit made for business women like Tiffany. "Hi Tiffany, you look beautiful as always." "Oh thanks for the compliment, Jake, you''re also looking like a grown man now after you are 18, it''s amazing to see how you grew up these last few years since the first time I saw you." "It''s normal for me to grow a lot since before I was 14 if I didn''t grow up I couldn''t become a basketball player, maybe I''ll keep growing." "You can''t keep growing, I''ve always hated wearing high heels and have to wear when meeting you, now just sitting at a table I can look you in the eye, Hahaha." They both laughed for a while, it was fun to remember the past when two people had known each other for several years like Tiffany and Jake, especially in this situation where Tiffany met Jake when he was just a kid. "I''ve been watching your games this season Jake, you have been doing very well this year, since I met you and saw you playing I always thought you had a basketball talent, but I''ll admit that until this year I found it hard to imagine you playing in the NBA like the pro gamers, but now I can imagine you being very successful." "Thank you, I was lucky to choose such a good team as the Tar Heels team, only in that team I think I would have the opportunity to play my best and play so many games, I hope we keep playing until we win the NCAA tournament." "I hope so, I''m rooting for you and your team, but honestly seeing your team in the last few games I can''t imagine you losing." Tiffany was honest, unlike Eva, she was someone who knew basketball well after following Jake for a few years, yet she also thought that Jake played at university as he played at high school. Of course, she knew that college basketball games were much harder than in high school, but even though it was harder the results were still the same, especially this string of multiple wins that the Tar Heels team had. "What do you think about the coach I found for you, Jake?" "I found Coach Davis very good, he has some difficulties with his family and so accepted my demands, but he still does his job very well and doesn''t interfere with my plans for the year." "And you plan to run a marathon this year?" "Sure, I''m going to compete in some marathons until the Chicago marathon later this year, I don''t plan on running in New York that year again, and I plan to win every marathon I run." "That''s great, I hope you win a lot of marathons this year, you have the world record now, you can''t start losing this year." Jake naturally did not intend to lose any marathon nor did he think it was possible to lose any marathon, but just as happened in New York a few years ago unforeseen events can happen. "I came here to talk to you Jake, and because I want to tell you to prepare a few days for us a few months from now on your university vacation, my company and our company plan to make a commercial this year for our companies." "So you decided to make a commercial? That''s good, I''ll prepare some time so, I hope sales will increase even more, but you remember you can''t make any implications for basketball in commercials, right?" "Of course, we remember that your agreement with the university does not allow, we hope to enjoy your popularity with basketball and the movie you made at the end of the year, by the way very good your acting in the movie, I watched, you did well in keeping a secret from me." "Depending on when the commercials come out, it may end up using some popularity of the marathons I''m going to participate in mid-year." "It would be nice, at the end of the year we will send you a report of the investments that our company will make, if you want to give some idea you can talk to Clara." "No, I left everything in her hands, if she wants to buy me the shares I''ll sell to her anytime, I''m too busy this year and don''t understand much of sporting goods to give Clara any advice." After that, they talked some more time and Tiffany soon left for Miami again, after all, she was president of her company and couldn''t just go out and walk around whenever she wanted. Jake had hoped Clara would want to make a new commercial this year because soon their contract would end and Jake said he would not renew again. After that, he went back to college and talked to his friends all day, after that day in the batting cage Zack''s brother would almost always come to talk to them. Just as William had said Brett was very nice and even though Zack said he didn''t like his brother he always had fun when Brett was with him, Aaron who also had an older brother said he should be just jealous. The other day before Jake went to training with the basketball team he got a call, he answered naturally as only his closest acquaintances knew his number and hoped it was some friend. "Hello, is this Jake Smith''s phone?" "Yes, I''m Jake Smith, who is it?" "It''s a great pleasure talking to you Mr. Smith, here is David Falk, I''m a sports agent and I got your number from reporter Eric, I''d like to meet with you today to talk." "So it''s Mr. Falk, I have some time later after basketball training and I can meet you." Jake then arranged a dinner with David Falk, one of the greatest sports agents of the time. Jake didn''t expect to meet anyone like this but soon realized that it was normal for skilled basketball players to be approached by sports agents. Jake had never thought of hiring any sports agent before, but seeing how busy he was he realized that he probably wouldn''t have time to talk to sponsors and NBA team managers about contracts while playing. Jake also wanted time to run marathons and spend time with his mom and maybe even make some movies, and no one better than Michael Jordan''s sports agent to get him a great deal. A few years ago Jake didn''t think of having a sports agent so he wouldn''t have to give anybody part of the money he made, but after the meeting, he had with the Nike representative he realized that it wouldn''t be that easy in the future. Plus, with his investments and shares in various companies, Jake probably didn''t even have to mind the few million that could be paid at most from commission to David Falk, it was the same with his investment company. Clients like friends of Emily and Matthew''s dad might find 10 percent too much for Jake to receive from commission for hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, but if it weren''t for Jake they wouldn''t have made those investments and made that money in the first place. The same was true of a sports agent, it was the sports agent who got the sponsorship deals and best deals from the NBA managers, if Jake as an NBA novice wanted to negotiate a contract the NBA managers would probably laugh at him. But if it was David Falk who was a multi-star agent like Michael Jordan surely an NBA manager and a Nike representative would respect a lot more when negotiating a contract. Not to mention that David Falk had several contacts with companies that could pay a good sponsorship deal for Jake in his early years, so it seemed that having a sports agent was the best choice for Jake''s career at the moment. Later that day he went to meet David Falk, Jake hoped the conversation was just as Falk was not trying to hire Jake but to work as his sports agent and Jake was also interested. "Hi Mr. Smith, it''s a pleasure to meet you in person." "It''s a pleasure, Mr. Falk, you can call me Jake." "Call me David then Jake, I''ll confess I became your fan after this season of yours on the Tar Heels team, I hope you can win the NCAA tournament this year."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "I hope you can too, it''s always good to win and I hate to lose." "I realized from this great winning streak of your team, Hahaha." "So what did you want to talk to me about before these important games, David." "You can already imagine Jake, after seeing you playing this season I couldn''t help but think that you could become the future NBA main player in a few years, and playing PG as your style no one will compare you to any player , you can create your own style and master the NBA with it." Chapter 316 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 4 Jake had to admit that he was a little excited after hearing the great David Falk saying that he could become the future NBA lead character in the coming years, especially since he was someone who had always been close to Michael Jordan. Since his past life, Jake had a dream of being a great basketball player, in this life he was having this opportunity and didn''t want to waste it so he trained so much and even lost marathons to playing college basketball. Jake was already in a situation where he had the money to live the rest of his life from the investments in Matthew''s companies and the investments his investment company made that he would have a part beyond the investments in the company Amazon that would guarantee billions of dollars to Jake in the future. He could also dominate a sport like athletics if he kept pushing himself the way he was and maybe even getting other gold medals in different sports, but Jake still struggled in basketball and wanted to become a star and leave his name on history. Still, Jake knew how difficult it was to realize this dream even with all his talent and the help of the system, so hearing David Falk saying something like that after playing a great season on the Tar Heels team made Jake more confident. "I''m glad to hear you say that David, to be honest, I really am very ambitious with my career as a basketball player, I say nothing to others not to sound arrogant, but I really want to become an NBA star." "I don''t really care much about money, but I want to get paid just as much for my skills and achievements playing basketball, so I really want someone to find several companies to sponsor me." "Besides, I want to get good contracts where I win what really reflects my value and in the contract I find possibilities to compete in marathons and maybe do other things like acting." "After all, I know that only if I can really make a lot of money and make my team make a lot of money can I really be considered a basketball star." Jake decided to say everything he really thought to David Falk, he knew very often that being too modest can cause a negative result, what David Falk was looking for was a star who had confidence in his abilities and had high ambitions. Jake said he didn''t need any money, but he still wanted to have a lot of advertising deals and great contracts with NBA teams, so he would let David Falk know that he could do his best to get Jake better and get a good commission. Just as Jake thought David Falk was very pleased that Jake was ambitious because Jake had the ability to be arrogant if he wanted to, so David hoped Jake still wanted to run marathons even playing in the NBA and he could get it for him on contracts. A team plays over 80 games a year and wouldn''t mind if Jake lost 3 games a year to run and still bring more publicity to the team, as Jake didn''t care about money but still wanted several sponsorship deals and the best contracts in basketball. David didn''t believe it at all, but he agreed with Jake''s view that only a player making a lot of money and making a lot of money for the club would really be recognized as a basketball star. "I can make sure that in your contract with your future NBA teams you have permission to lose some games if you need to compete in marathons." "I myself believe this is very good for your image as an athlete and as an American citizen winning multiple marathons and continuing to win gold medals in the Olympics." "Companies may not want to pay a lot for an athlete who only knows how to run, but you will be an NBA star who is also an athlete, this is unique and maybe it will be unique forever, so we have to use it to value your brand." "You Jake Smith, you have to make your name a brand, you will have to become a brand, I know it is not very easy to do that, but we will have to preserve as much as possible your reputation and both social and professional life." Jake wondered why David was saying this, many basketball players have hectic people lives and have fights with their teammates and coaches, but sports agents can''t rule the basketball stars. So some sports agents have to rush around to clean up the mess players make and try to protect the public image of the players, Jake could guarantee it wouldn''t be because it wasn''t his personality. But even he could not deny that in the future he could end up having problems with other players and even with coaches of the basketball teams he passes, after all, something like this has happened in the past. "I can say that I don''t like doing things like this and my personal life will be pretty quiet, but I can''t guarantee that I don''t have problems with other players or coaches, it will depend on a lot of things, but I will try not to cause too many problems for you." "It will be great if you try not to cause me too much trouble, some minor problems I can solve for you myself, after all, it''s part of my job." "Just like I told you, Jake, I think you''re very talented and have a unique basketball style, besides, you''re a marathon runner and a great one at that." "So I think you can start out in the NBA with star status, in the first year you won''t be so recognized, but in a few seasons I think you can be a major player and an NBA symbol like Michael Jordan is now." "Also, it''s great that you decided to go to university instead of going straight to the NBA, you could go to the NBA directly last year and get a good salary." "But even with your talent, it would take you a few years to become a respected player and even longer become one of the top players on your team." "It''s like Kobe Bryant, a great player who decided to join the NBA directly instead of going to college, missed a great opportunity to gain much more recognition at the university and create a legacy and decided to join the NBA directly." "I''m sure that in the next few years he will be on the bench at the beginning and only after a few years he will be able to play like the other players, but if he had spent those next few years at university he would receive much more recognition and improve his skills." "I think he has the talent and could be one of the best NBA basketball players in a few years, but even if that happens I''ll still think he missed that opportunity." Jake was surprised by what David Falk was saying, Kobe Bryant was starting in the NBA now, and David Falk was talking exactly what would happen to him in the NBA, of course, Kobe Bryant must not have regretted joining the NBA before. And in a few years, LeBron James would do the same as Kobe Bryant did, and just the Nike contract he would make would be worth going straight to the NBA, and LeBron James started playing in most games of the season since the first year. But in reality today Jake himself knew that it would be a better option to play college first before joining the NBA, and with the help of the Jake system he could play up to 45 years old if he wanted to. "I''ll tell you something, the next few years will be complicated in the NBA and a lot of things will change in that time, even a few years later the situation may take a while to get back to normal." "Maybe in just a few years even Michael Jordan and some great players will decide to retire, so it will be the end of an NBA era and no player can replace Michael Jordan today." "So I think the coming years are the best time for newcomers like you to join the NBA, so you could build a legendary career and even become the new NBA head player just as Michael Jordan is now." "It will all depend on the end of your talent and how much you are able to make in your NBA seasons, but I''m sure you''re unique and it will get you critics'' attention in the coming years." Jake knew that David Falk was talking about the NBA stoppage that would take place in the 1998-99 season where for the first time in history the season would have less than 60 games, David Falk would be indirectly involved in that and so warned Jake. After a few seasons earning more than $ 30 million a season, Michael Jordan has decided to retire on high than earning less than half in the next few years. And David Falk was suggesting to Jake that maybe this would be a great opportunity for Jake to become one of the best and top NBA players while the whole NBA had the lowest audience attention. So Jake thought David Falk might be looking for a client like Michael Jordan to keep earning a lot and feel motivated to work for the next 20 years, and Jake could be maybe that player or at least Shaquille O''Neal''s level of skill and ability to make money. "After saying all this I think we''re pretty much already working together, don''t you, David?"Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "I hope so, as soon as you decide to leave university and join the NBA Draft I sign a contract with you, meanwhile I will talk more superficially with some sponsors and when you decide to join the NBA you may already have some proposals. " Chapter 317 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 5 "A Nike representative has already talked to me and offered me a very bad proposal a few months ago." "So you don''t want to work with them anymore? That''s a shame, I have good contact with some Nike directors after a lot of deals I''ve done with them, but I can try to get a good deal with Adidas and Reebok." "You got me wrong David, I want to work with Nike, in fact, I''m not interested in what other companies can offer before you try to get as much as possible from Nike." David was confused about why Jake seemed to like Nike more than other companies, Nike has grown a lot in recent years thanks to the influence of Michael Jordan, but Adidas and Reebok were also big companies. "I thought that because they had underestimated their value by offering a bad offer you wouldn''t want to work with Nike, or would prefer Adidas or Reebok unless Nike offered an indispensable offer." "That''s because you don''t know me, David, this is business and it''s nothing personal, more than offended I''d say I was disappointed with Nike''s offer, I thought they''d be smarter." "After all a few months ago I had achieved a lot of things in the marathon and was playing very well at the university, with a decent offer I could sign with them and they could say they had signed with an Olympic champion and world record holder." "Especially because I''m an American and they currently have more clients in the United States, and in the future at least it was almost certain that I would join the NBA, but they offered less than my other sponsors paid." "You even know how fearful they are to make new contracts, even with Michael Jordan they asked for several clauses in case it didn''t work out they could terminate the contract." "And Michael Jordan wasn''t annoyed at being underrated and renewed his contract with them a few years later." David was amazed that Jake could calm down and think about it alone without having any unnecessary pride or arrogance, after all, Michael Jordan had him to advise making the most rational decision. Also, times were different and even Michael Jordan thought it was normal for Nike to doubt that this deal could have worked, of course, he was glad he made that deal and lost a little at the time because he would continue to receive royalties for life by Nike for the shoe brand with his name. "I think you''re right and did well not to hold a grudge, which I don''t understand is why do you prefer Nike over other shoe companies?" "It''s partly because of you, David, I believe Nike will make many billions in the future and win a lot of basketball market because of you and Michael Jordan, because of you the Nike brand will be much better known." "For you too, many new talents will want to sign with Nike and they will grow even more so it will be good for me to associate with this growing brand." David thought for a moment and realized that Jake was right, Nike had grown and gained a lot of market in recent years even though it was a less influential company than the other companies because of Michael Jordan. Even after Michael Jordan retired he would still be an idol for many athletes, and other talented players might want to sign with Nike to try to replicate Michael Jordan''s success just as Jake wanted to do. "And like David yourself, with your Nike contacts and their trust in you, it will be easier to get a better contract with Nike for me, everyone believes that if you think I''ll be a star then I''ll probably be a star." "I think you''re right to think so Jake, so I''m going to talk to them too, looking like I''ll try to convince you to sign a contract with them for my friendship with Nike." "I will also say that you are much more interested in signing a contract with Adidas or Reebok, so they will have more pressure to offer a better offer if they believe you are talented as I believe." Jake thought David''s idea was great, he even remembered to warn David that his current annual sponsorship was over $ 4 million, so companies that wanted to renew with him would have to offer at least the same each year to get a contract. Otherwise, it would be better for Jake to just renew his contract with the companies he works for now, David was impressed to see how much Jake received even though he had never had a sports agent and to convince himself even more of Jake''s potential to make money. After that meeting Jake wouldn''t see David Falk for a while, after all, David had many clients in the company besides Jake who couldn''t even pay him for now, but Jake believed David would keep looking for better sponsors for him as soon as he finished college. So Jake now just had to concentrate on playing well and winning more marathons in the coming months to have a better chance of getting a contract, so in the next few days, Jake and the Tar Heels team continued to train while resting before the next game. Everyone was looking forward to the next game and confident, after all, they came from a great winning streak that lasted for months and everyone felt that the team had been performing better in recent games.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. So after a few days, the day of Sweet Sixteen''s game came, if they won this game the Tar Heels team would have only three games to win the NCAA tournament, but the opponent of that game would not be easy and even Jake was worried about the outcome of the game. The opponent was the California Golden Bears team who also had a great season this year and a very strong team, Jake remembered that this was a game where no one performed well and the team Tar Heels won by few points of advantage. This was also because the best players of the California Golden Bears team were in this game without the best player of the team and the main responsible for the team has had this great season and reaching this stage of the NCAA tournament. This player was Ed Gray who this season had an incredible average of over 24 points per game that was higher than Antawn Jamison''s average, so Jake even thought that if Ed Gray played in this game the Tar Heels team could have lost. So with Ed Gray not playing this game, Jake had to focus and do his best to ensure another easy win for Team Tar Heels, after a couple of hours both teams were ready for the game. In the first half, Jake realized that only Jamison and Carter were better at this offensive game and Zwikker was catching up with Jamison, the rest of the team seemed to have difficulty playing well even though they were rested. Knowing this Jake concentrated on making a few individual plays trying three-point shots, plus he always tried to play with Jamison and Carter, it was harder this way because within minutes of the first half the California Golden Bears team soon realized what Jake was doing. That made it even harder to play with Jamison and Carter, yet with Jake''s effort the Tar Heels team opened up more advantage in the first half, in one of the plays Jake received the ball after Zwikker caught the defensive rebound and advanced to the back attack. Jake was always trying to make good use of the ball in every play of this game after all the team Tar Heels was winning and the team California Golden Bears was without the best player and so the players became more agitated and rushed to try to reverse the score as Time passed. Jake advanced with the ball and after the middle of the court passed Jamison on the left, Jamison could not advance long before a player of California Golden Bears arrived in defense. So Jamison moved to Williams who was playing in Okulaja''s place for most of the first half, Williams was also getting the California Golden Bears marking because he wasn''t playing badly in that game. Williams tried to advance with a feint and speed, but the California Golden Bears defense was very good, so Williams passed the ball back to Jake, the plays went several times that way in the first half. Over time the Tar Heels team players learned to trust Jake for most plays and especially in the most difficult times, as did Ed Cota for what Jake remembered in his past life. But Jake got even more confidence from his teammates because even if he couldn''t make the assist he could still score the points, Jake got the ball and made a foul by taking the California Golden Bears player off the pitch. Soon another California Golden Bears player came to the defense and Jake made an alley-oop pass for Carter who took the ball high to make the dunk and 2 points for Tar Heels team, this move in a game like this was more a feature to make points than to give a show. So in the first half with Jake having a good performance and being able to organize the plays even with the defense of the most difficult opponent team Tar Heels got a good advantage and was calmer in a difficult game like this. "What a great first time for Jake in this game again, it''s amazing how well he always performs, we can clearly see that this is his normal performance, his great performances are when he gets over 40 points or gets a triple-double." Chapter 318 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 6 "Jake may not be performing well, but it''s not his fault, after all, Jake plays PG and if the team is not performing well he also can''t stand out without making individual plays." "I really don''t understand, you can tell by seeing this game that the California Golden Bears team is working harder on defense because they are without their best player, but the Tar Heels team is complete." "Even though the California Golden Bears defense is fine, it''s hard to understand why the Tar Heels team is having such a hard time making the moves, only Jamison is performing well and Carter is playing only moderately." "This is certainly something we cannot understand, but the Tar Heels team fans can rest assured that Jake is doing his part very well and is thus leading the Tar Heels team to an easier win." Jake was really struggling to make moves involving his teammates to see them gain more confidence in the game and make a better match, in another move Jake made a steal intercepting a pass from the opposing team. Jake decided not to run as in other plays and held the ball waiting for his teammates to advance to the attacking court, Jake advanced and after passing through the middle of the court passed the ball to Williams on the right. Williams advanced and continued to advance on the left even after receiving pressure from the California Golden Bears defense, Williams passed the ball to Jamison who was on the left. As soon as Jamison received the ball, he could see that California Golden Bears'' defense was stronger in the painted area, so Jamison chose to step outside the three-point line and restart play. Jamison wanted to pass to Jake, but soon a defender appeared in the path of his pass, so Jamison passed the ball back to Williams who was more to the left, Williams received the ball with some freedom. In that first half of the game, the right side of the Williams He and Zwikker Tar Heels team attack was not enjoying Jake''s passes, so when he received the ball more freely Williams stepped back and then attempted a three-point shot. Unfortunately, the ball didn''t come in and Williams missed the three-point attempt, Zwikker jumped and got the rebound and tried to push in to make another 2 points, but he also missed and then had to jump again to catch the rebound. Zwikker did not attempt another attack and passed the ball to Carter on his left, Carter caught the ball and left the painted area and passed the ball back to Jake, Jake naturally had no problems with Shammond Williams and Serge Zwikker. His reason for not passing the ball to them is because he knew they were not having a good game, so Jake held the ball to pass the time and thus made the opposing team more nervous as they were more than 6 points behind on the scoreboard. When the time of possession was nearing its end Jake advanced into the three-point line, Jake made a quick crossover and took his defender off the pitch with this dribble, Jake took the speed boost and found a place to advance.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. With speed and agility, Jake drove to the basket and made a dunk to get 2 points more for the Tar Heels team, after this play that spent almost 1 minute the first half soon ended. "A first half that looked more like a two-team defense attack and had no good times ended with the Tar Heels team to great advantage thanks to the good performance of Jake and Jamison." "Carter has also had a good first half, but even he missed a few plays in that first half, and Williams was the wrongest in the attack along with Zwikker and the two almost didn''t get many Jake passes." "Jake knows his teammates very well and has never been selfish in the plays, he is often criticized even for not trying more individual plays, but if in this game he didn''t pass the ball to Zwikker and Williams it was because he felt that his teammates were not having a good day." "I understand who criticizes Jake for passing the ball too much, he should not even be a PG and should play SG for his box score statistics, he has over 65% hit rate on three-point shots and over 72% hit in the attempts total shots in the game." "With such a performance I can understand why some people say Jake should try more than 15 shots of at least 3 points per game, so in fact, he would help the team a lot more." "But if he did that he wouldn''t have so many triple-double and a double-double in the games, moreover, just because Jake is like PG who can help the team so much in the games." "But Ed Cota could also be a good choice for PG in this team, even playing a short time he has always made more than 2 assists in every game that comes in." "But between leaving Jake as SG and taking Carter out to put Ed Cota who makes a lot of assists and doesn''t score points and leaving Jake as PG who makes a lot more assists and still can always make more than 30 points per game the decision is obvious." "Also, Jake himself says that if he made more than 16 three-point shots per game he would probably have a much lower hit rate in the games, so it''s not worth it in the end." Commentators talked about Jake''s chances on the team with always in the break, the first half was over and Jake had played for 18 minutes and scored 18 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 6 steals. Jake wasn''t able to assist much in this game with his teammates missing so much, but in defense, he was doing very well and thus further ensured the team''s advantage. What happened was that even with many steals, Jake had no way of knowing if the moves where he steals the ball or intercepts his opponents'' passes would really prevent them from scoring or if his opponents would miss the attack anyway. After all in several games, Jake made more than 7 steals or more and his opponents had as many points as he remembered to see in his past life, of course, that''s not why he would stop stealing. Coach Smith was unsure of what to do in the half-time but spent a few more moves and encouraged the team to play better, after all, he also realized that Williams and Zwikker were not well in the first half. But Zwikker still helped a lot in defense and rebounds, and Williams struck two three-point shots in that game and was not playing so badly in addition to drawing attention from the opposing team''s defense thus making room for his teammates to make the plays. Defending the team was not a problem and when he put Okulaja in the game the team''s attack didn''t improve either, so Coach Smith could only hope that Jake would continue to play well. In the second half of the game, the California Golden Bears team was losing by many points the game and so had to stop defending so much and try to attack more, this ended up giving Tar Heels more opportunities to attack. Also, while attacking the Tar Heels team with Jake so well was very good in defense as well, it was almost impossible for opponents who didn''t have a player like Tim Duncan to get offensive rebounds against the Tar Heels team. When Ademola Okulaja was on the court the team''s defense of the Tar Heels team was even better even though the team''s attack usually got weaker, but against teams like California Golden Bears that were not attacking well in the game, Shammond Williams was a better choice. In another play Jake had got another steal in the game to the desperation of team California Golden Bears, Jake as in the whole game preferred not to attack in a hurry and took advantage of the ball possession and the attack time. Even though the Tar Heels team also had fewer attack opportunities this was the NCAA tournament''s Sweet Sixteen game, and even scoring fewer points it was much better to secure the win. After the team advanced Jake also went to the offensive court and after the middle of the court passed to Carter, Carter also did not hurry and calmly advanced from the left until before the three-point line. Carter passed the ball to Williams on the right, Williams had been given a little scolding by Coach Smith for attempting too many individual plays and stopped risking more shots, Williams passed Jamison further left. Jamison received the back pass to the basket and soon saw the defense arrive and had to move back to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and held for a while before attempting another crossover. The opposing player in defense did not risk and went back in the painted area to not let Jake advance further, so Jake made a step back and was totally free to try the three-point shot. So the game went on with Jake calmly leading the team to an easy win while the whole Tar Heels team also played very well in defense, with several three-point shots and many dunks and layup Jake also scored many points. In the second half, Jake played for 19 minutes and scored 19 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals, with this Jake performance Tar Heels team, won the game very easily by scoring 82 points against just 49 points. "So the game ends with the expected victory of team Tar Heels in a game that had a big difference in the final score between the teams, but team Tar Heels was not playing that well." Chapter 319 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 7 "As well as Jake''s excellent performance that ensured victory for the Tar Heels team and the good performance of Jamison and Carter also the Tar Heels team secured that easy victory today." "I think you''re being very tough with your assessment of the performance of the Tar Heels team players in today''s game, everyone had a great defensive game and Williams scored 15 points hitting 5 three-point shots." "Zwikker also got 9 rebounds in this game both defensive and offensive rebounds, I think this team has always played very well and that''s why they have come so far in this NCAA tournament and it''s a favorite to win." "But of course if you compare Jake to his teammates it wouldn''t be fair, even Jamison with 27 points would seem to have played poorly compared to Jake." "I agree that this team has been playing very well this season and comes from a 22-win streak with today''s game and could reach 25 wins if they win the last three games and are the champions of this NCAA tournament." "But it''s precisely because it''s an elite team that I have to be so picky to judge if it wasn''t for Jake on that team I''m sure they wouldn''t have that big winning streak this season." "Speaking of Jake it''s a shame he didn''t get a triple-double in today''s game, with 2 more assists and 1 rebound he could get one more Quadruple-double even though it was a great performance." As they did after every game the commentators spoke very well of Jake''s performance in the game, the other players were not very upset that everyone said it was thanks to Jake that they won so much. That''s because, with such a big winning streak and the real chance of winning the NCAA tournament they had no reason not to be happy, it was the same with Jake''s high school team as long as they kept winning nobody cared if everyone said it was just because of Jake. Of course, it was different because the Tar Heels team also had great players who could win many games even without Jake on the team, but it was undeniable to all of them that Jake was important to the team. In addition, they were confident that if they performed well the NBA team scouts would know their real quality in the games, and if they won an NCAA tournament that would surely greatly enhance their performance at the university. So all the players just had to thank and be happy Jake was on the team, his teammates had even forgotten that at the beginning of the season they were jealous of Jake is the only one with a sponsorship. With Jake''s performance, this season as a freshman and the world record plus all the victories he had in the marathon it was certain that it was only fair that Jake was an exception at university, to complete Jake was always the best in his class in grades. If someone wanted to use Jake''s example to also get a university sponsorship loophole they would have to play very well and excel in two sports just like Jake and still have good grades, it was almost an impossible mission. From returning to college Coach Smith asked everyone to rest until the next game, it would be in two days then the team would have only one day to rest before the next game, even if the players were not tired it was better not to risk it. Jake spoke to her mother who had watched the whole game over the phone upon arrival at university, Eva was very happy for Jake and as the weeks went by watching television she began to realize how different games at university were in importance from games at the high school. So she was even happier knowing that her son was winning even though the games were more difficult and important, Eva always had confidence that Jake would become a pro and play in the NBA as he had always wanted since the age of 10. His roommates were also happy to see Jake being so successful on the Tar Heels team at the university, the strange thing was that since they were Jake''s friends they couldn''t see him as one of their idols who played on the Tar Heels team a few years ago. It was normal if it was thought that it is often difficult to see people close to each other differently even when they become famous or suddenly rich, after all, people do not change suddenly and remain the same as their closest friends and family. After two days the day of the next game soon arrived, this was the game between the teams that qualified for the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament, this was an honor that all players wanted to spend at least once at the university. The opponent of this game was the strong team Louisville Cardinals who had a very strong team and had a great season too, the players of team Tar Heels were nervous to have come so far in the NCAA tournament. Coach Smith did not require any training but instead asked the players to think hard about the strategies and formations the team would use in this game, only Jake was more relaxed in this game. As far as he was concerned, the Tar Heels team easily won this game contrary to what everyone expected, even though with Jake this team was different it was possible to have as a reference that the team would be well in the game and the Tar Heels team attack was effective against the Louisville Cardinals team. From what Jake also remembered, the Louisville Cardinals team''s defense wasn''t very good this season and they always tried to score more points than their opponents with their players who were good at three-point shots. After a few hours, both teams were ready for the start of the game, with Jake playing the Tar Heels team was a favorite for this game and everyone expected another easy win for the Tar Heels team again. In the early minutes of the first half unlike previous games Jake decided to accelerate the attacking pace of the team, the team Tar Heels was strong in attacking Jake did not want to take advantage of possession and worked with his team to reach the points. In one of the first plays Jake advanced into the attack quickly and only passed the ball to Carter before the three-point line, Carter attempted a feint and managed to get past the opponent to the painted area. The Louisville Cardinals defense soon adapted and tried to stop Carter''s breakthrough, so Carter passed Jake back again, Jake passed the ball quickly to Williams who was free in the back of the court on the left. Williams received Jake''s pass and was clear off the three-point line, so he did not hesitate and tried the outside shot to score three points for the Tar Heels team. William was surprised to receive the pass early in the game because in the Last game Jake made few assists for him. For everyone on the Tar Heels team, Jake''s style of play was a mystery and no one could know who he would pass the ball to, only Jake knew he chose who he knew was good at passing the ball. In another move, Jake advanced with speed again and his teammates followed because it had been the whole game that way, after passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Carter on the left. Carter quickly advanced too and held the ball even before the three-point line and passed the ball to Jamison, Jamison received the ball and soon received the strong defense from Louisville Cardinals, so Jamison had to pass to Williams on the right. Williams received the ball and had the opposing defense very close and had to pass the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and just walked off the three-point line while having only one player in defense. Jake made a feint using speed and took his defender off the pitch and advanced into the three-point line when team defender Louisville Cardinals broke up to defend against Jake he made an alley-oop for Zwikker who jumped and caught the high ball to make the dunk and two more points for the team Tar Heels. "What a great first half start for the Tar Heels team, they have been hitting almost every attack and thus managed to open the lead for the Louisville Cardinals team, if continuing this will be another victory for the Tar Heels team." "True, Jake has been playing as well as ever, he has been instrumental since the first game of the ACC tournament, with Jake the whole team can play the best in the game safely and ensure the outcome."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. "Sure enough, Jake has been doing great in these knockout games, but all season Jake has been performing consistently and we''ve never seen a game where he''s been bad." "The whole Tar Heels team this season is made up of great players, but in many games, we see Williams, Zwikker, Jamison, and Carter having ups and downs and some great and bad performances, but Jake always maintains a minimum standard which gives more security to the team." The commentators spoke what the NBA team scouts also noticed, even though many criticized Jake for sometimes trying to pass when he could simply shoot the three-point himself. It was undeniable that Jake was the kind of player that all NBA teams needed, scored high points, was good at defending, knew how to organize the team and pleased all fans which could improve the ticket sales of the team he played. Chapter 320 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 8 @@ The first half continued and as time went on, everyone would realize that the Tar Heels team was doing very well in today''s match, so by the end of the first half, the Tar Heels team had a very comfortable lead for that game. In that first half, Jake played for 19 minutes and managed to score 24 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, and 3 steals, with this excellent performance especially in the three-point shoots Tar Heels team was quiet in the game at the end of the first half. On the other hand, the more time passed the more anxious the Louisville Cardinals players became if the Tar Heels team attack was fast with Jake the other side the Louisville Cardinals attack was slow. The biggest reason besides the excellent defense of Team Tar Heels was that the coach of Louisville Cardinals asked the players to avoid passing the ball near Jake, the coach was concerned about the many steals and interceptions that Jake made in the games.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. So the Louisville Cardinals team to@@ Chapter 321 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 9 @@ Jake also felt that Coach Davis''s training routine was making a difference, he was training briefly and he still had to miss several days of training because of the games, so he would only know for sure in a few months.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting. That meant Jake wouldn''t have a vacation like the other players on his team, fortunately even though he had to run marathons Jake would still have time to stay in Miami with his mother, after all, he wasn''t used to being months without seeing Eva yet. Especially since Jake had seen Eva die in her past life, and even after spending more than 7 years with her and knowing she was fine in the restaurant, it was hard for him to forget the feeling of knowing his mother was dead. Jake even thought of taking Eva and opening a new restaurant for her in the city where his NBA basketball team is, but he would have to talk to his mother because even if she was in the same city as him, Jake would still spend most of the year traveling to play. Even though @@ Chapter 322 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 10 "Soon we will see another exciting game this season, the Tar Heels team playing against the Arizona Wildcats team in an NCAA Final Four game." "The Tar Heels team has been having a great season with just two losses and Jake playing very well and being a revelation like we haven''t seen in college basketball for a long time." "Arizona Wildcats has been having a very good season as well, but they haven''t won as much as Tar Heels, however, one of Tar Heels''s only two defeats this season was in the first game of that season for Arizona Wildcats." "Will Team Tar Heels'' third defeat this season be another for Team Arizona Wildcats? Or will team Tar Heels advance to the final and get a rematch against team Arizona Wildcats?" "We''ll see all this in the game that will start next." Soon the game began and the Tar Heels team started to take the lead, Jamison and Carter were fine and Jake was also, in the first 5 minutes the Arizona Wildcats team scored just 2 points and the Tar Heels team had 21 points. It was the same as Jake remembered in his past life, it was as if the Arizona Wildcats team had not really entered the game in those first 5 minutes, but the Tar Heels team missed more and then lost control of the game by what Jake remembered in your past life. However in this game, Jake knew well how to use these minutes to open a great advantage, now he would have to be careful to maintain and increase that advantage that would be enough to win the game. In one move Jake received the ball after Zwikker got a rebound, Jake advanced calmly with the ball, the Arizona Wildcats coach had asked for a time after Tar Heels had 19 points lead in 5 minutes. So Jake wanted to save more time for the Arizona Wildcats players to start getting anxious after going through the middle of the court. Jake passed the ball to Carter. Carter was excited about this early start and had already scored 6 points, Carter advanced to pass the ball to Okulaja on the right, Okulaja advanced and held the ball a little before moving to Zwikker, Zwikker felt the pressure from Arizona Wildcats defender and passed it back to Jake. Jake made a feint and took Bibby out of play and made a pass for Jamison that crossed the defense, Jamison received the ball with freedom and advanced to layup and get 2 more points for the team Tar Heels. In another play shortly thereafter, the Arizona Wildcats team worked the play well and the ball went through several players until it reached Simon, Simon attempted a three-point shot and Carter lost time and could not defend. So Simon scored his first three points in the game and was happy, but he did not know that his points alerted all players of Team Tar Heels and Coach Smith of the warning that Jake had made. Another similar move came soon after and this time Carter was more attentive and managed to hinder the attempt to shoot from outside of Simon and Jake caught the rebound calmly, Jake advanced with the ball calmly and can already perceive the players of the team Arizona Wildcats beginning to get agitated. After passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Jamison, Jamison, who was also playing well having scored 6 points early in the game, advanced with ease, after advancing further he passed the ball to Okulaja on the right. Okulaja tried the trick and when he failed to hold the ball and passed back to Jake, Jake made a crossover and tricked Bibby who was in defense, but instead of stepping forward Jake stepped back and tried an outside shot to make three more points for the Tar Heels team. After a few more minutes the game was halfway through the first half and was much quieter, but the Tar Heels team led by 24 points and the Arizona Wildcats team became increasingly agitated by this difference. The game was similar to what Jake remembered in his past life, but the Tar Heels team gave a lot of space after the first 5 minutes and so after the 10 minutes the Arizona Wildcats were just 2 points behind on the scoreboard. "A very good start for the Tar Heels team, the game started at a very fast pace and after 5 minutes we saw the Tar Heels team with a 19 points lead, then unexpectedly Jake slowed down and the Tar team Heels started to enjoy almost all the time of possession." "This seems to have worked very well because with that the Tar Heels team did not make many mistakes and the advantage only increased now after we got in the middle of the first half." "I thought Jake took control of the game at the right time, with 19 points already enough to ensure victory at the end of the game, so Jake decided it was time to just manage the advantage even if it was just at the beginning of the game."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Now over time the Arizona Wildcats team will have to push harder to try to recover in the game and reduce that lead on the scoreboard, but I don''t think Jake will allow it." "Another thing we have to talk about at the beginning of the game is that the defense of the Tar Heels team is very good, which is why Coach Smith decided to put Okulaja in place of Williams in the initial lineup." Just as the commentators said Jake just decided to keep up the pace and manage the result, in other games he would not try to do that and would just try to make even more points to win more easily, but he was very concerned and unsure about this game. Coach Smith realized what Jake was trying to do and I supported his idea, after all the important thing was for the Tar Heels team to win, and with Jake''s three-point shots it was more assured that Jake could control the outcome of the game. At the end of the first half due to nervousness the Arizona Wildcats team made a lot of mistakes and Jake used most of those mistakes to make more points, he always wanted to arm every move so that his team didn''t make mistakes. So the game continued and at the end of the first half Tar Heels ended up winning the game with a big advantage of 28 points, Jake played for every 20 minutes of the first half and made 21 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, 6 steals and, 2 blocks. "What a great first half for the Tar Heels team, at the beginning of the game both teams attacked quickly and in the first 5 minutes the Tar Heels team already had 19 points ahead, then Jake held the pace and made sure that almost all thrown at his hands." "This turned out very well because with that great advantage and with a slower pace of play the team Tar Heels were just having more advantage, Jake played very well in defense and took advantage of the Arizona Wildcats nervousness in the second half of the first half to make 2 blocks and most of him 6 steals." "The Tar Heels team played very well, Carter and Jamison played very well, but surely Jake was primarily responsible for this great advantage of the Tar Heels team in the first half." "We could see that both teams were very anxious in the early minutes and it was amazing to see Jake deciding to just calm down without coach Smith asking for a time, clearly Jake had control over that first half." At half-time Coach Smith asked all players to listen to Jake in the game and pass the ball over to him to pitch, everyone understood that Jake had a great decision early in the game and knew they could rely on this freshman. One thing Coach Smith meant was for Jake to stop trying to defend against Bibby, because Bibby only tried two three-point shots in the first half and Jake made the block in one of them, but it was Simon who was playing better in that game. Even with Coach Smith''s warning to the players Simon still managed to score some points in the first half and was the Arizona Wildcats team''s main player in that game offensively. But in the end, Coach Smith decided to rely on Jake''s judgment, after all the team was winning with a lot of advantage and with Jake in the game he could say the game was practically won by the Tar Heels team. In the first 10 minutes of the first half of that second half the Tar Heels players were playing poorly, even Carter and Jamison were not playing well and even in the defense that was the highlight of the team was going badly. Jake realized that too and saw that it could be a turning point for this game even with the advantage of 28 points, so in those first 10 minutes of the second half, Jake was fighting for all the balls in defense. He always tried to catch the rebounds and not allow the opposing team to score as many points while still defending against Bibby, so at the beginning of the second half he scored 15 points hitting 5 three-point shots in 7 attempts. In addition, he made 4 blocks, 3 of them in Bibby and one of them in Simon, plus some steals, yet he couldn''t stop the lead from falling to 24 points, but Jake was happy because he knew the hard part of the game had finished. "What a bad start to the second half for the Tar Heels team, with such an advantage they shouldn''t play that bad at any point in the game, if it wasn''t for Jake in that early game the advantage they accumulated in the first half could have diminished or to vanish." Chapter 323 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 11 "Just as you said the Tar Heels team played very poorly at the beginning of this second half, it could be said that besides Jake it was the worst game of that team this season and what''s worse in the Final Four game against a strong team like Arizona Wildcats team." "True, it can''t happen to either team playing a part of the game as badly as the Tar Heels team has been playing, but we have to also say about Jake''s 15 points in those first 10 minutes of the second half." "Anyone who hears about this thinks he''s playing quietly, but no, sometimes there are two players in defense against him, and Jake can find space to try the three-point shot, even though he missed two shots off, the moment the team lives in the game, Jake''s 15 points is even more important." Coach Smith called the whole team to talk after asking for a break, only Jake received no scolding from the coach, after which the players seemed to have cheered up a bit. Jake knew that in the second half the Tar Heels team could not play very well, so he just tried to make the right plays with Jamison and Carter who were playing better in today''s game. In another move Jake received the ball and advanced calmly, after passing the middle of the court he passed the ball to Carter, Carter advanced the ball and passed to Okulaja, Okulaja held the ball and passed to Jake behind the three-point line. Jake made a feint that deceived Bibby and made an alley-oop for Carter to catch the ball in the air and make a dunk to score 2 points for Team Tar Heels, the end of the game was coming and Jake made 2 alley-oop with Jamison also in this second time. Thus at the end of the game the team, Tar Heels won by 92 points against 52 of the Arizona Wildcats team, Jake played for 20 minutes in that second half and made 22 points, 4 assists, 9 rebounds, 6 steals, and 6 blocks. Coach Smith did not want to risk a difficult game like this and let Jake play the 40 minutes of the game, and it was the right decision because Jake was the one who ensured Tar Heels''s victory in that game. "What an exciting game, even though not playing well, the Tar Heels team managed an easy win with a great performance from Jake and a good game from Carter and Jamison." "This was certainly a game in which the team Tar Heels only won because Jake was in the team, he made a quadruple-double in that game with over 40 points scored, so what Jake did in the first half of the first half we can see how he led the team to this victory." "After this game where Jake led the team alone to the NCAA tournament win and final, I think there''s no doubt that he deserves the best player of the year at the university and the NCAA Tournament MVP award." "True, we hope that the players from the Tar Heels team will play better in the next game, only if all players perform well will the Tar Heels team have a chance to win this NCAA tournament." After this end of the game the team Tar Heels returned to university, all the way Coach Smith said nothing to the players and with that everyone was more nervous, even with that win and the team going to the NCAA tournament final, no one was happy about it for the team''s performance. Only Jake was more relaxed and was quite happy with the team going to the NCAA tournament final, he naturally knew that the team would not perform well in this game and just hoped that because of it they could play better. So he was undecided about whether the team could win this game even with him playing, which is also why he told Coach Smith to ask the players to defend against Simon after all the team played this game well and helped to win. Jake was already preparing well before to have to take responsibility and play very well in this game, he made another quadruple-double and the most important was that the team won. Also, with Carter and Jamison playing very well in today''s game it made it much easier for Jake to play so well and for the team to win, Jake always thought that with two other players besides him playing well they could win almost any game. As soon as everyone got to college Coach Smith found everyone at the Dean Smith Center to talk to the players, everyone on the team besides Jake was nervous, even Carter and Jamison who had made a great game were nervous about this conversation. "I''ll have to say, after this game I couldn''t help but be disappointed with our team, even if I didn''t expect much from you in this game I would still be disappointed, so imagine how I was even more disappointed when I expected you to were the champions of this NCAA tournament?" The players were all quiet and ashamed as they listened to what Coach Smith was saying, the worst for them was that they had betrayed the coach and fans'' confidence in this game. "I''ll assume that I have some fault with that too, the team had been playing so well and in the last game we had maybe the best performance this season that I thought didn''t need to talk to you guys to play well in this game." "I just didn''t think it was the same team as the last game, it looks like in a week off you got worse than you were before, I didn''t expect that." "Defensively at least you had a good performance on this game, Carter and Jamison also played well and especially Jake who saved our team from losing this game even when the whole team was playing poorly." "Our next game is this season''s final and the NCAA tournament final, I don''t even have to say how important this game is to your basketball career or even to the life of those who don''t want to go pro." "If you win the next game all of your names will be in history as is the name of Michael Jordan and many other players, in two days we will have this game so I will let you rest, don''t let me down again in this final." Jake was the only one more relaxed with this conversation, he just sat down and pretended that Coach Smith wasn''t talking to him, after all, he knew he had done very well in this game and all season, but he had to admit that the coach Smith knew how to motivate players. He showed his dislike for this last game and criticized the team while praising who had a good game and the team''s good defense, which is why he has managed to coach the team so well for many years and win several titles. Jake was perhaps the only one who knew this year would be Dean Smith''s last year as coach of the Tar Heels team, so even though it seemed that Coach Smith didn''t like him very much, Jake was still trying to learn as much as he could from him, especially in training.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Jake later celebrated with his friends who also went to watch the game and with Eva, Eva had said that if Jake was the NCAA tournament final she would definitely go with Anna to watch the game even having to close the restaurant for a day. In fact, Jake didn''t know, but Eva had already refused months of reservation at the restaurant for the day of the NCAA tournament''s final game, showing how confident she was that Jake''s team would reach the final. Jake was much more relaxed about the next game that hadn''t happened in his past life, so he didn''t have to worry about a lot of things and just play the best he could. The downside to this was that he couldn''t know who was playing well before the game began, but with Jake''s intelligence and his familiarity with his teammates within minutes he would know who was playing well or not. Jake''s roommates were even more excited than he for this game, they were surprised to learn that Jake was on the college basketball team, but they could never imagine that Jake would become the team''s first player in his first year and that Tar Heels team reached the NCAA tournament final. The Tar Heels players were already like idols to the other college students who followed and liked basketball, Jake especially that even trying to be humble drew a lot of attention in the classes he attended, especially for the good grades he had. William and the others naturally also had more friends and some even had a few girlfriends for a short time just being Jake''s roommates and friends, only Jake in the class had no relationship this year. The other day while the players rested Tiffany and Clara, as well as John and Alan, appeared as Jake''s sponsors to watch the game the other day and to congratulate Jake on this great achievement. Knowing this Jake first scheduled lunch to talk with John and Alan earlier and a dinner to talk with Tiffany and Clara, after all even though they were his sponsors, Jake treated them differently. Jake hoped everyone would come right before the final game, even if Jake had a contract prohibiting him from relating his sponsors to college basketball, it was obvious that Jake was playing so well and his team was in the NCAA tournament final is very good for his sponsors. "Congratulations Jake, it was a great debut season you had at college basketball this year." "That''s right, coming to the NCAA tournament final and winning the ACC tournament is an amazing start." Chapter 324 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 12 "Thanks, I''m glad to see you both here, John and Alan." "Of course I would come, you are one of the best college basketball players and also one of the players who have the most potential to become an NBA star, plus you still have your marathon achievements, it was very lucky for me company to sign a contract with you." "I agree, my company just wanted to know what it was like to have a sports rep of ours, after all, a razor company doesn''t have much to do with athletes, but after having this contract with you our company is selling more than ever." "Of course I know that we are selling so well because we are sponsoring you and it wouldn''t work out so well with other athletes, but it was the best investment our company has made in recent years and I got a lot of promotions from my work for it." Jake was also very happy to have John and Alan as representatives of his sponsors, even though he didn''t need that money was very supportive and Jake received a lot of confidence getting so much money even though he is not an NBA player. "Plus, with our investment in last year''s commercials we won''t have to make any new commercials over the next two years, so we just have to keep the commercials being broadcast on television." "Do you think your team is likely to win the NCAA tournament this year?" "I think our team is a favorite for this final if the players on my team play well and it doesn''t happen like yesterday''s game I have confidence that we will be the champions." Jake was very confident because in his past life the team they defeated in the last game would be the winning team, just as Jake playing the Tar Heels team was a favorite to win this final. This made John and Alan more reassured and confident about the victory of Team Tar Heels because everyone who cheered for Team Tar Heels became more worried after the last game, but they knew that if Jake was confident it was quite possible that the team Tar Heels won because Jake led the team to the victories. "And are you ready for the marathons you will have on your vacation? Just give me a list of which marathons you will want to attend that I sign you up, I have already received several important marathon invitations inviting you to participate, but as you told me to just refuse during the season I am just refusing." "I do intend to participate in several marathons, after all, I am also a marathon runner and I love running and I am not just a basketball player, if I do not run even this year I am in college I can not even think about continuing to compete when I am in the NBA." John was very happy to hear that, he could imagine how tiring it was to play a whole season like college basketball which is so much more intense and more games than in other sports. Alan didn''t care much about that, but John knew that besides the incredible talent Jake was most special about was that he could compete at a high level in two major sports like basketball and athletics, so if Jake gave up running because he really didn''t need to he would lose part of what made him special. After that Jake talked to them for some time and returned to university, the evening he went to meet Tiffany and Clara who also wanted to congratulate Jake who reached the NCAA tournament final. After they talked about the commercials Jake was going to record after a few months and about Clara''s company, Jake found it interesting that Clara was really thinking of doing like Matthew and giving half of the profit share to the shareholders and investing in the company only half. Even though Clara didn''t like Robert very much she realized how he and the other shareholders were happy to receive a good profit share as dividends and not just have to wait to see the company''s stock appreciate in order to increase assets. Jake understood that well, but he was also not against Clara''s previous method of investing all the company''s profits again and not delivering dividends to shareholders, after all, that was what Amazon was doing for over 20 years and so she was has become one of the largest companies in the world. Jake thought that a company only paid dividends when it no longer intended to develop much or if the entire structure of the company was developed and the company did not need all the profit to continue developing. Typically top tech companies were an example of this or could continue to invest in other media and find other ways to increase the company''s influence and sell more products as Amazon does. After they talked for a while before Jake left to prepare for the game the other day, they had a nice conversation, but it was much less comfortable talking the three together than when it''s just two people, many subjects can''t be talked about. Even though Jake was happy to have Tiffany and Clara watching their final game, he would also have his roommates and Eva along with Anna, almost all of his friends and closest people who could come to watch the game. Matthew and Oliver couldn''t come because they were busy with their jobs, who Jake hopes would come and didn''t come was Eric, even though a few years ago Eric said he would no longer cover high school and university games as a reporter, as a friend Eric could appear in some Jake games. He understood that Eric might be busy with his work and might not be able to come watch the game, but at least as a friend he could have called Jake to wish him good luck, Joseph didn''t expect it because his friend didn''t like it and basketball The other day came the day of the Tar Heels team final at the NCAA tournament, it was Jake''s first university final and well into his freshman year, even though he expected it when he decided to play for the Tar Heels team he was still looking forward to it. Jake wanted to win this year because, in addition to adding a lot to his career and the fact that he didn''t like to lose, he found it important to take the pressure off him to win an NCAA tournament, he would be much more relaxed next season and he was sure that with the whole team would be the same. Coach Smith said a few more things to the team before the game and highlighted how important this game was to the Tar Heels team and to all the players, after which everyone was more excited but nervous about the game. After a few hours, the two teams were almost ready for this final game, Jake could see where his mother was with Anna, but couldn''t see Tiffany and Clara as well as their other sponsors.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Seeing that Eva came for this game Jake was much more thrilled and motivated to win this game, he hoped his team would be a favorite because they beat the team that should have won this game. But the opposing team was also very strong and had an almost better season than the Tar Heels team, the opposing team in this game would be the Kentucky Wildcats team, in Jake''s opinion this was the team with the best cast of players having 6 players who would play in the NBA in the future. The Kentucky Wildcats team came with an initial lineup consisting of Ron Mercer, Anthony Epps, Scott Padgett, Nazr Mohammed, and Cameron Mills, players Wayne Turner and Jamaal Magloire would also play, but for a shorter time and didn''t score much. For this difficult game Coach Smith decided to use a more offensive initial formation putting Williams in place of Okulaja, in the past game as Williams did not play long and did not have many opportunities to shoot off Coach Smith did not know he could play very bad. Jake was fine with that because he knew nothing of what could happen in this game, so he would have to rely on his teammates to help him lead the team to win Heights and become champions of the NCAA tournament after today''s game. Everyone was determined to do their best because this was the last and most important game of the season, after this game everyone would be on vacation so they could play until they were completely tired. "And finally we are here, the last game of this season and the NCAA tournament final, two great teams have come to this game with incredible seasons, the Tar Heels team had 35 games and won 33 games losing only 2 of them." "In addition, the Tar Heels team comes from an incredible 24 straight streak, they don''t lose well over half of the season and even with an amazing team, they have a key highlight for this campaign which is the freshman Jake who has been doing one of the best debuts in college basketball history." "Jake has been breaking a number of records and in this game is the player who gives the most security for the team Tar Heels to win today''s game." "On the other side we have the Kentucky Wildcats team who have also had a great season so far, they have had 39 games so far and have 35 wins and 4 losses so far, they lost more than the Tar Heels team, but just because they had more games." "It''s true I rarely saw two teams coming to the NCAA tournament final as a favorite and with great seasons like them, plus the Kentucky Wildcats team cast is also very good and if it wasn''t for Jake could be the best cast in the game of today." "I also think the Tar Heels team is a favorite because Jake is on the team, but if the Tar Heels team players play as badly as they did last game, it will be hard to know who will win today''s game." Chapter 325 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 13 "True, the last game was the worst game of the Tar Heels team if you take into account team performance, but Jake, Jamison, and Carter played very well and so with a solid defense they were the winners of the last game." "Now we''ll see in the upcoming game who will be the 1997 NCAA tournament champion." Jake was confident because the Tar Heels team beat the Arizona team that should have won this year''s NCAA tournament, but even if the Arizona team won, it was only over time and Jake had already changed that reality by beating Arizona team. So he hoped that his teammates were playing well in today''s game, because only then could he do everything he could to ensure the victory of team Tar Heels in that game. The game soon began and Jake began making several plays in the early minutes while testing his teammates to see if anyone was playing poorly in today''s game, Jake advanced with the ball and after passing through the middle of the court went to Carter. Carter advanced calmly with the ball, no one could see him or the other players of the Tar Heels team nervous in this important game because everyone had confidence in Jake and knew they played well. Carter advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Jamison, Jamison held the ball for a while and tried to feint at the opponent and failed, so Jamison passed the ball to Jake behind, Jake received the ball and then passed to Williams it was open on the right. Williams received the ball off the three-point line and understood that it was for him to try the three-point shot, so William who was free tried the outside shot to make the first three points for the Tar Heels team. Everyone on the Tar Heels team was happy and went back to defense while the Kentucky Wildcats players were surprised, everyone hoped that Williams would not be given too many attempts to shoot them off because in the last three games only Jake had tried harder and Williams was put aside. But with this move early in the game everyone started to doubt if Jake would pass the ball to Williams more often, after all, they knew that Shammond Williams was a player who had a lot of quality in the three-point play. Kentucky Wildcats managed to make the 2 points for the next play and Jake received the ball to organize another attack, this time Jake advanced faster and passed the ball to Jamison, Jamison advanced with the ball as well, keeping pace with Jake. Jamison passed the ball to Williams on the left and Williams passed the ball to Zwikker ahead, Zwikker held the ball for a while and passed the ball back to Jake further back, Jake quickly passed the ball to Zwikker again ahead. The defenders did not expect this and Zwikker was free to move forward and score 2 points for the Tar Heels team, Jake was pleased with that and in the following moves made attacks with Jamison and Carter who also made the points easily. So more than 5 minutes into the game had passed and Jake had no points and had 6 assists and 1steal in that game, after which time Jake could be relieved to see that his teammates were at least playing well. He had no way of knowing if anyone was great at the game to help him much as Jamison had been in the past game, but he at least knew he could make the moves more smoothly with the support of his teammates. "We have a well-balanced start to the game with Jake playing PG and making 6 assists so far, but that''s not enough to have a smoother game, Jake has to get the ball more and try three more shots and plays painted area to make more points." "Only with Jake scoring as many points as he has done in the last few games that Team Tar Heels can open a big lead to try to win, even though they are now ahead can be a matter of time before Team Kentucky Wildcats turn the game and lead the scoreboard." "It''s true, we see a few players do like Jake and not many get double-double because everyone who has the ability to score more points than their teammates does." "After all scoring is the most important thing in basketball, I''m not saying that teamwork and defense are not important, but at the end of the game it is the number of points that determines the outcome of the game." "Even more players like Jake who have the ability to hit more three-point moves, in more than 5 three-point shots the team earns more points than they would in two more normal 2-point plays." In the next few minutes, Jake had already taken the tests he needed and can see that his teammates were playing well and so can continue to play normally with much more freedom to play with his teammates and thus have more attack options for the Tar Heels team. So by the time halfway through the first half, Jake had already scored 5 points and the Tar Heels team opened a small lead, on the Kentucky Wildcats side was different because the players were making a lot of mistakes in the attacks. Especially since Derek Anderson who was one of the team''s top players could not play in this game, besides, the defense of the Tar Heels team was very strong and Jake and his teammates dominated the defensive rebounds and some of the offensive rebounds. In another play Jake began to organize another attack for the team Tar Heels, after passing the middle of the court he passed the ball to Carter on the left, Carter advanced slowly and held the ball for a while. Team Tar Heels played slower after the second half of the first half because Team Tar Heels had a slight lead and in several games when it was so Jake controlled the pace of the game while gradually increasing the lead. Carter passed the ball to Jamison who was before the three-point line, Jamison tried the feint and failed and so held on to Jake behind, Jake made a feint and then stepped back to try the three-point shot. But when Jake went to try the three-point shot the player who was defending against him fouled to prevent Jake from hitting the three-point shot, Jake was taken by surprise and so missed and missed the three-point shot. Team Kentucky Wildcats seemed to have a strategy of making several fouls taking advantage of the team''s rotation with reserve players to hold the game, Jamison and Carter had already fouled and now it was Jake. But what surprised him was that it was very rare for an opposing team to decide to foul when a player is attempting the three-point shot, because Jake would now have three free throw attempts. Jake hit all three attempts and so scored all three points the same way and was unsure why the Kentucky Wildcats team decided to do so, in another move the Kentucky Wildcats team was advancing for another attack. It was almost the end of the first half and the Tar Heels team had already increased the lead by now 10 points and the Kentucky Wildcats players were getting more anxious about it. When possession time was almost over Nazr Mohammed screened and prevented Jake from continuing in defense, so Anthony Epps was free to go before the three-point line and attempted a shot from outside. The ball didn''t come in and Nazr Mohammed managed to get the rebound, Mohammed who caught the rebound tried to make the 2 points and Jake appeared to make the block, Epps got the ball and tried to make the 2 points again and Zwikker made the block this time. Ron Mercer got the ball and tried again, but before that Jake made the steal and got the ball, after this thrilling play in which the defense of Tar Heels team was better Jake advanced quickly on the counterattack. After rapidly advancing the defense of Kentucky Wildcats failed to keep up with him, so Jake advanced until he finished the game with a dunk and made 2 more points increasing the advantage to 12 points. After that Kentucky Wildcats managed to score another 2 points and reduce Tar Heels''s team lead to 10 points, but it was clear to everyone that the Tar Heels team had a great leader throughout the game, the whole team was fine and Jake was too he was making a good game. "What a great game we saw in that first half, the team Tar Heels played very well and unlike the last game the whole team was playing very well, so much so that Jake made more assists and fewer points." "The defense of the Tar Heels team that has always been the strong point of the team is doing very well in this game and securing Tar Heels''s team advantage in the game."Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "But that does not mean that the Kentucky Wildcats team is playing poorly, the attack is making a lot of mistakes in the painted area and they have been losing plays against the defense of Tar Heels team, but the team''s defense has also been doing a good job and disrupting the team Tar Heels with some fouls." "We will still have to see what the second half will look like, Jake had a slow start making more assists that helped the team a lot and in the second half of the first half he has been improving and getting more points." "If in the second half Jake starts to score more points as he has in the last few games, the Tar Heels team is sure to win this game and win the NCAA tournament." Chapter 326 1997 NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament 14 Jake was not playing really worse than in the other games, but just as the commentators said the Kentucky Wildcats defender was fine and in the first few minutes Jake was testing his teammates. In that first half, Jake played every 20 minutes and scored 16 points, 11 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocks, in an excellent game that showed all of Jake''s versatility in basketball. In the first half, he made more assists because he realized that all of his teammates were playing well so that he could pass the ball more instead of fighting head-to-head with Kentucky Wildcats'' strong defense. Earlier in the second half, Jake decided to try to increase the gap further, as it was a decision he made because of the confidence that Coach Smith had in him and so he could decide what plays would make in the game no one else knew about. So in the first 7 minutes, Jake scored 12 points hitting 4 shots from 3 points out of 6 attempts, plus Jake made those moves while passing the ball quietly and making the points as if it were just a momentary decision to end the play. When the Kentucky Wildcats players realized something was different, Jake got the team back to play as it was in the first half, but at that point, the lead increased to 17 points. Team Kentucky Wildcats was behind the scorecard and yet made many mistakes while attacking, so it was only natural that the advantage would only increase even if the players of Team He He also made mistakes. In another play Jake advanced quickly and passed the ball to Carter, Carter who was having a good game today made a feint and advanced to the inner area, when another player arrived in defense Carter moved to Williams behind. Williams held the ball a little before moving to Jamison ahead, Jamison tried to spin and score 2 more points but missed and he himself rebounded by passing the ball back to Jake. Jake held the ball and calmed the team down, after passing a few seconds of possession he made a feint and an alley-oop for Carter who jumped and caught the ball in the air to make the dunk and get 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. "What a great start to the second half for the Tar Heels team, they enjoyed a great start from Jake who made a completely different start from the first half and scored 12 points in a few minutes." "Team Tar Heels also knew how to take advantage of the Kentucky Wildcats second-half bad start and so increased the lead on the scoreboard to 17 points, with half of the second half last time Kentucky Wildcats will have to play very well and hope that Tar Heels team makes a lot of mistakes trying to turn this around." "That''s right, I think it''s very difficult for the Kentucky Wildcats team to win this game and it looks like the Tar Heels team is already well underway to become the champions of this NCAA tournament." "Also, with Jake on the team, I find it hard to imagine that Team Tar Heels will allow Team Kentucky Wildcats to turn around and win this game, this big advantage is something Jake is very good at managing." Just as the commentators thought the Tar Heels team supporters thought so and were already celebrating the victory in advance, Tiffany and Clara were also happy to see that Jake would win this year''s NCAA tournament. John and Alan were also excited and could imagine sales of their companies increasing with Jake''s victory at the NCAA tournament, Eva and Anna were also celebrating as well as Jake''s and the Tar Heels team''s victory. Even if there were still 10 minutes left Eva wasn''t afraid to celebrate her son''s victory, because she had been thinking for many months that Jake would win this NCAA tournament as well as all the other games he won, everyone could say she was very optimistic, but It ended up happening as she imagined. For the rest of the game Jake slowed the game even more and tried to spend all the ball possession and score on all attacks, Jake was wanting the Kentucky Wildcats to try to make more fouls because some players from the opposing team already had 3 or 4 fouls and would be expelled from the game. Coach Kentucky Wildcats also realized this and could not begin to foul all Tar Heels team ball possessions with 10 minutes left to finish the game on the other hand Coach Smith was very pleased with Jake''s performance at that game. Earlier in the season, he thought Ed Cota would be the best for this position and with Williams also playing in that position a few times, but over the course of the season, Jake showed that he deserved a prominent place in this team and after that started leading the team to several victories. At the end of the season with the most decisive games, all players had some bad games and only Jake kept the great performance in all games becoming the main player of the team. Coach Dean Smith was thinking of leaving the Tar Heels team this season if the team won or even lost, but he was very grateful and happy to see that he could leave the team as an NCAA tournament champion. As time went on and nearing the end, the Kentucky Wildcats team began to make many fouls to speed up Tar Heels''s team plays, most players had 70% hit in free throws and so the score has not yet decreased much. Especially since Jake and Williams sometimes hit a three-point play and so the advantage only increased with the errors of the Kentucky Wildcats attack, by the end of the game some Kentucky Wildcats players had already been sent off for making the limit of fouls "Now there are only a few minutes left to finish this game, a final that was not as exciting as everyone expected and had no show from the players of both teams." "But those who support the Tar Heels team will leave here very happy after this game because they will be the champions of this year''s NCAA tournament." "Everyone will also be delighted to see Jake perform an excellent game and will be a future NBA star, this is the fourth NCCA tournament won by the Tar Heels team that last won in 1993." "An excellent Tar Heels team game where all the players were doing very well both in attack and defense, Kentucky Wildcats played very well and had only a few problems in attack so they lost today." So after a few more minutes the game was over and the Tar Heels team won the NCAA tournament, the players began to celebrate a lot on the court and everyone looked very happy, while the Kentucky Wildcats players looked sad even if they accepted defeat. Team Tar Heels scored 92 points against just 69 points for Kentucky Wildcats, it was a huge lead that Jake had controlled since the end of the first half and increased in the final minutes of play. Since mid-season, many have said that the Tar Heels team was a favorite and had the best players and today they were the winners. Jake was very happy and celebrated with his teammates because he knew he couldn''t go to celebrate with his mother. All of Jake''s friends who came to see the game were very pleased, especially John and Alan who knew how the companies that sponsored Jake could make a lot out of it, it was really lucky that they sponsored Jake. After a while, the Tar Heels team could lift the NCAA tournament trophy and everyone celebrated a lot again, even though many thought the game had been easier than they expected it was because Jake controlled the game from start to finish. In that second half, Jake played again every 20 minutes and scored 21 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 blocks with a triple-double. Jake was certainly one of the best first seasons of any professional basketball player. By the end of the season, it would be announced that Jake won almost every single award except for the best defensive player who went to Tim Duncan, in fact, Tim Duncan would have won several of those awards that Jake won, but after all Jake did was an injustice don''t give the prizes to him. The list of awards he received was MVP ACC tournament 1997 John R. Wooden Award NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player Oscar Robertson Trophy Naismith College Player of the Year Adolph Rupp Trophy Associated Press College Basketball Player of the Year NABC Player of the Year Sporting News Men''s College Basketball Player of the Year NCAA Men''s Basketball All-Americans ACC Rookie of the Year USBWA National Freshman of the Year After everyone went back to university and Jake called Eva and Anna to go to university too, Jake wanted to talk to his mother, but he also wanted to celebrate with his teammates. Eva naturally agreed and on championship day Jake can celebrate with the whole team this amazing achievement for the team, Jake was happy to win and was even happier that this long season was over, now he would have more time to run the marathons and do more things. The other day Jake stayed almost all day with his mother and Anna and showed them various places in North Carolina, at the end of the day they had to go back to open the restaurant again and soon Jake could come home to see Eva and Anna.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. He had not seen Lola and felt that something had changed after this semester between them, Jake would be glad to know if Lola could forget about him and maybe even fall in love with someone else. Chapter 327 The Major Marathons 1 Jake was very happy with everything that happened in the previous days and the victory in the NCAA tournament, all the newspapers were talking about the Tar Heels team and Jake and the best players of the Tar Heels team. Jake did not give any interviews and only said after winning how happy he was to win the NCAA tournament, this was because many of the questions were strange and suggested that he was solely responsible for the team winning the NCAA tournament. He knew well that this was not right after all his teammates were very skilled and many would-be stars of NBA teams, and even without him, the team would reach the final four in the NCAA tournament. In the last two games, he could accept being told that he was responsible for the team''s victory, but for the rest of the season, he only added his skills to a team that was already very good. Jake knew he had improved a lot this season because even if his skill ranks didn''t change he knew that this season he was getting used to basketball style and getting better and so towards the end of the season he could play a lot better. One thing that made Jake very surprised and happy was that he had received a system reward after winning the NCAA tournament, it was such a good reward that he was very surprised. Jake had received as a reward that all his basketball skills would reach the next rank, it made him very happy and a little sad, he felt that many skills had already improved this season and were close to reaching the next rank, other skills he knew it would take at least another year to reach the next rank. Either way, it was a very good thing and so he was just one step closer to getting the skill needed to level up with his skills to know what the NBA players look like, with that he would reach the peak of basketball. That was the reward that most improved his basketball skills, the other was something that made Jake very thoughtful for a few hours, he received 4 attribute points as a reward for winning the NCAA tournament. But unlike before these points came as free points and he could put in any attribute he wanted, this made Jake very confused because he could put the 4 points in strength and thus improve his basketball accuracy and improve a little on other things. He could also put the 4 points in Resistance so that he would be much easier with basketball and the marathons he would have to run, and this statistic could more easily cross the 50 statistic barrier. Jake could also decide to put those 4 points into agility so he could start training in the other athletics modalities more easily and so maybe compete in some more races in the upcoming Olympics. Another thing he could do was put the 4 points in the strength stat and thus balance the difference he would make more and more after he won a few major marathons. In the end, he decided to put those 4 points in strength statistics to improve in basketball and because it was harder for him to get strength statistics, he could wait another time to compete in the other athletics modalities. And Jake didn''t think he needed Resistance anymore at the moment, he could finish a marathon in almost 2 hours and could play the games of the season quietly, and Jake knew he could get more points in agility and Resistance with the marathons. After doing this he was very pleased because after he won a few more marathons his stats would be more balanced, he was pleased that the next season would be so much easier for him. That didn''t mean it was guaranteed that the team would easily win the NCAA tournament as it did this year because it would depend much more on the whole team''s work than just him, but it would be much easier for him to make the moves he was used to.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "Fate, show me my statistics on my first job." [Here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 18 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: College Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 2.01 m] [Weight: 103 Kg] [Force 41] [Agility 37] [Resistance 40] [Intelligence 60] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Basketball Skills [Ball Handling SS] [Body Control S] [Man to Man S] [Dribble SS] [Layup SS] [Set Shot SS] [Block A] [Pass SS] [Rebound S] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] [Steal SS] [Dunk SS] --------------------------------- It was amazing to see how he had improved in just one season, he knew it was because he had already greatly improved in training in the imagination training space, but it also had to do with him facing more skilled opponents and with him playing a lot more games in the season. Now besides the block ability, he had all S-rank skills and was close to being able to improve his level to the NBA level so that he could finally know what the NBA players'' skill was like. He was also surprised that his height was already over 2 meters, he never expected it to be so high in his life, he was already much taller than in his past life, with his current height Jake already had confidence in play in the NBA without being harmed by lack of height. [You did well to choose to increase your strength stat, Jake, this is the only way your physical stats will be more balanced after you win a few more major marathons, otherwise, your stats would always be unbalanced and that could hurt you a little.] "What do you mean I would be harmed? Why did you never tell me anything about it?" [I didn''t say anything before because this is not something you can do something to change if you just decided to continue with the marathons you would not need your strength statistic and the statistics would be out of balance.] [Your physical statistics getting out of balance is not such a serious problem, what happens is that you won''t be able to use your statistics so easily, if your Resistance statistics were much smaller you couldn''t, for example, use all your strength for long. time and not run too fast.] [If your agility is much lower you will react slower and you may not be as efficient at using your strength if your Resistance is much higher than your strength you will not be able to use all of your Resistance because your muscles will not hold.] [That''s why it''s best to always keep your stats balanced, especially for you looking to do more than one sport at a time, so you''ll better use your stats.] Hearing this Jake finally understood how statistics were so much more important than he thought, it wasn''t like an RPG game where it was better to just improve a stat as much as it could to be more useful. [Now, though I think it will be difficult for your statistics or skills to improve before you leave college, your statistics can only improve if you get more rewards.] [Your body has fully developed now too and you will not increase your height further, but with your current height it should be enough for you to play high in the NBA in PG position.] Jake understood that now it would be harder to increase his stats through simple training and his height would not increase anymore either, now he could be considered totally an adult. Even though he was pleased with everything the system did for him, Jake wanted to increase his Resistance stats and his agility a little more because of the other track and field modalities he would have in one NBA season. But if it wasn''t for this balance of statistics that the system said Jake wouldn''t care more about increasing his strength statistics, after all, he realized that even if he had 90 strength statistics it didn''t mean he would hit all three-point shots to try. So that''s why Jake thought the strength statistics were good enough, but now that he knew the balance he would try to improve the strength statistics he received from rewards. What he would have more trouble finding was ways to earn more stats on strength as a reward, he knew that marathons could help him improve his Resistance and agility stats, but he knew nothing he could do to increase his strength. Jake hoped that after he entered the NBA in professional basketball he would find many more opportunities to improve his stats with rewards as he received by winning the NCAA tournament. He didn''t even think about increasing his stats with just ordinary training, after all, he already had more statistics than most professional basketball players, he managed to increase a statistics point this year by training because his body was developing as the system said. In the coming days, contrary to what Jake imagined, Coach Smith did not release the team and would continue training until the players went on vacation, the only difference was that the training was not so heavy and if the players needed it they could miss training. In the team''s first training several days after the NCAA tournament final everyone noticed a strange situation, Jake who had improved by a whole level in basketball decided to train with everything he had to see how he improved. So after this training, all players of the Tar Heels team could not help thinking that Jake had not played the best he could in the final, he scored over 50 points in a training game and completely dominated the opposing team''s defenders in training. Even though Coach Smith thought Jake had not tried his hardest in the final, the problem was that no one could complain about this to Jake because even without trying his best he was certainly the best player in that game and led the whole team to victory. So players from the Tar Heels team could only be happy that if they have a tougher game next season they could count on Jake at that time. Chapter 328 The Major Marathons 2 Coach Smith was also happy to see that Jake could play even better than he did in the final because in training all players were training to their maximum and improving all season. Without Jake on the team the best players could be arrogant because they are already skilled and do not put so much effort into training, but seeing how Jake was so much better than them in games and training the most talented players wanted to train even more to overcome Jake. That would make the whole team even better during the season, it was a shame that coach Dean Smith knew he could not continue coaching this team of geniuses, he was glad his last year as a coach ended as an NCAA tournament champion. He had already started talking slowly with Coach Bill Guthridge, after all, Coach Bill Guthridge would be his successor to coach Tar Heels next season, if the team didn''t win he thought of staying longer but with the team winning It was the best time to leave. Of course, he decided not to say anything to the players so as not to hinder their training, after the holidays when everyone came back he would not be the team coach anymore, only Jake knew that among the players. So it turned out that Coach Guthridge''s favorite player was Jake, because Jake was the player on the team who most respected him and even talked to him more than Coach Smith, so next season Coach Guthridge was already thinking about using Jake as the main player of the Tar Heels team since the beginning of the season. Maybe even Coach Smith decided to do the same thing after all Jake had a great season even though he didn''t play all season as a midfielder, at first he didn''t play much time in the games. Jake showed all of his skill and even if he thought about entering the NBA draft this year he would definitely be the highlight, so everyone could say that it was already worth it for Jake to go to university instead of joining the NBA directly. Even if Jake decided to enter the NBA now with the grades he had, it was almost certain that the university would somehow arrange for Jake to still get his degree even while playing in the NBA. But Jake wanted to spend some more time at the university which was where he had a lot of fun with his teammates, besides, Jake already had some plans when he entered the NBA and for that, he needed more time and his sports agent David Falk. David just called Jake to congratulate him on winning the NCAA tournament, but he didn''t want to talk to Jake while he was still at university so they wouldn''t have unnecessary rumors. After this season David was even more convinced that Jake could be the next player to be the main NBA star just as Michael Jordan was now, even though there were players with similar skills that Jake became known earlier and had David Falk as his agent. But this was all for next year, now Jake wanted to focus on his training to run the marathons he would have in the coming months, Jake had decided to run 4 marathons this season. Two of those marathons would be this April, he warned after the final game for John to organize his entries, he would first run the London marathon in over a week and then run the Boston marathon. When they heard this his coach Frank Davis and John thought Jake was crazy, after all the difference between the two marathons would be only 8 days, no runner in the world would try to run these two marathons to winning in that short time. Besides, one of those marathons would be in another country and he would have to make a long trip and get tired even more, but Jake didn''t care what they thought because he wanted to win every major marathon he could this year. Unfortunately, he had lost the Tokyo marathon, but the other three were still possible for Jake to win, this year he wanted to win these three marathons and thus secure three more statistic points which would help him in next year''s basketball season. Plus, Jake had something no elite marathoner in the world has, if he could beat this London marathon he would get a Resistance stat point and an agility point, so he would be even better off running in Boston. And early next year he would race and win in Tokyo even if he had to lose a game with the basketball team, after all, Jake knew that after joining the NBA it would be even harder for him to take time to run these marathons. If Jake could win the four marathons he intended to race this year he was sure he would have even more fame and stand out even more in the sports world, after all, he didn''t know anyone who could win 7 different marathons. In addition, he had already won 2 times in Chicago and this year he would race again in Chicago, so this year he would have won 9 marathons in total if he counted 3 times in Chicago, few marathon runners in this world or none would be able to do that. So when he negotiated upcoming sponsorship contracts as soon as he entered the NBA he was sure he would get a great deal early on because of what he did at university and in marathons. Frank Davis and John couldn''t even imagine that Jake intended to win these 4 marathons, after all, they thought that even though he was talented Jake had been lucky to win so many marathons after all even elite runners have days when they perform poorly. Jake continued training with Zack who could already run 25 km every day after Zack got in shape he could already be considered a great amateur athlete, so how much he ran easily increased as it was with Jake in the beginning. In addition, Zack already ran that 25 km every day in a good time for an amateur athlete, so he could run a half marathon quietly, Jake suggested that Zack try a half marathon just to gain more confidence.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. But Zack didn''t want to, his dream was to run a full marathon and not a half marathon, knowing that Jake told Zack he would run the Chicago marathon with him, the Chicago marathon was just after their vacation so Zack would have time enough to prepare. Frank Davis said that in fact, Zack was already able to run a full marathon, but Jake didn''t think that was a good idea, he trained for over 6 months with Zack and can realize that his friend really loved running and so he would have to train Zack to have a marathon result that could boast for a lifetime. As Jake had already said the training he was doing might not be the fastest way to prepare someone to run a marathon, but after that training, Zack would be almost a complete athlete and if he ran from time to time for a few km he would still be in good health for all life. Even more, after Jake had gone through some of the training that Coach Davis had given him, the training had gotten even better and so Zack had improved faster in recent months, Aaron had recovered too and was training to get back in shape and fitness he was doing a good job. While Jake was training a week quickly, Jake warned Coach Smith that he would not go to training and went to London to run the marathon, John was already in London and had prepared the hotel for Jake. Jake asked if Coach Davis would like to go to London to accompany the marathon, but Coach Davis said that Jake was already well prepared and ready to win this marathon if he only ran as he did every day. It was easy for John to sign up Jake for this marathon because the organizers sent Jake an invitation this year, the London marathon was one of the most important in the world and the most important in England. So it was only natural that they wanted to have Jake participate as he was the current Olympic champion and have the current marathon world record, yet the London Marathon organization itself did not expect Jake to participate because everyone knew he had just finished the Basketball season as the champion. So they were very happy to know that Jake was going to participate in this marathon, John was sent by the company that sponsored Jake to accompany Jake in every marathon he participated in this year, after all, Jake was the best investment the company had made in recent years. John''s company today was the one that profited the most from sales after making the contract with Jake, this was because Clara and Tiffany''s companies hadn''t been investing in companies in recent years because they had Robert''s stock to buy. That''s why John''s companies that had a sports-related product and younger audience, as well as a much larger production, gained a lot in those years with Jake''s achievements and sponsorship. The other morning Jake was ready to run the marathon and went to where the race would start, in a few hours Jake was ready for the marathon and John stayed where the race would come to be there if Jake won this time too. "This year we are here again for the 1997 London Marathon, some of the best marathoners in the world are attending this year''s marathon, we all look forward to another exciting race and perhaps a record being broken to make this race historic." Chapter 329 The Major Marathons 3 "That''s right, we always hope that maybe a record could be broken in a big marathon like this, and this year can really be possible because the best marathoner in the world today is participating in this marathon today." "With Jake Smith taking part in this race today we can expect him to perhaps win this marathon like almost every marathon he has participated in the last few years, this year Jake is 18 and still very young as an elite athlete so maybe he can still dominate the world of marathons for many years." "He sure is the best marathon athlete today, but I don''t expect him to win today''s marathon, not even two weeks since he participated and won the NCAA tournament final at college basketball." "Plus, with college basketball season being so hard and so many games I don''t think he had time to train for marathons, so I think this time he could lose." "We''ll have to follow today''s marathon to see what will happen, after all, we have several talented athletes participating in today''s marathon who can win even if Jake is running well." Soon the marathon started and Jake started running at his pace and tried to find several athletes who were running at the same pace as him at the start of the race to save his stamina and use less energy. The winner of this marathon in his past life was Ant¨®nio Pinto from Portugal with a great time of 2:07:55 which is less than 2 minutes from the world record that Jake achieved at the end of last year, so Jake would have to go well if he wanted to make sure the victory.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. Jake was confident because his stats were better than the last marathon he ran in with a great time and contrary to what commentators said he didn''t stop training even while playing several games in the season. Over the past few months, Jake has learned a few things from Coach Davis, how he should move his arms and breathe while running to save more energy and some tricks for him to use in marathons. Since Jake ran a marathon every day he trained, it was much easier for him to learn these things while training almost every day. In training, Jake had already confirmed how these things helped him after running many km. The pace of the runners in London was good for the first few km and Jake could always find athletes near him so that he could save some stamina unlike US marathons, but there were no runners who wanted to run along with Jake in this marathon. Runners in America did this to help him in the marathon and because everyone knew Jake always had a great running pace and elite athletes just had to gain by running along with him, but in London, it wasn''t like that and Jake had to always find other groups to run. After 15km of running it was harder for Jake to find groups of athletes running at the same pace as him and having to run more alone, Jake didn''t know the race route either because it was his first time running in London and so he lost a lot of energy in the wrong places running alone. "Jake has been running at a strong and steady pace as always and in this marathon, he can''t find many athletes running at the same pace as him, plus this is Jake''s first time running in London so he may not get a good one time and win." "That''s right, these are problems he doesn''t normally encounter running in America and Jake comes from a tiring season of over 35 basketball games and may not have the stamina to finish this marathon in a good time in today''s marathon." Jake and Eva''s friends were also watching this marathon to follow Jake''s marathon and had the same concerns that commentators had, everyone was worried that the same thing happened in New York and Jake finishes the hurting race. Only Coach Davis and Zack who accompanied Jake''s daily training were quiet watching the marathon and not caring what the commentators said, Jake ran a greater distance than this one day faster after the games, so it was. It was impossible that he could not bear to run in London. Jake wasn''t worried about any of this either and just ran quietly trying to do everything he could to keep going well, what happened in New York was many years ago and since then Jake had a lot more stats and had no problem finishing a race like this same with all the odds. But Jake was already thinking as he ran that he probably wouldn''t race in London again for many years, maybe many years later he could race again, but after earning the rewards of the system if he won this marathon he would rather keep running in America. After passing the 25km race Jake was already leading this race and those running in front of Jake before had already lost a lot of stamina and we''re getting further behind during the marathon. Jake learned from his mistakes before and whenever he could stop at the watering stations, Coach Davis told Jake several times how important it was to stay hydrated during such a long run. After passing 30 km Jake was still running at the same pace and was already far ahead of second place in this marathon, at this point Jake didn''t even look as tired as he was in every marathon he ran. Anyone who saw Jake running might have thought it was easy to run a marathon at this speed, as it had been a long time since he had been running. Jake forgot to slow down and kept running fast. "Jake still keeps the lead running at a very strong pace, he doesn''t even seem to be trying very hard to run this marathon and it''s been 30 km, honestly, I don''t see him as a tired person who has just been through a whole intense season of basketball." "He really is the best athlete today and that no one can deny, so he can participate in such a high level of two different sports and still win shows that he is different from other athletes around the world." "That''s right, the Resistance that Jake has been showing these last few years is amazing and I think that''s the best gift he has, with this Resistance he can keep doing all that and maintain that top-notch performance." "Let''s hope he keeps running well like this in today''s marathon and wins well and maybe can break some record as we''re hoping." After driving the 33 km Jake had finally realized that he was still running at his normal pace, if he went on like this he would break his own world record and he didn''t want to do it in this marathon, so Jake started to slow his running pace a lot to finish this marathon at the time he wanted. But for all that was left to finish the race everyone could see that Jake slowed his racing pace too much and even those watching on television could see, only Coach Davis and Jake''s friends knew he did it in every marathon and not They were very worried. Jake was lucky to have the help of the system to calculate his running pace and the time he needed to run to finish the race at a certain time because it was because of this that Jake could control the way he ran and also run better keeping up a steady pace of running. After passing the 41km race Jake was still right in front of the other runners and only Antonio Pinto was closest to him in this marathon and yet everyone could see that Jake would still win this marathon quietly. "What a great race Jake has today, we can see that he has already won this marathon and even though he has slowed his racing pace a lot over the last 10 km he can win much more easily because of that." "That''s right, Jake really has to save on the marathon for the last few km because he''s tired of all of his game season games that ended just two weeks ago, this is Jake''s first marathon this year and he''s winning after winning the NCAA tournament this year too." "Many said that because basketball was so much more important and could give Jake a lot more money, he would stop running marathons now that he was starting to get more prominent in basketball, but this victory shows how Jake never abandoned his training this year." "True, it''s great to see a great athlete like him winning this marathon today because this marathon will be a piece of the story that Jake is building as an elite marathoner." "We don''t know if Jake will keep running in other marathons this year, but we all hope he will continue and win some more." After winning the London Marathon with the time of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 5 seconds Jake celebrated a lot because he was really happy when he won and even more so when it was a marathon he had never participated in before. So when Jake received the trophy for winning the marathon and the $ 100,000 prize, Jake talked to John for a while after that he was much happier than Jake with another marathon won. John could even imagine Jake winning the 4 marathons this year after winning the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament, sales of Jake''s sponsoring companies will increase a lot this year and Jake''s fame will also increase a lot. Jake thanked John for the work he did in this marathon and asked John to prepare everything for the upcoming marathon in Boston. Chapter 330 The Major Marathons 4 After winning the London Marathon, Jake returned to university the same day because he preferred to rest at the university than stay in London and have to travel the other day, after all, Jake still had the basketball team training and classes to attend. His friends congratulated Jake for winning one more marathon and Jake can rest well to start training and classes the next day, in just over a week he would have another marathon to run in Boston so Coach Davis said it was better not Jake train until after the next race so he can get some more rest. Jake was very happy after receiving the reward after winning this marathon, now he had gained one more stat point in agility and one point in Resistance and so was much more prepared to win the next marathon. Jake can also see that the newspapers from the United States and some countries around the world were talking about one more victory of him in this marathon, everyone wondered when Jake would run again and no one could expect Jake to run shortly after in Boston. This made Jake much more excited to win all major marathons and win all the rewards and be much better known in the future, after winning those marathons Jake felt he would be ready to race in more track and field. After all, after earning all these reward statistics, Jake would be much better prepared for the next track and field modalities he would have to train, which Jake knew would take a long time and hoped to be ready for it in 7 years. However, over the next few years Jake hoped to be prepared for at least the long-distance modalities and thus participate in 4 different modalities at the upcoming Olympics and make history, of course even if that was Jake''s goal, he knew well how it could be hard to happen. The week went by and Jake just focused on training with the basketball team and classes as he was not training the daily runs to rest before the next marathon, Jake was already thinking about the Boston marathon during the week. One day before the Boston Marathon Jake again excused himself from basketball team training and traveled to Boston, Jake had already warned all his friends that he would be participating in this marathon so that none of them would be surprised. Those who understood more about how marathons worked told Jake not to try to run another marathon so soon after running in London, everyone knew how marathon could be stressful for the body and usually a week was not enough for someone to rest. Even more so for Jake who had won in London and so had certainly worked harder than anyone in the last marathon, of course, Jake said he knew what he was doing and would run the same way, that was because he had a different body than the others because of the system. Jake rested peacefully in the hotel that John had already prepared in advance, John was already in Boston the day before Jake and was preparing the last details for Jake before the marathon. The Boston Marathon organizers were pleasantly surprised when they learned that Jake would run in Boston shortly after running the London Marathon, yet John made a point of saying that Jake was very happy to run this marathon in America. This was true, even if this was the first time Jake had run the Boston Marathon since many years ago. Jake had thought about running that marathon, maybe in the next few years, Jake would always be in that marathon. After all, Jake would much rather run in Boston than run in London, and this was a major marathon, the only problem was that this was not the best opportunity for Jake to break a record because this marathon has had problems with world records several times. The other early morning Jake went to the spot where the Boston Marathon would start, when Jake arrived at the venue he soon caught the attention of everyone he knew and even some sports reporters. The other athletes who would participate in the marathon were also surprised to see Jake participating in this marathon, after a week ago Jake was participating in the London marathon and had won there. Jake didn''t care much about the attention he was getting because he was used to it if it wasn''t because he wanted to get the reward of major marathons this year he wouldn''t risk running two marathons in such a short time. But Jake knew well how important his timing was and how he didn''t know if he could participate in these marathons in the coming years was better that, he did all of them this year and so would also get the statistics he needed. After doing the warm-up exercises Jake was finally ready to start this marathon, Jake was very fond of the city of Boston and thought that maybe after a few years he could live there if he was on an NBA team. After a while the marathon officially began, just as in London Jake started the race at the pace he always ran and soon found a group to run along and save stamina. However, unlike the London marathon, this marathon was in Boston, America, and several athletes who were participating in this marathon were Americans and Jake fans, so soon a group of professional athletes who did not intend to win the marathon began to run at the same pace of Jake. "I''m surprised and impressed to see Jake participating in this Boston marathon, as it''s a major marathon I think Jake should not just be running for fun and thinking about winning as he did in Boston." "I worry the same thing might happen in New York and Jake finishes this marathon wounded, but the same was said by my fellow commentator in London and Jake seems to have easily won the race in London, so I think Jake could be Special." "That''s right, I also think Jake is a special athlete who is now an adult and no longer a young man like a few years ago when he was injured, so it''s normal to think that your body is much better prepared to participate in various marathons." "But even if that''s the case I hope Jake Smith doesn''t overdo it and run a lot of marathons just because he knows his body can handle it, because even if he can handle it it''s a fact that he''s going to strain his muscles a lot and I''ve seen a lot of talented athletes ending their careers by trying too hard." In fact, Jake was feeling very good in this marathon, even though his Resistance has improved since the last race. Jake understood a little of what the system meant by balance, Jake could feel that he could run the same as before and his muscles no longer tense. After the first 10 km of running Jake was still running with the same group of athletes, Jake could see that almost all athletes in this group were elite athletes other than previous marathons and everyone could fight for the top 20 positions in this marathon. The group of this marathon was 9 athletes besides Jake and sometimes as they ran other athletes would join the group for a while before falling behind when the fans were following the marathon they saw the group they knew it was Jake in that group. After nearly two years as a pro, Jake had already become an idol of Americans and many marathon fans around the world, even the people who only followed the marathons in the cities cheered for Jake like everyone else. Especially because marathons in the United States were usually won by athletes from other countries, which was a bit of a shame for some Americans who believed that country was the best in athletics. In Jake''s past life who would win this marathon was Lameck Aguta from Kenya who beat this Boston marathon for a few years in a row, fans of the sport celebrated anyway because it was natural for people to enjoy seeing the best in the world winning. But they were much happier to see that Jake wants to be an American winning marathon in the United States, Jake was also very proud to win and so he considered running marathons only in America after winning all major marathons. After 22 kilometers in this marathon Jake''s group was already leading the marathon and those running in front of them were already behind, this was normal because Jake ran this marathon at a faster pace than his current world record, so if someone ran faster he couldn''t stand the pace for the rest of the marathon. The athletes running in Jake''s group were elite and still fine even after 22 km and want to keep running with Jake as long as they could, after all, they were experienced and could understand how they would only win by running with Jake who always ran at the same pace. Jake was happy about that too so that he could save more stamina and run better in the rest of this marathon, Jake also knew that even though they were elite runners they couldn''t stand running with Jake much longer.Find authorized novels in Webnovel£¬faster updates, better experience£¬Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting. "We are already over 22 km and Jake still seems to be running smoothly leading this marathon along with the group he has run since the first km." "That''s right, that''s what is different from the London marathon and that''s one reason why Jake enjoys running marathons so much in America, a group has naturally formed near him and they are all elite athletes." "I''m sure after seeing Jake''s latest marathons in America that none of this is arranged before the race and these athletes didn''t even know that Jake would participate in this marathon today after running just a week ago in London." "They are athletes who sincerely admire Jake and know how talented he is, and so they run with him while helping Jake save energy, it doesn''t happen in marathons in other countries." Chapter 331 The Major Marathons 5 "I agree, I''m sure this is one reason why Jake likes to race more in America than other countries and another reason that happens is that it''s so much easier for Jake to race in America than to travel to other countries just to run." "There is also the crowd at the venue, in America everyone is sure to cheer more for Jake than for the other athletes and that''s an excellent motivation for an athlete." All the reasons the commentators said were things Jake thought before running, for all these reasons he realized that it was much better to race in America than in other countries, but he would still run sometimes if he wanted to and had time. After 27 km the other athletes in Jake''s group decided to slow down and move away from Jake who was in the lead, they could run longer with Jake, but if they did they would get very tired in the final kilometers of the marathon and could lose positions. Now that they separated from the leadership group all 9 of these athletes were rivals for the top positions in this marathon, everyone knew Jake was first, but they could try to compete in the top 20 positions. Jake''s friends who were watching at home cheered for Jake and were happy that he was first again, they learned never to hear the negative things commentators said about Jake because he always surprised at marathons. It was amazing to think that Jake could win this Boston marathon after a week of winning in London, and these two marathons were unusual and were hotly contested marathons around the world. Besides, Jake had already won everything he could win in basketball season this year, so everyone could know that it was true what Jake said he hated losing, which made him always win. It was strange how something as surprising as winning such a big marathon became expected when Jake participated, no one could doubt that Jake was one of the best marathon runners of the last decades. After reaching 31 km of running Jake slowly began to slow his racing pace, he already knew he should not break any records in this marathon and agreed that it was better to save more stamina if he could. Everyone who knew Jake already knew that he always did something like this at the end of every marathon and so they were quiet, some experts didn''t know why Jake did it because it seemed like he could take a few miles longer if he tried. But no matter how much they thought they would never guess that Jake did it on purpose so as not to push himself and excel in marathons, Jake thought he was still too young and so should show others that he was slowly improving. And that was working so far, so many experts showed Jake''s incredible progress in the last marathons, even now that he wasn''t running at such a fast time as last year''s last marathons the experts said it was because Jake was tired of the season of basketball That''s why Jake liked these sports reporters so much, they all wanted to get the audience''s attention by telling fans about their theories and saying that was what happened to Jake, so Jake just had to pick what he wanted and give the credits to this reporter and no one would suspect him. After going through the 41 km race Jake was already calmer with this marathon and saw that contrary to what everyone said he was not that tired and could still run several km. "Really impressive, yet another marathon won by Jake Smith here in Boston, and just over a week after winning the London marathon, Jake shows how truly the best in the world in marathons today is." "That''s right, many questioned whether it was right or possible for Jake to win two marathons in such a short time, but today we''re seeing Jake really achieve what many thoughts were impossible." "This has been an amazing year for Jake as an athlete after all he won, he could wrap up this year with this marathon and everyone would still say he was great, but we are still at the beginning of the year in April, I''m sure Jake will try other marathons this year." "That''s right, I just hope he rests for a while before the next marathon and doesn''t try to keep proving that he has excellent Resistance, after all, Jake is still studying at university this month." "Hahaha, it''s true, I hope Jake gets a little more rest now because he has achieved incredible achievements this year and is only 18 years old, he can relax because he is very young and can still win many more marathons in the coming years." Jake won the Boston marathon and soon after ate a stamina bar, he felt that he didn''t need to and could even run further after that marathon, but it was better to prevent any injury and eat a stamina bar since he has so many in history. After eating the stamina bar Jake felt every muscle in his body relaxing, he felt great and relieved about it, it had been a long time since he had eaten a stamina bar because he didn''t think he needed it after 40 Resistance points. But it seemed like it was good for him to relax the muscles that were always tense after all the daily training, Jake was very happy to win and celebrated a lot while sitting a little to feel the muscles relaxed. Jake didn''t know that a picture of him sitting with a relieved smile on his face would be the cover of many sporting magazines in the coming months, from the scene it looked like Jake was tired and under pressure and could relax after winning this marathon. Jake won with a time of 2 hours 7 minutes 24 seconds, it was a little longer than in London and Jake felt it was a good time for such a marathon, he didn''t need to break the records of all the marathons in the world as I earned no reward points for it. After a while, the marathon organization called on Jake to lift the trophy and receive the prize for winning that marathon, Jake received the $ 150,000 prize and celebrated well after this marathon. The same day Jake returned to university in the next few days earned a break from Coach Smith and was practically obliged to take a break from his daily marathon training by his mother. Coach Smith and Eva saw the photo in Jake''s newspapers looking relieved after winning in Boston and decided he needed to rest, Jake still had a handsome, photogenic face and so the newspapers and magazines that published these photos were very much bought by American women. Jake couldn''t explain why he seemed relieved and had to go a week without training again, that wasn''t really a problem for him who was always training, but Jake didn''t like feeling that he was doing nothing. One day, while Jake was having a lecture at the university on economics William, was not around because it was the teachers who chose the groups to foster friendship among the students. In Jake''s group, there was a boy who didn''t seem interested in studying and a student who looked like he just wanted to get away from this lecture, and the last member of Jake''s group was a young man of Asian descent. This last young man seemed interested in the lecture and sometimes also looked at Jake a lot, Jake realized that and found it a little strange and just hoped that this young man was a fan of his and not interested in him any other way. After a while the students had a break from talking to their classmates about what they heard, the woman and the other guy left and only Jake stayed with the guy who seemed interested in him. "Hi, my name is Haruto Watanabe and Watanabe is my family name." "My name is Jake Smith." "I know that I''m a big fan of yours, I like basketball a lot and I think the way you''re already amazing, I''m sure in a few years you''ll be one of the best players in the NBA, can you give me an autograph?" "Sure, so you''re a fan of mine, I hope what you say happens and I can play well in the NBA after a few years." After that the two talked for a while, but not about the lecture as the teachers wanted, Haruto was Japanese and his family had moved to the United States a few years ago. Haruto''s father is named Eiji Watanabe and is the manager of one of Toyota''s factories in Charlotte, North Carolina not far from the university, Haruto is 20 and a sophomore studying at the university. Haruto''s older brother will take his father''s place in the factory in the future, so Haruto''s father wanted him to study to have a good job in the United States, so Haruto said he wanted to study at UNC because it was close to home and his father accepted it. In fact, Haruto wanted to study at this university because he was a big basketball fan and wanted to see the team he played Michael Jordan in so that he might see some future NBA star play and luckily in his sophomore year of college he saw Jake playing. Still, Haruto was a responsible man and was studying hard to get a job in the future, after talking with Haruto for a while Jake realized that he was very smart and could work with him in the future. Jake no longer thought about inviting William to work for him because William wanted to work on wall street in the future, but he could call Haruto to work with him in a few years. Chapter 332 The Major Marathons 6 It seems that Haruto was also a movie fan as well as a basketball fan and was such a fan of Jake because he saw that he was also a good actor, was the first person Jake knew that was really his fan and became his friend for it. Jake had a good memory and so still managed to talk about the talk with Haruto and the two did well in the report at the end of the talk unlike the other two who didn''t even pay attention to the talk. So Jake and Haruto became friends because Haruto was a fan of Jake and because Jake wanted to hire Haruto to work with him in the future, after returning from the lectures Jake returned to his dorm to rest. After a week since the Boston Marathon Jake could finally return to training, he himself felt that after resting for almost 3 weeks between these marathons he was much more rested. Now he would just have to train normally because he would have no marathon to run until September, Jake had been asked to do an interview with ESPN to talk about basketball and marathons. Jake had already become a sports star after being able to do all this at the age of 18, in the NBA many teams have already shown an interest in having Jake play on their team. Jake was already seen among teams the same way as some current NBA stars because Jake had high-level skills that could help lead any team to victory and had infinite potential that all teams wanted to see in a young player. Some NBA team managers and big companies also knew that David Falk was Jake''s sports agent and would negotiate his NBA contracts, which made many teams respect Jake even more. Jake naturally accepted and went to one of the ESPN stations that would be broadcast to commentators at ESPN''s sports center, he was naturally very happy about it and was already used to doing interviews. "We''re talking to Jake Smith today who is one of the new college basketball and marathon stars in the world, Jake emerged in the sports world over two years ago in his third year at high school and shortly after winning the Chicago Marathon with 16 years." "After that, we just saw Jake in sports news winning several high school basketball championships and winning multiple marathons and even the Olympics." "In that 1997 year that is not even halfway through, Jake has had several impressive achievements, he won the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament with the Tar Heels basketball team and won the London Marathon and the Boston Marathon." "Jake, what do you feel after you got all of this at the age of 18 and convinced everyone in the sports world that you''re already a big star?" "First of all I would like to thank you for the invitation to speak here on ESPN, I have always enjoyed this channel." "I feel that even though it seems that things happened quickly and very early, everything happened with a lot of work and preparation over many years, I ran into Chicago two years ago when I thought I was ready and so I won." "As for basketball I always train a lot and this season I was lucky to be part of an amazing team like the Tar Heels team that has great players, it is thanks to a lot of hard work and my amazing team that I could win so many things this year and last years." "Of course, I''m sure you had to train and work hard to achieve everything you have today and win so many competitions." "Let''s talk a little about your first season in college basketball, what was it like having such an impressive season with just 2 losses in 36 games and winning every tournament this year?" "I am very happy with that, as I said I am on a team that has excellent players and an excellent coach, I learned a lot during the season and could perform better in games." "This is my first season and as a freshman, I''m happy and couldn''t expect a better season than this one, next season I hope that the experience I got this year will help our team win several games and maybe have a season as good as that was it." "That''s right, I could say for sure that this must be the best freshman debut season of a college basketball season." "In addition to winning all the individual awards, he could in addition to the best defensive player award, Jake broke many individual records and helped the Tar Heels team break a few more records." "I''ll show you some records that Jake broke this freshman season." Jake''s 1996-97 Season Records Jake tied Shaquille O''Neal with 11 blocks in a single game in the 13 Mar UNC 94 x 61 Fairfield Stags game. Jake broke Mark Wade''s record of 18 assists by making 21 assists in a single game in the 6 Feb UNC 97 x 64 Florida State Seminoles game. Jake broke the record with more steals making 12 steals in one game in the 29 Mar UNC 92 x 52 Arizona Wildcats game. Jake has done 8 triple-doubles and 13 double-doubles this season and 2 quadruple-doubles. More steals in an NCAA tournament final four-game with 12 steals in the 29 Mar UNC 92 x 52 Arizona Wildcats game. More blocks in an NCAA tournament final four games with 8 blocks in the 29 Mar UNC 92 x 52 Arizona Wildcats game. More assists in an NCAA tournament final four games with 20 assists in the 31 Mar UNC 92 x 69 Kentucky Wildcats game. "These were just a few and we will talk during the interview about a few more records, we also have the records that the Tar Heels team broke this season." With Jake, the Tar Heels team broke some records this season. More assists in one game with 41 assists in 6 Feb game UNC 97 x 64 Florida State Seminoles. More blocks in a game with 16 blocks in 13 Mar game UNC 94 x 61 Fairfield Stags. More steals in a game with 21 steals in the 29 Mar game UNC 92 x 52 Arizona Wildcats. "After seeing these records that Jake broke this season, I''m sure many who doubted before will agree that Jake had a great season that will be in college basketball history." "With these records, you can even do a triple-double that Jake made 8 this season, and Jake has done something that had never been done twice a quadruple-double in a game." "What do you think about these Jake records?" "I honestly didn''t even know I had broken any records this season, I just played the best I could and took the opportunity." "But knowing that I was very happy to hear that this great season of mine will be remembered in history because of these records." "With these records, I think it''s only fair that you won almost every single award this season, what do you think about that, Jake?" "I didn''t receive many national awards at the time I played in high school so this is all new to me, but I have to say that it is very gratifying to know that my work was recognized in this way." "I think you deserve these awards you received this year, let''s pass some more records that you broke this season." The highest number of right field goals in a 501 season. More points made in a single season with 1170 points. A best percentage field goal in a season with a 75% hit. Highest 3-Point Field Goals in a season with 205. Best 3-Point Field Goal Percentage Single Season with 70%. Fourth with more assists in a season with 373 assists. Most steals in a single season with 217. In fifth with the highest average assists per game with 10.4 assists. First with more steals per game with 6 steals per game. In seventh with the most points per game with 32.5 points per game. "These records are very hard to break, remembering that even though Jake doesn''t have number one number of records this season Jake did it all just this season while other players focused on just scoring or assisting." With all that doubting Jake''s talent has to agree that he was the most important player to win this NCAA tournament on the Tar Heels team and deserved to win all the prizes he got. None of the television channels were allowed to talk about Jake being the only one sponsored in an interview with Jake, so commentators and reporters never talked about it, but when Jake wasn''t he was just praised with everyone saying he deserved to be an exception. "Jake, many have said when the Tar Heels team won the NCAA tournament this year that you could go straight to the NBA draft this year without waiting any longer than you would surely be one of the stars of that draft and next NBA season." "But it looks like this year you still don''t intend to participate in this NBA draft and maybe wait in the coming seasons, why do you think that?" "I think it''s just not the right time for me, I still want to enjoy this amazing university environment a little more, it''s a unique experience in life that I want to spend more time here before going to the NBA." "Also, I wanted to take advantage of the fact that I''m on such an amazing team as Tar Heels this season to try to win the NCAA tournament next year too, I know it''s tough and a lot of good teams want that too, but we have the opportunity to try." "That''s right, as a talented player and an amazing team like the Tar Heels team I think it''s right that you think about winning the NCAA tournament next season too, and if the Tar Heels team succeeds you will surely enter into very prominent history." Chapter 333 The Major Marathons 7 "Now that we''ve talked about basketball let''s talk a little bit about marathons too, which is something Jake also stands out a lot about, you said you prepared well for marathons since before running in Chicago, how was that?" "The first sport I enjoyed when I was a kid was athletics, I liked running more than basketball, but I still loved basketball almost the same way." "But in the neighborhood where I lived in Miami I couldn''t play basketball with my friends even if I wanted to because they didn''t have courts, so I always liked to run in the city squares." "I didn''t know that it''s nice to know you were interested in sports since you were a kid, and why did you decide to play basketball and not keep running?" "As you may well know, basketball is one of the most beloved sports in our country, and I was very fond of basketball myself, and my family was in a complicated situation with just my mom working and she seemed to have health problems at the time." "So I was a child just thought it was easier to get money for my family through basketball than through athletics and running." "Even though it was a decision I made as a child I took my training seriously and trained on my own for almost a year before attending my first basketball tournament." "I played against children who were several years older than me when I was 11, and yet I won that tournament and knew it could really be good at basketball." "My mother always supported me playing basketball not knowing I was doing it thinking of making money for my family, so after many years I got a sponsorship and I could help my family before I even entered high school." It was the first time Jake had spoken in an interview more directly about the difficulties he had as a child, he said he decided it because he was a child not to mention that he had an adult mentality and already knew basketball was the way to go right for him. But in the rest, he said everything that really happened and because he first chose basketball over marathons first when he was younger, Jake could feel that some people who were participating in the recording were thrilled to hear about it. "It''s really an inspiring and exciting story, many in sports came from a humble background and had financial difficulties before finding the sport to change their lives." "True, part of my basketball training has always been running, because I loved running and because I knew it helped improve athlete stamina, so I never had a hard time participating in a whole game and even now I don''t have this difficulty." "Also, I''ve always had good fitness and could have stronger training than other basketball players, when I already had sponsorship and still had time before college I decided to start training more seriously for marathons that to me because of my Resistance was the easiest of athletics for me." "Of course after I started training I realized it was not easy at all and I suffered a lot because of it, but when I continued training at my school''s athletic field alone and when I saw that I was running well and at a good pace I decided to run in Chicago." "I really enjoyed the marathon there and managed to win even though I wasn''t fully prepared, then I lost in New York for running the marathon wrong and then that''s how you all know well." "After that, you won all the marathons you participated in including the Olympics winning a gold medal for our country, I have to say it was great talking to you Jake, I hope you continue to be very successful in your career." "I thank you very much for coming here and hope to be back here again one day." Jake really enjoyed the interview and said a few things he wanted that had not been arranged before the interview, yet the commentators and the recording crew seem to have enjoyed the interview with Jake quite a lot. After that Jake returned to the university to continue his classes and training, after a week the classes were finally over and Jake took all the exams, the classes were very easy for Jake who got the high grade again. So the training with the basketball team was over and Jake was getting ready to go to Miami, Jake said goodbye to coach Dean Smith who wasn''t coming back next semester, Jake attended a frat party with Charlie and had a great time being careful to do not drink. So Jake had a little party with his roommates before everyone left home, so Jake got an idea and rented a big house for two nights near the university to have a party with the basketball team before everyone left home Coach Dean Smith was also invited as was Coach Guthridge. It was the way Jake thought to throw a farewell party for Coach Dean Smith who would leave without saying anything to anyone, Jake spent good money on that party and organized very well to be fun for everyone. The players were less comfortable because the coaches were at the party too, but Jake knew that everyone would remember this party fondly after Coach Smith did not return next season. Jake even prepared a tribute for Coach Smith by preparing a video of the best moments of the Tar Heels team in recent years with the help of the university, in this video Coach Smith was the one who appeared most. So naturally Coach Smith was very much applauded by the other players because he was the only one in the video, so Coach Dean Smith looked at Coach Bill Guthridge as if wondering if he had said anything. Coach Bill Guthridge had said nothing and Coach Smith believed he could never expect Jake to come from the future and knew what would happen to him when no one else knew. Even though it was a great time before the holidays Coach Smith said nothing that was leaving the team, even when Jake asked Coach Smith to say a few words about the team winning the NCAA tournament that year. Jake secretly recorded the whole party and would send a copy to everyone after the party, he might have had a complicated relationship with Coach Dean Smith, but he knew Coach Smith just wanted the best for Team Tar Heels this season that was so important for him. After that Jake returned to Miami and arranged a place for Coach Davis to stay with his family, as Jake''s athletic coach Coach Davis insisted on getting as close to Jake as possible to help his training more, and Jake didn''t care with that and can organize everything. Unlike other times the first thing Jake did when he arrived in Miami was to go home and not go to the restaurant, Eva and Anna knew that Jake had arrived in Miami and closed the restaurant for a few hours to meet him. They didn''t say why they did it, but Jake could imagine, it seemed like they just like Julius were now trying to leave Jake separate from Lola, everyone could realize how Jake didn''t like Lola as she liked him. Jake was very kind and never rejected her directly, but everyone would realize that this relationship would not work, Jake never said of the decision he made that would date Lola if nothing happened until he left college because it would leave Lola unchanged nothing in her life and Jake found it unfair to her. So Eva and Anna thought that this time Jake was at university and spending little time in Miami was a great time to make Lola forget about Jake, and to make it even better was better that Jake didn''t go to the restaurant at that time. Jake didn''t care about that because he had a lot of respect for Lola and Julius and would be short on Miami anyway, if Lola could be happy because Jake would be very happy, feeling things were hard to explain, Lola was beautiful and yet Jake had no strong feelings for her. Even though Jake spent a few hours with his mother and Anna, Eva told Jake how much she had been thrilled when she saw Jake''s interview with ESPN, she knew nothing about it and was a little sad to learn that Jake realized how she was having trouble and was glad to hear that Jake had done it for her. After all, Eva knew that because of this decision everything had worked out well for Jake and he was very rich right now that Eve didn''t know how much money he had, no mother could be unhappy knowing that her son was succeeding. Anna was also thrilled to see this interview, maybe a lot of people were thrilled like them watching this interview, but Anna even more because she knew Eva personally and remembered how Jake told her to be careful that Eva was not depressed. So in the next few weeks, Jake spent a lot of time with his mother while also training with Coach Davis for the other athletics modalities, they had already talked about it and thought it was a great opportunity for Jake to start some different training. For the short-haul modalities like the 100m or 200m Jake just trained the correct positioning and how to make the correct starts, the hardest things to learn on his own that he didn''t know. Even someone like Jake made a lot of mistakes in these things, but Coach Davis could imagine that Jake could have a talent for at least 200m and was quite surprised at that, at 400m so Coach Davis thought it was only a matter of time before Jake could run. Chapter 334 The Major Marathons 8 Coach Davis had always thought Jake had only the talent for long-distance sports, and it was hard to find anyone who could run the 10,000-meter and 5,000-meter marathon in an Olympics. Jake could soon be able to run even the 1,500-meter race, so he could win in 4 modalities in just one Olympics and would surely go down in history and become a track and field legend, but if he could compete too Between sprints he can also try to beat the other 4 modalities by winning 9 medals in total. Of course, Coach Davis was thinking in the best scenario that was impossible for him, which he could not imagine was that this was exactly what Jake was hoping for and so wanted to train for it. To train more seriously during this vacation, Coach Davis suggested only the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters that were races that Jake was more likely to run at the next Olympics if he trained more. Jake wanted to try the 1,500 meters and 800 meters, but Coach Davis told him to take it easy if Jake got the 800 meters the 400 meters would be possible as well as the 200 meters, so it was better to train in parts. Jake understood that Coach Davis wanted to see first what he was capable of and hoped, after all, he knew he had time and in the coming years would impress Coach Davis to be able to run at least 1,500 meters at the next Olympics as well. For the 10,000 meters, Coach Davis was very confident that Jake would make it because Jake was an athlete who had a lot of speed as shown in his basketball games, and he could already run at 2 minutes 54 seconds per km currently for 50 km. Jake would have to run just 10 seconds faster than that for miles to be considered a great 10,000-meter runner, knowing Jake Coach Davis knew that would be easy for him. In the early days, Jake focused on learning the right way to run as he had been doing for several months and now with more time with coach Davis, Jake''s only defect as an athlete having the system to help was the technique and what the athletes learned of professional coaches. So now that he had a good athletic trainer, Jake first wanted to learn all the technical stuff correctly because he was confident of doing the modalities training thanks to the system he had. Coach Davis didn''t understand Jake''s calm, he was eager to know how long Jake could have in the 10,000-meter race, he had a feeling Jake would have a good enough time to participate in the upcoming Olympics, but Jake who was the main interested didn''t seem to care. What Coach Davis could not know was that Jake was in no hurry because by the next Olympics he would get at least 2 Resistance points and 2 agility points if he won the remaining two major marathons and could run those modes much more easily. After more than a week spending time with his mother and training with Coach Davis, Jake received an invitation he had been waiting for a long time, it was the invitation of director Crowe who made the movie Jerry Maguire. Just as Jake had expected the movie had now come out of theaters after several months and had raised a lot of money at the US box office and international box office, Director Crowe had promised to throw a party if it went over $ 100 million and Jake was just waiting. He didn''t know how much the box office had grossed correctly, he just remembered that in his past life had gone over $ 250 million, it was an excellent box office for a movie that was very good and much praised by movie experts. Jake didn''t know, but who was happiest about it was director Cameron Crowe who expected this movie to be a hit because of Tom Cruise and many other renowned actors, but didn''t expect it to be such a hit because of the theme. sportsmanship that was usually not so successful at the box office and the fact that the movie is not for all ages. So there was no way he wouldn''t be happy to see that this was the biggest success of his career even being such a young director, director Crowe couldn''t help but think that this success had anything to do with Jake''s small part in this movie. This movie premiered well when Jake had his best time in both marathons and college basketball, so some of Jake''s fans definitely decided to go to the movies to watch this movie. Also, Director Crowe realized that Jake had a talent for acting and was already thinking of inviting him to participate in other films of his own thinking that Jake would not accept at this time because he was so busy. Even though Director Crowe was very fond of Jake, he can''t have this party in Miami because most of the guests lived in Los Angeles, so he had to have this party in Hollywood, Jake didn''t mind and took a plane to go. Jake was even given a gift Armani suit that he personally went to the store to take measurements before leaving for the party, Jake could buy one if he wanted, but did not have time to think about which suit to buy and a gift like this helps in choosing his future. Jake had rented a hotel room for a few days to stay in Los Angeles and so asked for a limo to go to the party, he thought about renting a car, but it would be more complicated to return the car after so renting for a night was much better. Not many people at the party knew that Jake would attend the party, and even if they did, they probably wouldn''t care much, because at that party other sports stars who had more fame than Jake were invited to attend the movie. Many movie stars and singers were also attending this party that even someone like Jake would be forgotten if he attended such a party, at least that''s what Director Crowe thought. Jake arrived at the party and many pictures were taken of him, he just waved at the cameras and quickly walked into the hotel where the party was taking place, he knew that everyone who entered these parties had photos being taken and so did not care. As soon as Jake came in many looked at him, Jake just paused for a moment until he saw where the director Crowe was and so went to the director, he knew many people here were famous and if it was another time Jake would not hesitate to ask for an autograph to a lot of them. "Congratulations on the success of the movie, director Crowe, since I saw you talking about the movie I knew it would be a big hit." "Hahaha, thanks, Jake, I think part of the success of this movie has to do with you too, your success in these two years in the sport has made you part of the movie something special." The two exchanged accolades and director Crowe led Jake to the table where he was sitting with Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr, and Renee Zellweger, the film''s top Oscar-winning stars were at that table. Meanwhile, other sports stars were sitting at another table like NFL players Art Monk and Kerry Collins, as well as others who participated in the movie and were invited to this party. "So, Director Crowe, you still haven''t told me what was the total box office of the movie that was the reason for this party." "Hahaha, I knew you had not heard from anyone yet, we got $ 330 million in the worldwide box office and $ 190 million in national box office alone, our movie was fifth in the total box office and third in the national box office with 190 million of dollars. " When he heard that even Jake was surprised, he remembered that this movie was ninth in the total box office with just over 270 million dollars, it seemed that in this life this movie had almost 60 million dollars more and almost 40 million of those 60 were in America. So even Jake had to accept that his participation in this movie had greatly increased the total box office of the movie, thinking that the budget of the movie was 50 million only that increase paid the initial costs of the movie. Jake was happy because the first movie he appeared in was a bigger success than he expected, it was no wonder director Crowe said so many times that the increase in the movie''s box office was related to his achievements in sports, the directors usually they knew what they were talking about and some research must have been done to know that. Jake congratulated Cuba Gooding Jr for the Oscars and they talked for a while Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger talked to other people at the party, then for a few more hours at the party, Director Crowe talked about his upcoming film projects. Jake listened attentively because he thought about participating in some movies by director Crowe or another Hollywood director in the future, after all, Jake has always enjoyed acting, but in the next few months, there will be no movie to shoot in the coming months. could not think of participating. He didn''t have to think about how much he could get with these movies because he didn''t need that money to live well, but it had to be some good movie like this and a movie he could shoot at the time he had free. While everyone was talking a young girl entered the party long after the party had started, at parties in Hollywood this was very common so few people noticed who entered. Chapter 335 The Major Marathons 9 Anyone who saw the young lady who entered realized that another very famous person had come to this party, was a young singer who was very famous in the music world in recent years and almost won some of the top music awards in recent years winning the attention of all the world. Kate Annesley had arrived at the party, Kate Annesley was the singer Jake met several years ago while recording some commercials, this had been the only time they had ever met, but since then Jake has always bought all the CDs of the new works from Kate. Jake even tried to find Kate when he recorded other commercials a few months ago, but unfortunately couldn''t find her in the same recording studio where they first met. Kate walked into the party venue looking around as if searching for something, she looked toward where Jake was and started walking over to the director''s desk smiling, everyone thought she would just talk to the director to congratulate on the success of the movie. But Kate walked towards the other side of the table where only Jake and Renee Zellweger were sitting, Jake also noticed that someone was walking towards where he was when Jake saw Kate was very surprised and was even more surprised when she approached and hugged him as he cried. This took everyone by surprise and even those who knew Jake and Kate did not know where the two knew each other or that they were so close, and the most discreet all looked toward the two embracing young people. Jake didn''t know what to do in this situation but still hugged Kate and waited for her to stop crying to explain what was going on, the director Crowe who was talking to Jake wasn''t quite sure what to do in this situation and just waited to see if Jake explained to him later what was going on. After a while, Kate kept hugging Jake, but she was no longer crying, after so long even the most curious did not look at the two young men hugging each other and even Principal Crowe began talking to other people. "I wanted to try to see you, Jake." Jake felt his heart flutter when he heard Kate say that, he was going to be more polite and call her Miss Annesley, but after that, he had no way of realizing that there was anything different about Kate he had known for several years ago. He also missed Kate, and even though he didn''t want to admit, he had to say that he had liked her since the first time they met, maybe that''s why he can never match Lola''s feelings for him. "Kate, I missed you too, but now I was wondering what happened to make you cry like that." Only after Jake said that did Kate remember that she was hugging him in the middle of the party while crying, did Jake help her get away from the party a bit and they sat at a table away from everyone''s eyes so they could talk more calmly. "It''s been many years since the last time I saw you, I knew you would be at this party and that''s why I came here when I saw you I couldn''t control my feelings and ended up crying." "That day we met in that studio while you were shooting those commercials I felt something for you, something different, a kind of connection." "That''s why I followed you to see your recording even though I arranged to meet my parents elsewhere at that time." "After I left I went to the place I had to go the other way because my parents had already left at the time we had scheduled before." After saying that Kate stopped talking and started crying again, Jake already thought that something bad had happened to Kate and that''s why she was so thrilled since they met. "I got to the place where I had to go, but my parents weren''t there, then I found out that halfway through my parents had a car accident and died." "After learning about it I was very sad and almost stopped singing, whenever I was sad I remembered you and when we met that day, so I realized that if I hadn''t stayed in the studio for a while of you I would have died along with my parents in that accident because I wouldn''t have been late." "Even though still sad because of my parents'' death I decided to keep singing and enjoying my life that I''m still lucky, and always wanted to meet you to thank for saving my life." Now Jake knew why Kate was so thrilled when she met him, it seemed that since her parents died she had always remembered him to keep well, Jake believed that Kate really would have died in that accident had she not met him. "I''m glad you didn''t die in that accident and I''m sorry for what happened to your parents, I know it must have been difficult and I wonder what I would do if my mother died." Jake could really feel what Kate was feeling after all he really knew what it was like to see his mother die, he was glad that Kate was fine thanks to what happened to him that day, it seemed like he wasn''t the only one who felt anything special about that day. After that Jake was talking to Kate for a long time about quieter things and about their career, so she managed to calm down again and so they talked until the party was over, Jake got Kate''s mobile number and she got her number his cell phone. The party was over Jake arranged to meet with director Crowe the other day, as well as several other actors Jake wanted to talk to, but what happened to Kate was very striking for Jake. After returning to the hotel Jake still thought about it, he knew he might have changed the future a bit, but the system said several things would not be changed even if Jake interfered. He was very happy that Kate had escaped the accident and had not died just because she met him, but so Jake was a little confused if more such things would happen and how much it could interfere with the future he knew. [You don''t have to worry so much about that Jake, as I told you, fate judges, what you will or won''t change in the future based on your actions, but none of that will greatly change the future you know.] "What do you mean, Fate?" [Fate must have felt that this Kate was important to you and also that she would not have much interference in the future and so because of the meeting between you she should have died ended up living.] Seeing the system confirming what he was thinking Jake even had to take a moment to think, he figured that if he didn''t meet him Kate would die just because in his past life he didn''t remember any singer named Kate who was so famous. He found it strange himself several times and even though it was he who had changed it, then he thought it had nothing to do with it and that his memory was too bad and he didn''t remember Kate being famous. "You say that doesn''t change things, but Kate is a well-known singer and can win many awards from other major singers and thus change the future I know." [These things only you consider important, fate doesn''t change things that much, you also won this year''s NCAA tournament and will win some NBA championships that should be won by other teams.] [These things will change naturally just because you exist, just like the marathons you win and the actions you invest, a few million adjustments have to be made by fate not to affect the future each time you do such a thing.] [So you don''t have to worry too much about these things because there is no way that you or Kate, or who you know changes anything, you won''t even realize what has changed.] So Jake can finally be relieved, he was glad to know that he had saved Kate even if it wasn''t on purpose, so Jake went to sleep relieved, the other day Jake returned early to Miami to train early in the morning. Jake did all the training he did at the university because he hadn''t warned Coach Davis that he would be back early to do the training, he knew he had to train his technique with Coach Davis, but sometimes he just missed running without having to worry about the time. When Jake came home later Eve had already returned because she left the restaurant early when Jake was home, Jake went to take a shower and when he returned to the room he saw his mother sitting with a magazine in his hands. Jake found it odd that Eva wasn''t making dinner like she always did at this time, but he thought she just wanted to get some rest and so got up to make dinner after he came back to see his mother still sitting with the magazine in the hand. "Mom, I''ve already prepared dinner, leave this magazine there and come eat with me and then you come back to read the magazine." "Do you know why I''m reading this magazine, Jake?" "Because you like it? I don''t know what you mean mom." "I was working at the restaurant today because I knew you''d be back today, and I saw some of the restaurant customers looking at me strangely, it wasn''t just the restaurant customers and even the staff were looking at me differently." "When I asked Anna what was going on, she just gave me this magazine." Chapter 336 The Major Marathons 10 Jake didn''t understand what his mother had today that she was always talking about this magazine, he didn''t even read magazines and newspapers unless his friend said he had something about him, like someone from internet time Jake had lost his custom of reading newspapers. "I don''t understand, Mom, what this magazine has to do with the fact that customers and restaurant staff are looking at you in a different way." "Look at the magazine yourself and you will know why." Jake was curious and took the magazine from his mother''s hands and understood what she meant when she saw the cover of the magazine, somehow someone took a picture just as Kate hugged him and started crying. On the cover it still said ''reunion and youthful love between stars'', not far from the truth what it said in the magazine aside from the love part, Jake understood that customers looked at his mother strangely because they knew she is the mother him and the employees knew that Lola liked him. "Luckily Lola wasn''t working today, so I didn''t know what I could do to talk to her." "Who is this woman, Jake?" So Jake explained the whole situation of how they met and what had happened to Kate for her to hug him like that in the middle of the party, so Eva was no longer so angry with Jake and knew how to understand the situation. "I understand the situation well, but of course, after all, that has happened this woman must like you very much, Jake." "I think it may be so too, to be honest from the first time I spoke to her I felt something different as well." So Eva didn''t know what to do, she knew well that Jake had done nothing wrong and was a right and single man, but she felt sorry for Lola''s situation, after learning of Kate''s situation she felt even more sorry for Kate and understood what she felt. After all, Kate was someone who had lost her parents the same day she first fell in love, she must have felt very bad for a while after she lost her parents and it was thinking about Jake that made her better overcome the loss of her parents. Besides, Eva knew that Jake was the dream man of many women in America, he was intelligent, good at two different sports, handsome, nice, famous and still rich. Eva couldn''t imagine a better quality in a man who was missing on her son. And Kate had fallen in love with Jake when he was young and not even that famous, so in those years with the death of her parents, this love just increased as Jake looked even better in other years. Maybe what made Kate not fall in love with Jake completely at that time was the fact that she didn''t know if Jake remembered her, but at the meeting, they had this time Jake said he always thought of her too, that must have further strengthened that love. Luckily some time ago she and the others in the restaurant were trying to make Lola forget about Jake, so after a semester with Jake at university, they might feel that Lola had forgotten about Jake a bit. What happened this time Lola was going to suffer a lot, but it would be even easier for her to forget about Jake after that happened, as a mother, Eva had to support Jake and what he wanted to do as long as it was right and made him happy and seem that Kate was the one that made Jake happy. In fact, Jake didn''t even think about it that much, he knew he liked Kate a lot, but since he''d never felt it and didn''t know exactly how Kate felt about him, Jake didn''t think about it as much as Eva. After that Eva calmed down and the two had dinner together and then Jake went to rest, as someone with many things to do Jake did not think much about this event and the other day returned to focus on his training. Jake and Kate were very busy and if they didn''t agree days in advance could never have time to meet, Kate still got a scolding from her business for doing what she did at the party and so the two would not see each other for a while let the public forget that. Kate was still a pop singer, but she was more successful with young audiences who would not accept her boyfriend well, she had received a lot of support from her fans a few years ago when she lost her parents and so Kate decided to do it for her. her fans, but she wouldn''t forget Jake not easily. Jake can focus on his training more easily because Coach Davis just like he didn''t read magazines or newspapers either, he still continued his positioning training and did what he could to improve his running technique for all forms of athletics. Coach Davis had to admit that he found Jake''s dedication to training inspiring, after all, he didn''t even know if Jake would participate in all forms of athletics, in fact he found it impossible for Jake to participate in all forms of athletics. Even so for many weeks, Jake was very keen to learn everything completely as if he was sure everything would be useful in the future, as Jake had many points in intelligence statistics he was practically a sports genius and learned everything much more easily than the others. If it wasn''t because Jake wanted to learn only once and never forget, he would have learned everything he had to learn a long time ago, in a few days they would learn everything they had to learn and could start training more seriously for others modalities. The other day after much training Jake got a call from Tiffany who wanted to talk to him over lunch, Jake was a little tired of learning how to position himself in training and agreed to have lunch with her and gave Coach Davis time off. Jake hoped it was something important for Tiffany to call him on the phone, Jake knew that Tiffany and Clara were busy improving their companies, and soon Jake knew he would have to record a commercial for their companies and was ready for this. "Hi Jake, thanks for coming, I knew you were training on this vacation, you have to get some rest too and enjoy spending time with your mom." "I''m resting well, I''m training positioning only in recent weeks." "That''s good so, I saw your picture with that famous singer, I didn''t know you started dating while you were in college, she''s really pretty, congratulations." "No, she''s not my girlfriend, just a friend, it was just a misunderstanding because she was thrilled about something that happened to her a few years ago, but what you wanted to talk to me about, Tiffany, is about the commercial I will record?" "That''s not it, so we''ll be doing the commercial in a few weeks too, I wanted to talk to you about something John passed on to me yesterday." "It is what it is?" "It''s usually him who talks to you about marathon issues when you''re at university, but as you''re on vacation he asked me to pass this on to you, our country''s athletic organization invited you to participate in a qualifier for this year''s Athletics World Championship in Athens." Jake had really forgotten about this year''s Athletics World, he didn''t care about these Athletics competitions because he usually didn''t have marathons, but this year he had, the Athletics Worlds was the second most important competition for marathon competitors, so it was obvious that Jake wanted to participate. Everyone expected him to participate because he had won the marathon at last year''s Olympics, but Jake had said nothing about it and so the organization decided to talk to John who was responsible for Jake''s entries in these competitions. "I''m going to participate yes, thanks for reminding me, with so much going on this year I had even forgotten, apparently I won''t be able to just rest until September as I thought before." "Good then, in two weeks will be the recording of the commercial, will be in that same studio you like here in Miami." "Alright, I''ll be there in the day." Jake was excited to participate in this year''s Athletics World Championship, he thought he could only participate after he started running in the other athletics worlds, so he would have one more marathon to participate in this year. But nothing would really change for Jake, because this year''s Athens Athletics World Championship would only be August 1-10, 1997, so there were still almost 3 months left to go and nothing would change in Jake''s training. He didn''t have time to focus on the marathon training he was confident of winning, he had to keep training the positioning for the next few days and then train for the other athletics while training for the marathon. After all Jake would train now only for 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters, so the training would not be much different from what he did now, it would only change in the running pace and also the distance he would have to run at each different pace. The other day Jake told Coach Davis about this year''s Athletics World Championship the coach was also surprised that he had forgotten about this important event, he had problems with his family and was also paying more attention to what Jake was doing than he was the sport in general. But he wasn''t surprised when Jake said he didn''t want to train anything especially for this World Cup and wanted to continue with their training plans, Coach Davis also thought Jake was ready to run any marathon anytime. Chapter 337 Busy Holiday 1 In addition, Jake''s training over the next few months would only further help him participate in this marathon, would be intense training for a number of different sports and to improve on the few weaknesses that Jake still had in long-distance running. Meanwhile contrary to what everyone thought Lola was working normally even after hearing about the news about Jake, everyone could see that she had cried a lot the day before, but she didn''t let down and went to work normally. This relieved everyone in the restaurant and made Eva and Anna proud of Lola''s strength of mind even though she was so sweet and young Eva and Anna really liked Lola because she was such a strong woman. Eva wanted her to be with Jake, but since it hadn''t worked out, it was better for Lola to meet someone in the future to be happy and they would continue to be friends, after all as a mother, Eva had to root for Jake''s happiness. Who was happiest with all this was Julius, while this problem happened and everyone was worried about Lola, Julius was secretly thinking about maybe secretly leaving the restaurant with his daughter. If Lola couldn''t seem to get over his love for Jake and continued to suffer at Julio''s restaurant, he would have to resign and look elsewhere, he didn''t want to because he was so happy working at this restaurant and was so grateful to what Eva did for him when he needed work. Julius knew that while in Miami Jake did not come to the restaurant out of respect for Lola and at Eva''s request, Julius could not even imagine a restaurant that the owner could not enter just out of consideration for an employee''s feelings. Luckily it seemed that Lola was stronger than he thought and would be able to get over it, Julius was not angry with Jake because he knew he had no fault in this whole situation. Jake also didn''t know that because of a misunderstanding his mother''s restaurant had almost lost two of the best employees and was just focusing on his training, for the next few days Jake just kept training the positioning and finished his training and learned everything that could with Coach Davis about the techniques of track and field. Now it was time to go back to marathon and long-distance training, as Jake didn''t have much training time before having to stop recording commercials for Tiffany and Clara''s companies, Coach Davis went through another training session off the training track for Jake. It would be a training session since they were in Miami, they went to a beach that was less frequented for Jake to do various resistance training, aerobic exercises and cardiovascular exercises. Knowing how great Jake''s stamina and stamina was, Coach Davis took advantage of them being on the beach for the next few weeks and decided to prepare one triathlon a day for Jake to train as much as he could. The goal was to train Jake''s body to handle the longest runs and not the speed, so the time Jake would have to swim in the sea and ride the bike didn''t matter, to make it harder Jake would swim in the sea and run in the sand. Coach Davis was responsible and even made Jake pay some lifeguards to stay on a jet ski in case Jake drowned while swimming, Jake swam very well in his past life before suffering the accident so Coach Davis had him swim 500 meters since the first day. Jake had a hard time swimming in the sea and going through the waves and the way to swim was different, even to breathe it was difficult to find the right way, but with the stamina, Jake had no problem swimming the 500 meters. After swimming with no time to rest Jake started the bike ride, it was 15km because Coach Davis knew that Jake would have no problem with that, Jake really had no problems and pedaled slowly while catching his breath at sea. After quietly doing the 15 km Jake went for the sand race, running in the sand without stable terrain for 8 km was the hardest for Jake, even though he was used to running Jake almost fell several times and had not done the drills heating properly could have been injured. But Jake can finish this weird triathlon done by Coach Davis, even though doing less than he normally did. Jake felt tired from this activity that day, he felt many muscles that he normally did not use sore and felt it was an interesting experience. Jake didn''t think it was that hard to swim in the sea even at such a short distance, after all, 500 meters was swimming 10 times round trip in a pool, cycling for so many km despite not being tiring was a different experience for Jake too. Coach Davis and the lifeguards were only impressed that Jake wasn''t so tired after doing such a triathlon for the first time, he''d done a sprint triathlon even though he swam a shorter distance and walked less on the bike''s path. On the other hand, it was his first time doing this and Jake had run more than usual and still run on the sand, it was his first time swimming in the sea and Jake didn''t use any special clothes or shoes to do this triathlon. Jake''s performance made Coach Davis excited, the coach thought that after this triathlon training that was perfect for Jake, many of his failures would end, after the lifeguards he hired found out who Jake was they were less surprised by it. Jake didn''t know that, but the Captain America nickname he had received at the marathon had become well known, all his fans and many people knew Jake as Captain America, so to see Captain America doing a lot of high-level triathlon sports It wasn''t that hard to believe. For the next few days Jake continued to do Coach Davis''s triathlons, in a few days he got the hang of swimming in the sea and it was easier for him to ride his bike, just running in the sand was more complicated because he couldn''t get used to running in uneven ground. An interesting fact that happened 5 days after Jake started training on the beach was that he had an accident of a yacht almost 800 meters away from the beach, this yacht was going to a party and had 22 people inside. Because of the drinks and other party stuff, this yacht had only one lifeboat which was forbidden for the yacht to have, something happened and the yacht caught fire and the people inside had to go out to sea drunk. When this happened Jake was close to swimming the 250 meters in the sea and was coming back, for safety reasons Jake always hired two lifeguards on a large jet ski that could seat up to 6 people. The lifeguards no longer had to worry about Jake swimming very well in the sea after 5 days of training, they both saw the yacht on fire in the distance and warned the coast guard and beach lifeguards on the safety radio. Even doing so both lifeguards thought there would be no time for the rescue to reach the yacht and they did not know the situation the yacht was in that had not yet started putting out the fire, because all the yachts had a fire extinguisher. So they called Jake who was nearby to see what they could do, after all, it was Jake who was hiring them and they had a jet ski and were closer to help the yacht in time. "What happened that you called me?" "There was an accident with a yacht near here Mr. Smith, that side has a yacht that is on fire, we think to take advantage of jet skiing and go to help those who need it, after all the rescue may not arrive in time." "I see, let''s go there." After saying that Jake climbed on the jet ski too and without saying anything one of the lifeguards started guiding the jet ski towards the crash site, they arrived quickly and saw chaos there, some people were on objects while others were swimming to stay on the surface of the water. The two lifeguards quickly took the jet ski lifeboat and threw it into the sea and soon 7 people climbed into the lifeboat, while Jake had already seen that almost everyone in this accident was drunk, he sought someone soberer and called a man to talk. "What happened here?" "I don''t know, we were having a party and the yacht started to catch fire, we all jumped into the sea and the yacht owner is too drunk to talk." Jake told what happened to the two lifeguards who soon understood what was going on, one of the lifeguards continued to help the others while the other climbed into the far yacht to look for some more lifeboat to help the others who were still in the water. "How many people were on the yacht?" "There were 22 people, I remember that." Jake stopped talking to the man after that and started counting how many people they had, he found only 17 people counting those at sea and lifeboat, so he told both lifeguards and dived into the sea to see if anyone was found. One lifeguard opened the only lifeboat he found and started putting some people in while the other dived with Jake to see if anyone was found, Jake diving saw some people drowning, luckily they had been quick to rescue, otherwise he could not have time to save no one. Jake rescued two women who were almost unconscious and left those who were better off for the other lifeguard because he knew it might be riskier to save the conscious and drown himself trying to save someone desperate. When Jake went up to the sea surface with the two women the other lifeguard had also risen and the other plunged into the sea, Jake put the two women in the lifeboat, and the others were rescued gradually. Chapter 338 Busy Holiday 2 If they hadn''t been quick, maybe some people had died, mostly because no one knew how to open a lifeboat and almost everyone was drunk. Jake left the two drowned women''s help for the professional lifeguard and went back to jet skiing. The two women were successfully saved by the lifeguard and the other three who were drowning were saved and were fine too, Jake was surprised by the speed of the two lifeguards who saved them all quickly and he can only help a little. 8 people were placed in each lifeboat and 3 people were left in buoys that were taken from the yacht, after rescuing the lifeguards suggested that lifeboats and jet skiing be carried further because the yacht could explode at any time. Jake agreed with that because he didn''t want to risk seeing if the blast would happen or if it could hit them, with Jake and the two lifeguards the jet ski had 6 people so they could get away with everyone saved. The owner of the yacht that was primarily responsible for this accident was fine, but was fainted from drinking and was taken from the yacht by his friends, was an unexpected situation that Jake did not imagine could happen to him. A while later the beach lifeguards arrived with the jet skis so that everyone could go back to the beach while waiting for the coast guard to arrive when everyone arrived at the beach many people were seeing what was happening. Coach Davis was concerned that Jake had not returned after swimming to the lifeguards at sea, he was also surprised when he learned what happened, Jake left quickly and left only the two lifeguards who had to testify to the coast guard about what It happened. Jake was just helping and didn''t understand any technical terms so he left quickly before anyone recognized him, Jake hadn''t done anything wrong and had even saved some people, but he didn''t want much media attention on his vacation. Jake knew well how the media was and were always wary of everything he did because of it before he wasn''t so famous and so didn''t have to worry about it, but now he was very famous and especially after what happened to Kate, he didn''t have a good relationship with the non-sports media. Jake returned home after what happened and said goodbye to coach Davis, today he had no way to continue with training so he thought it was better to wait for another day at home. Unfortunately, things were not as simple as he expected and he had to be summoned to give testimony of what he saw to the police later, the case got more complicated because it looked like the yacht owner would be sued for the security breaches he made that almost killed the 22 people in the yacht. After Jake gave the police testimony he was told to wait and then even one of the Miami Alderman appeared to compliment him on what he did for the Miami people in this accident. Indirectly Jake was responsible for saving the lives of these 22 people, if he was not training on the beach and hired lifeguards with jet skiing and went with them to help people in this accident the 22 of the yacht would surely die. After that Jake was invited to receive a medal along with both lifeguards for their rescue, everything was organized the same day and Alderman seemed to want to take advantage of Jake''s fame to win some votes in the next election. Fortunately, as everything was organized quickly few people were in place and only a few members of the sports media attended this ceremony, Jake did everything as fast as he could to go home. When Jake came home again it was night and Eva had already made dinner, he recounted everything that happened on the day and Eva was very proud of what Jake had done but fought him for taking the risk of doing so. Jake was happy saving those people and couldn''t help thinking that he had changed the future somehow again, luckily he was calmer because the system said it wouldn''t cause too much trouble if he did. Fortunately the other day the beach was the same as the previous days and Jake can train quietly, next week Jake continued with his training doing a triathlon a day and could feel that he was somehow improving even if little with that training. In the next few days Jake couldn''t train because he had so many things to do, he had to meet with Tiffany and Clara to do the commercial for their companies, and then talk to Emily and the others about his business. So Coach Davis and the lifeguards would have more than a week off, Jake went with Tiffany and Clara to the advertising company studio to record both commercials, as this time the two were more experienced, Tiffany and Clara had already spoken to the company prior to organizing the new commercials. They had already talked about what the commercials would be like, so Jake just had to get ready to record and record the commercials, Jake didn''t care about that because he was participating today only as a sponsored athlete of company and he left everything that happened at Clara''s company for her decision and didn''t interfere just because it had 10 percent of the company''s stock. The commercial for Clara''s company was simpler this time, Jake would participate in various sports in this commercial except basketball because of Jake''s deal, and in every sport, he would appear in the video he would use the sporting goods of Clara''s company. It was simple, but it said that when Jake played sports he trusted Clara''s company to do quality physical activity, he didn''t need a very obvious message because everyone knew that Jake was known for high-level basketball and marathon practice. Tiffany''s company commercial was more creative, but it was also more complicated to do, Jake would run down the road and the scenes would show Jake running down the roads in several cuts, then Jake would take a rural path and keep running down the dirt road. At the end of the commercial, Jake would run to an orange field and grab a bottle of Tiffany''s sports drink, then run back, the commercial would show that Jake would run to the field to get the bottle of liquor. Jake liked the Tiffany company commercial better, but he didn''t say that and just made the recordings, Clara''s commercial was done faster, but Tiffany''s took almost two days for the advertising company to get the best images. After that when the two commercials go to television, Jake would be appearing in 4 television commercials, the public would even get sick of Jake who appeared so much in the commercials, it would also help to promote the 4 companies that helped each other with advertisements. This was only possible because the 4 companies were small, if they were large companies they would not want to share customers with other companies even if it was good for everyone, after which Jake talked with Clara about her company for a while. Clara and Tiffany went back to investing in the company a lot this year, the money they were saving to buy Robert''s stock was all invested back in the company in the form of a loan that they would receive in profit shares over the next few years. They did so because the company had not invested for many years and urgently needed money, the two would not make loans to banks that would endanger the company being able to invest their own money. As Jake knew now, Tiffany and Clara''s companies would always pay half of the profit share to the shareholders and invest the rest back in the company, with the investments made this year expected that the company''s sales this year would be the best. Because Jake had accomplished so much in sports and would continue to do so this year, it had a very positive impact on the sales of the companies sponsoring Jake, both of them were excited to see the company grow. As for Clara''s company competitor who had too many shares of the company, she decided not to care about it anymore and just treat them like ordinary investors, because she would have to take a lot of money every year just to buy those shares from the rival company. But it was necessary money to invest in the company, if it were possible in a few years Clara would surely buyback not only those shares but also the shares that were with Jake and her father. Only the shares that were with Tiffany, Clara did not think to buy even in the future, because it was Tiffany who helped her the most in difficult times even putting her own company at risk. Jake thought that in a few years Clara would no longer even think about buying Jake''s stock again, because in a few years with the internet age and Jake playing in the NBA just because Jake was a shareholder of her company would make many people want to buy the products from Clara''s company. Jake was very pleased with how Clara was investing in the company, he always trusted her because he knew how well Clara was a competent woman just like Tiffany who made her company grow out of nowhere. After that Jake arranged with Emily to talk to her about how his investments were going, Emily seemed to be a lot more tired and stressed when Jake met her at the restaurant. He could imagine how busy Emily was working for him, now Emily took care of the company-wide investments, which included Jake''s personal investments and Matthew and her father''s investments as well as her father''s friends who were already over one billion of dollars in total. Chapter 339 Busy Holiday 3 In addition, Emily was now overseeing Charlie and his team who worked at the company in Silicon Valley in Palo Alto, California, which Jake had just created for now to develop multi-touch technology. As someone who didn''t know about the future and what the internet would mean in the future Emily thought it was a huge waste of money that Jake was doing, she could just see a smart calculator that would cost a lot to be worth it. And there were a lot of other investments that Jake had that Emily was responsible for taking care of, of course. To do that Emily had authority and respect given, she was president of Jake''s investment company and received a huge salary directly from him. Plus she would get some of the profits from all Cisco stock when they were sold, Emily estimated that the 1 percent she now had was worth at least $ 10 million. "Hi Emily, you look pretty tired." "Of course I''ve been tired, you know how many things I have to take care of, I''m responsible for billions of dollars and I''m doing my best not to disturb you while you''re busy playing or training." "I know, I''m just kidding, it''s a shame you''re very busy right now, but in a few years I''ll hire a few more people to help you, and the investment company won''t do anything for a few years after that either." "I understand, this can be hard to come by because a few years with the investment company closed means a lot of money will be lost, I need only a few months of rest when this phase passes and I will be fine again." Emily didn''t complain much because she knew Jake was very talented and even busier than she was, and she was so happy to work with so much money, even her father had never had so much responsibility and it was all thanks to Jake. Even if someone offered her some quieter job that paid her better she wouldn''t accept it, she felt she would make a lot of money when Jake decided to sell all the stock that the investment firm cared for. She was no longer so stressed because she knew it was impossible for investors to lose money even if the bubble burst as many investment analysts said because investor money was already more than double invested. Also, thanks to the contract that Jake made with those who wanted to invest in the company, besides complaining who invested money could only trust that Jake knew the right time to sell everything, it was a contract she didn''t know for sure, but she knew no one would risk contesting this contract. Her father would also make a lot of money when Jake decided to sell these stocks, which showed how much better it was for her to work with Jake because there might be more opportunities for her and her father to get rich after that. "I told you to hire more people for the investment company to relax, but I know you keep going the same way as before checking the market, you don''t have to do that Emily, that''s what tires you the most." "You know how impossible this is, our company takes care of over $ 1 billion in investments, anything that happens in the stock market can make our company lose several million, me and I don''t know how you can be so calm about that." "Alright, let''s not talk about that anymore, tell me the investment company reports." Just as Jake asked Emily said the investment firm reports, with Matthew''s investments alone over $ 900 million, even Matthew was surprised to learn how much money he had and regretted not investing more at the end of last year. Even so, Matthew still wanted to just sell the stock and take all the money he was afraid of losing more money after, but Matthew knew that Jake didn''t care about his investment opinion, so Matthew just had to keep trusting Jake. The entrepreneurs who invested with Emily''s father had over $ 90 million at the time as well, it was three times as much as they had invested, so they also wanted to sell the stock if they could. Jake didn''t care what they thought because he knew that this money now was nothing compared to what they would earn over the next 3 years, that money would still multiply sometimes and they would complain in the future if Jake sold it all now. What also made investors sadder was the fact that 10 percent of the money they would earn would be given as a commission to Jake''s investment firm, at the moment was a lot of money, over $ 66 million, and would be even more in the future. After Emily said about the investments Jake had, Jake currently had over $ 40 million invested in equity, it was less than the others had because Jake also made other investments that would earn him hundreds of times that amount in the future. One such investment was the silicon valley company that Charlie and the others were working on to develop multi-touch technology, with nearly a year of investment and a lot of work the touch screen technology had already been developed. Jake received the test product and saw that it was very similar to what he used in the future, which gave him confidence that Charlie and the others were on the right track, maybe later this year or early 1998 Jake could apply for a patent that would make him a multimillionaire in the future. Just investing in the development of this product would make Jake have more money than with all the actions he invested, another investment, the best he had done so far was the Amazon company that would make him a billionaire in the future. "Amazon company as you may know officially made the IPO this year, you invested $ 12 million for 25 percent of the company''s stock, after the IPO you have just over 20 percent of the stock." "Jeff Bezos has asked to reassure you that his shares will not fall below 20 percent in the future of the company, his shares that have been further diminished, he has just over 35 percent of the shares." Jake knew Jeff was saying that because he still hoped Jake would support him in all his decisions as he had promised and not just decide to sell the shares now that they were much more valued as some investors had already done. "You can tell Jeff that I would still fully support all of his decisions and not sell my shares no matter what happens for at least 12 years." Jake could promise that because he knew what the future would be like and also needed to calm Jeff down so that he would work as Jake remembered in the future, that 20 percent of the stock would be worth over $ 80 billion. When the company is worth more than $ 1 trillion, Jake would have $ 200 billion worth of these shares, investing only $ 12 million a few months ago, so Jake didn''t regret not making any more money with Cisco shares. Of course Jake thought he could also help Amazon in a number of things in the future that would make him and Jeff Bezos even richer, Jake also knew it was only a matter of time before the media knew he had tens of millions of dollars invested in it only 18 years old. He hoped he had just finished college before that happened, Jake was using Emily''s name for the investment firm for the time being and hiding his stake from Amazon, so the media didn''t know he was the one who had so much money. After that Jake already told Emily some more details before leaving, the next day Jake went to meet Matthew, he had to talk to him if he could help anything in the company before he could go back to training. This time the conversation would not be in any restaurant, but in Matthew''s house, when Jake saw that Oliver was also in the house, and to his surprise Joseph was also in Matthew''s house. Of course Jake knew Joseph was on vacation from Princeton University, too, but he didn''t expect to see Joseph in Miami and hoped his friend was enjoying his vacation with Liza somewhere. "Joseph, how long I haven''t seen you, I thought I''d see you only when I finished college." "Jake, I missed you too, you''re very overdone, it''s been less than a year since we last met, with you working with my dad and grandfather on some holiday we were going to meet." "You say like this is a bad thing, as my friend I want to see you at least every month, it''s good to see that you''re fine and came to visit your family." "He came to visit the family because I sent him, it''s good to see you, Jake, you''ve been doing great things these past few months, me and Oliver have been following your games and your marathons." "Thanks, Matthew, I came here to talk to you and was expecting to see Oliver here, but I didn''t expect to see Joseph here really." "It''s like I said, if I didn''t order him to spend this vacation here in Miami he would be traveling around with his girlfriend, I should have broken up while Joseph was still in high school." "Stop talking about it, Grandpa, I''ve come here as you said and I really love Liza, you can''t separate us." "Because of this girlfriend of yours you don''t care about your family or your best friend anymore, Jake is much busier than you and yet whenever you can come to see his family and even us here." "That''s because he works with you." "You don''t know anything, Jake didn''t even have to come here because he''s a partner and not an employee of mine, he sees just because he wants to help, and you? The company will be yours in a few years and you don''t even mind coming here." "You see in the magazines, Jake has a much better girlfriend than his and yet see Miami every vacation and still works hard." Chapter 340 Busy Holiday 4 Jake was uncomfortable seeing Matthew fighting this much with Joseph, he hoped that meeting his best friend would be more enjoyable after so many months, but it turned out to be that way. Oliver seemed more used to it and seemed quiet and agreed with everything Matthew said, seeing that Jake was uncomfortable he guided Jake discreetly into another room so that Jake wouldn''t be in the middle of this fight. "Sorry you had to see this Jake, my dad has long been very unhappy with Joseph whenever they might end up arguing like that." "Alright, you''re in the family and it''s normal for everyone to fight, I shouldn''t be here, next time I''ll warn you before you show up." "Don''t say that Jake, you know we consider ourselves to be part of our family, that''s why my dad fought Joseph even though you were around." "Don''t worry about how Joseph treated you, he''s angry because my father made him come here on this vacation, it seems that Joseph is in a rebellious phase and is doing everything wrong, only his studies that are fine can calm me and my dad." "This rebellious phase of his started when he met Liza and that''s why my dad thinks she''s guilty of everything, the truth is that we''re very disappointed with Joseph." Oliver didn''t say anything, but they were so disappointed in Joseph because they had only Jake as a comparison of a young man of the same age, to all Jake seemed like a perfect young man who was talented, responsible, stayed with his family and still good at school. Compared to Jake who was all right, Joseph''s mistakes seemed far more serious than they normally would be, but even so, Oliver told Jake not to feel responsible, because it really wasn''t his fault. Jake was just disappointed because Joseph looked like he didn''t care about him anymore, for someone like Jake who had few friends and always valued relationships he didn''t expect Joseph whom he considered as a best friend didn''t care about him. After a while, Joseph had gone to his room and Matthew called Jake and Oliver to talk, Matthew still looked agitated and didn''t look like someone older having so much energy to fight with Joseph. "Sorry for making you see this Jake, I fought with Joseph around you because I consider you part of my family, Joseph has to improve a lot to have the ability to take over my business someday." "I understand, you have your reasons for being mad at Joseph, I came here today to talk about what has happened to the company in the months I was at university." "The company has been doing very well, as you know in February of this year we started selling the new camera we have been developing for many years ago." "Even though only a few months have passed since the start of sales, it seems that sales have been a success, many who knew our company expected a quality camera and were impressed by how our camera is superior to others in the competition." "Anyone who didn''t know our company is getting it right now because of this camera, some even said that if we sold this camera in Asia we could have great sales because they know good quality products." "I don''t think that''s a good idea, not good for a company that is still developing as ours wants to compete with the biggest companies in Asia, we better just keep trying to sell from Europe and America and spread the brand and name of the company with this product." Matthew agreed with Jake and didn''t want to challenge the best companies in the market yet, not to mention that they wouldn''t make so much money from having difficulty getting distributors and partners to sell cameras and still making a profit. "I agree with you, in these months we have also begun to prepare the development of our next digital camera on the market for a few years from now, with their councils we have already started the development and improvement of technologies." "Very well, as I said to you, it may be that the next camera of ours that should be ready in 1999 will be one of the last ones we will do before mobile phones become better known, then we will have to cut production costs a lot to keep selling and profiting." "Yes, I believe you, even though we don''t see any evidence of this happening we are preparing to reduce costs as much as we can, with our company getting better known we are getting great deals with suppliers." Matthew was someone with a vision and could see that cell phones were getting more and more popular in recent months, he could also see that the internet was getting popular too, so he could imagine that if a cell phone had internet and a camera it would sell much more than that his company''s cameras. That''s because Jake didn''t say that this phone would also have something more advanced than a Walkman, that should be hard to imagine today, but Jake was developing touchscreen and multi-touch to have a patent and then would develop the Android system. Just as Jake himself was preparing the technology that would make it all possible, Matthew even suggested that they create this modern phone themselves, but Jake knew that the costs to make it happen would be tens of billions of dollars. Maybe if Matthew''s company sold a lot in the next few years and Matthew decided to invest everything they would gain from selling Cisco company stock, maybe they could think about starting such a company. But Jake himself knew that he didn''t have the ability to run such a big company, not to mention that Jake would already be rich from Amazon''s stock without such a risk. But he would support Matthew if that was what he decided to do in a few years, maybe if other investors decided to go into this business it could be much more possible, but their gain would also be greatly reduced. But this was something that could only be seen after several years, the important thing was to earn as much as they could with this camera right now if Jake didn''t have a deal with the university and the basketball association he would make a television commercial Talking about the new camera. Now he would have to miss this opportunity and hope the company is strong enough to make sales of this camera better than the last camera and secure a few billion dollars for the company. Admittedly, they would earn more than their last camera sales, after all even if they didn''t understand technology, they could see that Matthew''s company products were of superior quality to others on the market, and this camera was much more superior than the camera that was sold a few months ago and only for a small extra price. Matthew suggested that since this was a much larger camera they could sell for a few hundred dollars more, but Jake was against it because even though it was superior to other cameras on the market, Matthew''s company already made more than half of its profit value. And this camera should have an attractive cost that would compete with the digital cameras of other companies in the market, so Matthew''s company would gain much more credibility in the market, in a few years the price of the camera would fall a lot and the quality would continue to improve. Also with the rise of camera phones, people would continue to buy digital cameras from Matthew''s company because they would know it is a fair price for a very high-quality product. After that Jake spent some time talking with Oliver and Matthew before returning home, after this conversation with Matthew he had temporarily settled all the business he had during the holidays. So he stayed at home with his mother for a while because in the coming months he would have to focus on training before the World Athletics, even if he didn''t need to train for marathons he had to enjoy all the time he had to train and improve to compete in more modalities at the next Olympics. The next day Jake went to training normally at the beach and Coach Davis went with him as well as the lifeguards who had been warned the day before that Jake was coming to train today, before Jake paused to record the commercials and take care of business, he was already getting used to Coach Davis''s triathlon training. Even though it wasn''t directly related to long-distance running, Jake understood that this was the best training for someone like him to do, Jake already knew how to keep pace in the race and everyone knew he had good stamina, he had also learned all the techniques you could learn from Coach Davis several weeks ago. So before training directly for the 10,000-meter and 5,000-meter races, it was smarter to train the few weaknesses Jake had, in Coach Davis''s view, Jake already had enough to be able to run the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters races in a good time. But if Jake wanted to win the upcoming Olympics he would have to be as good at these races as he was with marathons, and just running was not enough, of course, if Coach Davis knew that Jake had the system he might not create such training. Even so, Jake was very pleased with this training that was clearly beneficial to him, even though he had the system and could push himself a little harder than other athletes to perform better. At the end of the day, Jake swam easily into the sea, rode his bike for several miles without tiring, and ran more than 8 km in the sand, seeing that Coach Davis saw that this training was no longer a challenge for Jake and that the next day they could increase the difficulty of training. Chapter 341 Busy Holiday 5 When Coach Davis said this to him, Jake agreed that he needed more difficult training, he had realized how good this training could be for him, and he also knew he could do more than that. After Jake had become accustomed to swimming in the sea, these trials were no more difficult for him, he also enjoyed a challenge and thought it might be better for him to make more training gains. Seeing that Jake had agreed to increase the difficulty of training, Coach Davis greatly increased the training load, swimming was 1 km at sea, cycling was 25 km and running in the sand 15 km. Coach Davis trained to be harder for Jake instead of being more evenly balanced to compete in the triathlon that was not the goal of this training, running was the easiest for Jake who normally ran 50 km at a pace to break the world record every day. So the 15km slow-moving sand wasn''t a real challenge for Jake, it was harder because it was just unsteady terrain and after swimming and cycling, so Coach Davis thought it was right to Jake. Riding the bike would be Jake''s easiest and swimming would be tricky, even though Jake had become accustomed to swimming in the sea that didn''t make swimming against the waves any easier, so swimming twice as far would be more challenging. Seeing this training load that was almost double what the lifeguards had once again looked out to help Jake if needed, Coach Davis who knew what Jake was capable of did not think Jake would have trouble doing this triathlon. Jake also went confidently to the sea because he knew he would only get tired when running on the sand, Jake had a harder time swimming the 1km in the water, even though he was used to swimming in the sea these past few weeks he tired his arms swimming in the sea. After all, it was different from running and even though he was still too stamina it was tiring for him, after leaving the sea Jake had no trouble doing the 25 km bike ride, even if it was the 180 km ironman Jake didn''t think he would have problems. So the coach did not even insist on increasing the bike path, after all, Jake''s daily training would only take longer on the beach and would not have much gain, when it came to the race part was much harder to run the 15 km on the sand. Even though Jake managed to finish all the running in the sand and so ended all the triathlon training, Jake found it tiring, but not so much when his daily training running the 50 km, the sand running and the swimming part was the most difficult and the cycling route was the easiest. While not striving for the best times Jake still managed to do the 1 km in 12 minutes at sea, 25 km in cycling in 30 minutes and 15 km running in the sand in 52 minutes, he didn''t push himself to the sand and nor in cycling, but gave the best he can in swimming. Jake thought he could run at a better time than this one on the sand, but he was in danger of getting injured if he tried to run faster and would get a lot harder to run faster on the sand. Even though he thought this training was better than before, he asked Coach Davis to increase his running and sand swimming and to reduce the part of his cycling path so that he would have the best training possible. Coach Davis told Jake to get used to this training first and then they would increase further, Jake accepted and was patient because they were still early June and had almost two months until the World Championships in Athletics. Jake hopes that before that they would start training for the 10,000-meter and 5,000-meter modalities because after World Championships in Athletics Jake would have little time before he had to go to university. Jake was well aware that he could have more time next year and years to train before the next Olympics in 2000, but he wanted to see what he was capable of running, Jake knew he could win, but even really running he wouldn''t be comfortable with that. Over the next few weeks Jake continued with the training and besides staying at home with his mother did nothing else, Jake wanted to hide a bit from the media after what happened with Kate and she didn''t try to call him either. Jake knew he would have to wait several months before he could talk to Kate again because of what happened last time, he just hoped it wouldn''t take several years like last time. As sports and normal media forgot about Jake, his fame was growing more and more popular among the public, the news of Jake helping in the Miami Beach crash made people have a better opinion of Jake. Some people also remembered Jake because of his picture with Kate and others because of the various commercials in which he now appeared on television, Tiffany and Clara''s companies have already started promoting the ads they made a few weeks ago on television stations. All this plus the news about Jake in the sport meant that the audience couldn''t forget him, many movie directors like Director Crowe were already thinking of inviting Jake to appear in their movie next year. After a few weeks Coach Davis increased Jake''s training as he had requested, it was 2km of swimming and only 13km on the cycling path along with 30km of running in the sand. Taking the cycling path was more than half an ironman triathlon, after doing this training Jake finally felt he was struggling, the lifeguards thought Jake really deserved to be called Captain America because he was almost a superhuman. Several athletes were able to do an ironman triathlon and perhaps even more difficult races than that, but the lifeguards came to Jake doing almost half of the ironman in just over 2 months of training, which meant that if he had a few more months Jake could Compete in an ironman. This is because Jake wore no special clothes to help him perform and still ran the 30 km in the sand, meaning that if he had all the right equipment and clothes to do the triathlon and would run normally he could even finish an ironman normally. That was right because the normal run time for athletes in Ironman was just under 3 hours, Jake could run in just over 2 hours and 30 minutes even after swimming and cycling. It wasn''t that Jake thought cycling was an easier sport than the others, but he tried to make the 180km route himself and didn''t get too tired, that should be the equivalent of a running marathon as it was more than triple the distance. But for Jake, this was very easy for some reason, perhaps because of the system that improved all his physical statistics and stamina he was much easier with cycling than the other modalities of triathlon. Just as swimming for Jake was more difficult even though it was only a few km away, many athletes preferred swimming over cycling and running, while Jake preferred running and cycling over swimming, so much more challenging for him. After a few more weeks Jake had finally finished coach Davis''s different training, he had to prepare for the World Championships in Athletics, in those nearly 2 months of training Jake had felt that he had greatly improved his stamina and other things he wasn''t sure what. Soon after he ran the 50 km again as he always did before and still managed to run easily without any problems, but this time he felt that he was less tired after finishing running. Mainly because he was running on a track and not in the sand like before, so it was much better to run without fear of injury, after seeing that it was okay Jake began to prepare to run the other modalities. It would be almost the same as he normally ran, but he would have to run at a faster pace and for many fewer km, he would run a maximum of 12 km to do this training instead of 50 km so that the training would work out he would just have to run every km in 9 seconds less. So Jake would run the 10,000 meters in 27 minutes and 30 seconds, that was just over 29 seconds from the Olympic record, not a great time, but it was enough to be in the top 10 in this World Championships in Athletics he would participate for example. For starters Coach Davis asked Jake to try running at a pace of 4 seconds less than he normally did, Jake thought that would be very easy and really it was, he managed to run the 10,000 meters with ease and ran up to 12 km before be stopped by coach Davis. Coach Davis had hoped that Jake would be able to do that, but still, he couldn''t be surprised, with that time Jake ran the 10,000 meters in just over 28 minutes, in 28 minutes and 20 seconds, was a great time to an amateur athlete for example. With this Jake''s time done naturally, he would be able to finish tenth of the 10,000-meter race at the World Championships in Athletics, which means that Jake was already a high-level athlete in all long-distance races without ever having trained to this before. Chapter 342 Busy Holiday 6 From what Coach Davis saw Jake was able to do a much better workout than that, so he had Jake run again at a pace 2 seconds faster than the last time per km. Jake did it too, but with more difficulty, perhaps because it was the second time he made the 10,000 meters at this race pace, but that has already surprised coach Davis who was excited to see Jake perhaps win two gold medals at the next Olympics. Jake was also excited to be able to race at that time, he also had some knowledge of race times in the 10,000 meters race and knew he had a great time, it could be said that Jake never trained in this race. But in fact he had a great base for starting training, he was the best in the world in marathons and even in training, he had a great time besides having the system to help him, only the many years he trained already prepared him to start training. In addition, Jake knew that the system not only improved his endurance but also improved the agility that greatly helped him run faster than most athletes, so Jake could run at a great time even though he had never run at this pace before. This year he still had the opportunity to gain another point in endurance and agility by getting better for endurance events, meaning that this training would be even easier for Jake. This made him more excited instead of getting relaxed and quitting training, Jake was excited to know that after all this training this year and in the coming years he would be more likely to win more gold medals in the upcoming Olympics. Not to mention that Jake loved to run and the feeling of winning the races, whenever he won a marathon he felt very happy, so he had decided that he would run at least one marathon a year if he could for several years even though he was in the NBA. When Jake came home he was very happy and Eva was happy for him knowing that something good should be happening to her son, it was good to know that everything was fine, the restaurant was at peace again after Lola got used to the fact that Jake had a girlfriend. Eva knew that Jake didn''t really have any girlfriend, but she as a mother felt it was only a matter of time if this Kate really liked Jake, because she realized that Jake really did like Kate even if he didn''t realize it himself. Jake didn''t talk much about his training to Eva because she probably wouldn''t understand how he was getting better at training and if she did, she would be shocked like Coach Davis, so if Eva didn''t ask Jake wouldn''t say anything about it. After getting a good rest Jake resumed running the next day, he would do the 10,000 meters twice again because he and Coach Davis realized that Jake couldn''t stand running at his best. In training that day Jake would run twice the 10,000 meters at the same time he had done in the last training of the day which was 2 minutes and 48 seconds per km, with that time he would run the 10,000 meters in 28 minutes. In that time Jake could be considered an elite athlete in the 10,000 meters even if it was hard to win running at that time, but for the start of training was a very good time, Coach Davis wanted Jake to run in that time to get used to the pace of 10,000 meters. In training yesterday day Jake said he got tired of running at this pace the second time, so Coach Davis thought it was better for Jake to run at this time twice than at a faster time only once. Jake agreed with Coach Davis, but Coach did not know that Jake had a way of regaining stamina after running a long-distance training, running at a faster pace, leaving Jake powerless, but his muscles could handle more than 50 km race quietly. So just for training he could eat a stamina bar and regain energy and relax his muscles a bit, so with a 30-minute rest he could run up to three times the 10,000 meters. Coach Davis didn''t believe Jake would be able to do that because he knew how the 10,000 meters spent more stamina on athletes and running twice was already very impressive, but as Jake insisted he decided to do as Jake suggested. The first time Jake ran the 10,000 meters in 28 minutes much more easily, just as Coach Davis thought the second time he ran out of stamina and so lacked energy at the end of the race and Jake became more tired. After the first run, Jake went for a drink and asked for 30 minutes to rest, Coach Davis thought it was a good idea because Jake was training for the 10,000 meters and not training his resistance that needed to run without rest. So Jake did not save the stamina bar and already ate one not being so tired, Jake can already feel the tiredness fading and his energy coming back and so rested much better 30 minutes. As Jake had 41 points in the resistance statistic his body functioned differently from normal people and even his body recovery was faster than others, after 30 minutes he felt completely rested. Jake ran the 10,000 meters again in 28 minutes and was not tired at the end of the 10,000 meters, so Coach Davis had no choice but to believe that Jake was actually able to run the 10,000 meters 3 times. But since the training would be very fast with just 1 and a half hours max with Jake running 3 times Coach Davis suggested that Jake have a 1-hour rest each time, so in 3 and a half hours they could do all the training and Jake would have more time to rest. Jake didn''t think it was necessary, but he thought it was better to have 30 more minutes to rest, with 1 hour to rest each time. He would be much more sure that he could run 3 times the 10,000 meters at the best time he could eat the stamina bars. After an hour''s rest, Jake ran the 10,000 meters again in 28 minutes and began to feel tired even though he had eaten two stamina bars and rested for an hour and a half, but Jake and Coach Davis were already happy to have those three times run and train. Coach Davis agreed with Jake that now he should do marathon training one day and the 10,000-meter training the next day, on Jake''s next vacation next year they would try to improve the time on the 10,000 meters and start training also the 5,000 meters. Jake agreed with Coach Davis that it was best to wait and see what was the best time he could do at 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters because that would make him more willing to continue training. Not to mention that until next year on holiday Jake would run the Berlin and Tokyo marathon he could earn two more points in the resistance and agility statistics and be much better prepared for the marathon, the 10,000 meters, and the 5,000 meters. So with the World Championships in Athletics almost two months away Jake already had his training routine set and plenty of time to rest, at that time Jake also did the imaginative training to train basketball and spent a few hours on his court almost every day. Even though he spent no more than 5 hours in training every day, he spent the rest of the time spending with his mother or just relaxing, Jake could try to do other things. But at university, he would spend a lot of time with his friends and studying as well as training and playing a lot of basketball, so in those months before the World Championships in Athletics, he just wanted to spend his rest time. He might have wished he could try to meet Kate at this time, but he knew that was not a good idea because after what happened a few months ago she may have had more problems than him with the media and her fans and was better to her if they didn''t meet. Joseph was annoyed that he had to come home on this vacation and stay away from his girlfriend and so didn''t even try to talk to Jake, Jake was also angry about that and didn''t want to look for Joseph on this vacation. While he was thinking about what to do, he got a call from Emily saying he had someone who wanted to talk to him, knowing Emily Jake knew it should be important and decided to meet these two people. But first he needed to know who these people he had to meet, after all even if he had nothing important to do, he couldn''t just find anyone. "It''s some directors who are brothers, it looks like they had a project for a movie that will be shot next year and they wanted to see if you were interested in participating in that movie." "I would normally refuse this call, but it seems that these brothers have many contacts in Hollywood, and they seemed to be really sincere in presenting this proposal to you, as I know you have some interest in an acting career I thought you could at least talk about it for you." Jake really thought that was right, he was very interested in having a film career and he had already told director Crowe that he could only participate in a movie that was filmed during his vacation. So if these directors still wanted to talk to him about this movie, he at least wanted to know what this movie was. Chapter 343 Busy Holiday 7 The other day later after finishing daily training, Jake went to have lunch with these directors, he was so interested to know which movie it was that he even forgot to ask Emily what the directors'' name was. If it was a good script Jake didn''t even mind investing himself in the movie just to participate in another movie that was filming during his vacation, after all, it shouldn''t be a movie like Jerry Maguire he knew. After a while two brothers showed up and soon sat at Jake''s front table, so he knew they were the directors, they had a familiar face, but Jake couldn''t remember who they were. "Hi Jake, my name is Larry Wachowski and this is my brother Andy Wachowski, we are making a movie and when we saw you at the movies and commercials and decided to call you to participate in this movie." So Jake finally remembered where these managing brothers were and why he couldn''t remember both of them, that was because both of them, especially Larry Wachowski, looked different from what Jake remembered now. It was the Wachowski brothers who many years later became the Wachowski sisters, known as the Wachowskis They were both very famous directors in the future even though they were not so famous at the moment because their first big hit movie The Matrix ''had not even been filmed. Jake was a big fan of this movie and can never expect to meet the directors of this movie in person, and by the time he was excited thinking that maybe the two of them came to invite him to participate in the movie The Matrix, he would only refuse to be invited to play the role from Neo because he was a big fan of Keanu Reeves. "I saw the Bound movie you guys made, very good movie with very good social criticism, I had never seen a movie that talked about the lesbian relationship like that, I don''t know if I said it right." "No, that''s right, the movie talks about that and I''m glad to hear you liked it." "The next movie we are going to work on has a different style, it''s an action, science fiction movie and a story with a different point of view from society, it has a lot of visual effects that make the movie different." After the Wachowskis brothers began to tell the story of the movie that soon it was clear that it was The Matrix that Jake liked so much, they talking showed a movie a little different from what he remembered and part of their point of view about the film. Having seen the movie several times Jake can understand very well and even comment a few times after the Wachowskis brothers talk about a scene that could be made, to the Wachowskis brothers it would seem that Jake was excited about the movie and interested. Jake was really interested and excited about the idea of ??participating in this movie if it wasn''t for the character Neo and other main characters he didn''t even care about making a small appearance in the movie. "So this is the proposal for the movie called The Matrix, we haven''t picked all the characters yet, but we wanted to talk to you because we know you have a few months left to shoot." "This movie will be shot between March 1998 and August 1998, your part of the recording can be scheduled for months you can participate in that time." "I thought this movie was great and I''m sure it will be a great success, it''s exactly between these months that I can participate in the recording and then we''ll see the right dates, I just wanted to know what my character will be in this movie?" "Yes, I don''t think any of the characters in this story are right for you, but before you give the final script to Warner Bros. Pictures authorize, we had to create a storyboard." "And on this storyboard, a lot of our ideas were taken to show how the movie would look, one of those ideas was a character from Morpheus the Nebuchadnezzar''s hovercraft who would be friends with Neo." "This character ended up being cut short before the storyboard because it wasn''t so relevant to the story and because we couldn''t think of an actor who would be suitable for playing this character." "But when we saw you in the movie Jerry Maguire and in the commercials, we saw that you were the actor we thought of for the character, and you have a great appeal to movie fans as well as acting very well." "So before talking to you we talked to Warner Bros. Pictures and we said that if you participated in the movie we would have more fight scenes and more action scenes without changing the main story and the studio authorized you to participate if you wanted to participate." So Jake understood what was going on, but from what his talent for acting he was called because of him the box office of the movie Jerry Maguire increased so much, as they didn''t have a character in the movie that was his profile as an actor they decided to bring a character that had been deleted before. But Jake didn''t care about that because it was impossible for him to be called to a movie because of his ability to act because he only participated in a few minutes of the movie Jerry Maguire and many actors were called to movies just because the directors wanted to ensure a good box office and audience. "Could you then explain to me what my character would do in this movie?" "Yes, the character''s name would be Jev, Jev is someone from the Matrix who was rescued by Morpheus as well as Neo and other crew members of the ship, in the movie Jev would be a friend of Neo and would believe that Neo was the chosen one from the beginning." "Jev''s role on the ship was like a front-line soldier to help the team getaway should the agents show up, Jev is the best fighter on the ship and the only one who could fight the agents for a while before Neo appeared." "So he is an important character who will appear a lot in the movie?" "Yeah, sure, most of the fight and shooting scenes he will be in the scenes, and some scenes can be added with him in the movie to bring more action to the movie, it was just taken because we didn''t think of anyone suitable for the character before and why his story doesn''t change the story of the movie." Jake liked this character a lot and liked it even more because he would see a different The Matrix movie than he remembered, it would be better for sure because the main story was the same and would only have a character that would not change the story and would just bring more action to it. the film. "So I definitely agree to participate in this movie, it will be a huge pleasure for me and I''m sure this movie will be a success." "We can offer you a contract that will be $ 2 million as a fixed salary or 2 percent of the total box office." Even Jake was surprised by the high salary, even though they didn''t expect much from the box office, giving 2 percent to an inexperienced actor was too much for Jake, but in fact, the Wachowskis thought it was fair, that came from Jake''s current high fame as an athlete copy and the trades he made on television. Especially after the news that Jake could be dating famous singer Kate Annesley after that who didn''t know Jake came to know and many became fans of him even though he didn''t date Kate for his talent and his character after he saved those people. So it was true to say that Jake had great appeal to the audience and could increase the movie''s box office, after all an actor''s salary was often related to how much box office or awards he could bring to the movie, so in that case Jake could bring more box office than other more experienced actors. Jake, who knew how much the movie box office would be, accepted the 2 percent of the final box office, so he would make more than $ 8 million, a great salary for a first movie, the directors were also happy about it because Warner''s own studio Bros. Pictures had suggested this to the directors. "We are very happy to work with you Jake, we hope you do some martial arts training a few months before the movie, you will be the one who will have to train more than the others because you will fight more during the movie." So Jake knew it could be a problem because he would probably be playing while the others would be rehearsing the choreography for the movie fights, just as he knew that Yuen Woo-ping was the one who would teach the actors he could ask to spend a few months earlier with him to train. Before that Jake could even learn something from martial arts to learn things faster before shooting the movie, he knew that with his physical statistics and intelligence he could learn much faster than the others. If the actors took 4 months he could do in 2 months or less so he told that to the directors who said they would help Jake with that, they already knew it would be harder to work with Jake because he was not just an actor but he was the only one suitable for the character. So they got all the details right and the directors said they would talk to Jake later if they needed him for something, after all the movie would be shot only next year, Jake was excited about it and decided that he would strive to participate in the film and do the role well his. The directors also gave Jake some materials to study because he would need to know how to explain Matrix if needed, Jake had no problem with that because he was good at studying and also knew how to explain Matrix for watching the movie before and several reports about the movie. So Jake returned to the house very happy normally and Eva was happy about it thinking that her son was very happy lately for some reason. Chapter 344 Busy Holiday 8 After arranging his participation in Matrix Jake was very happy, even though he did nothing after that he could say he was a successful actor after making just this movie, and it was a movie he liked a lot. It seemed that everything was working out for him again, he was fine with basketball, with marathons, and he was already preparing to surprise the world again when he competed in other sports as well. His mother was fine with her friends as well as the restaurant and Eva was very happy, the businesses Jake was investing were all very successful that after a few years when he sold these stocks he would no longer have to worry about money for all life. His personal life was fine with all his friends Jake was able to make at university, and now with Kate who had everything to work out this relationship in the future, now even his dream of acting was coming true by making one of his favorite movies that It was The Matrix. The time had gone by since the accident in his past life and everything seemed to be going very well in this second life, Jake was very grateful for the system that helped him achieve all this and would also continue to strive to keep going well. The other day Jake resumed his normal training with Coach Davis as if nothing had happened, Jake knew he had to take his time before the break to train daily because when the basketball season resumed he would have to miss training on match days. On this vacation Jake also had a special gym training done by Coach Davis that drove Jake to his limits and focused only on athletics and not basketball, Coach Davis came up with this idea because he knew that in the months he was at university he had training that was just for basketball. Jake trained for a few more weeks and then July came and went, with less than one month left for the World Championships in Athletics maybe just Jake was more relaxed with his normal training every day. He knew and Coach Davis knew that even if he didn''t train Jake he could still easily win this World Championships in Athletics, Coach Davis was impressed that even though he was training at a faster pace than his own world record, Jake looked like he had improved a lot in the year he trained with him. Especially on the technical side, which for Jake had been almost nonexistent before, now he had greatly improved his posture in the race and even if it did not improve his time it still helped to lower his energy expenditure in the race. Coach Davis even suggested that Jake could improve his daily training time by increasing his running pace, but Jake denied it and said it was better to focus on 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters training before thinking about improving his own record his. Coach Davis was impressed by Jake''s dedication to track and field and realized that Jake was right, but in fact, Jake refused because he wanted to first win the two remaining major marathons and get 2 points in endurance and 2 points in agility before improve his time in marathons. After all, after these two major marathons, Jake no longer knew where he could get the most statistics points, he figured that ordinary marathons might not get any points like these six major marathons in the world gave. Of course, even if I didn''t get any more statistics points in the marathons Jake would still be satisfied with what he had and would keep running, after all, Jake knew well that with the more than 41 stamina points he would have after those marathons he would no longer need statistics to be the best in the world in long-distance races. Not to mention that he hoped to get more statistics from basketball games when he entered the NBA, Jake''s current goal with statistics was to have 50 points in each of his physical statistics. He''d be pretty close to that after earning his resistance points as a reward for major marathons, if he did that, Jake would surely have physical advantages over everyone else in any sport he played. Jake was just thinking about training nonstop until the World Championships in Athletics, but he can''t do that because after a few days of training two unexpected guests showed up at his house. It was Mark and David, Jake''s two former high school teammates, even though Jake matched everyone''s remaining friends, he didn''t expect anyone to show up before the internet age where it was so much easier to find anyone. "Mark, David, I didn''t expect to see you, it''s a nice surprise." "Hahaha, of course, we would show up here at one time or another, we played together on the same high school team and we were always good friends." "True, even more so now that you''re so famous, you''re appearing in almost every newspaper and magazine, a famous girlfriend, winning the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament and breaking a lot of individual records, we''re proud to have played with you." "Hahaha, thank you. I said you don''t expect us to meet anytime soon because I know you lived in other states before you came to play in Miami and now you are at university." "Yeah, but we got used to living in Miami after so many years since middle school, and my university is actually in Miami too." "Yes, mine is not in Miami, but this city is much better than my family and I used to live, my parents also got good jobs here in the city." Jake was glad to hear that, he didn''t know David went to a university in Miami, he must have made up his mind in recent years, and Mark was a different story, he remembered that Mark''s family preferred him to go for a good college than playing basketball on a good team at the university. "It''s good to know you''re going to be near Miami, you know that as long as my mom lives here and has a restaurant where I''ll always consider this place my home." "Yes, it was she who told us you were here during the holidays, we thought you were traveling or with your girlfriend." "Kate is not my girlfriend, it''s a more complicated story than you might think, but who knows what might happen in the future, but let''s stop talking about me, how was your first year at university?" "For me, it was very good, I did very well with my classes and my grades, in basketball my team is only in NCAA Division II, but at least I can play as a starting player, my team is very offensive just the way I like of play." "We did well in the conference championship, but we didn''t win or qualify for the NCCA Division 2 championship." "I also did very well in my classes and my basketball team is also from NCAA Division II like David''s, I played as a starting player and I''m the main player of my team, we haven''t had such a good season, but my style of game was highly praised." Jake understood that Davis must be really happy because he realized that he would never have the ability to play in the NBA one day, so he would rather play as a starter on an NCAA Division II team than always be a spare on an NCAA Division I team. But Mark didn''t look that happy, he had the talent and ability to play as an NCAA Division I team starter like Jake and even if he didn''t become an NBA player he would still be happy to do what he could. But because of his family, Mark had to choose a university that had better classes than one with a stronger basketball team, he even tried to get into Princeton, but they didn''t want him there because this season''s team was so strong. Jake felt sorry for his friend but didn''t know if Mark really had the talent to be a pro, but he hoped that Mark could do what he wanted and then see if it was right, now what he could do was support Mark in his decision. After that they were talking for a few hours about the year at the university, in fact, much of the conversation both asked what was going on at the UNC and Jake''s team that was the NCAA tournament champion. In fact, they were both very surprised when they saw on television how well Jake played well on the star-studded Tar Heels team and yet became the team''s best player and had such a great first season. They even thought to see that Jake couldn''t play as well as he could because the team was bad and he couldn''t play the best he could, that wasn''t true because Jake improved when he faced tough opponents. "I have a basketball court here at my house, if you wanted to play we could play some games to relax." "No, I don''t even think about playing like you are so good now, instead we go to a court near here that always has young people playing, we can make a three against three and win easily." Jake and Mark liked David''s idea and so they went to a place near the Miami beaches that David knew always had young people playing, it would be a little cowardly Jake who was almost professional and David and Mark who also played on college teams. But they just wanted to have fun and the other players were unlucky enough to face these three college players, they got there in David''s car because Jake''s car was in college. Chapter 345 Busy Holiday 9 Jake even considered buying another car to use when he was in Miami, but then decided to wait until he had more money, because he wanted to buy an even better car later, maybe when he got into the NBA he could buy an ideal car without moving in his investments. But it was better to go to the court in David''s car which was more common, Jake didn''t want to be recognized if possible, he wore sunglasses and a bandana to hide his hair, David and Mark laughed at Jake, but had to admit that He disguised himself very well. Jake was very famous after becoming a winning college basketball player and well-known marathon athlete, but in Miami, he was much better known than anywhere in America, it was much easier for someone to recognize Jake in Miami than in his own. his university. It wasn''t everyone who knew him, but if he just walked a street for a few minutes someone would surely always recognize him, on a basketball court that was almost certain to happen. Amazingly on the court was the place he didn''t stand out so much because of his height, many basketball players were tall and Jake could disguise himself better than in a mall. David soon went looking for people who wanted to play with them, soon three men showed up to play against Jake''s team, two of the men were tall and only one was smaller, but Jake and Mark were bigger than their opponents. Even though the opponents were not intimidated and soon spoke to start the game, Jake had brought one of his balls from his house to make sure they had no trouble playing, Jake agreed with Mark and David that he would pass the ball more than he would point to disguise. David said that was not right and it was better than Jake at least did some layups to disguise and Mark agreed, so Jake had to accept that, David would not play with the best Tar Heels scorer and allow Jake not to make any points, It was a waste. In a short time the game started and the opposing team started with the ball, the lower one was called Rick, he looked like a PG, the others were Joe who looked like a Center and Paul who looked like a PF. Just for this game Jake would mark Paul who was taller and David would mark Rick who was the smallest, Mark would mark Joe who was of the same height and position as him, Rick tried to feint at David, but David would not allow and defend well every time. David could play on a more offensive team, but he had to train hard on defense and of course he would improve this year at university playing, seeing that he could not pass by David, Rick passed the ball to Joe, Joe got a spin with speed and Mark followed Joe''s movement. Joe pulled back and attempted a hook shot to make the first 2 points for their team, Mark did not expect it and was a little embarrassed to have allowed his opponent to score. David didn''t care about that and then passed the ball to Jake to restart the game, Jake moved slowly to pitch and went to David again, David held the ball and made a quick feint to pass Rick and advance to make the 2 points with a layup. Rick took the ball to make another play for his team and Mark seemed determined to defend this time, Jake was calm and Rick realized this and passed the ball to Paul, Rick thought that Jake was calm because he didn''t care about the game and wanted to enjoy it. Paul tried to get past Jake a few times and realized that even though Jake was taller than he was also faster, so he tried a feint and Jake naturally didn''t fall, so Paul tried to get past Jake protecting the ball. Jake let Paul pass and Paul tried the layup to make the two points, Jake reacted quickly and made a block on Paul taking his chance to make the points, Jake advanced slowly and passed to David again. David tried to make a feint and failed and so passed the ball back to Jake, Jake made a quick pass to Mark who received the free ball and made a Dunk to make 2 points, Mark looked excited and David also to play with Jake again. So the game went on and Joe scored a few more points using the hook shot and Rick also managed to score a few points by getting rid of David''s defense, only Paul couldn''t score any points over Jake who made two blocks and one steal. So the opposing team gave up making moves with Paul to leave Jake alone, David and Mark realized that incredibly Jake had done much better in defense and was not even trying hard to defend against Paul. They were glad they decided not to play against Jake at his house, they would lose even if Jake didn''t play seriously against them, David was just having fun and Mark was annoying that Joe had made several hook shots on him and he couldn''t defend. Jake realized that Mark wanted to defend on his own to show what he was capable of, so he didn''t help Mark in defense, and Jake thought this Joe was very skilled even though he was just an amateur player. Jake played slowly and did not attempt any three-point shots, who saw that he really was a PF in this game, without doing what he normally did in games no one would think that Jake was that Tar Heels PG. As he was just having fun Jake made his signature moves he had created, the Ghost moves and the Elastic pass, even though his signature moves Jake didn''t use much in college games and so no one would recognize him. The Elastic pass was mostly used by Jake because sometimes a pass was needed that the opponent expected, but the Ghost dribbling was unnecessary against the university opponents, currently only with his agility and crossover Jake could easily pass the opponents. Jake didn''t want to use the moves he created so much that his opponents didn''t find a way to stop those moves, it was better to save them when needed or for the NBA, but for a game like that he liked to use. After a while, the game was 18 for Jake''s team and 12 for the opposing team, who scored the most points on the other side was Joe with 8 points were all making a hook shot that Mark didn''t know how to defend against. Jake saw that Mark was annoyed by it and decided to do something against it, he advanced the ball and passed it to David, David understood that Jake wanted to do something and passed it to Jake when he went inside. Jake stood with his back to the basket and used his strength to advance, Paul could do nothing to stop Jake who was much stronger, when he got close to the basket Jake pulled away and made a Skyhook Shot make 2 points. This Skyhook Shot which was the move that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar created when done well was impossible to defend against this move, Jake naturally had the necessary talent and was bigger than his opponent and can easily make the move. Joe who saw this understood that Jake was telling him that this was how to make a good hook shot, he was a little embarrassed to be proud of the hooks he made before, they would lose the game anyway. The others even wondered if Jake was any Center or PF from some professional or college team to play that well, but they couldn''t remember anyone like that and after Rick scored 2 more points, Jake made another Skyhook Shot and ended up with the game-winning. David and Mark had fun playing again with Jake and had to say that Jake was much better than a year ago, Mark was embarrassed because most points were made against him, but after a while, the three were laughing and they forgot of this. They played again before the three broke up and Jake returned home alone, who knows when they would meet again, but Jake was glad to see his former teammates. Being calmer Jake trained in the coming weeks with Coach Davis just as they had arranged before, one-day training for the 10,000 meters and the other training for the marathon. Jake was already running quietly three times a day the 10,000 meters with the best time he could that was 28 minutes, but as it was better for him to get used to running at the 10,000 meters pace was better than for a few months he keeps running at that pace. With a few days to go before World Championships in Athletics, Jake flew to Athens, Greece to join the US team to wait for the start of World Championships in Athletics and wait until the last day to compete. This time Jake was no longer an unknown novice but one of the biggest names in athletics in the world and was very well received by the other athletes, he can talk to Maurice Greene and Michael Johnson who were great names in athletics without being uncomfortable. Jake remembered that this was one of the worst years for the United States in this decade''s World Athletics World Championship with only 6 gold medals won, he could perhaps win one more gold medal for this team. He had the confidence to do that, but he had to wait for anything to happen so that he would not be disappointed after that, the American team seemed excited and hopeful to get many medals in this world. Chapter 346 Busy Holiday 10 On August 1, 1997, the 6th World Championships in Athletics officially started, Jake was not as excited here as he was at the Olympics, it was a great and incredible event, but something the Olympics lacked. Jake wasn''t as nervous as he was in the Olympics anymore because he knew he was the favorite to win the marathon, Jake just wanted to follow the finals that he knew the United States would win a gold medal and also the 10,000 meters and the 5,000-meter test. He would like to see the events that the United States would win and also the events he would play after a few years, as soon as the World Championships in Athletics began the days passed quickly. Zhang Yi can accompany the United States by winning some gold medals, he followed the proof that Maurice Greene won his first gold medal in international competitions in the 100 meters and also saw the 400 meters proof that Michael Johnson won the gold medal. He also saw the women''s 100-meter event that Marion Jones won the gold medal, after which he saw no further evidence that the United States won and only waited until it was his turn. Of course, he also saw the 10,000-meter race that Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia easily wins and saw the 5,000-meter race that Daniel Komen from Kenya won, these were the most important events Jake saw because it could be him winning at future. Since Jake already knew his current time was enough to win the seventh place in this 10,000-meter race, of course, he wouldn''t want to run just to finish seventh, but that already showed how he had a great time already proof. If Jake did as Coach Davis wanted he could have some training time to easily win this race in the future, but Jake wanted time to break the world record and be one of the best athletes in the world. After all, he could relax in the marathons he was running at the Olympics and in the worlds because he could break the world record where he wanted in official marathons around the world, but in the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters he could not do that because he would only run in World Cups and Olympics. The days passed and soon came the day of the last day of the 1997 World Championships in Athletics, this time just as Jake knew it would be the United States was not as well as in other worlds, so the excitement of the American team athletes was no longer so big. But this day was different and everyone was excited because they knew it was marathon day and Jake was the favorite to win this marathon, as Jake had won this year two marathons a few months ago was almost certain that he was in great shape to win today too. So in the morning before the marathon began when athletes were warming up for the marathon Jake was the center of attention, Mart¨ªn Fiz who was the current champion of this world championship having won in 1995. But even the best time of Martin Fiz''s career was not close to the time Jake ran this year, everyone knew that Jake had not missed a marathon that had competed since New York a few years ago. And he had won several since then, which gave more pressure to the other marathoners who were competing in this marathon when the marathon started everyone rushed to try to win and maybe only Jake was calmer. "We are now starting to follow this marathon in this World Championships in Athletics here in Greece, in a little over two hours we will see who will win and win another medal in this event." "There are many who can win this marathon like the Spanish athletes who are doing very well in the last world championships, we have Abel Ant¨®n and the champion in 1995 Mart¨ªn Fiz, but the biggest favorite for sure is Jake Smith who is the current Olympic champion and who has the world record in marathons." "Sure enough, Jake Smith is the favorite in this marathon today, he''s doing very well this year beating the Boston and London marathons even competing in both marathons in the same month and right after leaving a tiring college basketball season." "After more than three months of rest I think he''s in great shape for today''s marathon, and the two marathons he won were under 2 hours and 8 minutes, a really amazing result." "He is certainly one of the best athletes in the world today and only 18, he is also the hope of the American people to win another medal in this World Championships in Athletics that has been having one of the worst performances of the American team." As Jake had always started at the same pace that he ran in training, this steady pace was the key to winning marathons without wasting much energy, in the first few km he still encountered other athletes running at a pace more similar to his. But after the 4km incredibly, the athletes began to slow down since the start of the marathon and Jake took the lead by running alone, with no athletes to run along Jake knew he would spend a lot more energy. Still keeping the same pace was the most important thing for Jake and he was used to running much faster in training for 50 km and alone, after the 10 km race, Jake had already opened a big advantage of the second group and kept running. "Jake is already well ahead in the lead running at the pace he normally runs in other marathons, the other athletes seem much slower than usual and so Jake had to run alone from the first few km, which could hurt him at the end of this marathon and lack of energy." "He probably knows that well and yet decided to run at the same pace he''s used to, we all know that pace is much more important in a long-distance race even to conserve energy." "That''s right, winning a lot of marathons Jake has already proven he has a lot of stamina and that he can beat this marathon even running alone from the start. Jake didn''t really care about that, all the elite athletes had their own race pace and the final time of the race winner for what Jake remembered wasn''t that bad, but he would run at the pace he knew was the way to go that he always trained. In the last km, Jake could preserve his stamina by running more slowly, but in the first km it was important for him to maintain a strong running pace, after the 20 km marathon Jake was 58 minutes long and was very much in the lead. The runner-up was over 5 minutes behind him which was well over 1km, the other athletes who knew Jake was already getting anxious because they knew that Jake should be far ahead in the race. Normally Jake only slowed down the last few km of the marathon, by then the other athletes would be many km behind him and even Jake''s slower pace was the normal pace of the other athletes. They could only hope that Jake would run out of energy for the last few km so that he could lose the first place, but that was hard to come by, Eva who was watching the race at home and Coach Davis were already quiet waiting for Jake to win in that race marathon. After the 30 km, Jake had run in 1 hour and 27 minutes, the runner-up was 9 minutes behind which was almost 3 km away, realizing this and having expended a lot of energy in this marathon Jake began to slow his running pace slowly. "Jake now, as in other marathons is already slowing down to manage the lead until he wins, he is almost 3 km ahead of second place, with an incredible advantage he can slow the pace at ease." "Jake really is the best marathoner in the world today, it''s amazing what he can do at just 18 years old, he wins the marathon at the last Olympics and is winning this marathon at the World Championships in Athletics, are the two main competitions for athletes and Jake is winning." "He is also the current world record holder and has won 4 of the world''s top marathons, and he has won in Chicago twice, no one can doubt that he is the best marathon player today." "In this marathon, the other elite athletes from other countries have run at a very slow pace and so since the start of this race Jake has been leading the lead on his own from the start." "This is something that does not happen in the marathons he competes in America, where athletes who know they have no chance of winning know that Jake has a very strong excellent pace and so they run with him for more than half of the marathon." "It started a few marathons ago and in the last marathons that happened in New York and Boston the athletes who ran in Jake''s group got great finishes at the end of the marathon." "This could have happened in today''s marathon, all athletes running today are the elites of the countries and can run up to 50 km at a fast pace with the right control, so athletes who know they had no chance of winning could try to keep up Jake''s pace and maybe in the top 3." "It''s true, I don''t know if anyone thinks about it, but if I was an athlete who didn''t think about winning I would definitely run with Jake, everyone knows that running with him is to guarantee a stable race." Jake didn''t know what the commentators were saying and just kept running slowing down he enjoyed running in groups because it could save a lot of energy and stamina, and also because he had confidence that even running with a great athlete could win over the last few km by increasing the pace of racing. Chapter 347 Back for the Sophomore Year 1 Of course, the commentators couldn''t know that Jake could run faster than his own world record when he wanted to, so it was natural for them to think that way, Jake kept running smoothly. After running the 40km marathon Jake still had a big lead in second place, at this point, it was clear that Jake would win this marathon, Jake was running at a slower pace just to make sure he wasn''t even tired after running these 40 km. After earning two resistance points this year by winning both major marathons and gaining strength points, he had no problem winning a marathon even running at the pace he was training. Even more, after he went through Coach Davis''s resistance training that was preparing Jake for long-distance running, even though he tired more running alone he had spent less stamina for running using some techniques he learned from Coach Davis. When Jake crossed the 42 km and entered the Olympic Stadium it was certain that he would win easily, American fans and sports fans applauded Jake who was winning one more marathon and one more gold medal at the World Championships in Athletics. "And Jake wins this marathon at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics, it''s certainly well deserved for what Jake has been doing in the last few years in marathons." "It''s true, Jake wins another gold medal for the American team that underperformed the World Championships in Athletics one year." "Let''s wait and see if Jake will run another marathon later this year or now focus on college basketball again, I''m sure he''s bringing a lot of pride to UNC by winning that gold medal." Jake received one more gold medal later and was proud to receive just as he did after the Olympics, Jake hoped that in the next few years he could win many more medals like this and maybe other medals as well. Jake eventually found a reporter who was interviewing the other athletes who won and who performed well at this World Championships in Athletics, Jake usually did not give interviews after marathons, but as the reporter was in front of him Jake could not just leave. "Mr. Smith, may I have an interview with you?" "Yes of course." "Thank you so much, what did you feel after you first won a gold medal in a world cup?" "It is very good, it is a great pride to win such a marathon with the best runners from various countries, especially since today I am representing my country which makes this victory more special." "How do you feel when you''re just 18 and already having major achievements such as a gold medal in the Olympics and World Championships in Athletics and winning several of the world''s top marathons?" "I think age is not very important in sport, anyone at all ages can win a race if they have the best performance on marathon day, I''m just happy to think that for my current age I can go on and on for several years running for more marathons." "And this year do you plan to participate in any other marathon or will you focus on basketball again?" "I plan to participate in one more marathon this year at least, maybe I can do another one before I focus fully on basketball." "One last question, what did you think of the American team''s performance at the World Championships in Athletics this year?" "I thought it was a very good performance, the athletes from my country worked as hard as I did and we couldn''t win more gold medals this year because the competition was so tough and the athletes from other countries were better." "Thank you for your time and congratulations again for winning the gold medal." "Thank you." Jake didn''t like these interviews very much because sometimes reporters might ask a question that made the athlete uncomfortable and might give the wrong answer, as well as the question of what Jake thought about the performance of the American team. Even though Jake has relieved the American team and praised athletes from other countries which might be a good answer, he may have offended athletes from other countries who have competed in the World Championships in Athletics in other years that the American team won several medals of gold. But he was happy for the victory and so didn''t care much about it, at the end of the day Jake went to a dinner party with some of the American athletes who won medals to celebrate this World Championships in Athletics. Jake couldn''t drink, so he stayed for a short time at dinner so as not to disrupt the fun of the other athletes, the next day Jake would return to Miami to spend time with his mother until it was time to return to university later this month. Jake wanted to see what the other players on the team would be like when they found out that Coach Dean Smith had left the team, he figured it would come as a surprise to everyone, but it wouldn''t be a problem for the team''s performance because he remembered that the team would have a great performance this year. He hoped that by what he did last year on the team and with coach Guthridge in charge of the team he could play much longer and thus achieve better personal results than last year. At the hotel resting Jake was happy in the room because he got the news from the system that he had received 1 statistic point in each physical statistic for winning the marathon at the World Championships in Athletics. Jake didn''t count on those statistic points, but he thought he might end up getting to be a major international competition for athletes, even after a few years that points to win the major circuit counted, the points in the World Championships in Athletics also counted. "Fate, show me my statistics on my third job." [Here it is.] Statistics Jake -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 18 years] [Job: Runner] [Height: 2.01 m] [Weight: 103 Kg] [Force 42] [Agility 39] [Resistance 42] [Intelligence 60] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Techniques [Second Lung A] [Iron Body A] --------------------------------- Seeing his stats Jake was happy to see that he was improving a lot because he could gain 1 more stat point in resistance and 1 stat point in agility after winning another major marathon. That would help Jake a lot in marathons, and also when he needed his agility to run in close-ups, even the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter events could be easier with more agility points. Strength was important for Jake in basketball as well, even though he thought he had more strength than even the strongest Center and players from other positions in the NBA, it was important for him to play and also to increase accuracy in the three shots points. Jake always trained hundreds of three-point shots every day he could to get a few more stamina bars that he gets as a reward for making many three-point shots, so he could see that after hundreds of tries his accuracy was better now than before with 4 points less strength. But in the game, he didn''t know if this minimal improvement in accuracy could make such a difference, after all, Jake already had an incredible accuracy rate of over 70 percent in games, and that was an average of 8 shots of three points per game. So he didn''t think this accuracy could improve much with just a few strong points, he realized that when the system said it could have nearly 80 percent hit rate with more than 50 strength points it was more or less correct. After all, 4 strength points didn''t make much of a difference in accuracy, so maybe 8 more strength statistics could increase some hit rate points, and the accuracy also depended on his three-point shooting skills and some of his lucky too. In the NBA he knew that his accuracy would only be lower because the opposing players in defense would only be better and the pressure for him to hit would only be higher, so the strength statistic was just one of the factors for Jake to hit more. Even so, Jake was pleased because he knew that thanks to the system he had a big advantage over other basketball players, proof of that is the 70 percent hit rate with 8 out of three shots per game. That number this season could increase to as much as 11 per game and the hit rate would decrease, but Jake would be happy if he scored more points for the Tar Heels team even if he had a lower hit rate. The other day Jake returned to Miami and celebrated again with his mother and Anna when he got home, Jake still avoided going to the restaurant because in less than 15 days he would go to university again and did not want to cause unnecessary trouble for anyone. Maybe by the time he got back early next year Lola had already forgotten about him and everything was going to be the same as before, his mother and Anna were so grateful that Jake understood that and didn''t bother with it. They were amazed at how Jake had become arrogant after all he had achieved even though he was so young, he was very rich, handsome, famous, and achieved a number of achievements to make anyone arrogant, but still humble around people. Also, even though she was excellent as a child, Anna and Eva realized how Jake matured and became a responsible adult over the years, he didn''t make many mistakes before. Jake wouldn''t be proud if he knew his mother and Anna thought that of him, because he always had an adult mentality and only his age as a child, so it wasn''t for him to have matured with a few years. Chapter 348 Back for the Sophomore Year 2 But if it was to say he got any better Jake could be happy about it, it could be true that his young body might have affected his personality a little in those years, also had the fact that Jake had suffered so much in his past life and have been very antisocial. Everything about this life of his was very different from what he experienced in the past life at the same age, he had other opportunities and had another mindset to make different and more correct decisions, not to mention that with his mother not working and happy it was all different. Jake also had more friends, more money, more work, and even in love relationships he had more experiences than in 40 years of his past life, it was a different and happier life than Jake had. That day Jake received calls from all his sponsors who were very happy with Jake getting this gold medal, now Jake was even more beloved in America as a sports hero than before. Jake''s nickname was spreading and his fame as a winning athlete was also increasing, because Jake was different at just 18 years old, winning so many times and still playing basketball, even people''s interest in marathons and athletics, in general, It was increasing. The television audience of this World Championships in Athletics was the largest in history and by far the difference, as Jake was running in the marathon the world audience at the World Championships in Athletics peaked. This was good for everyone, and even the athletic associations in the United States and the world were spreading more about Jake''s achievements in promoting the sport in general, which was great for Jake''s sponsors. If the internet were more used in these years this disclosure would be much greater, who was happy with it was also the sports agent of Jake David Falk and who was sad about it was Nike who missed the chance to reach an agreement with Jake before offering a better offer. Now Jake was a sports idol and was sure to star in the NBA, so Nike''s next offer to Jake would have to be a few times bigger to get a deal with him if they didn''t lose that chance to the other sports companies of shoes. Many companies were also thinking about how to get a sponsorship deal with Jake, some even had some unofficial conversations with David Falk about it, but he was clever and didn''t confirm anything. That''s because David was confident that Jake''s value would increase greatly in the coming years until he entered the NBA, at least he could wait until the end of next college basketball season if the Tar Heels team won again Jake''s value would increase even more. Of course, this was all a hypothesis and none of this could happen, but if Jake played worse this season even if he had a contract signed earlier the company could just forget about that deal when Jake joined the NBA. Unbeknownst to Jake and David, Alan''s company and John''s company also planned to offer a new sponsorship deal with Jake in the NBA, even though Jake said he would not renew this NBA contract, they intended to offer Jake a millionaire offer and also appeal to Jake''s loyalty that has already been proven in those years of contracting with Tiffany and Clara''s companies. In those years that they had a sponsorship deal with Jake, they had more sales than ever before. Last year the company sales increased by almost 50 percent, so for a big company like theirs that was too much for them to miss out on. Big companies like theirs usually had to invest millions a year in sponsorship just to stay in the market with competitors as rich as the leading companies in the market, even if they spent more than 10 million to increase their sales by hundreds of millions of dollars would be very worth it. But that would be hard to come by because the biggest companies in the industry in this area had already realized this and could offer an even bigger offer than they did to Jake, this was something neither Jake nor David Falk could expect. After all this Jake can spend the next few weeks with his mother just relaxing and talking, he talked to Joseph and Matthew a few times in those weeks, the sales results had not come out, but Matthew already knew it was better than the sales of the last year which excited him and Jake a lot. So Jake was much more relaxed than anything that happened this year and last year, so by the end of the month Jake was ready to go back to university, this time he knew everything he had to go through that he could hardly relax until the month May of next year. Eva wasn''t so sad about Jake going to university this time either, she knew this was best for Jake and that soon Jake would be back again to spend a few months with her, in fact, Eva was a little relieved because with Jake at university Lola would be quieter. When Jake returned from university Eva hoped that everything would be resolved and that Lola could finally accept that she couldn''t be with Jake anymore, because Eva had a feeling that a lot would happen next year in Jake''s life. She felt that Kate who seemed to be far away, for now, would go into Jake''s life at once next year and would not go out anymore, as a woman Eva understood what Kate felt more than Jake knew and even though she wasn''t famous as Kate was she knew the heart was the same for everyone. When Jake returned to university he could meet friends in the dorm who had already returned, they no longer had to stay in the dorm this year because of a university obligation, but they all got so close that no one in the room wanted to leave the dorm. In fact, they thought it would be Jake who could come out of the dorm because they had already heard that Jake received millions of dollars a year of sponsorship and so should be very rich, but when Jake said no, no one else thought about leaving. Zack was the most relaxed after returning to college because even though he had stayed home on this vacation he didn''t have to travel because his home was close to the university. So for Zack, nothing changed in this vacation, Jake was very pleased because it seemed that Zack ran almost every day in those university vacation months, even without Jake to inspect Zack still ran because he found he loved it. Now Zack could run up to 30 km a day if he worked hard and in very good time for an amateur runner, this was much more than other amateur runners needed to do to run a marathon just thinking of completing the marathon. Jake had promised that if Zack had a satisfactory training time he would take him to run a marathon, so this year he thought and saw that he couldn''t take another date to run a marathon in North Carolina. "Zack, you did very well in your training this year, you may have done more preparation than was necessary because of my training, but even if you ever think about giving up running this training will be great for your health." "I know that Jake, I appreciate everything you did for me, I know how busy you are and yet you took some of your time to talk to me and bothered to prepare this training for me and encouraged me to run." "Even though at first it was hard to have you running with me it gave me the strength to carry on and now I know I can say that I love running and have no difficulty running up to 20 km a day without getting tired." "It''s true Jake, if Zack can get a girlfriend even though he''s ugly like that is because he has an athletic body for training with you." Listening to what William said, the three of them laughed together, Zack always played with each other and now didn''t even care much that Jake and the others played with him that way, that''s how their friends were. "As I promised you if you want you can go with me to Chicago to run the marathon this year in October, I think you are prepared and this is my gift to you, it is my favorite marathon and I think you will enjoy running there too." "Of course I want, you can count on me to go there with you, thanks, Jake." "You deserve this, and you William, want to go with us there?" "No, I''m not even going to run with you, I''d rather watch on television you win and Zack be ashamed to go to Chicago and not finish the marathon." The three of them played some more and then went to rest, Jake had not yet returned to training with the basketball team and just the next day would return to do the daily training with Zack. Aaron was not in the dorm because he was training hard now, after completely recovering from the injury and doing the physical therapy exercises Aaron felt he was doing as well as before the injury. Now he was training harder because soon the university would be testing to recruit more athletes for the university''s American football team, so from what Jake saw from Aaron''s training he didn''t think he would have trouble joining the team again. Jake highly respected Aaron who after a year away from football had returned after an injury and what the university did to him, Jake didn''t think he could do that and would definitely go to another university after recovering. Jake was thinking that he might help Aaron with training a few times, after all with his physical statistics and his training, Jake was better than some university quarterbacks. Chapter 349 Back for the Sophomore Year 3 By the end of September Jake would still have to go to Berlin to participate in this marathon, this was a marathon that Jake wanted to participate even if he didn''t have to run all 6 major marathons. Besides being in a country that has a great history, it was considered the fastest marathon in the world ever, if it wasn''t because the Chicago marathon was Jake''s favorite he wouldn''t mind breaking his own world record in that marathon. Maybe if he had an interest in doing that and if he was feeling well that day he could break his own world record in Berlin, but it was something he would have to see at the end of the month. What Jake knew was that he would have to break his world record this year again to shorten his time, because even though he remembers that his record should stay for a few years next year in Berlin a Brazilian athlete named Ronaldo da Costa will only run 3 seconds above this record. And in 1999 someone will run almost 1 minute below his current record, so by that year that Jake had gotten a lot of stamina and agility stat points, he was thinking of improving his current record. He could slightly lower the record this year and next year do it again, or he could run at a time that guaranteed his world record would hold for several years, that was the only doubt he had because Jake had the confidence to break his record when he wanted to. This year at the World Championships in Athletics Jake had finished the marathon with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 2 seconds, because he knew he could win even by slowing down and also making time above 2 hours and 8 minutes. So when he broke the world record he would impress everyone running more than 2 minutes faster than his time, but that was only for the end of the year and there was still a long time before that happened. After a few days at the university, classes had started and Jake was finally called to the Dean Smith Center for the basketball team to meet for training, he hoped it would be now that Coach Guthridge would take over the team and say that the coach Dean Smith had left. Coach Dean Smith''s retirement was different from what Jake remembered in his past life, it happened well before and Coach Smith should have decided to retire after winning the NCAA tournament last season. So Jake who was very discreet received no question from any reporter about Coach Smith''s retirement as Jake remembered that several players were asked in Jake''s past life. Just as Jake expected Coach Guthridge and Coach Smith were on the court and the mood seemed to be tense on the court, the rest of the coaching staff were present and even some representatives of the university administration were. "Well, today you were called because I have a very important announcement to make, after coaching this team for 36 years I decided that I would retire before this year''s season started." When coach Dean Smith said these many players were shocked and few expected it, after that some players were more thrilled and seemed to be almost crying. Jake knew that some players like Shammond Williams and Antawn Jamison were very fond of Coach Smith and treated him like a father, Vince Carter and even Ed Cota were like that, other players were thrilled as well. Although Jake had some problems with Coach Smith, he also respected and liked him very much, he was just not shocked and not too sad because before entering university he had expected to train with Coach Smith for only 1 year. But if he didn''t know that before he would be shocked too, other players like Ed Cota who hoped to play the four years with Coach Smith should be more shocked by this, everyone knew he was a great coach who was legendary across the country and not just at UNC. "Don''t be so sad, I had decided that after winning my third NCAA title last year, it was the best retirement gift you could have given me, I''m already 66 years old and I want some time with my family now." "I already talked to the university while you were on vacation and they agreed to leave Coach Guthridge as a coach for this season at least, I would like to thank you and all of you players who have given me so much joy in my last years as a coach." "Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, Antawn Jamison, Ademola Okulaja, Ed Cota and Jake Smith, thank you very much for your victories last season and all the other players as well." After that Coach Smith spoke a few more words and was so thrilled with the players and even Jake was thrilled to hear Coach Smith saying goodbye, it was time for the retirement of one of the best college coaches and all American college basketball. So the players were excused from training until after another 10 days and Jake learned that the other day Coach Smith would hold a press conference announcing his retirement, the university would be very busy this year with the family of players who would call the university. After all many of the parents agreed to enroll their children at this university because Coach Smith was on the basketball team, it would now be difficult to prove that Coach Guthridge could do a great job as well. Jake even called his mother to tell her not to worry and rest assured that Coach Guthridge was very good too, in fact having Jake on this team would help a lot to tell the athletes'' parents to trust that the team would play well this year. Jake remembered when he had dinner and a farewell party at the end of last season for Serge Zwikker and his friend Charlie McNairy, they both graduated from university last season and Jake made sure to organize something to say goodbye to them. Zwikker was one of the best players on the Tar Heels team last season and the rebounds he took helped Jake and the whole team win a lot of games, and Charlie McNairy has become a good friend of Jake since the beginning of the season. Charlie was also the one who took Jake into the fraternity and helped Jake get along better with the team, so Jake intended to remain his friend after graduation, of course in the coming years this was hard to come by, but Jake knew about the internet and I counted on that. In these conversations Jake ended up saying what they both thought would happen if Coach Smith retired, they spent many years with Coach Smith and couldn''t even imagine Coach Smith who had been coaching the Tar Heels team for 36 seasons to suddenly retire. Now Jake saw how shocked all the players were about this, he thought it was good that he was prepared for it and so didn''t shake as much as the other players, the other day Jake saw Coach Smith''s retirement press conference. It was amazing to see how many newspapers, magazines and television shows just talked about it in the next few days, Jake saw the university students and alumni thrill about it and even his former player interviews with Michael Jordan. Coach Smith was a legend in the sport and had an incredible winning record, thanks to Jake too he can wrap up his career with a 34-season finale and just 2 losses and ACC tournament champion and NCAA title. So it was his third NCAA title in his career, something that was amazing in all college basketball, so it was not wrong to say that perhaps the best college basketball coach of today was retiring. Coach Dean Smith was also important in the college basketball social issues and was respected by everyone so having lived close to coach Jake could understand more and respect that coach. Jake was also called in to talk about Coach Dean Smith''s retirement by a reporter, as many players in the current team and former players said it was not right that Jake would not talk about it being the main player of the Tar Heels team and college basketball at present. "Mr. Smith, you knew about Coach Smith''s retirement before this announcement." "They never said any of this to me and Coach Smith didn''t say anything to me before the holidays." Jake had to be careful with that answer because he already knew about it, but since no one had ever talked about it to him it looked like he could be lying if he said he already knew. "And what are you feeling knowing about this news?" "I think it''s a shame I can''t have him coach this season anymore, he''s a great coach and was instrumental in winning the team last season, it was an honor to be able to play with the team he coached last year and still be able to win the NCAA title." "Are you worried about the team this season?" "No, it''s certainly a big loss that Coach Smith has retired and great players have also left the team like Serge Zwikker, but our team is still going strong this season and I trust Coach Guthridge can do a great job too." "So you are confident that the Tar Heels team can win the NCAA tournament this year?" "I''m confident about that and I think my team has the ability to do it again like we did last year, but anything can happen in basketball." "Thanks for the answers, Jake." Jake''s interview was very good showing the confidence he had in him and the team and especially coach Guthridge, he also said only good things about retiring coach Smith who spoke well of Jake also in an interview. Chapter 350 Back for the Sophomore Year 4 This calmer Jake interview helped the university calm down the players'' family and show that everything would be all right, the other star players on the team were very shaken by the revelation that Coach Smith was retiring and seeing calm Jake helped the university. This was natural because Jake already knew about it, but it showed people that he had better control over his emotions, in the next few days Jake was calmer with all this and continued with his marathon training with Zack. They also interviewed Eva about Coach Smith''s retirement and she was neither shocked nor worried about it, she had rarely seen and spoken with Coach Smith because it was Coach Guthridge who spoke to her more often and Jake told her that everything was fine. Coach Davis had also returned from Miami and was at the hotel where he had previously lived with his family, he just had to supervise Jake''s training because temporarily he had nothing more to teach Jake. When his basketball team training resumed Jake would stop the current training he was doing at the gym and start using only basketball player training just like the whole team did. After more than a week of training with the basketball team returned just over 10 days before Jake''s marathon, he had already talked about it with Coach Guthridge after everyone learned about Coach Smith''s retirement. Coach Guthridge was the one who took Jake to the team and knew how well Jake was dedicated to training and an excellent player, so he would naturally allow Jake to miss a few days of training to run a marathon. After all, it was almost certain that Jake would win this marathon and it would only further improve the image of the university and the Tar Heels team, Coach Guthridge had hoped that the team could win the NCAA title this year as well. That would be great for the university and it would be even better for him as a coach this year, he did not intend to have a long career as coach of the Tar Heels team and if not well could leave even before the end of this season. But if he could, he would like to win an ACC tournament and maybe also an NCAA tournament, so when he left the team he would be more proud of what he did, and he knew he would have to rely on Jake to do that. Just as Jake had told Serge Zwikker that it was the team''s Center graduated and now the team had no Zwikker-level players for that position, Coach Guthridge was perhaps considering using Makhtar N''Diaye to play as Center if needed. But upon further thought he decided to do something bolder with the team formation, the Tar Heels team last season was one of the teams that took the most offensive and defensive rebounds. It was often Zwikker who caught the most rebounds, but that was because he was taller and better positioned most of the time, the other players like Jamison, Carter, Okulaja, Williams, and Jake also being great at rebounding. Because of Jake on the team and the team having great players many skilled players sometimes had to take turns to play, only Zwikker, Jamison and Jake stayed on the court almost all the time for the extreme quality they had. But with Zwikker out of the team maybe Okulaja could play longer on the court and Williams, Carter and Ed Cota could take turns in two positions to play longer on the court, Williams and Carter would play longer just like last year and Ed Cota could have more time to play than you had last year. In games that the team needed to attack more Okulaja could come out and the team would be more offensive than ever with Jake, Jamison, Carter, Williams and Ed Cota playing together, Jake was an excellent PG and was what organized the team, but Coach Guthridge, I knew Jake could play as PF and Center for a few minutes if needed for defense. Those were the thoughts Coach Guthridge had, and he thought it might work, with Ed Cota on the court playing PG sometimes Jake would have more freedom to score without worrying about positioning. He had no problem with that last season, but this season Jake would be the most marked player and would have many teams with opponents that could hinder Jake to make the plays. Of course, this was just a thought of Coach Guthridge, because with the initial formation he thought was Okulaja, Jamison, Carter, Williams, and Jake the team would already be very offensive and would have no problem winning most games for lack of power offensive. Several positioning and tactical drills were done without coach Guthridge telling the players what he planned to do, even Jake wasn''t sure what coach Guthridge could do with the team at the time of the game. Just like every year some players came back a little out of perfect physical condition, the holidays were a relaxing time for the players and that was normal, naturally just as everyone expected Jake had come back even better than at the end of last season. Some players realized that Jake was much stronger and faster than at the end-of-season games, which was too terrifying to think about analyzing Jake''s incredible season last year. Players just thought they were lucky to be on the same team as Jake, coach Guthridge was pleased with that and was much more confident for the season with Jake getting even better. Coach Guthridge knew it was because of the marathons that Jake was in such good shape even though he had just returned from vacation, so he even liked Jake to take part in some marathons to get more excited. After several days of training with the basketball team at the end of September Jake had to stop to go to Germany in Berlin to run this year''s marathon, John was already in Berlin and had already arranged a hotel for Jake to rest a day before the marathon. Coach Guthridge was kind and let Jake rest 3 days to participate in the marathon in Berlin, Jake accepted only two days and would return to university after running the marathon and resting for some time. This Berlin marathon was special to many people in different ways, it was Jake''s first time running this marathon and being a major marathon he could gain 1 point in endurance and 1 point in agility if he won this marathon. Another thing John was so excited about that Jake also knew was that an American athlete never won in the Berlin marathon, that was amazing if it was thought that a long time ago American athletes won many marathons around the world. For a country that was known to be very good at athletics in general never having won a marathon in a country that had one of the world''s leading marathons was a source of shame, as was the Tokyo Marathon, but the Berlin marathon was known for a long time much longer as one of the world''s leading marathons. So if Jake won this marathon he would go down in history for a different reason than other marathons, Jake trusted John so he can just rest quietly in the hotel and just wait to run the next day. The next morning Jake went to the race site to prepare to race in the Berlin Marathon when they saw Jake many were surprised that no one expected him to decide to participate in the Berlin Marathon this year. He had already raced in London and at the World Championships in Athletics this year and as it was near the time of the new basketball season everyone expected that if Jake was going to run a marathon it would be in Chicago or New York. Even more so now that everyone following the sport knew that team coach Tar Heels Dean Smith had retired and now Bill Guthridge was the new coach, this was a sensitive moment for Team Tar Heels. Everyone had realized from his interview that Jake was very calm about Coach Dean Smith''s retirement and trusted Coach Guthridge, how Jake had come to Berlin to participate in the marathon was proof that he had confidence. This was bad news for the other athletes thinking of winning the Berlin Marathon, after a while, the 1997 Berlin Marathon had officially started, Jake was still wondering whether or not to try to break his own world record in this race. "And another Berlin marathon begins in 1997, the weather is very good today for the marathon and we can expect to see a quick marathon." "Yes, to everyone''s surprise too, Jake Smith is an American athlete and the world''s best current marathon athlete came to run this marathon in Berlin, no one ever knows that Jake marathons are going to run this year and this is the fourth marathon Jake participates in." "True, he has run three marathons this year that are important to the whole world, in Boston, London, and also in Athens now at this year''s World Championships in Athletics." "After winning the gold medal at the World Championships in Athletics and having won the gold medal at the Olympics last year and several major marathons around the world, Jake is more than recognized for being the best marathon player in the world today." "Jake also has the current marathon world record and can try to break here in Berlin this year." "I find it hard for him to try to break the record in this marathon, if he tries, I think it will be in Chicago the next time he runs there." Chapter 351 Back for the Sophomore Year 5 "And why do you think that?" "It''s because he broke the current world record in Chicago last year, it''s a path he knows well and has run twice and is much better for him, here in Berlin is the first time he''s going to run this marathon and I think hard for him to try to break the world record." While the commentators talked about him and this marathon, Jake was already running the first few kilometers, he found groups of athletes to run along and ran with them while the other athletes ran at the same pace as him. Jake was already well known in the marathon world and everyone knew that his pace was very strong at the beginning of the race, so only amateur athletes and those who didn''t think of winning ran with him in the beginning. The other athletes who hoped to perform well watched Jake not to run faster than him in the first few km of the race, after all, if Jake who had a fast pace was behind them it was because these athletes were running far above the pace they intended. Jake didn''t care about that and already expects him to have to run alone in this marathon again, after all, he wasn''t running in America and it was hard to find athletes who wanted to run at such a strong pace since the start of the race. Most usually wanted to start slower and then increase their running pace over the last few km of the marathon, but for Jake who could run the entire marathon at a fast pace if he wanted to, he would rather take advantage of his opponents before finally controlling his final time would have in the marathon. After 5 km of the marathon, there were still some people trying to run in the same group as Jake, but they were not elite athletes and these people might not even finish the marathon, but at least in the first 5 km, they were in the lead. Beyond the first 10 km of the marathon, Jake could already feel that this marathon was actually easier to run at a faster pace, had not many turns and was flatter as well as the running track where he trained. The weather on this day was also very good and Jake could feel that even running alone he was not as tired as in other marathons, of course, he had gained more statistic points since the last marathon, but Jake felt it was really the marathon that was better to run faster. Seeing marathon conditions this year Jake felt that he could break his world record in this marathon and then if he wanted to break his own record again in the Chicago marathon where he intended to run several times over the next few years. After running the 20km marathon Jake could feel that it really was better to race in Berlin and he could easily break his running record at a faster pace without getting too tired. "We have reached almost half of this Berlin marathon and we see Jake again in the lead, this is the racing style he has been doing in various marathons and almost every time he runs at this pace with that advantage of the other runners he wins." "True, this is the style of running he created as a great stamina athlete like this at the end of the marathon so he can control his energy expenditure by slowing down and winning comfortably." "He ran that 20 km in less than an hour as he always does in other marathons, it''s amazing how much he has control of the running pace, even stopping a few times to hydrate he still keeps up the pace, and as many have noticed Jake didn''t even know wears a watch in the marathons he participates in." "I don''t know if he''s being a basketball player who has a different training interferes with his running style, but if it''s like other marathons Jake can win again today and be the first American athlete to win this Berlin marathon." Jake went on like this at a strong pace and passed the 30km marathon without slowing down, just after passing the 35km Jake began to slow his running pace slowly, Jake already had a time of 1 hour 41 minutes 40 seconds If he continued at the pace he was running he could finish the race while training which was far below his world record. Commentators were seeing how Jake came from a fast time, but as they tracked several marathons he ran they knew that at this point in a marathon he slowed his running pace and ended the marathon well below his world record. "Up to 35km from this marathon Jake has kept up the great pace since he started this marathon, but now as well as in the other marathons he''s slowing down and we''ll see how soon he will finish this Berlin marathon." "See how the runner-up Elijah Lagat and the other athletes are also running at a great pace and yet they are not even close to Jake and are over 1km behind him in this marathon." "This is his racing style, I personally think that if he pushed harder he could finish a marathon at a time well below his world record, but he''s the one who knows best the energy he has and how he gets tired in those marathons." "I''ve heard some expert theories on athlete mentality that Jake can always slow his marathon pace even though he''s doing well in the marathon for what happened in the second marathon he ran in New York." "He was at first running at a great pace below the world record that was not his at that time and well after the 30 km I don''t remember exactly how far he suffered an injury and so this was the only marathon he ever lost in his career coming up in second." Jake had heard about these theories and found it just funny, he had no trauma and if he wanted to could run at the pace he always ran in training, but he knew it would be at a time far below his world record and Jake thought not It was time for that. He planned whenever he could improve his race time in training to improve his official marathon time by breaking his own world record, he just thought of improving his record now because he feared that someone would break his current record. And also because on his next vacation Jake intended to improve his training time after getting all the statistics points in the major marathons, he wanted to run as fast as he could without getting exhausted. Jake''s goal for marathons was to break the 2-hour barrier and to be the best marathoner in the world for many years, Jake thought he was very capable of achieving this with the system helping him. But one thing about this theory was true because it was after the New York marathon that Jake decided to run the entire marathon at a very fast pace and only in the final km of the race slow down so as not to tire and risk any injuries. Jake slowed his pace for this marathon, but not much and continued fast because he wanted to break his world record in this marathon, he wanted to be the first American athlete to win in Berlin and mark this marathon breaking the world record and getting the best of this marathon for a few years. Running in this marathon he personally realized that it was indeed true that this marathon made it easier for athletes to run faster, Jake was starting the time for marathon athletes who would only run faster until the running time was less than 2 hours and 4 minutes would be normal. After passing the 40km with a strong running pace and a few kilometers to go before the Berlin Marathon was over, commentators finally realized that Jake intended to break his own world record in this marathon, and by the time he ran, it was quite possible that he would succeed. Almost reaching the 42km race it was almost certain that Jake would break his world record and the commentators and the cheering crowd were celebrating because they also realized what was going on. "Jake has been running at a very strong pace on the last few meters of this Berlin marathon, it looks like he wants to break his own world record here in this marathon this year." "It''s really amazing to see such a talented athlete, we were talking about how Jake had the ability to break his world record if he wanted to and keep his pace strong, right now slowing down his race is still breaking the world record." "True, Jake had not been performing very well this year, even though last year broke the world record by running in 2 hours, 6 minutes and 2 seconds this year despite having won the three marathons he ran this year his best time was 2 hours, 7 minutes and 5 seconds." "It''s more than 1 minute longer than his best time, of course, he made it after running in the London marathon being tired after finishing his first season in college basketball, then winning less than 10 days later in Boston even slower time." "Last month he won the World Championships in Athletics marathon with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 2 seconds which was 2 minutes longer than his best time last year and today we are seeing Jake running over 2 minutes faster than last month and breaking the world record itself." "And Jake just won the 1997 Berlin Marathon, he broke his own world record, that''s amazing!" "He finished in 2 hours, 5 minutes 55 seconds, 7 seconds faster than his best time at the Chicago Marathon last year, it''s the new marathon world record." Chapter 352 Back for the Sophomore Year 6 "Great time for this marathon, Jake breaks the world record and also the Berlin marathon record, he is the first athlete in this men''s marathon to break the world record." "Jake is for sure the best marathon athlete in the world today and I think he will stay that way for many more years, he is only 18 this year and is already his second time breaking the world record." "He''s been winning a lot of marathons in the last 3 years and won 6 different marathons besides the Olympics and the World Championships in Athletics, just this year this is Jake''s fourth marathon, I think it''s already clear it''s not luck and he''s really talented and will keep it that way." Jake was very happy to have won this Berlin marathon even though he was already very confident of winning and breaking the world record, he personally saw why this would be known as the fastest marathon in the world in a few years. If Jake wanted he felt he could finish this marathon in less than 2 hours and 2 minutes if he wanted to, it was certainly a good marathon to break his world record of fewer than 2 hours in the future. But Jake didn''t intend to race anymore in Berlin even though he could win a few more seconds running in this marathon, because it was in Germany that was too far from the United States for him to come running with 3 of the world''s largest marathons in America. Also, Jake found the prize too small to lure him here to race, in Boston the prize was almost 3 times the value, even though he didn''t care much for marathon prizes it was clear that he preferred to race where he could win more. John was also very happy to see Jake break the world record in this marathon, he thought the same as Jake and thought it was more remarkable that he was the first American athlete to win the Berlin marathon and still break the world record in this marathon. For the companies that sponsored Jake to see him winning another marathon and breaking the world record once again was very good, Eva was also very happy to see Jake win the Berlin marathon and break the world record. Being Jake''s mom who was the best marathon runner in the world Eva sure knew a lot more about marathons now, so she knew how amazing Jake was doing winning the fourth marathon of the year and breaking the world record. She also knew that Jake still intended to race in Chicago because he told her before going to college, so Eva expected Jake to win the fifth marathon after a few weeks. Jake received his medal and the $ 110,000 prize because he had broken the world record, if he broke this world record in London he would have received more than $ 300,000 and if it was in Boston he would receive $ 225,000. But since his goal was not money Jake was just as happy and then went to his hotel and later returned to college, he could go the other day, but he didn''t want to get Coach Guthridge in trouble anymore. Certainly with Jake winning this Berlin marathon which was special to the Americans because he was the first and still breaking the world record took a bit of media focus on coach Dean Smith''s retirement and would make the players of Tar Heels more relaxed to train. Coach Davis was also proud because he was known as Jake''s coach and even though he didn''t help much it was still special to see Jake winning the marathons, now they had to keep on training because next month Jake would have the Chicago marathon to run. He was going to race with Zack in this marathon and of course, no one but Jake''s friends knew about it, John was even more excited knowing that Jake would run another marathon, Coach Guthridge knew about it too and accepted after seeing Jake breaking the world record. Admittedly, Jake was in great shape for college basketball season this year, and the next month of training was just to improve the fitness of the other players on the team and regain rapport among the players of that team who played last year. Even though Coach Guthridge thought of this new way of playing with a different lineup, it was actually a tactic that had already been coached by this team in Coach Smith''s time, only they never thought they would use this tactic with Zwikker on the team. Now the team would just have to train this tactic more and learn how to use it in the game, Coach Guthridge relied on Jake''s talent and versatility as a player to organize the team''s attacks and still defend well. If the team could defend against the opposing team''s Center would not be a problem to use this tactic, they needed to get more total rebounds as well, both in defense and offense. Jake celebrated with his roommates the break in the world record he got at the Berlin Marathon, Zack was even more excited to race in Chicago after seeing Jake winning that marathon. After going out with his colleagues to celebrate Jake returned to rest in the dorm, before bed he wanted to see the rewards he had earned for winning the Berlin Marathon. "Fate, show me my statistics on my third job." [Here it is.] Statistics Jake -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 18 years] [Job: Runner] [Height: 2.01 m] [Weight: 103 Kg] [Force 42] [Agility 40] [Resistance 43] [Intelligence 60] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Techniques [Second Lung A] [Iron Body A] --------------------------------- So Jake can see that his agility and resistance increased after this Berlin marathon, now Jake had all the stats above 40 points and his agility was even higher. Even if it wasn''t enough for him to take advantage of the short-haul modes he would certainly have the advantage of long- and medium-distance racing, but most importantly his strength was well over 40 points and for a while, Jake would have the advantage balance between his physical statistics. Jake also saw that his height really had not changed anymore and nor would it change as the system had said, yet by that time he could have a successful NBA career without having problems because of the height. Michael Jordan was even smaller than Jake is now and yet became one of the best basketball players in the world catching a lot of rebounds and doing great dunk, Kobe Bryant also got great rebound statistics. This showed that height would no longer be a problem for Jake and physical statistics would not be a problem for him to fight for rebounds either, so it all depended on Jake to become an NBA star. So Jake was very grateful to the system that had changed his life and in addition to bringing him to a second chance and giving him every opportunity to get what he wanted even helped to improve the body he had in his past life. Jake had already gotten everything he wanted at university and knew after this year he could get the training his mother dreamed he would have at university, then he would just have to keep studying differently after talking with the university. Jake had also developed fully as a player and improved all the way in his first year in college basketball, he would still have this season to improve even further, and Jake had already won the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament. This year he would try to win again, but if he couldn''t, he wouldn''t be too upset about it, early next year Jake would also run the marathon in Tokyo and so if he won he could win all major marathons. So Jake had already made up his mind to enter the NBA draft after this season in mid-1998, he would go to the NBA with his teammates Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, and Shammond Williams. He would still have to talk to David Falk''s sports agent to try to get a deal and so play on the team he wanted, to do that he just had to get the team he wanted to trade him with the team he drafted and so he could play on the team he wanted. If it wasn''t possible Jake would play on the team that he did the same draft, but he knew how hard that would be because even if he had a great performance it would be almost impossible for his team to win the NBA title. Maybe he couldn''t make it to the playoffs playing with a bad team, NBA tuning wouldn''t be like high school basketball so he could lead the team to victory with his skill, even at university if Jake wasn''t on such a great team as it was Tar Heels he could forget about trying to win the NCAA title. But Jake would start talking to David Falk only after a few games this season because if such a rumor started it could disrupt the team''s spirits to win the NCAA tournament this season. Jake didn''t plan on earning a great salary in the NBA from the start and just wanted to win great sponsor contracts to make more money, but Jake didn''t intend to have a long starting contract with any team for a low salary. But these were things for after this college season that had not even started, Jake continued training calmly with his teammates and working hard to get the team to play well this season. After a few days of coaching the team, everyone was regaining their ideal condition and the players'' match was coming back quickly, Jake didn''t need any time to mingle and was still assisting as if the last NCAA tournament game was a few days ago. Chapter 353 Back for the Sophomore Year 7 With Jake playing so well in training the whole team was getting excited and was also recovering fast, the players were also more confident that the team could perform great this year with Coach Guthridge. With Coach Smith leaving the team no one expected them to win the NCAA title again this year, which was good because the pressure on the players was so much less so, only Jake still hoped they could win this year. That''s because Jake remembered that in his past life the Tar Heels team performed better this season with Coach Guthridge than last season even though they had more games, they also won the ACC tournament and reached the final four of the NCAA tournament losing in semifinal. Jake hoped that with him on the team they could play even better or at least perform like this, Jake was confident he could play much better now than in the final NCAA tournament game. Because he has been able to greatly improve his physical stats since that game, he has gained 5 strength points, 4 agility points, and 4 resistance points, this has greatly improved his physical condition and the other players have realized this. He had also improved his basketball skills at least a little because he trained every day in the space of his imagination training, in this space he always faced taller and more skilled opponents than himself. Even though these players'' skills were inferior to the best players at the university because they couldn''t think well of the moves, playing more than 300 times in this space could only make Jake even better. Jake was also confident that his teammates were also better this year and more confident after winning the NCAA tournament last year, so they had everything to win again this season. In the coming days, Jake was still news on sports programs for breaking the world record and because college basketball season was about to start again, everyone was debating whether Jake and the Tar Heels team would play as well as last year after retirement from coach Dean Smith. Meanwhile Jake was still training with the Tar Heels team and also with Zack for the nearest Chicago marathon, no one expected that this year after breaking the world record Jake still wanted to participate in another marathon. Especially because it was so close to the start of the new college basketball season, but Jake had already made up his mind to participate in every Chicago marathon he could because he liked this marathon so much. This year he had still promised to run this marathon with his friend Zack, even though the two of them had quite different performances in this marathon and could not even run side by side. Maybe when he went to the NBA he could no longer participate in marathons like these and had to run only when he was on vacation outside of the NBA basketball season, if that happened he would have to choose another marathon to run forever. If everything happened as he hoped, maybe next year he was on an NBA team and could no longer run the Chicago marathon, Jake really hoped he could get into the NBA so it was quite possible that it would happen. Jake continued training in the coming weeks and so the day he went to Chicago with Zack arrived, he had talked to John before and two plane tickets were already prepared for them and hotel reservations too. Just like last time Jake would rest a day earlier in Chicago and after the marathon, he would leave, but Jake had already talked to Zack and his friend would have to stay in Chicago for more than two days after the marathon. This was for safety reasons as this was the first marathon Zack would run and a plane trip right after finishing the marathon was not recommended for anyone, Jake had a very strong body because of the system and feared none of it, but cared about his friend. Zack understood Jake''s cause for concern, and since Jake was practically his coach for this marathon he decided to wait these two days before returning to college, it was for his safety and that was never too much. Of course, the two hoped that Zack could finish this marathon in a good time after all this training, Jake had no doubt about it and even Coach Davis believed that Zack could finish this marathon easily. Zack''s goal for this marathon wasn''t too bold and he just wanted to finish before 4 pm, not a time for elite athletes, but for those who would run the first marathon was a great time. The time limit for this race was 6 1/2 hours so Zack was quiet to finish this marathon without having to worry about the time, his main goal was to finish this marathon and then finish in less than four hours. So anyway they were going to celebrate after the marathon that it was almost certain that Zack could complete those more than 42 km, they both went to Chicago and Jake arrived at the hotel discreetly as usual. The hotel now dared not disclose Jake''s address to anyone and even if he had it in town, they were glad Jake stayed at the hotel again after what happened the first time a reporter asked to speak with him at the hotel. With Zack by his side no one would expect it to be Jake since he always participated in marathons and stayed at the hotel alone, Jake knew he could rest easy that night, but Zack would not sleep because of the nervousness of having his first marathon. "Zack, you didn''t have to be nervous because I guarantee you are prepared for this marathon and it will end for sure." "Yes, I believe you and I also have confidence that I will be able to finish this marathon, but I still can''t be more relaxed." "It''s normal to get nervous before running a marathon which is what you always wanted to do and now it''s close to being able to finish your first marathon and it''s still Chicago that is one of the most important marathons in the world." "If you keep talking like that you''ll make me even more nervous." "That''s why I''m saying this, you are sure to be able to finish this marathon and be proud to tell everyone that your first marathon was in Chicago, but if you get nervous and can''t get enough sleep it can make it harder for you." "So I suggest you calm down and try to sleep, because you will also try to reach your goal of finishing this marathon before 4 hours, imagine how amazing that would be." Jake knew well what Zack was like and so he said that to make his friend more excited and get to sleep, just as Jake expected Zack got more excited and went to try to sleep in his room to be rested for the marathon the other day. Jake had to do this to sleep in his room quietly and be fine to run the next day, he was also nervous before running a marathon, but it was far less than the confidence he had with the daily training he had. He knew that if he just ran, as usual, he could win a marathon easily, so he just had to calm down and run what he trained to be able to win, the helping system also made him calmer by watching his pace in the race. The next morning the two of them went to where this year''s Chicago Marathon would be, Jake can see that Zack had been able to rest well for this marathon and so thought that his friend was ready to perform well in that marathon. After a while, the two were ready for the start of the marathon and just before the marathon began that other athletes realized that Jake was running in that marathon too. No one expected it, but no one was too surprised because Jake always did it in running marathons that nobody expected, at least in Chicago everyone could expect him to show up for running two years into that marathon. Zack was ignored by everyone for being unknown and because Jake wasn''t talking to him to let Zack focus before the start of this marathon, Jake and Coach Davis had already given all the tips they could to him and now it was just time to run. The marathon started and Jake soon ran ahead and left Zack behind, that would have to be done because Jake''s pace was too strong for Zack to finish this marathon almost twice as long as Jake. "And began the 1997 Chicago Marathon, one of the largest marathons in the United States and the world, which this year expects to have the largest number of athletes competing in history." "Yes, there will be the largest number of athletes competing and the largest number of foreigners as well, and one of those responsible for that happened came by surprise to participate in this marathon." "It should come as no surprise that Jake Smith is participating in this marathon for the third year in a row since making his debut in that marathon in 1995, but after running less than a month in Berlin and breaking the world record by winning that marathon no one expected him to be here this year again." "Jake already said he loved to run this marathon and is proving this year again, and we know this marathon also loves him who has won in the last two years and could win this year again." "Jake is for sure the biggest favorite, we''ll have to see after two hours if Jake will leave the Chicago marathon as a winner again for the third time." Chapter 354 Back for the Sophomore Year 8 Jake started running at a strong pace after leaving Zack behind at the start of this marathon, soon as if agreed in advance several athletes started running in the group formed to run along with Jake. That was one of the reasons he liked to race in Chicago and America, he didn''t expect it to be, but he always did when he met people who ran with him. Jake was also surprised to see that two well-known American athletes who would be in the top 20 were running in the same group as him, was Jerry Lawson who had already won the California Marathon in 1993 and Todd Williams who participated in two Olympics and two World Championships. in Athletics. They both knew well how Jake was running at a perfect running pace and wanted to run with him all through this marathon, they didn''t know if they would keep up with Jake until the end, but if they could hold on until he slowed it was almost certain that they would be in the top 5. Jake was happy about it and also a little nervous, he hoped the two athletes could run this marathon at the same pace as he ran, if he kept that pace throughout the Chicago marathon he knew he would win and they couldn''t keep up with him. But to do that he would have to break the world record again in this marathon and make much better time than in the last marathon in Berlin, so he hoped the two would just run at his pace and not try to beat him in the final kilometers. Of course Jake didn''t expect them to simply stop running and let him win because the marathon was a competition and not a friendly race for everyone to run together, having other athletes running at the same pace as he was a valid tactic to win the marathon. With a group running along with him Jake could save as much stamina and energy as he could in this marathon after he learned some techniques with Coach Davis and running with other athletes he could keep pace running smoothly. The athletes running with Jake were also elite athletes and with this steady pace even running faster they could easily follow, after the 10km of this marathon, Jake''s group was the leader of the race and far ahead of the other athletes. "Jake has been running at a strong pace in this marathon as is his characteristic in marathons after 10km of the race his group is the leader and I can recognize some elite athletes running in his group." "Yes, this has happened several times when Jake ran marathons in America, in the United States. Jake as the best athlete in the world and being an American is a kind of idol to other athletes and well respected even by other American athletes." "Everyone knows that Jake is known for running at a strong pace and also for the great stamina he has, so in these races the other elite athletes who didn''t think about winning marathons ran at the same pace as Jake for more than half of the time the marathons." "But some elite athletes running with Jake in this marathon may be thinking of winning and not just keeping up with Jake''s pace for more than half of that marathon, we can see for the first time in a long time Jake having a hard time winning a marathon." The weather was great in this marathon and not tiring the other athletes of this marathon, it was great weather to break various types of records, while Jake was leading this marathon as always running with a group of elite athletes, Zack was far behind in the marathon running as it had trained. Zack''s pace was just under 5 minutes 42 seconds per km, that''s the average Jake and Coach Davis told him to run, but they knew Zack would be unable to keep up a steady pace like Jake could do. So they told him to try to analyze his time every 5 km of race and adjust to knowing how his race pace was, so in the final kilometers of the race if he realized he still had a lot of energy he could run as fast as he could. he could and try to finish the Chicago marathon before 4 o''clock. This was quite possible because Zack was already running more than 20km a day running at a much faster running pace than this, so he should have enough energy to run this marathon at a slower pace than he normally did. Jake and Coach Davis knew that in the marathon the athlete got more energy because they knew they were participating in a marathon and because of the crowd, so it was certain that Zack could easily complete this marathon even if he could not do it in 4 hours. Another strategy that Jake and Coach Davis came to him was to run along with other athletes in groups to save energy and hydrate when he could, as Zack ran at a time when most athletes ran close he could always find a group to run. Running with Jake he learned a little how-to keep his running pace and having a watch he could always control himself, when he went through the 5 km running he saw that he was running at the right pace and so was happy. In the leadership group, Jake still ran with the other athletes and felt great even though he ran more than 15km in this marathon, the other elite athletes didn''t look tired even running at the same pace as Jake. After running for many km he stopped thinking about what he would do at the end of the marathon and just controlled himself to run normally, even if he had to break his world record to win was not a bad thing for him. After all Jake was already thinking of increasing the pace of his training on his next vacation, and Jake was already sharing the focus of his training with other long-distance modalities besides marathons. After winning the 6 marathons major Jake would have already won everything he could in the marathon world and would only have the records to break that could cheer him up, of course, the Olympics and World Championships in Athletics would also make him excited to win a medal of gold for his country. Jake had already started his training to run the 10,000 meters and soon would start training to run the 5,000 meters and maybe before the next Olympics he started training to run the 1,500 meters, he already had the agility to achieve this. Even after passing the 20km in this marathon the other athletes in the same group of Jake did not look tired and were already several minutes ahead of the other athletes of this marathon and could be in the top 20 that was their goal, this good weather for Running also helped everyone. "Almost half of this Chicago marathon is over and Jake''s group is still leading the way quietly, it''s great weather here in Chicago so these athletes can take many more km before they get tired." "True, with this climate and great athletes running in this group we could be seeing the top 10 of this marathon and maybe some of these athletes will make Jake have to work harder to win and maybe break the world record again this year." "Okay, a lot of marathon experts and commentators like me think Jake actually has the ability to run far below what he''s been running, even in Berlin a lot of people realized that after winning breaking the world record Jake didn''t even look like being tired." "Yes, if you think he ran very close to that when he was 16 at the first marathon in Chicago, it is natural to think that after more than two years of training and also developing his body because we realize how Jake grew so much taller in those years he can run much lower than in that marathon." "Admittedly, Jake is the best marathon runner of this decade and now and many think this is just the beginning and that Jake can keep winning for another 20 years if he wants to, so Jake is perhaps the best marathon runner ever." Many really hoped that the athletes running in Jake''s group would endure racing with him up to 35km and so focused on Jake keeping a strong pace and breaking the world record again. While Jake was running nearly halfway through the race Zack was about 10 km from the marathon, he still easily found running groups that ran at the same pace as him, but the groups lagged behind or would go forward and he just focused on keeping up with him. Like Jake, Zack trained on an athletic track and so always ran alone and was used to it, plus the better marathon weather and the crowd just helped Zack run better and use up a lot less energy. So when he could run with the groups he saved a lot of energy and knew that he could run much more than he normally did in training, as Zack was used to running a lot more than 20 km every day at a faster pace than this he was running smoothly after 10 km. After the 30km marathon, Jake''s group was even further ahead in the lead, after so many kilometers of marathon some athletes from Jake''s group were already tired and thinking of leaving the group to slow down the running pace. But the best athletes could still take a few more km if not so many, seeing that Jake was still thinking he might have to break his world record, but he would win this marathon easily nonetheless. If he broke the world record a little too soon he wouldn''t have to worry about it for years to come and so Jake just wanted to know about winning this marathon. Chapter 355 Back for the Sophomore Year 9 "More than 30 km of this marathon has passed and Jake''s group is still in the lead, but we can see that some athletes in this group are already thinking of leaving the group and are very tired, others are tired but they can take it for a few more kilometers." "I think the image of this group of Jake in this marathon shows how Jake is the best marathoner in the world today, in this group all are elite athletes and some are already very tired and will leave the group." "Others are elite athletes who have already reached several marathons in the top 10, Jerry Lawson who has already won a marathon 4 years ago, and Todd Williams who has had 2 Olympics." "These athletes are the best athletes in the world and any one of them can win a marathon if it''s on a good day or a lesser-known marathon, and these athletes are very tired too and can handle running at a pace for just a few km." "And in this group, there is Jake who is running smoothly with no sign of fatigue, looks like he''s running the 10km race and is still in the beginning, and Jake finishes the marathons like that without looking tired." Jake didn''t know that the commentators were analyzing his tiredness to know if he could run faster, but he didn''t care that the others knew he could run faster. One day Jake would still try to run under 2 hours to break his world record again, by which time everyone would naturally know that running in less than 2 hours and 6 minutes was very easy for himself in training. After passing the 35km race almost all the athletes in his group were already behind and running at a slower pace, but Jerry Lawson and Todd Williams were still in his group. They were both very tired and could be left behind at any moment, but they were resisting waiting for Jake to slow his running pace, everyone who saw Jake''s last marathons would never expect to see that two athletes were running at the same pace as him afterward of 35 km. Jake had expected it and slowed his running pace just as he had in Berlin, both of them relieved when they saw that Jake had slowed down before they got too tired. Unlike Berlin Jake slowed his running pace even more because he did not intend to break his record if it was not necessary, they also slowed at the same pace as Jake and saw that they could continue running like this. Jake thought that if they could keep up with him to the final kilometers he would just accelerate his race pace again and he was sure he could win, it was their merit to be able to race along with Jake in this marathon and he had to agree not to win with a great advantage. as in the other years. "That''s amazing, Jake has already slowed his running pace as he has done in every marathon he has run, in that 35 km he slowed down to run until the end of this Chicago marathon." "And even at this point Todd Williams and Jerry Lawson are still running in the same group as him, it''s a historic moment for this Chicago marathon where three American athletes are running for first place and we can have the three American athletes in the top 3 at this marathon." "Yes, even though Jake had been running at a much higher than normal pace before, after that 35km he slowed down to less than the other athletes in this marathon are running, and that''s what the two American athletes were expecting." "With just over 7 km to finish this marathon, I think it''s quite possible that the three will continue to run together until the end." The two American athletes who were running with Jake didn''t think that way, they just wanted to keep running at that pace until the end, but they didn''t think that would be possible because the pace they ran for 35 km was so intense. So they didn''t even think about trying to beat Jake in this marathon that was still running smoothly even after 35km of the marathon, Jake noticed it too and kept running quietly. He would be happy if they and the other two American athletes were in the top three in this marathon, Jake was practically doing the work of setting the pace for the other two athletes by the end of the marathon in which he would win. While Jake was already getting ready to race the final kilometers of the marathon, Zack had not even reached halfway through the marathon, yet he had already been through the 15km for some time and was very happy with the pace he was running up to that time proof point. Unlike Jake, Zack not only had a group of people running with him throughout the race, but he also had to switch between groups while preoccupying with maintaining his running pace, naturally several times he lost his pace following someone in a group. But he could always recover in the next few kilometers, so even if he lost energy doing that he could run as scheduled, because of the training routine he had Zack had not tired running to the 15 km of this marathon because he was running at a slower pace than he trained. Also, Zack followed Jake''s tips for running in the best places in this marathon and running with the groups helped him save energy, Jake and Coach Davis said that if he could run more than 30 km without being too tired, he was sure would end the marathon. Zack kept running at his pace up to 20 km, at this point in the marathon he knew that Jake should be close to finishing the marathon because almost two hours had passed, he hoped that Jake would win easily. After running the 40 km marathon Jake was already running alone in this marathon final, the two American athletes almost managed to follow Jake to the 40 km, but got tired before and decided to slow down even more to try to secure the second and third place. The two athletes knew that without Jake they probably couldn''t make it into the top 5, so they didn''t want to keep giving Jake more pressure and letting him run smoothly. Even though Jake knew he would win this marathon and the other two athletes were tired, he was still nervous because he was not used to running with other athletes in the final km of any marathon. As soon as he was alone in the lead he could relax and keep up his pace to arrive at a time he had planned to finish this marathon, as he ran in a group for almost the entire marathon Jake was still full of energy in the final kilometers of the marathon. Near the 42 km, Jake was already calm that this marathon was almost won by him, so he wondered only if Todd Williams and Jerry Lawson were still in the top three and if Zack could keep up his running pace for this marathon. "We are nearing the end of this Chicago marathon, Jake has already crossed the 42 km and is in the final meters to win, it was a different marathon than we are used to with Jake participating." "He ran almost the entire marathon with a group of elite athletes who are still in the top 20 in this marathon and up to nearly 25 km with American athletes Todd Williams and Jerry Lawson." "The two are still vying for second place with athlete Khalid Khannouchi coming in fourth to compete for those first places with them." "And at that point, Jake Smith finishes the 1997 Chicago Marathon in the first place, another marathon won for Jake in his short and brilliant marathon career, and his third straight victory in Chicago." "Jake finishes this marathon with a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes and 58 seconds breaking the marathon record of himself last year, 3 seconds close to the world record." "Jake''s great performance in less than a month after the last marathon in Berlin, I think after this marathon he will focus on college basketball so hopefully next year we can see Jake winning more marathons." "Now Todd Williams finished third in this marathon and Jerry Lawson came in second for Todd in the final meters, Khalid Khannouchi almost got third, but still finished fourth in that marathon." "It''s been a long time since we''ve seen American athletes getting in the top three places of a major marathon like this, and Jake was the one who set the right pace for them to be in the top three." Jake was delighted to see that the other American athletes had been in the top three along with him who had won, he had been hoping for a while and this marathon was great for him after all. John who was following Jake was happy to see Jake win and was tense throughout the marathon seeing two athletes competing with Jake for first place and only relaxed when he saw Jake taking advantage. He knew well that this was Jake''s last marathon in 1997 and now Jake would focus only on the Tar Heels team and college basketball, this was a great year for Jake and also his sponsors such as John''s company. Jake and Eva''s friends were also nervous seeing the end of this marathon that was different than in the other years and were happy to see that Jake had won in the end like every year. Jake received $ 125,000 in prize money for winning and breaking the Chicago Marathon record of his own after celebrating and snapping a picture with the other two American athletes who took second and third place. Chapter 356 Back for the Sophomore Year 10 However unlike the other marathons, Jake did not leave soon after receiving the prize for the hotel, he asked John who had saved him a chair he had brought and just sat in a place he asked to stay for the marathon organization. The marathon organization naturally liked Jake to stay longer and arranged a place for him near the finish line and safely so that no accidents would happen. Jake was naturally waiting for his friend Zack to finish his marathon, he had to support his friend and because he also trained along with Zack and was almost a coach for him, Jake knew that Zack would complete this marathon, which he was hoping for was that Zack could finish before 2 hours as he intended. So Jake just intended to sit around waiting for Zack, he wasn''t even too tired and after having a natural drink from Tiffany''s company he was relaxed, then he would have to go back to university and couldn''t stay with Zack for the next few days. But they couldn''t do what they wanted, unlike the other normal marathon athletes. Jake was very famous and beloved by the public, he played in college basketball that was the goal of thousands of young people and still participated in movies besides winning many marathons and win gold medals representing the United States. So after seeing the fans asking him for an autograph, Jake got up and went to where the people who were watching the marathon were and spent several minutes signing autographs for anyone to ask him, luckily the smartphones had not been invented otherwise Jake would have to spend a lot more time taking pictures with others. Some fans were still taking pictures of him with Matthew''s company digital camera and Jake found it interesting that he was seeing so many people using Matthew''s new and old digital camera proving how he had changed the time he knew and his success from Matthew''s company. Zack kept on running very hard and after 30 km he started to get more relaxed because he wasn''t very tired yet and if what Jake and Coach Davis said was true he would surely have the energy to finish this marathon. A few km back he had already heard that Jake had won by listening to the fans talking about it, Zack was very happy to hear that Jake had won another marathon and it gave him even more energy. Zack knew better than anyone how Jake trained hard to run these marathons and always win beyond his basketball team training, so Zack always thought Jake deserved everything he had achieved and should achieve much more. So Zack had more confidence to achieve his personal goal because he also trained every day like Jake and still had Jake''s help in his training, so he didn''t think he was missing anything compared to other amateur athletes running in up to 3 hours all marathons. Even more, than in this marathon, he was not tired after the 30 km and was managing to maintain a medium pace similar to what he had agreed with Jake before this marathon, Zack could still find groups to run with himself at this point of the marathon. After the 40 km marathon, less than 4 hours had passed, it was still 11 minutes to the 4 hours of marathon and Zack was already feeling very tired, even training every day for over a year Zack still could not compare to the other amateur athletes who had been running for several years. Plus it was the first time Zack had tried to run a full marathon before 4 hours, so even though running at a pace below training he felt very tired. But Zack knew what it was like to feel this tiredness several times that he got so tired in training, so Zack knew he could finish this marathon easily even though he was tired. But Zack''s goal a little over 2 km away was not just to complete the marathon but to finish this Chicago marathon before 4 hours, so he couldn''t just keep running like this and had to increase his running pace a bit finals. He had already arranged this with Jake and Coach Davis who if he felt he could run faster over the last few kilometers he could try, after reaching 42 km Zack was feeling much more tired from having increased his pace. Even though he was feeling happy because it was still a long time before 4 hours and he was about to finish this marathon, Zack felt proud and thought it was worth the many tiring workouts he did waking up very early every day. It was just the first marathon he participated in and was soon the big marathon in Chicago and he was finishing before 4 hours, was certainly a source of pride for any amateur athlete. Zack gained even more energy when he saw Jake getting up to wait for him, it was Jake who had encouraged him to participate in this marathon, training with him and teaching him various things, now Jake brought him into this marathon and was even waiting for himself Jake was very busy. Zack managed to finish this marathon before 4 hours and everyone finally knew who Jake was waiting for nearly 2 hours in this marathon, after Zack arrived he was exhausted and couldn''t even breathe properly and Jake gave his friend a break before talking to him. "Congratulations Zack, I''m very happy to see that you managed to finish your first marathon and still did what you wanted and finished this Chicago marathon in less than 4 hours." "Thanks, Jake, if I got it it was thanks to you, I''m very happy and never expected to feel such a thrill after completing a marathon." "I know how it is, I''ve always loved running too, you are feeling it because you did something you wanted and worked hard to achieve that goal, that sense of accomplishment is proof that you love running too." "Yes, I will continue training and I will run in other marathons, I hope we will continue training after that, and congratulations on winning this marathon, you deserve it." After Zack had finished the marathon Jake had nothing else to do at this place and left after saying goodbye to everyone, he had already spoken to John a few hours earlier and John left because he had nothing else to do after Jake finished the marathon. Before leaving John said he had taken care of Jake''s and Zack''s return tickets as well, John taking care of Zack was just a favor of his company to Jake and Jake insisted that Zack wear the same uniform he always wore with corporate brands who sponsored him. After this marathon, Jake rested for just a few hours at the hotel before flying to college and letting Zack recover from this Chicago marathon, now less than a month before the Tar Heels team''s first game in the new college basketball season. The players of the team had already practically recovered their perfect form and were ready to play the first game, this was normal because even though the players were resting and celebrating the great season they had, they did not neglect their fitness so much because they knew who had to play in November. Unlike last year when new players were preparing to play as starters, this season the players would be the same as last season, so their rapport was very good even before the season started. Everyone on the team already knew that Jake was a great player and recognized his talent and that Jake was a better player than they currently, besides playing in the position of PG Jake was the team leader of course. Even though Jake didn''t want to be the team captain and let Coach Guthridge decide who he was, he was just his sophomore year as a team player and would soon leave college so there was no point in him being the team captain this season. In addition, Jake had to admit that he was unable to be a good team captain, all he could do to help the team as captain he could do just by playing normally and without having to be the captain. He would still be the team leader and still strive for the team to be united and well into the games, after all, Jake and the whole Tar Heels team hoped they could be the champions this season as well. The team training went on well and Jake continued training as he had arranged with Coach Davis every day, two days after the marathon Zack had returned very happy and proud of what he had achieved and all of Jake''s roommates congratulated Zack as well. Even his brother Brett showed up to say he was proud of Zack and that made him very thrilled, after that as he had promised Zack continued training with Jake every day, Zack''s goal was to finish the next marathon before 3 hours. So after several weeks of training came the day of Jake''s first game this basketball season, all of the Tar Heels players were very excited and nervous about this first game, especially when they remembered that the Tar Heels team lost their first game of the last season. So they didn''t know if they should expect to win this game as they should do or just lose to maintain good luck, of course, this was a team joke because no one would lose just because of superstition and even if they wanted Jake and Coach Guthridge they wouldn''t accept. Chapter 357 College Basketball Season Begins 1 Luckily the first game of this season would be at the Dean Smith Center in North Carolina, playing at home was much easier for the Tar Heels team who were the current champions to have more confidence to win the game with the full support of the fans. Before long both teams were ready to start the game, the opposing team for this start of the season was the team Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, was a good team that had been having a good season for the last two years and this year too would have, Jake remembered. The Tar Heels team had played against this team last season and easily won, making the players of the Middle Tennessee team nervous before this game, especially since the Tar Heels team won the NCAA title last season. On the other hand, the players and fans of the Tar Heels team were nervous because they had a responsibility to play well this season because they are the current NCAA title team, especially because coach Dean Smith had retired. Only Jake was cool because from what he knew of his past life the Tar Heels team would play very well this season even if he wasn''t on the team, with him on the team would be just better. So soon the game started and the Tar Heels team got the ball, this was the first game with the Tar Heels team testing the new formation with no Center in the starting team, the starting team was Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, Ademola Okulaja and Jake Smith. It was a very offensive team even without Coach Guthridge daring to put Ed Cota in place of Ademola Okulaja, in that first game Coach Guthridge preferred a more balanced team defensively and offensively. Jake and Jamison would be primarily responsible for the team''s rebounds in attack and defense, so Coach Guthridge hoped to see how the team would do this way and he was relying on Jake and the other players to bring victory to the team. "Welcome to everyone watching at home, this is the first game of these two teams in this 1997-98 college basketball season." "The Middle Tennessee team has had good seasons in recent years, but they haven''t achieved anything at the end of those seasons, while the Tar Heels team won the ACC tournament and NCAA tournament last season and is the favorite to win this game today." "Of course, the Tar Heels team is the favorite to win today''s game and maybe win this year''s NCAA tournament again at the end of the season, but with the departure of coach Smith from the team many think that the Tar Heels team will not play as before." "But the team still has the same players from last season just missing the athlete Serge Zwikker who graduated this year, and the team Tar Heels has Jake Smith who is arguably the best college player today." "Sure, there may even be players who perform better in other positions and that''s why it''s hard to argue who is better, but Jake is a PG who practically plays SG and scores a lot and also makes a lot of passes." "Jake is also great at rebounds and steals which is something that basketball is missing a lot these days, plus he has broken several records last season for players from other positions as well, so he''s the most complete player." While the commentators were talking about how Jake was the best college player, Jake was making the first Tar Heels team attack of the season, he advanced with the ball and after midfield passed the ball to Shammond Williams. Williams was playing as second PG or second SG in that lineup, depending on the situation of the game, so Jamison would have to come back less to get the passes and could concentrate on trying to score or catch the offensive rebound. Williams passed the ball to Carter from the left that advanced and paused holding the ball, Carter tried the trick, but the opponent was not fooled, so Carter passed the ball to Jake who was behind. Jake received the ball and with speed got rid of the opponent''s defense and advanced to the painted area, when another defender player arrived Jake made an unexpected pass to Okulaja that was still marked. Okulaja had already trained with Jake several times and hoped for it and could easily pass and tried the layup making the first 2 points for team Tar Heels, Jake''s assistance was unexpected because when he took out another defender Jamison who was the best offensive player of the team was left without defense. The Middle Tennessee team didn''t break down and soon went into the attack to equalize the game quickly, Jake quickly returned to defense and stayed after the defensive three-point line, PG opponent Richard Duncan refused to try anything against Jake and passed the ball to Freddie Martinez on the right. Freddie Martinez was being defended by Vince Carter who was focused on defense, Martinez tried to pass Carter and when he saw that he could not pass to Aylton Tesch who was the best offensive player of this team on the left. Tesch managed to easily pass Williams and advanced to make the mid-range shot to make 2 points and tie this game, in the beginning, this game was well balanced because the two teams were still without pace. But after 7 minutes of the first quarter, Jake began to make more attacks and the game balance was over, in 5 minutes Jake made 3 shots of 3 points and hit the 3 and so after the Middle Tennessee team missed a play the advantage was of 6 points for the team Tar Heels. Jake knew that after these more than 7 months of rest he had greatly improved on the three-point shots because of the increased statistic he had and much training in those months. But Jake thought he had improved his basketball skills even more overall because he didn''t have much to improve on his three-point shots and his other skills that still need to improve a lot for Jake to play well in the NBA. After that, the Tar Heels team players were able to calm down more and the main players like Jamison and Carter began to hit more and more moves and the team''s attack improved even more. After the end of the first quarter, Tar Heels team had a big lead and Jake had played for every 20 minutes and had 15 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals, Jake was playing very well but still didn''t think that it was good enough. "What a great first quarter for Team Tar Heels in this game, the game was balanced until Jake started trying his three-point shots and since then Team Tar Heels has gained the advantage." "It''s true, Jake shows in this game how he showed last season how the moves if three points that many years ago didn''t even exist in college basketball became important to change the direction of a game." "A good player on the three-point line can in a good game give his team up to 6 points more than normal 2-point play, and Jake who has the best hit averages can change the course of a game in a few minutes as you did in that game." "That''s right, the Tar Heels team is in a moment of adaptation early this season playing without Coach Smith in charge and trying to play without a Center on the team which affects both offensively and defensively." "True, I think Coach Guthridge decided to do that because he doesn''t have a lot of options for players playing as Center and the Tar Heels team also has great players that allow him to make that change." "Now we will have to follow up on this game and the next games if the Tar Heels team can keep winning by playing like that." In the second quarter, the advantageous Tar Heels team could play quietly as always while still being very strong offensively and the Middle Tennessee players were more nervous to try to win the first game of this season. Jake kept attacking as well as ever and was slowly catching up and trying to get more steals, so he wasn''t playing the same games as last season, but in a few games, Jake thought he would play even better than before. Meanwhile the Middle Tennessee players began to feel more tired at the end of the second quarter, clearly, the fitness of the Tar Heels team players was better than Middle Tennessee. Jake was not even feeling tired with more than 30 minutes of play, and with this difference in the physical condition, the Tar Heels team players increased their lead further. So after a few minutes, the game was over and the Tar Heels team had easily won by making 93 points against only 51 points from the Middle Tennessee team, in that second quarter, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 18 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals. "And today''s game ends with the Tar Heels team winning as expected with a comfortable win, a great start for the Tar Heels team who needed that win to bring confidence to the team with a new coach." "Okay, a great start for the Tar Heels team who is the current NCAA tournament champion, but today''s game was not ideal yet and Jake was the one who led the team to victory, the Tar Heels team just won with all this advantage because the physical condition of the players was better than the players of the Middle Tennessee team." "Let''s see if the Tar Heels team continues to delight us in the games with this amazing team and amazing winning streak with this new coach." Chapter 358 College Basketball Season Begins 2 After the game was over everyone celebrated and Jake also celebrated after returning to his dorm with his friends, Jake also called his mother who said she watched the game and was very happy. After that first win, Jake could feel that the mood at the Tar Heels team training was much better, the players were still nervous about Coach Dean Smith leaving, and they were worried about what it would be like to play with Coach Bill Guthridge leading the team. But after this first win the players realized that everything was as it was before, Jake thought that if the team continued to win the players would be more comfortable and play even better. After this first game, the very competent coach Guthridge realized the mistakes the team made with the lack of a player in the Center position and used the next few days of training to correct it. One good thing that everyone noticed in this game was that the physical condition of the Tar Heels team players was very good, not many teams would have the players so well prepared for the new season. By those days Jake and his roommates were already adjusting to the university routine again, Jake was very happy because it looked like Aaron had been able to join the football team again. Unlike basketball, the College football season started in August and ended in December, so Aaron could just start playing for the team and officially enter next season. Even though Jake was happy for his friend who could still play third and fourth year on the university football team, Jake had heard that Aaron was really very talented in football and just before the start of season one he got hurt which annoyed the university that took his sports bag. But Aaron''s dedication to fully recovering from his injury and continuing to college even without his sports scholarship and still being able to recover his best condition in a year left the team coach moved and so he sent Aaron back to the team. Now Aaron would keep striving and training alone until the team resumed normal training after this season was over, he couldn''t go back to training now because the season was almost over and that could affect the rest of the team in some way. This made Jake very happy for his friend who might now have an opportunity perhaps someday to play in the NFL by playing two seasons on the college football team, of course, Jake knew this was very difficult to happen, but it was possible. William was also struggling hard in class, and in the past two semesters he had good grades with Jake''s help and his effort, Jake believed that if William kept striving this way and had opportunities he could make a lot of money working on stocks. Jake just thought it was a pity that William had no interest in working in companies, otherwise Jake would even give him an opportunity, after all, Jake didn''t need anyone to work on stocks with him, after all, he only invested when he knew the stock could have an excellent result. Who Jake was betting for after college was Haruto he met at a lecture late last semester, Haruto was very smart and hardworking and was looking for a job after finishing college. Besides, he was a big fan of Jake because he is a basketball player and also working as an actor, so Jake hoped he could work with Haruto after college. They also became more friends and even went out to dinner sometimes when Jake couldn''t be with his roommates, Haruto was studying a course related to Jake''s and was in a year longer at university. Zack still continued training with Jake every day and now had more calm and confidence to do the daily training, he ran 25 km every day and would continue to do so until again to the 30 km every day. He was happy too because women were more interested in himself than Zack being very handsome after he got in great shape by running so much with Jake, so all was well with all of Jake''s friends at the university. Jake also continued his alternating training on one day running the 50 km at the fastest pace he was used to and on another day running the 10,000 meters 3 times with a time that was comfortable for Jake. Coach Davis knew that Jake was able to improve his running pace in these two workouts, but he was concerned that Jake''s body would not be able to withstand a more intense training routine. Coach Davis did not know that Jake had a system-enhanced body and thought it was unnecessary to force more on training since Jake was already able to easily win marathons today and was not even competing in the 10,000 meters. So next year''s vacation after the end of the basketball season Coach Davis could calmly consider whether Jake was able to improve much more and support the new, more intensive training routine. Jake didn''t know what Coach Davis was thinking, but he agreed that it was no hurry to improve his training further before he received the Tokyo Marathon reward next year. So after a few more days of training came the day of Team Tar Heels''s second game of the season, Team Tar Heels would have to travel that day to play a game as a visitor, yet everyone was excited after the first game. After a few hours, both teams were ready to start the game, the opposing team in this second game was the Richmond Spiders team, it was another team that the Tar Heels team had faced last season even though it was another conference and easily won the game too. Jake also remembered that the Richmond Spiders team had almost the same team as last season and yet had a very good season this year just putting the reserve players from the previous year to play. Jake remembered that very well because he found it all the more interesting because these reserve players weren''t all freshmen last season and just weren''t put in because the coach decided to put the senior players on the team. "We are going to follow Tar Heels'' team second game this season today, after winning the first game everyone still wants to see how the Tar Heels team will play in the second game." "It''s true, surely the Tar Heels team is being watched the most this season because it''s a very strong team that has been in the NCAA tournament almost every year and even won the NCAA title last year." "And this season this team gets even more attention because they are without coach Dean Smith and there is still Jake Smith who is the best college player today." "That''s right, and from what we saw in this first game in addition to the different formation the team is playing the same way with Jake controlling the creative part of the team and helping out on points and defense and Jamison and Carter playing very well too." "We can say that the team is playing almost the same way because Coach Guthridge who took over the team this season has been Coach Dean Smith''s assistant coach for all these years." In this game from the start, the Tar Heels team wanted to press into the attack to take advantage and make the Richmond Spiders team more nervous, and with Jake, Williams, Jamison, and Carter the team could easily do that. Jake advanced with the ball past the middle of the court and passed Carter on the left, Carter advanced quickly and stopped the ball before the three-point line, Carter got the feint and got rid of the defender and advanced to the painted area. Another defender followed and Carter passed the ball to Jamison who was in front, Jamison held the ball and when the defense approached he passed to Jake who was in the middle, Jake faked the mid-range shot and managed to fool the opponent and drive to the basket to make 2 points with a dunk. Since Jake was known for his ability to do three-point and mid-range shots, he was more likely to go to the painted area and do the dunk or layup, and even if he didn''t get the feint he could use his speed to pass by the defenders and make the points for the team Tar Heels. After scoring the first points, Team Tar Heels stood firm in defense to prevent Team Richmond Spiders from attacking freely and making points, yet Team Richmond Spiders managed to score points with difficulty. But the game continued at this pace until the 10th minute of the first quarter, with pressure from Team Tar Heels and players from Team Richmond Spiders failing to stop Jake from scoring and assists Team He He got a 10-point lead and then decreased the offensive intensity in the game. "What a strong start for the Tar Heels team in this game, almost 10 minutes of intense offensive intensity from the players and with a team with talented players like the Tar Heels team they got 10 points in the middle of the first quarter." "Not only is there strong pressure on the attack, the Team Tar Heels also put a lot of pressure on the defense and thus forced Team Richmond Spiders to miss more plays and rebounds were controlled by Team Tar Heels with Jamison and Jake." "Jake also got 2 steals in those 10 minutes and the Tar Heels team missed a lot less in those early minutes giving them that advantage." By the end of the first quarter, Team Tar Heels still managed to increase their lead even further on the scoreboard, even if Team Richmond Spiders didn''t get too nervous, they still missed more than Team Tar Heels who were quiet with the lead. Chapter 359 College Basketball Season Begins 3 In the first quarter of the game the team Tar Heels played very well and had a good lead, Jake played for every 20 minutes in that first quarter and scored 17 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals, Jake was not able to catch many rebounds because he wasn''t used to doing that in games yet, and because Jamison was taking a lot more rebounds than he was. In the second quarter the team Tar Heels still played calmly and seemed to be in no hurry and still continued to hit offensive plays and Jake and Williams sometimes hit three points shots and so the advantage just increased. The Richmond Spiders players seemed a lot more nervous being behind the score with such a big difference, so the Richmond Spiders started to look forward to making more rapid attacks and at that point, the Tar Heels team also increased the pressure on the defense. As the second quarter passed, the other reason for the Tar Heels team to make that offensive 10-minute pressure began to appear was because of the physical condition of the players, the physical condition of the Tar Heels team players was better and so after that pressure the players could still hold on until the end of the game. But the Richmond Spiders players could not stand all the excitement at the beginning of the game and still had energy until the end of the game, and the Richmond Spiders team had to press even more into the attack to diminish the advantage that the Tar Heels team had and try to win the game. Thus at the end of the second quarter of the game, the players of the Richmond Spiders team started to get tired and the coach had to put in some substitutes and the team Tar Heels took the opportunity to attack further at the end of the game. Jake and Williams attacked before the three-point line, and Jake always assisted Jamison and Carter to score points from the painted area, Okulaja was also always available to assist in attacking moves. Even though Shammond Williams did not have a hit average as high as Jake on the three-point shots, he still had more than 40 percent hit on the three-point shots, while the Jake drawing the attention of the other teams'' defense was even higher. Thus the game ended with the Tar Heels team winning 91 points against 60 points of the Richmond Spiders team, in this second quarter Jake played for 20 minutes made 15 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. "A great game for the Tar Heels team who once again played with the same formation as the first game and could win again, it looks like we can see the Tar Heels team this season winning just as they did last season." "Undoubtedly, all players on this team are very talented and could play in the NBA in the future or in basketball leagues around the world, with Jake being a distinguished player that team is certainly strong enough to win the NCAA tournament this year." "I think so too, Coach Bill Guthridge seems to be running this team very well having worked for many years with Coach Dean Smith, and he managed to put some of his coaching styles on that team and even changed the lineup, now we hope to see this team will continue to delight us all." "Jake played very well in this game as did Williams and Jamison too, if it goes on like this I see that the Tar Heels team will be the team that makes the most points this season as it was last season." With this victory in an away match the team players got even more confident, Jake was playing well as always and Jamison looked even better this year, with the whole team playing the sports media well and fans expected the Tar Heels team could be champion again. The families of the players who were caught off guard when Coach Dean Smith retired also calmed down realizing that Coach Guthridge also had quality just as Coach Smith had. So Coach Guthridge finally had a calmer environment to work with and prepare players for this long game season, after this third game physical condition would no longer be a problem for any team so the Tar Heels team would only depend on their ability to win the games. Jake intended to try more three-point shots this season and thus score more points in the games, but with Shammond Williams joining the starting team and with him playing longer, Jake had to give up on that idea for now. He already intended to maintain the good rebound average he had last season and wanted to try to get more blocks and steals, so now he could think of further improving his assist average this season. As he thought of joining the NBA after this season he knew he couldn''t break his scoring and assisting records, but he could further improve his average and break his steal record in his entire college career at least. The most important thing for him was to win the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament, Jake was confident that the team could do it and would try his best to do it, Jake knew the team was capable of it and he could just play even better to try it get. After a few more days of training, the day of the third game of the season arrived, this third game was back home at the Dean Smith Center so the Tar Heels team fans came to watch the team play again. After winning in the first two games the crowd began to get used to coach Guthridge and were excited again that the team continued to win many games this year as well. In a few hours, both teams were ready for the game, the opponent in that game was the California Golden Bears team, it was a team that the Tar Heels team faced last season in the NCAA tournament and won. Even though this team had a great performance last season, this season the California Golden Bears team would not play that well and have a bad performance for the fans. In the first quarter, the team Tar Heels was playing with Jake still controlling the pace of the game, although in the last game they put offensive pressure since the beginning of the game was because of the opponent''s physical condition. But as it was still early in the season the players were still getting used to the pace of the game and could not yet play their full skill so Jake played calmly for the Tar Heels team to have more control of the game. They were lucky so far not to face any Center on the opposing team that was too strong offensively, yet without a Center, they could defend well, after all, one of the strengths of that team with Jake was the defensive part as well as the offensive part. By the end of the first quarter, the Tar Heels team was winning by a good lead, but it wasn''t quite like in the last games, Jake had played for every 20 minutes and had scored 14 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. As the team was playing at a slower pace the players were not getting many points, but the opponent also had difficulty scoring points, and not all players were doing well in this game which made it even more difficult. In the second quarter, the two teams continued this slow pace of play, the California Golden Bears team even losing did not despair and tried to press hard in the attack, so they posed no danger to the defense of team Tar Heels, but also gave no chances of receive counterattacks from the Tar Heels team. Jake also only sought victory in this game to increase player confidence and knew how to control the entire team by setting up the game, so the game ended with the Tar Heels team winning by 83 points against just 40 points from the California Golden Bears team. It was a great win for the Tar Heels team with more points in the scoreboard than in the last game, and even not trying so many exciting moves for the fans was still a victory for the Tar Heels team which made everyone happy. Jake controlled the team well and even though the team did not have many opportunities to score points he was still the best player of the team, in this second quarter he played for 20 minutes and made 13 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. Jake came home and celebrated with his roommates as he did after every game and called his mom to talk about the win, Jake was happy with how this new season was going for him. This time he was playing in every game the 40 minutes and having more opportunities to score points and lead the team to victory, he was also very relaxed with the team playing as well as he thought they would play. Jake was also doing daily workouts with Zack and even though he didn''t feel he was getting as much better as before he still felt good running every day, after earning so many resistance points he no longer got tired of those workouts. With everything going so well Jake was wondering what next season would be if he really went to the NBA, next year would be very hectic for him with the recording of the movie he had, the games of the season and the tournaments to play. Besides, he could still have the draft to join some NBA team, with his NBA debut season he could even imagine how things would be hectic, fortunately, next year with the marathons would be much quieter. For now Jake was only thinking of running two marathons next year and only in 1999 with World Championships in Athletics would be more hectic for him, Jake wanted to run more marathons, but figured that if he entered the NBA he would have to take time to adapt before to be able to participate in more marathons. Chapter 360 College Basketball Season Begins 4 If Jake were really going to join the NBA he would have to talk well with his mother too, Jake would have to move to the city where his team would play and would have to travel all year round in several different cities to play in the season. So Jake figured Eva wouldn''t live in the city where he would live and would continue to take care of the restaurant that was what she always wanted, Jake wanted to see his mother happy and after that first year at university Jake was no longer worried about Eva getting depressed without him around and he also thought his mother was living well without him around. But there was a possibility that Eva might want to move to live in the same city where Jake lived, Jake could imagine that happening and so he knew he would have to talk to her about it before deciding. Sometimes Jake also thought of Kate and what she looked like after they met last time, even though he wasn''t sure what it was he had to admit that he thought of her whenever he had no concern. Especially after he knew that in fact, Kate had thought of him too when they were apart, as she had thought of him after meeting only once even Jake understood that she felt something for him. The truth was, Jake had often thought of looking for Kate to talk to her after the last time they met, but as someone who lived on the internet and smartphones, Jake knew how gossip could end an artist''s career. So he could just hope she really liked him as he thought and call him when she was prepared to deal with the media and the fans if that didn''t happen Jake could only regret it. But after the system said that Kate would actually have died if she didn''t know him, Jake always thought that somehow the fate that sent him back in time was helping him to have a good wife that was one of his dreams when he would die in the past life. Jake was also thinking that he would have to prepare for the next few years in business, maybe he would have to interfere with Amazon to help Jeff Bezos as he approached the 2000s. Jake also had to prepare the money to make a few more investments in the coming years that could make him even richer if he could, the smartphone project and touch and multi-touch technologies would probably be completed next year. Jake would then have to fight to get as many patents as he could on this prototype to earn much more in the smartphone era, he would also have to start developing the Android operating system as soon as he could. He would also have to try to help Matthew prepare to move from one of the world''s largest digital camera companies to technology providers for smartphone and notebook companies around the world. On top of that, he would have to prepare and find the best dates and ways to sell all his and his investment firm''s stock before the bubble burst in the stock market, so only he and investors could make the most out of it. He already had a great company that Emily hired a lot of specialists to buy and sell the stock, these specialists all these years just managed the stock and did almost nothing, but when the time came every year that Jake paid them it would be worth if he could sell all the stock. It showed how Jake''s coming years would be hectic, he would have to work on billions of dollars and be careful not to lose everything while playing basketball and running without neglecting his personal life. Beyond all this after 2000 or perhaps even earlier, his fortune would surely be revealed and discovered by trade magazines like Forbes, while Jake was clever and used the names of Matthew, Oliver, his mother, and Emily to undiscovered, but after 2000 it will be impossible to hide it. Once this has happened his already hectic life will be fully exposed in the media and perhaps he will become one of America''s best-known people after the movie The Matrix was released. No one close to Jake knew or even imagined that something like this would be possible in the future, so Jake just wasn''t stressed about it all because it was good for him and lately everything was working out in his life. He was even excited for all this to happen because it would be proof that everything was going the way he wanted in his past life, even if he didn''t join the NBA next year he sure could in the next few years. After a few more days of training came the day of the next game for the Tar Heels team, this was the first game they considered really difficult, in the last game everyone expected a difficult challenge, but the opponent did not make a good game. But the team they would face in this game was the UCLA team that was one of the biggest winners of the NCAA tournament, so it was a team always respected by all College basketball teams. So Coach Guthridge prepared more and the players trained more willingly this week, Jake knew that in his past life the Tar Heels team would win this game easily, but not even he relaxed in training and was also nervous about this game. Another thing that bothered players was that in the next 3 games they would play in a different 4-quarters format than they were used to, 4 quarters of 10 minutes each. Jake hoped to play the best he could as well as the other players, after several games last season Jake had more confidence from coach Guthridge and therefore suggested that in this next game Shammond Williams would not play and coach put Makhtar N''Diaye to play. Jake remembered that Williams would not be playing well in this game and Makhtar N''Diaye would be very well, Coach Guthridge thought it was because the UCLA team had an excellent Center that was Jelani McCoy and so agreed. Jake didn''t correct the coach because he got what he wanted because Jelani McCoy wouldn''t even be playing this game, after a couple of hours both teams were ready for this game, both teams had to travel to this game so the fans were the same for both sides. "Today we will follow another game that promises to be exciting between these two teams, the UCLA team is the biggest winner of the NCAA tournament and has a glorious history." "The Tar Heels team also has a great history, but it is only after coach Dean Smith has been in charge of the team for many years that the titles have come in recent years, and it is one of the best teams today." "That''s right, the UCLA team has a big draw in this game because this is just their first game this season and the Tar Heels team already comes from 3 wins and gets more confident in that game." "In addition, the Tar Heels team has Jake Smith who has always been performing well since he started playing and is currently the best college player." The game started with both teams studying and being careful, Jake controlled the pace of the game and did not let the opposing PG attack when he was in defense, with N''Diaye playing as Center the team defense was much more stable. From the history of the UCLA team, the Tar Heels team players were being careful in attack and putting a lot of effort into defense, as a result of this first quarter, the Tar Heels team got a slight advantage after Jake made a steal and the team got some offensive rebounds and Defensive. Jake was still studying the pace of the game and so only made a three-point move and was making more plays with mid-range shots and layups, he was also counting on Jamison and Carter who were playing very well and thus making more assists. By the end of the first quarter, the Tar Heels team was winning by a 7-point lead, which left the players excited to play even better in the second quarter to try to secure a win in the first half of the game. "Great first time for the Tar Heels team, in a tough game like this with the two teams balanced the defense of the Tar Heels team that decided to put N''Diaye in Williams position got a lot better and that was what guaranteed this 7 point advantage to the Tar Heels team." "Jamison and Carter were also playing well in this game and Jake seemed to be studying his opponents more, so in this second quarter when he starts trying more three-point plays we will see how the UCLA team will react." In that first quarter, Jake had played for 10 minutes and had only scored 7 points, with 3 assists, 1 rebound, and 2 steals, which is what he always did in the first 10 minutes of his college time, at least against opponents who he found it more difficult. In the second quarter the team Tar Heels was excited about the advantage and thus attacked much more so the players could see the fragility of the UCLA defense in this game in a few minutes with Jake scoring 6 points and an assist, the defense of the team Tar Heels was also able to nullify part of the attacks of the opposing team. This gave more confidence to the Tar Heels team who attacked harder and put more pressure on the defense, so by the end of the second quarter the Tar Heels team was already winning by 31 points and that was only the first half of the game. Jake played for another 10 minutes in this second quarter and can score 16 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals, Jake took advantage of the space he got in the attack and landed 4 shots of three points in this second quarter. Chapter 361 College Basketball Season Begins 5 "What an incredible second quarter for the Tar Heels team, they came more focused and missed no attacks and the players seemed to be inspired, Jake scored an incredible 16 points in those 10 minutes." "Scoring 16 points even in an entire game would be a good result for any player and Jake did it in just one quarter, it already shows how he plays differently from the others." "True, but even with Jake scoring so many points Jamison, Carter, Okulaja, and N''Diaye also scored a few points, it shows the strength of the Tar Heels team this season under coach Guthridge." "On the other hand the UCLA team had a second-quarter far worse than their first quarter, the players didn''t have the ability to beat the defense of team Tar Heels and scored a few points in that quarter and were still very poor in defense." "That''s right, we see the coach fighting with the players for having such a bad performance, but with 31 points on the scoreboard I see nothing more than the UCLA team can do in this game." While Coach Steve Lavin fought with the UCLA players, Coach Guthridge praised the great game the Tar Heels team players were having that day, everyone was playing well and focused throughout the game. Coach Guthridge could see how the players he had could have a great future in the NBA or other professional basketball leagues, and he was lucky to coach those players in his first year as a coach after Coach Smith left. In the third quarter the UCLA team returned to play much better, it seemed that coach Lavin''s scolding worked, but the Tar Heels team players were really fine in this game and focused and did not give much space for the UCLA team to make the plays. Jake kept trying the three-point shots and setting up the shots so that Jamison, Carter and the other players had more freedom to score, yet with the UCLA team playing well the Tar Heels team continued to increase the lead. By the end of the third quarter, the Tar Heels team increased their lead even further and the UCLA players had already given up on winning that first game, Jake played for 10 minutes and scored 11 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals. In the last quarter of this game, the UCLA team returned to play poorly because the players gave up on winning the game, but the Tar Heels team continued playing as in the other quarters of this game and performing very well. Thus the Tar Heels team won the game to the great advantage and further showing the strength of this team for this season, the Tar Heels team won by 125 points against just 57 points from the UCLA team. Jake played for 10 minutes in the last quarter and scored 12 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 3 steals, this was Jake''s first triple-double this season and the best team match of the season by Tar Heels team as well. Such a victory further increased the confidence of the entire team and coach Guthridge and the fans, especially because they had won against a strong team like the UCLA team. "What a great game for the Tar Heels team in this game, against a strong team like the UCLA team they managed to win with double the opposing team''s score and great offensive and defensive performance as well as a great performance of all players." "Antawn Jamison made a double-double on this one and Vince Carter also had a great offensive game, and Jake Smith was amazing in this game making his first triple-double this season scoring 46 points, it looks like we can see Jake winning all of the prizes again in this season." "Undoubtedly, on the other side the UCLA team had a bad second quarter and fourth quarter, in the last quarter the players were discouraged because the game was already lost, but the second quarter was a complete inattention of the team." "In the first quarter the UCLA team players played very well, and in the third quarter after the coach''s scolding the team returned to play well, but the game was already lost after the bad second quarter." "I think this game was an exception and the UCLA team will still have a great season, but the Tar Heels team play the same way since the first game of this season, it''s the fourth straight win and it looks like we can see the team making a great season just as it was last year." Jake and the other team players were very happy after this game, Jake celebrated again with his teammates, he also called Eva to talk to his mother as he always did after games . The team didn''t have time to train and rest because the next day they had to play another game, they were in a kind of preseason tournament and so they played in four quarters and three days in a row at the Sullivan Arena in Alaska. This second game would be against the Seton Hall team, which this year would not have a good season despite having some quality players, so the players of the Tar Heels team were not so excited to try hard. Still, everyone was excited after the victory against the UCLA team in the last game and Jake also wanted to play well in that game, just as in the last game Coach Guthridge decided to leave Williams out of the team. But in this game as Jake had said nothing, Coach Guthridge decided to let Ed Cota play in place of Shammond Williams to test a different starting lineup, Jake said nothing about it and just prepared for the game. The truth was that Jake thought that with him playing as PG and setting up the plays and assists the team didn''t need another player in that position, but it seemed that Coach Guthridge thought differently from him and so put Cota in this game. In the first quarter of the game you could clearly see that the players didn''t have the same excitement and concentration in the game, Carter didn''t seem too excited to attack as much as in the last game and Okulaja was as usual. Even so Jake, Jamison, and Cota were playing well in offense and defense and so the Seton Hall players were having difficulty making the moves, as Cota was in the team Jake left him to make some plays as the point guard and just made the assists teammates score points. Everyone could see that clearly after all Ed Cota even though he was a great player didn''t have that much quality to play in other positions and only had the best performance as SG, since Jake could play wherever he wanted on the court and not fall in quality. It seemed that the quality of the gameplay was still the same, and Seton Hall''s defense had a harder time defending against Jake and Cota who could assist Carter, Jamison or Okulaja at any moment, or they could just try to shoot from mid-range and the three-point shot. Even though Team Seton Hall playing well in the first quarter Team Tar Heels still had the full advantage, Jamison still scored as many points as in the last game and even Cota was still hitting more mid-range moves. Jake played for 10 minutes and made 9 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, even though Jake was still playing as PG and doing some assists with Cota on the team he had fewer opportunities to make assists. "What a good game we are following today, Team Seton Hall is working hard on defense and attack to beat Team Tar Heels, but players from Team are making a great game today as well." "This change from Coach Guthridge made the Tar Heels team play differently than all games this season and last season took the Seton Hall team by surprise." "It just shows how Coach Guthridge has more freedom to change the lineup without losing quality because that team has great players in both the start and reserve." "This game also shows Jake''s incredible adaptability sometimes playing as PG, sometimes as SG and sometimes as SF in this game without disturbing the players who are in that position and so Ed Cota who plays better as PG can do better than he can." In the second quarter, the team Tar Heels continued to attack well and defended even better, while the team Seton Hall missed much as the team UCLA did in the last game and therefore the advantage of team Tar Heels only increased. Unlike the last game, however, it was not unexpected that with Team Tar Heels putting more pressure on the defense Team Seton Hall missed more in this second quarter, Jake played for 10 minutes and scored 8 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. In the third quarter, Team Seton Hall returned to play better and Team Tar Heels kept attacking a lot but did not press the defense because they already had a lot of advantage in the scoreboard, with three games in three days Team Tar Heels could not overreact to not have players very tired or injured. In the third quarter, Jake played for 10 minutes and scored 9 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals, even though he didn''t score as many points and assists as in the last game Jake still focused on defense and got a lot of steals in all quarters. From the last game Coach, Guthridge had this concern and so besides Jake, the players didn''t play more than 30 minutes, Coach Guthridge already knew that at the beginning of the season Jake would have no problem playing three straight games all the time without getting tired. In the last quarter, Team Tar Heels was still attacking with a will and not relaxing just because they had almost guaranteed victory, Seton Hall also did not relax in the last quarter and kept trying to play well despite knowing that they had already lost the game. Chapter 362 College Basketball Season Begins 6 Tar Heels team won this match by scoring 105 points against 59 points for the Seton Hall team, in this last quarter Jake played for 10 minutes and scored 11 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound, and 3 steals, so Jake made the first double-double in this quarter. season. After this victory, even slightly tired Tar Heels team players were still excited about the great start of the season, the next day would still have another game before returning to normal games of the season. The great performance of the Tar Heels team this early season was receiving a lot of praise from the media and even coaches from other teams for Coach Guthridge and the team, some hoped that the Tar Heels team might not have a good season and these games were the answer. Even though the whole team was happy about this great start to the season, many players were nervous because they didn''t know if they could continue in Coach Guthridge''s initial lineup this season. Only Jake, Jamison and Carter have confirmed players on this starting team, Okulaja had a position in every game but knew that he could go out to N''Diaye to play anytime, Williams who thought the chance of him being a player in the initial formation had arrived almost did not play in these last games. And Ed Cota who had almost given up hope of having more playing time got excited again after playing almost the entire last game, this was good for the team as players would not settle in and would train harder after those games to secure a seat on this team. This was making Coach Guthridge happier and the whole team also because of this competition for team positions they kept winning, even though Jake, Jamison, and Carter who had the positions secured always struggled in every game for the best of the team. After everyone rested for just one night the other day had the last game in a row that they had to play, the players were tired for that game because even though it was just the beginning of the season they still didn''t have the ideal fitness they would have after Halfway through the season. So in this game, Coach Guthridge had to rely on Jake to lead this team more than usual, before the game Jake told Coach Guthridge to put Williams back in the team and take Carter out to put N''Diaye in this game. The coach trusted Jake''s vision and decided to do so, all the more so because this game would be harder than the others because it faced another team that had great players and was doing well this season in a game where players were more tired. After a few hours, both teams were ready to start this game, the opponent for Team Tar Heels in this game was the strong Purdue Boilermakers team, the Purdue team would have a great season as Jake remembered. Last season of this team was not very good, but even with the same players with more experience this year''s season would be much better for this team, one of the best players of this team was Brad Miller who played in several NBA teams and was very talented. So Jake recommended that N''Diaye who could play as Center play in place of Carter who would play poorly in today''s game so that they could strengthen the team''s defense, Williams would play very well in that game and so had to go back to the team. Jake was expecting a very difficult game and so wanted the team to be careful and to put pressure on the defense and to work hard on attack, but that was hard to ask when the players were tired. That is why Williams, who was rested for almost not playing in the last games, would be important for the attack of the team Tar Heels and N''Diaye could help more in the defense, yet Jake remembered that in this game Brad Miller would be playing very well and that is why It would also help in defense. "We''re here to follow another College basketball game this season between Team Tar Heels and Team Purdue Boilermakers, which we hope is another easy win for Team Tar Heels as in the last 5 games." "Sure enough, last season we saw the Tar Heels team win most games and lose only 2 games and end the season winning the NCAA tournament, and we have almost the same team with Jake who is the best player on that team." "One of the only players that the Tar Heels team lost this season was an important player for the team and for the NCAA title conquest Center Serge Zwikker, in this game we will once again see how the Tar Heels team does without a quality Center to playing against the Brad Miller Purdue Boilermakers team." "That''s right, I''m sure Brad Miller will be very active in this game against the Tar Heels team precisely because the team is trying to play some games without a Center in defense and attack." Coach Guthridge was also worried about this and thought that maybe N''Diaye couldn''t stop a talented player like Miller in this game, but he agreed with Jake that N''Diaye was the best for this game. In the first minutes of the first quarter the Purdue Boilermakers team started attacking, they did not hurry and attacked calmly to try to get the points, Jake was focused on defense and Jamison was also. Only the most concentrated players were playing in this formation and everyone wants to win even if they did not think their opponent was strong, the Purdue Boilermakers team knew how to play well and the ball was passed to Miller who can make the 2 points even with the N''Diaye''s defense. Jake wanted to help N''Diaye, but could not simply abandon his position in defense, he would have to find the right opportunity to steal the ball in the other plays, Jake received the ball and went to attack to tie the game. After passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Williams on the left, without Carter playing in this game Williams played as SG normally and the positions were better defined. Williams advanced with the ball and then felt the pressure of the Purdue Boilermakers defense, Williams tried no further and pass the ball to Okulaja, Okulaja held the ball and then passed to Jake behind. Jake saw that the Purdue Boilermakers team was trying to pressure the Tar Heels team attack and so started attacking himself, Jake made a feint and the opposing PG was not fooled but was shaken so Jake made the quick crossover and passed him. Purdue Boilermakers PG managed to recover in defense because Jake was not so fast and Jake took the opportunity to step back and back off the three-point line to try an outside shot. Jake got it right and scored 3 points for the Tar Heels team and so passed the lead, Purdue Boilermakers tried to attack again and with pressure from the defense of the Tar Heels team missed the attack, but Brad Miller caught the rebound and made 2 more points. In another attacking move by the Tar Heels team, the ball went to Okulaja who missed the attack and Brad Miller caught the offensive rebound again, Jake realized he could count more on those attacks with Jamison, Williams and himself. But Jamison and Williams were well defended in this first quarter and so Jake was having difficulty making assists, so he had to attack himself to get the Tar Heels team to finish that first-quarter upfront. Thus at the end of the first quarter, Team Tar Heels ended up leading on the scoreboard with Jake scoring 9 points hitting three three-point shots in that first quarter as Purdue Boilermakers tried to press Jake with more players in defense Jake was assisting. In that first quarter Jake played for 10 minutes and made 9 points, 1 assist, and 1 steal, it was a tough first quarter for the whole Tar Heels team, but Purdue Boilermakers also failed to attack easily. Before the start of the second quarter coach Guthridge spoke briefly as the players, he spoke more to N''Diaye and Okulaja asking them to try to further upset the Purdue Boilermakers team''s defense for Jamison and Williams to have more opportunities to make the plays. Jake was playing very well and just needed the right opportunities to assist his teammates, coach Guthridge was also worried about Miller and asked N''Diaye to be more careful in defense. In the second quarter, Jake had more pressure from the Purdue Boilermakers defense, but with the movement of the Tar Heels team players Jake had more options to assist, he preferred to move to Jamison and Williams, but he would move to Okulaja and N''Diaye if they are free to make the points. So in the second quarter the game was more disputed and both teams attacked and defended with quality, Jake still found opportunities whenever he could to make the assists, but if not could create a chance to make the points. In the second quarter, Miller was still fine and even though N''Diaye struggling was hard to defend against Miller that day, Jake could only find two opportunities and so made 2 steals to retrieve the ball and prevent Miller from scoring more points. Williams and Jamison were much better in this second quarter as well and scored a lot of points that helped the Tar Heels team finish ahead in the second quarter as well, so Tar Heels team had a bigger lead, but Purdue Boilermakers still had a chance to look for them the victory. "Good game so far for both teams, the Purdue Boilermakers team has been surprised by putting a lot of difficulty into the Tar Heels team to attack and playing very well so far with Brad Miller making a great game so far." "But even with Jake playing very well as always and Jamison and Williams scoring several points in this second quarter, the team has a good lead before the third quarter." Chapter 363 College Basketball Season Begins 7 "That''s right, the Purdue Boilermakers team has been the toughest opponent for the Tar Heels team this season, they managed to stop the Tar Heels team''s strong attack in the first quarter and so almost managed to finish the first quarter ahead on the scoreboard." "But with Jake''s great first half Tar Heels team ended up ahead in the first quarter, in the second quarter both teams attacked more and with N''Diaye and Okulaja bothering the defending opponent Tar Heels team can score more points." "True, Miller is playing very well taking advantage of the defensive defenses of the Tar Heels team to score more points, but we have seen that against this very strong offensive team Tar Heels the best way to play against them is to defend." "Almost every player in the Tar Heels team attack has to stop, so Jake can still score and the opposing team just has to score more points than Jake and win." The commentator said this and everyone interpreted it as a joke, he said that the opposing team would have to focus completely on the defense and even then it would do no good because Jake would still score the points and besides focusing on the defense the attack would have to make more points than the opponent Jake who excels at three-point play and has an 80% average hit rate this season. Of course, this was not true because if a team attacked very well without losing too many attacks they could still easily beat Team Tar Heels, which happens to be hard to find a team that can easily pass Jake and Jamison who was in the defense and make the points in almost every attack. In the second quarter, Jake played for 10 minutes and scored 11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, a good second quarter of Jake that made it possible for the Tar Heels team to finish this quarter with even more advantage. Even though it was a good advantage, it wasn''t good enough for Team Tar Heels and it was too small to make Team Purdue Boilermakers discourage, players from Team Purdue Boilermakers were realizing that they could put pressure on Team Tar Heels in this game and that was leaving everyone animated. Since they were losing the game, the Purdue Boilermakers team decided to attack with everything in this third quarter instead of just defending what they were thinking of doing, Miller was the focus of that team in the attack because the other players in the attack were having a hard time attacking. After the first 2 quarter Jake already knew how the Purdue Boilermakers team attacked and was prepared to help N''Diaye further in defense to disrupt plays with Miller, the Tar Heels team also wanted to attack a lot in that last quarter to ensure victory. Shammond Williams was playing well in the offense, but didn''t seem to want to try too much of three points and had missed four shots that he tried, so Jamison had already scored a lot with Jake and Williams had not even scored 10 points by the end of the second quarter. So Jake called him before the start of the third quarter and told Williams to try more three-point shots because he trusted him to win, which made Williams more excited to try. In defense early in the third quarter, Purdue Boilermakers tried to make the attacking move and Jake managed to intercept the pass, he used his speed to run to the attack side of the court and the opponents could not keep up with him and Jake finished the play with a dunk. With that, the Purdue Boilermakers team had to be more careful when attacking so that Jake did not intercept the passes, in another attacking move Jake went to Williams who was free to the left, but Williams was so excited to make the three points that ended up stepping in line of three points and thus the play was worth only 2 points. But with that he was more confident of making more moves like this in the third quarter, in defense Jake seized a moment that Miller was distracted and made a block on him, this was Jake''s first block of the season. In this third period the team greatly increased the advantage because the offensive part went very well and the defense, even more, thanks to the confidence that Jake gave to him, Williams made 2 plays of 3 points and 8 points in this quarter just missing 1 move. In this third quarter Jake played for 10 minutes and made 8 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 3 steals, was one of Jake''s best quarters of the season, he was already fully recovering the pace he had at the end of last season. Even with much difference in the scoreboard and the victory already almost guaranteed for the team Tar Heels, the Purdue Boilermakers team still returned to play well in this last quarter of the game, they did not give up and played well as in every game. Even with Jake helping the defense, Miller still managed to score several points in this game, in the last quarter Jamison was attacking well and Williams hit two more three-point shots and scored eight more points in this last period. So the Tar Heels team won this game very well even with the Purdue Boilermakers team also playing very well, in this fourth quarter Jake played for 10 minutes and made 9 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 block, and 3 steals. Tar Heels team won by 89 points against 67 points by Purdue Boilermakers, it was the hardest game for the Tar Heels team and Shammond Williams was the one who helped Tar Heels team to win more than Jake in that game. "We had a great game here today, Team Tar Heels and Team Purdue Boilermakers played very well and Team Purdue Boilermakers was a nice surprise in this game, with Miller making a good game they fought for victory and in the first quarters of the game." "But with Jake playing very well as always Tar Heels team always got the lead on the scoreboard, after the third quarter the Purdue Boilermakers team kept fighting, but Jake made 3 blocks in that game and 9 steals prevented several major Purdue Boilermakers attacks." "In addition, Jake made another double-double with 37 points and 10 assists that helped the Tar Heels team win in this game." "That''s right, what we saw in this game is the strength of the Tar Heels team even when a defensive problem arose, Coach Guthridge worked well with the team and from the second quarter onwards the whole Tar Heels team was already reacting better to the team attacks Purdue Boilermakers." "Even if the Purdue Boilermakers team got an advantage in the first two quarters the team could still react before the end of the game and win." "True, but I still think Jake is very important to this team and makes everything easier, with Jake on this team I find it hard for them to lose if the other players play normally." After this game the Tar Heels team had a 6-win streak and could not be a better start for a team that needs confidence with a new coach, the crowd was also excited and Jake had already become a fan idol in less than two years playing in the team. So everyone came back happy to the university and could rest, after three games in three days in a row the players were tired for the first time this season, everyone knew that the season had not even officially started and had many months for this team to play. Jake called his mom to talk about the games of the last days and they talked about other things like the restaurant, Jake sometimes called Anna secretly to know how Eva was in the restaurant and it showed how he cared about her. Anna said everyone in the restaurant was fine and that they were starting to change the menu again, a long time ago since the last time the restaurant changed the menu and customers needed new things. Jake knew well how to cook that he even received compliments from Anna, but he tried not to comment on the restaurant menu because he had confidence in Anna''s wisdom and wanted his mother to try to create something too. Jake also celebrated with his roommates and so can rest peacefully, the other day Jake returned to normal training with the basketball team and also returned to daily training with Zack racing. Jake had already talked to David Falk and after a few months they would talk about Jake''s willingness to get into the 1998 draft, Jake already had the ability to do that and could even be number one this season but Jake wanted more than that and maybe wanted to try to talk about the team he wanted to play in the next few years. David Falk was very excited to be the sports agent after Jake''s excellent last season, even though Jake competing in marathons was a reason for David to get excited because it would only increase Jake''s market value. So maybe this was just the right time for Jake to join the NBA, so the NBA would have a big change in both business and retirement of major players, and it was important that Jake could settle in the NBA before this storm to become perhaps the player who made the fans keep watching the NBA for years to come. Not to mention that the sponsors will be looking for a new star player to invest in and Jake has already confirmed his ability to bring profits to the companies he sponsors, David Falk was already negotiating some excellent contracts that would have yet to be approved by Jake, but himself was happy about that. The hardest thing for David was Jake''s request for contracts not to be longer than 4 years, this could hurt himself with market instability, but David tried to do so because he had confidence that Jake could only improve in the coming years. Chapter 364 College Basketball Season Begins 8 In the coming days, the players were doing lighter training to regain energy for the next games, taking advantage of this light training and still having 4 days between games Jake decided to help Aaron as he had promised. Next season Aaron would start training with his team, but until he could train with the team he would have to train alone to keep fit, Jake called Aaron to run with him and Zack. But Aaron was used to doing one more explosive run than the long run as Jake and Zack did, and to improve stamina and stamina Aaron had another kind of training. Aaron''s biggest problem training on his own was his skills as a Wide receiver, he had no way of training his ability to receive passes alone, so he asked Jake for help knowing that he played time on the high school football team. Even though Jake said he played for a short time Aaron knew that Jake was not a liar and if he can play as the team''s initial quarterback without training in the team he should at least know how to pass well. Jake naturally agreed to help Aaron because he also enjoyed playing football at times and had confidence in making dozens of passes for Aaron without getting tired of his current strength and endurance statistics. Aaron took advantage of these days that Jake helped to do all the training he needed a quarterback to do and so made the most of Jake''s help, he can see in person how Jake was really talented as a quarterback being able to make several accurate passes at a distance of many Yards. If Aaron had not seen Jake playing basketball he would say it was a pity that Jake did not play football, but Aaron knew that Jake was doing what was best for himself and was also safer. Jake, not enough of the football world to judge, but he knew Aaron was at least better than all the Wide receiver he played in high school, of course, Jake knew that the Wide receiver needed to have more skills than Jake could not seeing in such a simple training, but just being on the college football team showed how talented Aaron was. After a few days of training, the day of the next game for Team Tar Heels came, it was another away game and Team Tar Heels would have some more before returning to play at the Dean Smith Center. Even though as 6 straight wins the team was very confident for this match, coach Guthridge could also work more smoothly with the team without anyone charging him for anything with the team having great results. After a few hours, both teams were ready to start this game, the opponent in today''s game was the team Louisville Cardinals, Jake remembered that this season would not be very good for this team as it was last season, but the players of the team Tar Heels did not know said and were preparing for a difficult game. For this game the starting team would be what Coach Guthridge considered the top without N''Diaye on the team, Shammond Williams, Carter, Jamison, Okulaja and Jake would play in today''s game on the starting team. But that didn''t leave the early players at ease and the reserve team players were still waiting for an opportunity, everyone knew that the 7 players could play in any game and maybe only Jake and Jamison were guaranteed on the team. This was a game of only 2 quarters as the Tar Heels team players were used to playing, but the strategy used had to be different than it was in the last games, so both teams had to be careful. Jake knew that Jamison would be playing well in this game as in all this season and Williams would be playing well again, even if Carter was not so good in this game Jake still trusted that he could score more points and help disrupt the opposing team''s defense. In the first quarter the team Tar Heels started attacking well and also pressing in defense, Jake was not afraid of the opposing team and so made quiet moves and this made the players calmer as well. In the first 10 minutes of the first quarter, Jake was trying some three-point shots to increase the lead and his teammates were also performing well. So in the rest of the first quarter with a good lead, Team Tar Heels could play more smoothly and this put more pressure on Team Louisville Cardinals, Jake also got some steals and hindered several moves from the opponent. By the end of the first quarter, the Tar Heels team had a good lead, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 17 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals. Jake had a good first quarter and made the Tar Heels team more comfortable for the second quarter. In the second quarter, Louisville Cardinals became more agitated to try to win and the Tar Heels team increased the pressure on the defense, the Tar Heels team attacked calmly so they could quietly play in the second quarter and further increase the lead. At the end of the game, Tar Heels team won 94 points against 74 points of Louisville Cardinals team, in this second quarter Jake played for 20 minutes and made 18 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. Another good game for the Tar Heels team and that was making the fans happier, but it also made the coach and the players more nervous, after all with a sequence of 7 victories the fans always wanted more and the players too and that was a concern more at game time. Only at the end of the season when tournaments started did the team''s winning streak no longer make so much difference because if the team lost they would be eliminated from the tournaments so winning was a must. After just a day''s rest, the Tar Heels team soon had to travel to do another two-game sequence in two straight days away from home, it was a tiring game sequence for players and Jake knew that this season they would hardly have time to rest. After a while both teams were ready for the start of the game, the opposing team in this game was the Chattanooga Mocs team, it was another team that Jake remembered that had a good last season, but that this season would not play very well. The expectation of everyone in this game was the victory of the team Tar Heels and perhaps a more exciting game with many points, Jake knew that this would not be a game of many points and was already prepared for it. In the first quarter, the Tar Heels team players were excited to play, but within minutes everyone realized that the Chattanooga Mocs players were not playing very well in this game. Maybe it was a difference between players'' ability, but the game wasn''t as exciting as the Tar Heels team players expected, yet they still struggled in defense and made the play as usual. Coach Guthridge also noticed this and asked the players to still work hard and Jake tried to get the Tar Heels team players to save energy on attacking plays. Jake understood and slowed the attacking pace of the team and just wanted to attack with who was more willing, Jamison was playing well as always and Okulaja also seemed to want to attack, and Carter still wanted to make some moves. So Jake decided that he would play more with them and not pass the ball to Williams who was playing poorly in this game, Jake also wanted to make the moves and even at a slower pace the team still attacked well in that game. By the end of the first quarter, the Tar Heels team had a great lead and had virtually secured a win against Chattanooga Mocs who was not doing well in this game, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 15 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. In the second quarter, the Chattanooga Mocs team returned a little better in the game, but the Tar Heels team''s huge advantage and strong defense took Chattanooga Mocs''s willingness to play, Jake kept attacking at a slow pace and took advantage of the seconds to attack in every move. So the players from Team Tar Heels didn''t get tired and Team Tar Heels could still attack effectively, Jake played well in the second quarter as well and relied on Jamison and the other teammates to secure another win. The game ended with the victory of team Tar Heels who scored 84 points against 31 points of team Chattanooga Mocs, in this second quarter Jake played for 20 minutes and made 16 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. It was another good game for the Tar Heels team that was clearly playing so that the players could save energy for next day''s game, Jake and Jamison were again the best players of the team and were the best players of the season so far. Carter was falling a little behind in the best-attacking trio of this team, but Jake couldn''t do anything because Jamison was really playing very well and it was easier for Jake to assist with Jamison. The Tar Heels team crowd was much more excited with this 8-team winning streak and excellent performances from Jake who was the best player on the team and from all universities in recent seasons. It was interesting that when Jake played on the Tar Heels team he played so well that everyone forgot he was a marathon runner, but when he was running and winning several marathons breaking world records everyone forgot that he played basketball too. Chapter 365 College Basketball Season Begins 9 The other day the Tar Heels team already had another game this season, thanks to the last game with a slower pace the players did not spend much energy and were prepared for that game. Jake had already talked to Coach Guthridge that after this game he would go to Miami to spend a week with his mother, he wanted to take advantage of these opportunities to stay home because this season would be very crowded and players would never have more than a week to relax. So he would go this time and around Christmas again, because then only in February would the players have some time to rest and spend with their family and then just after the end of the season. Jake had to enjoy it because he regretted not doing it last season and Coach Guthridge gave Jake more freedom because he knew how great he was in every game and training of the season. He also wouldn''t have time to talk to Matthew and Emily this holiday season and couldn''t talk to David Falk, so he would have to delay all the things he had to work out for February next year. The worst thing for Jake was that he was going to spend his birthday this year at university and couldn''t go home as he always did, but he was expecting it when he decided to become a professional basketball player. After a few hours, both teams were ready to start the game, the opponent in that game was the Virginia Tech team, the Virginia Tech team had a last regular season and Jake remembered that this season would not be very good for this team. The fans and the media hoped that this was also an easy game for the Tar Heels team because Jake kept playing very well in every game and Jamison also always showed that he deserved to be one of the best players this season. Jake remembered that Carter and Williams would also be playing well in this game, so he wasn''t very nervous about the Virginia Tech team game either, so the team could play willingly because the players would have a week to rest after that game. In the first quarter, however, the game was different from what Jake thought with Team Virginia Tech trying to pressure Team Tar Heels into both offense and defense, even though Jake could still make the moves his teammates had a harder time making the points. In defense, Tar Heels managed to hold on well with Jake and the other more focused defense players, so Jake decided to make a few more individual plays until the team could make the attacking moves better. The opposing defense tried to hinder Jake in the plays, but Jake was skilled and could always get space to make the three-point shot or dribble to layup, but even the opponent knowing it was hard to defend against Jake they couldn''t let go. him alone and had to at least try to disturb him. And that was right because with the pressure of defense even Jake could miss a few shots of three, luckily Jamison helped catch some rebounds and so the Tar Heels team did not miss the attacks. Even with a tougher first quarter Tar Heels can still attack and defend well and finished the first quarter with a good lead, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 21 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals. The Virginia Tech team also missed more while trying to attack more willingly to try to beat this first quarter, so Jake and Jamison had more opportunities to catch the rebounds in defense. At half-time Coach Guthridge made some changes and gave some advice to the players, the players were not tired yet and in the second quarter, it was time for the Tar Heels team to put pressure on attack and defense. This strategy took Virginia Tech by surprise because they were thinking of slowing down the game so that they could re-press Tar Heels later and try to win, the Tar Heels attacks were much more accurate and strong and the defense then It was even stronger. Jake started making more assists for Jamison and Carter in the attack and for Williams when he was within the three-point line because in this game Williams was poorly on a three-point play. Jake continued to attack well in this second quarter and this made the Virginia Tech team have a harder time defending having to worry about Jake, Jamison, Carter, and Williams, so the advantage was only increasing. At the end of the game, the team Tar Heels won with a great advantage in this game, in the second quarter the team Tar Heels was very well in attack and gave no chance for the team Virginia Tech to react. Team Tar Heels won by scoring 97 points against just 51 points from Team Virginia Tech, in this second quarter Jake played for 20 minutes and made 19 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, this was one of the few games Jake ever made the most. 40 points in the season. The whole team was fine offensively and so Jake couldn''t get many moves to score more points, but he was hoping for a special game to try to maybe score 60 points in a game this season which was what Jake wanted. After this game, the Tar Heels team now had a 9-win streak, the same sequence that the team had last season before losing, so after that week of rest, the players had to come back willingly to try to win the next game. After the team returned to university Jake celebrated with his roommates and warned everyone that he was going to Miami the next day, he would drop off at university and catch the plane that had already bought tickets before. Jake had also warned Coach Davis that he could rest with his family this week, it was difficult for Coach Davis to live with his family in a hotel, but even when Jake offered to buy a house Coach Davis said it would only be a waste. After all Jake would leave college after this season or maybe after another year, so buying a house for such a short time was a waste, but Coach Davis was happy because he was giving a good life to his family and was still able to pay the medicine for his daughter to live a normal childhood without pain. Not to mention that Coach Davis''s job wasn''t too difficult because Coach had almost nothing to teach Jake during the year and just a few times that Jake needed help, Coach Davis could even bring his daughter sometimes to accompany Jake''s training. His 9-year-old daughter named Lara was very fond of Jake as well as the coach''s wife, so their working relationship was very good and Coach Davis was pleased to be coaching one of the greatest athletes in history like Jake. It would be after winning more gold medals in different modalities of athletics. The other day Jake returned to Miami to spend a few days with his mother before the next game, Eva didn''t know Jake would come this time and that would come as a surprise, but Jake was wise and even if he wanted to make a surprise he still didn''t go to the restaurant not to disturb Lola and stayed at home waiting for Eva to return. After doing his normal training routine, Jake thought of having a special dinner for his mother as it had not been long since she started working at the restaurant, Jake knew that Eva liked to have dinner at home and rarely ate at the restaurant since she started back home early. Eva knew well that Jake was a great cook and she thought he learned to cook on his own, but the truth was that Jake was an excellent cook after learning how to cook for many years in his past life. But how strange it would be for someone as young as he was a few years ago to just cook very well. Jake still held back and didn''t make the best dishes he knew using all his skills. In fact, a few months ago Jake had the opportunity to cook at home when Eva was in the restaurant and wanted to make one of the best dishes he knew, and he saw that he cooked even better than in his past life, perhaps because of his increased agility which also increased his dexterity. As Jake was unsure what he could do he decided to make two dishes that although not the best he could do could please Eva a lot, the dishes he would make were Poutine which was a Canadian dish and Paella that Jake knew that his mother liked it when she ate in Spain. Jake already knew how to make this dish well, but after going to Spain for the second time with his lighter-hearted mother without the worries he had in his past life, Jake improved even more after eating this dish a few times during the trip. When Eva got home after working at the restaurant she was very tired but was soon excited to see that Jake was home, she didn''t really expect it because she saw Jake''s game the day before, but was very happy with that surprise. After talking for a while, Eve realized it was because Jake wouldn''t have time to come to Miami next year, at least he could spend Christmas at home, she understood well how Jake was busy at university and was happy just to find Jake time to come home. After that Eva and Jake had dinner and she was impressed again to see how Jake had improved as a cook, it was hard to understand why he had almost no time to do anything, but Eva had to admit that the food Jake made was better than everyone else her restaurant dishes. Chapter 366 College Basketball Season Begins 10 Eva can''t say anything but eat the food happily and compliment Jake''s talent, because those two dishes were once on the restaurant menu and it was Anna herself who cooked, so the restaurant had no problems with the recipe. Also, after working so long at the restaurant Eva learned that anyone who prepared the dish with the same recipe made all the difference, she couldn''t even cook all those years better than Anna or even some cooks at her restaurant. So she could only admire Jake who was talented in everything he did, she was proud to have a child so that even though she had achieved so much at such a young age she was still humble and striving to get even better. As Jake had come by surprise few people knew he was in Miami, Eva decided to just say that to Anna at the restaurant, Jake also didn''t tell almost anyone he was in Miami, only Emily knew he was home. Nothing important could happen in the week he was home, and if it happened people could look for his mother or his friends at the university who knew where he was. There was no way he could talk to Matthew about the company because the official sales report would come out only early next year and it was better for him to settle it only in February when he had another week off. His sponsors were also busy with the company''s reporting and accounting at the end of the year, Jake just knew that John''s company hoped to break their company''s sales record again this year. They were smart and only invested advertising money in Jake-related stuff, the rest of the profits and even new investments were concentrated on their product quality, they greatly improved the product so that customers would buy their drink because of Jake and then continue to consume the product because they liked the drink. This seemed to be working because the company''s sales only increased, Jake didn''t expect to renew the sponsorship agreement with John''s company and so wanted to know what their profit would be next year when their contract would probably end in the middle of the year. He hoped that the companies that worked with him would continue to profit even after he was no longer sponsored by these companies, these companies helped Jake when he needed it most and he wanted to help if possible. Just as Jake wanted in the next few days he stayed home relaxing and enjoying time with his mother, so Eva this week was coming home early to spend more time with Jake and he was training at home while his mother was at the restaurant. He wouldn''t be without training just because he was home and he had nothing else to do, the training center that Jake set up at his house was better than some things he used at the university because they were more suited to him. But after 2 days Emily called Jake saying she wanted to meet him at lunch, Jake knew that Emily was very busy running the investment company so she knew it should be something important and went to meet her. "Hi Emily, you look very good today." "Thank you, I''m happy for what has been happening with the company, I never expected these actions to appreciate so much, it makes me feel that everything we worked on was worth it." "Did you come to report on the company''s investments?" "No, that''s what I called you for, but if you want I can tell you how the company is doing." "Of course, you can give me a report." "Your stock has appreciated a lot in recent years, mainly because of the investment you made last year, this year you have stocks worth $ 44 million." Jake had hoped for that when he invested last year, he knew that in fact the stocks had not even started to appreciate much, in the next 3 years these stocks would appreciate more than 10 times the current value, but of course as soon as he could invest more he would earn. If he had invested the $ 33 million he used to buy Clara''s stock to help her, he would have doubled that now and more than 10 times that over the next 3 years, so when Jake said he wanted help Clara he was being more than sincere. "The shares that my father''s group has now are worth $ 98 million, I never expected them to make so much, I told my father that if he sold those stocks as he wanted to do last year he would have lost a lot of money." "Still he told me it''s too risky and keeps saying to ask you to sell his shares." "Matthew''s shares are worth $ 987 million, not long after reaching $ 1 billion when he received this report he no longer told me that he wanted to sell the shares he had invested." Jake was glad that Matthew finally trusted him again, after seeing the stocks valuing Matthew who was a smart businessman and knew well Jake decided to let Jake take care of his investments. If Matthew sold his shares last year as he wanted, he would have lost more than $ 200 million and regretted it for a lifetime, after which he thought it was better just to trust Jake to take care of his investments, but Matthew would not. would invest more money in stocks. On the other hand, Jake was very upset with Emily''s father and his group''s investors, Jake hoped that this group would keep these investments because in the coming years it will appreciate almost 10 times more. Also because it was Emily''s dad''s group and Jake wanted Emily''s family to make a lot of money, but it had been years and Emily''s dad was just charging Jake more and more to sell his shares. In addition, Jake knew from Oliver that Emily''s father and other investors complained that Jake charged a high management fee to invest and also gave clients no freedom to sell the products. Jake didn''t plan on continuing with this investment company after 2000, but it wasn''t good to hear others complain about Jake''s company to help people make more money from his knowledge of the future. Also, this was the best time to sell these shares without negatively affecting the market, in the coming years Jake could not sell nearly $ 90 million without having any reaction on the value of Cisco shares. "I''m sorry Emily, but your father and his friends have already pissed me off about their investment, which is not a tenth of what the company has invested, I wanted to help them make more money, but after all that he did, I''ll ask you to sell his shares and give them the money." "No, Jake, let me talk to my dad, I know how much he will lose money if he sells his shares now." "There''s no way, Emily, he''s been defaming me and the company these last few years, if you want to invest I help you, but your father''s investments are no longer in my company." Emily felt it was a pity, but she knew well enough that Jake had already endured too much because of her, she also knew what her father and the other investors were doing and could do nothing about it. "Get them to sign a liability statement that they want their shares to be sold and then you can sell." "I''ll do it, my dad will be happy about it now, but will regret it in the future, well, I wanted to tell you that Charlie and his group have finished developing the smartphone as you requested and also a tablet, as you asked." "They are coming to Miami and tomorrow they will be here to show the finished product, Charlie said it was just the same as you said and it is ready." Jake was very happy to hear that, he didn''t expect Charlie to actually finish this product later this year, so Jake had better take a little longer for Jake to get a lot of patents. But as the process was really slow it was better to go now and in a few years when the patents came out he could have the best gains, now he had to develop a strategy to get many patents in order to get many royalties for this product in the future. "Very good, after you ask the company to sell the shares of your father''s group, come back here and we''ll start organizing how we will apply for patent applications to earn even more in the future." "Very well." Jake was very happy because he thought he might actually sell smartphones in the future, he was able to assemble the smartphone and everything needed, then he would ask Charlie''s team to develop the Android operating system if they could just missing the components to assemble the smartphone. The cameras he could get from Matthew''s company and he could even partner with Matthew''s company and Amazon to create a richer company than Apple for smartphones. Matthew would soon become a billionaire after Jake sold the stock in a few years, in many years Amazon would also become one of the largest companies in the world, with Jake''s patents and operating system they would have the capital and resources to create the largest Company of the world. But that was something to see in the years to come, before thinking about this partnership Jake had to secure product patents first, only later would he have more ability to negotiate with Matthew and Jeff Bezos so as not to lose out on this deal. Chapter 367 Business and Basketball 1 The other day before Charlie arrived in Miami, Emily called sadly to tell Jake that her father and the other investors quickly accepted and were very happy that the shares they had would be sold, they would sign the liability and in the coming days, they would sell the shares. By selling the shares they would get $ 98,746,215, and $ 6,874,621 was from the investment firm, in Jake''s case, yet they would receive $ 61,871,593 having invested $ 30 million, thus having more than 2 times the profit amount invested. It was something they could not complain about giving 10 percent of the profit to the investment firm after earning so much, Emily''s father earned $ 83,043,307 in profit and as promised gave half of that to Emily which is $ 4,021,653. Jake gave Emily another $ 68,746 of her share for this investment and so she earned her first money in addition to her salary for the work done, that was pretty much her bonus for working at Jake''s investment firm. She would earn more than 10 times that value if Jake sold Matthew''s shares now, and if Jake expected that value would increase even more in the next few years, so Emily thought it would be worth working for this company in the coming years. Even though many CEOs of other companies could earn hundreds of thousands of dollars she knew she had no competence to do the same as them, this investment firm could only take care of billions of dollars and still make more profit because it was Jake who took care of all the investments. Emily knew she was actually an assistant to Jake and could help him get things done, so she was pleased with Jake''s respect and confidence in letting her handle all his business. Later that day Charlie went to the restaurant Emily had booked to be able to talk to Jake and show Jake the full products, Charlie was also excited about it and thought this idea of ??Jake could be great in the future. As someone who understood technology, Charlie naturally understood that such a touchscreen and multi-touch technology made so advanced and in a smartphone size could be used for many things in the future. Charlie understood this by seeing digital cameras and computers and the internet, things that had become inaccessible to the general public became increasingly popular, Charlie still didn''t have the ability to see what this could be used for, but knowing that Jake thought In trying to create so many patents this should be something important someday. Charlie was not someone who thought of getting rich and just wanted to work on projects that would be remembered in the future, and he felt that working with Jake was the right way to go, of course, he was pleased to receive a big salary from Jake and beyond having too much investment for the products had no one rushing his work. "Hi Charlie, I was very happy to hear you were coming to Miami." "Hi Jake, I was very excited after my team finished this project, I had to bring this product personally to know if it was really what you thought." So Charlie handed Jake some smartphone and tablet prototypes that Jake had ordered for him, Jake received and was a little impressed with the work of Charlie''s team, they were only 3 people and managed to create something very close to a smartphone. It was much heavier than a regular smartphone even though it had almost nothing useful inside, had a system to make the screen light up and also a simple calculator, plus it had a test system showing that it could touch everywhere until then. Also, a simple, useless thing cost thousands of dollars to do, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of dollars Jake had invested to develop this technology, but Jake felt that this was what he needed to get major design patents. smartphone and tablet as well as touchscreen and multi-touch. When Charlie and his team could create the Android operating system, Jake could use this smartphone to connect to the operating system so that he could get almost every patent he thought of creating. "It was really great, Charlie, that''s how I thought and I know you guys did a great job with current technology, try to keep checking the technologies to make this smartphone even lighter with its components." "I was pleased to see how you were able to create this product and develop both technologies in a short time." "We achieved this because the technology already existed and we just had to find a way to develop further and with your clear ideas of what the product would look like and the foundation you gave us where to look for the technologies to do it made it easier and cheap too." It was as Charlie had said, just as his friends who worked at Matthew''s company said, Jake, saying exactly what the product should look like and what they needed to do to do the project made it much easier to develop the products. "We try to talk to Arm Holdings, Qualcomm and TSMC, but so far we haven''t got anything concrete from them, it seems they want to see what our projects are and our financial ability to know whether or not they will work with our company." Jake had expected something like this to happen, he had no known company and his financial strength was still unknown and so these companies didn''t even want to think about working with Jake''s company that had only 3 employees so far. But before getting several international patents for the products he was developing, Jake did not want to show the smartphone design to these companies, and for the next few years, the technology would not be ready to make a smartphone or look like what it was thinking. The important thing was to start contact with these companies and thus show that since 1997 they were developing a technology product, so in the future, Jake would surely be much easier to talk to these companies. Being a partner with Amazon and Matthew Jake''s company would make it even easier to get a contract with these companies, Jake would need the semiconductors, chipsets, chip systems, microprocessors, memory, and software that would be more easily partnered with. With Qualcomm, besides many of these things, he could enter the telecommunications business more easily if he needed to, it was something he didn''t even want to think about in the near future. "I want you to develop another product that is related to this smartphone, it will be much harder to create and you will have to hire more employees than you will have to sign confidentiality contracts." "Of course, we were already waiting for you to call us to do something else, I want to work on a project that will make this smartphone an even more revolutionary product." "That''s good, I''m thinking of creating an operating system for the smartphone, it''s something like Windows 95, the difference is that it''s made for small applications and needs a lot less micro-sized components to fit this smartphone." After that Jake spent a few hours explaining his view of operating systems like Android, not the first of the time because there would be Symbian that had already been released this year. But the operating system that Jake thought was Android many years after it had a completely different operation than Symbian, this was a project that for current technology would take several years even with the help of Jake telling how it should work. Even though Charlie, who had studied hard, wasn''t sure how he could do what Jake was suggesting, he could do something for a desktop computer, but couldn''t imagine anything that could be done with micro components, so Jake had asked him to talk to all of these semiconductor and microprocessor companies. It would be a lot easier if Jake said it was like a regular cell phone, but Jake didn''t want to say it was because it would make things so much more complicated, over the years and so much investment Jake knew that Charlie''s team could do that. So Charlie returned to California excited about another project of many years that could change the future of technology, after doing so Jake thought he had done everything he could in product creation until many years later. Now he just had to focus on creating multiple patents for the touchscreen and multi-touch smartphone and tablet, Jake still had a lot of investment ideas and so had more than 7 million dollars saved. With the money he received from the sale of investment company Jake''s stock he had 6 million more to invest, now he needed to know how much he would receive from Matthew''s company this year to invest in Cisco stock again. He had not invested everything he had in Cisco stock because he decided that he would always leave some reserve money for possible investments if Matthew''s company decided not to make a profit share and Jake''s investment company didn''t receive those nearly 7 million Jake would have no money if he had invested all his money in Cisco stock. In addition, he couldn''t know how much he had received until February of next year when he talked to Matthew in person if Jake hadn''t received a few million in sponsorship and marathon prizes he couldn''t even pay the salaries of his corporate employees and his employees Charlie''s company investments. After Charlie left Jake called Emily to meet her again the other day to talk about the patents, Jake didn''t have much time in Miami so he had to sort things out quickly before the next game. Chapter 368 Business and Basketball 2 The other day after training in the morning Jake went to meet Emily at the restaurant, he took some prototypes of the smartphone and tablet and several sheets he had written with some explanations about the technology and also the patents he wants to get. "Hi Emily, I''m sorry about selling your father''s shares, I really just wanted to help you and your family, but with your father really wanting to sell the shares and yet the accusations he made to the company left me no choice." "It''s okay, I understand what you are saying because I know how well my father''s and other investors'' complaints hurt the company, other investors who were interested gave up trying to invest by listening to these rumors." "No problem, even if other investors showed up I would not accept any more investment in the company, we will take care only of my shares and also of Matthew and we will earn enough from it." "If you want you can invest the money you received from your father, I''m hoping that the stock will still value almost a thousand percent over the next 3 years, those 4 million you have could turn into 40 million by 2000 and I won''t charge you anything to take care of your investments." "I appreciate it, but I don''t have the courage to invest those 4 million with so many rumors that the bubble can burst at any moment and investors lose millions, and if I invest and my dad see how much I made it might feel even worse." Emily didn''t have the heart to say it, but she was also suspicious if stocks would really value that much in the coming years, she knew well that investing in the stock market was a high-risk investment in which everything could be lost. Even more so in a situation as unknown and different as that of overvaluing companies that were connected to the internet, everyone who understood the market knew that these companies were overvalued and therefore hesitated to invest. Jake''s investment firm had a number of stock market specialists, and especially the stock of the Cisco company, which was the company''s only invested stock, and any investment firm that saw it would find it crazy not to diversify and invest in a number of companies and invest in just one. This could maximize profit, but it also greatly increased the risks of this investment, no one knew how Jake did these calculations saying that Cisco''s stock would still appreciate more than 10 times because analyzing the company''s accounts made no sense. Jake didn''t want to explain to anyone why he did it because he couldn''t, he already knew that this was the company he would value most and so he invested all the stock in Cisco and Jake also knew exactly when to sell so as not to lose money. "Alright then, wait until February and then I''ll tell you how much it is for you to invest in stocks again, we will invest every year until 1999, we have to earn as much as possible so that your stake is even bigger." "I see, anything else?" "Yeah, actually the reason I called you here, as you may know, is because Charlie''s team finished the products I asked him to develop." "Now I want you to find a group of very good and reliable lawyers to work with them on to get as many patents as you can get for these products." After that Jake explained to Emily some technical terms lawyers could use to get the patent, some of those terms were sent by Charlie and their team when Jake asked and others were from Jake coming from the future. Because Jake''s tech company was small, it was much easier and cheaper for them to get a patent on a product approved, especially with the reports Jake had prepared knowing exactly how a smartphone would work in the future. Emily was a little upset at first that Jake asked her to ask a team of patent attorneys to work with her, but after hearing Jake saying all the technical terms and how many patents he wanted for these products she realized she wouldn''t be able to get it that. These patent processes usually took many years and needed a lot of research, especially when it was a patent using a technology that already existed. Jake wanted lawyers to show that the use of patents he was applying for was commercial and for a product he developed. and greatly improved a technology that already existed. And it was true knowing that this was a technology that would only appear in another 7 or 8 years in the future, so after many hours with Jake explaining the future uses of this smartphone and tablet he let Emily and the lawyers handle it. Even if he couldn''t get all the patents he wanted, Jake knew he could get a lot of money in the future if only some of the patents he thought were approved, once the Android system was ready he could get many more patents. Jake''s biggest goal was not to stop the biggest companies from creating the smartphone, he would only do that if he really decided to start a smartphone company, what he wanted was to partner with the biggest companies in the world and make a lot of money by letting them. companies would use his patents. He was a partner at Amazon today and would still look for more big companies of the future to become a partner, so what Jake thought was that with big partners he would be able to easily create new products. Also, it was easy for Jake to do as he already knew how these products worked because they came from the future if it was complicated as many products he wouldn''t even bother trying to get a patent. After that Jake spent some more time talking about all the business matters he had to talk to Emily before returning home, after this meeting he wouldn''t see Emily for a few more months. Having resolved all work matters Jake still spent one more day with Eva in Miami before returning to college, even though I tried to resolve so many issues Jake still spent most of his time with his mother because while he was talking about business Eva was in the restaurant. Jake came back just a day before the team''s next game of the season, but neither Coach Guthridge nor his other teammates complained about it, everyone knew that Jake always played well at the games and was the most trained of the whole team. Besides, Jake had used this week to spend with his family and that was something everyone respected, after a good rest the whole team was focused and ready for the next game. The opponent for this game was the Princeton Tigers team that Jake wanted to play this game away from home to talk to Joseph, but this game would be at home at the Dean Smith Center, was good for the team and Jake also enjoyed playing near the home crowd of the Tar Heels team. Besides, this was always a tough game, especially in those years that the Princeton Tigers team has always been doing great seasons just like last year and this season as well as Jake remembered. The Tar Heels team came from a 9-win streak in 9 games and so players were more confident, but the Princeton Tigers team came from a great 7-win streak in 7 games, so it would be a tough opponent. In his past life, Jake remembered that this was one of only two games that the Princeton Tigers team would miss this season being the other game in the elimination of their NCAA tournament team. And that victory would only come out in a tightly contested game with few points, so if Jake wasn''t careful the Tar Heels team could end up losing that game, this was also one of the only games that Jamison can''t score many points. The other day came the day of the game, in a few hours both teams were ready for the start of the game, the crowd was very excited waiting for another victory of the team Tar Heels, even though the opponent was difficult the fans thought that with Jake in the team was difficult for team Tar Heels to lose the game. "Today we are going to follow another exciting game this season, we have the Tar Heels team that has been having a great season and it''s the team that won the NCAA tournament last season." "Team Tar Heels will play at home against Princeton Tigers who are having a great season too and had a great last season too." "And what would you say are the highlights of these two teams?" "The highlight of the Princeton Tigers team is the coach and the style of play of this team that has been very successful in recent seasons, unfortunately, has not brought any NCAA title, but who knows this season." "The Princeton Tigers team is a great team with good players, but their highlight is their training and great team play." "The Tar Heels team also has a great team and great players, coach Guthridge has also been doing a great job replacing coach Smith who retired this year." "But there is no way not to say that the highlight of this team is the player Jake Smith, maybe I even say that Antawn Jamison is also having a great season, but Jake is undoubtedly the highlight of this team." "The best player of last season even being a freshman, and this season has been doing very well since the first game of this season and we hope it will stay that way until the end of the season." "So who do you think is the favorite to win in this game." "The Tar Heels team, playing at home, are definitely the favorites." As commentators have said the two teams were doing very well this season, but one team would have to lose in this game and Jake would not allow the losing team to be the Tar Heels team. Chapter 369 Business and Basketball 3 The game started with both teams being cautious, team Tar Heels had the first attack, but Jake didn''t want to hurry and so end up losing the initiative of the game, he could soon feel the strong defense of team Tar Heels and his teammates having difficulty. Jake knew he had to make more individual moves to break through the opposing defense to make it easier for the Tar Heels team to win, but even if Jake was talented and had a good hit rate of three, he couldn''t just do the points whenever he wanted. Jake had the ability to find space to get the three-point shot, but against such a great defense as the Princeton Tigers team, if he tried many individual moves he would just miss and waste the attacks. Jake knew he could count on Williams and Carter in this game and that Jamison would not be playing well, but even Jamison not playing well in this game still attracted a lot of attention from the opposing defense. After holding the ball Jake threw Carter from the left, Carter failed to pass by the opposing defender and passed it to Jamison, just as Jake thought as soon as Jamison received the ball the defense of the Princeton Tigers team focused on him. Jamison had no choice and passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake quickly passed to Williams who was free to the right and tried the mid-range shot to make the first 2 points for the Tar Heels team. The Tar Heels players knew this was going to be an important and difficult match and so they were also putting pressure on the defense, for the defense Jake was also counting on Jamison that even though he was not well in attack he was still doing well in rebounds. The game remained difficult and well played with Jake even finding it difficult to make the plays and try the three-point shots and even the layup moves, yet the Tar Heels team was still superior and managed to finish the first quarter by winning with an advantage in the scoreboard. Jake played for 20 minutes and made 13 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals, Jake year managed to make many points and assists in that first quarter, but in defense, he managed to play much better than in other games. While not having a chance to make any block without risking fouls, Jake still managed to excel more in defense than in many games, so the Tar Heels team got a good lead that was important in a game like this. "What a great defensive game we are following today, the Princeton Tigers team that has a great team and plays very well defensively is bringing a difficulty to the great attack of team Tar Heels." "The players of the Tar Heels team are also doing a great defensive game and in this game, we saw the least points Jake and Jamison stand out in the team defense." "That''s right, I think in a game like this one of two great teams that come from a season without losing a game, opening to attack is not the best option, so both teams are more focused on defense." "Also, if both teams tried to play offensively it is almost certain that the team of Tar Heels that has the best offensive players of the season will have a big advantage." In the second quarter of the game, the Princeton Tigers team kept betting on the defense that as commentators said seemed the only way to tackle this strong offensive team that is the Tar Heels team. In this second quarter Princeton Tigers couldn''t keep up the pressure on defense all the time and that gave Jake more freedom to make the moves, Jake and Tar Heels continued to press on defense and so the lead kept increasing. So the game ended with the Tar Heels team winning 61 points against 37 Princeton Tigers, in that second quarter Jake played for 20 minutes and made 11 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals. "And so the game ended with the victory of team Tar Heels with a good lead on the scoreboard, but the game was not so easy to explain this big lead on the scoreboard, both teams had a very disputed first quarter and with both teams putting a lot of pressure on the defense." "In the second quarter Princeton Tigers couldn''t keep up the pressure on defense for the entire game and so gave Tar Heels space to attack and with Jake and Williams playing very well we had that difference in the score." "Jake also had a good defensive game getting 10 rebounds and Jamison also though he couldn''t make many points as he usually did well in defense and managed 8 rebounds and 3 blocks in that game." "So the Tar Heels team now has a 10-win streak this season and the Princeton Tigers team lost the first game, let''s see how far the Tar Heels team goes this season without losing any games." The Tar Heels team was very happy with this victory and the fans also realized how good the opponent was and the game was more difficult, Jamison could not score many points in this game and be excited to do even better in the next game. After three days the Tar Heels team went to another game of the season, the game was against the Hampton Pirates team again playing at home at the Dean Smith Center, after a difficult game with a satisfactory win the crowd was excited and the players were excited about this game. Jamison who had not scored many points in the last game was also excited to make a great game that day, Jake trained a lot with him and Jamison said several times that he wanted more assists from Jake for this game. Despite seeing that Jamison was taking advantage of his friendship to ask for more assists, Jake knew that Jamison would be fine for this game and would pass the ball over to Jamison who always played well helping at least in the defensive and offensive part with rebounds as in last game. After a few hours, both teams were ready for the start of the game, the Hampton Pirates team that was the opponent of this game would not have a good season for what Jake remembered and came from an even worse last season. Thus the Tar Heels team had the advantage since before the match began, early in the game the Tar Heels team attacked with great will and Jake wanted to try a good advantage in the first minutes pressing the opponent taking advantage that the Tar Heels had the advantage be playing at home. As he had promised in the early minutes Jake passed the ball to Jamison whenever he had the opportunity, even though the Hampton Pirates defense tried to defend against Jamison, he was fine in this game and hit most of the plays that received Jake''s assists. When Jake saw that the Hampton Pirates defense began to pay more attention to Jamison than to other players Jake began to pass the ball more to Carter and Williams and even to Okulaja. Jake also attacked whenever he saw the opportunities and made a few moves if three points, so the hard-pressed Hampton Pirates team could not defend with quality to keep the game up. In the first quarter, the team Tar Heels got a good lead and Jamison was more relaxed after scoring more than 10 points in the first quarter, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 16 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, and 5 steals. With such a strong first quarter of the Tar Heels team that ended with a good lead on the scoreboard, the Hampton Pirates team had no choice but to attack further in the second quarter to try to win the game. Team Tar Heels was playing at home and the players were rested and would have another match in just 4 days, so the players of Team Tar Heels continued with a fast pace of play and continued to attack while still being strong in defense. Jamison still wanted to score more points and kept asking Jake for more assists which left other players with less defense pressing them, so the Tar Heels team kept attacking and further increasing the lead. Jake also took the opportunity to score more points and so after the middle of the second quarter the Hampton Pirates team''s desire to win was gone and they returned to try not to lose too many points. So the game ended with the Tar Heels team winning with a big lead on the scoreboard making 109 points against 53 points of the Hampton Pirates team, it was another game with the Tar Heels team doing more than double the opponent''s points which showed the strength of this team. In this second quarter, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 18 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 7 steals, plus a triple-double for him in a good game where the Hampton Pirates defense was weaker than the last game and with Jamison wanting to attack led the Tar Heels team to a good win. The next game would be the first against a team from the same Tar Heels conference and would be the last game before a week-long break for Christmas, after that game Jake would go home again for Christmas with his mother and then If he returned to university, he would have no rest until February. So also in this game players would be rested after 4 days and could play with everything because then they would have a week of rest, and it was good for the Tar Heels team to win this game and increase the winning streak to 12 games and not lose before Christmas. With that in mind, the players didn''t relax and decided to train even harder this week before the next game, they would have to keep winning so to show that Coach Guthridge was doing a good job and also because they wanted to win again the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament. Chapter 370 Business and Basketball 4 Jake had even more training because he had to do his daily training with Zack and Coach Davis for marathons and 10,000 meters, but Jake didn''t care because he thought his training was getting too easy lately. Since he greatly increased his statistics he did not change his training for marathon racing and the 10,000-meter training was no longer a challenge for him after Jake got used to running 3 times a day. Jake had regretted not asking Coach Davis to increase his training before the holidays were over, now he had committed himself to train like this until the next vacation in the middle of next year. Even if he still had one more point in resistance statistics and one point in agility next year, it wouldn''t change much even if he changed his training now, next year Jake was already thinking of breaking his world record again with a much longer time faster than the current one to ensure his record was not threatened for a few But to do that he needed to further improve his training time to make sure he was able to do that in marathons if he wanted to, next year would be a lot busier for Jake with the recording of The Matrix and also the possible draft for the NBA. With that, Jake thought that possibly his marathon training would be impaired on this vacation, and that was bad for his plans to break more records, as Jake had already decided that he hoped he could do what he planned for next year. Maybe it was even good that the next basketball season was shorter with only 50 games because of the block, so Jake would play for less time and have more time to adapt to his new NBA routine. But what Jake already knew was that if they could always reach the finals, he would have only 4 months to rest at home, and that was the goal of all teams always reaching the final and perhaps always being the NBA champions. What Jake knew was that he did not want to abandon the marathons and at least the Olympics would ensure that he would always find time to compete, at the Olympics, he could win the marathon and other sports such as the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters he would be prepared for competing in 2000. Thinking about the intensity of the NBA basketball season showed that it had been a great idea for Jake to get into college and play for two seasons, at Jake University he even though it was intense to have 38 games like the Tar Heels team would have this season. But in the NBA there would be more than 80 games a season and that would test almost all of Jake''s resistance after winning so many marathons, so Jake figured he wouldn''t have so much time to practice marathon racing. The stamina bars that Jake hardly ate anymore would be used again so that he could avoid injury even though he was willing to play games, that was what Jake wanted and he was naturally prepared for it. But Jake would have to think about it only after the current season ended, after 4 days of training came the day of the next game for the Tar Heels team, the players were rested and wanted to win this game for Christmas without losing any games. After a few hours, both teams were ready for this game, it was the first game against a team from the same conference team of Tar Heels and it would be a game as a visitor, so it was better to win this game because team Tar Heels would still have to play for least once again against the Florida State team. Last season the Florida State team had a very good season coming in second in the NIT tournament, and this season even if the team wasn''t going to play so well it was still a good season. Even so, they couldn''t expect the Tar Heels players to be so eager to win this game even with an 11-win streak, but the Florida State team also wanted to win, so it wouldn''t be an easy game. In the first quarter of the game, Team Tar Heels pressed in attack and also put pressure on the defense and left Florida State with difficulty playing both defense and attack. Jamison had not enjoyed playing that game badly and so still wanted to score a lot even in that game, it also encouraged Carter who had been doing a below-average season in those early games. Carter had only a few good games this season and other games he just scored over 14 points and was already satisfied, even Williams who stayed a few games out of the team and was having difficulty in the three-point shots was making more points than him this season. Seeing as Jamison who had several games making more than 20 points annoyed by playing just one game badly made Carter also want to play better, after all, he was friends with Jamison and Jake too and last season the three had great games. This season he was not taking advantage of Jake who was a great PG on the team to assist him and was pleased to play normally and seeing the team win, Jake had already told him and Jamison a few times that they had to stand out in all the games to show that they had the ability to become team stars in the NBA. With Jamison and Carter playing well in this game Jake decided to take advantage and make more assists to further show his qualities as PG as well, with the three playings so well at the end of the first quarter Tar Heels was winning with a big lead. Jake played for 20 minutes in this first quarter and made 14 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, with this great first quarter of the Tar Heels team they had accomplished their goal in that first quarter. So in the second quarter, team Tar Heels could slow down the attack and keep up the pressure on the defense, the Florida State team needed to win the game, and players would be more anxious and give more freedom for the team to attack. Just as Coach Guthridge said the Florida State team tried to press the offense from the start and the Tar Heels team increased the pressure on the defense as well, so Jake was playing well in defense as in other games and stealing in some plays that could end in points for the Florida State team. Jamison and Carter still wanted to keep scoring in the second quarter and even though Jake had slowed the game he was still assisting both of them, sometimes he would still move on to Okulaja and Williams who had a lot more freedom to attack with the defense all concentrated. in Jamison, Carter, and Jake. Just as the experts said Team Tar Heels was a very strong team offensively and if there was no team that attacked better than them or it was better to defend the whole game, others said Team Tar Heels would only lose if some players were playing. bad in the game. But even so, it was hard to see this happening as this season it was hard to find a game where the team Tar Heels scored less than 70 points in a game, Jake also despite making the great game as PG making many assists was for sure the player who scored the most points. In addition, the Tar Heels team was a team that also played very well in defense which made it even harder to play against them, Jake had a very high average of the tail and steals and Jamison also had an average of over 9 rebounds per game. So at the end of the game, the Tar Heels team managed to win by scoring 98 points against the Florida State team''s 65 points, a game that was supposed to be more difficult ended up with a great advantage in the great game of Jake, Carter, and Jamison as well. In that second quarter, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 16 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 5 steals with one more double-double Jake was playing very well and making many assists with the help of Jamison who was having a great season. Just as the players wanted they could spend this happier Christmas with a 12-win streak and no losses this season, even if it was even more pressure on them it was good to show how the team was doing well this season. Coach Guthridge was very happy and pleased with the performance of the Tar Heels players, especially with Jake and Jamison who had been showing why they had the best team of the season. The sports media was already talking about the possibility that the Tar Heels team could again win the NCAA title this season, many thought it was difficult but still had confidence because Jake was on that team. It had been a long time since a player had been that prominent in a college team, maybe just Kobe Bryant brought that much attention, but decided to go straight to the NBA and was playing well in the Los Angeles Lakers team even though he wasn''t as prominent as Jake had currently. Many players had great seasons at the university and then failed to maintain the same performance in the NBA, but Jake was on another level keeping since the freshman season an average of over 32 points per game in the season and still winning the NCAA title along with the prize of the best player. The next day Jake went back to Miami to spend Christmas with his mother, this time Eva already knew that Jake would go home and made the decision to close the restaurant after the 23rd until the 26th when Jake would return to university. Chapter 371 Business and Basketball 5 The restaurant was a huge success since opening and never had any problems, Eva didn''t need any money knowing that Jake was a millionaire and only worked at the restaurant because he liked it, so he decided to close for Christmas and let the employees rest with their family. So Anna could also spend Christmas with them as a family, Jake was very happy when she heard that his mother did it and thought it was very good for the other employees too, as she can do it in advance customers already knew the restaurant would be closed a few days earlier. Even so, when Jake came home on the 21st Eve still had to stay at the restaurant for the next 2 days, so Jake could also continue training on those days to get even better this rest week. Jake didn''t want to bother Matthew and Oliver that they should be busy with the business of the company that had to close the balance sheet by the end of the year, this time Jake didn''t need money like last year and didn''t want to bother Matthew before he had the company''s official earnings report. He also knew that Tiffany and Clara were very busy with their business this holiday season, in fact, they were busy with their business all year long, having lost several years without being able to invest and just keep selling well because of Jake''s popularity, this year was much busier for them. The truth was that even Clara often thought that the company would eventually be sold to the competitor because of her incompetence and Tiffany who always supported Clara felt bad about it too. Jake knew this and so decided to help themselves out having to lose a lot of money for it, but after that Jake felt that Tiffany and Clara were no longer as close to him as they were before, maybe they saw him as a business partner and not as just a friend as it was before. Jake had heard that actually Tiffany and Clara didn''t really like having male friends and even with Matthew and Oliver they had only professional contacts and not as friends, so now that Jake grew up and was no longer a child, like before they no longer had one. quiet relationship with him. Of course, this was just a theory Jake thought after hearing a lot of things and seeing that it seemed like they were ignoring him last year, it could also be that they were so busy after he recorded the commercials that they didn''t have time to talk to him. Jake hoped his theories were wrong, or else he would lose two of the best friends he ever had, by the middle of next year the sponsorship deal would end if Jake joined the NBA and after that Jake would see if they were still friends as before. For the next few days Jake spent a few quiet days just doing his training in the morning, on Christmas Day Anna came with some people from the restaurant, Matthew, Oliver, and Joseph also just came to enjoy Christmas. It seemed that Joseph was much calmer this time and understood that he had done wrong on his last vacation, and he himself talked with Jake for a while about what had happened at his university. Joseph was doing very well in class even though he didn''t get as good grades as when Jake helped him with his studies, it seemed like he was really fine with Liza and even they studying at different universities made them less in love. It seemed that Oliver had spoken to Liza honestly about the idea of ??her doing therapy and surprisingly Liza agreed with Oliver that she needed it and started therapy to become a better person to be with Joseph. This was an idea that had been suggested by Jake a few years ago because he really thought it would be the best, and it seemed that he was right because Oliver said Liza was really improving her personality and even encouraging Joseph to improve as a person. So everyone made money on it and so Matthew and Oliver now started to like Liza very much and approved her to stay with Joseph because with her he was really getting better, so the two also thanked Jake who came up with the idea. Joseph told Jake that he was also able to make some friends at the university and was spending his time there, Jake was very happy to know that Joseph was doing so well at the university and that they were still friends after that. Jake was very happy to spend Christmas and these days at home with family and also his friends, he was sad because Tiffany and Clara did not accept the invitation to appear at this party because they were busy with work, but it was still a great day to him. After that Jake spent another day at home and went back to college again and had a little party with his friends after Christmas, even though Jake had offered to buy their plane tickets to visit their family for Christmas no one accepted and they spent Christmas at Zack''s house. Because everyone studied away from home, Zack''s family who had great people became their family, Jake always went home on holidays, but sometimes he would go to Zack''s family home on weekends. Zack''s family was very fond of Jake because everyone realized that Zack was happier and healthier after he started running with Jake, as Jake still helped Zack study he was the perfect friend that anyone''s family liked. After a week of Christmas and rest for all the players the next day they were ready for the next game, this was a game that Jake remembered would be tricky for the Tar Heels team to win. Jake didn''t know if the team was more relaxed after a week of rest and Christmas, but the Tar Heels team would win this game only in extra time, so he didn''t underestimate his opponent and was prepared for a tough game. Jake spoke with the team the day before the game and with Coach Guthridge also for them to expect a tough game and prepare to do their best in the next game, Coach Guthridge and the players knew that Jake wasn''t someone who exaggerated and by they worried about the next game. After a few hours, both teams were ready for the game to begin, the opponent for this game was Georgia Bulldogs, this team had a great last season and did not do so well at the end of the season. This season they would not play so well this season despite having a good result at the end, everyone expected the Tar Heels team to win this game easily, especially after the last game with a good performance by Jake, Jamison, and Carter. "Welcome everyone, let''s follow another game this season, it''s the game between the Tar Heels team and the Georgia Bulldogs team." "It is expected that in this game the Tar Heels team will achieve an easy win and further increase this 12-win streak, but only after the game can we know if this will happen." "What do you think about this game?" "I think the Tar Heels team have the advantage, the team has been doing well since the last season they won the NCAA title, this season the team has been playing as well or even better than last season." "In the last game the offensive team Tar Heels trio had another good game with Carter playing well again, but the Georgia Bulldogs team also has a good team and has a lot of ability to surprise in that game and beat the Tar Heels team." The game started in a few minutes of play everyone would realize that the game would not be as easy as everyone expected before, the Tar Heels team attack was fine with Jamison, Carter, and Jake playing well. The problem was that the defense of team Tar Heels was a little weaker in today''s game, and the Georgia Bulldogs players were playing very well in attack and also in defense. Even if they didn''t stop the Tar Heels team from scoring points like other teams with better defenses, they could still hinder Tar Heels''s attacks, so much was also merited by Georgia Bulldogs. In this game Jake could not relax and had to work harder in defense and also make the three-point shots when he had the opportunity, if he could Jake did not want to take this game over time and if he could it was better to win the game normally. To do that Jake had to do more than he normally did in defense and continue to perform well in attack, seeing Jake''s effort the other players of the team Tar Heels also began to work harder to press defense and prevent the attacks of the team Georgia Bulldogs. Jamison and Carter were also good at offense and along with Williams and Okulaja gave Jake more play options and made it difficult for Georgia Bulldogs to defend, it could be said that even though the team was poor defending, it was still recovering from the attack. At the end of the first quarter, Tar Heels ended up winning the game with a slight lead on the scoreboard, which made the Georgia Bulldogs players more excited for the second quarter having the opportunity to win the game. In that first quarter, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 16 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, 6 steals, and 2 blocks, with a more defense-focused first quarter Jake managed to prevent Georgia Bulldogs from making some plays that could end in points. Even though Jake still performed well on attack relying more on the three-point play as in recent games, Jake had a not very high average of 10 shots of three points per game but hit more than 70 percent of off shots in all games. Chapter 372 Business and Basketball 6 "What a great game we had in this first quarter, Georgia Bulldogs has been surprisingly having a strong offensive game taking advantage of the defects of the Tar Heels defense, and with a good defense that has been disrupting one of the best attacks of the season." "That''s right, the Tar Heels team that comes into this game with a 12-win streak has achieved this with an excellent defense even playing without a Center in most games, with good defensive players like Jamison and Jake defending very well while doing some steals." "So it''s weird to see a game like this that the players are striving for but still make some mistakes, we have to say it just seems like a bad day for the Tar Heels team." "Yes, Georgia Bulldogs tried to take advantage of this weakness of Team Tar Heels in this game, but Jake has been playing very well again and excelling himself in defense in this game, Jamison also getting defensive rebounds so that Team Tar Heels can maintain the advantage." "True, I see what happened to Michael Jordan happening to Jake, Michael Jordan was great at three-point shots and assists, but his defensive ability and the many points he made with dunks made fans forget a few times that he was such a versatile player." "Jake is a great player doing three-point shots and an incredible average of points and assists, but he''s also very good at defending with an amazing average of steals that is often overlooked by fans." "I agree, sometimes seeing Jake''s games I think he just doesn''t have time to do everything he can on the court and has to choose between scoring or defending." After this very difficult first quarter and the players realizing their defenses in defense, they realized that Jake was right to say that this would be a difficult game, so in the second quarter they had to play much better to secure the defense. In the second quarter, the Georgia Bulldogs team came more willing to try to win the game, but Jake''s performance in this game still intimidated them, yet if they wanted to get more points they couldn''t give up trying to get past Jake in that game. Coach Guthridge realizing the defenses of the defending team asked everyone to try to take every chance of the attack to score more points than their opponents and thus win the game, so the second quarter would be a much more open game. After the first few minutes of the game, the Georgia Bulldogs team realized that the Tar Heels team was giving up defending with more pressure to make better attacks and that was what they wanted to try to win this game. Risking team coach Georgia Bulldogs decided to put two players to be close to Jake and prevent him from attacking quietly, as a good PG Jake was not selfish and took advantage of these opportunities to make further assists for his teammates. Jamison and Carter were fine again in the attack and Williams, despite making a big mistake in the attack, was doing a good game, the opportunities Jake found sometimes ended in three-point play almost giving up the two-point play. Team Georgia Bulldogs also took advantage of this second quarter that had more freedom to attack and tried to beat Team Tar Heels by scoring more points, but Jake was still doing very well in defense and disrupted many attacking moves from Team Georgia Bulldogs. The game ended with Team Tar Heels winning this game with a more comfortable advantage and without this game going into overtime, Team Tar Heels scored 97 points against Team Georgia Bulldogs 84 points. Jake instead made a great defensive game in the second quarter too, he played for 20 minutes and made 12 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 3 blocks, so Jake got the first quadruple-double of this season. Also, Jake got a five-by-five for the first time in a game at the university, for sure Jake''s great performance in that game meant that the team didn''t have to go into extra time even though the players were so bad at defense. After the end of the game the fans of the opposing team applauded the Tar Heels team and especially Jake after this excellent game, Jake''s great performance would be in the history of both universities. "What a great game we saw today, the two teams very well offensively and the Tar Heels team playing poorly in defense with the exception that it was Jake''s excellent five-by-five and quadruple-double in the same game." "True, this is Jake''s third quadruple-double at the university, but the highlight was this five-by-five that shows how important Jake is in attack and defense, especially in this game where the defense of the Tar Heels team it was good." "Both teams had a very even game and the Georgia Bulldogs team had a great game pushing the best team of recent seasons which is the Tar Heels team, but the Tar Heels team had a great offensive performance and Jake unbalanced that game and brought the victory for the Tar Heels team." "A game like this is a great justification for awarding the best college player at the end of this season if the Tar Heels team continues to play well this way." After this difficult game, the Tar Heels players were able to go back to college knowing that they had not missed the first game after the Christmas break, everyone knew that Jake was instrumental in winning, but what they really had to think about was what had done wrong in this game. Now the Tar Heels team was on a 13-win streak and the players wanted to keep going like this to finish first in the conference at the end of the season and have confidence for the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament. The next day the players trained hard not to make a mistake like in the last game, even with this mindset no one was really worried about the next game and it was a rest after such a difficult and great game to finish this year well. The next day the Tar Heels team went to the third away match they would have followed, it was the last game of the year that was very good for the whole team and especially for Jake who achieved a lot of things. After a few hours, both teams were ready to start this game, the opponent of this last game was the team Bethune-Cookman, the team Bethune-Cookman had a bad last season, but the current season would be one of the worst in the history of this team. As far as Jake remembered the Bethune-Cookman team won only one game in this 27th season that would be played, it was impossible for Jake to be tense for this game that had everything to be an easy win for the Tar Heels team. Even though after the last difficult game that Team He He had players were looking forward to playing well in that game which would only further ensure Team He''s victory, Jake felt it was a pity he could not have a great defensive game as the last. In the first few minutes of the game following what Guthridge coach asked the team, everyone attacked with a great will to get a good advantage, knowing that Jake did not contain himself and accelerated the pace of the game making attacks with a few seconds of possession and using well the strengths of his teammates. The Bethune-Cookman team did not expect such a strong start from the Tar Heels team and even if they were prepared for it would still not be enough to stop the best attack of all universities today. Jake also made the three-point moves and also some layups in this first quarter, and Jake took every opportunity to steal the opposing players while in defense. With this pressure, Tar Heels got great advantage in the first quarter practically guaranteeing victory, with Jake playing well in defense and Bethune-Cookman had difficulty attacking as well. In that first quarter, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 24 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals, and Jake had a great game. Jamison and Carter were also fine and that brought more problems for the Bethune-Cookman team. That big advantage in the first quarter left the Tar Heels team more relaxed to play the second quarter calmly and to continue attacking as coach Guthridge had commanded, the Bethune-Cookman team also had to take more risk in the attack which would make it easier for team Tar Heels attack. In that game, the defense of the team Tar Heels came back to stand out and Jake continued to perform well even if it did not stand out as much as in the last game, the team Bethune-Cookman had difficulty defending against Jake, Carter, and Jamison in the attack. Chapter 373 Business and Basketball 7 In the second quarter, team Tar Heels began pressing in on attack just as coach Guthridge had commanded, team Bethune-Cookman also had to attack to get the victory which gave even more room for team Tar Heels to attack. After the middle of the second quarter, the Bethune-Cookman players had already lost their will to win and it made it even easier for the Tar Heels team to continue attacking, Jake was doing very well in the three-point shots which helped further increase the advantage on the scoreboard. The game ended with the Tar Heels team winning the game by scoring 113 points against 36 by the Bethune-Cookman team, with the Tar Heels team scoring more than three times the number of points of the opponent the Tar Heels team ended well in 1997. In this second quarter, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 23 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, plus this double-double Jake was also increasing his average assist per game making more than 10 assists in 4 straight games. Jake''s goal this season was again to have an average of more than 10 assists per game and more than 30 points per game and if he could get more than 10 steals per game, with rebounds he knew it would not be possible because Antawn Jamison was the best in the rebound of the team. After this game, the team Tar Heels returned to the university where they would have almost 5 days to rest before the next game next year, yet the players did not just want to rest and wanted to train more defense so as not to happen against the team Georgia Bulldogs. Coach Guthridge was also pleased with the players and the work he had done so far, with this difficult mission to replace Coach Dean Smith that many thought he could not do so well. Even without a Center, the team had not lost any games yet and when the team was not well they still had Jake to make great games and take the team to victory, he did not expect to win the ACC tournament or the NCAA tournament again and just wanted that his work was not criticized. The truth was that the team players and the media did not expect the Tar Heels team to have a good season let alone win tournaments like last season. Maybe only Jake thought this team could possibly play even better than last season and win the NCAA tournament again this season, but he didn''t have to talk about it with anyone and just had to play to win the games until he won the NCAA tournament. While training for the team at the end of the year Jake was also spending Zack''s turn of the year as well as all his roommates, he couldn''t go to Miami whenever he wanted and New Year''s Eve wasn''t such an important date to Jake. 1997 was a great year for Jake in basketball winning his first NCAA tournament and winning almost every major individual player award, it was also important in marathons where he won more major marathons and improved his world record. In business this was also an important year with the smartphone prototype that could guarantee him billions of dollars in the future getting ready, the stock also started to appreciate much more from that year and Jake had more than 100 million dollars after Amazon shares entered the stock market. 1998 promised to be even better in basketball if Jake really joined the NBA even if he didn''t play that year because of his lockout this season, but just entering the NBA would make Jake have one of the best years in his career. So in the second half of this year, Jake could focus on marathons and still try to win again the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament, this year Jake would also start filming for the movie The Matrix. So this year would have everything to be very important to Jake and that made him very excited, Jake spent the New Year''s Eve at Zack''s house and soon came the year 1998, so Jake had to continue training with the basketball team and with the races. Zack was still training with Jake and was getting better and better at training, just as Jake had thought after an athlete could improve his physical condition, it was much easier to improve in any sport. Zack spent more than a year training for marathons while training for an athlete''s fitness, now that he had managed to run the 25 km every day was easy for Zack, this year his goal was the Chicago Marathon with Jake at the end of the year, he wanted to run under 3 hours and maybe get in the top 50. After a few days of training and rest the Tar Heels players were ready for the first game of this year, it was another visitor game and so they had to travel back to that game. It was the second game against an ACC conference team this season and it was important to finish first at the conference at the end of the season, after a few hours both teams were ready for this game. The opponent of this game was Team Clemson Tigers, Team Clemson Tigers had a good last season and this season would only regulate the team''s performance, yet the Team Tar Heels did not underestimate the opponent. With a 14-game winning streak it was normal for players on the Tar Heels team to have more confidence, but with the good performance also came the pressure to continue winning which made the players more focused. Early in the game, the Tar Heels team started pressing in on the attack as they had in the last game and it worked, of course against Clemson Tigers Jake didn''t play at such a fast pace while organizing the team attack. Clemson Tigers ''defense was clearly much stronger than their last opponent''s defense, but with Jake, Jamison, and Carter in the attack, it was difficult for Clemson Tigers'' defense to resist. Jake had found the rhythm he had at the end of last season when he always made at least one double-double in every game and the opponents had noticed it, so Jake''s close defense had increased which only gave more room to he does the assists. Also, this season Jake had an average of nearly 80 percent hit on three-point shots even though he tried more than 10 shots on average per game, which made things much harder for opposing teams. After a few minutes of the first quarter, Clemson Tigers tried an attack that ended with a steal made by Jake, in this play Jake did not try a fast counterattack and just kept the ball. So far this had been a balanced game with Tar Heels taking the lead, Jake advanced with the ball and after passing through the middle of the court passed the ball to Carter on the left. Carter had performed well in recent games and that gave him more confidence, even though Jake and Jamison were still the top players of the team this season. Carter was happy with his good performance and the victories. Carter advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Williams on the right, Williams held the ball and then passed to Okulaja farther on the right, the defender then pressed Okulaja who passed to Jake behind. Jake received the ball near the three-point line and soon two players approached him while still watching Jamison on the left, Jake made a feint and then with a crossover managed to move left. One of the defenders was left behind and another opposing player who was scoring Jamison came to defend against Jake, with the Clemson Tigers defense messy. Jake passed the ball to Carter who had gotten rid of the player who was in defense, Carter received the ball and advanced to make the Dunk and make 2 more points for the team Tar Heels. What made Jake happier on this team was that all his teammates were very talented, so he was free to make the play he wanted and so he had an average of over 10 assists per game even playing against good teams in the university. In another play at the end of the first quarter Jake advanced the ball to the three-point line and passed to Williams, Williams advanced and passed the ball to Jamison, Jamison passed back to Jake behind. Jake received the ball with space to attempt the three-point shot and two opposing players came to defend against him, Jake passed the ball to Carter again, Carter advanced and passed the ball to Jamison who made the 2 points with a layup and increased the advantage of team Tar Heels. Chapter 374 Business and Basketball 8 In this first quarter, the Clemson Tigers team had a hard time defending because Jake and Jamison were the most dangerous players who needed the most defense attention, these players could easily score points if they had only one player in defense against them. But the other players of the Tar Heels team were also high level, so it was difficult for the Clemson Tigers defense to stop them, so the first quarter ended up with a good lead on Tar Heels. In that first quarter, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 14 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, the good defense of Team Clemson Tigers still made the team Tar Heels to score less even though getting a good lead. "What a great game we have been following so far, the Clemson Tigers players have been playing very well so far and can put pressure on the Tar Heels players." "But the Tar Heels team this season is very strong with great players and even with the good defense of the Clemson Tigers team, Jake can still find plenty of opportunities to make assists and score a lot as well." "True, Jake is for sure one of the best college players of recent years and perhaps one of the best ever, and Jamison has also been doing one of his best seasons in college every year." "Carter and Williams are also great players with different strengths and Okulaja who is also a good player and is overshadowed by these teammates." "In the second quarter, Clemson Tigers who are well behind the scoring will have to give up some defense and risk more attack to try to win this game and will give even more space for Tar Heels to attack." Just as the commentators said the Clemson Tigers team was having a very good game and it made it difficult for the Tar Heels team to gain the lead, but in this second quarter they would have to give up their style of play a little more to win. That would give Tar Heels more openness to attack, Jamison, Carter, and Williams were fine in this game and Jake was having an easier time assisting even though they had a strong defense against him. After a few minutes of the second quarter, the Clemson Tigers team attempted a hasty three-point strike that Jake could disrupt, and Jamison caught the defensive rebound, Jamison passed the ball to Jake, who advanced slowly for the attack. After several games at university, Jake had a lot more experience than when he came from high school and saw that it was not a good idea to always keep a fast pace or a slow pace but to better analyze the situation of the game and the opponent. In the first quarter, he organized the moves at a faster pace in attack to put more pressure on the Clemson Tigers defense, but in that second quarter, the Clemson Tigers seemed to be destabilizing and losing the game so he preferred to attack at a slower pace and spend more time in possession. After passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Williams on the left, Williams advanced with the ball before the three-point line and passed the ball to Okulaja on the left. Okulaja passed the ball to Carter from the far right and Carter quickly passed to Jake who was behind the three-point line, Jake received the ball freely and then attempted the shot from outside to score three more points for Tar Heels. After that, the lead in the team''s Tar Heels score continued to increase even if it didn''t get in a way that made the Clemson Tigers team lose hope of winning, even though the Clemson Tigers team gave up defending as in the first quarter the team''s defense still continued strong and with that the team Tar Heels also missed some attacks. Thus the game continued intense and Jake was able to further disrupt the Clemson Tigers team by making steals and getting assists and hitting three-point plays increasing the advantage for the Tar Heels team. So the game ended with the Tar Heels team winning with 85 points against Clemson Tigers team''s 67 points, this was the last game of the visiting team He had two home games so they wouldn''t have so much difficulty winning the games. In this second quarter Jake played for 20 minutes and made 19 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 5 steals, he got another double-double and with that he and the Tar Heels team started very well this year. "So one more game ends this season, in the first game of this year the team Tar Heels gets a victory that was not easy even if there was a big difference in the score." "Team Tar Heels has a great offense and a good defense, if the defense plays regularly even if the opposing team manages to defend as well as the Clemson Tigers team they will still get the win." "Also, since playing for the first time on the Tar Heels team Jake hasn''t had any games that could be considered bad, he''s had a few games that were below his very high average, but he''s still one of the main players by the Tar Heels team victories." "It''s true, with one more double-double Jake got another game with more than 30 points and 10 assists, if it goes on like this and with Jamison also playing so well I think the Tar Heels team is again the biggest favorite to win the NCAA tournament this year." "That''s right, after that victory the Tar Heels team comes from a 15 straight winning streak and no losses this season, it''s half of the games that the Tar Heels team will have before the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament, so it''s hard not to mention the favoritism of this team and the great work of Coach Guthridge. " As commentators had said the Tar Heels team was already one of the biggest favorites to win the NCAA tournament, not only for the great season so far but also for winning the NCAA tournament last year and having Jake as the best player university student today. After this game, the players returned to the university where they would have another 5 days of rest and training until the next game, late 1997 and early 1998 had plenty of time for players to rest between games in preparation for a large amount of games that were left over the next 3 months for the team to reach the NCAA tournament final. While the team was getting ready to train a lot over the next 5 days, something else was also making everyone anxious this week, after a few days it would be Jake''s 19th birthday. Jake''s friends were preparing a small party for him at Zack''s family home because Zack''s parents asked to do so, after all besides Jake''s three roommates the basketball team and some friends from his university certainly saw on His birthday and the university room wouldn''t be enough for so many people. How Zack and his family insisted on doing so Jake had to accept the good intentions of their friends, and that was the right decision because Eva and Anna also came the day before Jake''s birthday by surprise. The idea was that they would come on Jake''s birthday day for the surprise to be bigger, but Anna was already older and it would be very exhausting for her to do so many things in one day, so she and Eva would be almost 3 days in one hotel near the university. In addition to these people, Jake was very happy to see on his birthday his new friend Haruto also came to the birthday as did Coach Davis and his family, with the people from the basketball team until Zack''s family house had gotten small for this party. Matthew, Oliver, Emily, Clara, and Tiffany couldn''t come to Jake''s birthday because they were busy running the balance sheet companies that had been done at the end of last year. Still, Jake was happy because more people he thought came to his birthday, after the end of the day he was very happy when he returned to his university dorm. Jake couldn''t help but think that this year would be 9 years since he went back in time for his second chance, a lot of things had happened and he knew that had changed the lives of many people besides his in those years. Chapter 375 Business and Basketball 9 With the help of the system he had completely changed his and his mother''s future and everyone who worked with him, now Jake was the best college basketball player who had enough skills to be one of the best players in the NBA. Jake was also able to do something else that he loved to run and became one of the best athletes in the world by winning the most important marathons in the world and winning important gold medals like at the Olympics. With that, he managed to get his mother out of the bad work which was one of the things that caused her death in his past life, and now she had a restaurant that was her dream and was very happy working with her friend Anna. Thanks to the system Jake can also meet Tiffany and Clara who helped him a lot in his early years as a player before he even developed his skills, they also became important friends of his and even though in the future their path parted, Jake never would forget the friendship they had. On this second chance of him, Jake also had the opportunity to make a great friendship with Joseph and even though they had gone away now Jake was sure they would be friends for a lifetime. With this friendship he met Oliver and Matthew and using his future knowledge can help Matthew change his future as someone who would almost go bankrupt or have to sell his company to one of the most successful men with the digital camera company. With that Jake also saw that he could use more of his knowledge of the future and what he had learned before going back in time, so he was able to work on a movie as an actor and use his knowledge to make great investments that would make him a millionaire in the future. So after almost 9 years, Jake could say that he realized most of his dreams before turning back in time for his second chance, and maybe the other dreams he had could come true with the relationship between him and Kate becoming closer. The next three years were now very important in Jake''s future anyway, he would sell the shares, try to settle in the NBA and maybe start dating Kate and could still be on top of athletics at the upcoming Olympics and would be an actor of success. These were Jake''s wishes for years to come, and if those wishes came true, he could say that he had achieved everything he had dreamed of for his second chance, of course, Jake would not forget to continue to see to it that his mother would stay well for her that his life was perfect. After this rest of almost 5 days and his birthday party, Jake felt much better for the next game that would be the next day, it was good that this game was a day after his birthday or could not make this celebration. The next day came the day of the second team of Tar Heels this year, this would also be the first game of team Tar Heels this year playing at home at the Dean Smith Center, with the great season that the team had been having was sure that the fans would attend to support the team in this game. The players of Team Tar Heels were rested too and ready for today''s game, the opponent of today''s game was Team Georgia Tech, Team Georgia Tech had a terrible last season and this season was much better. This team had three very good players, but the team was not very strong thinking about attack and defense, so neither Coach Guthridge nor the players were concerned about this opponent. "Today we will be following another game from the Tar Heels team this season, their first game at the Dean Smith Center this year and it all indicates another easy win for the Tar Heels team." "It seems that the Georgia Tech team has some good players, but after a bad season with the new good players they couldn''t make such a good team in just one season." "And the Tar Heels team has been together since last season with multiplayer in the third year, and who joined the team last year was Jake who soon adapted to that team and helped them win the NCAA tournament last season." "So we could say that the Tar Heels team has all the advantages for this game and with Jamison and Carter playing very well it will be difficult to hold back that team''s attacks." While being the favorite team to beat Coach Guthridge was careful that the players did not relax in this game, he asked Jake to attack well, but not with a very fast attack rate, and in defense was to focus on defending against the 2 best players on the Georgia Tech team and so they could disrupt the opponent''s attacks. Jake had more freedom in defense to try the steals to further disrupt the Georgia Tech team attack, with a player like Jake who was skilled at steals and the Tar Heels team always hampered his opponent''s attacks more. In the early minutes, Coach Guthridge asked Jake to organize the team to press into the attack without speeding up too much. Jake understood that Coach Guthridge wanted Team Tar Heels to open a good lead in the early minutes without risking too much. Jake did something he normally didn''t do in games so the opposing defense didn''t expect that, instead of trying more assists to see how his teammates were doing, Jake tried a few three-point shots whenever he was free in the early stages minutes So after 10 minutes of games, Jake already had 12 points and had attempted 5 shots from three points, plus Jake got 3 assists and 2 steals and the only play he missed ended with an offensive rebound from Jamison that made the 2 points. So at the start of the game, Team Tar Heels already had a big advantage and Team Georgia Tech didn''t even know how to react to that that had a little luck and skill, with this advantage on the scoreboard Team Tar Heels pressed more defense while kept attacking. So by the end of the 1st half of the game, Tar Heels was winning with a good lead on the scoreboard, Georgia Tech''s game strategy ended Jake''s multiple three-point shots in the opening minutes. Coach Guthridge was very pleased with this and now hoped the team would continue to attack while pressing on the defense so that when Georgia Tech tried to attack further, Tar Heels would have an easier time increasing the lead. In this 1st half, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 21 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 5 steals, with the good start of the game he had the Tar Heels team made it easier for the entire 1st half and now had the advantage in the game. "What a great 1st half for the Tar Heels team, a very strong offensive and strong defense as well, with Jake scoring 12 points in 10 minutes with some assists and the Tar Heels team opened up an advantage on the scoreboard that left them comfortable to take control of the game." "It''s true, and Jake doesn''t usually do something like this usually at the beginning of the game even though he has the ability to do it, so it took the Georgia Tech defense by surprise, a bad surprise for them." "Now Georgia Tech will have to attack more to try to win and it will be difficult because the defense of the Tar Heels team was very good and Jake especially is very good both in attack and defense." Just as the commentators said the Georgia Tech team had to try to attack more, but they haven''t done that since the beginning of the 2nd half, they started with the defense still strong and trying to attack at a faster pace. But it was not easy to pass through the defense of the Tar Heels team and even with a strong save the Tar Heels attack could still score, so after a few minutes Georgia Tech had no choice but to go all out to try to win. In another move, Georgia Tech managed to score two points and Jake started with the ball from the backcourt before passing through the middle of the court he passed the ball to Carter on the left. Carter and Jamison were good at this game and even though Williams was not so good at three-point shots he was still good at mid-range plays, Carter advanced with the ball and went to Okulaja on the right. Okulaja held the ball for a while and then moved to Jamison farther left, Jamison caught the ball and then got rid of the opposing defense and ran it to layup and score 2 points for Tar Heels. With Jake and Jamison playing so well they both drew the defense''s attention even though they were directly involved in the play, just as in this play where two players were close to Jake and one was defending against him directly even though Jamison didn''t even pass the ball to him. In another move, Jake got a steal and ran quickly to the frontcourt when Georgia Tech players realized that Jake had caught the ball and tried to get back to defense quickly, but Jake was faster and finished with a dunk to make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. Chapter 376 Business and Basketball 10 The game went on like this and Team Tar Heels managed to further increase their lead with errors in the Georgia Tech team attack, so Georgia Tech failed to recover and eventually lost the game. Team Tar Heels won the game by scoring 112 points against 71 points for Team Georgia Tech, the fans were very happy with this victory from Team Tar Heels in their first home game of the year and they were looking forward to the next game in a few days. In this 2nd half Jake had played for 20 minutes and scored 19 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 6 steals, as well as a good start and a triple-double, to help Tar Heels win more. After the end of the game, Jake can see several posters in the crowd wishing him a happy birthday that was the day before, which made Jake very happy and thrilled, which made Jake want to play even better to bring joy to the fans. "One more game ends with the Tar Heels team win, after that game, there are 16 straight wins, with last season''s games 41 straight wins, the Tar Heels team haven''t lost a game since January 4, 1997." "It''s very rare to see a team go so long without losing, and with Jake and Jamison playing that way it''s hard to find a team that can beat Tar Heels before the NCAA tournament." "This data shows how after Jake joined this team they got even stronger, after this game of January 4, 1997, Jake started playing more minutes in the games and the Tar Heels team didn''t lose anymore, now Jake plays 40 minutes in all the games." "Sure, Jake is very important to the Tar Heels team and we''ll see how long this team can continue without losing." What commentators said became news in many sports media over the next few days, unnoticed by the change in coaches, the Tar Heels team reached 41 games without losing. This was a great achievement for college basketball teams in recent decades where basketball has become more popular and because it is more lucrative for teams and players to attract far more talent than other sports. This season there were 23 more games to play, and if the Tar Heels team lost no games and were NCAA tournament champions again, they would have a 64-record winning streak, which would be the second-highest record in a men''s basketball team history was from the San Francisco Dons team with 60 games without losing. And the biggest sequel was the UCLA Bruins team with 88 unbeaten games that ended in 1974, in modern basketball nobody expected anything like that to happen again so getting 41 games unbeaten was incredible for the Tar Heels team. In the expert analysis, Jake Smith''s presence was certainly the most important reason for the Tar Heels team to achieve this, a high-level player who was a team player and not alone doing many assists. In addition, Jake had an incredible average of over 30 points per game making many three-point plays, in defense Jake also had a great performance with an average of 7 rebounds per game and 8 steals, Jake broke several records in the debut season his and kept playing even better this season. Of course, besides Jake other players of the team were also very important, Serge Zwikker last season and Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Ademola Okulaja, Shammond Williams and Ed Cota also kept this team performing well. With such a good team even the change of coaches between seasons did not hinder the team''s performance because even though Dean Smith was an excellent coach and a legend, Coach Bill Guthridge was also very good. With this news, the Tar Heels team soon had another game two days later still playing at home at the Dean Smith Center, this sequence of many losing matches gave a lot of pressure to the Tar Heels players. But it also gave a lot of pressure to the opposing team to play against this strong Tar Heels team, and besides, as players who would be future NBA stars, Jake and his teammates were not so affected by that pressure. The opponent for this match was the Virginia Cavaliers team that would not have performed well this season, but it was still a difficult team to face due to having two great players who were Norman Nolan who would have averaged over 21 points this season and Curtis Staples who also had a good average scoring over 18 points per game and was one of the best players in the three-point shots. "Welcome to everyone who will be watching this game with us, we will see another game from the Tar Heels team that has come to the fore in recent days as the team that has not lost for over a year at College basketball." "And the opponent is the good team Virginia Cavaliers who has Curtis Staples who is a player who is also good at three-point shots and will give Tar Heels trouble in defense." "I don''t think it''s going to be like this, Curtis Staples is good at three-point shots, but with Jake on defense he won''t have many opportunities to make the points, and Jake is much better than Curtis Staples in many ways." "Who I think can cause problems for the Tar Heels team is Norman Nolan who has a great average point in games and can play in a space in defense of the Tar Heels team that has no one to defend against." "This is not going to be a problem, it seems that for this match Makhtar N''Diaye will play and Shammond Williams will be in reserve for today''s game so Jamison can help Makhtar N''Diaye defend against Nolan in that game." Just as the commentators had said N''Diaye would play in the starting team and Williams would be in reserve, Coach Guthridge trusted Jake to defend against Staples and he would focus on Virginia Cavaliers'' Nolan defense. The other players were not a threat to the defense of Team Tar Heels, and Coach Guthridge knew that if he could stop both of them, the Virginia Cavaliers attack would be much weakened. In the early minutes of the game the two teams pressed into the attack, Jake organized the plays calmly and had the ability to move to Jamison and Carter at the right time to assist or try the shots outside. In a move by the Virginia Cavaliers attack they tried to move quickly to get the Tar Heels defender unprepared, but the Tar Heels players were quick and Jake was a great deal of trouble as he returned to defend. In this play after a careless attack by Virginia Cavaliers the ball was left for Curtis Staples who tried the shot outside with Jake close to him, Jake reacted quickly and got the block and even caught the ball to start the counterattack. Tar Heels had a couple of points ahead in the first half of the game, so Jake was calm in organizing another attack, so it was important not to keep up with a fast pace when you didn''t need to, as it would make Tar Heels players more tired. After passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Carter on the left, Carter advanced until the defense of Virginia Cavaliers arrived and thus passed the ball to Jamison on the right, Jamison advanced and passed to Okulaja who was ahead. Okulaja got a feint and got rid of the Virginia Cavaliers defender and advanced to the painted area, other Virginia Cavaliers defenders came to mark Okulaja who passed Carter on the left which was free. Carter stepped forward and attempted the layup to score 2 more points for Team Tar Heels, Staples was very hasty trying to shoot from outside when Jake was so close defending, on Team Tar Heels the most skilled player on the block was Jake. Jake just didn''t make many blocks because he needed the right opportunity to try and the opponents are clever to avoid attacking when Jake was in defense, and Jake would rather try to steal than a block. The game continued in the 1st half with Tar Heels always having a good lead on the scoreboard, Jake was defending well against Staples and Norman Nolan had difficulty attacking Jamison and N''Diaye''s defense. So by the time the 1st half ended Tar Heels had a good lead on the scoreboard, Jake, Jamison, and Carter were well on the offense and Tar Heels was also well on defense and was not giving Virginia Cavaliers opportunities to play. In this 1st half Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 14 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, and 3 blocks, Staples still wouldn''t give up trying a few three-point shots when Jake was in defense and so Jake can make some blocks in that game. "What a great game from the Tar Heels team so far, the attack is working very well with Jake, Jamison, and Carter playing well and taking most of their opportunity on the offense." "And the defense of team Tar Heels is also doing very well, Nolan and Staples who are the main players of team Virginia Cavaliers are not able to play well and have managed to score few points in this 1st half." "True, Coach Guthridge was not afraid to change the initial team that was playing very well to put N''Diaye to defend against Nolan and that has been working because he with Jamison has been blocking many moves from Nolan to the Virginia Cavaliers team." Chapter 377 Continuing the Winning Streak 1 "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 Virginia 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 Virginia Cavaliers began to press harder on offense, it was what they had to do if they wanted to win. In another play, Virginia 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 Virginia Cavaliers expected Jake to try an inside play and Tar Heels increased their lead further. The Virginia 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 Virginia 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 Virginia Cavaliers, so at the end of the game, Team Tar Heels secured another victory. Tar Heels won the match 94 points against Virginia 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. Chapter 378 Continuing the Winning Streak 2 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. Chapter 379 Continuing the Winning Streak 3 Jake was going to shoot in May 1998 and stay until September 1998, where he would be almost 5 months and that would change the film''s official schedule slightly, so Jake remembered Keanu Reeves was also injured and so was better than the movie started filming a little later. The Wachowskis brothers could also start shooting some scenes in which Jake''s character would not appear before, many things could be done so that Jake arriving almost 2 months after filming began was not a problem. And Jake would still have to leave for a week or so if he really decided to join this year''s NBA draft on June 24, 1998, at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This showed how Jake''s vacation would be a lot busier than the basketball season, after which he would have much more time with the NBA standstill that would make the basketball season begin only in 1999. When Jake considered starting training the day after the Tar Heels game, he got a call and a number that was unknown to him, but how few people could get his number Jake decided to answer the call. "This is Jake, who''s this?" "Hi Jake, this is Kate speaking." "Hi Kate, how long, I''m sorry if I caused any trouble talking to you at that party." "No, you''re not to blame Jake, the media always do these kinds of things, I have to apologize for taking so long to call you." "I was glad you called, I know you must be very busy with the shows." "Yes, I called because I''m in Durham to talk business and I know your university is close to here, so I was wondering if you''d like to have lunch with me today?" "Of course, you give me the address that I''ll be there soon." Jake was very happy to receive a call from Kate after so many months, he sometimes thought of looking for her to talk to, but he knew well that Kate had to take care of her image as an artist and so couldn''t meet Jake without preparation before. Besides, he thought that if she didn''t look for him it was because Kate didn''t really like him that much, thankfully Jake got that call and after getting the restaurant address went getting ready to go out in his car. He soon went to the address Kate passed, and soon Jake was in the restaurant, just as he hoped it was a simpler but also very discreet restaurant, a place where paparazzi couldn''t easily find her. Kate was 19 now and would be 20 this year, Kate was white and fair-skinned, Kate''s face was simple, but in a way that was very beautiful and pure, she had green eyes and a very good body. proportionate and beautiful. It was hard to describe Kate''s face, but if Jake tried he would pick a few models and actresses that could form a Kate-like face, she looked like a mix of model Tanya Mityushina, and actresses Sarah Gadon, Grace Kelly, and Rachel McAdams. As a famous pop singer, Kate had already recorded 2 albums and had 2 songs on Billboard, even though she was considered a successful singer she was going through a difficult time in her career. She had to make a transition in the style of her music and also the image she was giving her audience, as Kate was most successful after losing her parents and while she was a teenager, the songs she wrote were about losing and youth in the sense they conveyed. That, according to the media and her manager, was most of the reason for Kate''s success, but now she was almost 20 and older, and her feelings of loss were diminished by the image of Jake in her life. Thinking about it Kate decided to make a change in her music style and also in her image showing that she had changed and that was the identity she would have as a singer in the future now that she was an adult. And she was sure of that decision when her fans reacted wrong when they knew she could be dating Jake, so she thought that if fans accepted this change from her it would be easier for them to accept future relationships she might have. But if they didn''t accept it could be the end of her career, Kate talked it over with her manager who after hearing Kate''s story decided to support her in this fundamental change for her career. Of course, the biggest reason was that her manager had confidence in Kate''s talent and also agreed that a change was needed if Kate wanted to continue succeeding in the future. Now that Kate was thinking of making a career change that might take away all the fans she had, she decided to meet Jake again without much fear of being discovered, if she was seen multiple times with Jake in the future would make it easier for fans her to accept Jake. The truth was that a magazine survey showed that Kate''s female fans liked and supported her to stay with Jake, so having set her fears aside she decided to call Jake to talk again. Of course Jake didn''t know that Kate was in a lot of trouble because when she met Jake she forgot all her problems, after all, it was something she would have to do anyway and she was prepared in case she lost her reputation. "You look very pretty today, Kate." "Thanks, you''re fine too, Jake." "And how has it been for you in recent months?" "It''s okay, I keep on the shows with the songs from my last album that will continue for a few more months and then I''m thinking of making a new album with a new style after these shows, I hope it''s good." Kate said it all naturally as if she really hadn''t worried about it, but Jake knew she wanted to change the style of the songs and her image as a singer because now she was an adult and had different thoughts than when she was a teenager. But Jake knew this was a hard thing to do and many singers lost their fans with the change of image, in fact, not many were able to do that and keep the same fans and have the same success as before. Singers who succeeded after becoming adults when they started their careers in adolescence or childhood actually lost most of the fans they had when they were younger and then got new fans who liked their new style of music. Jake understood that because he lived in the time of the internet and where information was accessible to everyone, so he knew a lot about the music world, the problem was that even though he knew the future he couldn''t give Kate good advice about music. "This must be something very hard for you to do, but I listen to your music and I know you are very talented, I believe you will succeed even with a new style because you make up your music very well." "If I had a tip to give you would be to make some songs with a style similar to what you do now with more mature lyrics, and along with those songs you could put the songs in your new style of music." "So you can have your fans keep up with your change without any drastic changes like a new album with no music in your current style that everyone likes so much." Kate was surprised to see that Jake knew all about music and liked the county he had given her, she really thought of making a new album with only songs with a different style to see what her fans would think. But hearing what Jake said she saw that it really made more sense to do things calmly and not scare her fans that way, but her personal image would change completely so that her fans would get used to it. "I think it''s a very good idea, but let''s not talk about my problems, I watched some of your games on television and saw the news about you in sports, last year was very good for you." "Yes, I did a lot of things I wanted to do last year like winning a few marathons, I broke some of my records and I had a great debut season in basketball too, it was much better than I expected." "This year will be even better, I hope, it would be nice if you won the NCAA tournament again, and maybe you could keep winning more university titles in the next few years and even break that team record with the most victories." "It would be nice, but it will be hard to win so many games, there are a lot of good teams in the same conference as our team and the NCAA tournament as well." Jake had to talk indirectly to Kate because he couldn''t say he was considering joining the NBA this year, so it was impossible for him to win more NCAA tournament titles in the coming years and break that winning record. But he felt bad about it because she had just told him about the changing style of songs she would have that could be very bad for Kate if Jake said that to anyone else, it showed that she trusted him so much. But Jake couldn''t say that not because he didn''t trust Kate, but because he wasn''t sure if he would be joining the NBA draft this year. Chapter 380 Continuing the Winning Streak 4 If Jake told Kate he might be joining the NBA this year and not doing it would be much worse than hiding something from her, but not to feel too bad Jake decided to tell Kate about the movie he was shooting this year. When Jake said about the movie he was filming this year with Keanu Reeves she was surprised because she realized that this was another really great movie just like what she had seen Jake do, and this time Jake said he would have a real character in the movie with a lot of appearance time. Kate didn''t expect Jake to really continue his acting career, let alone when he was so busy with basketball and marathons, but she naturally understood that Jake really wanted this and that seemed like a very good job opportunity. Kate didn''t want to be an actress and she didn''t think she had any talent for that, but she really respected the actors because she knew some actors and party actresses she attended and she knew how difficult their lives were. Of course, Kate didn''t understand why Jake was really happy with this movie because she didn''t know the future as he knew this movie would be a huge success, after participating in this movie Jake could already be considered a successful actor even if he did only a supporting character in the movie. After that, the two talked for a few hours about life and what they liked, only when Kate''s manager called that they realized they had been together for a few hours and Kate had to leave. But she promised that she would call Jake soon so they could talk more often. After spending an afternoon with Kate, Jake felt that he was fine and more relaxed than if he had rested for many days. He really enjoyed spending time talking to Kate, it was in a way just like what he felt only when he was with his mother, Jake felt that he could spend several hours talking to Kate every day that they would never be without a subject. In the coming days, the Tar Heels team had no training and Jake was just training for the races with Coach Davis and Zack, Jake even stopped training for the 10,000-meter races because in less than a month he would have a marathon to run. It was the Tokyo Marathon that took place in February and it was also the last of the major marathons Jake had to win, he had already won the other 5 and thus gained 5 points in resistance and 5 points in reward agility. Once he won this marathon more he would gain one more point in agility and one point in resistance, which was good for Jake who would get even better after that, but it was also a problem because after this marathon Jake didn''t know when he could win another point in agility and resistance. Of course, as far as Jake knew he no longer needed any agility and endurance statistics to be able to win marathons for many years, nor for the other athletics, Jake thought he just needed training now. But Jake had some goals like running a marathon in less than 2 hours and also breaking world records in other racing modalities, to do that he needed more points in statistics. Now Jake just had to focus on winning the marathon in Tokyo and then he would think about how he would earn more stats points, after a few days the day of the upcoming Tar Heels game came. The Tar Heels players were much more rested and relaxed after a few days without training and even Jake was more relaxed even though he did his running training. This game would be at home what made things even easier for the Tar Heels team that would play with the fans, the opponent of this game was the Appalachian State team, it was a team that would have a good season, but was in a conference where the teams were weaker than other university teams. So it was expected to be an easier game for the Tar Heels team after such a difficult game a few days ago, yet Coach Guthridge told the players not to be careless and focus on the game. In the first minutes of the game, Jake began the attack of the team Tar Heels calmly and did not increase much the pace in the attack, the players got tired a lot in the last games and came from some days without training. Also, this was supposed to be a quieter game and there was no reason for Jake to make his teammates get tired of anything, yet the Tar Heels team was still competent in the attacks and scored a lot of points early in the game. The Appalachian State players knew this was going to be a difficult match and they tried to attack willingly even as they focused on the defense, but the Appalachian State attack didn''t have much strength to overcome Tar Heels''s strong save. They had to try hard to get a chance to score, Jake was taking advantage of that to make some steals in the game which further upset the opponent, so the Tar Heels team finished the 1st half with a good lead on the scoreboard. In this 1st half Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 22 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 6 steals, a great 1st half for him and also for the Tar Heels team, even though it''s a game with the Tar Heels team dominated the game and not an exciting game The crowd was happy with that. Team Tar Heels was winning by a big advantage and the Appalachian State defense could not stop the opposing players, so in the 2nd half, the Appalachian State team decided to attack with more pressure. But even though the year is focused on defense, the Tar Heels team still had a very strong defense, so even though the Appalachian State team managed to score more points it was much less than the Tar Heels team. Jake was doing very well in this game and Jamison was doing just as well as the other attacking players who were scoring a lot while Tar Heels''s lead increased. So the game ended and Tar Heels won easily by 112 points against 57 points by Appalachian State, with Jake controlling the team''s pace and coach Guthridge making some player substitutions during the game. Jake was the only one on the Tar Heels team who could play an average of 40 minutes per game and not get tired in the other games, which was another reason that Jake was the leading and most reliable player of coach Guthridge on the Tar Heels team. In this 2nd half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and scored 20 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, and 5 steals with one more triple-double Jake helped the Tar Heels team to win another win and further increase the winning streak team''s. The Tar Heels team won this game well and it further increased player confidence for the next games, the media still kept talking about the Tar Heels team''s great winning streak and how Jamison and Jake were the best players of the season until the time. It wasn''t just from the Tar Heels team but from all the college teams, even Carter and Williams who were playing well couldn''t compare to Jake and Jamison''s performance of the season and Carter was known as the best offensive trio of recent times. The sports media even said that if a team had these three players on the team in the NBA, they could have a team that could win the NBA title if they had a good Center and a good PF. Of course, even though the Tar Heels team was a favorite because of their last season and this great season so far, but a lot of teams appeared to be strong names to win the NCAA title this year as well. Everyone was very focused on the next game against a team that even if they were not playing well this year was still a team that was always difficult to face, so in the coming days, the team Tar Heels returned to training preparing for the next opponent. So after a few days, the team Tar Heels went to the next game, it would be a guest game which made things even more difficult for this game, the opponent for this game was the team NC State Wolfpack. Even Jake wasn''t too quiet for this game because even if Team Tar Heels was the favorite to win, in a game like this, anything could happen, but he was confident that Team Tar Heels would come out with the win. Chapter 381 Continuing the Winning Streak 5 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 endorsements 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 endorsements, this season Jake kept playing well and if he said Jake would join the NBA this season It would be easier to close endorsement 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 endorsement agreement with you when you join the NBA." "Now I was wondering if you have any conditions for these endorsement 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 endorsements 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 endorsement 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. Chapter 382 Continuing the Winning Streak 6 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 endorsements $ 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 endorsement 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 endorsement 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." Chapter 383 Continuing the Winning Streak 7 "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." Chapter 384 Continuing the Winning Streak 8 "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 endorsement, 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 endorsements it increased the player''s popularity and the reach of the advertisements. Some had researched that after the companies had signed an endorsement 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 endorsement 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. Chapter 385 Continuing the Winning Streak 9 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." Chapter 386 Continuing the Winning Streak 10 "After I managed to run under 3 hours on the 43 km I knew I was ready to run a marathon, so I decided to run in Chicago which was a marathon that I always liked and was in an offseason basketball season." "I prepared a lot to run my first marathon and I tried my best and to my surprise, I managed to win the first marathon that I ran officially, after that I knew I could have a talent and I continued to strive in training and running several marathons." "So you asked me how I feel about having conquered so many important things and winning several marathons running less than 4 years old and being 19 years old, I feel happy and grateful for that, but I also think it''s something natural for me." "I was lucky to have a talent with a lot of resistance, but I also trained a lot for almost 6 years before running my first marathon, and I continued training even though I had basketball, so I think anyone who trains so much can achieve something if have a talent for it. " Eric didn''t expect a question from him to have such a complete answer from Jake, it seemed that Jake loved running a lot more than he thought, Eric wanted good answers like that from Jake, but he had to be careful with the questions he asked. "And what about your team''s great winning streak, what do you think is the reason why the Tar Heels team has achieved a 47-game streak without losing despite facing so many tough opponents." "I believe that the cause of this is our environment, it is the players, the coach, the fans, all of these influences for our team to have this great sequence of games without losing." "When I joined this team at the beginning of last season almost two years ago, the team already had almost all the teammates I have, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Serge Zwikker, Shammond Williams, Ademola Okulaja, Makhtar N''Diaye between other players had been on the team for a year or more." "So coach Dean Smith had already organized the team and had trained a lot with these players before Ed Cota and I joined the team that was already formed." "In my debut season, we lost just 2 games, one at the debut and the other after a 9-game winning streak against our team and it was against the Wake Forest team, and that was our last loss." "It means that if we had not lost that game we would have a streak of 57 wins, it shows how well we played in those two seasons, Coach Dean Smith did very well and Coach Bill Guthridge has also done as well." "It shows how our entire team and the support of the fans has been instrumental in our team achieving this." Eric was also pleased with this answer, it seemed that Jake was helping him a lot by giving very generous answers for him to use in his interview, with that he thought to ask me just two more questions that he had prepared and so he could finish this interview very well. "Jake, in your debut season you won almost every individual award for your excellent performance, you broke several records for your university''s performance and even for all college basketball." "You have averaged 32 points, 10 assists, and 6 steals per game, and this season you have done even better than that, what do you think about everything that is happening to you in basketball today." "I really think everything that is happening to me is impressive, I am lucky to have the trust of my teammates, I have an average of 18 attempts of Field goal per game and my team''s Jamison has only 14." "So this confidence that allows me to score so many points, assists only happens because I have excellent talented teammates who score when I pass." "I am lucky to have a good ability to hit three-point shots and I also have my agility that helps me both in my attack and in my defense, it is incredible and I feel grateful every day for what I have." "I understand, one last question, what do you hope to achieve in the future that you have not yet achieved?" "I hope to achieve many things, I have many dreams and goals in various things related to the sport, in relation to other things and in relation to my personal life." "But in the sport, I hope in the future to win many gold medals for me and my country in the Olympics that I will participate in the future, and I hope to one day win an NBA title and become the MVP of a season in the NBA." "Well, thank you for this interview Jake, sorry for having spent these years without trying to talk to you, who knows in the future we may be friends again, and we will still have a lot of interviews like this in the future when you join the NBA." "Yes, we will meet again in the future and see how things go, it was nice to see you again Eric." After that Jake went back to the university to train, he had been happy to see Eric again after so many years, even though he was disappointed that Eric didn''t try to talk to him in those years, Jake knew these things were happening. He could have been only 19 now, but before going back to the past he lived for 40 years and it was not in the world of sports like now but in the normal society where all kinds of things happen, at 40 Jake saw a lot happening while he worked at the company. Many of these things didn''t happen to him because Jake didn''t have many friends and he never tried to have romantic relationships, but he saw a lot of things happen to other people. Jake had agreed to do this interview because he wanted to help Eric for the things Eric had done for him in the past, but it was also because he thought that with this interview David''s job would be easier to get endorsements and to get a place for Jake on the team Lakers. After a few days of training came the day of the next game for the Tar Heels team, this was a game long-awaited by the sports media these last few days after all the opponent was the team that had been the last to defeat the Tar Heels team before starting this long streak of 47 games without losing. It was the Tar Heels team''s first game against the Wake Forest team this season, it was a difficult game in many different ways for the Tar Heels team, it was a visitor game and it had all the pressure from the media. Even though the Wake Forest team was not having a good season because they were still getting used to playing without Tim Duncan who was the team leader for many years, it was a dangerous team to face. "Welcome to everyone who will accompany us in today''s game, this is a long-awaited game in the last few days because it is the first game between the Tar Heels team that has not lost 47 games and the Wake Forest team that was the last team defeating the Tar Heels team." "The Tar Heels team is definitely the favorite to win this game, Jake and Jamison have been the best players of the season, and the team still has Carter and Williams who have also been having great performances in recent games." "But a game against the Wake Forest team can have a very big psychological effect and the Wake Forest team can take advantage of that to win, they have been trying another style of play after Tim Duncan went to the NBA, and they can win that game." "It is true, but one thing has to be remembered when the Tar Heels team lost to the Wake Forest team, Jake did not even play 20 minutes and even today many think that this is the reason the team lost this game." "After this game, Jake has almost always played for more than 30 minutes and the Tar Heels team has not lost anymore, with a player of his quality I find it difficult to imagine the Tar Heels team losing if they play normally." Just as commentators had said with Jake on the team the fans did not believe that the Tar Heels team could lose, the problem was that the next two games for the Tar Heels team would be very difficult and the team needed that victory. The Wake Forest team also had good players in three-point shots and the Tar Heels team players were prepared for that, and the Wake Forest team was unable to prepare to play against Jake. In the first minutes, the Wake Forest team decided to try to attack and take advantage of the psychological pressure from the Tar Heels team players and the advantage of playing at home to try to get an advantage on the score against the Tar Heels team. But it was not as they expected and they were having a difficult time passing through the defense of the Tar Heels team, in the three-point line Jake was ready to try to block anybody who tried the shot from outside and Williams was also close by. In the defense of the painted area, the Tar Heels team was very good even without a Center, but it was in the three-point line that the opponents had more difficulty making the points because of Jake and Williams. In one of the plays Robert O''Kelley of the Wake Forest team tried a three-point shot after moving away from Jake, but he missed and Jamison easily managed to get a defensive rebound, Jamison also took it easy and advanced slowly until he passed the ball for Jake. It was unexpected that the Tar Heels team that was always so strong would start a game by defending more and not attacking with speed, for many it showed how the players of the Tar Heels team were feeling the pressure to win. Chapter 387 The Last Major Marathon 1 But that was not what was really happening, it was Coach Guthridge who asked them to start the game cautiously against the Wake Forest team, it showed how the Tar Heels team respected the opponent and tried their best to achieve victory. Jake advanced with the ball and after passing through the middle of the court he passed the ball to Williams from the left, in that game Coach Guthridge asked Williams not to try too many three-point shots and stay more within the three-point line. This was not because the coach did not trust him, but so that Jake had more freedom to try the three-point shots and had more space to get rid of the opposing defense, Williams understood that Jake was better than him in the three-point shots and accepted that. Williams advanced the ball to the three-point line and passed it to Carter who was on the left, Carter received the ball and held it a little before passing it back to Jake who was further behind. Jake received the ball from Carter and he was the only player on the Tar Heels team outside the three-point line and only one player on the Wake Forest team was defending against him, Jake made a feint and managed to get rid of the opponent with ease by going to the right. Jake tried the shot from outside and scored 3 more points for the Tar Heels team, that was the strategy of Coach Guthridge who trusted Jake who had the skill and speed to get rid of the defending opponents. After 10 minutes had passed in the 1st half, the Tar Heels team had already achieved a small advantage on the scoreboard, but the Wake Forest team was also very well and was having a game played against the Tar Heels team. In another attacking move by the Wake Forest O''Kelley attempted a three-point shot again, but this time Jake was close and got the block, it was already Jake''s second block in the 1st half and the Wake Forest team understood how it was difficult to make three-point plays against the Tar Heels team. In another attacking move by the Tar Heels team Jake received Carter''s ball behind the three-point line, Jake had already hit 3 shots from three points and so two players from the Wake Forest team came to defend against him. Jake was quick and made a pass to Okulaja later that had been free, when a defense player tried to defend against Okulaja he passed the ball to Williams who entered the middle, Williams received the ball and advanced until he made the layup to get more 2 points for the Tar Heels team. Williams was not attempting many three-point shots, but he was doing well in layups and mid-range shots, as well as with the Wake Forest team making a little mistake, the Tar Heels team still finished the 1st half ahead of the score. In that 1st half Jake played for 20 minutes and made 15 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocks, it was a good 1st half of game for Jake, but the Wake Forest defense was fine and even Jake was with difficulty making stitches. "What a great 1st half we had in that game, the Wake Forest team as everyone expected comes strong and the players are very confident, their defense is doing a good job and the attack also doesn''t have many mistakes." "The Tar Heels team managed to finish this 1st half by winning with a small advantage on the scoreboard, but despite Jake''s good defensive game, the Tar Heels team players seem timid in this game and are not going to attack at all." "That''s right, the pressure of being in so many games without losing is affecting the performance of the Tar Heels team players, but I think that the Tar Heels team will still win that game." "Jake and Jamison see having great performances throughout the season and even when they don''t play very well they still score a lot and help the team to win, and the whole team is also in a great phase, so I think they will win this one game." "It''s true, and Jake has been showing along with Williams how the defense of the Tar Heels team is good against teams that attempted three-point shots this season, Jake managed 2 blocks in that game and they and Williams hindered several players on the Wake Forest team." In the 2nd half the Wake Forest team came back playing the same way as in the 1st half, even though they were losing the advantage of the Tar Heels team it wasn''t that big and they thought that if the opponent missed more they could win. Unfortunately for them, the Tar Heels team had come back differently, they started slowly because they were being careful with the opponent, but after 20 minutes of play, they no longer needed to be careful in this 2nd half of the game. So the Wake Forest team would have to pay more attention to the defense if they didn''t want to lose the game quickly, Jake also started to speed up the game, the players of the Tar Heels team were rested and had to win this game. In another move, the Wake Forest team was attacking and Jake was quick and managed to intercept an opponent''s pass and started the counterattack, there were only two players from the Wake Forest team in front of him preventing Jake from running directly to make the points. Even so Jake decided to accelerate and try to gain speed to make those points in this play, O''Kelley who was one of the two players in the defense realized that Jake was faster and would pass him and tried to delay Jake in the play. Jake reacted quickly and made a quick crossover when O''Kelley tried to defend against him which caused O''Kelley to fall to the ground, even so, Jake lost a little speed making this dribble and could not make the points without passing the last defender of the team Wake Forest. The last one in defense was Tony Rutland who also tried to hinder Jake to prevent him from making the points, Jake saw that the rest of the defensive players on the Wake Forest team were coming back and he would have to set up the play quickly. So he decided to use the dribbling movement that he himself had invented and used a few times, it was the Ghost move that was a move in which he moved the ball in a way that the opposing player in defense could not see the ball for a moment and Jake would pass him. Jake did this and for a moment Rutland could not see the ball anymore and thought that Jake had missed the move, only after he saw that Jake passed him and made the dunk to make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. Rutland couldn''t understand how Jake did it, but everyone in the crowd and his teammates had seen what Jake had done with the ball, the Ghost move was a dribble that Jake didn''t use often even though he had invented it because opponents would expect this. The defense of the Wake Forest team was very good, but the intensity of the pressure that the Tar Heels team was putting on the attack was very great and little by little the advantage increased on the scoreboard. In another move, Wake Forest had hit a three-point shot and Tar Heels was attacking soon after, Jake stepped forward and passed the ball to Williams who was on the right before going through the middle of the court. Williams wanted to redeem himself because it was he who failed to defend and gave Rutland the freedom to score three points from an outside shot, Williams came forward and passed the ball to Carter who was on the left. Carter was not performing well in the attack in this game, but he still helped the team a lot, after holding on a little he passed the ball to Williams again, Williams received the ball and tried a mid-range shot. Williams missed his shot and Jamison managed to catch the offensive rebound, Jamison didn''t even catch the ball and just touched it to make the 2 points for the Tar Heels team, Jake asked Williams to have more patience and the team went back to the defense. With the Tar Heels team pressing in the attack in the 2nd half the Wake Forest team was unable to recover and so the Tar Heels team won the game making 88 points against 69 points of the Wake Forest team. In that 2nd half Jake played for 20 minutes and made 14 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, and 1 block, as well as another double-double by Jake, the Tar Heels team won a difficult opponent and kept the sequence of games without lose. "What a great game we are watching here today, an exciting game in which the Wake Forest team, as expected, played very well and made it difficult for the Tar Heels team to seek victory." "At the end of the 1st half the difference in the score between the two teams was not very large, but the Tar Heels team put more pressure on the attack in the 2nd half and thus managed to win after an exciting and disputed game." "The Wake Forest team did very well in that game, but the Tar Heels team is very strong this season and even managed to hinder many Wake Forest team three-point plays." "Jake also played well in defense and had a good performance in this difficult game and even made 3 blocks in the game, Jamison had a good performance and Williams too, just Carter who was not doing so well and left Jake with fewer attack options." "That''s right, the Tar Heels team''s next game will also be a challenge for the players, we hope that Jake and Jamison continue to play well and that the Tar Heels team can continue this incredible winning streak." The players were relieved after that victory, even though they were good players, the pressure of having to win with this winning streak was hindering their performance in some games. Chapter 388 The Last Major Marathon 2 After this game in which the media expected the Tar Heels team to lose so that they would have a good story, Jake''s interview with Eric finally came out in the newspaper, this caused the media''s attention and the public to continue on the Tar Heels team and on Jake. As Jake did not do many interviews after the games, this interview left everyone interested in what Jake had said about the current situation of the team, everyone was satisfied because Jake did an interview giving complete answers that answered several questions. The truth was that Jake had already given some interviews with similar answers before, but they were at another time and Jake was not so famous and so many still wanted to know what Jake thought about these things. Jake thought that this was perhaps the maximum moment of fame that he would have, after all, he would have another difficult game and then he would be out of the next game because he would run the marathon in Tokyo, for someone like Jake who was very important for the team and I always played every minute in games, resting for a game was not uncommon. Even more when the Tar Heels team was the leader of the conference and had not lost any games in the season, the opponent was also weak and so it would not be so prominent that Coach Guthridge let Jake rest for a game with few games left for the ACC tournament and soon after for the NCAA tournament. The biggest problem was that the Tar Heels team was trying to break a historic game record if they lost and Jake was the most important player on the team, and he would not lose this game to rest but to run a marathon. This could make the team and the media criticize Jake and Coach Guthridge a lot, especially if the Tar Heels team lost that game because Jake wouldn''t be playing after that Jake would only regain his popularity if he won the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament at the end of the season and get several individual prizes. Jake, of course, had already talked to David Falk about it, so David wanted to take advantage of this opportunity when Jake''s fame and prestige was at its maximum to be able to close some verbal contracts. He was about to close the deal with Jerry West who thought it was worth the risk to bring Jake to the team and still be able to save on salaries and have the offensive players he wanted. After David spoke to him, Jerry West started following Jake''s games and old recordings too, so Jerry West saw that Jake was excellent in defense as well and in assists, he was the type of player that any team would want. With more research, he even knew that Jake could play in all positions if it was necessary, of course putting him as Center could be an exaggeration because of his height, but the other 4 positions he could do very well. Jerry West also analyzed the marketing power that Jake''s name had, a player who was also a marathon athlete and an actor was something that was never seen before, with that and more Jake''s natural charisma and his talent brought many fans and fans for Elite School and North Carolina University. This for a 19-year-old who theoretically could still have the potential to improve a lot was very encouraging, Jerry West already considered Jake better than Kobe Bryant when he arrived on the Lakers'' team. David was also very close to closing with 7 companies that wanted to sponsor Jake, all agreed to pay 4 million in 4 years of the contract, two of these companies were shoe companies that were negotiating Jake''s millionaire contract. Jake said he wanted to sign with Nike and that was what David Falk also wanted, so David made the strategy that Jake said and talked to all shoe companies, David also told Nike about the amount Jake asked for. Naturally, at first he was rejected, so David talked about Kobe Bryant and how he could try to make a deal with Adidas that he was interested in and that he was talking to Nike because he was very considerate of the company and Jake too. But after that something unexpected happened, Adidas somehow heard about the value David offered to Nike and also agreed to pay that amount for a 5-year contract with Jake, Adidas just as David said he wanted to win Nike''s place as number 1 footwear brand in the world. They signed a great deal with Kobe Bryant and were very pleased with the repercussions this brought, so they were naturally interested in signing a contract with Jake Smith that could be the next Michael Jordan or the next Magic Johnson. Even more because Jake was very popular with fans in Europe where Adidas dominated the sale of sports equipment, they were also interested in Jake, who was an Olympic champion and the best marathon athlete today. So Adidas wanted Jake because he was very popular in Europe and naturally he was also very popular in the United States, in a short time Nike should also accept the offer that David made, because if they did not accept this offer then David would tell Jake to close a contract with Adidas. Meanwhile, David called Jake to ask for his opinion to see if he would agree to sign a sponsorship deal with Adidas, Jake replied that if Nike did not accept what he asked for he would close a deal with Adidas. Jake wanted to strike a deal with Nike because he knew they were the best-selling shoe company in the world and the players who earned the most from selling shoes had an agreement with Nike. But just as Jake had told David he had confidence in his ability and didn''t have to worry about money, so the only thing he wanted was for companies to pay what he knew he was worth. So if only Adidas agreed to pay for this 5-year contract he would accept, Adidas also had a lot to gain from it because they would virtually dominate all fans if they had Jake and Kobe Bryant as athletes. Having received confirmation from Jake, David now had more strength to negotiate with the companies knowing that if Nike did not accept the deal he would close a verbal deal with Adidas, so David would have to wait a while before deciding. But the agreements with the other companies he could easily close, even if a verbal agreement did not guarantee anything and the companies could break a verbal contract if they wanted to, but with David Falk who had a lot of influence and was an agent for many important players, no one would want to break a verbal agreement with him. He signed a verbal contract with 5 companies, 4 of which were guaranteed that they would close the formal contract with Jake when the time was right and another company that could break the verbal contract in the future. The companies that were guaranteed were Gatorade, Chevrolet, Pepsi, and Gillette, three of which were impressed by the success of the Tiffany companies and the company that John and Alan currently represented were drinks and razors. For these companies it was easy to get a contract using examples from the past, David got a contract with Chevrolet also because many of their customers liked basketball and athletics. And it was a risk that the company wanted to take, these verbal contracts were practically guaranteed because David already had contracts with them through other players and they would not risk breaking that contract, the other company could break it because it was not afraid of David. So David had already guaranteed that Jake would receive more than he currently receives from his sponsorship companies, and David had secured almost $ 2 million in his fee for getting those contracts over the 4 years. But that would not be even half of what Jake would receive with the contract with the shoe company that was already guaranteed with Adidas at least, even with the salary that Jake would receive in the first ones it would not be higher than that. Now David needed to hear Jerry West''s final answer and also Nike''s answer, there were other companies that were in having a contract with Jake too, but David was not very optimistic with these companies after Jake didn''t appear in a game so these companies would end the talks. David thought that if Jake managed to win the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament then it was possible that until he entered the NBA the companies would decide to sign a contract with Jake, but David did not count on that. Meanwhile Jake was training hard with the basketball team for the next game that was very important and also training for the next marathon that was very close, Jake was confident of winning the marathon with his training. He had to win this marathon because maybe it was the last chance he would have to win this marathon in Tokyo, which is why he was risking losing a game to run this marathon. The Tar Heels team players were very anxious for the next game and were training excitedly, it would be one of the most difficult games of the season against the team that was considered the Tar Heels team''s biggest rival. Jake also wanted to do the best he could and was even doing extra training with Jamison and Carter, and was also doing extra training with Williams for the next game, he had to make sure they won that game, like that in the next game when he didn''t play even if the team lost they would still have an incredible record of games without losing. Fortunately, that game was only 5 days after the last game and so the players could train a lot and still be rested before the next game. Chapter 389 The Last Major Marathon 3 Coach Guthridge was thinking the same thing as Jake because only he on the team knew that Jake would not play the next game, so they had to ensure that they would win that game and thus ensure the leadership of the conference even if they lost the next game. So the days went by quickly and just a day before the next game David called saying he had great news, Jerry West accepted his proposal and would already talk to the Los Angeles Clippers team and exchange two players for their first choice in the draft of this year. The players would be Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell who would be irrefutable for the Los Angeles Clippers team, which had a very bad team and almost always finished last during the season. That way Jerry West would be able to guarantee Jake and still be able to release a bit of the high salaries he would have to pay if he decided to hire Glen Rice or keep Eddie Jones who would no longer have many chances to play with Kobe Bryant as the team owner. The team''s only flaw was that they would not have a quality SF, but with Jake, Bryant, and O''Neal the Lakers'' team would have no shortage of players to score points, in addition, the three were also excellent players in defense. So Jerry West could already imagine the Lakers winning several NBA titles if Jake played only half of what he did at university, the truth that just the fact that a genius player like Jake who was wanted by all the teams say he would accept a lower salary just for playing on the Lakers team has already made Jerry West want him for the team. Now he would have to speak to the other executives on the Lakers'' team to get authorization to do this, as he had a lot of respect and authority it was almost a certainty that he would be able to do this. That alone made Jake very happy because it was almost guaranteed that he could win 3 NBA title with the Lakers team in his early years, after that he could go to a team with fewer stars to get a higher salary and try to win another one NBA title using his skill. But Jake wanted to ensure that he wouldn''t spend his entire career without winning an NBA title as it has done several times in history with great players if David knew about the future as well as Jake he would also think that Jake was right to think about ensuring the victory of three NBA title. Another good thing that happened was that Nike had also accepted the offer of $ 52 million for 5 years of the contract, it would be a verbal agreement and therefore David could not guarantee that the two teams would still fulfill the contract in the end. Jake already expected this to happen, yet he was confident that something like this would happen, but he understood that David was certain that such a big contract was no guarantee of being fulfilled. So Jake told David to wait for the game that Jake would lose that might cause some change in the minds of the companies, while it was better if David tried to talk to Adidas to offer more value. Jake also said that they could try to secure a 4 percent share of the profits that companies would make from selling the shoes that would be because of him, all to pressure them and see if anyone would give up. What Jake didn''t want was a guaranteed verbal contract and thus losing another company that could offer a contract and in the end, receive less than had been agreed, it was better to establish that value that they had already accepted as a basis and ask for more until the draft of the NBA happened. David didn''t agree with Jake''s thoughts, but he admitted that Jake was a little right about that and they could try to negotiate a better contract and thus indirectly have a contract like that secured. It was risky, but David believed that one of the companies would accept it in the end and David was confident that after these 5 years of the contract the companies would be satisfied and offer even more money for renewal. Jake was sure that some companies would change his mind after he lost a game to run the Tokyo marathon because in the future something like this could happen again in the NBA and it really would happen. Of course, it was not because Jake would have a contract agreement allowing him to miss games to run the marathons that he would definitely do that, the truth was that Jake intended to run only 1 or more marathons in the year and out of the basketball season. As David prepared for a negotiation that was almost certain he would not make it, one day passed and it was the Tar Heels game day and it was Jake''s last game before running the marathon. The Tar Heels team players were excited and even with the pressure of having to win they really wanted to beat an important rival like the Duke Blue Devils team, so the enthusiasm of the Tar Heels team was even greater. The players of the Duke Blue Devils team were also looking forward to this game, they had a great season having also lost just one game and this one was almost tied with the Tar Heels team in the first place of the ACC conference. Even with the excellent season, they were having, his team was not as talked about as their rival, the Tar Heels team that had won the NCAA tournament last season and haven''t lost a game for over a year. "Welcome to everyone who is here to follow one of the best games of the season with two of the best teams of the season, we have the Duke Blue Devils team that is tied for the first place of the season with only one defeat in the entire season and one season bright." "And on the other side, we have the Tar Heels team that is also tied as the ACC''s number one team, no defeat not only this season but also for more than 1 year without losing a game." "The Duke Blue Devils team has one of the best defenses of the season and a good team that has guaranteed them an excellent season so far, everyone was waiting to see if this team is going to defeat the Tar Heels team." "And we also have the Tar Heels team that has one of the best attacks of the season and has Jake and Jamison who are the two best players of the season so far." "It will certainly be an exciting game between two great rivals and that is why ACC is considered the most disputed conference and with the best teams in the entire country." Just as commentators have said this is one of the most anticipated games of this season, after the Wake Forest team failed to defeat the Tar Heels team, everyone hoped that perhaps only the Duke Blue Devils team could defeat this incredible team. As the Tar Heels team was playing that game at home at the Dean Smith Center and had Jake who had never lost a game in which he played more than 20 minutes, the Tar Heels team was the big favorite to win that game. Just as in the game against the Wake Forest team, Coach Guthridge had asked the Tar Heels team players to start slowly in the attack and observe the opponent in the first minutes and focus on defense. Of course, this did not mean that the Tar Heels team would not attack, so Coach Guthridge asked Jake to try to hit some three-point shots so that the Tar Heels team would not be behind the score. Jake understood and was confident in the victory of the Tar Heels team in that game, he knew that even with him appearing the past was strangely similar to what happened now, the system told Jake that it was because he was helping Jake not to affect the future when he didn''t want to. Knowing this he could say that Carter and Williams would be playing very well in that game, but Jamison was going to have one of his best games of the season and so Jake would count on them to make the points. But he would listen to coach Guthridge who helped him so much and in the first few minutes he would try to make some three-point moves and try harder in defense, Jake had decided that he would defend against Trajan Langdon and also try some steals to help the defense. In the first minutes of the 1st half, the Duke Blue Devils team started the attack because they had confidence in the defense, and the Tar Heels team was struggling in defense and with a slow pace of play when they went on the attack. So the Duke Blue Devils team took advantage of those first minutes to try to create an advantage on the scoreboard against the Tar Heels team, but even if the Tar Heels team was not pushing in the attack they could still attack well. In a move after the Duke Blue Devils team scored 2 points, Jake moved forward to organize the attack for the Tar Heels team, after passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Williams who was on the right. Williams was playing better in these last games, adapting to try to make more moves within the three-point line and not try as many three-point shots, he did it because the team had Jake and because he didn''t hit as many three-point shots this season as did last season. Even so, he was happy to still be able to make good games and the teammates were supporting him, Jake mainly told Williams not to give up on the three-point play which gave Williams a lot of support. Williams advanced even before the three-point line and passed the ball to Okulaja further on from the right, Okulaja held the ball and the Tar Heels team defense soon came in pressing, so Okulaja passed the ball to Carter from the left. Carter tried to advance using his speed, but the opposing player in defense managed to stop him, so Carter passed the ball to Jake who was further back who made a Set shot from outside and managed to make three more points for the Tar Heels team. Chapter 390 The Last Major Marathon 4 With Jake in the Tar Heels team, the Duke Blue Devils team could not relax in defense and focus only on the attack, so in the first minutes, the Duke Blue Devils team could not have an advantage on the scoreboard even though the Tar Heels team was slower in the attack. In another move, Jake managed to get ahead and intercepted a pass from the Duke Blue Devils team to get a steal, but this time he didn''t advance quickly to the attack and waited for the teammates to advance to the attack and the Duke Blue Devils team managed to organize the defense. Many had already understood that the Tar Heels team was starting slowly in this game and would start to put more pressure on the attack for the rest of the game, so the team coach Duke Blue Devils asked the team to put pressure on the attack to take advantage of this moment. But with Jake hitting 4 shots from three points and making some assists, the Duke Blue Devils team did not get any advantage on the scoreboard, the Tar Heels defense was also very good. Jake calmly advanced the ball and before passing the middle of the court passed the ball to Carter on the left, Jake had not made any assistance to Jamison yet and so only Williams and Carter had scored points in that game. Carter advanced with the ball and before crossing the three-point line he passed the ball to Jamison who was further ahead on the left, Jamison tried to advance to make his first points in the game and failed and passed the ball to Williams further back through right. Williams received the ball with the freedom to attempt the shot from outside, so the defense soon pressed him to try the block, but Williams did not attempt the three-point shot and passed the ball to Jake in the middle. Jake was quick and after catching the ball he made a high pass to Carter who caught the ball in the air and made a dunk to make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team and complete the alley-oop, this move cheered the crowd even team losing the game. After almost 10 minutes of play, Jake already thought that they had sufficiently analyzed the Duke Blue Devils team and it was time to start putting pressure on the attack and thus try to finish the 1st half by winning with a good advantage on the scoreboard. In another play, the Duke Blue Devils team was attacking and Langdon tried to make a three-point shot, Jake was close by and managed to make a block, the ball went to Williams who held the ball and passed it to Jake. Jake moved quickly against what the Duke Blue Devils team''s defense expected, the other players on the Tar Heels team had also received Jake''s signal and knew it was time for the Tar Heels team to attack. After passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Carter from the left, Carter quickly advanced past the three-point line and passed the ball to Jamison, Jamison tried a feint and when he saw that he could not move forward passed the ball to Okulaja. Okulaja held the ball and passed it to Jake who came quickly through the middle, Jake surprised his opponents by entering the middle of the defense, receiving the ball he managed to advance on the right and when another defender of the Duke Blue Devils team came to pressure him, Jake passed to Jamison. Jamison received the ball from Jake and made a quick move and managed to make the layup and make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, it was Jamison''s first points in the game and the defense was leaving him a little aside because of that. So this was the opportunity for the Tar Heels team to take advantage and Jake started to pass the ball a lot to Jamison and when the Duke Blue Devils defense tried to predict the move Jake passed it to Williams and Carter. In the last minutes of the 1st half, Jake scored only 5 points and only made several assists for his teammates, but by the end of the 1st half of the game Jamison already had 19 points, and other players like Carter and Williams had also scored almost 10 points each. In the 1st half of that game Jake played for 20 minutes and made 17 points, 13 assists, 3 rebounds, 6 steals, and 2 blocks, Jake didn''t score as many points because he took advantage of Jamison''s excellent game and decided to make more assists, like this almost all the plays went through Jake''s hands. "What an incredible 1st half we had here in this game, an electrifying game worthy of the two best teams at the ACC conference and that together have 45 games this season and just one defeat, what an exciting game." "At the beginning of the game, the Duke Blue Devils team seemed to be dominating the game and was almost always in front of the scoreboard, only Jake managed to make some moves that left the Tar Heels team alive in the game. "But in the last 10 minutes of the game, Jake accelerated the pace of the game and led the Tar Heels team to a major turnaround in the game and managed to turn the game around and ended that game with an incredible 22 point advantage." "This game is unexpected and can happen for the Duke Blue Devils team to return well in the 2nd half as it did at the beginning of the game and manage to reverse the score to win the game, but I find it difficult to see that happen. "Jake, Carter, and Williams are playing very well, but Jamison is incredible and is having his best performance this season and has already scored 19 points and managed 7 rebounds before the 2nd half even started." "That''s right, it''s amazing to see Jamison''s performance and this is only the second game this season that I see someone on the Tar Heels team finishing the 1st half with more points than Jake." "But Jake is certainly the main responsible for this result so far with a great defensive game, in the first minutes he was responsible for keeping the Tar Heels team in the game by making several shots from three points." "And in this 1st half Jake made 13 assists, this is much more incredible than the games where Jake had more than 25 points at the end of the 1st half, maybe in this game Jake will break his record for more assists in a game that is of 21 assists last season." Everyone was excited about Jamison''s excellent game, who forgot that Jake was also having a great performance as a PG, but this time with assists and not many points, Jake finished the 1st half ensuring a double-double. Coach Guthridge was also very pleased with the performance of the team and especially Jake who commanded the team''s attack and increased the pace of the game at the right time which allowed them to have such a big advantage at the end of the 1st half. The coach of the Duke Blue Devils team was very angry because he was seeing that the team was losing the game because the defense was not working very well in that game, in several minutes the players of the Duke Blue Devils team gave Jamison a lot of freedom to make the points. Defending against Jake he knew it was difficult because he was a very skilled player, but against Jamison, it was possible if the team managed to prevent him from playing, of course, the coach did not know that the Duke Blue Devils players were already trying to do this and Jake used it to attack. When the defenders of the Duke Blue Devils team focused on Jamison, Jake passed it to Carter and Williams or made the points himself, and when the defense didn''t try to defend against Jamison, Jake used that moment to pass the ball to him. At the beginning of the 2nd half, the Tar Heels attack continued to press and the players were being quick to attack, in another move after the Duke Blue Devils team managed to score 3 points, the Tar Heels team went on the attack. Jake advanced the ball quickly and after passing through the middle of the court passed the ball to Williams on the right, Williams advanced quickly and before crossing the three-point line passed the ball to Okulaja further ahead. Okulaja passed the ball to Carter who tried to play inside and missed the layup, Jamison went up and caught the rebound and passed the ball to Jake who was further behind, Jake received the ball and soon advanced too. When the first player of the Duke Blue Devils team came to defend Jake he passed the ball with a perfect diagonal pass to Jamison who was coming from behind in the defense of the Duke Blue Devils team and after receiving the ball he made a dunk to liven up the crowd more. The truth was that in this game the defense of the Duke Blue Devils team was still doing a great job, but with Jamison playing so well, Jake had everything he needed to organize the move and give the Tar Heels team several assists to score points. The Tar Heels team made no mistakes in defense and neither in attack with Jake leading the team on the court, the players could miss several attacks and make fouls, but there was no mistake that could give the Duke Blue Devils any chance. In addition, in this game, Jake was very well in defense and had managed to get some blocks and steals hindering the attacks of the Duke Blue Devils team, with that the Duke Blue Devils team was unable to react and the Tar Heels team won the game with a big advantage. So the Tar Heels team won the game with 115 points against 66 points for the Duke Blue Devils team, it was an exciting game at the beginning, but the Tar Heels team ended up dominating in the end, Jamison certainly had his best game of the season and made 41 points and got 13 rebounds. In that 2nd half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and made 15 points, 12 assists, 5 rebounds, 6 steals, and 3 blocks, with another triple-double Jake was the best player in the game and breaking his record for most assists in a game. Chapter 391 The Last Major Marathon 5 "Another game that ends and another victory for the Tar Heels team, now the Tar Heels team reaches an incredible 49 straight victories, more than a year without losing a game and now guarantees the 1 place in the ACC conference." "This game ended with an unexpected result I would say, the victory of the Tar Heels team is not a surprise because it was naturally the favorite team, but winning with such a big difference in points nobody expected it." "It''s true, in the first 10 minutes of the game, the Duke Blue Devils team was still winning the game, the Tar Heels team''s attack failed to score and only Jake''s three-point shots that kept the Tar Heels team alive in the game." "After that, the attitude of the Tar Heels team changed completely, the team increased the pace of play and was more willing to attack and Jamison who had not made any points in the first 10 minutes ended the 1st half with 19 points." "Jamison showed in this game because together with Jake he is the best player in college basketball, he ended this game with a double-double and making 41 points, it is the first game of the season in which someone finishes a game with more points than Jake in the team Tar Heels." "That''s right, Jamison played very well, Carter and Williams also played well, but for me, Jake was still the best player in that game with a triple-double and breaking his record with 25 assists, a game to go down in history in many ways." "It''s really incredible, with 25 assists and 32 points, it shows that Jake was responsible for at least 82 points for the Tar Heels team out of the 115 points of the team, not to mention that several points were from Free Throw plays." "We will wait for the next game and keep track of when the Tar Heels team continues without losing a game." Just as commentators said Jake had played one of his best games of the season, Jamison also had a lot of prominences and Jake took advantage of Jamison''s great performance to break his record for assists in just one game. In fact, it was almost certain that Jake would break the record for assists made in one season, Jamison was very happy and all the other players on the Tar Heels team too, the other day Coach Guthridge would say that Jake would not participate in the next game. Jake would also train the other day and talk to the players to support the team in playing the next game that Jake knew would be difficult for the Tar Heels team to win because on the 6th he would have to travel to Tokyo to run the marathon. If the trip wasn''t so long and tiring, Jake would try to get back in time to play the next game, but no doctor would advise Jake to run a marathon and play a game of basketball on the same day. Even Jake, who had excellent resistance, did not know if he would be fully recovered before the game even if he ate a stamina bar, after all, besides the marathon, he still had a long plane trip and the game would still be as a visitor. Of course, probably not even Coach Guthridge would allow Jake to participate in the next game after running a marathon, but until the next game, Jake and the Tar Heels team''s fame was greater than ever. Other companies were approaching David to talk about endorsement contracts, but David was not counting on that because in a few days everyone would know that Jake would not participate in the next game and those contracts could not be closed until that day. But the good news continued, after this game by Jake showing more of his ability as PG Jerry West got approval to negotiate with the Los Angeles Clippers team to be able to switch to their first draft choice. And Jerry West had already told the Lakers executives that Jake wanted a contract to missing some games to run in marathons, so even if Jake lost the next game, the Lakers team would not change their minds and continue the negotiation. The company Nike and Adidas had also received another proposal from David and were studying to see if it would be worth accepting, even if they would not accept if the previous offer was already guaranteed would be very good. So Jake and David had done everything they could and now Jake had to run this marathon and after that marathon, he would have one more game and Jake would have a week off to go home, so he wouldn''t recover the fans so soon and media attention. It was now less than 2 months before the end of the season and Jake wanted to finish winning the NCAA title, the other day the Tar Heels team players were still excited when in training Coach Guthridge said that Jake would not participate in the next game. The other players were slow to understand why Jake would lose this game just to run a marathon, only Jake knew how important that marathon was for him to win two points of statistics. Even so, they did not show that they were disappointed with Jake, the team needed to continue winning and without Jake, it would be much more difficult, during training Jake told Jamison, Williams and Ed Cota that he trusted them to achieve this victory for the team. Jake knew that Williams and Jamison would mainly play very well in that game and Ed Cota would have to make assists just like Jake did, only if that happened, the Tar Heels team could achieve victory. After training with his teammates Jake returned to his dorm, the same day he traveled to Tokyo to participate in the marathon, it was over 16 hours of travel and Jake understood why it was impossible for him to play after running the marathon and returned by plane the same day. Even though he slept on the plane he still arrived very tired and would only have a few hours to rest before the marathon, if it weren''t for him it would be impossible to achieve this, luckily John had already organized everything and the hotel was prepared for him. John had also come to Tokyo a few days earlier to follow Jake''s marathon, Jake felt sorry to think that this was perhaps the last marathon that John would organize for him because the contract with John''s company would end after that season. Jake could finally use the Japanese he had studied so much to learn, he naturally talked a lot to master this language that he used so little, people were impressed to hear Jake speaking Japanese. Much more impressed than when Jake used German in Berlin, the sports media would naturally never expect Jake to participate in this Tokyo marathon that was the same day as the Tar Heels team game that was at such an important time. Jake can still walk around the city the day before the marathon and then went to sleep at the hotel to get ready for the marathon, the next day Jake woke up very early and soon went to the place where the marathon would take place. When Jake arrived at the place where the marathon would soon take place many people already recognized him, after all, who was an elite athlete or was very fond of marathon knew Jake who was the best marathon runner in the world. As everyone recognized him, the athletes had no doubt that Jake had actually come to run this marathon in Tokyo, but they wondered what Jake was doing running that marathon in the middle of the basketball season. The Tokyo marathon at that time was not yet one of the most famous marathons in the world, it was certainly one of the best known in the world for being one of the most important marathons in Asia, but that was no reason for Jake to come to Japan to run this marathon. Naturally, nobody could know Jake''s motives and they didn''t care much either, the most important thing was that Jake would run that year''s marathon and that marathon would become better known as an important marathon after that. It was normal after all if Jake who was the most important athlete in the world of marathons decided to lose a game in the middle of the season to run the Tokyo marathon was because he had something special. After a while, the athletes did the stretching exercises and prepared themselves and the 1998 Tokyo Marathon officially started, Jake was one of the ones who were most concentrated because he had risked a lot to run in that marathon and was determined to win the marathon. "Hello to everyone who came to accompany us with this Tokyo marathon in 1998, this is the first major marathon on the world circuit this year." "Great athletes participate in this marathon every year, and this year a big surprise happened and Jake Smith the best athlete in the marathons today came to participate in the Tokyo marathon that year." "Jake Smith has won 10 marathons in his short career of fewer than 4 years and between those marathons, one was at the Olympics where he won a gold medal and another was at the athletics world where he also won a gold medal." "A few months ago he won the Chicago marathon for the third time with a time just slightly above his current world record, it''s a surprise we have Jake here because he''s in the middle of college basketball season and I think he''s going to have a play today too." "But for us who are lovers of marathons, it is a very good time Jake running in that marathon and we hope that he will perform well." This was a marathon that Jake had never run before and the climate in Japan was quite different too, even so, Jake would still run at the same pace he trained for the first km, even his current training was easy so running those over 42 km would be easy for Jake. The other athletes knew that Jake was the best marathoner in the world and so they decided to do what the other athletes did in the Chicago marathon and would run in a group with Jake for the first km. Chapter 392 - The Last Major Marathon 6 Jake naturally didn''t care, he looked around and didn''t see any of the athletes who were first placed in this marathon in the past and it became more peaceful if good athletes ran in the same group as him and could keep pace Jake would have to break his record in order to win. Jake felt that he was not in his best physical condition to run this marathon, even though he had almost a full day after the plane trip to rest he still hadn''t fully recovered. This was something that had never happened to Jake, luckily he decided to come two days before the marathon, so he can rest a little longer before the marathon, so if several athletes ran with him it would be good for Jake to save energy. Even so, the first 10 km were easy for him and for the other athletes running with him, even though his pace was fast, it was not so fast that the other athletes could not follow the first km of the marathon. Everyone could see that Jake was the most comfortable with this race pace and that he came to win more of this marathon for his career, unfortunately, part of the crowd did not know him and only supported his group because he was in the first place. "A good start to the marathon for Jake, he managed to find a group that is running with him and even though he has no experience in that marathon, Jake is doing very well." "So he will be able to save energy for the final part of this marathon, and in the final part of the marathon that Jake normally slows down his running pace a lot, this is an interesting strategy that seems to have worked for him." "It is usually in the final part of the marathon that athletes who have more stamina decide to accelerate the pace to try to finish the marathon in a better position or just with a better time." "But it is in the final part of the marathon where the athletes are most tired so it is not a logical strategy, for Jake who knows his resistance well, he runs at a strong and steady pace in more than 30 km and in the final part of the race, it decreases his running pace." "As Jake is currently number one in the world in the marathons, who knows in the future we will see more athletes running like that." Many asked Jake why he ran like that and he just said it was his style of running because he couldn''t say that the pace he ran in the first 30 km is his normal pace and in the end, he slows down the race to not break the world record in the entire marathon. He didn''t even know if his strategy was the right one and didn''t expect other athletes to run like him, Jake ran like that because he had a lot of physical statistics that helped him run better and not have the risk of getting hurt, but the other Jake didn''t know. Even though Jake was not in his best physical condition, running a marathon at the pace he ran every day in training was not difficult for him, it was precisely what Jake trained so hard every day, for his body to get used to. After going through the 20 km marathon some athletes who were running in Jake''s group were starting to get tired and were thinking and leaving the group to be able to finish the marathon. Few in Jake''s group still did not feel tired after 20 km as well as Jake, this was expected because if they could keep up with Jake up to 30 km they could get a place in the top 20 even if they slow down the race pace a lot. The good thing about running with elite athletes was that they could keep up with Jake until after 30 km and the downside was that sometimes some athletes could keep up with Jake until he slowed down like in the last marathon. Jake knew that maybe in the other marathons that would not happen anymore because when he changed his daily training Jake would also start to change the pace he ran in the marathons, he wanted to prepare himself for one day to be ready to run a marathon in less than 2 hours. Jake also knew that in the next few years in many marathons running under 2 hours and 6 minutes would become normal for the winners, at that time Jake''s world record had to be 2 hours and 2 minutes for him to be at ease. Even more because Jake didn''t know when he could earn more points of resistance and agility stats, so if he wasn''t able to run in less than 2 hours after winning this marathon and training hard he didn''t know if he could ever do it. When Jake reached 30 km of the marathon he was already running alone, the other elite athletes who were with him decided to leave a few km behind even though they were not so tired and could still continue. Jake didn''t know it was because of him that he sometimes ran at this pace until 35 km and the athletes didn''t know how far Jake would continue to run like that, Jake was not tired, but he was starting to feel some difference after running 30 km. "It has already been 30 km from the Tokyo marathon we are following, Jake remains in the lead, but now he is running alone because the group that was with him did not support Jake''s intense running pace." "Jake is still looking good and not being tired even after running for more than half the marathon, we''ll see how far Jake can continue at this fast pace of running and whether we''ll see Jake winning another marathon his first in 1998." Jake still kept running at this pace for another 3 km and decided to slow down the running pace when he started feeling tired, his physical condition was even worse than he thought and if he didn''t start to control the running pace it was possible that he couldn''t finish this marathon in a long time. Jake remembered that Alberto Juzdado who won this marathon in the past managed a time of just over 2 hours and 8 minutes, so Jake had to do a lot less time if he wanted to win that last major marathon that he needed to win the 6. Even though it was harder to run in the marathon, Jake was still able to keep up thanks to the things he learned from training with coach Frank Davis, Jake was happy to have decided to hire a professional coach to help him. Jake knew that Coach Davis didn''t think he had helped him so much because when he started working with him, it was when Jake had won several marathons and managed to be recognized as the best in marathons. But in fact, Coach Davis taught Jake everything he needed to know to be even better and not just depend on his physical stats, and Coach Davis''s main job was still to help Jake win several gold medals in the next Olympics. Jake was different from other athletes and did not always have time to train and many trainings could not be done because of his basketball games or because of other commitments, so Jake was grateful only because Coach Davis agreed to coach him. After Jake slowed down his running pace he stopped feeling the fatigue he was feeling and managed to run more comfortably in the marathon, with the pace he was running he calculated that he would win easily with more than 1-minute advantage for the second place. After going through 40 km of the marathon Jake was still running comfortably with his pace and it was only a few kilometers before the marathon was over, Jake was happy because he saw that he could win this marathon which was the last of the 6 major marathons he had to win. It was one of the most difficult marathons for him to run in recent years because his physical condition was still very bad, the atmosphere in the marathon was different and it was a new route, so Zhang Yi felt even better for winning this marathon. "Jake is in the final part of the marathon, this is the eleventh marathon he has won in his four-year career, we don''t know why Jake decided to run in that marathon even though he had a game with his basketball team, but we hope that this victory will leave he satisfied." "After this surprise that Jake came to run in the Tokyo marathon, who knows, we can expect to see Jake participate in several marathons during this year, we all know that Jake loves to run and we also like to see him win." "And now Jake finishes the 1998 Tokyo marathon first, he finished with a time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 11 seconds, this is the new record for this Tokyo marathon, an excellent time for Jake who is running the first his marathon this year." "The runner-up is still not even close to getting there, we will continue to follow this year to see if Jake will continue to win the marathons." Jake finished the comfortable marathon because he was used to running more than 50 km in training at a faster pace than that, but Jake felt tired and really wasn''t feeling as well as he normally did after the marathons. Jake did not hesitate and ate a stamina bar as the marathon was over and started to feel much better, he had not decided if he would return that day to the university or if he would return the next day, but after that marathon, Jake realized that he had no choice, but travel only in the other day. So he would have to follow his team''s game in Tokyo and hope his team won, Jake received the prize for first place and also received for the record he broke. Jake talked to the representative of the marathon who gave the award in Japanese and dismissed the translator, this impressed everyone and left an impression on Jake''s best Japanese audience. Chapter 393 - The Last Major Marathon 7 After that, Jake talked to the marathon representatives for a while and went to thank John who had organized this whole marathon for him, then Jake had to say goodbye and go back to the hotel. Even though he was more tired than after the other marathons he was not really in the mood for sleep and he recovered very quickly from his fatigue and had recovered a lot by eating the stamina bar. So Jake still decided to walk around Tokyo for a few more hours and eat in some restaurants with local foods and buy some souvenir gifts for his friends at the university and for his mother and Anna too. Jake got to know some places he always wanted to go to, like Tsukiji Market where he ate sushi, Jake also went to Ueno Park, Meiji Jingu Shrine, Jake ate ramen too and it was to Tokyo Skytree, there were a lot more things that Jake wanted to do that he wasn''t possible because of the time. He would still have to sleep to be awake when the Tar Heels team game started, he had to look in some hotels until he found one that would broadcast the game and for that, he had to change hotels. But as he couldn''t be playing he wanted to at least hope for his team to win that game, Jake had a lot of confidence in his teammates and knew that they had the ability to win. After winning this Tokyo marathon, Jake had won all 6 major marathons and saw that he had gained one more agility point and one Resistance point, he didn''t know how he would get more statistical stats points after that, but he was happy to be able to complete his goals before joining the NBA. Maybe if he managed to win other important marathons in the world even though he wasn''t Major marathons he could get more stats points, but Jake would wait until he had time to do that without having to lose games. And Jake didn''t think that he still needed more statistics to run in marathons or other athletics, he knew that his statistics were already higher than that of several athletes who won several gold medals in the Olympics. What Jake thought was missing was just the training he was starting to do so that he could make the most of his statistics, Jake didn''t know if he would have time to train to run in short distance too, but if he could win even the 800-meter race he could win 5 gold medals per Olympics. He had to sleep to be able to watch his teammates'' game, but before he was really curious to see how his stats window was that he hadn''t seen in a long time. "Fate, show me my statistics window for my third job." [Here it is.] Statistics Jake -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 19 years] [Job: Runner] [Height: 2.01 m] [Weight: 103 Kg] [Force 42] [Agility 41] [Resistance 44] [Intelligence 63] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Techniques [Acceleration D] [Sprint C] [Full Speed ??A] [Flexibility S] [Speed ??Endurance S] [Poise S] [Second Lung S] [Iron Body S] --------------------------------- Jake was thrilled to see how his stats had changed in a short time, his height had been set at 2.01 m, it was very good for a basketball player, Jake had the ability to get the most out of his height. The two skills he had reached the S rank after winning all major marathons and many hidden statistics he had appeared after he started to further train his skills with Coach Davis. Now 6 new techniques have appeared and 4 of them were in rank A or rank S, Jake understood why Coach Davis said they had skills that he had to learn to run better than he was lucky enough to be able to use the base he learned in basketball. The more specific for short distance races the skill was lower was her rank because Jake had just started to learn this from Coach Davis not long ago and hadn''t even learned much because Coach David said Jake wouldn''t need it now. But he was happy to see that because before Jake thought he had few skills in his third job, now he really could feel like a professional athlete, he didn''t even want to see his skills in the statistics window of his first job because he couldn''t move on to the skill level of the NBA. Jake deduced that he would only achieve this when he actually arrived in the NBA, it was a shame because he wanted to do his imagination training against NBA-level opponents, so he could be more prepared for when he entered the NBA. After a few hours, it was time for the game to begin and Jake was already watching on television, after the last game in which the Tar Heels team won and took first place in the ACC conference by easily winning a game that everyone expected would be very difficult, everyone was confident that the Tar Heels team would win. The opponent of that game was the Georgia Tech team that was not doing very well this season and was at the bottom of the ACC conference, yet Jake often warned his teammates not to underestimate the opponent. Even more, because the Tar Heels team would play as a visitor and the Georgia Tech team had dangerous players that the Tar Heels team needed to watch out for, especially in the three-point play because Jake would not be in that game and that would be a weakness of the Tar Heels team. "Welcome to everyone who came to follow today''s game with us, we will follow the game between the ACC conference''s number one team and also the season''s Tar Heels team, against the Georgia Tech team that seeks this victory to increase their placement at the conference." "Even before the game starts, we already have a big surprise, which is the absence of Jake Smith, who has been the main player of the Tar Heels team, this took everyone by surprise and we recently learned that Jake won the Tokyo marathon in Japan today." "We all know that Jake is also a marathoner in addition to being a basketball player, and it is also incredible that he won the Tokyo marathon, but because of that he will not play in today''s game." "The Tar Heels team is in an excellent sequence of games without losing that is close to making history this season and today they as a visitor and without the main player of the team who was not even out for a minute is much more pressure." "It''s true, I''m really a big fan of Jake and I think he''s one of the best college players of recent times, I also think it''s incredible that he can be the best marathon runner in the world even though he is a basketball player, today he was the eleventh marathon he won." "But I don''t think it''s right that he misses an important game like this for the Tar Heels team and for all the fans, we have several marathons during the year and he ran the last 3 years without ever losing a game, so I don''t know what he''s thinking." "Let''s see how the Tar Heels team can play without Jake leading the team as in all games of the season, it seems that Ed Cota will play in his place, a lot of pressure for Ed Cota who is very talented and also very good in assists, but he will have to lead the team to victory today." Not only commentators but all Tar Heels fans and basketball fans found it strange that Jake chose to run a marathon rather than participate in this important game, the media that didn''t know about it was also taken by surprise. But the players and coach Bill Guthridge clearly knew about it, it left fans very disappointed and if the Tar Heels team lost that game it would be Jake''s fault that he hadn''t even participated in that game. What was most impressive was that the fact that Jake did not play in that game mainly took the Georgia Tech team by surprise because they trained the last few days thinking about various ways to defend against Jake and Jamison. Everyone knew that Ed Cota was an excellent player who assisted as well as Jake, so their training to defend against Jamison would not be wasted, but Ed Cota was nowhere near as skilled as Jake to score. Ed Cota''s normal was a quarter of a point that Jake averaged per game, so any defense that was made at Ed Cota would be a waste, and that was what the Georgia Tech team had trained more after the last game. Of course, coach Guthridge had already thought that something like this could happen and so he put Ed Cota and not Makhtar N''Diaye and play in a different style, even if Ed Cota was good in assists like Jake, their playing style was different and that would take the Georgia Tech team by surprise. From the start of the game, the Georgia Tech team started pressing in the attack because they knew that the Tar Heels team would lose a lot of quality in defense without Jake, especially in the three-point line. The Tar Heels team players were prepared for this and tried to defend, but the team managed to make some three-point games with Matt Harpring and Michael Maddox who were doing very well in that game. In the attack the team Tar Heels was also good because Ed Cota attacked in a different way which left the Georgia Tech team without being able to defend well, Ed Cota took the opportunity to make plays with Jamison and Carter and so the two teams were very equal in this game. In training before Jake went to Japan he talked a lot with Ed Cota and Shammond Williams, he was friends with Jamison and Carter and just spoke normally with them because he was confident that the two would play normally even without him on the team. Chapter 394 - The Last Major Marathon 8 Jake spoke to Ed Cota because he wanted him to play as he always did and not worry about trying to play as Jake did, in the past Ed Cota was one of the main players with his assists and even though he didn''t score much. So Jake wanted to give confidence that Ed Cota would just play as he normally did and that would make the team more likely to win, and he told Williams to try several three-point plays like he hadn''t done in the last few games. With Jake on the team, Williams was no longer making as many three-point shots and in some games, he had to stay within the three-point line to get Jake more freedom to make the three-point shots. That''s because Jake had a 70 percent higher average on three-point hits and Williams had 40 percent, 40 percent still made him one of the best on the three-point line, but compared to Jake he was actually much lower. But Jake knew that in that game Williams would be very good at three-point shots and only if he gave Williams the confidence to try that the Tar Heels team could win, for coach Guthridge, Jake just said to make the team train more to not have too many turnovers in that game. At the end of the 1st half of the game, the Tar Heels team ended the game in a draw, it was the first time that the Tar Heels team did not finish the 1st half by winning, Ed Cota was doing very well with the assists, Jamison and Carter were also fine. But it was different than when Jake was on the team, Ed Cota had not made any points and had done some turnovers which Jake never did in the games, only that showed the biggest difference between them, not to mention that Ed Cota could not get the steals that Jake could do it. Williams didn''t get much confidence and even though he scored 14 points in the 1st half he was still very shy about what Jake was seeing, even though with the unexpected change between Jake and Ed Cota the Georgia Tech team was having a hard time defending and so Jamison and Carter were getting freedom to make the stitches. "This 1st half ended in a draw, the Tar Heels team played well, but much less than playing normally when Jake is on the team, we know well that Ed Cota has a different style of play than Jake, but that''s why Jake is the main player of the team and takes them to several victories." "The Tar Heels team is playing very well and Shammond Williams is doing very well in the three-point shots, but Harpring and Maddox from the Georgia Tech team are also doing very well in the three-point shots and so the game ended in a draw." "Certainly if Jake was in that game the result of the end of that 1st half would have been completely different, we hope that the Tar Heels team will play better in the 2nd half and the Georgia Tech team will not be able to hit the defense, because if they succeed it will be the first defeat of the Tar Heels team in over a year." Coach Guthridge told Williams just as Jake had told him to try more three-point shots in the 2nd half, and also for players to try to defend better on the three-point line because the Georgia Tech team was managing to score a lot of points in three-point shots. The Georgia Tech players were confident they would win and the Tar Heels players felt more pressured to win after that 1st half. At the beginning of the 2nd half, the Tar Heels team started to attack more, trying to press more on the defense outside the three-point line, this gave more opportunities for the Georgia Tech team to make plays within the three-point line. Fortunately, in that game Carter and Okulaja were well on the defensive within the three-point line, Ed Cota continued making several plays with Jamison and Carter in the attack and Williams followed what Coach Guthridge said and more confidently made more three-point shots. Even so, the Georgia Tech team was very well in that game, especially in the three-point line with Harpring and Maddox who were doing well in this game as well as Williams and even with the pressure on defense they were able to attack. This was really an exciting game and Jake was in the hotel very focused on the game cheering for the Tar Heels team, when he saw the failures of his teammates he was even more nervous and if he could he wanted to be on the court. But even though he had not traveled by plane and had already rested for a few hours Jake was still very tired and was not in his best physical condition, in a few hours he would take the plane back to the United States and it would be more than 16 hours of travel. Jake hoped he was recovered by the next game that would be 3 days later because he saw how long it took him to regain his ideal physical condition after a long plane ride like this. Jake wanted the 99 statistic points of luck he had to help the Tar Heels team to win this difficult game, he didn''t want the team to lose this game in which he had to lose by something very important which was to win the last of the marathons major and earn the statistic points that would help his career. With less than 2 minutes left to the end of this game and the Tar Heels team was losing by 5 points, even with the good game of the Tar Heels team and with Williams had 24 points the Georgia Tech team were also playing very well and Harpring and Maddox from Georgia Tech team also had more than 20 points each. The Tar Heels team started the attack and Ed Cota had the ball to organize the play, he was playing very well in that game, but just as Jake feared he had a lot of turnovers and also scored 2 points only in the whole game which hurt a lot the team. Ed Cota passed the ball to Carter who left the three-point line while Williams had entered the three-point line, they made this move to get rid of the defense, Carter passed to Okulaja who returned to Ed Cota. Ed Cota found an opportunity and passed it on to Jamison who was coming from behind the Georgia Tech team defense, Jamison received the ball and made a spin to make a layup and narrow the score difference to just 3 points. It was just over 1 minute and the Georgia Tech team decided to spend the ball possession time to guarantee the victory, the Tar Heels team players put pressure on the defense and tried to hinder and steal the ball. But they failed, in the last seconds Matt Harpring passed the ball to Dion Glover who tried to shoot a mid-range shot to make the 2 points and guarantee the victory, but he ended up missing and Jamison caught the rebound. So the Tar Heels team had more than 40 seconds to make the move and could try a three-point shot to tie the game, and that''s exactly what they did, Ed Cota passed the ball to Shammond Williams who even with a close opponent defending still tried the shot from outside and scored 3 points to tie the game. The Georgia Tech team still had a few seconds to try to win and ended up failing to score and the game went to the extra team, Jake who was at the hotel can breathe easy when he saw that the Tar Heels team got the tie in the end as well as all the fans. He would have felt very guilty if the Tar Heels team had lost that game just because he was not participating, he knew that the Tar Heels team had the ability to win even without him on the team, but maybe he has played on the team changed that. "The 2nd half of the game ends with a three-point shot by Shammond Williams who was the best player on the Tar Heels team in that game and they got a draw in the last seconds of the game." "The Georgia Tech team really played very well in that game and especially on the three-point line, so I think they deserved to win and can still do it after the extra team." "But the Tar Heels team really has excellent players and with the great game from Jamison and Williams so far, the Tar Heels team still managed to draw and still have a chance of winning and maintaining this sequence of games without losing." "Now we are going to follow these 5 minutes of overtime to see which team will win this game or if we will have another overtime." The Georgia Tech players felt sorry for having missed this opportunity to win the game, they knew that the Tar Heels team was a dangerous opponent even without Jake on the team, but they were careless and allowed the tie. The good thing was that they had gotten used to defending themselves against players from the Tar Heels team, with the two teams tired they could manage to defend better and try to win this overtime. The Tar Heels team players were under even more pressure after almost losing the game, they had to get that win to prove that they were good players and that the team was good even without Jake on the team. Williams was tired, but he was also much more confident after that game, coach Guthridge said he trusted him to make more three-point shots and try to bring victory to the Tar Heels team in that overtime. Ed Cota was also trying to show that he was also an excellent player even though he was much inferior to Jake, for that he had to help the Tar Heels team to achieve victory in that game. Chapter 395 - The Last Major Marathon 9 In the first minutes of the overtime, the two teams were being very aggressive in attack, they were doing some turnovers because of that and the Georgia Tech players were still very good in the three-point shots and the Georgia Tech team managed to open an advantage on the scoreboard by because of that. On the side of the Tar Heels team, their attack was with Cota making assists for Jamison and Carter, the Georgia Tech team''s defense was defending well against Williams and so Cota preferred to make the most correct plays to get the points. Because of this, the Georgia Tech team opened an advantage on the scoreboard, but they also lost a lot of attacks because they tried only three-point shots and missed too, so in the last minutes the two teams were almost tied and Coach Guthridge asked for time to talk to the players. He wanted to win this game and even though he thought that Ed Cota''s strategy was not wrong trying to score points in all attacks and not just try 3-point shots, to achieve the victory he thought the team depended on three-point shots Shammond Williams points. "You are playing a great game today, we are under a lot of pressure because of this winning streak and in this game, we have no Jake and we are playing as a visitor and I know that you are now tired after playing for more than 40 minutes." "But I need one last effort from you so that our team can achieve this victory, everyone is waiting to see our team losing this game, so they will say that without Jake our team cannot win. "But I know that this is not true and that we have a whole good team and we don''t depend on just one player to win, it''s because of the whole team that we came to this incredible winning streak and not just because of Jake." "So we''re going to win to prove it, I want to see you press on the defense so that the players on the opposing team get it wrong, and Ed, pass the ball to Williams that I trust he will bring victory to our team." After hearing the words of motivation from Coach Guthridge, the players came back more motivated to guarantee victory in those last minutes, the Georgia Tech team was just one point ahead of the scoreboard and the Tar Heels team had everything to win. The ball was with the Tar Heels team and so after a play, Williams was free to receive the ball and try a three-point shot and thus turn the score and put the Tar Heels team ahead with 2 points advantage. The Georgia Tech team tried to retaliate soon after, but the Tar Heels defense was very good, putting pressure on her, so Maddox tried a three-point shot and missed, Jamison, caught the rebound and passed it to Ed Cota. Ed Cota did not bother to spend time in possession and soon went on the attack, Shammond Williams again got freedom and tried another shot to hit and make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team and increase the advantage to 5 points. It was less than a minute before the game was over and now the pressure was on the Georgia Tech team, they again attacked and tried a three-point shot and missed and so they became more anxious and the Tar Heels team attacked again. Ed Cota held the ball to spend possession and at the end of the play Williams had the defense over him and so Cota passed to Jamison who tried to score and missed close range. The Georgia Tech team attacked quickly and managed to hit a three-point shot and thus the advantage decreased to 2 points, but the playing time was over and the Tar Heels team won that game even without Jake on the team after overtime. Jake celebrated a lot at the hotel and only after seeing his team winning that he can be really happy after winning the marathon, in the next game he would be playing and would not let the Tar Heels team lose again until he won the NCAA title. "What an incredible game we are watching today, the Tar Heels team managed to win another game after arriving until the overtime in an exciting game against the Georgia Tech team, the star of Shammond Williams shone and with 34 points he was the best player of that game." "Yes, it was really a very close game in which the Georgia Tech team also deserved to win the game with the excellent performance of Matt Harpring who scored 27 points in that game and Michael Maddox who scored 35 points in that game." "But the Tar Heels team showed that they have an excellent team and even without Jake on the team they had the excellent game of Williams and Jamison who scored 26 points in that game, great game, and a deserved victory." "For sure, in the next game, we hope that Jake Smith will be back on the team after winning a Tokyo marathon which is incredible and that the Tar Heels team will continue to win." The Tar Heels team players were also happy with the victory and were not even upset that Jake lost that game, now they had confidence as well as Jake that they would not lose any game until they won the NCAA tournament After a few hours of the game it was already a day in Tokyo and Jake took the plane to go back to the university, he would only know what would happen after he lost that game to run the Tokyo marathon when he returned to the university after 16 travel hours. While Jake was on the plane it dawned in the United States after the victory of the Tar Heels team against the Georgia Tech team, just as Jake hoped the media just talked about it with criticism of Jake Smith and praise for the Tar Heels team. The fans were very angry with Jake who lost a game to run a marathon which they thought was insignificant close to the game, luckily the Tar Heels team won and so their anger was less than Jake expected. But the repercussions this had on companies negotiating an endors.e.m.e.nt contract with David Falk were not small, Nike and Adidas seemed to be rethinking the whole deal and didn''t even want to talk to David again. All companies that were thinking about talking about a deal with David gave up on the deal and said that in the future they would talk about it again if they were interested, and of the 5 companies that had made a verbal deal with David 1 of them officially gave up on the contract. The other 4 would not give up because they had already made several deals with David and knew that it was not a good idea to break a verbal contract with him, besides, they were happy to know that Jake had won the Tokyo marathon because they were not interested only in Jake because of basketball. All of these companies were interested in Jake''s fans at the marathons and looked forward to the next Olympics that Jake would participate in which they would get more advertising for having an endors.e.m.e.nt contract with Jake that would likely win a gold medal. So David was having a headache because of this, but he was already waiting for these problems when Jake said what they thought to do for him, David knew that Jake didn''t need that money and he didn''t need that much to despair because of it of this. David Falk was confident that in the future he would get a lot more contracts with Jake and those contracts would pay him a few million dollars, now the ideal way to find the right companies to make endors.e.m.e.nt contracts because in the future these companies would be Jake''s partners. Fortunately, the Tar Heels team had not lost that game so if the Tar Heels team won the ACC title and the NCAA title the popularity would return again before the NBA draft, not to mention that Jake was in no hurry, even after the beginning of the basketball season they could get a much better sponsorship contract. After a long trip Jake arrived at the university even more tired than before, this time it was better because he was already used to traveling for so many hours by plane, but he still had to rest well and just the next day he might be able to train. When Jake arrived at the university the training of the basketball team was over, coach Guthridge was concerned when he saw that Shammond Williams who had been playing very well in the last games and was the main responsible for the victory in the last game was very tired and his physical condition his was not the best for the next game. Coach Guthridge didn''t care about Jake because he already realized that his body worked differently from normal people and recovered faster, but Williams not, Coach Guthridge was already thinking about leaving him out of the next game. After sleeping very well Jake was already much better the other day, he was still far from his ideal physical condition, but he still had another day before the next game which was also as a visitor, even if he was not in his ideal physical condition it was enough to play at least 30 minutes in his best condition. Coach Guthridge also realized that Jake was not in the best physical condition during training, even though he knew that Jake would be better the other day it was impossible for him to be fully recovered. This made him very stressed because he could no longer count on William who was playing very well if he did not have Jake in his best physical shape it would be difficult for the Tar Heels team to win this next game. Jake''s teammates were also concerned to see that Jake was not doing as well as he normally was, but they knew they would have to rely on Jake in the next game where Williams would not play. Chapter 396 - The Last Major Marathon 10 The media was also interested in knowing what the environment for the Tar Heels team was after Jake lost an important game as it was the last one, they expected Jake''s teammates to be nervous and stressed about him. In addition, some sports experts said that Jake would not be in the best physical condition to play the next game, they knew well that having 32 hours by plane and running a marathon was not easy for anyone. Even if someone did that, they would rest for more than a week before going back to exercise, so they thought that if Jake didn''t play in the next game the team''s environment would be even worse. But contrary to what everyone expected, the team''s environment hadn''t changed because of Jake, he didn''t play in the last game and the team still winning made the media realize that Jake wasn''t the only one responsible for this winning streak and they were also instrumental in this achievement. Jake was a friend of everyone on the team and if Coach Guthridge allowed Jake to lose the game to run that marathon, no one would question about it, besides, everyone knew how hard Jake was and had played 40 minutes in every game and that was what he struggled more in training. They knew well that without Jake on the team they probably wouldn''t have this winning streak, Jake was also friends with all the players on the team and didn''t act differently from other players even though he was considered by the media the best College basketball player in his first season and also in the current season. After a day of light training for Jake and the team, the day for the next game came, Jake was not in his best physical condition, but was in a position to play most of the game at a high level until he got tired. Even so, his teammates were a little anxious about this game, in addition to the pressure of victory that they were already used to, there was Jake who was clearly not in his best condition and Williams who would not play in today''s game because Coach Guthridge saw that he could get hurt if he played. In the last game, Shammond Williams had been the best player and for many games, he was always important for the team to win, so being out of that game made players uncomfortable. This game was also as a visitor and they knew it would be a difficult game, luckily they were more confident because even if he was not in the best physical condition Jake was back in the team. The opposing team in that game would be the V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers team, the first game against that team this season had an easy win, in addition, the V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers team was not having a good season and would feel a lot of pressure in that game too. "Welcome to everyone who came to follow this game more from the ACC conference, the Tar Heels team comes from a victory in a difficult and very tiring game for the players in which Jake was not playing." "Maybe that''s why Shammond Williams who was the best player in the last game is not on the team today, after an incredible game like that he can be very tired." "Jake is back on the Tar Heels team for today''s game, but from what we''ve heard from some experts it''s impossible for him to be in perfect physical condition after his trips to Tokyo and also from the marathon." "So Jake may not be able to play well in this game and his teammates are sure to be tired after the last game, it could be the chance for the V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers team to win today''s game against the team that is first in the conference." Just as commentators said, Jake realized that his teammates were tired after the last game, so he knew he had to take responsibility for that game and lead the team to victory. Even though he wasn''t in his best physical condition as it was with the marathon, it didn''t mean he couldn''t perform at the game, it just meant he wasn''t doing as well as he normally did. Jake knew he had to defend against Curtis Staples who was the best player in the V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers team''s three-point shots, he could score multiple points with the three-point shots and he could count on Jamison and Carter for the team to score more points. The Tar Heels team started pressing in the attack from the beginning of the game, even though they decided to press in the attack Jake did not increase the pace of the game so that the players would not get tired. In the first 10 minutes of the 1st half Jake managed to make some three-point shots and got a good advantage for the Tar Heels team at the beginning of the game, Makhtar N''Diaye was playing in place of Shammond Williams who was resting, and even though he didn''t could help a lot in attack he was important in defense. Jake defended against Staples outside the three-point line and also defended well within the three-point line by helping with steals, in another move Jake managed to intercept a V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers pass and advanced to the attack with speed. He was faster than his opponents, especially now that he had gained 1 more point of agility after winning the Tokyo marathon, so he managed to get to the painted area and made 2 more points for the Tar Heels team with a dunk. In another move, Jake landed a block in an attempt by Staples to make a three-point shot and held the ball instead of running for the attack again, after a move in which almost all the players on the Tar Heels team participated. Carter who made a dunk and 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. With Jake running all over the court in the 1st half and playing very well as always, the Tar Heels team players were also excited and they managed to end up winning the 1st half with a good advantage against the V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers team. In this 1st half Jake played for 20 minutes and made 18 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocks, Jake had a great performance and even though he was in poor physical condition he still did the best he could in this 1st half. "What a great 1st half for Jake so far, he didn''t seem to be in a bad physical condition as they said and is having a great performance in that game and is leading the Tar Heels team to victory." "This is not an easy game because the V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers team is also trying to win by taking advantage of the failures of the Tar Heels team, without Williams being important to the team in the last games, the Tar Heels team has to play more cautiously." "Even more after a game in which the team had to go through overtime to get the win, so getting a good advantage in the 1st half is very good for the Tar Heels team." "If Jake continues to perform well in the 2nd half, victory is almost guaranteed for the Tar Heels team." The truth was that Jake had played very well even though he was in poor physical condition because he played without caring how he would play in the 2nd half of the game, even though everyone praised Jake for his performance so far many could see how breathless he was and very tired. For Jake, who usually managed to play an entire game without looking tired, it was not normal and his teammates noticed, but no one said anything about it because it was clear that Jake was trying his best for the team. At the beginning of the 2nd half of the game, the V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers tried to press on the attack and increase the pace of the game to pressure Jake and the Tar Heels players to get more tired, this really made it difficult for the Tar Heels team to defend. Fortunately Jake was an experienced PG and when the ball was with the Tar Heels team he attacked at a slower pace again which hindered the players of the V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers who were not used to playing like that. Jake continued to defend against Staples who was unable to hit many three-point shots because of this, after 6 minutes in the 2nd half the Tar Heels team was winning with a big advantage on the scoreboard. Jake began to feel tired and saw that he could no longer perform at his best in the game, yet he did his best to hide his tiredness and asked Coach Guthridge to replace him for a few minutes. Coach Guthridge was actually preparing Ed Cota to play in Jake''s place if he realized he was very tired, but he didn''t expect Jake to even ask to be replaced. But he replaced Jake quickly and saw how Jake didn''t look too tired he should rest for a few minutes and then go back to the court, as soon as he sat down Jake took a bottle of water to drink and then ate a bar of stamina. He didn''t do that in the marathons because it was a resistance sport and he felt like he was stealing, but he had no problem using it in basketball because that''s what he won over the system. And basketball had a lot of things besides the resistance and he didn''t think he was stealing if he ate a stamina bar, after eating the stamina bar he felt the energy coming back to him and his tiredness lessened. His muscles had no problem because his problem was different because of the long plane trips, yet all his muscles relaxed, he still rested for a while. As Jake knew how to pretend well, nobody noticed that he had recovered all his energy after sitting for a few seconds, Jake stayed 2 minutes on the bench and in that short time the V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers team managed to reduce the lead and the Tar Heels team lost two attacks. Chapter 397 - Rest and Business 1 So Jake soon returned to the game and his teammates and Staples he was defending against realized that Jake looked faster and better as he was at the beginning of the game, but the difference was not so great that they thought it was because he had rested for a while. No one had realized that the only weakness that Jake had for this game was gone and in the 12 minutes before the game was over Jake would be playing with the best he had, the Tar Heels team players were more tired now. But the players on the V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers team were also more tired from playing at such a fast pace throughout the game, so in the final part of the game, only Jake was getting the maximum performance out of him. In another play Staples tried to make a three-point shot and Jake hindered him and so he missed, Jamison managed to catch the rebound and held for a while before passing the ball to Jake, Jake advanced slowly and after passing through the middle of the court he started to ball to Carter from the left. Carter received the ball and advanced slowly, he was also tired after trying so hard in the last game and in that game too, the last three games were tiring for the Tar Heels team and he and Jamison who were important to the team were very tired after that. Carter advanced the ball to the three-point line and passed the ball to Okulaja who was on the right, Okulaja tried to advance, but the V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers team''s defense soon started to press him, who passed it to Jamison on the left. Jamison received the ball with two players in defense against him, so Jamison passed the ball to Jake who was further behind, Jake was quick and took advantage of being free to make the shot from outside to make three more points for the Tar Heels team. In the final part of the game, Jake made a lot of defense and also helped the Tar Heels team to increase the advantage on the scoreboard, so the game ended and the Tar Heels team won with 81 points against the V.i.r.g.i.nia Cavaliers'' 49 points. In that 2nd half Jake played for 18 minutes and managed to score 17 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, and 3 blocks, it was another double-double and excellent performance for Jake in that game and after that, the crowd would be happy with him again. "And so the game ends with another victory for the Tar Heels team, it was a good game that ended with the Tar Heels team winning quietly, but that game was more difficult for them because the players were tired." "Jake came back very well for the team after being criticized for not having played in the last game even though he had no problems, he was instrumental in the Tar Heels team having achieved this comfortable victory." "The team still missed Shammond Williams who cannot play in this game and the team''s defense was weaker than expected, in the next game all the players on the Tar Heels team must be in the best physical condition and these problems will not exist." "That''s right, now there are only 4 games left to finish the conference games, then the ACC tournament will start, and the next 4 opponents are very difficult to face and the Tar Heels team will have a hard time." The game luckily ended well with the victory of the Tar Heels team, after which the team would have a sequence of 3 games playing at home at the Dean Smith Center, in addition, after the next game the players will have a week of rest before the final 3 games of the conference. Jake was very tired after the game and would have to take the next few days to fully recover before the next game, he had already decided that he would never run a marathon in Asia again without having many days to rest in the city before and after the marathon. Shammond Williams would also surely be rested in the next game and they would have the full team, contrary to what everyone expected the sports media did not comment much on the Tar Heels team game and Jake''s good performance. It would be very strange if they spoke well of Jake again after speaking so badly of him during the last few days, the sports media was not like the entertainment media that can make up lies and change a person''s opinion several times just to gain more audience. The next day the players did not have training so that they could recover completely before the next game, Jake was also resting and had been running and training for the marathon for almost a week. He wanted to recover completely before training and Coach Davis knew that yet Zack was still training every day and after so long training he looked more and more like an elite marathon runner. Running a full marathon was easy for him to do and Zack''s next goal would be to run a marathon in less than 3 hours, now Zack had the support of Jake, his friends, and even his family who were seeing how Zack had improved after more than a year of training. Even Coach Davis was impressed with the perseverance and improvement that Zack was experiencing, and anyone could run a marathon as long as he was dedicated enough and had a little talent for long-distance sports. Of course, Zack would never be as good as Jake or even as elite athletes, but he could be proud to call himself an elite athlete if he continued training and hopefully he might even win a marathon someday. Jake was happy with that too and wanted to run that year''s marathon with Zack and see his friend manage to finish a marathon in less than three hours after all this could be their last year together at university. Jake also sometimes played football with Aaron, the football team had already started training again, but Aaron still liked to train with Jake because Jake was an excellent quarterback because his accuracy was very good in passing. Of course, that did not mean that Jake was better than the university quarterbacks because they knew a lot of techniques and had much more experience than Jake in football, but for only passes Aaron thought Jake was better. In the last few months, Jake was talking more with Williams and Haruto, Jake had not yet told anyone that he intended to enter the NBA this season and thus leave the university. He knew that Eva would accept whatever he decided to do, and the university friends who would be most impressed with Jake''s decision, but they also knew that Jake could leave the university after any season because the sports media talked a lot about who Jake was one of the most anticipated players in recent years for the draft. All the teams would like to have someone like him on the team who could lead the team with assists and points and still help a lot in defense, so it was just up to Jake to decide when he would go to the NBA. Jake was also saddened by this and hoped that this time he would be able to maintain that friendship after he left university, he didn''t have much contact with his friends from the basketball team in middle school and rarely saw his friends from high school. Jake understood that it was because they lived in different places and using the phone and the internet to keep in touch with friends was not that common, but he wanted to keep in touch with the friends he made at the university if possible. With Haruto it would be easier because they talked about business several times and Jake already suggested that Haruto work for him when Haruto graduated, Haruto said he would have to see what job he had to do and if it was good he would accept it. Jake thought Haruto was very intelligent and it was the truth because Haruto had already scored perfect grades in difficult tests several times, Jake thought that Haruto was the most academically intelligent person he knew besides himself. In that semester Jake had introduced Haruto to his other friends in the dorm and Haruto became very friendly with Williams too, so Jake was trying to convince Haruto''s help that Williams would also work with him in the future. But it seemed that Williams was determined to work in the stock market after college, Jake couldn''t say he didn''t understand why this was a time when many people were lucky enough to become millionaires if they invested in the right companies and knew when to sell their actions. Jake himself was investing almost everything he earned in stocks, but it was because he knew exactly when he would win and when he would have to sell his shares in order not to lose money, but no one but him could possibly know that. When Williams was leaving the university it would be when the internet bubble would burst and no one would want to buy stocks and many would lose millions of dollars, At that time Williams might change his mind and decide to work with Jake. Even more when it was revealed that Jake was one of the wealthiest and most successful young investors in the stock market out of poverty into a one billion dollars estate in just 10 years, when that happened, no one could say that Jake didn''t know about the business. Jake hoped to be able to work with his two friends from the university because they would be trusted people that he knew of their ability, of course, he would never replace Emily who was always with him, she would still have as much authority as he did in the companies that Jake had. When Jake said he needed to rest his roommates were the most impressed, in their nearly two years at university there were few times that Jake really took a rest. They went out together several times to do something fun or to eat, but even on those days Jake always had morning marathon training or basketball training, even when he didn''t do anything he went out to do business meetings or at least went to the academy. Chapter 398 - Rest and Business 2 Many thought that Jake was very talented and was lucky to have achieved everything he had, that might even be true, but only his friends and Eva knew how much effort Jake had to make to achieve everything he had in life. Because Jake was like that his teammates were not angry even though he knew that Jake didn''t go to the game because he went running the marathon, because he was doing something that was important to him and Jake always tried harder than anyone and was one of the most responsible for the victories of the team. So when his friends heard that he wanted to rest Zack soon started thinking about things they could do to help Jake relax, he could think about a lot of things, but it had to be something Jake would like and also not to tire him too much. After thinking for a while he decided to take Jake and the other roommates to play a Paintball game, it was fun and even though it was tiring it was nothing more than a joke compared to what Jake normally did. Jake and the others naturally liked that a lot, Zack''s brother had to be called because he was the one who knew the places best, besides with Brett participating they would have 6 people playing. For justice reasons Jake and Zack who were the fastest had to be separated, the problem was that Aaron was also very fast and if a team had two of them it would have the advantage, so Jake said that one group would have Zack and Aaron and the other there would be him and two other people. So the strongest group, in theory, would stay with Zack and Aaron, Zack and Aaron who knew how fast Jake was accepted that easily because they still thought they were at a disadvantage, if Jake wanted to play seriously they would have no chance of winning. Other people might think this was overkill, but everyone knew it was true because Jake seemed to be good at everything he did, especially when it came to physical activity. Jake was not as confident as his friends, he could be faster, have better balance and have a better view, but he didn''t think he had much more advantage than his opponents. Fortunately, Brett was on Jake''s team with Williams, it was good because Brett was the only one who had ever played that game and so things were more balanced, in this field that they reserved spending more money the rules were made for this to be more fair. As only 6 people would play in two teams of 3 players and 3 people were much faster and more athletic, it was decided that they would have no flags and the rules would be eliminations, the team that was eliminated first would lose. That way, nobody would have that much advantage, everyone put on the protective equipment and received the game''s gun, it was called a paintball marker, to be even more fair Brett chose a paintball field that was in a house, so there was no way for anyone to run a lot during the game indoors. Of course, even if it was a house it was actually like a very big building that should have been a factory, so the players still had to run a lot, and it was not just a building but 2 where there was plenty of space for players to strategize. They decided to make a game better than 7, so whoever got 4 victories would win, Jake had never played that game and of course, he had never picked up a gun before, even if the paintball marker was different he still had to learn to use it. Jake''s team strategy was for Williams and Brett to go one way and Jake to go alone on the other side, Jake decided that because as soon as he saw someone he would shoot and he didn''t want to shoot his teammates. Jake went slowly and shot the wall a few times to learn how to use the paintball marker, in the first game Zack and Aaron came together on the same side as Jake, he still hit Zack but was eliminated by Aaron. After that Aaron eliminated Brett and so Jake''s team lost the first game, Williams was eliminated first or his team could have won, but after that first game, everyone knew how to play. Jake also realized that he didn''t need to worry too much about accuracy with the paintball marker because his opponents'' bodies were a very large target that was difficult to miss, so he just needed to be quick and aim quickly to hit. In the second game, Jake knew how the game worked and sought cover on the walls and moved quickly between the walls so as not to be exposed, this time Jake was even less lucky and three opponents tried to face him. Using the cover of the walls to avoid being hit by the opponent''s paintball marker he still managed to eliminate Zack and Haruto before being hit and eliminated, Jake saw that with his agility he thought faster and reacted faster to shoot. So they won the second game when Aaron eliminated Williams and Brett eliminated Aaron, so the game was a draw and the three realized that they shouldn''t risk taking everyone to face Jake. Brett saw that Williams was very bad at the paintball game and saw that Jake was very skilled, so he decided that they could go together side by side and so the chance of them winning was very big. In the next game, only Aaron went to the side where Jake was and was eliminated before he could see Jake and Brett, the two soon realized that the opponents were trying to eliminate Williams and would succeed, so the two moved quickly to where William had stayed. By the time they arrived, Williams was already being eliminated and the opponents were close, so Jake and Brett moved quickly using the cover of the walls so they wouldn''t be hit easily. Luckily they managed to get Zack and Haruto on their backs and thus eliminated them and won for the second time, now Jake''s team was winning 2 against 1 against the opposing team, they continued with this tactic and won another 2 games and won by 4 at 1 against the team of Haruto, Aaron, and Zack, they saw once again how unfair playing Jake was. After that they still went to eat in a cafeteria and had a lot of fun, it ended up helping everyone to relax and not just Jake, after all, everyone had responsibilities and classes at the university to be stressed. The only one who was more relaxed in class was Jake who knew almost everything during the subjects and so the tests were easy for him, Haruto was the smartest after Jake, but he had to study hard to get his good grades. What was more relaxed after Jake was actually Williams who was smart too and had Jake to help him understand the lessons and so he got good grades in the tests without having to study hard. After what happened they went back to the university because Jake would have to train the next day, he was almost recovered and would do a light training the other day with the basketball team, but Jake still wouldn''t be back with training for the marathons until he completely recovered. After winning this marathon in Tokyo, Jake no longer had to train for the marathons until the next Olympics that would be just over two years later, of course, he would continue training and even increase the difficulty of training him by running at a faster pace for improving. But that was because Jake loved to run and wanted to continue in the marathons for years to come, but he had no reason to take chances and train when he was tired and he didn''t need it, Coach Davis understood and supported Jake''s thinking. He even sometimes told Jake to take a few days off without training to let his muscles breathe and relax, but Jake didn''t do that and as he had no problem in those years the coach stopped saying that. After all, he more than anyone knew that each athlete was different and had a different body and metabolism, some needed more rest to get a better time and Jake stressed his body to the maximum to be able to improve. During training, neither Jake''s teammates nor trainer Guthridge knew that Jake was not yet in his best physical condition, they thought Jake had already recovered before the last game. Jake also saw no need to say that and just trained normally, the training was light because all the players were tired and also because Shammond Williams had not played in the last game and was returning to his ideal condition as well. The next day came the day of the next game for the Tar Heels team, Jake felt he was completely recovered and would have no problems in that game to have his best performance without needing a stamina bar. The players were also fine and were determined to give the best that they had in this game, after all after that game they would have a week of rest, Jake had already told the coach that he would go to Miami during that week. So with a week of rest ahead of them, the players were not afraid to get tired in this game, even so, they had to be careful with the opposing team in this game that was looking for victory too. The opponent in that game was the Maryland Terrapins team that they had already won this season, even though the Tar Heels team had beaten them, it was a team that was third in the ACC conference and was having an excellent season. They had great players and a good team and they beat Team Tar Heels this season in the past before Jake went back in time when he wasn''t on the team, so Jake knew he had to focus more on that game. Chapter 399 - Rest and Business 3 "Welcome to everyone who is here to follow this game more in the basketball season, the Tar Heels team that comes from an incredible sequence of 51 victories in a row who will further increase this record by winning the game today." "But to achieve this they will have to beat the Maryland Terrapins team, which has also been having a great season and was one of the most difficult opponents for the Tar Heels team this season." "That''s right, this is definitely going to be a very difficult game for the Tar Heels team, but I think they are the favorites to win today''s game and they are unlikely to lose, this team has gone through many things and the players have even won a game in which Jake was not participating proving the strength of this team." "In this game, they have all the players and the will to win, Jake and Jamison have been the best players of this season for me among all College basketball teams, and also Carter and Williams who have been having incredible games and are fundamental to Tar Heels team keep winning." "We will follow this game to see if the Tar Heels team will achieve this victory and continue with the sequence of games without losing, or if the Maryland Terrapins team will win and end the domination of the Tar Heels team before the ACC tournament." This was a game where the Tar Heels team would play at home at the Dean Smith Center, the fans were still mad at Jake who hadn''t played a game to run a marathon, but how the team hadn''t lost if he continued to play so well they would forget. The players on the Maryland Terrapins team were thinking that maybe the players on the Tar Heels team felt pressured by this winning streak and almost lost the last few games and maybe they were tired. But early on in the game, the Tar Heels team started to press on the attack with Jake making the team play at a strong pace, so it was clear that the Tar Heels team was just thinking about winning the game. In a play Jake received Carter''s ball in defense and went on the attack, after passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Williams who was back in the team, Williams advanced and before the three-point line, he passed the ball to Carter on the left. Carter tried a feint and soon passed to Jamison, Jamison got rid of the defense before receiving the ball and then managed to advance easily and made a layup to increase the advantage of the Tar Heels team by 2 points. This was another game in which Jamison was playing very well and Williams too, so Jake could count on Jamison and Carter to make the points in the painted area and Williams to help him with three-point shots and mid-range shots. In defense the Tar Heels team started pressing to try to open an advantage in the scoreboard from the beginning of the game preventing the attacks of the Maryland Terrapins team, Jake was defending against Sarunas Jasikevicius who was a skilled player in the shots of three points. In another move, the Maryland Terrapins team was attacking and Jake managed to intercept an opponent''s pass and quickly advanced to attack, this time Jake did not use all his speed and just waited after passing through the middle of the court for his teammates to support in the attack. Jake always made different plays to try to surprise his opponent and because he had confidence in his teammates, he only advanced directly after steal the ball to try to make the points if he was sure he could make it. Jake passed the ball to Williams on the left before passing the three-point line, Williams held the ball and passed and tried a feint, as the opponent was not fooled he passed the ball to Okulaja who was further ahead on the left. Okulaja held the ball for a while and passed the ball to Carter further back on the left, Carter quickly passed the ball to Jake who was further back in the middle, Jake received the ball and two players from the Maryland Terrapins team soon came to the defense against him. Jake quickly passed the ball to Williams who was at the bottom of the court on the left, Williams received the ball and tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team, with this move everyone realized that the Tar Heels team really wanted guarantee victory quickly. During the last two seasons whenever the Tar Heels team finished the 1st half by winning the game with an advantage on the scoreboard they won the games, the opponents knew this and therefore tried to prevent the Tar Heels team from doing this. But with the team all right and Shammond Williams confident after the last games, the Tar Heels team was a difficult team to defend against in that game, Williams had a bad start to the season and with Jake, Jamison, and Carter playing so well he had a hard time to regain his confidence. But in the last few games, he showed why he was one of the top players on the team last season and it was instrumental in winning the NCAA tournament, with him gaining more attention from defending opposing teams. Jake had more freedom to score. So Jake managed to hit a lot of three-point shots in that 1st half of the game and that helped the Tar Heels team to increase the advantage on the scoreboard, with Jake playing so well that the crowd was excited again and even forgot that Jake had not played an important game for the team. After a very strong start to the game, the Tar Heels team slowed down in the last minutes of the 1st half, yet they managed to end up winning with a good lead on the scoreboard to play the 2nd half. In this 1st half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and made 19 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 blocks, Jake played very well in the 1st half of the game and managed to defend well against Jasikevicius and even managed to make 2 blocks. "And so the 1st half of the game ends, the two teams played very well, but the players on the Tar Heels team seemed determined to achieve that victory and played very well and put pressure on both the attack and the defense." "The defense of the Tar Heels team was very good and Jake had a great 1st half of the game defending against Jasikevicius, so neither the attack nor the defense of the Maryland Terrapins team managed to stand out in today''s game." "That''s right, Jake and Jamison are doing very well in today''s game as they have done all season, Carter and Williams are doing very well and with such a team it is difficult to find a team that wins the Tar Heels team unless the players perform poorly." "But the Tar Heels team players will still have to be taken care of in this 2nd half after all the Maryland Terrapins team is the third-best team at the ACC conference, they are one of the only teams that have the quality to beat the Tar Heels team." Coach Guthridge said the same to the Tar Heels team players, they would have to keep pushing and attacking hard if they wanted to guarantee victory in a difficult game like this. In the first minutes, the Maryland Terrapins team started to press in the attack to try to win, in this game in which the Tar Heels team was an opponent that they would have much more confidence if they won they had to risk everything. But the defense of the Tar Heels team was also well in the game today and Jake continued to defend well in the three-point line, in another move the Maryland Terrapins team was trying another attack and Jasikevicius tried a three-point shot and Jake got the block. Carter still managed to catch the ball and calmly held it waiting for the Maryland Terrapins team players to move away and then passed the ball to Jake, Jake advanced at a slower pace and after passing through the middle of the court passed the ball to Carter again. Carter advanced and before the three-point line passed the ball to Jamison farther to the left, Jamison tried again to advance to make the points, but the defense pressed close and Jamison had to pass the ball to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and the Maryland Terrapins team defense soon put pressure on him and Williams paying attention to Jamison and Carter too, Jake passed the ball diagonally to Okulaja on the right, Okulaja received the free ball and advanced to make a layup and 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. Even with the Maryland Terrapins team trying to diminish the advantage on the scoreboard and trying to turn the game around, the Tar Heels team was very well and the attack was mainly very strong with Jamison trying another great performance in his career. Jake was taking advantage of this to get more assists and also with Jamison playing so well he had more freedom to make the plays and try the shots from three points, Williams was also being well defended. So Jake wanted to have a good team when he entered the NBA when he played with great players the opponents did not know that they had to defend against and so there was always someone with freedom to make the points. Even though Jake was the one who scored the most points on the Tar Heels team and so it was normal for him to be the best defended, opponents could only hinder Jake in the plays and he had only a few turnovers this season. He had more than 74 percent accuracy on three-point shots and field goals in general as well, so it was better to defend against other players who could be defended and who scored points than against Jake. But if he were the only skilled player on the team he could never perform as well because all opponents would try to defend against him. Chapter 400 - Rest and Business 4 The Tar Heels team continued to press in defense and attack while the Maryland Terrapins team still tried to press in the attack to get a turn in the game even though it was almost impossible due to the advantage that the Tar Heels team got after a few minutes of the 2nd half. In another move, the Maryland Terrapins team managed to score 3 points in their attack and it was the turn of the Tar Heels team to attack, the players of the Tar Heels team were not concerned with these points because they knew they were playing well. Jake advanced the ball until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to Williams on the right, Williams advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Carter on the left, Carter held the ball and passed it back to Jake who was closer behind. Jake received the ball and made a beautiful feint that tricked the opponent and advanced, another opponent came to defend and Jake pretended that he would advance and made a step back and tried an outside shot to make three more points for the Tar Heels team. The Tar Heels team continued to play in the same way while the players were calm and increasing the advantage on the scoreboard because of the mistakes of the Maryland Terrapins players who were in a hurry to try to recover in the game. So the 2nd half ended and the Tar Heels team won the game with 109 points against just 61 points from the Maryland Terrapins team, with this victory the players of the Tar Heels team could rest this week before the next game without losing any more games. one year. In this 2nd half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and made 17 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 3 blocks, with this triple-double Jake helped the Tar Heels team to get another victory and could relax when he went home knowing that next week he would have to dedicate a lot to the next game knowing that in the past the Tar Heels team lost. "And so we follow the victory of the Tar Heels team in today''s game, another victory for the Tar Heels team that is on a winning streak that looks like it will never end." "Another great game for Jake who made another triple-double and from what I saw at the end of the game the fans forgot that they were mad at him and shouted Jake''s name at the end of the game." "That''s right, it really was an excellent game for the Tar Heels team that won another one even if the Maryland Terrapins team tried to win too, Jamison also played very well in today''s game, making over 30 points in a game again." "But again the highlight of the Tar Heels team in that game was Jake who managed to further improve his defense this season which could be his only weakness, even though last season he was already one of the best defensive players in college basketball." "Jake made 5 blocks and 10 steals in that game, so he has an incredible average of 1.3 blocks per game this season that is bigger than most of the best defensive players from all universities." "There are now only 3 games left before the start of the ACC tournament and we will see two difficult games after an easier game that will be next week, we will see if the Tar Heels team continues without losing any games." The players were tired after that game, even if they were tired they were happy for this good game and were happy to have increased their winning streak, even more, all the players on the Tar Heels team wanted to continue this sequence and go down in history. Coach Guthridge was not so excited about this, he was a coach who was only in his first year as the head coach of the Tar Heels team, but he has accompanied Dean Smith for over 30 years. So he could see how the players were under a lot of pressure because of these games in a row without losing, in addition, there was pressure from the media and the fans, because of that the fans were even angry with Jake who was the main responsible for this achievement because he did not participate in a game. So Coach Guthridge preferred the Tar Heels team to lose the next game, so the players could get rid of that pressure if they won the next 3 games the pressure would increase even more because they definitely couldn''t lose after the ACC tournament started and the NCAA tournament started. So he preferred the Tar Heels team to lose before the ACC tournament started, of course, he couldn''t ask players to lose the game to relax or let Jake out of the game for the team to lose. If he did that it seemed like he had no confidence in his players and that would greatly decrease the confidence and morale of the team, in addition, he also wanted if it was possible to win all the games and that the team won the NCAA tournament again this year. After that, the players went back to the dorms and Jake soon prepared to go to Miami, he would travel at night to get home early and have more time to stay home that week, if he went the next day he would see his mother only later in the afternoon after she returned from the restaurant. Jake was going home to see his mom because he missed her, but he had a lot more to do besides talking to his mom, he had to talk to Matthew and finally have the report and get the money from the profits from the company in the last year. He had to talk to Clara also because it seemed that this year she would also give part of the profits to the shareholders as a share of the profit, he had 10 percent of the shares so he could receive a few million dollars. After that he still had to speak to Emily because he wanted to invest some of the money he would receive in shares of the company Cisco again, especially the money he received from participation after Emily''s father and his friends sold their shares. He had a lot to work out in just a week and still wanted to make the most of his time to be with Eva, after which Jake could return to Miami only after school was over. Not to mention that Jake would still have the film to start shooting and so he would have much less time to be with his mother if he went to the NBA after the basketball season started it would be almost impossible for them to have much time to talk. This time as he would arrive home very late at night Jake told Eva that he was going home, so she was the one who picked him up by car at the airport when Jake arrived, Eva was very happy to see Jake home after a few months. She had been very nervous about having to watch the media people who always spoke well of her son to start criticizing Jake, she didn''t understand why the media people criticized Jake if they knew well that Jake always ran marathons and would ever have to lose a game in order to compete. And it was not because Eva was his mother that she thought so, for her it made sense since Jake missed several marathons because he cannot compete for being at the time of the basketball season when he decided not to participate in a game to run an important marathon everyone criticized him. Of course, the biggest reason was that Eva couldn''t understand why the Tar Heels team''s winning record was so incredible, for her it was normal for Jake''s team to always win because he also almost missed any game in high school. As it was very late and Eva had to sleep to go to the restaurant in the morning, Jake went to sleep and they would leave to talk more with his mother in the morning or when she returned home. Jake had already decided that he would tell Eva that he was going to the NBA after this season, but to do that Jake would have to leave university before he got his degree, he had promised his mother that he would go to university and that he would finish. And he would not break that promise, Jake had already gone to university and stayed for two years, he got great grades and even advanced some subjects and credits he needed to graduate, so he could easily finish university even entering the NBA. Jake had learned little at university after reading and almost decorating dozens of books on economics, financial affairs, and administration, so he would keep his promise to his mother, yet Jake thought he had to tell him what he intended to do to Eva. Jake thought that nothing would change after he said that, but he felt he had a chance that she might want to change with him when Jake moved to the city where he had his NBA team he would most play. For now, it looked like he would have to move to Los Angeles, the deal had already been made and if all went well the Los Angeles Clippers team would choose the first draft and select Jake and then he would go to the Lakers team. The deal between the Lakers ''team and the Clippers'' team had already been completed and when Jake was chosen everything would be decided, so he had to tell Eva where he would go after college. The other day in the morning they talked about various things before Eva went to the restaurant, an important matter like this Jake could not speak to his mother before she went to work, otherwise, she could be worried and distracted at work. Jake called Emily to let her know that he was going to be in Miami for a week and that he had to talk to her, Emily had been busy for the past few months and even Jake had to let him know before he wanted to talk to her. Chapter 401 - Rest and Business 5 Of course Jake was Emily''s boss and if he asked she would have to abandon what she was doing to talk to him, but Jake didn''t want to do that because it would be bad for himself and it was he who had put so many responsibilities on Emily to do and so he had to tell them beforehand to talk to her. After Eva left to go to the restaurant Jake also decided to go to Matthew''s house, Matthew was a man who didn''t like offices and was almost always at his house, so Jake never had to call beforehand to let him know when he was going. When Jake arrived the maids soon took him to the living room to wait until they let Matthew know that Jake had arrived, in a few minutes just as he expected who had arrived was Oliver who was now much closer to Matthew and almost spent all his time in this house. "Hi, Jake, how long, I thought you would come here at the end of last year, so we were waiting for you." "Hi, Oliver, I didn''t come here at the end of last year because I didn''t want to bother you again, I didn''t need money like last time and I was able to wait for you to close the balance sheet and prepare the profit-sharing correctly." "So this is what happened, if you need, you can look for us at the end of the year, we already have the values ??prepared long before the end of the balance sheet." "I have been watching your games at the university, your team really played very well, even though I don''t understand basketball so much I was impressed that you are close to breaking a game record without losing." "I am very happy with this, my team is really doing well and I hope we will continue to win the games until we win the NCAA tournament this year." "You are playing very well, I saw that you were the best player in all of the college basketball last season and this one too, I always knew you were a basketball genius, but not even I expected you to be so amazing." "Thanks for the compliments, but I think I still have a lot to improve if I really want to become one of the best players, there are still a lot of players who are much better than me in many ways." "That''s right, I think you may be able to play as well as Michael Jordan in the future, so you''ll be better than him because he won several marathons and gold medals too, Hahaha." Jake and Oliver talked about several things that happened in that time when they didn''t talk, the two were friends besides talking about business, sometimes Jake thought he was more friends with Oliver and Matthew than Joseph, maybe it was because he was almost 50 years of mental age. In addition, they had known each other for over 8 years and now that Jake was older there was a lot that Oliver talked to him that he couldn''t talk about a few years ago, they also had a lot of topics for them to talk about. After that, they went over to where Matthew was, while they were talking Matthew was solving some of the company''s problems and was also remembering about the report he had to tell Jake about sales of the new digital camera. "Hi, Jake, I thought you wouldn''t be coming to talk to me about the company anymore, Hahaha, I''m sure you''ll be happy when you hear the sales were good last year." Jake was excited when he saw how happy Matthew was to talk about the company''s sales, Jake hoped they would actually be able to sell more digital cameras this time, because the first time they sold the digital camera, Matthew''s company didn''t have much recognition with one of the best camera manufacturers. So the company had to invest a lot in marketing and advertising and most people were suspicious of the company and did not buy the camera because they were not confident if it was really the best digital camera. So some people started to buy the camera believing and then saw that the camera was really good, the television programs also spoke with professionals in the field who confirmed the quality of the camera that was better than all the professional cameras on the market. So they managed to have a good sale after three years, this time the advertis.e.m.e.nt said that this digital camera was much better than the previous digital camera, so some bought it and saw that it really was sometimes better than the previous camera. So whoever bought before and had financial resources would certainly buy again, and whoever didn''t buy because they still had doubts would buy because a company with more than 1 successful product was a respectable brand. "Hahaha, I know you''re curious, okay I''ll say, our company achieved the sales record last year, we sold just over 9 million digital cameras, as we sell at a price of one thousand and one hundred dollars, we had a total over 9 billion and $ 900 million in sales." Jake was really shocked by this much sales, he knew that currently, the digital camera market was at its best and that Matthew''s company digital camera was the best on the market for sure. But not even he imagined getting almost 10 billion dollars in sales, in the last year he had been impressed with the 4 billion dollars in sales of their company, now they have sold more cameras than in almost three years with the latest model of the camera. That way Matthew would continue to make more money from his company than from the shares that even Jake hadn''t thought it would be, but that was very good too, the money that Matthew has earned in the past few years has exceeded what he has earned since opening the company and what I would gain in another 20 years. "In addition, we were able to earn an additional $ 220 million in sales with the other digital camera and webcam sales, so in total, we earned $ 10 billion and $ 120 million from sales in 1997." "As we spent less on advertising this time and didn''t have to invest in production like we did last time and sold more, we made 60 percent profit from those sales, so we received a profit of $ 6 billion and $ 72 million." Jake was even more impressed by this, he had talked to Matthew and heard that Matthew intended to get a higher percentage of profit this time because the company was already developed and was able to meet the demand for the products. But Jake could never expect that they managed to increase by more than 10 percent of profits, Jake knew that part of it was for the amount that was 100 dollars more expensive and it cost the same as the last camera to produce. He naturally knew how they achieved this value, normally a camera like this would cost much more to develop the technology, to arrive at the final product and also to buy the electronic components from the suppliers. But since it was Jake who said exactly what they needed to do and also Matthew''s own company that manufactured the components that were more expensive, the final value of the camera was much cheaper. In addition, their company manufactured only a few products and did not have as many employees to pay wages, and they got a discount for buying a lot from suppliers and selling the product at twice the price it cost to produce, which is why their profit was so big like that. Matthew would receive more than 4 billion and 500 million with his profit share and Jake would receive 303 million and 600 thousand dollars with the participation he had in the company, as Jake had received the shares he had of the company for free, he actually I was very happy to earn so much without investing anything. "As you know we have to invest a lot in the company again, so again we are going to take 25 percent of the value of the profits and reinvest in the company and 75 percent as a share of the profits." Jake naturally understood this and agreed with Matthew, in addition, his share was not very large so he would not have to invest much, but Matthew would invest more than $ 1 billion in the company again for the next products. The truth was that an investor would think it would be a waste to do so, they did not do it because even with all that profit the company''s stock market valuation was only 5 billion dollars, thinking how they got more than that amount in profit could be seen as that value was not correct. So maybe Matthew didn''t think about investing half of what they had earned again, a lot of the money invested in the last year hadn''t been used yet, they didn''t intend to further expand the company and increase the maximum production capacity that they haven''t yet had been used. For investments in technology that Jake had already explained how much less investment was needed than normal, moreover, Matthew was preparing because Jake said that in the future they would have a hard time surviving in the market just by selling digital cameras. They had to keep investing in technology to put digital cameras in their cell phones as Jake had said, just so the company''s market value would increase a lot and their future was guaranteed. But the truth was that Matthew was already prepared for future failure of the company and that sales would decrease, when that happened he could simply sell the company and so they would earn several times more than they could before Jake helped. Jake was very happy because after receiving his profit share he no longer had to worry about money, he would soon enter the NBA and also receive millions of salary and endors.e.m.e.nts. But he was happier because he had more money to invest in the Cisco company because he knew he could still earn a lot in those next two years before selling all the shares in 2000. Chapter 402 - Rest and Business 6 They would receive 75 percent of that amount in profit sharing and the rest would be reinvested in the company, so Jake received $ 227 million and $ 700,000, and Matthew would receive $ 3 billion,415 million and $ 500,000. Jake thought it a shame that Matthew was not confident in investing everything he had in Cisco stock like he would if he did that he could earn even more than $ 100 billion. Of course, if he did that, they would have a significant percentage of the company''s shares and that could interfere in the company''s future when they sold everything, even so, Jake never intended to invest in Cisco again and just wanted to know how to earn as much as possible in 2000. The biggest problem for Jake was that he couldn''t just invest all that money in Amazon, otherwise, in the future, he would be guaranteed more than 60 percent of the company''s shares because if he did that, the future he knew would change. "So let''s talk about the future of the company, we are developing the next digital camera putting the improvements you suggested, Jake, but this camera will not be as superior to the current one and sales will not be that good." "That''s right, in fact, the first camera that our company sold was just to let the market and consumers know about our company, this current camera is what we know how to do best." "The technologies used in this camera were developed by our company and many components that are used to make this camera are also manufactured in our company." "So the next digital cameras cannot be much better than the one we are currently selling, we have to improve its quality little by little and we have to be careful not to be overtaken by competitors." Jake explained what he had already thought to Matthew and Oliver who thought it was true, after all, it was Jake who helped the company to have all these technologies much more easily, so it was reasonable that they could not improve much. But that was not really true, Jake had the knowledge to greatly improve the technology of the cameras several times still until the quality of the camera is 8k, but many of these things were not possible with current technology. So Jake thought it was best that they add things to the cameras that would make the customers they buy find interesting and that it was worth what they paid for, the real quality of the images would improve only slightly. "Besides, I already said that we will probably sell just two more different models of cameras that will have such good sales, after that the camera technology in cell phones will start to appear and we have to be involved in that." "This year, the current camera we have will still have a good sale, so at the end of next year, if possible, we can launch the next camera for a slightly lower price than the current one and warn in advertis.e.m.e.nts that the quality of the cameras is almost same." Matthew and Oliver agreed with Jake, they had already talked about the business strategies they had and they knew that perhaps this was the digital camera that they would gain most from her sales. In the next sales, it would not be so interesting anymore and those who already bought would not want to buy the new camera if the quality was almost the same, so they would have to depend on the company''s brand to be able to sell a few billion dollars. The other companies have not yet managed to make a digital camera that is as good as the previous camera they were selling, so they knew it would take several years for them to outperform their technology company. In addition, Matthew had already submitted several patent applications and some had been approved on the components they created to make these digital cameras, so other companies will have to worry about making their cameras in a way that would not violate any patent or earn less by having to pay a commission to Matthew''s company. Jake was thinking about how to help Matthew in the future so that they could continue to earn even when smartphones started to be used, he already had several ideas that could keep Matthew''s company leading the market for many years. The problem was that some of these technologies were from companies that Jake wanted to be a partner in, so he would be stealing technologies from himself to help Matthew being that he would always have a 5 percent profit. But that was something to think about in the future because for the next 5 years Matthew''s company would still have products to keep making billions of dollars, after talking for a few more hours Jake came home. Jake had raised more than $ 227 million with his profit share, with the money he received from selling shares of Emily''s father and their friends and with the money he had before Jake had more than $ 242 million. Seeing this with all the money Jake had invested in stocks he was proud of what he had achieved in the last 9 years, he worked hard to achieve all this and thus managed to accomplish almost everything he wanted before returning. He managed to get his mother out of that bad job and made sure that she fulfilled her dream next to Anna who was a friend that Eva didn''t have in Jake''s past, and so she was happy in a way that Jake never saw in the past before to go back in time. He had fulfilled his dream of running and still managed to win some marathons which were something he did not even expect, and soon he would fulfill his other dream of going to the NBA, having all that money was something he did not expect to achieve. Jake just did the things he could do and didn''t want to miss out on the opportunities he had, but he really hadn''t thought what he would do with so much money after selling his shares in Cisco in 2000. He certainly would not invest everything again because it would be very greedy, he would already have billions of dollars with Amazon guaranteed and would also earn billions of dollars by investing a few million dollars in future companies. Even more, because he knew that money invested was something he could earn more in the future, but he could not spend and use what he wanted, it was the case that he wanted to buy a better car and could not because he was saving the money for the future investment. So he would invest the current money in stocks and then take advantage of the money he earned from sponsorsh.i.p.s and wages to do what he wanted, after 2000 he would not invest anymore unless he found an excellent investment in companies that were starting in the market. Jake set up a meeting with Clara the next day to talk about the business he had and after that, he would have to talk to Emily the other day to tell her how much money he would invest in Cisco shares and how much money he would save for an investment that he had been planning for many years. The year 1998 would be the year that another of the biggest companies in the future would start, the company Google would start that year and Jake planned to meet Larry Page and Sergey Brin that year and thus befriend them. In early 1999, when they failed to sell the company to Excite''s CEO George Bell, Jake would offer a large million-dollar investment in exchange for most of the company''s shares. He knew that if he bought the company or did something different the development of the company would be different, so when they thought about selling the company and Jake offered to invest for most of the shares it was obvious that they would accept. Even more because Jake was someone very famous and the two would certainly recognize him, Jake would also say that he had invested in Amazon and so it was almost certain that this deal would be a success and Jake would guarantee a few billion more dollars. So Jake always had to save a few million dollars without being able to use it, so he wouldn''t have to sell his stock to make that investment, and the profit share of Matthew''s company was not certain how Matthew could decide to reinvest everything in the company. He would talk to Clara because she said that this year her company would also make a profit share for the shareholders, Jake wanted to know how much he would receive, he knew that this year Clara''s company should have made a big profit because she was not trying to invest in company after Jake bought Robert''s shares. But before that he was waiting for Eva to come home because he had decided that he would talk to her about going to the NBA that year and leaving college, he was sure his mother wouldn''t care about that because he would still finish college as had promised. Jake made dinner because he knew that Eva didn''t eat at the restaurant when he was home, he always worked hard in the kitchen when he was home because at university he never cooked because they lived in the dorm. Jake prepared a four-cheese lasagna because he didn''t want to do anything very special as they would have to talk about a serious matter after dinner, Eva arrived and was happy to see that Jake had made lasagna. After a nice dinner talking about good things that happened at the restaurant with Eva and at the university with Jake, they went to the living room to talk about the most serious matter, Eva knew Jake well and knew that he had something important to say and was curious to know what it was. Jake didn''t normally talk about serious matters with her and always dealt with his own affairs, so whenever Eva got serious, she knew it was something very important for Jake to decide to discuss the matter with her. Chapter 403 - Rest and Business 7 "Mom, I made a decision after thinking about it a lot and what would be better for me in the future, I will leave university after the end of this semester and I will enter the NBA draft, this year I want to become a professional." Jake said directly what the subject was without making many laps on the subject and it surprised Eva, she knew that Jake was doing very well at the university and was close to breaking a record with his team. From what Eva had seen on television, Jake had a real chance of breaking almost all individual performance records if he stays 4 years at the university, besides, Eva knew that Jake didn''t need money because he had sponsors so she thought he would be more two years at the university. But hearing that Jake had already thought about it a lot and had already made a decision Eva understood that there must be a reason why Jake decided to do this, she knew that Jake had gone to university mainly because she had asked for it. "If you ever thought about it and made that decision, I''m just going to support what you decided, but can you tell me why you decided to do that?" "I decided to join the NBA this year because I think it will be the best for me, I have been at the university for two years and I played well on the Tar Heels team, we won the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament and I managed to break several individual records." "I was also able to improve a lot in those two years and I intend to help the Tar Heels team to win the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament that year as well." "So I think I already achieved everything I had to win playing for the Tar Heels team in these two years, what I have to win in the coming years will not make up for what I would lose if I didn''t enter the NBA this year." "I am negotiating to join the team I want and this year something will happen in the NBA that will be favorable for me to play my first year as a freshman, not to mention that I will continue in university to get my diploma, I just won''t do it like I''m doing now." "In those years I have already obtained all the credits I needed and I also obtained good grades, so I got everything I wanted at university." Listening to Jake explaining Eva realized that it was true that he had already thought very carefully about what he wanted to do, she was happy to hear that he intended to finish university even entering the NBA and get his diploma. She understood that Jake wanted to enter the NBA this year because he wanted to take advantage of an opportunity and because he had no need to stay another 2 years at the university, so Eva was relieved and proud of Jake who spoke to her about this important decision. After that, they talked normally and Jake was relieved that his mother was not angry that he decided to leave university, it showed that she trusted him and that was something that made Jake very happy. Jake was also happy because it seemed that Eva did not think of living in the same city as him when he entered the NBA, Jake would be very happy to have his mother living with him again, but he was concerned because she had Anna in Miami and also the restaurant that Jake knew she loved. He knew it must be very difficult for someone to live without doing what he likes and that is why he bought the restaurant to make his mother''s dream come true, and Jake would visit his mother whenever he could just like he was doing now at university. The two talked for many hours until Eva had to go to sleep to work at the restaurant the other day, Jake also went to rest because he would have to talk to Clara the other day about business. So the next day Jake went to lunch to meet Clara at a restaurant she had recommended, Jake could have talked over the phone about it with her and Matthew, and he could also deal with his business with Emily. But unless it was impossible to do that Jake preferred to talk about important business like that personally, these business matters were very important and involved millions of dollars, personally Jake could receive reports to see in more detail about how companies were doing during the year. Maybe when Jake was in the NBA and a very important subject came up and he couldn''t travel to settle in person he would use his cell phone right now, but it was something he preferred to avoid. It had been months since Jake had seen Clara and he was happy to talk to her again, even though he felt that maybe she wanted to make their relationship as friends into a business-only relationship Jake would always remember the help he received. "Hi, Clara, you look very good, but you look very tired too." "Hi, Jake, I''m really tired, Tiffany and I had a lot of things in the company to solve in the last few months, our company had lost a lot of opportunities to invest and get better, but because of the situation I was in, it was impossible." "Fortunately, I always wrote down all the ideas that I had and all the opportunities that the company missed so that I could invest when possible, so in this last year I managed to do a good part of what I had prepared." Jake knew what Clara was talking about, at other times when they talked Clara always talked about how she had to increase the production capacity of the company''s factories and also get more stores and partnersh.i.p.s to sell more. It should have been what Clara had done that year as the matter that concerned her had been resolved, but another thing Jake heard was that Clara intended to buy a company so that her company could take advantage of factories and stores and sell more quickly. That opportunity had been lost and unless she invested her personal assets it would be difficult to be able to buy this company as she wanted, and even if she wanted to do that the competing company that also owned shares in her company would not allow the company to Clara grew so much and that she had more shares in the company. Jake had talked to Emily and knew that sales for Tiffany''s company had improved a lot after she invested in the company again and increased manufacturing capacity and opened more stores, but Clara''s company hadn''t gone so well. "In the last year we made some investments and even though our sales had increased it was very little because the cost of the products increased and the profit decreased because of the readjustment in prices." "So we had fewer profits than we had in 1996, but this year it is possible that we will still be able to sell more and almost have twice the profit, the company''s profits were 50 million dollars." "I plan to invest half of the profits in the company again, so you will receive $ 2.5 million in profit sharing, I hope that next year that amount will be almost double." Jake could feel that Clara was ashamed of the sales that her company had achieved that year because all the other 3 companies that sponsored Jake had achieved a huge increase in sales with Jake''s performance in the first season of college basketball. Like the advertis.e.m.e.nt that Jake had recorded for her and Tiffany''s companies, Tiffany''s sales grew the most in all companies, so Clara was ashamed of having to deliver a result that she considered bad. Jake was not at all angry or nervous, and Tiffany''s company always made a profit similar to Clara''s company even though her company was smaller, now that she had the opportunity to invest again after a few years she just adjusted the production capacity of her company and so she sold everything she could. The products from Tiffany''s natural drinks company were of very high quality and also had a sales appeal for being healthier, with Jake endorsing the company sportsmen and sports fans bought her products whenever they could and liked the product. The companies that John and Alan represented had well-developed companies and were better known in the market, so they managed to sell more, especially the company that John represented, which was also a beverage company and so consumers always bought. Clara''s company made sporting goods which were not so easy to sell and even with Jake promoting her products, her company had many competitors that consumers thought had a better product than her company. But with Clara''s investments, the company could sell as much as it could and also increase the total value of the company and so the shares that Jake had in the company would appreciate, Clara in the future would want to buy the shares that Jake had in her company. back and so Jake would gain something from it. Clara was happy to see that Jake was not disappointed with the results of the last year of her company, Clara was still traumatized by Robert''s complaints whenever the company''s results were not good or when she did not make a profit. This time nobody complained, not even the rival company complained, in fact, Clara thought that the representative of the competing company had been happy to see that Clara''s company had not had a good result in the market. Even so, Clara was proud and would not accept to continue making such a low profit, this year she could lower prices again and hoped that she would be able to sell more to get a better profit. They talked for a while longer and then Jake left, they talked about business, but they didn''t talk about anything like they talked in the past as friends, it made Jake even more sure than he thought before. Chapter 404 - Rest and Business 8 Jake couldn''t tell Clara that their sponsorship contract would have to end this season, it was not yet final and Jake had only told his mother for now, so it was better than Clara could have great sales this year because next year they would not have it to help improve sales. Jake could say that he would join the NBA only after the end of this basketball season when he had no problem that nobody knew about, the companies that negotiated with David knew that Jake would enter the NBA, but they would never say anything about it so as not to spoil their reputation. If in the future Jake could help Clara''s company in any way even if he didn''t receive sponsorship he would help, the problem was that his future contract with the shoe company would probably prevent him from doing so. Jake and Clara split up after lunch was over and Jake went back to his house, Jake had already talked to Emily and the next day he would talk to her about the next investments Jake would make, then he would spend a few more days relaxing and coming back to the university. When Eva came home after working at the restaurant she brought Anna with her, they had closed the restaurant earlier because Anna wanted to see Jake as they hadn''t talked in a long time as Jake didn''t go to the restaurant anymore. Even though they saw each other sometimes it was always when they had other people around and they couldn''t talk easily, in fact, Eva and Anna already thought that Lola had accepted that she would not date Jake and that she didn''t think about it anymore. But with Jake going to the restaurant again everything could change and that could make Lola suffer again, besides, Jake was at the university and after that, he would become a professional and go to another city, so Jake didn''t mind not going to the restaurant and he was only in Miami for a few days. "How are things at the restaurant, Anna? I ask my mom, but I don''t think she would tell me if the restaurant had a problem." "Hahaha, no need to worry, Jake, things in the restaurant are very good, almost all year the restaurant is always full and as you know the employees do their job well and so we have no problem with the inspectors or with culinary critics." "We are making a good profit even by charging a lower price for the dishes on our menu, so taking the fatigue out of having a lot of work, we are doing very well, soon we will make another menu renewal and customers are looking forward to it." Jake was happy to hear that things at the restaurant were really good if they always had a crowded restaurant it was normal for them to make profits even by charging less and with his mother giving great salaries to employees. With the menu being renewed again they would have no problems with customers getting tired of the restaurant and most of the customers were people from the hotels who came to eat, these people came a few times a year or just after several years to eat again at the restaurant. "Anna, or do you think about a restaurant renovation? We can buy an even bigger place for the restaurant to have more customers, or we can buy some neighboring buildings and use it to increase the size of the restaurant." Jake had received a lot of money after that profit-sharing from Robert''s company and would also earn even more when he made the contracts when he entered the NBA, so he was thinking he could try to improve his mom''s restaurant. He had given up on the idea of ??building restaurant branches because to do that Eva would have to choose people to work at the other branches of the restaurant and that would make Eva even busier and Jake felt that she didn''t want that. "I don''t think it''s a good idea, Jake, you know that your mom doesn''t care much about money and doesn''t intend to be a millionaire at her restaurant, so she doesn''t charge that much for the dishes on the menu and pays good salaries to the employees." "So there is no need to increase the size of the restaurant or create branches, after all this is not what your mother wants, if the restaurant increased in size, your mother and I would have more work and we would have to hire more employees to receive a little more Of money." Hearing what Anna said Jake realized that he was thinking things wrong really, he got used to getting involved in the business, with the companies that sponsored him and with the companies that he owned or owned. All he ever had to think for the good of these companies was to increase their profit and increase the value of the companies, that was his job and if he did that it was because everything had worked out. Because Jake thought that his investments were doing so well and that''s why Matthew''s company was improving so much and making so many profits, but his mom''s restaurant was different, it was for Eva to fulfill her dream and be happy working that was what Jake always wanted for his mother. So always thinking about what they could do to get more profits or make his mom''s restaurant a successful company was not what Eva wanted, so Jake decided he would give up thinking like that. After that they had dinner with the food that Jake had prepared and then talked for several hours, Anna wanted to leave and Jake suggested that she sleep at their house, after all, Anna lived alone and it was too late to leave the car. Jake''s house, which was actually Eva''s house, could be considered a mansion, so naturally, it had several rooms and the employees tidied up when Eva was not at home. Eva agreed with Jake and asked Anna to stay and so after thinking for a while Anna decided to sleep in one of the rooms at Jake''s house, the very next day Anna and Eva went to the restaurant and Jake was alone again. In that week that he was at home Jake was not running as he always did, even though he had already recovered completely he was surprised after being in such a bad physical condition because of an airplane trip. Jake understood that it could be because he tired his body and muscles too much because he trusted the system, after what happened Jake decided he would rest more and would not always overdo the training. Even so, Jake still went to the gym at his house every day and coached a few hours of basketball as he always did, at lunchtime Jake went to the restaurant he had set up with Emily to talk to her. As it was Jake who had set lunch he arrived earlier this time and was waiting for her, after a few minutes Emily came and saw Jake and went to him, Jake thought Emily was very beautiful and didn''t look so tired. "Hi, Emily, thanks for coming over here." "It''s okay, I know it must be an important issue and you also want to know the reports from the last year, as you are only going to be in Miami for a few days we have to resolve things quickly." "Yes, you can give me business reports last year and then I''ll tell you what we''re going to do." After saying that Emily started talking about Jake''s 1997 profit and expense report, taking out the nearly $ 7 million that Jake received from him in the sale of shares that Emily''s father and his friends they had, all Jake''s companies had only losses. The investment firm had no profit other than the invested shares, and those shares did not make much money for his company, and Jake had to pay Emily and the other employees'' salaries in addition to paying for the building. Jake''s other company that Charlie and his friends created the products that Jake asked for had even more losses than Emily''s companies, but Jake knew that this was an investment he had to make to have the smartphone prototype and also from the Android system that Charlie and his friends were making now. When Jake got the patents he had already asked Emily to get together with more lawyers, the future would be guaranteed, even if he didn''t need more money he still wanted to get as much as he could by investing. These companies were an investment that Jake was making for his entire life, after the 2000s he would step away from the business world and just help Matthew, he would leave Emily running his companies. Of course, with all the money he would receive from NBA sponsorsh.i.p.s and also with the shares he would have to be worth billions of dollars he would still have to have a company and trusted people like Emily to help him. The taxes he already had to pay amounted to millions of dollars and it was Emily and the accounting firm that Jake worked in that took care of these matters, the money he currently received from awards in the marathons and also from his sponsors went to Emily to manage. "Emily, I want to invest in the Cisco company again, I received 227 million dollars from Matthew, I want to keep a few million dollars with me for a future investment that I will make, so I want to invest 214 million dollars in shares of the Cisco company." That amount really surprised Emily, she knew that Jake had earned only part of that amount in the last year and as she didn''t have access to Matthew''s company reports she didn''t know that she had done so well in the last year. She was not surprised that Jake would again invest so much money in the Cisco company, Emily knew that Jake trusted his instincts and that it was worth risking and investing everything in the Cisco company than doing as other investors and investing in other companies. Chapter 405 - Rest and Business 9 As she worked at Jake''s investment company she knew how good this year was for Jake and Matthew''s investments, the estimate was that they would receive at least double because of the appreciation of the shares of the company Cisco. Emily was certainly afraid that Jake would continue to invest like that and end up losing all of his money and also all of Matthew''s investment, but she trusted Jake and hoped he knew what he was doing. It would take Emily a few days to make that $ 214 million investment, she believed the stock price would rise after she bought so many shares, that was better for Jake and Matthew. After that, Jake talked to Emily for a while about what she had done at the investment company and also what else would be invested in the technology company so that Charlie''s team could create the Android system that Jake wanted. After that meeting Jake had nothing else to do in Miami and could just rest and stay with his mother, he would have a few more days to stay in Miami and then he would have to go back to university the day before the game to train with the team. So Jake spent the next few days at home and flew out at night to go to the university two days before the game, so he would sleep at the university and train with the team the day before the game day. Jake didn''t know when he could spend time with his mother in Miami because as soon as classes at the university were over, Jake would have to travel to Australia to shoot the film The Matrix and stay there until he had to return to the United States to the NBA draft that year. So it was possible that Jake didn''t even have time to go to Miami on his vacation, and even if the next NBA season was going to start only next year because of a problem between the NBA and the players, Jake knew he would have to be training on the team until it was time for the team to play. Under the contract, he had asked for he might even miss games and training to run a marathon, but he couldn''t do that to visit his mother unless all the players could go out to visit the family too. The other day Jake had already slept in his dorm at the university and went to where the team was to do the training, the next game worried Jake a lot, it was a game in which in the past the Tar Heels team had lost this game without Jake on the team. With him on the team it was much more possible for the team to win that game, so he had already talked about it with Coach Guthridge just as he always did before an important game, so while Jake was in Miami the other players on Team Tar Heels had to train a lot after resting. In this game, the Tar Heels team would not play as well and the best players would only have a regular performance which was not enough to achieve victory, so the players trained even though it was not necessary because they were confident of winning the next game. Even so, coach Guthridge spoke several times in training that it was not for them to be so confident and it was important to respect all opponents when Jake trained on the last day before the game everyone realized that he was also worried about the next game. Jake was really concerned about the next game and was thinking that maybe he would have to do a good performance and try harder the individual moves to guarantee victory for the Tar Heels team. The other day came the day of the game that worried Jake so much, the teams soon arrived at the Dean Smith Center to prepare for the game, with a home game it would be easier for the Tar Heels team to get the victory. And everyone thought that this would be an easy game for the Tar Heels team and that they would be able to increase the winning streak, after that game they would have two more difficult games and it would be in these games that everyone thought that the Tar Heels team would be more likely to lose. "Welcome to everyone who came to accompany us with another ACC conference game, the Tar Heels team plays this game trying to increase the winning streak for the Tar Heels team to go down in history." "The opponent of the Tar Heels team for this game is the NC State Wolfpack team that has been having a bad season, but still has a good team that will try to win in that game." "With the Tar Heels team having an excellent season so far and having excellent players and playing this game at home it is quite possible that they will win this game more." "But it is possible that, to everyone''s surprise, the NC State Wolfpack team will win by having an excellent game." "That''s right, this is a game in which the Tar Heels team has the full advantage playing with Jake and Jamison who are the best players of the season together, I don''t think the NC State Wolfpack team has the strength to win that game." Everyone hoped that the Tar Heels team would win that game and the players were still relaxed before the game started, they were more attentive because of the warnings from Coach Guthridge and Jake. Right at the beginning of the game Jake increased the pace of the game and went for the attack, it was not as fast as Jake normally organized the plays, but his teammates stayed a week without playing and therefore they would have difficulty to endure the whole game if Jake picked up the pace a lot. After a few moves Jake could see that Jamison and Williams were playing well even though it was not as good as in the other games, the biggest problem was with Carter who seemed to be not doing as well as in the last games. Jake also shot from outside to score three points for the Tar Heels team, this made the Tar Heels team a small lead on the scoreboard and made the NC State Wolfpack players feel the pressure. Jake knew that Clint Harrison would play very well in that game in the three-point shots and so he decided that he would defend against him to secure the advantage on the scoreboard, seeing Harrison being scored by Jake the NC State Wolfpack players knew that it would be difficult to win this game. In another move the NC State Wolfpack team was on the attack and Harrison received a ball and Jake was a little further from him, Harrison tried the shot from outside and hit with three points for the NC State Wolfpack team. This made the NC State Wolfpack players more confident that Harrison was performing well, then Jake took the ball and started another attack for the Tar Heels team. After passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Carter on the left, Carter advanced and before crossing the three-point line he passed the ball to Williams on the right, Williams held the ball and passed it to Jake further back through the middle. Jake received the ball and quickly passed it to Jamison who was free from the right ahead, Jamison took the ball and advanced to make the layup and get 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. Even though the Tar Heels team had the advantage at the beginning of the game, the NC State Wolfpack team was also playing well and therefore the Tar Heels team could not increase the advantage on the scoreboard. So Jake realized that the Tar Heels team would have a hard time winning the game if they continued that way, in one of Coach Guthridge''s timeouts Jake said it was best that they put pressure on defense and attack as well. Coach Guthridge was seeing how much more difficult the game was than he was and the players expected and agreed with Jake and told the team to press on defense and attack, the Tar Heels team players did not underestimate the opponent and just wanted to win. So the players of the NC State Wolfpack team were surprised to see that the Tar Heels team increased the pressure in attack and defense, they expected the game to continue as it was until the end of the 1st half as the Tar Heels team was winning. Another thing that changed in the last 10 minutes of the 1st half was that Jake was trying more shots from three points, in a few minutes he had already tried 3 shots from outside and hit the three with 9 more points for the Tar Heels team. This made the NC State Wolfpack team difficult to defend, they still had to defend against Jamison, Carter, and Williams who were playing well, and in the attack, the NC State Wolfpack team was having difficulty playing against the strong defense of Team Tar Heels. In another move Harrison tried the three-point shot and Jake appeared to make the block, Williams still got the ball and advanced slowly while the Tar Heels team went on the attack as well. Before going through the middle of the court Williams passed the ball to Jake who was on the right, Jake slowly advanced the ball and soon went to the middle of the court while Williams went to the right. Jake stepped forward and passed the ball to Carter on the left, Carter passed the ball to Okulaja on the right ahead, Okulaja held on a little and passed the ball to Jake who was further back in the middle. When Jake received the ball, two players from the NC State Wolfpack team saw to defend against him, after all, Jake had already made 15 points in three-point shots in that 1st half of the game, when the defense came Jake took advantage and passed the ball to Williams who had left free by the right. Williams did not miss the opportunity and tried the shot to score another 3 points for the Tar Heels team, with this move the advantage of the Tar Heels team was much greater and Jake was more relaxed about it. Chapter 406 - Rest and Business 10 The Tar Heels team continued to play well and ended up winning the 1st half with a good advantage against the NC State Wolfpack team, Jake was playing very well as were Jamison and Williams. In this 1st half Jake played for 20 minutes and made 21 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 blocks, Jake was playing well in defense, but he was unable to help the team much in rebounds because he was playing away from the painted area. "As expected, the Tar Heels team has been winning the game today with a good advantage, the NC State Wolfpack team seems to be playing better than expected and was bringing some problems to the Tar Heels team." "But with the good performance of Jake and his teammates, the Tar Heels team managed the advantage nonetheless, Jamison and Williams also played well." "It is true, Jake had a great performance just as he has done in the last games, and that makes the opponents defend more against him and that leaves his teammates more freedom to make the points." "But the NC State Wolfpack team has really had a good game and still has an opportunity to win that game, Jake has been defending well against Harrison, but the NC State Wolfpack team has other good players in the three-point line that has been having more freedom." Jake knew that what the commentators were saying was true, even though he defended well against Harrison the NC State Wolfpack team still had other good players on the three-point line. But he knew it was more dangerous to leave Harrison alone in this game because he couldn''t defend against the three players on the NC State Wolfpack team anyway, he had to rely on Williams and Carter to help defend against these players. The players of the NC State Wolfpack team realized that they could achieve victory against the Tar Heels team, the players of the Tar Heels team were not having the best performance and this could be their chance. So at the beginning of the 2nd half of the game the NC State Wolfpack team started to press in attack and defense as well, Jake continued to defend against Harrison and helped the defense by trying some steals. In another move, the NC State Wolfpack team was on the attack and after a good move by the players, Archie Miller received free and attempted a three-point shot and hit with three more points for the NC State Wolfpack team. Jake was defending against Harrison and that gave Miller the opportunity to make that three-point shot, the game continued and even though Jake was playing very well the NC State Wolfpack team continued to diminish the lead. When it was 4 minutes before the end of the game, the NC State Wolfpack team had managed to take all the advantage and had turned the game around and were winning, even though Jake was playing well the NC State Wolfpack players found that Carter was not performing well and even Jamison and Williams were just playing regularly. So when Jake received the ball, two players were always against him on the three-point line and even if Jake made assists, his teammates did not hit every attack. Even so when the end of the game was coming the players of both teams were getting more anxious and were also getting tired because of the intense game they had, so Jake was able to make the plays again at the end of the game because he was not tired. In the next few minutes, it was a dispute between the players of the NC State Wolfpack team and Jake, he who was well defended by almost the entire 2nd half managed to attack again and still managed to get more blocks and steals. Jake could still count on Jamison and Williams if the defense against him was too difficult to overcome, even if they did not perform better they could still score a lot and bring headaches to the NC State Wolfpack team defense. With less than 1 minute remaining, the NC State Wolfpack team was winning by 1 point difference, Okulaja passed the ball to Jake who started what could be Team Tar Heels'' last attack in the game. He advanced to the middle of the court and passed the ball to Williams on the right before passing through the middle of the court, Williams and all the players on the Tar Heels team were nervous about this stressful end of the game. As the NC State Wolfpack team was winning by just 1 point, nobody knew if the Tar Heels team would try a 2-point play or risk and try a 3-point play, Williams advanced to the 3-point line and passed the ball to Carter on the left. Carter tried to get rid of the defender by making a feint, but the opponent was firm in defense and Carter passed the ball to Jamison further on the left, Jamison received the ball and tried to advance. Soon the defense of the NC State Wolfpack team put pressure on Jamison and so he was unable to advance and passed the ball to Jake who was at the bottom of the court on the right, Jake was free and after receiving and the ball tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team with a few seconds to go. In this play, the defense of the NC State Wolfpack team was careless, for a moment when Jamison was with the ball they forgot to defend against Jake, but they stayed close to the place where he normally stayed. But this time Jake went to the back of the court and the defense that did not expect it did not follow the play, now the NC State Wolfpack team would have only one play to try to win. The Tar Heels team players were focused on defense, if the NC State Wolfpack team scored 2 points with this attack they would tie the game, if they scored 3 points they would win. With that in mind, Carter and Williams came to defend on the three-point line against Miller and Ishua Benjamin who were the best players on the three-point line besides Harrison that Jake was scoring. In this last attack by the NC State Wolfpack team, everyone who was watching the game was nervous to know if this time the Tar Heels team would finally be defeated, the Tar Heels fans at the Dean Smith Center were supporting the team that was playing at home. The NC State Wolfpack team made the attack move very smoothly and with only a few seconds left to start trying to define the move, Jake was concentrating on defending against Harrison and therefore did not even think about trying to steal that move. After a good move by the players of the NC State Wolfpack Miller team ended up being free and received the pass, Williams realized his mistake and tried to go to defense, but Miller still managed to try the shot from outside. Everyone stopped to see if that ball would enter and the NC State Wolfpack team would win the game, luckily for the Tar Heels team the ball did not enter and Jamison caught the rebound for the game to finally end. Miller couldn''t believe he was wrong in that move and the NC State Wolfpack players were frustrated that they didn''t win the game, Jake and the Tar Heels team players celebrated their victory in that difficult game. The Tar Heels team won the game making 93 points against 91 points for the NC State Wolfpack team, Jake was very important for this victory making so many points when his teammates didn''t perform well and Jake was responsible for making Harrison scoreless even though the NC State Wolfpack team managed to score more points otherwise. In that 2nd half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and had 22 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, and 1 block, with this double-double Jake helped the Tar Heels team to win and can finally relax. "What an exciting game we are watching today, the Tar Heels team was the favorite to achieve victory in that game, but surprisingly the NC State Wolfpack team was doing very well and the poor performance of the Tar Heels team players made this game more exciting." "Jake was decisive for the victory by making 43 points and getting a double-double, he defended well against Harrison and also hindered other players on the NC State Wolfpack team by making 10 steals." "But even so the players of the NC State Wolfpack team were right on the three-point line and that made the game decide in the last seconds with a three-point shot from Jake and then the mistake of the NC State Wolfpack team." "The Tar Heels team still has two more difficult games before the start of the ACC tournament, if the players of the Tar Heels team play so badly it will be difficult for them to continue with this sequence of victories and win the ACC tournament just like last season." The Tar Heels team won the game, but neither the fans nor coach Guthridge were satisfied with this difficult victory against the NC State Wolfpack team, Jake was not happy with that either, but he did not criticize any teammates. After the players returned to the dorms, Jake began to think that maybe Miller had missed the last three-point shot because his luck had helped, he saw that Miller was free and was playing well to make that last move and bring victory to the NC State Wolfpack team. Jake would never know if it was really his luck that helped the Tar Heels team to win, but he was sure that the NC State Wolfpack team deserved to have won that game, he had to have a good performance like that game and hope that his teammates team also played better so that the Tar Heels team could win the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament. Chapter 407 - Training for the Movie 1 The other day Jake was training even more willingly and had also returned to running training for marathons and also for the 10,000 meters sport, as he was in his best physical condition he trained as well as before traveling to Tokyo. If Jake had not told Coach Davis that he had not trained since the marathon, Coach David would have thought that Jake had trained while in Miami, after all, Jake went almost two weeks without training and should have performed poorly. That way he could understand why Jake wanted to increase the intensity of his training and why Jake didn''t mind trying to train when he was in Miami, he knew it wouldn''t make much difference and so he didn''t even try. In the training of the Tar Heels team Jake also tried harder than in other training and this encouraged his teammates to train more, Jamison and Williams even played well in the last game, but Carter failed to perform well and hindered the team. This left Coach Guthridge more relaxed because he realized that the players were becoming inattentive in the games, he was also happy to see that he could count on Jake again and would have no problems until the end of the season. Even though Tar Heels fans and the media had already forgotten that Jake had not participated in a game, the companies that negotiated to sponsor him had not forgotten, with the Lakers'' team David Falk had already closed a verbal agreement. The Lakers were also close to closing the deal with the Los Angeles Clippers team, Nike had no longer responded to David Falk''s request for a better contract, but Adidas was still negotiating and was close to agreeing with Jake''s requests. This made Jake happier with Adidas, he remembered that many times players had career crises and needed the support of sponsors at that moment to be able to recover more easily. This time Jake had not participated in just one game in which his team had won and yet several companies gave up on having an agreement with him, only the companies David had contacted before they continued with the verbal agreement. If the Tar Heels team won the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament Jake was sure that these companies would try again for a contract, at that moment Jake would ask for a contract with a much higher value to accept those companies that had given up. Jake knew he had the skills and when he arrived in the NBA, the companies that trusted him and bet on him would have a lot of return in the few years of the contract, and Jake didn''t need the money and just wanted to be recognized for his work as a professional player. While Jake thought about concentrating fully on training his racing and basketball team, something he had forgotten came back to take him by surprise, one of the members of the film he was going to participate in a few months had come to the university. Because of university and also the games with the Tar Heels team that basketball season Jake had to join the film crew for The Matrix a few weeks later, and because of that and because his character had many martial arts scenes that required training to make the film''s directors the Wachowskis asked to send someone to teach him martial arts while he was at university. Jake had naturally accepted it because the Wachowskis were already making an exception by accepting that he later joined with the other actors on the film crew, so fight choreographer Yuen Woo-ping was sent to train with Jake. Jake knew many films that Yuen Woo-ping participated in, after all, Jake was a fan of many martial arts films, but Jake didn''t know exactly what he would learn, he knew that it was not any real martial arts but only to fight in the filming. This did not mean it was easier to learn even if it wasn''t an original martial art made for self-defense, then if Jake spoke to Yuen Woo-ping a little he learned that it would be more difficult than he thought because he would have to train with cables wires and he would have to do stunts in the air with safety equipment. Talking to Yuen Woo-ping, Jake learned that many actors ended up getting hurt when doing training in both fight training and cable acrobatics, Jake was confident that his body was much stronger than normal actors, but he still would be careful. Because of that, Jake would have to stop doing running training again because he couldn''t stop going to classes and neither could go to training with the basketball team, as they didn''t have the necessary equipment to do the stunts and training in Corporal Jake would learn all the technique and fighting movements before. Later, when he could leave the university, they would train what Jake had learned in the cables and learn the necessary stunts, as Jake would be the one who needed to fight more in the film, his training would have to be more intense. The other actors had already been trained by Yuen Woo-ping and so he was worried about what Jake''s training would be like, it was usually supposed to be easier because Jake was an athlete, but Jake was too tall and that could make it difficult for him to learn the skills techniques. After all, Jake was 2.01 m and was 15 cm taller than Keanu Reeves, in addition, Jake with 19 years old had a body with many muscles and even if he was not exaggerated it could affect his agility and balance. The other actors have been through martial arts training for more than 3 months with him and worked hard, but he would have less time to train with Jake because he still had to play basketball games during training. In the early days, he would just teach Jake some martial arts moves, so he could learn the moves that would be used in the fights, the moves were real martial arts even if the fights were choreographed. So after a day of training with Jake, Yuen Woo-ping totally changed his mind and started to think that training with Jake would be much easier than he thought, Jake also concentrated and devoted himself a lot to learn the movements as well as the other actors. But Jake learned the movements much more easily than the others, in a few hours he could do almost the same thing as Yuen Woo-ping who was teaching him and with the same agility as him. This left Yuen Woo-ping pleasantly surprised and so he managed to teach Jake even more things from day one, on the second day of training Jake continued to learn quickly, Yuen Woo-ping realized that this way Jake would take less than 2 months to learn everything that the other actors learned over 3 months. Jake also enjoyed learning martial arts with Yuen Woo-ping and was excited about the film, but they had to stop training the other day because the Tar Heels team''s next game had arrived. Jake had also put a lot of effort into training with the basketball team for this game, his teammates were also dedicated and were more confident for this game. This would be another game at home at the Dean Smith Center which gave a great advantage and confidence to the players of the Tar Heels team, the opponent of that game was the Wake Forest team which, even though it was not doing so well in the season, was a difficult opponent for the Tar Heels team. The media spoke again before the game as Team Wake Forest had been the last team that managed to defeat Team Tar Heels last season if Team Wake Forest won that game the media would be very excited about the reports they could do. Of course, Coach Guthridge and not even the players on the Tar Heels team wanted to lose this game, besides Jake and Jamison Coach Guthridge was also one of the most praised, at the beginning of the season nobody believed he was able to replace Coach Dean Smith with the same quality. But in his first season as head coach, the Tar Heels team had not lost a game and they were the favorites to win the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament again. "Welcome to everyone who came to follow this game of the basketball season at the ACC conference, today the Tar Heels team will play against the Wake Forest team." "The Tar Heels team has been getting better and better with an incredible streak of victories for over 1 year without losing a game, Jake and Jamison have been playing very well this season too and they are the favorites to win again today." "But the Wake Forest team came to win in this game, they are the last team that defeated the Tar Heels team before starting this sequence of victories and they want to win today again." "It''s true, the Tar Heels team is the favorite to win that game today, but if the players on the Tar Heels team perform as badly as they did in the last game it will be difficult for them to win again depending on Jake." Just as commentators said everyone''s concern was the performance of the Tar Heels team players, but Coach Guthridge was confident that the players would perform well because they trained hard in the past few days. Shammond Williams, who was playing well in the last few games, was sent to defend against Tony Rutland, Jake was defending against Robert O''Kelley, so the two main players of the Wake Forest team on the three-point line would be scored. Right at the beginning of the game, Jake took the Tar Heels team to press on the attack, in the last game he had already seen that they didn''t lose because they made a very good 1st half and the opposing team took a long time to recover and so Jake managed to guarantee the victory for the Tar Heels team. Chapter 408 - Training for the Movie 2 Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Vince Carter on the left before passing through the middle of the court, Carter did not play well in the last game and was not satisfied with his performance this season. He didn''t have any games this season when he had a great highlight making many points just like Antawn Jamison and Williams had, with Jake so he couldn''t even compare himself. Carter praised her for his performance in several games that helped the team win and in defense too, but he still wanted to have a game scoring more than 35 points as his teammates. Even if he didn''t succeed, he at least wanted to play well for the next games until the end of this season, after all, he was thinking about joining the NBA draft this year and this would be his last season for the Tar Heels team. Carter came forward and passed the ball to Jamison later on the left, Jamison tried to get rid of the opposing defense, but had to stop and pass the ball to Okulaja on the left, Okulaja received the ball and passed it to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and pretended he would try a shot from the outside and advanced with the ball, Jake used his agility and drive to the basket by doing a dunk after passing through all the opposing players on the way and making the first 2 points for the team Tar Heels. Jake was considered a complete player because he could score points on three-point shots and he could also make dunk and layup move with ease, Wake Forest team players were not intimidated and tried to attack. Jake and Williams were defending against the best players on the Wake Forest team outside the three-point line, and Jake was still on the lookout for players who were inside the three-point line if he had the chance Jake would try a steal. After a good move, the ball went to Rutland who was being defended by Williams, Rutland made a feint and managed to take a step back and was free to make the shot from outside to make three more points for the Wake Forest team. After 10 minutes of the 1st half everyone had already realized what was going on in the game, the Tar Heels team players again were not performing well and only Williams was playing better. But the players of the Wake Forest team were also not playing well and the defense of the Tar Heels team was putting pressure, so the players of the Wake Forest team were having trouble getting the points. Jake was playing as well as ever and had already scored 11 points and was helping the Tar Heels team to be winning with a good advantage on the scoreboard, in another play Jake managed to make a steal intercepting a pass from the Wake Forest team. Jake did not use speed and advanced slowly so that his teammates could move forward, after passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Williams on the right. Williams advanced the ball to the three-point line and passed to Okulaja further on, Okulaja passed to Jamison on the left and Jamison tried to advance to make a layup, but the Wake Forest defense pressed against him and Jamison had to pass the ball to Jake further back. Jake held the ball and made a high pass to Carter who took the ball high and made a dunk to complete the alley-oop and make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, no one saw Carter coming behind the defense of the Wake team Forest and he managed to dunk easily. Jake trained a lot with Jamison and Carter in the basketball team''s training because the two were his best friends on the team, but in the game, he did most of the assists for Jamison who was playing better. Carter was not upset because he knew Jamison was playing better than he was, but to make up for Jake he just made plays like this with Carter who was better at dunking, so the most beautiful moves Jake made with Carter. With the Tar Heels team pressing in attack and defense, the 1st half ended with the Tar Heels team winning with a good advantage against the Wake Forest team, the best players of the Wake Forest team failed to score much with Jake and Williams defending against them and Jake still got a lot of steals. In this 1st half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and made 17 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 6 steals, and 2 blocks, Jake got 2 more blocks in that game defending against O''Kelley, in his last 5 games Jake got blocks in all games playing against good opponents. "And so the 1st half of the game ends, the Tar Heels team is winning the game with a good advantage as expected, Jake is playing well in attack and also in defense, but not as well as in the last game." "The players of the Tar Heels team are not performing as well as in the last game and that worries the fans and coach Guthridge, soon the ACC tournament will start and the Tar Heels team will not be able to lose any more if they want to become the champion." "Fortunately in this game, the players of the Wake Forest team are not playing as well as the last opposing team of the Tar Heels team, so I find it difficult for the Tar Heels team to lose that game with an advantage like that in the 1st half." Just as commentators said, fans were not too concerned after seeing the 1st half because the Wake Forest team players were not playing very well and Jake was doing well as always. Coach Guthridge was concerned about the upcoming games as well as commentators and sports media, but he saw how the players trained hard in the past few days and were not relaxing at the games. It looked like it was just bad luck that the Tar Heels team players were going through, Coach Guthridge just hoped that this bad luck would end before the ACC tournament started. The Wake Forest team that was losing the game started pressing in the attack against the Tar Heels team, the players of the Tar Heels team were focused on the defense and Williams was defending against Rutland. Jake was defending well against O''Kelley who managed to make only 6 points in the 1st half, but Williams was not so well and the Wake Forest team started trying to attack more with Rutland because of that. In another play, the Wake Forest team made a good play and Rutland received the ball, he made a feint and Williams was deceived, but Rutland did not attempt the shot and passed it to O''Kelley who was far from where Jake was. O''Kelley attempted the three-point shot and Jake arrived quickly and hindered O''Kelley''s attempt, so he missed and Jamison caught the rebound for the Tar Heels team, Jake was always aware and was at a distance that he could try the steal and also hinder O''Kelley. Jamison passed the ball to Jake who advanced for the attack, after passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Williams on the right, Williams was playing well in the game and had already scored 9 points in the 1st half and hoped to help the team more in attack as he was having difficulty defending. Williams passed the ball to Carter from the left before crossing the three-point line, Carter advanced and tried to get rid of the defense and managed to get past one until another opposing player appeared to defend. Carter stopped and passed the ball to Jamison who was on the left, Jamison passed the ball to Jake further back, the Wake Forest defense came to defend against Jake who was free. Jake passed the ball to Williams, who was more open on the right, there was no one defending against Williams who had time to make the shot with ease and make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team. With Jake organizing the attacks of the Tar Heels team they managed to increase the advantage on the scoreboard even though the players of the Tar Heels team did not perform well, in defense they had to try harder to guarantee the victory. Jake continued to play well in the 2nd half and defended well against O''Kelley and so the Tar Heels team got the win by making 84 points against 48 points of the Wake Forest team, it was an easy victory in which the two teams don''t play very well and Jake highlighted as always. In this 2nd half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and had 17 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 blocks, with another double-double Jake can help the Tar Heels team to win and increase the sequence of games without lose. "The game is over and the Tar Heels team easily wins again, 84 points against Wake Forest team''s 48 points, so the Tar Heels team''s winning streak increases again." "That''s right, in this game the players of the Tar Heels team were not very well and only Jake and Williams performed well, but unlike the last game the players of the Wake Forest team did not perform well either." "So with Jake playing well in attack and defense, the Tar Heels team achieved an excellent victory like this, this is good to give more confidence to the Tar Heels team before the next difficult game that will be the last game before the start of the ACC tournament." "The next opponent is the Duke Blue Devils team, which is the biggest rival of the Tar Heels team, it will be a game as a visitor without the support of the fans and the players of the Tar Heels team will have to have an excellent performance if they want to win." "It is true, even if Jake has another excellent performance it will be difficult to achieve victory if the players of the Tar Heels team do not perform very well, perhaps in the next game we will see the end of the winning streak for the Tar Heels team." Chapter 409 - Training for the Movie 3 Coach Guthridge and the Tar Heels team players had the same concern for the next game, but they could do nothing but train hard to get the win, everyone knew they could trust Jake and if everyone worked hard they knew they could win. The Duke Blue Devils team really was the toughest opponent that Jake thought he had in both seasons, it was very difficult games and Jake always had to work hard to get the victory for the Tar Heels team. After returning to university Jake celebrated with his roommates that they were very happy about it, they cheered for the Tar Heels team and were basketball fans, studying at North Carolina University and still being in the same dorm as Jake who was the best player on the Tar Heels team that would go down in history was exciting. Certainly, this would be known as one of the best teams of all time just for this sequence of victories and for having won the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament last season and having Jake on the team. They will be able to tell their children in the future about what had happened, Jake also talked to his mother who watched all the games that were on television, Eva had even put up television to watch the games in the restaurant. After this tiring game against the Wake Forest team, Coach Guthridge gave players a day to rest and then it would be two days of intense training before the next game to see if the players would perform better in the next game. Jake was not tired and would use that day to train more with Yuen Woo-ping, Jake continued to learn the movements he would have to use when he was on the cables to do the fights in the film. Arriving in Australia where they would shoot the film Jake and Yuen Woo-ping would join everyone to make the scenes in the fight cables that would be edited for the incredible scenes in the film look as if the characters were flying while fighting. As Yuen Woo-ping knew that Jake learned new moves very quickly he decided to teach Jake several things so he could speed up Jake''s preparation in a few days, just as he hoped Jake really learned everything he taught quickly and Jake can repeat almost perfectly. Jake knew that this was possible because of his intelligence statistics of 63 and also because of his agility, even the technique that gave him a photographic memory helped a lot in learning new things. Jake was patient and just learned everything and repeated what Yuen Woo-ping did and didn''t ask to try to use it as fighting moves, but after classes ended because Yuen Woo-ping was tired Jake asked Yuen Woo-ping if it was possible that he learn some techniques and movements of kung fu or any martial arts. So Yuen Woo-ping taught Jake something he didn''t know, the movements he was learning could be used for self-defense if they were used well because they had elements of martial arts. But it was impossible for Jake to try to casually learn any type of martial arts because it took a long time to train his body to use fighting techniques, it was important to train his hands, arms, and legs to be able to start fighting without having the risk of getting hurt even without being hit. So basically Jake would have to spend a few months training his body before he could start to learn some movements and fighting techniques, the martial arts that use safety equipment or are professional competitions that can be taught without long body training. Yuen Woo-ping even gave examples like in kung fu that masters could defend themselves from strong kicks and blows using only their hands, kung fu masters had to train their hands for years to do this, otherwise, they would break hands when defending themselves of a kick, in addition to the techniques necessary to do this. Judo was a martial art that could be used without body training just to learn a few moves, but to become a master you would have to train your body the same way, and time to do that was something Jake didn''t have. Jake thought that because his body was stronger than ordinary people because of his statistics and because of the system he was embarrassed to underestimate the martial arts, of course, if Jake trained like the others did he would get better results more easily. After two days Jake started doing some training with Yuen Woo-ping, Yuen Woo-ping said that this way Jake could learn more easily how to do the movements he had learned and that he would have to do hanging on the cables afterward. During the training sessions between the two Jake missed several moves he had learned and if it was a real fight he would be attacked several times by Yuen Woo-ping, but just as Yuen Woo-ping said, Jake felt he was learning better the moves he had seen in the past few days training with Yuen Woo-ping. What Jake didn''t know was that Yuen Woo-ping was really impressed after training with him, just doing a light Sparring that Yuen Woo-ping can see the strength and agility that Jake had. Yuen Woo-ping saw that Jake was not only quick to make the moves but also had very fast reflexes and his reaction speed was very fast, so Jake was not hit by several strokes that he should have hit. And Jake just deflected what was more difficult than defending using techniques, as Yuen Woo-ping had said Jake could already defend himself from someone who didn''t know how to use martial arts only with what he learned in the last few days and using his reflex. Of course, next month Jake still had a lot to learn and Yuen Woo-ping was excited to see what Jake''s character in the movie The Matrix would look like, after all, Jake should be one of the ones who fought the most after the main character, and by the training, it would seem that Jake fought better than the main character. After training with Yuen Woo-ping and also two days with the basketball team, the day of the last game of the season came before the ACC tournament started, this was the last game that the Tar Heels team could lose without being eliminated from a tournament. After that, the Tar Heels team would have the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament and could not even lose any more games, that would be good because the other teams would have the same pressure as the Tar Heels team to not be able to lose any games. The players of the Tar Heels team were no longer so confident even though they had trained a lot since the last game, in the last two games the players were rested and focused on the game and yet some players did not perform well. Williams and Okulaja were not so concerned about that because Williams had played well in the last games and Okulaja was doing well in defense which was his biggest responsibility on the team, Jamison still had good performances in those last games. Carter was the one who was most concerned about this even with Coach Guthridge and Jake saying that he still helped the team a lot by making more than 10 points per game, yet everyone besides Jake was concerned. In this game they would have to worry about the defense also because the Duke Blue Devils team knows how to take advantage of the plays outside the three-point line, even though in the last game between them Jake and Williams had defended well, it was still a risk that they had to worry about. With that game as a visitor still and against the Duke Blue Devils team that was second in the ACC conference with just one defeat it would be a difficult game to win and Jake was concerned about that. "Welcome to another game here this season at the ACC conference, this is the second game between these great rivals, the Tar Heels team and the team Duke Blue Devils." "In the first game the two were almost tied for first place at the ACC conference and the Tar Heels team had this winning streak, everyone expected a difficult game to happen and the Duke Blue Devils team could win and stay in first." "But what happened was that Jake and Jamison had an excellent game and it was an easy win with a big advantage for the Tar Heels team at the Dean Smith Center, so this game here Cameron Indoor Stadium could be the rematch for the Duke Blue Devils team." "Another important detail is that the Duke Blue Devils team has not beaten the Tar Heels team since 1993 when they won that year''s NCAA title, 5 years ago from that game and there were 10 straight victories for the Tar Heels team." "But the Tar Heels team also doesn''t want to lose in this game, Jake and Jamison have been playing well all season and will try to guarantee the victory for the Tar Heels team in that game and further increase their winning streak." Just as Coach Guthridge asked the team they started pressing on the attack, even though their defense was praised, Tar Heels'' strength was the attack, Jake could score more than 30 points in almost every game and the team still had Jamison, Carter, and Williams who were also incredible attacking players. So with Jake commanding the team at the beginning of the game they were willing to attack, in a play Jake passed the ball to Carter from the left after passing through the middle of the court, Carter was eager to make a good game that day and advanced with the ball. Carter advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Jamison from the left, Jamison did not hold the ball back to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and then attempted a shot from outside of the three-point line and making 3 more points for the Tar Heels team. Chapter 410 - Training for the Movie 4 The Duke Blue Devils team did not expect the Tar Heels team to start putting so much pressure on the attack playing as a visitor and knowing they needed to win, and even if they knew it was difficult to stop the Tar Heels attack this season. So, in addition to reinforcing the defense, the Duke Blue Devils team knew they needed to attack if they wanted to have a chance to win in that game, the strength of this team was the three-point play and the fact that the whole team attacked together and everyone had the quality to attack and defend. They had no main players that stood out much more than the others and even those in the reserve could decide an important game, it was because of that style of play that everyone was important that the Duke Blue Devils team always had a team strong. So the Tar Heels team was also prepared to defend this game against this difficult opponent, Jake was not defending against anyone in this 1st half of the game and was just watching if someone would perform better and so he would defend against that person. Jake only defended against the best players in the three-point line, but the truth was that when he didn''t defend against anyone he sometimes played better because he could defend against more opponents even if he couldn''t block by playing like that. In another play the Duke Blue Devils team was attacking, after a good play in which the Tar Heels defense could not keep up with the left ball for Roshown McLeod, Jake was defending on the left side and so McLeod was free to try the outside shot to making 3 more points for the Duke Blue Devils team. The Duke Blue Devils team still tried to react by making a good game in the attack, but with Jake and Jamison leading the attack of the Tar Heels team it was difficult for the Duke Blue Devils team to defend or lessen the advantage on the scoreboard. In another move Jake advanced the ball even before the three-point line and passed to Williams on the right, Williams was also fine in that 1st half of the game, but he couldn''t score much because Jake was attacking more with Jamison and Carter. Williams passed the ball to Okulaja further down the right, Okulaja tried to advance the ball to try to enter the painted area, but the Duke Blue Devils team''s defense was strong in the painted area. So Okulaja had to stop and pass the ball farther back to Jake in the middle, when Jake took the ball the defense of the Duke Blue Devils team went to defend by the side of Jamison and Carter, Williams was open on the right and Okulaja was more in the middle. Seeing this, Jake made a feint and tricked the opponent by advancing on the almost empty right, the defense players of the Duke Blue Devils team realized this and some players on the left went to the right trying to defend against Jake. Jake moved forward with speed and when he found Trajan Langdon he did a quick crossover and managed to get rid of Langdon going through the middle, Jake made a mess in the defense of the Duke Blue Devils team who sent another player to defend against Jake. Jake didn''t try to go any further when he saw that more players from the Duke Blue Devils team came to defend against him and passed the ball to Carter further down the left, with the players who came to defend against Jake and the player who was defending against Jamison, Carter can receive the ball freely and make a dunk to cheer up teammates and make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. With Jake''s leadership in the strong attack of the Tar Heels team they ended the 1st half by winning the game with a big advantage on the scoreboard, with that advantage unless the players of the Tar Heels team made a mistake they would easily win that game. In this 1st half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and had 16 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 6 steals, Jake was satisfied with the performance of his teammates in that game and everyone was trying as hard as they could to bring victory for the Tar Heels team. "What a great performance from the Tar Heels team players in this game, everyone is playing well and Jamison returned to playing well with 12 points until that point in the game, Jake is having an easier time organizing the attacks in that game and he himself scored 16 points in the 1st half of the game." "The players on the Duke Blue Devils team also performed well, but they made a lot of mistakes and Jake even hindered the Duke Blue Devils team by making 6 steals, so they scored fewer points than the Tar Heels team." "It is true, but this result does not decide the game, I could see that some players on the Tar Heels team ended up tired this 1st half because of the intensity of the last games and because of the pressure as well." "The Duke Blue Devils team still has a chance of winning the game even with the Tar Heels team having such a great advantage at the end of the 1st half, the players of the Duke Blue Devils team have the skill and because the reserves play well in the game the initial players they''re not that tired." "I don''t think so, from what we are seeing in this game if Jake continues to play well and the defense of the Tar Heels team plays well the victory is guaranteed, Jake usually has more than 30 points in all games, so he should get another 14 points at least and there are his teammates." The commentators were divided in that game as well as all the sports media were, this was because some wanted to see the Tar Heels team lose to the Duke Blue Devils team before the start of the ACC tournament and others wanted to see the Tar Heels team continue to win until they won again the NCAA tournament this season. It would be a very good story for reporters to see the defeat of the Tar Heels team and the end of their winning streak without achieving the record that they so wanted to be the second team with the longest winning streak in history. That''s because both fans of the Tar Heels team and fans of other teams and basketball, in general, bought the magazines and newspapers with this news, after all, everyone in the media knew that a story of failure had more impact than a story of success. And there were other members of the media who wanted to see the Tar Heels team win until the NCAA tournament, because then they would have an exciting story about one of the best teams in the history of college basketball who would have managed to win two ACC tournaments and two NCAA tournaments in a row and with a sequence of more than 60 games without losing. Of course, Jake and the Tar Heels team players wanted to see the Tar Heels team win and so they intended to continue with that advantage on the scoreboard until they won this important game, and the Duke Blue Devils players would love to win that game and end that rival record. At the beginning of the 2nd half, everyone could see that the Duke Blue Devils team returned to try to win by pressing in the attack, the players of the Tar Heels team recovered in the interval, but were still much more tired than the opponents. What impressed everyone was how Jake defended on the three-point line by putting pressure on three different players from the Duke Blue Devils team and because of that the three always remained in different positions in the attack so that Jake could not defend against the three. In another attacking move, the Duke Blue Devils team managed to make a good move and again the three players on the Duke Blue Devils three-point line separated so that Jake could not defend against all of them. But the defense of the Tar Heels team was not only Jake and also had Williams and Carter defending on the three-point line against the three opposing players, but this also hindered the Duke Blue Devils attack move and made them lose time in possession ball. So with a few seconds left the ball was passed to McLeod, Jake went to defend against him so as not to risk being caught by surprise, so McLeod passed the ball to Langdon who had Williams defending against him. Langdon used the skill to get some space to try the shot and hit to make 3 more points for the Duke Blue Devils team, the players of the Tar Heels team were not affected by these three points of the opponent and continued the game smoothly. This great advantage that they had on the scoreboard helped them to be able to play more calmly with less pressure even with everything that was happening to them and playing as a visitor, on the contrary, the Duke Blue Devils team had to make three-point plays because only then they had a chance to win the game. And because of that more than half of their attacks ended up being wasted, the players of the Tar Heels team also started to miss more moves in the 2nd half and so the Duke Blue Devils team saw the opportunity to try to win. The biggest problem was that Jake hardly missed attacks and the Tar Heels team also had very good players in catching offensive rebounds, so some of his mistakes could come back for another chance with a rebound. In another move Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Williams from the right, Williams was performing well in that game too and was satisfied with his team''s victory so far. Williams slowly advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Okulaja further on the right, Okulaja held the ball and passed it back to Carter on the left, Carter passed the ball to Jake quickly through the middle. The Duke Blue Devils players pressed the defense against Jake and Jamison too, Jake signaled and Carter returned to make a screen and hinder the Duke Blue Devils player who was on defense. So Jake can go to the left and calmly try the shot from outside to hit and make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team, with Jake and Williams hitting the three-point shots it was more difficult for the Duke Blue Devils team to win. Chapter 411 - Training for the Movie 5 Because of the defense of the Tar Heels team that was well in the game and with the good attack of the Tar Heels team, the Duke Blue Devils team was having difficulty to diminish the advantage that the Tar Heels team had in the game. Even so with the good game in the 2nd half of the Duke Blue Devils players and several mistakes by the Tar Heels team players they managed to diminish the advantage, but with less than 10 minutes left in the game they realized they would not be able to win any more in that game. The players of the Tar Heels team also realized this and were able to relax even more and managed to play even better without so much pressure, the only problem was the fatigue of the players and also because the Duke Blue Devils team did not give up the victory. Even so, the Tar Heels team players continued to run really tired because they knew they would have more than 5 days to rest before the next game in the ACC tournament, so the game continued to be exciting even though the Tar Heels team had a good lead on the scoreboard. In another play Jake advanced with the ball and passed the middle of the court and passed the ball to Carter from the left, Carter was playing well in that game even though he couldn''t score as many points as Jake and Jamison. Carter advanced until after the three-point line and passed the ball to Williams on the right, Williams was open on the right and the defense did not press because Williams did not try so many shots from outside when he played with Jake. Williams passed the ball to Jamison on the left and the Duke Blue Devils team''s defense immediately put pressure on him, Jamison tried the play and seeing that he couldn''t move forward, he passed the ball to Jake who was coming back in the middle. Jake was within the three-point line and had freedom because he had tricked a defender before receiving the ball, other players on the Duke Blue Devils team soon came to defend against Jake and he signaled to Carter. Carter understood that Jake wanted to make the same move as the 1st half and came to make the screen, Carter hindered the player who was defending against Jake, so he can advance to the right and soon some players approached Jake to prevent him from making the mid-range shot. What nobody expected was that Jake made a high pass for Carter to take the top and make a dunk and complete the alley-oop and make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, after making the screen the defender who was defending against Carter went to defend against Jake so that Carter can enter the painted area alone and Jake did alley-oop with him. This was a move that they trained a lot in the training of the basketball team, both knew that sometimes the opposing players would prefer to defend against Jake and so Carter would be free to do the dunk, in the 1st half it didn''t happen and Jake took advantage of the space and hit the three-point shot. With Jake playing so well and the Tar Heels team players were also performing well even though they were more tired, with the team so they managed to win this game more. The Tar Heels team won the game by making 82 points against Duke Blue Devils'' 72 points, with this victory the Tar Heels team had a sequence of 55 victories in a row, the players celebrated this a lot because they thought the greatest pressure they had decreased. The Tar Heels team still had to win all the remaining games to win the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament, but all the teams had the same pressure on them and that would no longer be a problem for the players. In that 2nd half, Jake played for 20 minutes and made 14 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, and 6 steals, with Jake''s triple-double in that game he helped the Tar Heels team win this game that they would have lost if he didn''t was playing like he did before Jake went back in time. "And so another game of the season ends this year, the last game at the ACC conference before the start of the ACC tournament, the Tar Heels team achieved another good victory in this difficult game and thus managed to increase the sequence of victories for their team." "This is very good because after this game all the opposing teams will also have the pressure of having to win because they will be eliminatory games and a defeat means the elimination of the ACC tournament." "Players on the Tar Heels team will have more than 5 days to rest before the first game of the ACC tournament, so players can recover completely and if they play as well as today it is possible for them to win that game." "It''s true, the players of the Duke Blue Devils team played very well in that game and made it one of the most difficult games for the Tar Heels team to win this season, but with Jake''s defense very strong and also Jake, Jamison, Williams, and Carter in the attack it was difficult for them to win this game." "But we can see how the players on the Tar Heels team have a problem with their physical condition after several games in a row except for Jake, so if those teams face each other in the ACC tournament, another exciting game that the Duke Blue Devils team can achieve can happen. the victory." Everyone could see that in this game even the players of the Tar Heels team performing well had it not been for Jake they would have lost this game, the physical condition of the players was a problem because everyone had to play many minutes in every game because the coach Guthridge was unable to place the reserves and risk the team losing the game. In the reserve they had Makhtar N''Diaye who could be considered one of the main players of the team, the team also had Ed Cota who played very well and the young Brendan Haywood who had a good performance in training. The problem was that N''Diaye and Haywood were players who had more defensive characteristics and that was contrary to the Tar Heels team''s playing style this season, and Ed Cota who could be a starting player on any team couldn''t get in because his highlight it was the assists that Jake did even better than he did. If Ed Cota was still a player like Shammond Williams who scored a lot of points he could join Jake to help the team by making assists and points, but as he was not very skilled at scoring a lot of points he had no place on the team this season. What Coach Guthridge thought was the same as Jake thought that these players would be very important in the next seasons with Team Tar Heels when Jake, Jamison, Williams, and Carter left. Brendan Haywood would be one of the best players on the Tar Heels team for the next seasons and Ed Cota would also lead the team for his next two years at the university, the problem was that on this team they had no place to play. Coach Guthridge was concerned that the Tar Heels team would have three games in a row if they reached the final of the ACC tournament and they thought the players would not be able to take those games in a row. When Jake was considering joining the Tar Heels team to leave Cameron Indoor Stadium for them to return to the university, a reporter stopped Jake and asked to do a quick interview with him. Jake usually didn''t accept doing interviews, but after a good game and before the ACC tournament he was in a very good mood and agreed to do the interview with this reporter when Jake accepted he realized that the reporter didn''t seem to expect him to accept, but soon prepared the questions. "Mr. Smith, the Tar Heels team has been having one of the best seasons in the team''s history and after that game, there are 55 games without losing, what do you feel about being part of a team that will surely be known in history?" "I am very happy with this, it is an important moment in my career and I am happy to be in this team with my teammates, we always make our greatest effort in the games and that is why we are achieving this sequence of incredible games." "Many members of the media and even basketball fans say that you are the best player on the current Tar Heels team and one of the best college basketball players in history, what do you think about that?" "I''m happy when I get compliments from the sports media and Tar Heels team fans and basketball in general, but I don''t think I can say I''m the best player on my team, we have a good team and I have good teammates that if they can''t play a game for some reason the game would be much more difficult." "I myself could not participate in a game and my team still managed to win showing that they do not depend on me to win, I believe that I am the best of my team and maybe in the whole College basketball playing as PG, but my teammates stand out in other positions as well." The reporter was intelligent and asked questions that everyone wanted to know and that he knew Jake would not refuse to answer and also always asked the question indirectly so that Jake could easily give an answer that would not offend anyone as he was doing. "And what do you think the Tar Heels team can achieve this season? Do you expect to win the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament again?" "For sure, I believe that our team has the quality to win the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament and we will do our best to win, our goal is to win and I believe we are able to achieve that." Jake did a quick interview and the reporter thanked him several times for his attention, Jake had said some things that could irritate some players and some teams, but he really had confidence that they would win and if the Tar Heels team really won he wouldn''t be called an arrogant. Chapter 412 - Training for the Movie 6 The Tar Heels team players went back to the university and nobody had seen Jake doing that interview, Coach Guthridge knew that the team was prepared for the ACC tournament and so he gave everyone a two-day rest. Afterward, they still had three more days to prepare before the first game of the ACC tournament, Jake would naturally not come home on those rest days and would only train with Yuen Woo-ping and also train with the basketball team after the rest. Jake still had a lot to learn before the movie started, even if he learned all the martial arts moves that he would have to use in the movie he would take a long time to train using that move so he wouldn''t make mistakes when using the cables. So Yuen Woo-ping taught Jake the movements for a few hours and then trained with Jake for a few hours so that he could better learn what Yuen Woo-ping had taught him. The most important thing was that it was difficult for Jake to do a Sparring with Yuen Woo-ping? because the most important thing was not just to make the movements correctly and use the strength he had, Jake had to learn how to fight with Yuen Woo-ping using movements really hurt Yuen Woo-ping. After all, he was an actor and the moves were more to pretend to the audience that they were having an exciting fight, but Jake couldn''t really hit a blow because he could hurt the other actors. At most, they could use some moves that could be easily defended and would not hurt much and these blows Jake could hit to bring more realism to the film, seeing this Jake discovered the truth about some of the films he liked most and saw that maybe learning arts martial arts were not as cool as he thought before. What Jake didn''t know was that Yuen Woo-ping was really impressed by his talent, Yuen Woo-ping was thinking that in other films that he participated in as a director he could invite Jake to participate in the film because Jake was able to make a film as if he were a martial arts master. There were some films that they had a hard time using foreign actors because foreign actors who knew how to fight couldn''t fight the same martial arts that Yuen Woo-ping used in his films, so someone tall and talented like Jake was an excellent candidate to do one antagonist and a villain someday. Of course, he knew that it was impossible for Jake to go to China or other places to participate in the filming of a film without the director of the film making a good plan beforehand, but to have Jake in the film he could organize part of the recording for being in the United States and in a few months that Jake had time. After all, there were many fight films in which the film''s villain did not appear until the end of the film and only fought the main character, of course, they would have to wait a few years for this to happen and Jake would have to train more because it would be difficult find a double that looks like him. So Jake continued training with Yuen Woo-ping and it looked like he could easily join the film crew in Australia and not have to worry about the fight scenes he would have to do. After two days of rest, the Tar Heels team players went back to training, that day also came out the article that showed the interview that Jake had done, Jake read and was pleased to see that the reporter had written everything exactly as he said and did not distort his words. Even though Jake tried to make only statements about things that were reality trying to show his humility, many basketball players and teams did not like the part of the story that Jake had talked about them. He naturally hoped that there were people who would not like what he had to say, the most important thing was that Tar Heels fans who were concerned about the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament were able to relax more after watching this interview. The players had also been happy to see in the story that Jake really trusted the team, they had less pressure with the ACC tournament starting and those two days of rest can prepare players for the next games. The players did not do any intense training in the next few days because they would have three games in three days in a row without a day off and everyone knew that it would be difficult to maintain their best physical condition. So in the next few days, Jake continued training with the Tar Heels team and also with Yuen Woo-ping, in a few more weeks they would finish training for the cable fights and also train for the fights they would normally have. After all, it was not in all the fight scenes in the film that Jake and the other actors would be put on a cable to make movements impossible to make without this equipment, they would also have scenes of struggles as in any action film and Jake would have to learn to do these scenes correctly. After almost a week of training came the day of the Tar Heels team''s first game at the ACC tournament, just as last season would be three games on three consecutive days and the games would be at the Greensboro Coliseum. The opponent of that game would be the NC State Wolfpack team that was a tough opponent in the last game between them, in addition, it was the NC State Wolfpack team that was the opponent in the final of the ACC tournament last season. Even though the Tar Heels team players were confident in this game because they were in great physical condition, they still respected their opponents and knew that this was going to be a game and that they had to concentrate. The Tar Heels team had to win this game if they wanted to win the ACC tournament and continue with the winning streak, Jake was very focused and knew that in this game he had to have a great performance if he wanted to guarantee the victory of the Tar Heels team. "Welcome to everyone who is here to follow this incredible game this season at College basketball, today''s game is the first game of the most disputed tournament of all the ACC conferences." "The Tar Heels team that won last season has been doing an impressive season and is breaking records with this current team that has incredible players like Jake Smith and Antawn Jamison who are vying to see who is the best player this season." "The opposing team in this game is the NC State Wolfpack team, it is the third game between these two teams that played in the final of the ACC tournament last season that the Tar Heels team won, in the last game the NC State Wolfpack team also impressed by making the Tar Heels team suffer to win." "We will follow this game to find out which team will win and continue in the ACC tournament." The Tar Heels team soon started strong in the game by pressing in the attack, Coach Guthridge did not underestimate the opponent and asked the Tar Heels team to press in the attack from the beginning and that Jake organized the plays to try to keep the players from getting too tired. Coach Guthridge''s idea was that if the Tar Heels team played a good game in the 1st half, they would place the reserves to play for longer and thus let the starting players rest for the next game that would be the next day. Naturally, if the game was difficult he would leave the team complete, after all, they had to win this game against the NC State Wolfpack team in order to play the next game in the ACC tournament the next day. In the first few minutes of the game, Jake realized that Carter was not performing well in that game and could not score, so Jake decided that he would talk to Coach Guthridge about it at the end of the 1st half. In the 1st half, Carter could still help the team by attracting the attention of the defensive players of the NC State Wolfpack team, in another play Jake advanced the ball and passed to Carter on the left before the three-point line. Carter did not know that Jake had decided not to make assists for him and thought to help the team, Carter tried the feint and could not get rid of the opposing player, so Carter passed the ball to Jamison who was further ahead on the left. Jamison also tried to get rid of the defense and advance to the painted area, but as he couldn''t pass the ball to Jake who was further back in the middle, Jake received the ball and soon stepped back and tried an outside shot to make three more points for the Tar Heels team. Jake had decided that he would try his best performance in all games to guarantee the victory of the Tar Heels team until they won the NCAA tournament, so he did not hesitate to try the three-point shot when he was free. In this game the players of the NC State Wolfpack team were not playing very well as they did in the last game against the Tar Heels team, Jake was defending against Clint Harrison just in case and was also defending against other players in the three-point line. In another move the NC State Wolfpack team was trying another attack and after a good move the ball went to Harrison, Jake was away from him to defend against other players and he tried the shot from outside and Jake moved quickly and still managed the block. What the basketball experts always said was that Jake''s strong point was that he was very talented, it wasn''t his three-point shot, but his speed, that speed helped him defend well and attack quickly without adversaries could not prevent. In that move Jake was far from where Harrison was when he attempted the shot from outside, but when Harrison started the three-point shot Jake approached quickly and still managed to block and end the NC State Wolfpack team''s attack. Chapter 413 - 1998 ACC Tournament 1 In another attacking move by the NC State Wolfpack team, Jake also took advantage of his speed when he landed a steal by intercepting a pass from the NC State Wolfpack team and advancing into the attack. Everyone knew Jake''s speed and his passing interception was known to all teams since he had an average of more than 10 steals per game, so when Jake ran for the attack with full speed only the player who missed pass tried to come back to defend. Jake ran very fast and when he reached the painted area on the NC State Wolfpack team to score the points, the NC State Wolfpack player was not even close to the three-point line, so Jake went forward and dunk to score two more points for the team. Tar Heels. Without Jake needing to say Coach Guthridge had also already realized that Carter was not doing well in this game, he knew Jake very well and knew why Jake was not passing the ball to Carter in the 1st half of the game. Even so, Coach Guthridge was satisfied with the performance of the rest of the team, the Tar Heels team had a big advantage on the scoreboard and Jake was controlling the pace of the game so that the players of the Tar Heels team did not get tired in the game. With the good performance of Jake and also Jamison who was well in that game, the Tar Heels team ended the 1st half of the game, winning with a good advantage on the scoreboard, with the NC State Wolfpack team not playing well they had more confidence to win this game. In this 1st half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and had 17 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals, as the NC State Wolfpack team was not playing so well and Jake was keeping the game pace slower he didn''t do that much points even though he was mainly responsible for the advantage on the Tar Heels team score. "So the Tar Heels team ends this 1st half by winning the game with a good lead on the scoreboard, the Tar Heels team clearly had the upper hand in the 1st half of the game and so they can win that game much more easily." "The NC State Wolfpack team is not able to perform as well as it did in the last game against the Tar Heels team, in this game the defense of the Tar Heels team is preventing the players of the NC State Wolfpack team from attacking correctly." "Jake Smith is playing very well again and it seems that as soon as the Tar Heels team got the advantage he kept on attacking, but he made the plays more slowly so that his teammates wouldn''t get tired." "It''s true, coach Guthridge has already let the other players besides Jake rest for a few minutes in the 1st half to be in good physical condition in the next games if the Tar Heels team wins." "This could be the opportunity for the NC State Wolfpack team to try to win, the way things are they have no chance of winning this game, so they could try to put pressure on the offense and defense when the reserve players of the Tar Heels team were on the court." The coach of the NC State Wolfpack team had realized that Coach Guthridge was trying to preserve the Tar Heels team players and told the NC State Wolfpack team players to press forward and attack. Coach Guthridge decided to leave Carter in reserve for most of the 2nd half and put Ed Cota in his place, Brendan Haywood and Makhtar N''Diaye would also enter the 2nd half so that Jamison, Williams, and Okulaja could rest. Naturally, the players took turns and so the Tar Heels team did not have many reserve players on the court at the same time, so they returned to play in the 2nd half and the Tar Heels team still defended and attacked the same way. The players on the NC State Wolfpack team pressed on the attack and defense, but even if they managed to defend several times they also wasted a lot of attacks because the players on the NC State Wolfpack team were not performing well. And even if the defense of the NC State Wolfpack team put a lot of pressure, the players of the Tar Heels team had the quality to attack even with the defense of the opposing team putting pressure, as well as Jake''s three-point shots and the points of the other players in the team. Tar Heels continued to maintain a good advantage. In that game, Ademola Okulaja was having a very good performance and so Jake was passing the ball more to him, in another play the NC State Wolfpack team had managed to make the points and the Tar Heels team started the attack. Jake advanced with the ball and passed the ball to Ed Cota on the left, Cota advanced with the ball and before the three-point line he passed the ball to Jamison further on the left, Jamison received the ball and tried the individual play. The opponent pressed well in defense against Jamison and so Jamison had to pass the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball with freedom and tried the three-point shot and missed, so Okulaja managed to catch the rebound and made the 2 points for the Tar Heels team. So the game continued and the lead did not diminish much, it seemed that the players of the NC State Wolfpack team were waiting for Jake to leave the court to attack, but Jake did not want to leave the court and Coach Guthridge would not take him away in this important game. The game continued like this until the end of the team Tar Heels won the game making 85 points against 40 points of the NC State Wolfpack team, the coach Guthridge was satisfied with this comfortable victory in which he had managed to spare the players who were not so tired. In this 2nd half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and made 15 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals, in that game in which coach Guthridge let the players rest Jake was unable to a double-double, but he played very well. "The game is over and the Tar Heels team gets one more victory of the season and moves on to the second phase of the ACC tournament, the next phase can be called the semifinal and if the Tar Heels team wins the next game they will go to the final again." "The Tar Heels team players performed well in that game and managed to attack and defend well, Jake played very well and as he always led the team to victory, only Carter did not perform well in that game, but he was the starting player who played less time in that game." "The players of the NC State Wolfpack team did not perform well and the difference in skill between the two teams is very large, so the NC State Wolfpack team had no chance of winning that game." "We will continue to follow the next games to see if the Tar Heels team can win the ACC tournament this season again." After that victory the players of the Tar Heels team were much more confident, even Carter who did not perform well was even more motivated to play well in the next game against the Maryland Terrapins team. Jake was concerned about this game that would be very difficult for the Tar Heels team, but he didn''t think he needed to let Coach Guthridge know about it because everyone knew how important this game was for the Tar Heels team. Jake only knew that in this game it was impossible to let some players rest thinking about the game in the final, they had to work even harder in this game to have a chance to go to the final and try to win the ACC tournament. As the game would be the next day they would not have time to train or rest after that game, so they would not even return to the university until the ACC tournament was over. After resting for one night the day of the next game in the ACC tournament had arrived, luckily the players of the Tar Heels team were not that tired and the opposing teams could not be much better than they were in physical condition. The players of the Tar Heels team were confident to achieve victory in that game, everyone had forgotten the pressure they felt about having to keep winning just because of the winning streak and just thought about winning the game and then winning the ACC tournament and they knew it was the same with their opponent. The opponent of that game was the Maryland Terrapins team that was doing very well this season and was in third place in the ACC tournament, because of that the players of the Tar Heels team and the coach Guthridge knew they could not underestimate the opponent. Coach Guthridge didn''t even talk about letting any player rest and just told the players to do their best and win the game, Jake was thinking about how he could play in that game to win more easily. "Welcome to everyone who will follow this ACC tournament game with us again, it will be a game between the Tar Heels team and the Maryland Terrapins team, two strong ACC conference teams that will make a great game." "The favorite to win this game is the Tar Heels team, with 56 victories in a row and without losing a single game in the season, the Tar Heels team that has Jake Smith and Antawn Jamison is certainly the favorite to win this game today." "But the Maryland Terrapins team also has a lot of chances to win in that game, as the team that came in third at the ACC conference they are one of the teams that few would be surprised if they won that game." "That''s right, I think the Tar Heels team will win this game, if Jake has a great performance as he has been doing all season and the other players on the Tar Heels team play well the victory will certainly be on the Tar Heels team." Soon the game started and the Tar Heels team started putting pressure on the attack, they knew this was going to be a difficult game so Jake thought it was better to start attacking well to get the advantage on the scoreboard in this 1st half and thus have an easier game later. Chapter 414 - 1998 ACC Tournament 2 This was actually the strategy that the Tar Heels team used in most games this season, but as they had won all games this season it showed how good that strategy was. Even so, it looked like the Maryland Terrapins players expected the Tar Heels team to do that and they pushed on defense too, so if the Tar Heels players were playing well in that game Jake would have it easier. Jake advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Williams from the right, Williams received the ball and the Maryland Terrapins team''s defense soon pressed, so Williams passed the ball to Jake who was in the middle. Jake was quick and as soon as he got the ball and made a quick pass to Okulaja who received the ball with freedom inside, so Okulaja just advanced and made the layup and made the first 2 points for the Tar Heels team. The defense of the opposing teams used to ignore Okulaja in attack during the games because Okulaja was one of the players who scored fewer points in the Tar Heels team, so they defended more against Jamison and Carter within the three-point line. But Jake thought of moving to Okulaja because in the last game Okulaja had a good offensive performance and so Jake felt that he could count on him in the attack and further complicate things for the defense of the Maryland Terrapins team. After a few minutes of play, Jake could see that the Tar Heels team players were performing well in that game and he was more relieved, so he was more confident of victory even if the opponent performed well. And this was also happening, the players of the Maryland Terrapins team were playing very well both in attack and defense, it seems that they had made a special strategy to play against the Tar Heels team because the ball did not pass very often near Jake. As the opponent had no player who was playing so well Jake was on the three-point line without defending against just one player and only defending against who could attempt the shot from outside. But with the Maryland Terrapins team playing like that Jake knew he wouldn''t make as many steals as he did in the last few games and so the Maryland Terrapins team would be able to score more points, of course with the players playing far from where Jake was, their attack options were limited. In another move, the Maryland Terrapins team made a good attack and the players were far from where Jake was, only one player was in the middle for Jake to defend against him, of course, Williams still defended outside the three-point line and inside the line of three points, the defense of the Tar Heels team was even stronger. Laron Profit received the ball from the left and advanced after getting rid of Okulaja''s defense, he tried a mid-range shot and scored 2 more points for the Maryland Terrapins team, the Maryland Terrapins team players had the quality to make plays like these and manage to make the stitches. After that move, the Tar Heels team attacked again, Jake advanced until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to Carter from the left, Carter seemed quite excited to have a good performance in that game. Carter was very upset by the poor performance he had in the last game and knew that maybe he had been left in reserve for longer because Coach Guthridge could be starting to lose confidence in him. Jake could feel that Carter was thinking like that and he also saw that Carter seemed to be performing well in that game, so he decided that he would make more plays with Carter to make more assists and help his friend gain confidence for the next games. Carter advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Williams who was on the right, unlike Carter, Williams was very confident at this end of the season, in almost every game he had a good performance and knew he was an important player in team now. Williams passed the ball to Jamison on the left ahead, Jamison tried to make the move getting rid of the defense and failed, so Jamison passed the ball further back to Jake in the middle. Jake moved forward and made a quick move getting rid of the player who was defending against him, Jake advanced and the Maryland Terrapins team''s defense was to try to defend against him, when two players went to defend against him Jake passed the ball to Carter from the left. Carter received the ball and advanced quickly to make the dunk and get 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, in this game the defense of the Maryland Terrapins team, even though he was strong, had difficulty defending against the Tar Heels team because all the players were having a good time performance. Jake was a great PG because everyone knew that he could easily score more than 30 points in a game himself, so whenever he got the ball outside the three-point line or within the three-point line the defense of the opposing team had to defend against him. Most of the time they had to have more than one player defending against him, Ed Cota was as good as Jake in assists, but Cota wasn''t good at scoring a lot of points in games, so he didn''t attract many players to defend against him and he had more difficult to get assistance. The two teams continued to play very well, but with Jake organizing great attacks, the Tar Heels team ended the 1st half by winning with a good advantage on the scoreboard, if the game continued like this the Tar Heels team would go to the final of the ACC tournament again. In this 1st half, Jake played for 20 minutes and made 15 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal, Jake took advantage of the good performance of his teammates to make many assists and because of the Maryland Terrapins team avoiding attacking near him, he didn''t do many steals. "Thus ends the 1st half of the game, so far this has been a very exciting game with both teams playing very well and having a game played, the Tar Heels team was winning with a good advantage because with Jake organizing the plays the team Tar Heels does not miss many attacks." "The Maryland Terrapins team seems to have done something to try to avoid Jake''s steals and blocks, they did it well in the 1st half, but because of that the players got more tired and they lost some attacks because the defense of the Tar Heels team has others players besides Jake." "If the game continues as it is, the Tar Heels team has a good chance of winning that game and they are really the favorites to get the win, with Jake playing well it will be difficult for the Maryland Terrapins team to get a reaction." "But the Maryland Terrapins team has also played a good game and they have a lot of chances of winning the game and ending the winning streak for the Tar Heels team." The players of the Tar Heels team were more confident after finishing winning the 1st half well, so they continued to attack since the beginning of the 2nd half, but the Maryland Terrapins team that had to attack started to press on the attack to try to win. So the two teams started to attack without thinking about defending so well, in other games this could be dangerous for the Tar Heels team, but with the players of the Tar Heels team having a good performance, this made the advantage on the scoreboard not diminish. In another attacking move by the Tar Heels team Jake advanced until after the middle of the court and passed the ball to Carter on the left, Carter advanced with the ball and passed to Jamison on the left. Jamison did not try to advance and held the ball until he passed back to Jake, Jake received the ball and soon saw that he had some space, so Jake stepped back and tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for Team Tar Heels. He was far from the three-point line when he stepped back and so he tried to shoot from very far from the three-point line and that took his opponent by surprise, so it was difficult to defend against Jake in the games. When the opponent was very close to him, Jake made a move using speed and advanced to make the layup or dunk, and when the opponent was a little far away he found a way to get the three-point shot. Even so, the Maryland Terrapins team was really good in that game and even until half of the 2nd half the advantage on the scoreboard did not increase or decrease even the Tar Heels team making many points. In another play the Maryland Terrapins team managed to make a 2 point play and the Tar Heels team would attack to react, Jake received the ball and advanced and before passing through the middle of the court he passed the ball to Williams on the right. Williams advanced with the ball and before the three-point line he passed the ball to Okulaja ahead, Okulaja soon received pressure from the Maryland Terrapins team''s defense because he was playing so well. So Okulaja had to pass the ball back to Williams again, this time Williams tried a pass to Jamison further down the left, but Profit from Maryland Terrapins managed to make the steals by intercepting the pass. Soon Laron Profit and Rodney Elliott used all their speed to try to take advantage of this opportunity to diminish the advantage that the Tar Heels team had on the scoreboard, the two ran very quickly and left all the players of the Tar Heels team behind, only Jake who was further back he was approaching them. Jake was very fast, but there were two players from the Maryland Terrapins team who were on the attack to make this move, entering within the three-point line of the Tar Heels Profit defense passed the ball to Elliott to score the points. Elliot saw that Jake was very close to him and so he tried to make a layup to make sure he would make the 2 points, but Jake was waiting for that moment and was quick to jump and block on the basketball backboard just as he saw LeBron James do in several games. Chapter 415 - 1998 ACC Tournament 3 With Jake doing this unexpected block the crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum got excited and started cheering more for the Tar Heels team and applauding Jake''s move, some reporters who were more lucky to try to photograph Elliot''s layup managed to photograph the block on the basketball Jake''s backboard. "What an incredible move by Jake in defense we could see now, a turnover by Shammond Williams whose pass was intercepted by Laron Profit ended in a dangerous counterattack by the Maryland Terrapins team." "Laron Profit and Rodney Elliot were on the attack in this quick counterattack by the Maryland Terrapins team, only Jake who is the fastest player on the Tar Heels team managed to come back to defend." "But against two players it was difficult to defend and so everyone thought it was almost certain that the Maryland Terrapins team would score both points." "But when Elliot got the ball and tried to lay it out, Jake seemed to be expecting it and quickly jumped together to block on the basketball backboard and stop the Maryland Terrapins team from scoring." "This was certainly one of the most incredible defensive moves I''ve seen in recent years at College basketball." After this good defensive play by Jake, the Tar Heels team was more excited to attack and the Maryland Terrapins players were a little discouraged, after all, in almost the whole game they had to make moves to escape Jake''s defense and in a play with this Jake got a block. In another move the Tar Heels team was on the attack and Carter advanced the ball to the three-point line, Carter held the ball and passed it to Jamison who was further on the left, the Maryland Terrapins defense soon pressed in defense against Jamison and he passed the ball to Jake further back through the middle. The defense of the Maryland Terrapins team soon paid more attention to Jake in the attack and a player went to defend against him, Jake did not try any feints and passed the ball to Williams who was more open on the right. The player who was defending against Williams was further away to defend if Jake managed to get rid of the player who was defending against him, so Williams was free to try the shot from outside and score 3 more points for the Tar Heels team. With the Tar Heels team playing so well they managed to win at the end of the game with the Tar Heels team making 85 points against 66 points of the Maryland Terrapins team, in the final part of the game after that block of games the Tar Heels team managed to increase even more plus the advantage. In this 2nd half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and had 17 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block, even though Jake trying to defend well the Maryland Terrapins team did his best to avoid where he was defending and so Jake had few defensive moves like that block. "What a great victory for the Tar Heels team in this game that was very disputed and the two teams did their best to achieve the victory, but the players of the Tar Heels team were playing very well and Jake managed to lead the team to another victory." "That''s right, the Tar Heels team was very good in that game, Carter, Jamison, Williams and even Okulaja were well in the attack in that game and Jake was fine too and even not being able to stand out in defense because of the Maryland team''s game strategy Terrapins even managed to make that incredible block that gave the Tar Heels team more confidence to win the game." "The players of the Maryland Terrapins team were playing very well in this game too, it was a more intelligent risky strategy to make attacks far from where Jake was defending, with that they managed to avoid several steals and blocks that Jake could make in that game and still press the Tar Heels team." "But the Tar Heels team has great players and since last season they have been the best team in College basketball and so they have this sequence of 57 straight wins, now let''s see if the Tar Heels team can win the ACC tournament again this season." After that victory, the Tar Heels team players were very happy and excited, they were in the final of the ACC tournament and could win again and they would play against their biggest rival who was the Duke Blue Devils team that had not won against them in over 5 years. Certainly against a rival like this the players would be more willing to win and would play even better, Coach Guthridge was not so excited about this because he knew the players were very tired after that game. This was the first ACC tournament that the Tar Heels team would play with him as the head coach, so it was only natural that he would be a little insecure and expect a weaker team in the final, but of course he knew that the players on the Duke Blue Devils team too they should be tired and so they had a good chance of winning that game. Jake was confident that if his teammates played as well as they did today they would win that final for sure, Jake had confidence in that and hoped to win the ACC tournament and then the NCAA tournament. The players couldn''t even sleep well that night and the day of the final game had arrived, everyone was looking forward to winning that final against the Duke Blue Devils team and winning the ACC tournament. Before Jake went to the game site he received a call from his mother, Eva said she had closed the restaurant and would go to the final game with Anna to hope for Jake''s victory, he was very happy to know that and could play with more happiness knowing that there would be support in the crowd. Jake soon told this to his teammates, Carter and Jamison who were very close friends with Jake, knew well that he liked his mother very much and was not ashamed to say that to others and Jake was respected by friends for being like that. This was a team full of good players and leaders like Jamison, Carter and Jake was also one of the leaders of this team and their support for always having good performances in all games, as well as seeing Jake happy and excited to play even better in this game they also gained more confidence. Jake was always excited when his mom watched his final games in middle school, but as she was busy and couldn''t see many games from him at university it was even more special, while Jake was excited he got another call. "Hi, Jake, how are you?" "Hi, Kate, I''m doing great, we''re going to have an important game today, the final of the ACC tournament." "I know that, I''ve followed a lot of your team''s games whenever I have time, I know you play really well and you''re the best college basketball player this season and also last season and your team won the NCAA tournament last season." "I didn''t expect you to like basketball that much, it''s really cool to see that you follow the games of the Tar Heels team, so I can play more willingly knowing that I have you rooting for me." Jake was really surprised to learn that Kate watched the Tar Heels team games, even though many Americans were in the habit of watching College basketball games he didn''t expect Kate who was so busy watching the games. "I''m not that much of a basketball fan, I started watching the Tar Heels team games when I heard that you played on that team, I called to say I had some time today and came to watch your final game here at Greensboro Coliseum." Jake was really surprised to hear that, he was surprised to learn that Kate watched the Tar Heels team games just because of him and even more surprised to learn that she had come to the Greensboro Coliseum to watch the Tar Heels team final game. He was already happy to know that his mother had come to the Greensboro Coliseum to watch the game and now he was even happier, he always wanted to meet someone who could follow his games just like his mother did and Jake knew how Kate she was busy and had to cancel several appointments to watch that game. "I''m really happy to hear that you came to watch my game in the final, my mom also just called me saying she came to watch the game and I was already happy, now I''m even happier and more excited to play well in this game and win." "I know how hard it must have been for you to find time to come and watch the game, Kate, really thanks." "I had already decided some time ago that I would watch your game in the final of the ACC tournament, luckily as your team has a great winning streak your team was already expected to reach the final and I was able to prepare myself a long time before coming watch that game." Then Jake talked to Kate for a while and then he had to hang up because he had to get ready for the game, he couldn''t tell his teammates that Kate had come to watch that game because Kate wasn''t his girlfriend yet. But everyone could see that Jake was more focused and excited than usual for this game, they still thought that Jake was like that because his mother had come to watch the game, everyone knew that Jake was the most important for the team to achieve victory and that''s why everyone was more confident too. The opponent of this game was the Duke Blue Devils team, who hoped to win this game anyway, so they would break this shame of not winning for more than 5 years and win the ACC tournament in addition to ending the Tar Heels team''s winning streak, any rival would want to win that game. Chapter 416 - 1998 ACC Tournament 4 The Duke Blue Devils team also had great players, they had a great starting team and good players on the reserve who were also important to the team, so the Duke Blue Devils team was always one of the best teams in college basketball and not just of the ACC conference. They were behind only the Tar Heels team that had a perfect season, so if they won that game and won the ACC tournament they would have more confidence to play the NCAA tournament. "Welcome to everyone who came to follow this incredible ACC tournament game, a historic final between two rivals, the Tar Heels team against the Duke Blue Devils team, and only one of these teams will win the ACC tournament after that game." "On the one hand we have the Tar Heels team that comes with an incredible streak of victories and also that won the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament last season." "The Tar Heels team is a favorite because of that, but also because it has the best players from all over college basketball, there is Jake and Jamison who are the best players of the year, and great players like Carter who put on a show at every game, Williams who has been playing very well and is great at three-point shots and Okulaja who has been very important in recent games." "On the other side we have the Duke Blue Devils team that has great players too, even though they are not as good as the Tar Heels team players individually, they are still great on this team." "The Duke Blue Devils team comes second in the ACC tournament with a great season too and wants to win that game to win the ACC tournament and have the confidence to win the NCAA tournament." Just as commentators said this had everything to be another exciting game, before the game Jake spent time looking at the crowd to find his mom and Kate, he found Eva and Anna easily and it took him a little longer to find Kate who looked have put on a discreet cover. So Jake was more excited to play well in that game, he knew well that the Duke Blue Devils team would play well, but he was confident that the Tar Heels team players would perform well and he would also do the best he could to achieve victory. In the first minutes of the game, the two teams were putting a lot of pressure in defense and also trying hard in attack, the defense of the Duke Blue Devils team was better than the defense of the Tar Heels team, but the attack of the Tar Heels team was better and therefore this beginning of the game was interesting. Seeing the situation like this Jake would not let the Duke Blue Devils team do what he wanted and in the first minutes, Jake hit two shots from three points and soon made 6 points for the team Tar Heels putting the team at an advantage. Jake intended to do as in the other games and help the team win without making all of the attacking moves alone, but at least at the beginning of the game, Jake soon showed that the Duke Blue Devils defense would not work against him. After that the two teams started to press more in the attack and the defenses of the two teams started to have some flaws that were taken advantage of by the attacks, Jake controlled the attacks of the Tar Heels team so that they would miss as little as possible. For what happened in the last game did not happen Jake was defending against Steve Wojciechowski and was paying attention to Trajan Langdon too, in another play by the Duke Blue Devils team after a good move the ball was left for Langdon who was away from Jake and tried the outside shot to make 3 more points for the Duke Blue Devils team. The Tar Heels team did not care about these points and soon reacted by attacking, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Carter on the left, Vince Carter was much more confident after the last game in which he had a good performance. Carter advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Williams from the right, Williams held the ball waiting for Jake to approach and passed the ball to Okulaja later on, Okulaja played well in the last games and the defense of the Duke Blue Devils team pressed against him too. Okulaja passed the ball to Jake further back in the middle, Jake quickly made a pass to Jamison on the left, Jamison went forward and got rid of the defensive player and made the layup to make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. After almost half of the 1st half passed, Jake can already see that the Tar Heels team players were performing well and that made him and the whole team more confident of victory. Jake was also scoring more points than usual and so the lead on the scoreboard started to increase and the pressure on the Duke Blue Devils players also increased, they knew that if they continued like that, the Tar Heels team would surely win that game. In another play, the Duke Blue Devils team was attacking and Jake was defending against Wojciechowski, so again the Duke Blue Devils team used this and the ball was passed within the three-point line to Roshown McLeod who advanced to make a layup and so 2 more points for the Duke Blue Devils team. Jake was having a hard time defending in that game because the Duke Blue Devils team was playing very well and the players on the Duke Blue Devils team were very skilled and were performing well. Even so, the Duke Blue Devils team made more mistakes in attacks than the Tar Heels team and so the advantage on the scoreboard continued to increase, the game continued like this and the Tar Heels team ended the 1st half by winning the game with a good advantage. In that 1st half Jake played for 20 minutes and made 21 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals, Jake was making more points in that game because he wanted to help the Tar Heels team win and also because he had Eva and Kate rooting for him. "The 1st half of the game ends, the Tar Heels team is doing very well in the game and the players are having a good performance and so that 1st half ended with the Tar Heels team winning with a good advantage." "Jake is leading the attack for the Tar Heels team who are not making too many mistakes in this 1st half of the game, Jamison, Carter, and Williams are well on the attack as well and Okulaja looks like he will have another good offensive game." "From what we have seen this season whenever the Tar Heels team finishes the 1st half by winning they end up winning the game more easily, but the Duke Blue Devils team can change that today." "The players of the Duke Blue Devils team are playing very well and even though they have some mistakes in the attack they are still attacking very well and making Jake not be able to defend so well, if they press more in defense and make less mistake in the attack the Duke Blue team Devils can still try to win that game." The commentators said so, but even they did not believe that the Tar Heels team would lose that game, Jake looked excited to have made 21 points and 6 assists in the 1st half and his teammates were also performing well. Eva who was watching the game with Anna was happy because it looked like Jake''s team would win again and Jake was doing very well in that game, she had realized that Jake had found her in the crowd. Anna was also happy to see that Jake''s team was winning, she had heard from Eva that Jake might not play at the university next season and so she convinced Eva to close the restaurant today and come to watch Jake''s game. If Jake made it to the NCAA tournament final they had already decided that they would also watch his game, and since Jake''s team was playing well it was quite possible that they would go to the NCAA tournament final game as well. Kate was also happy to see that Jake''s team was winning and that Jake was playing very well in that game, she understood a little basketball and could understand what it meant for a player to score 21 points and 6 assists only in the 1st half of the game. From what she watched from Jake''s last games he always played well and scored a lot so that she could understand how talented Jake was, and Jake still ran in marathons and won many marathons in addition to having already participated in a film. The two listened to Tar Heels fans calling Jake Captain America, it seemed that Jake''s nickname when he was running was already starting to arrive at his basketball games, this showed how much the team liked Jake. The 2nd half started with the Duke Blue Devils team trying to put pressure on the attack and defense, they had to try the best of them to try to win the game and win the ACC tournament. Realizing this Jake held the game a little bit, the rush would only help the Duke Blue Devils team and also make it easier for the opponent to get the defense, in another move the Tar Heels team was attacking and Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Williams through right. Williams was playing well in this game as well as a long time ago and he was important for the Tar Heels team to have made it this far, this was Shammond Williams'' last season on the Tar Heels team and he wanted to win the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament and still play well to get well into the NBA draft. Williams advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Carter from the left, Carter tried to advance and the Duke Blue Devils team''s defense pressed and Carter had to pass the ball to Jamison, Jamison held on and passed the ball to Jake more behind. Jake soon passed the ball to Carter who came free from the right, Carter had made the back turn in the defense of the Duke Blue Devils team and received the ball from the right behind the three-point line and tried an outside shot to make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team. Chapter 417 - 1998 ACC Tournament 5 The Duke Blue Devils team continued to press to see if they could still win, the defense of the Tar Heels team also started to press and hinder the Duke Blue Devils team''s moves, Jake also stopped defending only against Wojciechowski and hindered the attack much more. from the Duke Blue Devils team like that. In another attacking move by the Duke Blue Devils team, they made a good move and the ball was passed to Wojciechowski who was further behind, Jake was away from him and tried to approach using his speed, but Wojciechowski soon tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Duke Blue Devils team. Jake was doing it on purpose and making the Tar Heels team push in defense because of that too, the Tar Heels team still had a big advantage and that advantage had only increased in the 2nd half. Then Jake realized that for some reason the Duke Blue Devils team was trying to attack more in just three-point shots, the players on the Duke Blue Devils team were good, but they weren''t as good as Jake and Williams and so naturally they made a lot of mistakes more than they hit. That way the Duke Blue Devils team wasted attacks and Jamison and Jake just had to fight for the rebounds, the Duke Blue Devils team coach seemed to approve of this and Jake thought they could use it to not get so tired. Even so, the Tar Heels team continued to attack and Jake tried a three-point shot whenever the Duke Blue Devils team pressed hard on defense and he had already made many points in that 2nd half as well. In another move, the Tar Heels team was on the attack and Jake received pressure from the Duke Blue Devils defense just after the ball, so Jake passed the ball to Williams and managed to move forward. Williams advanced the ball for a while and passed it back to Jake in the middle, Jake continued to advance slowly and soon reached the three-point line and passed the ball to Carter from the left. Carter held the ball for a while and then passed it to Jamison later on the left, Jamison was playing very well in that game too and had scored more points on the Tar Heels team after Jake. Jamison soon received pressure from the Duke Blue Devils defense and passed the ball to Okulaja on the right, Okulaja also received pressure from the defense and passed Jake further back through the middle. Jake received the ball and soon the defense of the Duke Blue Devils team sent two players close to him, Jake did not delay and passed the ball to Williams who was free from the left, Williams came out behind the defense of the Duke Blue Devils team to receive this ball and tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team. The game went on like this and the Tar Heels team ended the game by winning 106 points against Duke Blue Devils'' 60 points, the Tar Heels team''s lead advantage increased when the Duke Blue Devils players started to miss more shots from three points and Tar Heels team players did not miss many attacks. In this 2nd half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and had 23 points, 6 assists, 7 rebounds, and 6 steals, with this triple-double Jake secured the victory for the Tar Heels team and was happy because the team won another ACC tournament. It was Jake''s best game in the ACC tournament and he was happier to help the Tar Heels team win and can also show his skills to his mom and Kate who had come to see the game. "What a great game we had here today, the Tar Heels team won with a big advantage in this game full of rivalry and thus won for the second year in a row the ACC tournament." "This victory for Team Tar Heels is well deserved for everything they did this season and also in that game against the Duke Blue Devils team, the first title for new head coach Bill Guthridge." "It is true, I also think that the Tar Heels team deserved that victory, even if they had been out of the game without losing a game if they lost in that game the fans would not have been happy." "The Tar Heels team currently has perhaps the best team in college basketball, with Jake Smith who made a triple-double today with 44 points, and with Antawn Jamison who made a double-double today with 22 points and 14 rebounds." "The team also has good players and played a good game today, but they were unable to beat the team Tar Heels, who are champions of the 1998 ACC tournament, after that victory the team Tar Heels will try to win the NCAA tournament again and continue with the sequence. of victories." Everyone celebrated a lot to win the ACC tournament and Jake was more relieved because one of his goals had been fulfilled, Jake was elected the best player in the ACC tournament, the best player of the year and also had the best conference averages. Jake, Jamison, and Carter were chosen for the first team of the ACC tournament and Okulaja and Williams were chosen for the second team of the ACC tournament, this year Jake also joined the first defensive team of the ACC conference. After celebrating a lot with his teammates Jake wanted to talk to his mother and Anna and also to talk to Kate who had come to watch his game, but the team had to go back to the university and Jake didn''t want to ask too much for Coach Guthridge and so he just called them thanking and explaining what had happened. They all understood why Jake couldn''t meet them and was happy that Jake won the ACC tournament, Jake had to go back with the team because they would have 2 days to rest and then another day of training just before the next game. If the Tar Heels team managed to reach the NCAA tournament final again, there would only be 6 games left until the end of this season, if they managed to win the NCAA tournament they would win the NCAA tournament for the second time in a row and enshrine this perfect season in history and still be able to break the record for second place victories. The second record of undefeated games was for the San Francisco team that was 60 games without losing, the first place was impossible for them to achieve because it was 88 games without losing for the UCLA team. The Tar Heels team was already 58 games without losing and with 3 more games it would break the San Francisco team record, so it was important that Jake was back with the team and that they were united in this important moment for the team. Coach Guthridge was getting even more stressed than the players because this was his first year as a head coach and he could never have imagined that something like this could happen, he won the ACC tournament and now the team could win the NCAA tournament. Bill Guthridge also thought that this record was not just theirs and was also that of coach Dean Smith who coached the team last season when that record of undefeated games had started, so he didn''t want the team to lose. Those two days of rest would help the players a lot, even though Jake, who had excellent resistance, had grown tired after playing three games in three consecutive days without resting, Jake had played 40 minutes in all games and was therefore very tired. So he apologized to Yuen Woo-ping but said that he would not train this week at least, then he would have a few days of rest and he could train again not to be doing anything too. Yuen Woo-ping naturally understood and knew that Jake had stopped his marathon racing training just to train with him, Yuen Woo-ping couldn''t ask Jake to harm basketball either. While Jake and his teammates rested the sports media only talked about them, the Tar Heels team had had an excellent season that had not been seen in a long time and they had won the ACC tournament and were close to breaking the record they wanted to break. Even though the sports media always talked about how good the Tar Heels team was and how they hoped they could win the ACC tournament and break the game record without losing when it was really happening everyone realized how incredible it was and difficult to happen. Players like Billy Cunningham, James Worthy, Sam Perkins and Michael Jordan who were excellent basketball players and played on the Tar Heels team talked about the current record-breaking team and talked a lot about Jake Smith, Antawn Jamison, and Vince Carter. So the whole country was watching the Tar Heels team again to see if they would win the NCAA tournament again and continue to break records, of course, they would still have to beat excellent teams if they wanted to win the NCAA tournament again. Jake was less nervous now that he had won the ACC tournament and also knowing that he had the support of his mother and also the support of Kate, he would do his best to win the NCAA tournament, but if he didn''t win he knew they would break the record games without losing and you wouldn''t feel bad going to the NBA draft. As Jake also expected after his excellent performances in the last games and winning the ACC tournament being chosen as the best player and with the record of games without losing being close to being achieved by the Tar Heels team, the companies were looking for David Falk again. Everyone who was negotiating and even the company that had decided to break the verbal agreement was looking for David again to try to get a new contract with Jake, everyone understood more in recent days about Jake''s potential as a player and his commercial potential as well. Chapter 418 - 1998 ACC Tournament 6 The companies that sponsored Jake like Tiffany''s company and also Clara''s company had excellent sales in the last few days, many fans who liked the Tar Heels team, who liked Jake or who simply liked basketball started buying products that they knew had an endors.e.m.e.nt contract with Jake. These companies even renewed some agreements with television companies to show the commercials that Jake had recorded again, this made the companies that had a verbal agreement with David happy to have continued and the other companies that were negotiating wanted a contract again. Just as Jake had said before, if these companies really wanted a new deal with Jake they would have to pay twice what the deal was a few weeks ago, they had to pay $ 2 million a year for a maximum of 4 years. Naturally, these companies questioned why the contract hadn''t even started and some companies that agreed earlier would only pay half of what they did, but David didn''t care. After the Tar Heels team won the ACC tournament David had a new respect for Jake and thought he could get things done faster than he thought, maybe in another month the Tar Heels team would break that record and win the NCAA tournament again. When that happened, Jake''s NBA contract as a rookie would have to be even better, when these companies saw that David was decided they decided to wait a little longer, if Jake won the NCAA tournament maybe that new contract would really be worth it. The company that most regretted was the one that broke the verbal contract with David on impulse, they could wait until they were close to the NBA draft to break that verbal contract, they didn''t have to be so quick, because of that the situation was more complicated now. What disappointed David was that Nike had not yet responded to the deal he had asked Jake for, it was the $ 52 million deal for a 5-year contract and another 4 percent of the profit for Jake-related shoes that were sold. It was really a very demanding contract for a novice player, but it was a bet that they would have to make if they wanted to get a contract with Jake, even though they knew that Adidas was interested and could steal another player as they did with Kobe Bryant it seemed like the Nike had no interest in paying that much. The good news was that Adidas had sent an official agreement that they had accepted Jake''s requests, so David knew that he couldn''t go any further and had to close a verbal agreement with Adidas. David would get 10 percent anyway so he had no reason to care that Nike had lost an excellent contract again, David knew that Jake was resting before the next game, but that was an important decision and Jake had to decide. "Hi, Jake, so I received a final proposal from Adidas to make a verbal agreement, they accepted your requests, Nike has not yet answered whether it would accept or not." Jake was also disappointed with Nike just like David, he knew that in the future Nike would be the biggest sports shoe company, but Jake didn''t really need the sponsorship money to earn his income. So he just wanted a contract that paid what he knew it was worth, that contract might seem like a lot of money to a newbie, but Jake had a deal to play in the Lakers and in the next few years he could win 3 NBA title. If that happened, Nike would have a new player who was NBA champion 3 times, for Adidas, it was even better because they also sponsored Kobe Bryant and so the main Lakers players would not be sponsored by Nike. "You can accept the deal, David, we showed goodwill and Nike was not interested, we are going to have a good deal with Adidas that has always shown interest and respect." With Jake having decided David soon sent a message to Adidas that Jake accepted the deal, there was little time left for the end of the season and the Tar Heels team could even win the NCAA tournament and thus it was difficult for that contract to be canceled. The companies that had made a deal for Jake paying $ 1 million a year for 4 years would be very happy if Jake won an NBA title with the Lakers, and even if those companies agreed to pay $ 2 million they would be happy. The media continued to talk about the Tar Heels team and about Jake and about the record they could break in the next games, this was to get the attention of basketball fans who did not follow college basketball games. But with the attention that the media paid and seeing that it was Michael Jordan''s team and with Jake''s incredible performance this season, basketball fans started to become interested in watching the Tar Heels team''s games. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels team was having training after two days of rest before the next game that would be the next day, Coach Guthridge can relax seeing that the players seemed to be rested after that rest. He knew how intense and tiring the game against the Duke team had been in the final, especially after a 3-game streak in 3 straight days, so the Tar Heels team did light training to regain the game and the next day he had to hope that the players would perform well. So soon the game day arrived and the Tar Heels team went to travel to where the next games would play, the next game would be against the Navy Midshipmen team, the Navy Midshipmen team was good and was having a good season. But the Patriot conference teams were not very good and so Coach Guthridge expected an easier game if he could he wanted to let the starting players rest for the next games. After all, they were already at the end of the season and the Tar Heels team had a lot of games that season, he said this to Jake who soon understood what Coach Guthridge meant and would play at a slower pace. The first two games of the Tar Heels team, if they won, would be at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut, the players of the Tar Heels team hoped to win that game and were, therefore, more confident after winning the ACC tournament. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch this first game of the NCAA tournament, the Tar Heels team is the favorite to win this game after winning the ACC tournament in an excellent game against the Duke team." "But the pressure to get a good result can get in the way of the Tar Heels team players in that game, the opponent of that game the Navy Midshipmen team also wants the victory to advance further in the NCAA tournament." "That''s right, I believe that the Tar Heels team will win this game, they are favorites to win the NCAA tournament again this season and with Jake and Jamison playing so well I find it hard to imagine this team losing." "So I think that if the Tar Heels team players perform well in that game, victory is practically guaranteed." Just as commentators said everyone thought this victory was almost certain for the Tar Heels team, so early on in the game the Tar Heels team started to press forward with Jake trying to attack at a slower pace of play. The defense of Team Tar Heels was also firm to prevent the Navy Midshipmen team from attacking so that Coach Guthridge could let the players rest for a while. So whenever the defense of the Navy Midshipmen team didn''t defend against him Jake would soon try a three-point shot, so in the middle of the 1st half of the game Jake had already scored 12 points in the game, the opponents thought that the Tar Heels team would start slowly at Jake''s slow pace, but soon they had a big lead on the scoreboard. So for the remainder of the 1st half, the defense players of the Navy Midshipmen team had to defend more against Jake which gave him space to pass the ball to his teammates. Coach Guthridge was very pleased with Jake''s performance because he had more freedom to replace the players in the 1st half, it seemed that Ed Cota and Makhtar N''Diaye were also playing well which made things easier for Coach Guthridge. At the end of the 1st half of the game, the Tar Heels team was winning with a good advantage in the game even though the coach Guthridge was putting the substitute players to play too, so the players of the Navy Midshipmen team started to get discouraged. In that 1st half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and had 19 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals, with Jamison leaving the game for a few minutes Jake could pick up more rebounds and also scored a lot of points in that 1st half of the game. "Thus ends the 1st half of the game and the Tar Heels team has dominated this game and has been winning easily with the great performance of Jake and also of the entire Tar Heels team, Jamison scored 10 points and played only 11 minutes in that 1st half of game." "Clearly the Tar Heels team is easily winning that game and coach Guthridge seemed to be thinking of saving players for the next game since the middle of the 1st half, with Jake''s good performance he played the 20 minutes in the 1st half of the game." "Coach Guthridge seems to have confidence in his players and knows that Jake has the strength to play all 40 minutes of the game, after all, Jake played the 40 minutes in all 3 ACC tournament games that were three days in a row." "It''s true, I find it difficult for the Navy Midshipmen team to still win the game, but we will have to follow the 2nd half to see if the Tar Heels team can win another game." Chapter 419 - 1998 NCAA Tournament 1 Just as commentators had hoped the Tar Heels team continued to dominate the game at the start of the 2nd half, Coach Guthridge let the starting players play the first few minutes to further increase the advantage and soon started to replace again. Jake was really playing very well and also hit a lot of three-point shots, which left the players of the Navy Midshipmen team with no hope of winning that game and the Tar Heels team can dominate the game even more. So the Tar Heels team won with 112 points against the Navy Midshipmen team''s 48 points, it was a great victory because Jake didn''t need to rest and still scores several points in three-point plays. In this 2nd half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and made 21 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals, with this triple-double Jake ensured an easy victory for the Tar Heels team and his teammates were able to rest more in that game. "Another victory for the Tar Heels team, a really dominant game that was an easy victory for the Tar Heels team that moves on to the next game with many chances to win with the rested players." "Jake made another triple-double making 40 points again, this is not surprising anymore because we are used to it, but it is incredible for a player to make 40 points easily in an important game like this, Jake hit 10 shots from three points in that game to achieve this." "Jake certainly has the record for the Tar Heels team and perhaps all the college basketball teams with the most points in an NCAA tournament game this season, what was the maximum he achieved in an NCAA tournament game anyway?" "It was a game last season against the Louisville Cardinals team in which he had 53 points and 18 assists, he sure has the record for points, assists, and steals in games, Jake just doesn''t have the record on average for points because of Austin Carr. " "The Navy Midshipmen team had no chance of winning this game even though they played well, now we will continue to follow up to see if Team Tar Heels wins the NCAA tournament this season again." After that first game, the players on the Tar Heels team were more confident to win this NCAA tournament, Jake was concerned about the next game, but he was confident that the Tar Heels team would win more easily. The Tar Heels team had only light training the other day to not tire the players and Jake can see that everyone was fine for the next game, Jake hoped that the opposing defense would put more pressure on him in the game so that his teammates would have more freedom to make the stitches. Coach Guthridge called Jake after training to say he had some concerns for the next game because of the next opponent and Jake spoke what he remembered that could cause the team''s defeat in the next game. It was Coach Bill Guthridge who chose Jake for this Tar Heels team, so Coach Guthridge had a lot of confidence in Jake, especially now that the Tar Heels team was having such a good season and Jake was primarily responsible for that. If the Tar Heels team won this season, Coach Guthridge knew that Jake would be responsible for that, Coach Guthridge knew that Jake thought about leaving the team this season even though Jake didn''t say anything. But Coach Guthridge thought Jake was right to do that, after that season the whole team would almost go to the NBA or some players would end their time at university, Jake had already won two ACC tournaments and an NCAA tournament, no one could say that he was unimportant and helped the university. So another day passed and the day of the next Tar Heels game in the NCAA tournament came, the players were confident, but did not underestimate the opponent because of that and were focused to win. The opponent in that game was the Charlotte 49ers team, that team was also having a good season and played in a conference with strong teams which made them a more difficult opponent. Jake told Coach Guthridge that they had to be especially careful with Sean Colson, DeMarco Johnson, and Diego Guevara, he himself would defend against Sean Colson and defend against Diego Guevara when he was playing. If the two were playing it was for Shammond Williams to defend against one of them, the other players had to put pressure on defending against DeMarco Johnson so that they could hinder the Charlotte 49ers team''s attacks. "Today we are going to watch another NCAA tournament game this season, the Tar Heels team that has been having an incredible season and is fighting to win the NCAA tournament again this season plays against the Charlotte 49ers team." "In the last game, the Tar Heels team had an easy win with an excellent performance by Jake who made 40 points, in addition, the players of the Tar Heels team were able to rest because the coach Guthridge put the reserves to play longer." "So with the excellent season that the Tar Heels team has been doing and with the best players they have the advantage to win this game." "But the Charlotte 49ers team also want to seek victory and continue advancing in the NCAA tournament, to achieve this they have a team with good and experienced players." "So we are going to monitor which team will win and continue in the NCAA tournament." The Tar Heels team started strong in the attack against the Charlotte 49ers team, Jake knew this was going to be a difficult and tiring game and so he wanted to try to start winning with a good advantage on the scoreboard to make his teammates more confident and send the pressure for the Charlotte 49ers team. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Carter on the left, Carter quickly advanced to the three-point line and passed the ball to Jamison who was ahead, Jamison tried to advance and soon the defense pressed on the defense preventing his advance. So Jamison passed the ball to Carter in the back, Carter soon passed the ball to Jake who was in the middle, Jake received the ball and the Charlotte 49ers team defense immediately pressed, Jake was not nervous and passed the ball to Williams who was more open on the right. Williams received the ball and received the signal from Jake and thus tried the shot from outside to hit and make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team, Shammond Williams had an agreement with Jake that depending on the play Jake had to warn Williams to try the shot of three points. It was Coach Guthridge who had thought about it because there were games that Williams would try 13 shots from outside if not controlled, he was very good on average at three-point shots, but there were games that he tried too hard. After Coach Guthridge did that, Williams'' three-point hit average had improved a lot, and Williams had more respect for Jake who had an average of 78 percent hit on three-point shots. The Tar Heels team really started to push forward as opposed to the last game and soon everyone could see that all the players on the Tar Heels team were performing well in that game, so the Charlotte 49ers team was forced to be on the defensive early in the game. Jake was well in the game too and together with Williams and Carter they were dominating the three-point line and in the middle of the 1st half, the Tar Heels team was winning with a good advantage in the game and Jake already had 9 points. So the Charlotte 49ers team had to react and started to attack more, in another move the Charlotte 49ers team was on the attack and Jake was defending against Colson and the Tar Heels team was defending against Johnson, even so, the Charlotte 49ers team tried to force the move. Johnson received the ball and tried to make the turn against Okulaja''s defense, Johnson made the quick turn and tried the layup and managed to make the 2 points and still missed Okulaja, then Johnson hit the Free Throw and made 1 more point for the Charlotte 49ers team. The defense of the Tar Heels team was good in the three-point line, but against more skilled and tall players in the painted area, the Tar Heels team was not able to defend very well, that was the problem of not having a good Center in the team. The Charlotte 49ers team started to react and the advantage that the Tar Heels team had on the scoreboard began to diminish, even so with the good plays of Jake, Williams, and Carter the Tar Heels team ended the 1st half winning with a good advantage on the scoreboard. In this 1st half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and made 16 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 blocks, Jake was still managing to defend well against Colson and from what he remembered the Tar Heels team could win more easily the Charlotte 49ers team like that. "What an exciting game in that 1st half, the two teams pushing forward and playing well in defense too, Jake, Williams and Carter managed to hit a few shots from three points and so the defense of the Charlotte 49ers team failed to react that well." "The defense of the Tar Heels team was not able to defend well against DeMarco Johnson and so the Charlotte 49ers team managed to diminish the advantage in the Tar Heels team on the scoreboard, Jake defended well against Sean Colson and managed 3 blocks in this 1st half helping the Tar Heels team." "The players on the Tar Heels team seem to be performing well in this game and also seem to be in good physical condition, if they continue like that I see another victory for the Tar Heels team." "The Charlotte 49ers team needs more attack options and Colson needs to get rid of Jake''s defense to get more three-point shots, and they need to defend better against the Tar Heels players on the three-point line." Chapter 420 - 1998 NCAA Tournament 2 Coach Guthridge praised the Tar Heels team players at halftime and asked them to continue attacking and defending so he also asked the Tar Heels team players to try not to make too many fouls while defending against Johnson of the Charlotte 49ers team. Jake was also praised for controlling the Tar Heels team''s attack well, Jake, Williams, and Carter attacked well on the three-point line and Jamison, Okulaja and even Carter did not have the opportunity to attack that much within the three-point line. So in the 2nd half, Jake planned to attack more with moves within the three-point line and only sometimes try a few three-point shots and also count on Williams for that, so the Charlotte 49ers team''s defense would be confused by that. Jake also complained to his teammates who did not defend well against Diego Guevara when he entered the game, in the 2nd half the players in the defense had to defend better against him. Everyone wanted to win and Jake knew how the Charlotte 49ers team could be a dangerous opponent in this game, they had to win and not get too tired to continue well in the NCAA tournament, so overtime would be terrible for the Tar Heels team in that game. The 2nd half started with both teams pushing forward, the Charlotte 49ers team had a harder time attacking and had to rely on Johnson or another player who could get rid of the Tar Heels defense. In another play, the Charlotte 49ers team was attacking and the ball was passed to Johnson again, he tried to make the play and failed to hit and Jamison got the rebound, he passed the ball to Jake who advanced for the attack with speed. After passing through the middle of the court Jake passed the ball to Williams from the left, Williams advanced with the ball and after the three-point line he passed the ball to Okulaja later on, Okulaja had played well in the last games and so the defense Charlotte 49ers team soon pressed against him. So Okulaja had to pass to Carter who was further back on the left, Carter received the ball and soon passed to Jake further back, the Charlotte 49ers team''s defense soon prepared to defend against Jake, Carter, and Williams who were outside the line of three points. But Jake did not attempt the shot and passed the ball to Jamison on the left in a long pass, Jamison received the ball and soon got rid of the player who was on defense to make a dunk and 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. Just as Jake expected the defense of the Charlotte 49ers team, he didn''t expect a move like that, so Jamison managed to make the dunk easier, so the Tar Heels team managed to increase the lead a little. In another move, the Charlotte 49ers team was attacking and Colson and Guevara were playing, the Charlotte 49ers team seemed to have realized that Guevara was playing well and besides Jake, the other players on the Tar Heels team did not defend well. So Jake was more focused on defense, Colson received the ball and Jake was not close to him to prepare to react, but Colson did not attempt the shot because Jake had already managed to make 4 blocks on him in that game. So Colson passed to Guevara who was free on the left after passing behind the defense of the Tar Heels team, so Guevara did not hesitate and tried the shot from the outside, Jake was attentive and reacted quickly and even managed to jump and block. Guevara did not expect this because Jake was away from him and defending against Colson, but now the two have become more cautious against Jake to try the three-point shot in that game again. The game continued and the Charlotte 49ers team was on the attack again, this time Colson and Guevara were wide apart and Jake was defending against Guevara so Colson tried the shot and missed. Johnson still managed to catch the rebound, but before he tried to layup Jake did the steal and advanced to the attack at speed, Jake always fought for the rebound and when he saw that Johnson won the rebound against Jamison he took the opportunity to make the steal. Jake moved forward using all his speed for the attack, Colson and Guevara were still further behind and managed to react and returned to defend, but Jake was clearly faster than them and Guevara tried to hinder Jake before. Jake made a feint and then a very fast crossover and Guevara ended up falling to the ground trying to react to Jake''s speed, so Jake continued to advance with speed and Colson who was within the three-point line of defense tried to defend too. So Jake who was away from the painted area decided to make the special move that was created by him, Jake made the Ghost move that made the ball disappear in front of the opponent and Colson was unable to see the ball for a moment. So Jake passed easily and then did the dunk to make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, this Ghost move was the movement that Jake had created and was really very useful and easy to do, but it could be done only when he was in 1 on 1. That''s because the other players and the crowd could clearly see what Jake was doing with the ball, only the opposing player who was in front of him didn''t see the ball for a moment and couldn''t defend unless he made a foul on Jake. So when Jake made this move, the crowd and commentators did not celebrate the dribble and just thought it was strange that Jake could easily pass the opponent. That would only change once the opponent who received the dribble told the media that Jake had made a dribble that he was unable to see the ball, but no opponent would want to praise the player who tricked him. The game continued with the Tar Heels team maintaining the advantage even with the Charlotte 49ers team playing well, so the Tar Heels team managed to win the game by making 94 points against 70 points of the opponent. In this 2nd half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and made 17 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 3 blocks, with this triple-double, Jake helped the Tar Heels team to achieve another victory and without the players if they got so tired. "And so the game ends with another victory for the Tar Heels team that advances to the next game in the NCAA tournament, a game in which the players of the Tar Heels team played very well and even though the Charlotte 49ers team was well off the team Tar Heels still won with a good advantage." "Jake led the Tar Heels team in that victory by making another triple-double, with Jake organizing the attacks and defending the Tar Heels team well and managed to win without the players getting so tired." "Jamison, Carter, Williams, and Okulaja also played well in this game and all of this helped the Tar Heels team to secure the victory and match the record of 60 games without losing that they want to break this season." "That''s right, the Tar Heels team drew with the San Francisco team with a record of 60 games without losing, so in the next game, the Tar Heels team may have managed to complete one of the team''s goals for the season and gain more confidence to win the NCAA tournament for the second season in a row." "I am confident that the Tar Heels team will manage to win the next game, with a team with excellent players like Jake Smith, Vince Carter, and Antawn Jamison I think it is difficult that they will lose the next game." After this victory, the players of the Tar Heels team celebrated this important victory a lot in this difficult game and went back to the university before the next game, the players were not so tired and the next game would be only after 5 days. So the coach Guthridge decided to let the players rest for 2 more days and train only for 2 days before the game after all the players were playing well and the biggest concern of the coach Guthridge was that the players would get tired before the next games. With so many days before the next game Jake told Yuen Woo-ping that they could train in the next few days, after all, they would soon have to go to Australia to join the film crew and Jake had to have learned everything by then. Jake had to stop running training because he had the responsibilities to the basketball team and the movie he was going to participate in soon, and also because Jake knew that even without training he would not lose his fitness and time did it in marathons. What made Jake very happy was that Zack continued with the training every day even without Jake to keep him company, Jake had arranged with Zack and intended to fulfill that he would run the Chicago marathon or one that was before her. In this marathon, Zack would try to run the entire marathon with time below 3 hours, which was a challenge for amateur athletes, after running below 3 hours an athlete could be considered an elite athlete with chances of winning a marathon. To achieve this with the help of Coach Davis he continued to try Jake''s suicidal training, now Zack ran 20 km every day and once a week he ran 30 km, after almost two years of training every day and going to the gym Zack was able to do that. Once every two months Zack also ran a complete marathon as training, he already knew he was able to do that so it was great training for Zack to gain confidence. This could be called suicide training because running so much if Zack continued for many years he could have several problems in his knees and also in his hip bones, so Jake would ask Zack to change training after running this marathon that year. Chapter 421 - 1998 NCAA Tournament 3 Another thing that was happening was that Aaron continued to train with the American Football team, with the training he did with Jake while he was away from the team helped Aaron to get a prominent place on the team. Aaron hopes he could play this season and the next one together with the team and if he went well who knows he might have a chance to go to the NFL, Jake hoped for Aaron a lot even though he knew it was difficult for his friend to go to the NFL because he hasn''t played in the first two seasons. In the next few days while Jake trained with Yuen Woo-ping the sports media just talked about the Tar Heels team again, everyone was excited after the Tar Heels team managed to match the San Francisco team record of 60 games without losing. With Jake on the team, everyone knew that the Tar Heels team had a good chance of breaking that record and many even talked about the possibility of the Tar Heels team breaking the UCLA team''s 88-game record without losing. This was not impossible because there were still 4 games left for the end of this season and then the Tar Heels team had to win just 25 more games without losing in the next season, of course, few thought this was possible, but the media also thought it impossible that the team Tar Heels broke the San Francisco team record of 60 games without losing earlier this season. In addition, all the broadcasters that broadcast the games were excited about this because the latest games by the Tar Heels team broke the broadcast records at College basketball, this was normal because the Tar Heels team was doing an incredible thing that was difficult to see in modern times. Several basketball fans who didn''t use to follow College basketball and even College basketball fans who didn''t watch other teams'' games were looking to see the Tar Heels team making history. The UCLA team record was unbreakable, so seeing the Tar Heels team break the San Francisco team record of 60 victories was the maximum they would see, and many broadcasters thought that these fans would continue to follow the Tar Heels team until the NCAA tournament final. if the Tar Heels team went to the final. So as the broadcasters saw this as an opportunity, they talked about the Tar Heels team''s next game whenever they could, the other sports media also wanted to talk about it to sell more to fans. The NCAA was happy to authorize Jake to be the first sponsored player to play at College basketball, after all, Jake was instrumental in bringing even more visibility and fame to College basketball at a time when several players were considering joining the NBA directly. Of course, not everyone could do like Jake who received sponsorship because he was also an athlete who ran marathons and won several marathons and even an Olympic gold medal, but that helped a little to solve the problem. The Wachowskis brothers were happy with this situation because when everyone knew that Jake was making a film as an actor again and this time he would have an important character in the film, many basketball fans would definitely go to the cinema to see The Matrix. Of course, they thought Jake was a great actor and so they invited him into this film, but his fame would only help publicize the film, if Jake knew about it he would laugh because he knew how successful the film would be even without him. In the coming days Jake continued to learn a lot from Yuen Woo-ping and also doing Sparring with him every day, it was only a few weeks that they trained, but Yuen Woo-ping thought Jake had already learned more than the actors who spent months training with him. Of course, Jake really had to learn more because he would have to fight in the movie and also Jake hadn''t learned to fight using cables yet, it would be more difficult to fight to be in the air hanging by cables. In addition, Jake was an athlete and could learn more without tiring and the actors did not have this facility and took more days to learn, even so, Yuen Woo-ping had to admit that Jake was very talented. While training with Yuen Woo-ping, Jake also trained with the basketball team after everyone rested for 2 days, the players were all much better after that rest and much more excited because of the record they could break in the next game and also because the season was ending. So the day came for the next NCAA tournament game, the next two games for the Tar Heels team if they won would be at the Greensboro Coliseum again, it was the place where they played the entire ACC tournament this season and last season, so the Tar Heels team I was more comfortable playing at the Greensboro Coliseum. The crowd was much greater for the Tar Heels team that was close to breaking the San Francisco team record, which made the Tar Heels team players more confident and more excited to achieve victory. The opponent for this game was the Michigan State team, the Michigan State team was playing very well this season and was in a good conference too, so this had everything to be a difficult game. But the pressure on that game was greater for the Michigan State team and it was impossible for them to have such confidence in playing against the Tar Heels team that they wanted to win to have a streak of 61 straight wins and had the best players of the season. In addition, the Tar Heels team was the current NCAA tournament champion and was the favorite team to win this season again, so it was impossible for them not to feel the pressure with everyone in the stands cheering for the Tar Heels team. But Jake knew that in the coming years this team would have a great season and would win the NCAA tournament in the 1999-00 season, in addition, they would arrive in the NCAA tournament semifinal in the next three seasons. It showed how strong the Michigan State team was and would be even stronger, so even though Jake was confident he still knew he had to be very careful against this opposing team. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch this NCAA tournament game, this game could be historic if the Tar Heels team wins again because of the Tar Heels team wins this game they broke the San Francisco team record of 60 games without lose." "So the Tar Heels team will have a record of 61 games without losing and will be the second team with the highest record after the UCLA team that has an unbreakable record of 88 games without losing." "That''s right, I believe that the Tar Heels team is the favorite to win this game with a team that has Jake Smith, Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter, but the Michigan State team is also doing very well this season." "So I think this can be an exciting game that the Tar Heels team players will have to do their best to achieve victory." The game started with the Tar Heels team attacking very hard in the first minutes pressing in the attack, the players were very rested and the opponent was difficult, so Jake wanted to take advantage of the fact that the opponent would be feeling the pressure to increase the advantage on the scoreboard at the beginning of the game. Just as Jake expected the Michigan State team backed off when he realized that the Tar Heels team would press on the attack, everyone knew that the Tar Heels team had the best attack of the season and the Michigan State team had a good defense and preferred to rely on that. In this game Jake did not intend to have anyone from the team on the three-point line to play with him, only he would do the three-point shots and the rest of the team would stay within the three-point line to make the points, so Jake thought he could make things more difficult for the opponent. In another move the Tar Heels team was attacking with speed and Jake passed the ball to Williams from the right before passing through the middle of the court, Williams advanced with the ball and passed ahead to Okulaja who was playing well in the last games. The defense of the team Tar Heels soon pressed Okulaja who had to pass the ball to Jamison on the left, Jamison received the ball and passed back to Williams, Williams received the ball and tried a feint and managed to get rid of the opponent, then Williams drive to the basket and made the layup to make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. In this move, the Michigan State team''s defense expected Jake to receive the ball and did not defend well against Williams who managed to advance and lay up in a good move, that was another thing that Jake had discussed with the other players, the attack moves they didn''t need to go through it for players to score. This was the opposite of what Jake normally did and what Coach Guthridge asked the team, so he could take the Michigan State team''s defense by surprise at the start of the game and thus increase the lead. Just as Jake had said in the first minutes, the Tar Heels team managed to score a lot and increase the lead, when the Michigan State defense managed to straighten the defense, Jake also made more three-point shots. So the Michigan State team decided to attack with more intensity so as not to give freedom to the players of the Tar Heels team to worry only about the attack, Coach Guthridge expected this to happen and had already given the instructions for the defense. Jake would defend against Mateen Cleaves who was the best player on the Michigan State team and Williams would defend against Charlie Bell, so the Michigan State team could not attack smoothly even if he wanted to. In another attacking move by the Michigan State team, after a good play the ball was left for Cleaves, Jake did not approach to defend, but Cleaves knew it was more dangerous that way and he did not think about trying a shot from outside. Chapter 422 - 1998 NCAA Tournament 4 Cleaves thought about making a move with Bell and tried the pass, Jake anticipated the pass and managed to intercept making the steal, so Jake wasted no time and advanced with speed to attack. Cleaves who saw Jake doing the steal tried to run after Jake, but soon saw Jake entering the painted area and doing the dunk making 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, so Cleaves realized how difficult it was to play with Jake defending against him. In another attacking move by Tar Heels Jake passed the ball to Carter from the left before the three-point line, Carter was playing very well in the last games and was regaining confidence with the victories. Carter passed the ball to Jamison later on, Jamison was also playing well in the last games, but it was not as good as in the regular season, so in this game, he wanted to be one of the highlights and help the team to win. Jamison tried to advance twice by deceiving the opponent who was defending against him, seeing that he couldn''t Jamison passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball with freedom and then stepped back and tried the shot from outside. This time Jake missed the three-point shot and Jamison managed to catch the rebound and went up again to make the dunk and 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, with this move the players of the Tar Heels team showed how well they were even when they missed an attack. So the Tar Heels team continued to play like that and dominated the 1st half and ended up winning with a good advantage, the players of the Michigan State team defended well and tried to attack, but failed to stop the Tar Heels team. In this 1st half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and made 14 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1 block, in this 1st half Jake played very well, but not as well as in the last games because his teammates had more prominence. "And so the 1st half ends, the Tar Heels team is winning with an excellent performance from all players, Jake also stood out in defense and was the best player in that 1st half, so the Tar Heels team is closer to victory after getting that big advantage." "Most of the people here at the Greensboro Coliseum are rooting for the Tar Heels team to win and break the San Francisco team record, it certainly helps the players to perform better." "It''s true, in addition to helping the players on the Tar Heels team, it also puts more pressure on the players on the Michigan State team, the players on the Michigan State team are playing well, but they are no better than the Tar Heels team in this game." "We will continue to monitor whether the Tar Heels team continues to play well and will achieve victory against the Michigan State team and break the record." Coach Guthridge spoke to Jake at the break asking how the players were in the game and how their opponent was doing, Coach Guthridge was thinking of putting the players in reserve and letting the starting players rest more if the game was easy. Jake said the game was not easy and they were just winning with a big advantage because the Tar Heels team players were playing well, so it would be a mistake to place the reserve players and take out the players who were playing well because the opponent was difficult. Coach Bill Guthridge trusted Jake a lot and so decided to give up on letting the players rest and just asked Jake to slow down the attack, Jake said he understood and so the Tar Heels team went back to the 2nd half. Just as Jake had said the Michigan State team had not given up on winning the game and started the 2nd half by putting pressure on the attack, as Coach Guthridge asked Jake to slow down in the attack it looked like the Tar Heels team was being pressured. In another attacking move by the Michigan State team, after a good move Cleaves who was being careful with Jake passed the ball to Bell more open on the left, Williams pressed the defense and Bell passed the ball to Jason Klein who was open on the right. Klein received the ball with freedom and tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Michigan State team and to diminish the advantage of the team Tar Heels, seeing this the coach Guthridge understood why Jake said that the game was difficult. But that did not make the Tar Heels team players worried, in another play after a good play the ball went back to Jake further back, Jake was quick and made a high pass and Carter took the ball high to make the dunk and complete the alley-oop making 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. Jake had to reorganize the attacks and made more attempts to shoot from three points and thus managed to maintain the advantage on the scoreboard even with the Michigan State team attacking well in the 2nd half, Jake also stopped defending only against Cleaves and got more steals. So the game continued to be exciting until the end and the Tar Heels team won making 85 points against 62 points of the Michigan State team, even with the pressure of the Michigan State team the Tar Heels team still managed to win. In that 2nd half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and made 15 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 blocks, Jake had to organize the Tar Heels team attack in the 2nd half and helped in the attack, so he still got a double-double. "End of the game, the Tar Heels team wins once again and breaks the San Francisco team''s historic record, it was a record made in 1955 and that was broken only by the UCLA team that won 88 games in a row." "Even if the Tar Heels team did not break the UCLA team record, to be able to break the San Francisco team record is already incredible, so the Tar Heels team advances to the next NCAA tournament game with more confidence." "It''s true, there are only 3 games left this season if the Tar Heels team reaches the final, having won the NCAA tournament last season, the Tar Heels team is the biggest favorite to win the NCAA tournament this season." "Today all the players on the Tar Heels team played well and Jake couldn''t even score as many points as in the last games, the Michigan State team played very well in that game too, especially in the 2nd half, but with the support of the crowd, the Tar Heels team won and starred in history once again with this incredible team." "We will continue to follow the Tar Heels team on this incredible record that continues and also to see if they win the NCAA tournament again." The Tar Heels team players celebrated as if they had won the NCAA tournament, even though the players did not show the pressure to stay so many games without losing trying to break the San Francisco team record put a lot of pressure on the players. Even more with favoritism for being the current champions of the NCAA tournament, so after finally breaking that record the pressure on them would be much less, they would just continue to win the NCAA tournament again this season. The players had no pressure to break the UCLA team record because many players knew that this was their last season on the team Tar Heels, Shammond Williams, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, and Jake Smith would leave the team this season and they didn''t need to care more with the record. Many reporters wanted to do an interview and ask questions of the Tar Heels team players after that victory and that record break, but Coach Guthridge already knew this would happen and denied all interviews claiming that the players were tired. The players had only 1 day of rest and would have a difficult game in 2 more days, but Coach Guthridge knew that if he just refused he could irritate the NCAA and the sports media who wanted to know about it and use it as a promotion for College basketball. So before that game, he had already made an agreement with some sports media and broadcasting stations to organize the players ''interviews the next day when the players were more rested and only some media could participate in the players'' interviews. It would be something like a press conference, but it would be just some sports media in the hotel room that the Tar Heels team players would stay in so that the players could celebrate quietly and then rested until the next day. Jake even called his mom to talk to her about the game and talked to Kate too, after Kate showed up at the ACC tournament final game, Jake was talking to her on the phone and Kate''s manager had already approved this possible dating in the future. Kate''s manager thought it was better for her to always talk to Jake on the phone than to set up meetings with him that it was riskier for the media to know about it, so after talking a few times they were getting even closer. Jake always had to think about what he said to avoid telling him some secrets like the fact that he was going to the NBA this season, but Kate didn''t seem to care and said several things that Jake felt was supposed to be a secret. Kate had told Jake that she was recording a new music album that would be released in a few months and Jake can hear Kate''s manager fighting with her because of that, the only thing they didn''t talk about was when they were going to meet because the two were too busy in the coming months. But Kate was making a surprise for Jake and would go to the NCAA tournament final game that she was sure Jake''s team would be there for, so she had to plan her schedule since the end of the ACC tournament and was her manager who suffered from it. Chapter 423 - 1998 NCAA Tournament 5 The other day after they were more rested and relaxed, Coach Guthridge prepared the interview for the players, the hotel allowed them to use a special place in the hotel prepared for the press and the reporters went there. The deal was with four sports media that accepted Coach Guthridge''s conditions, which had many questions forbidden, reporters from ESPN, TNT, CBS and Sports Ill.u.s.trated were allowed. Many questions were forbidden such as talking about whether players would go to the NBA draft or continue playing at the university, Coach Guthridge thought that this could be misused by the media to disrupt the relationship between players and fans. So the reporters would stay in the hotel''s press room and the players would enter individually and so the reporters could ask several questions to the players individually, all the players would go and the reporters would ask the questions if they wanted to. Coach Guthridge would naturally also answer the reporters'' questions, for security reasons he would answer the questions first and then be the players on the starting team with Jake being the fifth player to speak. So if reporters asked something that was not allowed he would be expelled and the interview would continue, so after everything was organized the reporters first interviewed Coach Guthridge who was also very important in this interview. After all, it was Bill Guthridge''s first year as head coach and Team Tar Heels have already had one of the best seasons in team history and won the ACC tournament and was close to winning the NCAA tournament. In addition, along with trainer Dean Smith, he led the team to break that San Francisco team record and Team Tar Heels now had 61 straight wins, so naturally, he would have a lot of questions for Coach Guthridge. The first question was how he felt when he learned that he would have to replace the legendary coach Dean Smith with whom he worked for over 30 years, and how he felt having one of the best debut seasons of any college basketball coach. "Coach Dean Smith has been the head coach of the Tar Heels team for 36 years, he was the best coach the Tar Heels team has had in my opinion and has led many teams to make great seasons and is respected by everyone." "A lot of what I know as a coach I learned from him and this team that managed to break that record was formed by him and started winning games with him, I only coached this team after Serge Zwikker left." "I am very happy with my work so far as the head coach of the Tar Heels team, much of the credit for this excellent season is the incredible players who are on the team now, I see 7 players who can be starting players on any team." "Jake, Antawn, Vince, Ademola, Makhtar, Shammond, and Ed are incredible players, Jake and Antawn are competing for the best player of the season award, it proves that we have an incredible team." "If the Tar Heels team wins the NCAA tournament this season I believe it will be their merit, that of coach Dean Smith and the greatest glory of my career." Coach Guthridge was experienced in talking to the media, he said what he really thought and was careful not to say anything that could be misinterpreted, the reporters asked a few more questions and the last question was the most interesting of the interview, as the coach Guthridge thought it would be the professional future of the Tar Heels team players. "This is difficult to say, a player''s professional career depends a lot on luck and opportunities beyond skills, many excellent players and NBA stars have never won an MVP award and never won an NBA title." "I think a lot of players on the Tar Heels team today have the capacity to be professional players in the NBA or another basketball league, Shammond Williams who finishes college this season has a good chance of going to the NBA." "With his ability if he can play on a team that is strong and with players from other positions very skilled he has a chance to win many awards and win the NBA title one day perhaps." "Antawn Jamison also has the ability to play in the NBA in the future, he is a very skilled player who has a lot of ability to score a lot and get rebounds, so if he plays on a strong team with good players he can be very successful." "It is the same with Jake Smith and Vince Carter, they are excellent players, but if they did not have a good team with good players in the other positions it is impossible for them to win prizes and win the NBA title." "What I can say is that everyone has the ability to play on a strong team to win an NBA title, everyone has the ability and will depend on luck to achieve that." Coach Guthridge said a standard answer to that question and in addition to praising the players, he did not highlight any players as the best of them, he really felt that everyone had the ability to play on a strong team to win the NBA title. After that, the other players were interviewed and only Coach Guthridge was present at the other interviews to make sure that the reporters would not ask questions that could harm the players and the team. One question everyone received besides Coach Guthridge was about what players thought of Jake Smith, everyone said as expected by reporters who thought Jake was the best team player and team leader on the court and one of the main responsible for the current great team season. It was as if everyone said that Jake was the best player on the team just as everyone knew it without anyone saying, after all, Jake had broken several records in several different areas, he had the record for points, assists, and steals in a single season. The next interview would be with Jake, all the reporters were waiting for this and had already prepared the questions they would ask Jake, after all, Jake gave few interviews which made his answers even more valuable. Naturally, the reporters were smart and would not ask any questions that might compromise Jake to not risk being expelled from the press conference, the first question for Jake was what he felt about having the opportunity to win his second NCAA tournament in his second season. "I am very happy with this, it is an honor and a dream for any basketball player to win an NCAA tournament, I was lucky to win in my freshman season and I was also lucky to be able to win two ACC tournaments." "Winning a second NCAA tournament would definitely be a great honor and a great achievement that I will be proud of forever, I hope our team wins the next games to achieve this." Jake answered that question carefully so as not to accidentally say that this was his last season at university, so if he won this second NCAA tournament it would be the last he would win. The reporters couldn''t guess that and soon prepared the next question, they asked if Jake felt that he was the most important player on the Tar Heels team in these two seasons and to break that record because of the data that in games that when he played for more 20 minutes the Tar Heels team always won. "I believe so, just as the numbers said I scored more points and more assists so in my team I was the most important in these 61 victories, but as I said this is just seeing the numbers and this team." "Without my teammates, I wouldn''t be able to get those numbers, without the training of Coach Dean Smith last season and Coach Bill Guthridge this season the team wouldn''t win and I couldn''t do that well." "So I believe the team was responsible for this and not just me, just as Coach Guthridge said without a good team with players in the right positions we couldn''t win the games, let alone the NCAA tournament." Jake and the players had talked several times and Jake was friends with everyone, just as everyone said he was the best player on the team he could also say that without causing any problems with the other players because the numbers say so. But it was the first time that Jake said it clearly to the media because he gave few interviews, and Jake only said it because there were only 3 games left in the NCAA tournament, so it wouldn''t cause any problems for the team. After that, the reporters asked Jake some more questions about basketball and were careful not to ask any more compromising questions, and finally asked Jake if he thought he would miss another game because of some marathon he had to participate in. "No, I don''t think this will happen anymore, the Tokyo marathon is a very special marathon for me and I always wanted to participate in this marathon, when I became a marathon runner I always thought about participating in 6 marathons in the world." "And these were the Boston, New York, Chicago, London, Berlin, and Tokyo marathon, these are for me the most important and main marathons in the world, the other marathons I had the opportunity to participate in." "But to race in Tokyo I had to lose an important game for my team, I just did it because I believed in my team and because it was my dream to race once in Tokyo, so I think it will be difficult for that to happen again." This could be a tricky question for Jake, but in fact, Jake always wanted to talk about it because he knew that it worried a lot of sponsors and fans that he might miss an important game to run a marathon. So Jake was happy to answer that question, even though he had problems with the other big marathons in the future because he talked about the major marathons that were not yet called that, he had gained more support from those marathons. Chapter 424 - 1998 NCAA Tournament 6 Coach Guthridge didn''t like some of the questions, but he was still happy with how those press conference interviews went, reporters didn''t miss out on this opportunity and asked several questions to reserve players as well. So the interviews ended and the players had not been tired or stressed because of that, now the reporters had an interview to do about the Tar Heels team record of the 61-game winning streak and also an interview to talk about the NCAA title later a few weeks. Coach Guthridge decided to let the players rest for the next day''s game and they would have no training, if the Tar Heels team won the next game they would have a week to rest before the next game and could train a lot. So soon the day of the next NCAA tournament came, after a day of rest the players were almost recovered for the game, after breaking the record and thus relieving the pressure that the players felt they were much more confident in the victory. The opponent in that game was the UConn Huskies team, the UConn Huskies team was having a great season and had a good team with great players, for not even qualifying for the NCAA tournament last season, many thought that the Tar Heels team would win with assurance. But Jake knew that next season the UConn Huskies team would be the champion of the NCAA tournament, that was strange for Jake because the Michigan State team that they won in the last game would be the champion of the NCAA tournament after two seasons and the UConn Huskies team would win the NCAA tournament next season. It showed how the Tar Heels team had faced tough opponents if they could win the NCAA tournament this season, so Jake would do his best in that game to guarantee victory. "Welcome to everyone who is watching another NCAA tournament game this season, the Tar Heels team plays today trying to increase the winning record and continue in the NCAA tournament to try to win the second NCAA title in a row." "After the last game where all the players on the Tar Heels team performed well, the opponent in that game is the UConn Huskies team that has been having a great season and can win this game and end the winning streak of the Tar Heels team." "That''s right, the UConn Huskies team has been playing very well this season and has great players, I think in the coming seasons they can get a better result." "But in the last few games they won very hard and in that game, I think the Tar Heels team will win again, with Jake Smith and Antawn Jamison playing so well I find it difficult for the Tar Heels team to lose." The game started with the Tar Heels team pressing in the attack as it did in the last few games, the players were confident and the Tar Heels team was better in the attack, moreover, the players didn''t have to worry and get tired because the next game would just be a week later if they won. But the UConn Huskies team was known for their good defense for letting their opponent score more than 79 points in just 2 games this season, so Jake knew it would be a tough game where he had to prepare to score fewer points and try more shots out. The UConn Huskies team''s attack was not very strong because of that and Coach Guthridge just told the players to focus on defending against Richard Hamilton and Khalid El-Amin. Jake would defend against Hamilton who was better at three-point shots in that game and the other players had to defend against El-Amin, so with the good defense of the UConn Huskies team, the Tar Heels team was unable to open a good advantage against the UConn team. Huskies at the start of the game. Jake would play a key role in this game and if he defended well he could help the Tar Heels team win because his steals would be important in a game with fewer points, so he was more focused than usual in defense. In another play, the UConn Huskies team was attacking and after a good play Hamilton received the ball, Jake was further away from him and was waiting for a pass or for Hamilton''s three-point attempt. Hamilton attempted an outside shot and Jake quickly approached to block and prevent Hamilton''s outside shot, the ball went to El-Amin after Jake''s block and he attempted an outside shot and made 3 more points for the UConn Huskies team. Williams who should have been defending against El-Amin was distracted after Jake got the block and did not continue defending against El-Amin who scored, Jake was upset because the team lost the chance to increase the lead, but said nothing for Williams. In another move the Tar Heels team was on the attack and the UConn Huskies defense was pressing, Carter advanced the ball and passed the ball to Jamison on the left, Jamison received the ball and the UConn Huskies defense soon pressed against him. Jamison tried a spin, but seeing that he was not going to make it he passed the ball to Williams further back on the right, Williams received the ball and passed it to Jake in the middle, Jake saw that he had no good passing options and tried the individual play. He tried to feint, but he did not deceive the opposing player, so Jake tried to use speed and got rid of the opposing player, another UConn Huskies defense player came to defend against Jake and he stepped back and tried the shot from outside. So he got it right and made 3 more points for the Tar Heels team, Jake still managed to hit some three-point shots, but the UConn Huskies defense was very strong, it was difficult for him to have to use more than three attempts to get rid of an opponent. The game continued like this with the Tar Heels team pressing in the attack and the UConn Huskies team very well in defense, the Tar Heels team ended the 1st half winning with a small advantage because Jake got some three-point shots and helped in the defense. In this 1st half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and made 15 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, 5 steals, 3 blocks, Jake was really playing well in this 1st half both in attack and defense, he managed to find spaces to make good assists and help his teammates score against UConn Huskies'' good defense. "What an exciting 1st half we had in that game, the two teams are trying to win and the players from both teams are playing very well, the Tar Heels team is currently winning, but in the 2nd half everything can change." "It is true, the UConn Huskies team is playing very well and is using strong defense to try to prevent the Tar Heels team that has the best attack from College basketball from increasing the advantage on the scoreboard." "But Jake is also playing very well in this game and has been the highlight of the Tar Heels team in this game also with 6 steals and 3 blocks, moreover, in the attack Jake is organizing the Tar Heels team well to find spaces and so they can do it the points against the UConn Huskies team''s strong defense." "We will monitor whether the Tar Heels team can continue to attack and defend in order to guarantee the advantage on the scoreboard and achieve victory at the end of the game." The game was really difficult and the Tar Heels team players who were very confident before the game started were starting to get worried, Jake remembered that in the past the Tar Heels team won this game, but in this game, some key players from the UConn Huskies team they were a little sick in that game. And Jake could clearly see that the players on the UConn Huskies team were healthy in this game, almost everything was happening as Jake remembered it, but some things still changed like that. So this game was much more difficult than Jake thought it would be and even defending against Hamilton was difficult, Jake was having difficulty making the plays and so he only made assists or shots from three points, it was because he couldn''t move forward to make a layup or a dunk in that game. In the 2nd half, the game remained difficult to play and Jake was really trying his best to make the Tar Heels team continue with the lead on the scoreboard, in another move the Tar Heels team was on the attack and Jake passed the ball to Williams on the right. Williams advanced with the ball and passed to Okulaja ahead before crossing the three-point line, Okulaja tried the play and failed and passed the ball back to Williams further back, Williams tried to pass the ball to Jamison later on left. But Hamilton managed to intercept the pass and make the steal, he took the opportunity and started running for the attack, so Hamilton and El-Amin were running to try to make the points on the counterattack. Williams took a while to react to the turnover he did and only Jake came back using his speed to defend, Jake was very fast and was ahead of Hamilton and El-Amin preventing them from moving forward. The two realized this and decided to use the numerical advantage and Hamilton opened on the left and El-Amin opened on the right, Jake was not anxious and stayed in the middle so that he could try the block on whoever tried to make the points or the steal. Near the painted area Hamilton who had the ball realized Jake''s intentions and went to try the mid-range shot, Jake realized this and advanced close to Hamilton and jumped along with him to try the block. But Hamilton was smarter and was not trying to shoot the mid-range but wanted to trick Jake and passed the ball to El-Amin who was free and can advance to make the layup and 2 more points for the UConn Huskies team. Chapter 425 - 1998 NCAA Tournament 7 Jake felt very irritated for being cheated, but in this situation, it was difficult for him to defend against the two alone, so the advantage of the Tar Heels team was only 7 points and had greatly diminished because of the attack errors of the other players in the team. Tar Heels team. A few minutes had passed from the 2nd half of the game and the Tar Heels team could still win, but this play irritated Jake who used to be calm, in the same play he was tricked he received the ball from Carter and advanced for the attack. This time Jake went forward for the attack alone and did not pass the ball as he always did, but sometimes he did it and no one found anything strange, still being a little far from the three-point line Jake didn''t even think twice and tried a shot from outside by far. So he got it right and made 3 more points for the Tar Heels team, the defensive players of the UConn Huskies team didn''t expect Jake to attempt the shot from so far and didn''t even think about defending and so the crowd that was rooting for the team Tar Heels at the Greensboro Coliseum started to cheer even more. The game continued and Jake was defending more willingly and hindered the UConn Huskies team who missed the attack for Jamison to catch the rebound, so after a few minutes, the other players from the Tar Heels team and the UConn Huskies team began to notice that something strange was happening. Jake tried 6 shots from three points in a row without passing to any player on the Tar Heels team once, he hit 4 shots from outside and had already scored 12 points in those few minutes, the advantage of the Tar Heels team greatly increased with that and the attacks were quick because Jake didn''t use the ball possession time for the Tar Heels team. So the coach of the UConn Huskies team had to ask for technical time to talk to the players, Coach Guthridge naturally realized that Jake was awkward in the last minutes, but as the Tar Heels team was increasing the lead on the scoreboard he said nothing. But now that team coach UConn Huskies had asked for time, that move would no longer work and coach Guthridge had to call Jake to a more isolated place to talk to him about what was going on. "What happened in the last few minutes, Jake, was it a strategy to further increase the lead? But if you were to do that, you could enjoy a little more possession time." "I''m sorry, Coach Guthridge, I was a little irritated and didn''t think about it properly." "Riled up? Was it with the UConn Huskies team move that you were tricked? Don''t worry about it, you can''t always defend well against two players." "It was not that, in several plays, in the 2nd half our team was often making mistakes in the attack and the advantage was decreasing, so for some plays, I didn''t want to pass the ball to anyone." So Coach Guthridge can understand why Jake was apologizing, it was good that he decided to talk to Jake separately from the rest of the team, Jake was very good at three-point shots and he almost never had a game where he didn''t play very well. In addition, Coach Guthridge had never seen Jake become very nervous or anxious in a game and he was always the player who helped others to control themselves, so Coach Guthridge didn''t realize that Jake was acting strangely in those last few minutes. "Look, Jake, I know you can often play alone because you have a high average three-point hit, but you do this only because opposing players are concerned with defending against their teammates who are great players too." "So when you go forward, there are often not even two players defending against you, but if you still want to do all the moves yourself there will be two or three players defending against you in that game." "If I see that you are getting in the way of the Tar Heels team from getting the win because of that I will have to replace you." Coach Guthridge didn''t want to be too hard to reproach Jake for this, but he couldn''t allow it to affect the team in an important game like this, otherwise, the Tar Heels team would be eliminated. Jake was smart and naturally understood that he was doing something wrong and in the other move he passed to Williams again and the opposing players returned to defend normally, the Tar Heels team had regained the advantage on the scoreboard, Jake was calm again. But because of that, the Tar Heels team was lucky because when Jake received the ball the UConn Huskies defense had two players defending against him, with all his teammates playing well it meant more space for Jake to assist. In another play Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Carter before passing through the middle of the court, Carter received the ball and continued to advance and passed the ball to Jamison further ahead before reaching the three-point line. Jamison tried to move forward and the UConn Huskies defense was pressing against him, so Jamison passed the ball to Williams who was further back on the right, Williams received the ball and held it up a little before passing the ball to Jake again. Jake received the ball and two players from the UConn Huskies team soon came to defend against him, so Jake passed the ball to Okulaja who was open from the right, Okulaja had come from behind the defense and was free, so Okulaja tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team. The game continued with the Tar Heels team pressing in the attack until the end, the coach of the UConn Huskies team tried to change the defense again, but the Tar Heels team managed to win the game making 89 points against 60 points of the UConn Huskies team. In that 2nd half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and made 21 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 3 blocks, after 10 minutes of the 2nd half when Jake talked to Coach Guthridge he started making more assists than points, so he got another quadruple-double at College basketball. "So the game ends and the Tar Heels team got another victory and continues in the NCAA tournament to try to win the NCAA title again this season." "This was a difficult game for the Tar Heels team and the UConn Huskies team that has a good defense gave the Tar Heels team a lot of difficulties, but at the end of the game the Tar Heels attack managed to find a way to break the defense of UConn Huskies team and the game ended with Tar Heels team winning with a good advantage." "Okay, the players of the UConn Huskies team were playing very well in that game and so their team''s defense made a very good 1st half, but the players of the Tar Heels team were also playing well and so the Tar Heels team managed the victory." "Jake was the highlight of the game making in a few minutes of the 2nd half 6 shots from outside and hitting 4 of them making 12 points in a few minutes which increased the advantage for the Tar Heels team and also made the UConn Huskies defense have to defend better against him and thus give space to other players on the Tar Heels team." "Jake got another quadruple-double in that game and also got 6 blocks, it was certainly one of his best games and he was very important for the victory of the Tar Heels team in that game, I''m sure Jake Smith deserves to be the best player in a year." "So with this victory, the Tar Heels team increases the record of victories in a row and we will see if they win the next games and thus the Tar Heels team will be champion of the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year." The Tar Heels team players celebrated a lot of being able to play again in the final four of the NCAA tournament, of course, everyone hoped they could win the next game and make it to the final of the NCAA tournament. Jake was happy about it, but he was ashamed of what he had done in that game, even though it worked well to break the UConn Huskies team''s strong defense, he knew well that he hadn''t done what he did think about it. Jake decided that at the next team training he would apologize for what happened and explain exactly what he did, he had to be honest with his teammates so that everyone could believe him. Coach Guthridge gave 2 days for all players to rest and then they would train for 4 days before the game, after that game everyone was really exhausted and needed those days off. The sports media kept talking about the Tar Heels team because just as they expected everyone who came to watch the games, they were curious to see the Tar Heels team break the San Francisco team''s winning streak followed by watching to see if the Tar Heels team would win the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row. The Tar Heels team would have time to rest before the next game, so Jake would continue training with Yuen Woo-ping, after all, he would have 6 days before the next game and would take the opportunity to train with Yuen Woo-ping because he had a responsibility with the film crew. The next day the players were resting and Jake went to train with Yuen Woo-ping, in fact, Jake found this martial arts training very relaxing and very good, even if the wire-fu was more for acting there were many things about the martial arts that Jake wished he could hurt someone. Yuen Woo-ping continued to train Jake to do the best he could in this film and even taught things that Jake wouldn''t even need to use in the film, after all, he thought Jake was already ready for the film, but they could use the time to train even more. Chapter 426 - 1998 NCAA Tournament 8 Yuen Woo-ping wanted Jake to do very well in this film to be praised for his effort to learn the fight scenes, moreover, if he could teach Jake a lot of things he could invite him to a fight film in the future in Hollywood or even Hong Kong. The truth was that for Jake''s character in this film, his fighting skills would be more important than his acting skills, Jake had a lot of acting skills also because of the years he trained in his life before going back in time. Jake naturally knew that and his goal was not to be recognized as the best actor in the film, in fact, he was very concerned that his character could disrupt the story he knew and thus the film would not be that good. Jake just wanted to have an important character in a movie that would be a success, so he would be proud and could be called an actor even if he did not make any more films in the future, Jake knew that with NBA games it would be almost impossible for him to find time to participate in the films. But his career as a professional basketball player would not last forever, after the age of 45 he would certainly not be playing anymore, so Jake could continue working as an actor while running the marathons and running his businesses. Of course, no one knew that Jake thought about it and Yuen Woo-ping thought that Jake''s goal was to be a famous actor and wanted to help him with that, the directors who worked with him also thought about it and were counting on Jake in the future. After a few days Jake continued training with Yuen Woo-ping and the basketball team went back to training for the next game, the Tar Heels team players were confident and excited for the next game. Everyone thought that the Tar Heels team would go to the final of the NCAA tournament this season and win again and that enthusiasm was affecting the players too, Jake was the most concerned about it and Coach Guthridge too. Before the first day of training after the break, Jake decided to speak to Coach Guthridge about his concerns, after all in the past the Tar Heels team lost to the opposing team of that game when Jake did not play. Jake told Coach Guthridge that he was very concerned and thought that the Tar Heels team might not win the next game, so he thought it was better for the players to train more before the next game. Listening to this made Coach Guthridge even more concerned, he really thought the next game against the Utah Utes team would be very difficult, listening to Jake he was sure of it now after all the Utah Utes team had an even better defense than the UConn Huskies team which caused many problems for the Tar Heels team''s attack. The Utah Utes team had a very strong defense that had taken over 70 points against just two opponents in the entire season, the next opponent the Utah Utes team was having a great season losing few games and even winning against the Arizona Wildcats team that he lost to the Tar Heels team in the semifinal of the NCAA tournament last season, but he would have won the NCAA tournament had it not been for Jake on the team. This showed the strength of the Utah Utes team that they lost last season to the team that played in the final against Team Tar Heels, because of that Coach Guthridge changed his mind and decided to do intense training with the team in the next few days. Before that Jake told what really happened in the last game that he made 6 shots out of 6 strokes in a row without passing the ball to anyone because he was angry at the poor performance of his teammates in that game. He apologized and his teammates were surprised by this and accepted the apology and liked Jake''s honesty, they knew that Jake was not arrogant and normally didn''t do that and that he should be suffering from the pressure like all of them. But what nobody knew was that Coach Guthridge would agree with Jake that the team played poorly at the beginning of the 2nd half of the last game and said that the team had to train harder if they wanted to have the chance to win in the next game and also in the final game if they won against the Utah Utes team. So over the next few days, the training was really intense with the coach taking care not to make the players tired too much, coach Guthridge told the team to be careful with Michael Doleac and Andre Miller from the Utah Utes team. He also said that in the next game Jake would have to make more three-point moves to try to break the Utah Utes team''s defense, and they too would have to defend very well if they wanted to have a chance to win. To defend against the Utah Utes Doleac Center, Coach Guthridge decided to take Williams out of the starting team and put N''Diaye to strengthen the defense, N''Diaye had already been in many games as a reserve to help the defense of the Tar Heels team and that it had worked very well. After many days of training came the day of the semifinal game that would be a very important game for the Tar Heels team, that game would be at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. It was a long way from Chapel Hill, North Carolina and the team had to travel the day before and miss a day of training to be able to arrive rested for game day, yet the biggest crowd was for the Tar Heels team which gained a lot of popularity afterward to break the San Francisco team record. "Welcome everyone who came to watch another game of the NCAA tournament, this is a game of the final four, a semifinal between two of the 4 best teams of College basketball this season, this is one of the most important games of this season." "The Tar Heels team tries to win this game to further increase the incredible winning streak and also try to reach the final again and try to win for the second year in a row the NCAA tournament." "The Utah Utes team has had an incredible season and has excellent players that make this team have one of the best defenses in college basketball, the Utah Utes team wants to win the NCAA tournament again after more than 50 years since the last victory." "Okay, I think the Tar Heels team is definitely a favorite to win this game because of the players, Jake Smith, Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, and the other players have done an excellent season and I think this NCAA tournament is going to be won by that team." "But I wouldn''t be too surprised if the Utah Utes team won that game and then won the NCAA tournament." Many of the media thought as the commentators thought, everyone cheered and hoped that the Tar Heels team would win this game, but if they lost it would also be an interesting thing for them to put in the reports. The game started with the Tar Heels team attacking normally, Jake decided not to increase the pace of the game early in the game and leave his teammates tired, Jake knew that the Utah Utes team defense was very good and was not using the speed that they could make the stitches. Fortunately, the Utah Utes team''s attack was also not very strong so if they managed to have a good game they would be able to win that game, the most difficult would be to defend against Doleac and it would be N''Diaye who would have to try harder in that game. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Carter on the left, Carter advanced with the ball and passed to Jamison who was on the right, Coach Guthridge decided to leave Williams out of that game following Jake''s recommendation and for the plays, he would leave Jamison and Carter more behind. When Jake advanced to the attack the two would enter the area too and so only Jake would be out of the three-point line, this could help the Utah Utes team to defend more easily, but it was also part of the Tar Heels team strategy. Jamison passed the ball to Okulaja further on and the Utah Utes team''s defense soon pressed against Okulaja, so he had to pass the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Miller came to defend against him. Jake managed to deceive Miller with a feint and tried the shot from the outside and thus the first 3 points against the Utah Utes team, that was the main strategy of the Tar Heels team at the beginning of the game, to count on Jake to make several shots from outside and to try to make the most points like that. It seemed like a weak strategy, but with Jake''s average of 78% on three-point shots it was actually the best strategy against a team that had such a strong defense within the three-point line. And the strategy didn''t end only with Jake making several shots from three points, the Utah Utes team would have to defend better against Jake and thus get some players out of the three-point line, so Jake would have more freedom to make assists and the team Tar Heels could attack better. And luckily for the Tar Heels team, Jake was very good in the three-point shots at the beginning of the game of the six three-point shots he tried he hit 5 three-point shots making 15 points and missing only 1 of them. It was different from the last game because the Tar Heels team spent the ball possession time and so 6 minutes had passed since the beginning of the game, the Utah Utes team also managed to score 11 points, but the Tar Heels team went through the most difficult time 1st half and it was the Utah Utes team that had to do something to stop Jake in that game. Chapter 427 - 1998 NCAA Tournament 9 Just as Jake and Coach Guthridge expected the Utah Utes team coach had to ask for technical time to organize his team''s defense, Coach Guthridge didn''t even need to explain to Jake what he had to do. The other players on the Tar Heels team who thought it strange that they hadn''t scored any points in 6 minutes of play and didn''t even try to score any points, but they understood Coach Guthridge''s strategy and could see that it was working. Coach Guthridge just spoke to N''Diaye who seemed to be having a difficult time defending against Doleac from the Utah Utes team, the coach understood how difficult it was for N''Diaye to defend against such a good Center, but it was important that he try to hinder Doleac and not doing too many fouls to avoid being kicked out of the game. Jake wanted to defend against Miller, but Coach Guthridge said that Jake could defend against Miller, but he had better try some steals and not just keep defending against Miller. The Utah Utes team came back after this time-out from their coach pressing more in the attack, they had to finish this 1st half by winning the game because they knew that the Tar Heels team did not lose games that they finished the 1st half by winning. In another attacking move by the Utah Utes team, the ball went through all the players and returned to Miller, Jake soon went to press on defense against him, Miller could not get rid of Jake and had to pass the ball to Doleac. Doleac received the ball and managed to spin quickly even with N''Diaye defending against him, so Doleac managed to make the layup and 2 more points for the Utah Utes team and N''Diaye did not try the block to not make the foul which was the decision right in that move. The players of the Utah Utes team were doing well in this game and were able to put a lot of pressure on the Tar Heels team that was in the attack, luckily Jake managed to get some steals and was getting in the way of the Utah Utes team''s attack. The Utah Utes team''s defense began to defend more against Jake and sent two players to the three-point line to defend against him, so Jake and the Tar Heels team finally had more space to make plays within the three-point line. In another move the Tar Heels team was attacking, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Carter on the left before passing through the middle of the court, Carter advanced with the ball and passed the ball to Okulaja on the right before reaching the three-point line. The Utah Utes team defense soon pressed against Okulaja who had to pass the ball to Jamison who was further behind, Jamison passed the ball to Jake who was further behind, the Utah Utes team defense came with two players to press against Jake. At that point, Carter and Jamison had entered within the line of three points and Jake passed the ball to Carter ahead, Carter advanced with speed and managed to make the dunk to make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. This encouraged, even more, the fans who were rooting for the Tar Heels team, the Utah Utes team coach knew that the Tar Heels team would do that, but he couldn''t let Jake continue making so many three-point shots and just rely on luck. The Tar Heels team can attack with more freedom and thus ended the 1st half by winning with a small advantage on the scoreboard, the Utah Utes team was also playing well and was slightly behind the Tar Heels team in that game. In that 1st half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and had 23 points, 4 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals, even Jake was having a difficult time defending against the Utah Utes team and was only able to make 2 steals and catch some defensive rebounds. "End of the 1st half of this exciting game, the Tar Heels team finishes the 1st half of the game by winning with a small advantage and achieved this with great difficulty and a strange attack strategy with Jake trying 6 shots from three points in the first 6 attacks of the team Tar Heels." "It was the same thing that happened in some part of the last game and it helped to break the defense of the Utah Utes team that had to defend better against Jake who scored 15 points and that gave freedom to the other players on the Tar Heels team." "The Utah Utes team also had an excellent 1st half defending very well and attacking very well too, if it weren''t for Jake Smith they would certainly have won that 1st half with a good lead on the scoreboard." "Michael Doleac is playing very well and scored several points even with Makhtar N''Diaye from the Tar Heels team defending against him, and other players from the Utah Utes team were also very good at the beginning of the game making several three-point shots and hitting not letting the Tar Heels team to get an even bigger advantage at the start of the game." "Even though the Tar Heels team is the favorite to win this game because they have a small advantage, the Utah Utes team can win this game if they continue to play well." The Utah Utes team continued to press in the attack in the 2nd half because they wanted to win that game and advance to the final of the NCAA tournament, but with Jake who forced the Utah Utes team''s defense out of the three-point line to defend against him left the Utah Utes team''s defense opened. In another move Jake moved forward and passed to Jamison on the right before passing through the middle of the court, Jamison advanced with the ball and passed to Carter on the left before reaching the three-point line. Carter tried to get rid of the opponent to advance, but the Utah Utes team''s defense was very well within the three-point line, so Carter had to pass the ball to Jake again, Jake received the ball and this time only one player came to defend against he and the others stayed inside the area. It seemed that at halftime the Utah Utes team coach asked the players to return to their normal defensive style, so Jake didn''t hesitate and tried a shot from outside and hit to make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team. In the next few minutes, Jake tried for three shots in a row from an outside shot and hit all three and scored 9 points, further increasing the Tar Heels team advantage on the scoreboard, so the Utah Utes players again tried to defend against Jake and the Tar team. Heels had room to attack within the three-point line again. The Utah Utes team continued to attack well, but Jake, who spoke to coach Guthridge at half-time, started to defend better against Miller who could no longer play freely. So the Utah Utes team had only Doleac to attack well, but it seemed that after making several difficult plays fighting against the defense of the Tar Heels team practically alone Doleac was getting tired. Okulaja was also helping to defend against him which made the situation even more difficult for him, in another move he received the ball and N''Diaye soon arrived to defend against him, Doleac with difficulty managed to get rid of N''Diaye and Okulaja arrived to defend too. So Doleac had to do a spin and when he thought about trying to layup Jake suddenly appeared and did the steal with speed, Doleac had not even realized that Jake was around and thus lost the attack to the Utah Utes team. Jake advanced with the ball and waited for his teammates to go on the attack and passed the ball to Carter on the left, Carter advanced slowly and stopped at the three-point line and passed the ball to Okulaja further on the right. The Utah Utes team defense soon pressed against Okulaja and he passed the ball further to Jamison, Jamison soon passed the ball to Jake in the middle and advanced into the three-point line, Jake received the ball and two players from the Utah Utes team approached him. Jake received the ball and went further to the right and soon passed the ball to Carter who was free on the left outside the three-point line, no Utah Utes defense player followed Carter out of the three-point line and he received the ball alone and can make a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team. With Jake drawing more attention from the defense the other players on the Tar Heels team had more freedom to attack, Vince Carter was playing very well in that game and Jamison was also helping a lot in the attack. Team Utah Utes still tried to win, but at the end of the game Team Tar Heels won again with 87 points against Team Utah Utes'' 59 points, with Jake making more than 40 points and Coach Guthridge''s strategy Team Tar Heels won this game more. In this 2nd half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and made 20 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals, with this triple-double Jake helped the Tar Heels team to win the toughest game of the year and he was very important in the team''s strategy for victory. "And so this NCAA tournament game ends, in this exciting semifinal game in the final four, the Tar Heels team once again won the victory and thus increases the winning streak and is in the NCAA tournament final for the second year in a row." "With an excellent performance by Jake Smith again in the attack and today is important to the Tar Heels team''s strategy to break the Utah Utes team''s strong defense, the Tar Heels team managed to win with a good advantage even though this was the most difficult game that they had in the season." "The Utah Utes team played very well and the players performed well in that game, Michael Doleac and Andre Miller played an excellent game that helped to keep the Utah Utes team still with chances of victory." Chapter 428 - 1998 NCAA Tournament 10 "Okay, the Utah Utes team really played a great game and deserved a chance to be in the final of the NCAA tournament this season, but the Tar Heels team was better and goes to the final for the second year in a row with a chance of winning the NCAA tournament for the second time this season." "We were able to see from this strategy by the Tar Heels team chosen by Coach Guthridge the confidence that the coach and the other players on the Tar Heels team have in Jake, which was rewarded by this victory where Jake scored 43 points." "After two days we will have the championship game here at Alamodome, and the Tar Heels team is favorite to win again, we will follow up if the Tar Heels team closes this incredible season with yet another victory, increasing the sequence of victories and ending this season without losing no game." The Tar Heels team players were very happy to win, it was a very difficult game in which Shammond Williams who was one of the main players on the team was not playing very well and so most of the game was left in reserve. Fortunately, N''Diaye played very well and helped the defense of the Tar Heels team to withstand the Utah Utes team attack, but everyone was happy that the Tar Heels team would go for the second season in a row to the NCAA tournament final, that would put the name of all of them in history. Of course, the only thought on everyone''s mind was to win the final game and win the NCAA tournament again, the players were more confident because they came from a winning streak that now had 63 wins in a row. And also because they knew they could always count on Jake who was instrumental in the Tar Heels team winning the last two games and it was important in all Tar Heels games if the Tar Heels team managed to win everyone knew it was because Jake was on the team in those two seasons. The fans of the Tar Heels team had completely forgotten that Jake had not participated in a game to run the marathon, especially since after that game against the Utah Utes team the media that participated in the interview on the day that the Tar Heels team broke the record and was organized by coach Guthridge decided to publish the report with the responses of the players. The fans saw Jake''s answer as to why he hadn''t participated in a game to run the Tokyo marathon and with the Tar Heels team going to the final with Jake''s excellent performance everyone understood what he said. The fame of the Tar Heels team now in the United States was even greater than that of some NBA teams with this doubt that everyone had a possible NBA lockout, everyone wanted to see if the Tar Heels team could win again and win for the second year in a row. NCAA tournament and increase the sequence of games without losing for a few more months until the next season. Coach Guthridge gave the day after the game against the Utah Utes team to rest for the Tar Heels team players, it was a very intense game and the game of the final would be even more intense, Coach Guthridge thought it was no use training one day before the final game. Because of that game, Jake again asked for a short break from training with Yuen Woo-ping, naturally, Yuen Woo-ping understood how important the NCAA tournament game was to Jake and let Jake rest. The one who had no rest was David Falk, who had to talk to many companies again, Jake''s performance convinced all companies that Jake was a future NBA star and could even be the new NBA No. 1 player in the coming seasons. The attention that Jake and the Tar Heels team was getting was very great and these companies wanted to sponsor Jake, but the problem was that Jake had asked David to increase the amount that the companies had to pay for sponsorship to 2 million dollars a year, so a 4-year contract would be $ 8 million. Naturally, companies thought it was too much to pay for sponsorship for a player who was debuting in the NBA even though he was a future genius, even Kobe Bryant didn''t have such big contracts in his debut year. But Jake was different because he had some contracts secured and he had also secured a $ 52 million contract with Adidas, in addition, Jake was also a marathon runner who had won an Olympic gold medal and also won many marathons and had the record current world. So no matter how much the companies wanted to negotiate, David wouldn''t accept anything less than Jake had already set as a minimum, naturally, these companies knew what David was like as a sports agent and so they gave up on having Jake endorse their company. Jake knew these companies would regret it when he appeared in The Matrix and when he won some NBA championsh.i.p.s with the Lakers'' team in the coming years, Nike had also finally responded that it accepted the deal that Jake had asked for, but they had some conditions. This further disappointed Jake and David who had good intentions and so David said that the Adidas team had already signed a contract with them a few weeks ago, which greatly surprised Nike representatives who thought that Adidas would not accept this agreement because they already had a contract with Kobe Bryant. Even though Adidas wanted to lead the basketball market in the United States, they knew it would be difficult for them to beat Nike, which had several athletes and mainly Michael Jordan, so they didn''t expect Adidas to bet that much on Jake. This just showed how Nike representatives were not studying the market properly, Jake was very prominent in Europe for reasons that Adidas did not know well, and also had many fans in Asia, even more after winning the marathons in Europe and Asia. Adidas also bet on the athletics market and with Jake, they would have the main athlete of the marathons in the world, in addition to Jake''s full potential in basketball to be one of the biggest stars in the NBA. Adidas representatives really thought that Jake would be as good as Kobe Bryant was when he went to the NBA, they had gained a lot of market after the contract with Kobe Bryant and hoped to win even more with Jake. Only with the fame that Jake had in Europe and Asia did they know that they would gain a lot from this contract, maybe they could create a shoe representing Jake and so they could take advantage of his fame in the world. Even if Jake didn''t become a star for years to come, they knew that at least he would be one of the top players and that in a few years there would be other Olympic games, and for sure Jake could win another marathon and win another gold medal. Thinking about all this, Adidas decided that it would be important for them to get this contract with Jake for the next few years, even with that decided David was still busy because many companies wanted to keep trying to get a contract paying less than Jake and David wanted. On the day of the rest of the Tar Heels team players Jake talked to his mother and confirmed that Eva would come again to watch the final game, but this time Anna would not come with her because they did not want to have to close the restaurant again. Jake was already thinking about it and asked for 3 tickets for Coach Guthridge, he imagined that the team that was in the final would be entitled to some tickets for the players'' family, he didn''t know if that was the case, but Coach Guthridge got some tickets for the game of the final and handed it to Jake. So Jake told his mother that he already had a guaranteed ticket for her, Eva was happy with that because even though she was prepared to go to the final game she still had to buy the ticket for the final and because of the team record Tar Heels this season a lot of people wanted to watch the final game. Jake also spoke to Kate because he suspected she would watch the game too, just as Jake hoped Kate would watch the game anyway, but she had to refuse the ticket that Jake separated for her because it was possible for the broadcaster to broadcast the game knew about the tickets Jake asked for and filmed to see where his family was in the stands. Jake hadn''t even thought about it, but he had to admit that it could happen because he had already seen several games where the broadcasting station filmed the family of the players on the teams that were playing. But Kate, who was famous, had to think about it and had already secured a ticket for her before, in the future she wanted to be able to appear in the media watching Jake''s games, but now they still didn''t have a relationship and so it would be very complicated. Even with Kate taking care, she knew that some gossip magazines said she had been dating Jake since they were photographed together, it was bad for Kate with her fans, but it could be good if she really started dating Jake in the future because the fans would not be so surprised by this. When Jake thought he had to return tickets for Coach Guthridge to give to the other players he received several calls from friends saying they would come to watch his final game, Matthew and Oliver called first and so Jake gave the tickets to them. But Tiffany and Clara also called saying they would watch the game, Eric would also watch the game, but he would see it in the press area, his university friends would also watch the game and Joseph called apologizing because he couldn''t watch his game. Jake was happy to know that many people important to him were going to watch his final game at the Alamodome, and they didn''t even know it was an important game for Jake because it was his last game at the university. Chapter 429 - End of Time at the University 1 So the other day came the game day of the 1998 NCAA tournament final, the players were more rested and very confident for this game that would be very important for all of them. In a final game like this, it didn''t matter who was the favorite team or which team won the most games of the season, both teams would have the same chance of winning the game and the team that had the best players and that the players had the best performance would win. The players'' families would be in that game and if the Tar Heels team won they would make history not only for North Carolina University but also for the entire College basketball, after all, few teams won two NCAA tournaments in a row. Only the Duke Blue Devils teams, Cincinnati Bearcats, UCLA Bruins, Oklahoma State Cowboys, San Francisco Dons and the Kentucky Wildcats team that would be their next opponent, this was a very important game for the players, for Coach Guthridge, for the university, and for the fans too. The team that would be the opponent in this final was the Kentucky Wildcats team, the Kentucky Wildcats team had another great season and even if it wasn''t the favorite to win, no one would be surprised if they won that game. After all, this was the Kentucky Wildcats'' third consecutive final in three years, which meant that the Kentucky Wildcats team was among the top two teams in the NCAA tournament for three seasons. In 1996 they won the NCAA tournament and last season they lost that game to the Tar Heels team in the final, so this season they were, even more, wanting to win that game to win the NCAA tournament again and also to get the rematch against the team Tar Heels for last season. Jake was really confident that the Tar Heels team would win that game because the Tar Heels team had more difficulty against teams that had the best saves and the Kentucky Wildcats team didn''t have that good defense and so it would be an open game. This would also be a very important game that could change history, after all before Jake went back in time the Kentucky Wildcats team had won 8 NCAA tournaments and the Tar Heels team had won 6 if the Tar Heels team won in that game the Tar Heels team would have won the fifth NCAA tournament and in the future would have won 8 NCAA tournaments and the Kentucky Wildcats team only 7. The players of the Tar Heels team were very excited and confident that the Tar Heels team would win this game, Jake was looking into the stands to find his friends, he can find his mother easily because he knew where she was. He found Matthew and Oliver who were sitting next to Eva too, then he found Tiffany and Clara and can also find Eric, the hardest thing was for him to find Kate because she was in disguise again. What was a surprise to Jake was that he met David Falk and NBA Lakers general manager Jerry West, he didn''t expect David to come because David hadn''t said anything, but soon Jake understood that it wouldn''t be weird if he came with Jerry West for an NCAA tournament final game. Jake felt more confident seeing that there were so many people rooting for him in this game, he really wanted to give everything he could to win this game that was his last game on the Tar Heels team. Coach Guthridge asked players on the Tar Heels team to be careful of many players on the opposing team, Jeff Sheppard who had not played last season and was one of the main players on this current team. Nazr Mohammed, Scott Padgett, and Wayne Turner, because of Nazr Mohammed coach Guthridge decided to put N''Diaye in the game instead of Okulaja, he had to do that because he didn''t want to take Williams out of that game in the final. But if someone played badly in that game Okulaja would join the team again, everyone knew that the Kentucky Wildcats team was also a very offensive team and therefore Coach Guthridge had to bet on the attack of Team Tar Heels that was stronger than in defense. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch this game from the final of the NCAA tournament, in this championship game the two teams meet again just as it was last season that the Tar Heels team ended up winning the NCAA tournament." "The Tar Heels team is the favorite to win this game because it has the best players, Jake Smith who has been doing his second season and with these seasons his name will go down in history as one of the best players in the history of college basketball." "Jake has an incredible average this season of 35 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, 9 steals, and 1.5 blocks, this is his game''s average of 38 games so far." "The Tar Heels team also has Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, Ademola Okulaja, Makhtar N''Diaye and Ed Cota who form one of the best teams in the history of the Tar Heels team and this season achieved a record of 63 straight victories with last season." "The other team in this NCAA tournament final is the Kentucky Wildcats team that is making the third consecutive final, three years in a row as one of the two best teams in college basketball." "The Kentucky Wildcats team won in 1996 and lost last season to Team Tar Heels, and this season they try to win again with an incredible team with great players." "The Kentucky Wildcats team has Jeff Sheppard who did not play in the last game of the final last season when the Tar Heels team won and he wants to win that game and win the NCAA tournament for the second time." "The two teams have something else in common that the two teams are in the final even though they changed coaches this season, team Tar Heels had coach Dean Smith last season and this season coach Bill Guthridge and team Kentucky Wildcats had coach Rick Pitino last season and have Tubby Smith in that season." "So we will see which of the two teams will win the NCAA tournament this season." Just as commentators said these two teams had the best players and the best teams in the last two seasons of the NCAA tournament if Jake, Carter, and Jamison remained on the Tar Heels team they could play another season with a strong team. In that game Coach, Guthridge asked the players of the Tar Heels team to try their best in defense and put a lot of pressure on the attack, even though the Tar Heels team did not need Jake to make the same strategy that in the last game Jake still had to try many outside shots in that game. Coach Guthridge also hoped to count on Jamison and Carter''s good performance within the three-point line and Williams as well, so the Tar Heels team could win more easily. Right at the beginning of the game Jake received the ball and made a shot from outside and hit, making the first 3 points for the Tar Heels team, this showed that the Tar Heels team came to win this game, in the next plays the defense was stronger in Jake and Williams also tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team. Jake and the other players hoped that Williams could have another great performance in that game and thus help the Tar Heels team to win more easily against this difficult opponent who was the Kentucky Wildcats team. The Kentucky Wildcats team also put pressure on the attack just as Coach Guthridge thought, in another move, Sheppard put the ball forward and when the Tar Heels defender pressed it he passed the ball to Turner, Turner soon received pressure from the defense and passed the ball for Mohammed ahead. When Mohammed received the ball N''Diaye soon pressed in defense, Mohammed still managed to spin and lay up to get 2 more points for the Kentucky Wildcats team, at the beginning of the game the defense of the team Tar Heels could not stop the attack of the team Kentucky Wildcats that didn''t miss an attack. So in the first few minutes of the game, it was an exciting game for those who were watching because both teams were very good at attacking, the Kentucky Wildcats team missed a few attacks and Jamison and Jake was ready to receive the rebounds. When the Tar Heels team missed attacks Jamison and Jake were still able to catch the offensive rebound because the players on the Kentucky Wildcats team were not so good at catching rebounds, it started to give the Tar Heels team an advantage and more confidence for Jake and Williams make three-point shots. After 10 minutes of the 1st half of the game, Jake had realized that Sheppard was playing well and making three-point shots, so Jake decided to start defending more against Sheppard, that''s when the Tar Heels team started to defend better and increase the advantage in the scoreboard. In an attack move by the Tar Heels team, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Williams on the right before passing through the middle of the court, Williams who was playing well in that game advanced with the ball and passed to Carter on the left before reaching the line of three points. Carter held the ball a little and the Kentucky Wildcats team''s defense came to press, Carter passed the ball to Jake who was behind when Jake received the ball the Kentucky Wildcats team''s defense was soon to defend against him. So Jake passed the ball further to Jamison on the left, Jamison received the ball and stepped forward to make the layup even with Mohammed in defense and made 2 more points for the Tar Heels team. Jamison and Carter were also very well in this game and knew that this was a very important game and were trying their best to help the Tar Heels team in the attack, so Jake was more confident to get the victory. Chapter 430 - End of Time at the University 2 In another attack by the Kentucky Wildcats team after a good move the ball was left for Turner, Turner held the ball and Williams soon came on the defense, so Turner passed the ball to Sheppard who was free in the middle. When Sheppard received the ball Jake who was nearby was prepared, Sheppard saw that he was free and tried the shot from outside because he had already scored 6 points in three-point shots in that game, but this time Jake approached quickly and made the block rejecting the shot. Sheppard and the other players on the Kentucky Wildcats team did not expect this, but Williams who took the remaining ball was waiting for it and soon started the counter-attack for the Tar Heels team. Williams slowly advanced the ball so that his teammates could move forward, before reaching the three-point line Williams passed the ball to Jake who was in the middle, Jake took the ball and made a high pass. Carter took the ball high and made a dunk to complete the alley-oop and make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, the players of the Kentucky Wildcats team did not expect this and so the Tar Heels team further increased the lead on the scoreboard. The game continued like this and the Tar Heels team ended the 1st half by winning the game with a good advantage, little by little the Tar Heels team was controlling the game and the players of the Kentucky Wildcats team were getting more anxious. In this 1st half of the game Jake played for 20 minutes and made 19 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks, Jake was playing very well and his teammates were playing too, so he had more freedom in attack and after the middle of the 1st half, he can better help the team defensively. "And so the 1st half of the game ends, the Tar Heels team is winning the game in the final of the NCAA tournament that started very much between the teams, the players of the Tar Heels team and the Kentucky Wildcats team are playing very well and so the game it is very exciting and with many points." "But after half of the 1st half of the game, Jake started to play better in defense and with the Tar Heels team dominating most of the game''s rebounds they managed to increase the lead on the scoreboard." "The Kentucky Wildcats team is still able to attack well with Mohammed because N''Diaye is not able to defend very well against him, but N''Diaye still helps in disrupting Mohammed''s attacks in the game, that''s one of the problems with the Tar Heels team not having one good Center on the team." "But with Jake and Williams hitting so many three-point shots for the Tar Heels team that advantage will only increase, so the Kentucky Wildcats team will have to defend better to be able to hold off the Tar Heels attack." "For the time being, the Tar Heels team is winning this game and is closer to winning the NCAA tournament this season for the second year in a row, let''s see if the Kentucky Wildcats team gets a reaction." Just as commentators said the Tar Heels team was winning the game, Coach Guthridge was very pleased with the players and praised Jake for his good defense and praised Jamison who had more rebounds in the game. If the game continued as it was with the Tar Heels players having a good performance, they would win the NCAA tournament again, on the other side, the Kentucky Wildcats'' coach Tubby Smith was worried about the game. He had to ask the players to increase the pressure on the defense and try to press more against Jake and Williams and also within the three-point line, that was difficult for the Kentucky Wildcats team and the players would get more tired doing this, but he was the only one way to achieve victory. Jake''s family and friends were rooting for him in the stands and everyone could feel that the Tar Heels team would win this game, the crowd at the Alamodome was greater for the Tar Heels team because of the team''s record of victories and the greater coverage of the media. Eva and Kate were still nervous because they really wanted Jake''s team to win this game and knew that Jake would be very sad if he lost that game, Jerry West who was watching this game with David Falk was very pleased with Jake''s performance and had high hopes for him on the Lakers'' team if all went well. The Kentucky Wildcats team returned for the 2nd half of the game by pressing in attack and defense, the players were tired after the semifinal game and also because of the pressure. The Tar Heels team had to defend better in the 2nd half, but the players were less tired because Jake knew how to control the team''s pace of play so the players wouldn''t get tired that much, but the pressure was the same for both teams. The Kentucky Wildcats team went on the attack and Turner received the ball and soon received pressure from the Tar Heels team and Williams came to defend against him, so Turner had to pass the ball to Sheppard who was free in the middle. Even though Sheppard was free he knew Jake was around and so he didn''t risk the shot from the outside, Sheppard passed the ball to Padgett who was ahead, soon Jamison arrived to defend against him and so Padgett had to move away and Jamison did not go on defending. So Padgett took advantage of the space to try the shot from outside and score 3 more points for the Kentucky Wildcats team, the Kentucky Wildcats team was better organizing the shots and trying not to try three-point shots or passes close to Jake. One of the advantages of the Kentucky Wildcats team was that all the players on the team could attack well if necessary, and not everyone on the Tar Heels team defended well, but the players on the Tar Heels team expected this and thought it would be a challenge between attacks. The Tar Heels team soon gave the answer and Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Carter on the left, Carter was playing very well in that game as well as Jamison, in the decisive games he was one of the players who always performed well and was one of the most important players on the Tar Heels team because of that. Carter advanced with the ball and passed to Jamison further to the left, Jamison tried to advance and the players of the Kentucky Wildcats soon pressed in defense, so Jamison had to pass the ball to Carter further. Carter passed the ball to Jake in the middle and also advanced into the three-point line, the Kentucky Wildcats team''s defense started to press Jake who made a signal and N''Diaye came to make the screen and so Jake was free to try the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Tar Heels team. The game continued and the two teams kept pressing in the attack and the Kentucky Wildcats pressed in defense trying to prevent the Tar Heels team from further increasing the lead. In another attacking play by the Kentucky Wildcats team, the ball went to Turner who advanced and soon saw the defense of Team Tar Heels pressing, so Turner had to pass the ball to Sheppard who was in the middle. Sheppard was free as in many moves because Jake was defending against him and was making room for him, Sheppard did not risk the shot from outside and tried to pass the ball to Mohammed later on. But Jake foresaw that move and managed to intercept the pass by making the steal, with the ball Jake advanced to the attack with speed, Sheppard was the player who was further behind and had missed the pass and ran to defend against Jake. When Jake continued running using all his speed Sheppard was left behind and the crowd began to celebrate the points that the Tar Heels team would do, Jake continued running and entering within the three-point line decided to make a show for the crowd. After crossing the free throw line, Jake jumped to do a 360-Reverse Dunk and make 2 more points for the Tar Heels team, normally Jake used to make the simplest dunks just to cheer up the crowd, but as was the final and the last game he thought he could do something special. Just as Jake thought the crowd and the players who were on the Tar Heels team reserve began to shout excitedly by the move, even his teammates who were on the court approached Jake to greet him for the move. With this move and the advantage that the Tar Heels team had on the scoreboard, the Kentucky Wildcats players were losing their desire to play because they knew that the Tar Heels team was getting closer and closer to winning this game. Even so, this was the last game of the year so they kept attacking to try to win, in another move the Tar Heels team was attacking and the ball was with Carter on the left, Carter advanced and passed the ball to Jamison ahead. Jamison tried to advance to make the layup and Turner got the steal and so the Kentucky Wildcats team had the counterattack, Turner advanced quickly with Sheppard and Mohammed, the Tar Heels team players who managed to react and came back to defend were Jake, Carter, and Williams who were further back when Turner steal. Jake was naturally the fastest and was the last defender of the Tar Heels defense when Turner arrived on the Tar Heels three-point line with the Carter ball behind and Sheppard was more to the right being defended by Williams. Turner came with the ball and Mohammed was advancing quickly too, Jake had not yet reacted to the move and waited, Turner stopped to try the mid-range shot and Carter managed to recover and pressed Turner who passed the ball to Mohammed. Mohammed received the ball and tried the layup, Jake was waiting for it and went up after Mohammed and in time made the block preventing Mohammed from making the points, after that play the victory of the Tar Heels team was almost guaranteed. Chapter 431 - End of Time at the University 3 The game continued with the two teams attacking, and the Tar Heels team managed to maintain the advantage and won the game in the final of the NCAA tournament and thus became the champion team again for the second year in a row. Team Tar Heels won the game with 105 points against Team Kentucky Wildcats'' 81 points, all players on Team Tar Heels and even Coach Guthridge started to celebrate their victory and the NCAA title. In this 2nd half of the game, Jake played for 20 minutes and had 22 points, 6 assists, 7 rebounds, 6 steals, and 4 blocks, with another triple-double he helped the Tar Heels team to win another NCAA tournament and thus could leave of the Tar Heels team happy with what he did. "End of the game, the Tar Heels team again wins the Kentucky Wildcats team and wins the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row, now the Tar Heels team has 5 NCAA titles and comes close to the Kentucky Wildcats team that has 6." "It was a good match between the teams with the Tar Heels team being ahead on the scoreboard the whole game until the end, the players of both teams had good performances and the attack of the two teams was very strong, but the Tar Heels team defended better and got more rebounds in that game and got the win." "Okay, the Kentucky Wildcats team played very well in that game and it proves that they have a strong team is that this is the third year in a row that they reach the final of the NCAA tournament, they won and 1996, but they lost the last two finals to the Tar Heels team." "But the Kentucky Wildcats team was really bad at rebounds against the Tar Heels team that has players who got a lot of rebounds all this season, Jamison made history in College basketball making 389 rebounds and joining the list of players who got the most rebounds in just one season." "Jamison averaged more than 10 rebounds per game and Jake was also not far behind making 323 rebounds this season and achieving an average of 8.5 rebounds per game." "In this game of the final Jake managed to catch 13 rebounds, make 9 steals and also managed to make 6 blocks, Jake Smith was instrumental in defending the Tar Heels team and was primarily responsible for the victories as in almost all games this season." "That''s why the Tar Heels team managed to win the NCAA tournament again and Jake Smith will again win all of the individual awards for that season including the MVP of the season, the NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player award and the Naismith College Player of the Year." "We also have to remember the coach Guthridge who won the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament in his first year as coach of the Tar Heels team and along with coach Dean Smith the Tar Heels team managed to win 2 NCAA tournaments in a row and still maintain a record of 64 straight victories that will continue for the next season." Jake looked into the stands to see the people he knew who had come to watch the game celebrating as well as the Tar Heels fans, he looked at Eva who was very happy and looked at Kate who was happy too. As the Tar Heels team had won, he couldn''t talk to all his friends, only Eva who was his mother Jake can talk a little and celebrate before going back to the university with the Tar Heels team. The Tar Heels team celebrated a lot while the players received the prizes and the trophy, then on the way back to university the team celebrated again, somehow the players felt more emotional than last season when they won the NCAA tournament for the first time. Jake was highly praised by his teammates and Jamison was also, the two were certainly the most important for the Tar Heels team to win the NCAA tournament this season and last season as well. The players were not called again to do an interview because they had already done it when they broke the record and the reporters could not be angry about it, of course, if the players wanted to do an interview they could since the season was over. But the players didn''t want to do that for the time being, some players had already said they would go to the NBA draft this season, Jake also said that, but David managed to keep it a secret until after the NCAA tournament final game. So it would soon be announced that Jake would be leaving college and going to the NBA draft that year, many said that Jake would break all individual records in the coming seasons and would soon know that it would not happen. So Jake decided to do an interview only after it was announced, so he could speak openly to the media and do another full interview, other players were not like Jake and would do the interviews in the next few days. The media also wanted to talk to Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison and Shammond Williams, the three were also stars of the Tar Heels team and the fans wanted to know about them, Jake would relax in the next few days before returning to training. Jake still had to think about the university because his classes were not yet over, his classes ended in May and after that, he would have finished the most important classes at the university, Jake would still return to finish university in the next semesters, but it would be just a few weeks of classes. Jake always thought about leaving the university before 4 years and so he chose a course that he always wanted to study and that he could finish sooner if he wanted, especially because Jake always got high marks in tests and was certainly the best student at university may be tied only with someone who also got top marks. If in the future other players wanted to use Jake as an example to get sponsorship they would have to be professionals in other sports like Jake was and still have the best grades from the university. One thing Jake had to do right after winning the NCAA tournament at the end of the season was to let his friends at the university know that they would no longer be roommates at the university because he would be leaving. This was something surprising for his roommates, they couldn''t imagine that Jake was thinking about joining the NBA this season as he had such a great team and was in the middle of a historic winning streak and had won 2 NCAA tournaments and could break all individual records. They knew that Jake was different from other players and had sponsorship and still had his business while he was at university, so Jake had no problem with money even though he was 4 years at university. They also knew that Jake liked to study and was one of the best students at the university, so they could not understand why Jake wanted to leave the university, Zack and Aaron were shocked, but they could accept that it was more difficult for William who went to class with Jake and spent more time with Jake at the university. Jake wanted to talk to his friends, but Brett told him it was best that he waited a few weeks before talking to his friends, after all, it was normal for students to leave the university in the middle of the course, especially for basketball players. Jake agreed with Brett that his friends were just surprised and would talk to them later, but one thing Jake couldn''t leave until later was to talk to the sponsors that their contract would end in a few months. They would have no problem with the contract because there was a clause that the contract could be canceled because of the university and the NBA, after all, if anything happened everything would have to be renegotiated. First of all, he called Tiffany and Clara who were friends with him and also with whom he had more time on contract, surely with both of them it would be easier to talk because Jake received only 600 thousand dollars from the two companies a year. The companies that John and Alan represented paid $ 1.5 million a year to Jake each, the two companies paid $ 3 million, so Jake knew that Tiffany and Clara would accept the end of the contract between them. If Jake could he would continue with those contracts in his time in the NBA, but David would never agree with that because Jake''s image would be related to the companies he endorsed, so it was better for great athletes to only have contracts with big companies with a good reputation. To prevent Jake from changing his mind, David even made a verbal deal with two beverage companies and one of the razors to make sure Jake didn''t ask to renew his contract with the smaller companies. Naturally, John, Alan, Clara, and Tiffany knew this well and understood that the contract with Jake was temporary, moreover, for those who had smaller companies having Jake was a great help for them also in those years, especially for the companies of Tiffany and Clara that grew the profit in several times what it was before. Luckily for Jake, they still hadn''t returned to Miami and the city where their company was, so they could fly to where Jake was and talk to him before returning to where they lived. Jake thought it was better that way because he could speak to them in person, especially to John and Alan who had to tell their company about the end of the contract after that meeting. As it was an important subject Jake decided to speak to each one in private, first he called Clara to talk because she was the first to meet him and sponsor him with her company, and also because Jake had shares in her company. Jake arrived first at the restaurant he had booked and Clara arrived later in a beautiful blue dress, Jake felt that Clara was almost the same when he met her many years ago. Chapter 432 - End of Time at the University 4 Clara would turn 34 years old in 1998, but Jake thought she still looked very young and after getting a divorce and not having to worry about losing the company anymore Jake thought she was much better in those years. "Hi, Clara, you look beautiful today in that blue dress." "Thanks, Jake, you look great in that dress shirt too." "Thanks, sorry for calling you suddenly after you went to watch my game in the final of the NCAA tournament." "No problem, congratulations on winning the NCAA tournament for the second time, I saw that you won almost all the individual awards this season, this was a really great season for you and your team." "Thank you, I am really very happy with everything that has happened and I think I got everything I wanted from my team at the university." "Clara, I called you here because I want you to be one of the first to know, this year I''m going to leave university and join the NBA draft, I think I got everything I wanted at university and most of my teammates team also left the team, so I think it''s not worth staying another season at the university." "Just as you may know, our sponsorship contract will have to end when I enter the NBA draft, I''m sorry I didn''t warn you before, but no one could know before the NCAA tournament final." Clara who hoped Jake wanted to talk about it with her when he asked her to talk, just as Jake said she knew Jake was making an exception for her and Tiffany by continuing the sponsorship contract with her even though she paid only a part of what the other sponsors paid. Clara hoped that Jake wanted to win a few more NCAA tournaments and break his individual records, but it seemed that Jake knew what the best time to leave was, just as he said without the other players on the team it would be difficult to win the NCAA tournaments in the coming seasons. Her company had grown a lot in the last few years and a lot of it was thanks to the help of Jake who became very famous in the last few years, Clara lost some years that could have made the company grow more, but because of the problems she had this cannot to happen. Fortunately, in the last year and at the beginning of that year, she had managed to recover much of the loss she had and Clara had made all the investments for the company to continue growing in the coming years even without sponsoring Jake. "I expected this, even without knowing so much about basketball, I can see that you could have been playing in the NBA with the pros for a long time, thanks for letting me know a few months in advance, so I can do some marketing campaigns before the end of our contract." "I don''t know if that will be possible this year yet, but after a few years you can use the fact that I have shares in your company as an advertis.e.m.e.nt showing that I still trust a lot in the growth of your company even if I am no longer sponsored." "Probably after 2000 something big will happen and everyone will know about my investments, so if the public knows about it they will know that I still have contact with your company." Clara thought Jake''s idea was a very good one, certainly, if she showed that he invested in her company it would be an even better advertis.e.m.e.nt than saying in television commercials that Jake used her company''s product. "I liked that idea, I will continue to send our company''s products to you for years to come as you are a shareholder so that you can use some of our company''s products and if anyone sees it, it will be a small advertis.e.m.e.nt." "Since we are talking about the company, I wanted to give you another good news, after last year''s investments the company has grown a lot and has gained a lot of value in the market even with the lowest profit." "At the end of 1997, our company was valued at 480 million dollars, it has increased a lot since the last few years, and this year it will increase even more." Jake was happy for this news because it showed that Clara''s company was no longer a small company in the market, it couldn''t compare itself with the big companies, but now all Jake''s fans knew the company and could use their product in the future even if Jake was no longer sponsored by Clara''s company. So with this meeting, Clara and Jake realized that nothing bad had happened because they would still continue to work together and Clara''s company had valued a lot and would be even better in the future. After finishing the conversation with Clara, Jake asked Tiffany to have dinner so that the two of them could return the next day to Miami and the next day he could talk to John and Alan, Jake thought that the conversation with Tiffany would also be quiet and so he wasn''t nervous. Tiffany showed up at night in a more modern outfit made for meetings and not a dress as Clara wore, but she was also beautiful and seemed happier with the good results of her company in the last year. "Hi, Jake, congratulations on winning the NCAA tournament with your team and winning several individual awards, you deserve it for all the effort you have put in these past few years." "Thank you, Tiffany, congratulations on the great results of your company last year, I am sure that with the new investments and the quality of your product in a few more years you will be a great competitor to the other beverage companies." "Thank you, I am very happy with the good results because then the other shareholders will stop criticizing my decisions at the company if I did not have the majority of the shares I could have been fired from the company." Tiffany said this because she knew that Jake understood the reason that she made the wrong decisions in recent years for the company''s growth, even so, the analysis of sales staff the company recovered everything that could have grown that year. Fortunately, they never had problems with out of stock even with their limited production and in recent years their stores have sold very well, with Jake''s popularity his commercials have made more people want to consume her company''s product. So in the last year and also that year after building new factories for the company, they entered into agreements with large distribution networks that included large stores of natural products and a contract with Walmart. With the great profits that her company made in the last year, she could continue to invest in new factories if her products continued to sell as they were, her company''s suppliers were also growing along with her company and so the costs would remain low for many years. "Tiffany, I called you here to tell you that this year I''m going to leave university and join the NBA draft, so our contract will, unfortunately, have to end, I''m really sorry." "It''s okay, Jake, I''ve been waiting for this since before you started university, I know you did me and Clara a favor by keeping this contract until this year, I think now my company is no longer at risk to close and can continue to sell well." "I''m sure of that, I always drink the drinks from your company myself, my roommates and teammates also like your products, whoever bought it once and liked it will continue to buy and continue recommending to people they know even if I am no longer sponsored by your company." I think the only concern that your company and Clara''s company will have to have is to invest well in advertis.e.m.e.nts and commercials if you can continue to attract the attention of the public I am sure that you will be successful." "Thanks, Jake, I hope that even with the end of our contract we will continue to be friends, you will always be very dear to me, after all, we have known each other for over 7 years." "For sure, I consider you to be one of my best friends and who knows in the future we may be able to work again if your company is a great success." Jake was happy that the conversation with Tiffany went well as well and he was happy that they would continue to be friends, Jake would be further away from Tiffany and Clara, but he would be away from all his friends having to play in the NBA and travel all year to making games all over the country. Jake went back to college and his friends were still mad at him, especially since Jake hadn''t told them he was going to go to the NBA this season, they felt Jake didn''t trust them. And Jake thought they were right, but he couldn''t risk telling others about something that important, after all, if anyone told the Tar Heels team unintentionally, they could lose the NCAA tournament and he would lose a friendship. Jake was one of the people who believed that a secret was only a secret if nobody knew about it, he told David because he trusted David to be professional and to his mother because he knew that Eva would never tell this to anyone, not even Anna. The other day Jake went to lunch to talk to John this time, the conversation with John was a little tenser because it involved more than anything business and money, moreover, it was difficult for Jake to explain why the contract had to be broken with his company paying $ 1.5 million a year, which was more than the companies that Jake would contract this season. Jake knew that this could happen and as he had already agreed with David, he said that all of this was David''s decision and not his, Jake said that he had a sports agent who would decide these things in his career and had the final say about his contracts. Chapter 433 - End of Time at the University 5 Of course, this was not really a lie, Jake sought to hire David Falk because he realized that he would not have the time or prestige to negotiate contracts with companies and basketball teams. Even if Jake was a great player he would just be a rookie when he entered the NBA, he would have to enter the draft on any team that chose him and could not negotiate a contract as good as David managed with Adidas. So Jake learned that it would be better for him in the future if he just delegated tasks to the qualified people, so he had Emily who would forever be his right hand in business, he also wanted to hire Haruto to help him and Emily, and also to help look after his businesses in the future. Jake also counted on Frank Davis to take care of his training for marathons or any type of athletics, and if Jake really decided to become an actor he would count on a professional to help take care of his career. Because of that he trusted David Falk to get the sponsorship contracts for him in the future, Jake no longer needed that money and just wanted to be recognized for his work and it helped David a lot to choose the best contracts for him. John''s company paid very well and could pay even more for a contract with Jake in the NBA, but Jake knew it was a problem that he had an endors.e.m.e.nt contract with a company not very big on the market. If the company committed a crime or did something wrong, the image of Jake and the other sponsors would also be greatly affected and this could even alienate other companies that attempted a contract with Jake who was just an NBA rookie. David was happy when he realized that Jake already knew this and so he said that Jake could blame him for any decision related to his endors.e.m.e.nt contracts when John realized that he also calmed down. The contract that John''s company made with Jake might seem unfair and that his company was paying too much for a contract with a college player, but Jake was also a marathon athlete who won every race he participated in and had the world record o that helped a lot the company that John represented. The company that John represented greatly increased sales and achieved record sales after making a contract with Jake and John had managed to get some promotions in his work and even increases by getting that contract with Jake for the company. So John could not accept when Jake just said he would join the NBA draft, after all, John, like the others, could never think that Jake would leave his team this season. After all, the Tar Heels team had won the NCAA tournament for the second time and was in the midst of a winning streak record, in yet another season Jake could break all individual records as a player and go down in history and enter the future with more prestige in the NBA. But Jake knew what he was doing, John still tried to ask Jake to negotiate, but Jake was smarter and asked John to set up a meeting with David to talk about a new endors.e.m.e.nt contract. John understood that Jake would no longer talk about contracts in person and went to try to arrange a meeting with David without knowing that he had no chance of getting a contract because David had already found replacements for his company. At dinner, Jake had to talk to Alan and as their relationship was not so close he soon said that he had a sports agent and that it would be David who would decide if their contract could be renewed. Alan was also surprised by this situation, but he realized that Jake would no longer negotiate contracts and went to set up a meeting with David too, it was a stressful day, but necessary for Jake who just had to prepare for when the announcement that he would leave the university left. Shammond Williams, Vince Carter, and Antawn Jamison already said they would leave the Tar Heels team this season, Carter and Jamison took longer to make that decision because of the great phase the Tar Heels team was having. But they didn''t have many records that could break with another season on the Tar Heels team, nor did they have sponsorship contracts like Jake had to study smoothly, they had achieved everything they wanted on the Tar Heels team and needed to get into the NBA to start winning money. So fans of the Tar Heels team were disappointed with this because that way Shammond Williams and Makhtar N''Diaye would leave the team because they had ended their 4 years at university, Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison would leave the team because they wanted to enter the NBA. The fans started to worry about how the team could continue winning next season without almost the entire team, they were happy that they could count on Jake, of course, they could never hope that Jake would also leave. Jake had already spoken to Coach Bill Guthridge and had thanked him for the support and confidence that Coach Guthridge had in him in those two seasons, Coach Guthridge had already hoped for this and just wished Jake luck because in these many years at Tar Heels University he had already as many players come in and out of the team. Jake decided that he would speak to his teammates only after it was announced that he was going to the NBA draft, luckily for Jake the university was taking too long to announce that Jake was leaving the university and that was better for him. While Jake waited for the right time to talk to his teammates and the media about his leaving the university, he could finally get back to his training for the marathons and also with Yuen Woo-ping for the film The Matrix. Jake''s top priority now was recording the movie The Matrix, after a few months, he would go to Australia to join the film crew and make the film recordings and would only go out for a few weeks to go on the NBA draft. Even while he was taking classes he would still continue training with Yuen Woo-ping to perform better in the film, almost a month had passed since they started training and Yuen Woo-ping could see that Jake improved a lot in his training. For Yuen Woo-ping, Jake had learned almost everything he needed to learn before the film and his biggest problem would be learning how to make the same moves he learned while hanging on the cables. Thinking about it Yuen Woo-ping decided to call some acquaintances of him who were also from the cinema to help Jake train other types of techniques and martial arts that could help him perform better in this film and in other action films in the future. Yuen Woo-ping only decided this because he realized that Jake was very talented and learned very fast and so he realized that he could give more training to Jake before he returned to Australia. Jake was unaware of Yuen Woo-ping''s plans and returned in the morning before classes to do race training together with trainer Davis and Zack, Zack was no longer angry with Jake because he knew that Jake would leave the university in some time. But he had agreed with his other roommates that he would not speak to Jake for the time being, but Zack had forgotten that Jake should return to training for the marathons after the end of the basketball season. Coach Davis was already used to how Jake''s body worked differently and told him to do the same training he did before he stopped training for over a month. Just as Coach Davis hoped Jake was able to finish training even more easily, this was because Jake had the system, but the other reason was that Jake had received a reward after winning the NCAA tournament again. This time he received 1 point in agility, 1 point in strength, and 1 point in resistance, so he received 3 points in statistics that were distributed by the reward and were not free points that Jake could decide how to invest. As this was unexpected, Jake was very happy with it, he had a hope that he could receive a reward because he received it after winning the NCAA tournament last season and he didn''t know how the system worked. Fate also did not seem to want to explain to Jake exactly how the system worked, perhaps to prevent Jake from exploiting the system and gaining many statistical points that would make him much better than the others. Even so, Jake was happy to earn those statistic points and that would help him even more in the NBA and also for the next Olympics in which he had to compete in more athletics. Zack was surprised to see how Jake looked like he could run more easily right now after more than a month without training, now that he trained 30 km and sometimes a complete marathon he can know that Jake''s daily training was to do a marathon in a great time that was in less than 2 hours and 30 minutes. Realizing this Zack can see why Jake could easily win all the marathons he ran, his training was certainly more intense than almost all athletes in the world, it made Zack admire Jake even more and wanted to be able to do like Jake someday. After this training Jake took a shower and went to university and saw that William was still avoiding him in class, Jake didn''t care much about it and after classes, he went to the place where Yuen Woo-ping normally did his training. Yuen Woo-ping did not tell Jake that he had called other people to help with his training for the next few days, knowing him Yuen Woo-ping knew that Jake would just accept it calmly. Chapter 434 - End of Time at the University 6 In the next few days, Jake created another routine for him, did the running training in the morning, went to classes, did training with Yuen Woo-ping and also did three-point training sessions every day as usual. Also, as Jake always did his imagination training every day and so he didn''t need to train with the basketball team every day to keep improving, Jake was just irritated because he had reached the maximum in all of his skills at basketball and had not yet reached NBA level. If Jake could advance to the NBA level he could know exactly what his skills would be like in the NBA and he could still train with more difficulty in training his imagination because his opponents could have the maximum NBA skill level. When that happened, Jake knew he could get better at basketball as he felt he hadn''t improved much this season, Jake was close to achieving all his dreams in the past before going back in time. In basketball Jake wanted to win an NBA title and also become an NBA season MVP, but now that he was close to achieving it Jake decided to have new dreams for the future, those dreams would be more difficult to achieve and Jake would not be disappointed even if I couldn''t. But these new dreams would allow him to continue striving in his training and career in basketball even after achieving what he wanted in the past because as Jake no longer needed to play basketball to earn money he had to look for another motivation to continue playing beside his love for basketball. Jake wanted to ask Coach Davis to change his training for the races, but soon he would have to go to Australia and Coach Davis could not go with him, even so, Jake intended to train his races in Australia when he had time. When Jake returned from Australia he would have to go to the city where the team that chose him in the NBA draft was, Jake was almost certain that he would go to the Lakers, but he was prepared for it to go wrong and he had to be in another team. After that, Jake was going to participate in the marathon in Chicago with Zack and after that, he had to concentrate fully on training him with the basketball team, with NBA games Jake wasn''t sure if he could do his training for the races. So Jake was wondering if he could use the stamina bars that he was keeping, Jake had thousands of stamina bars in store for a few years and he could use that to train more. What worried Jake was how the games would be in the NBA season, he knew that sometimes he would have 3 games a week and if he wanted to play every 48 minutes he would have to use all his resistance in basketball and not get tired doing the training his racing. Even more because Jake didn''t need to train to maintain his physical condition to get the best records, Jake''s goal was to win a marathon a year and participate in the Olympics whenever he could as an athlete in the United States. If possible he wanted to try to run in a variety of disciplines at an Olympics, but all of that would depend on the NBA''s game schedule, Jake would lose a few games to qualify for the Olympics if that was necessary. The Lakers'' team knew this and knew about the possibility of Jake losing a few games because of the marathons and had accepted that it was rare for a player to play every game of the NBA season, and if with the resistance they knew Jake had it was possible to let him play most games. In the next few days Jake continued with his racing training and with Yuen Woo-ping, Jake felt it was more rewarding to train with Yuen Woo-ping because he felt that he learned and improved more each day. Yuen Woo-ping was more impressed because he was already teaching Jake more advanced techniques that he would not need to use for this film after Jake learned everything he would use for the film. Fortunately the friends he called arrived and so Jake would have more to learn even before they went to Australia, in fact, the training that Yuen Woo-ping was giving Jake was more to be a great dub than to be an actor. But the principle was the same and so Jake could do his own scenes more safely because since Jake was 2.01 m, it would be more difficult to find someone with the same height as him to become the double for him. So Yuen Woo-ping''s friends were teaching Jake to fight Taekwondo, Aikido, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, in addition, Jake was learning fights with Sword, dagger, rapier, quarterstaff and knives and even Firearms. Jake was also learning gymnastics and acrobatics, and learning skills to safely fall from heights, Jake at some point thought he was learning to become a secret agent. And just as Yuen Woo-ping the others thought Jake would be great to be double and be in an action and fight movie, Jake learned fast and also had a lot of agility and good reaction and thought fast and so he could guarantee better safety him and not hurt the other actors. Yuen Woo-ping felt it was a pity that he didn''t have the equipment to do the cable training for Jake if he did that Jake would be ready for the film even before he went to Australia. The truth was that even though Yuen Woo-ping knew that Jake was a talented athlete and was very good at learning everything they were teaching, he didn''t think Jake really was a good actor. Because of this, as Yuen Woo-ping knew that Jake would have little time in Australia to learn about the script that hadn''t been delivered to him yet, he thought it was better for Jake to learn just how to fight suspended on the cables and be able to concentrate on the texts that he had to decorate to act. What Yuen Woo-ping didn''t know was that Jake had a photographic memory and also knew how to act well, that meant that Jake would be ready after studying the script for a few days, especially since he had seen the movie The Matrix before and did not thought that his character would change the story of the film. So Jake''s biggest concern was actually learning the fighting moves in the movie because he had never learned martial arts before and knew how hard it would be to learn to fight suspended on cables, and Yuen Woo-ping never praised Jake directly for being good at learn and Jake was still tense about it. In these training Jake was really lucky to have greatly increased his reaction speed because in this way he avoided being attacked by the instructors and thus had no injuries, Jake also knew the right time to stop the attacks before hurting the other stuntmen. Jake really learned to pretend he was run over and the right technique to not get hurt in this situation and in falls too, Jake just didn''t want to try to get burned, even with all the protective devices Jake didn''t want to risk that much and didn''t even think about doing it something like that in a movie. A few weeks went by with Jake doing his intense training, with that time and the end of classes coming up Jake''s roommates finally decided to stop getting into a fight with him. After so long they were no longer angry with him, they were angry with Jake because they expected to spend another 2 years at the university with him and also because they were fans of the Tar Heels team and knew that with Jake''s departure it would be very difficult for the team will continue to win the NCAA tournament for years to come. But now it was only a few weeks before the end of classes and after that, they knew that Jake would go to Australia, so Jake had lunch with all his friends at the university, even Brett and Haruto were invited. Jake wanted to talk because he decided to leave the university and also that they would continue to be friends even after he left the university, Jake knew that this was possible because with the internet talking to people at a distance would be much easier. "I still can''t understand why you would want to leave university after winning the NCAA tournament a second time, Jake, you are so close to breaking your records and putting your name in university history." "It''s true, many players who are NBA stars stayed 4 years or at least 3 years at the university, you could stay at least one more season at the university and break your records and then leave the university." "I understand that you can''t understand what I''m thinking, I really enjoyed spending my 2 years at university and I was lucky to win 2 NCAA tournament and break some individual records too." "But I think there is no reason for me to stay another season or two at the university, I have no ambitions to break all individual records as a player at the university, what was more important I managed to win the NCAA tournament 2 times and win the Naismith College Player of the Year award twice." "Also, as you know almost all of the players on the Tar Heels team this season will be leaving, including my friends Vince and Antawn, so next season it will be difficult to win the NCAA tournament again." "My dream is to play in the NBA and win the NBA title several times and become the MVP of a season in the NBA at least once, if possible I wanted to break some individual records in the NBA too because winning achievements as a professional for me it will be much more important than winning at college basketball." Chapter 435 - End of Time at the University 7 Jake''s friends were surprised to hear his ambitions to play in the NBA in the future, they didn''t remember seeing Jake being ambitious and talking so confidently about his dreams in the future. In fact, they thought Jake was even too humble for someone as talented as he was, it was normal for talented people to be arrogant and say what they really wanted at times, but at university Jake always talked more about the team than his skill. But hearing Jake say that they realized that he always knew the talent he had and in fact always thought about becoming an NBA star, they thought that Jake should stay at the university to break individual records at the university because Jake was close to achieving that. But they agreed that it was much better to dream of breaking individual NBA records over several seasons with great teams and great players than at university if Jake managed to break just one NBA record he would go down in history as one of the best players in basketball history. Listening to Jake talking about the Tar Heels team, they had to agree that if all the players on the current team left, it would be very difficult to win the NCAA tournament next season even if the reserve players were very good. That''s because the team needed time to learn to play together and play as well as the current Tar Heels team, even though Jake was very good without a good team they knew he couldn''t win the NCAA tournament alone. Of course, Jake who knew the future knew that this was not really true if he wanted he could play as SG next season and let Ed Cota play as PG, with Ademola Okulaja and Brendan Haywood on the team they would have a strong team that could fight for the NCAA tournament. The team would depend much more on him to win but would have a better defense with Brendan Haywood, it was very risky, but it was possible, but nobody knew that Jake knew about the future and so he could still use it as a justification that this season all players of his team would leave the team. Jake couldn''t say that he wanted to leave university to play for the Lakers because he was sure the Lakers'' team would win 3 NBA titles in the coming seasons and Jake wanted to be on that team. If any player were asked whether he wanted to break all individual records for College basketball or win 3 NBA titles, it was certain that players would prefer to win the NBA title. "Okay Jake, it''s your career and your life and we as friends have to support you in whatever you decide, we hope you will be successful in your NBA career even if you play on a weaker team." "We will root for you and hope that we can really continue to be friends in the future even though we will all live in different cities." "Thanks for understanding, I''m sure we can keep in touch, who knows in the future our work will allow us to make it easier for us to meet if Aaron becomes a professional American football player, William will be able to work with stocks on the stock exchange of values ??and Zack may become a professional marathoner in the future." "Even if that doesn''t happen, I feel that with the internet and cell phones we can talk in the same way that we''re talking now, not to mention that when I''m playing in the NBA I will travel all over the cities to play and I can send you a ticket always and we will meet at the games." With Jake talking like that everyone had more hope that this friendship between them could continue even after the end of the university if they knew that Jake would be very rich in the future they would not doubt it because Jake could send a helicopter in the future to pick up his friends. Things always happened together for some reason, when Jake settled with his friends it was finally revealed that he would be in the NBA draft that year, it naturally meant that he would leave the Tar Heels team this season and leave the university as well. This news took his teammates and almost all Tar Heels fans and basketball fans by surprise, even the media couldn''t wait for Jake to leave college this season to try to get into the NBA. The first thing Jake did was to talk to his teammates who would remain at the university next season, he met Ed Cota, Brendan Haywood, Ademola Okulaja and the others to tell them why he made that decision. Of course, Jake talked different things to his teammates and said nothing that he thought the team had no chance of winning the games without the players who left, he said to their teammates that he trusted them to increase the as long as they could the Tar Heels team record of victories. Jake also said that he trusted that they would still make it to the final four of the NCAA tournament in the coming years and could win even without the players who left, Jake said that Okulaja would be the new leader of the team and that he trusted Ed Cota to do as well as him as the team''s PG. Jake also said that he trusted Brendan Haywood to be one of the stars of the Tar Heels team for the next few seasons, Jake didn''t know if they believed him, but what he said was the truth. After Jake made an appointment to chat with his friends Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter, he wanted to talk to them who would also leave the team this season because he wanted to remain friends with them even in the NBA. "I really didn''t expect you to consider joining the NBA this season too, Jake, if I knew that my decision to go to NBA draft this season would be much easier." "It''s true, I could never hope that the three of us would join the NBA in the same year, now we will have to try to be as successful as possible, win the NBA title and the MVP award should be our goal." "For sure, in fact, I decided to go to the NBA draft because I hoped you would also leave the team, if you decided to remain on the Tar Heels team I would also stay for another season, I always enjoyed playing with you." Jake was telling the truth to Vince and Antawn, even though he thought of going to the NBA to play for the Lakers and winning 3 NBA title, he was going one season before the NBA, he could wait another season if the two of them still stayed on the Tar Heels team. Vince and Antawn were surprised by this because they had not thought that their departure from the team was one of the reasons Jake left the Tar Heels team that no one expected, but they were happy that Jake had this regard for them. "I also hope that the three of us will be successful in the NBA, we have to meet for several years in the NBA all-star game, Hahaha, I really hope we all managed to win an NBA title and an MVP award of the season." "You will definitely win the MVP at least once, Jake, but to win the NBA title we will have to be lucky to play on a good team too, but we cannot play on that team''s reserve, we have to have a lot of playing time." "You two are really talented, I''m sure your skills will be recognized by the teams and I hope you will be recognized by the fans too, we won the NCAA tournament twice, our name is already in history." The three were talking and Jake couldn''t help remembering what he knew, he played personally with Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, he knew he could always count on games with Jamison for attacking and rebounding because Jamison is a very talented player. With Vince Carter, he also knew he could count, especially for the more complicated plays like making an alley-oop, but between the two he counted more in games with Antawn Jamison. But Jake knew that in the past only Carter was recognized as a talented player and was chosen 8 times for the all-star game, this showed that Vince was recognized as a very talented and beloved player by the fans. But Antawn did not have that recognition from the fans, Jake thought that this was a great injustice, certainly, he thought that Carter deserved everything he got as a professional, but Jamison also deserved more recognition from fans and basketball fans. He was like Carter, a player who scored more than 20,000 points and still managed 8,000 rebounds in his career, that made Jake sad thinking about the future of his friend, in fact, the future of the two made him sad because Jake thought they deserved to win an NBA title. Jake didn''t know if with his knowledge and talent he could do something about it, but seeing his friends so talented that they didn''t get the recognition they deserved, Jake decided that he would try to do something about it in the future. "I think a lot of things matter a lot to a professional NBA basketball player, getting good stats like scoring a lot, catching a lot of rebounds, making a lot of assists." "Earning a good salary is also important for a basketball player, winning the MVP award for the best player can also be important, being recognized by fans as well, but the most important thing for me is winning an NBA title, what do you think about that?" "Hahaha, I don''t know if it''s the most important, I still wanted to have a good salary and get good statistics than to be a reserve to win an NBA title, but I think it''s one of the most important things and what I want most for me." "Antawn is right, I think we have to have a good salary, recognition from fans, good statistics too, but I also think that winning an NBA title is really important." Chapter 436 - End of Time at the University 8 "I''m not saying that we have to abandon a good salary or get good statistics if you could have a good salary, but not the highest possible salary, play in a good team, but without you being the main star of that team." "Would you be on the starting team and also have the recognition of the fans, almost like it happened with the Tar Heels team, but with a good salary too, would you accept playing on such a team to win one or more NBA titles?" Jake thought that maybe in the future if he became an NBA star and one of the best NBA players he could have enough influence to organize a team just as LeBron James can do to win his first NBA title. But for him to think about doing something like that he had to know if Antawn and Vince would accept playing on the same team as him in this situation, if they said that earning higher salaries or being the best players on the team was more important Jake would have to give up making one team like that. "For sure, if I were to win my first NBA title I would accept to receive a lower salary and not be the main player on the team since I had many minutes of play in the games of the season." "I would also accept it, my dream in the NBA first is to win a championship and then to become an MVP, but being an MVP is easier playing on one of the best teams in the NBA, my dream at the end of my career is to enter the hall fame, and winning an NBA title is important to achieve that." Jake was overjoyed to hear Vince and Antawn accepting his idea, the two were just talking without thinking because something like that would be hard to imagine in the future of the NBA, but Jake would remember said and could use this conversation to call them to play on his team in the NBA if it were possible in the future. If Jake really managed to win 3 NBA titles with the Lakers'' team as he thought, he certainly wouldn''t be as criticized as LeBron James was for making a team that could win the NBA title. The biggest challenge Jake would have that LeBron James didn''t have would be that for the next 12 years it would be difficult to find a team that could pay the salaries of players like him, Jamison, Carter and other players that would be needed to win the NBA title, even if Jake accepted to receive a salary much lower than he deserved. "So who knows in the future in the three of us we could play together in an NBA team and win at least one NBA title with our team, surely with all three of us we could have a strong team to win the NBA title." Carter and Jamison just laughed as if they didn''t believe it would be possible, the NBA currently had 29 teams and they knew it was the teams that chose the players and also had the restriction on the players'' salaries. So they just thought about playing on the best teams and if they could become NBA stars they would try to play on a better team that could win the NBA title, but they didn''t think they could play together again unless it was all-star game. They kept talking for a while and Jake said he would go to Australia after school ended and so they would only see each other again on the night of the NBA draft, Jake also said he thought the three could be among the first 5 draft choices and they laughed again. After Jake was able to chat with all of his friends and his mother as well, Jake finally set up an interview with ESPN who asked to speak to him about the NCAA tournament win and the individual prizes he had won. Jake accepted the ESPN interview because he liked the channel more and he also liked sports Ill.u.s.trated, but as he received no contact from the magazine he decided to accept the ESPN invitation. A reporter would speak to Jake at a hotel he chose because Jake thought it would not be appropriate to do this interview at the university and it was not so important for Jake to go to ESPN headquarters to be interviewed. Jake naturally warned that he would not answer any questions that could adversely affect his career and ESPN did not want to do something like that and damage their relationship with Jake who could be an NBA star in the future. "Good afternoon, Jake Smith, thanks for the interview, I''m going to ask you some questions and if you don''t want to answer any questions, that question will be cut in the edit, you can rest easy and think about it." "OK Alright." "Jake, this season the Tar Heels team that you were playing had one of the best seasons in history after the Tar Heels team won the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament last season." "The Tar Heels team managed to win the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament again this season and without losing any games and thus achieving a record for a sequence of 64 victories, what do you think about that?" "I am certainly very happy and satisfied with this, our team has always trained a lot and we have also worked hard to get the win, fortunately, we managed to win 64 straight games and as a result, we won the NCAA tournament twice in a row." "It''s hard to explain, we know that our team achieved something historic that few teams in the history of the NCAA tournament have achieved, and we won the Kentucky Wildcats team twice that reached the final in three straight years and won in 1996." "It shows that our team played well and we faced some of the best college basketball teams in the past few years to be able to win this NCAA tournament twice." "I see, and you have managed to win almost all of the individual awards in those two seasons that you have played on the Tar Heels team, including the Naismith College Player of the Year award, you are the third player in history to achieve this, what do you think about it?" "I can only say that this is a great honor, in those years there were many players who could have won this award besides me, last season Tim Duncan deserved to win that award and this season my teammate Antawn Jamison deserved to win that award." "Thinking about it makes me feel even more honored to win this prize knowing that so many players could win this prize too, I can say that it was thanks to my teammates and my coaches that I achieved this." "In two years as a player at College, you have managed to break many records, some per season and other records that other players have made playing for 3 or 4 years." "You broke the record for most points made in a season this season by making 1345 points, you are the forty-seventh with the most points in your playing career with 2515 points." "You are fourth in the average of points per game in a season with 35.4 points and the second in the average of points per game in the career with 33.9 points, the first with more assists in a season with 407 assists, and the fourteenth most assisting career with 780 assists." "You are the fourth average of assists per game in a season with 10.7 assists, you are the second average of assists per game in your career with 10.5 assists, you are the first in steals per season with 346 steals that is more than double the runner-up has." "You are the first with the most steals in the career with 563 steals, you are the player with the highest average steals per game in a season with 9.1 steals, and you are also the first with the highest average steals per game in the career with 7.6 steals." "These are just some of your statistics people who broke records in your two seasons at College, what do you think about those records and what do you think knowing that if you play for another season at College you could be the first in all of those statistics?" "I honestly didn''t know about all those records, thanks for telling me a few things that I was able to achieve in my two seasons on the Tar Heels team." "I can only say that I am very proud to see these records that I achieved in two seasons, to be first in some of them and to be at least in the top 100 in several of them is something that any college player would want." "Seeing that I see that I can leave the Tar Heels team that gave me the opportunity to achieve these things with my teammates with pride in what I did in my time at the university." "Just like you said if I stayed a season or two on the Tar Heels team I could break all those records, but in fact, my goal was never to break those records, I always played the best I could to help the Tar Heels team to win and that''s how we managed to win 2 NCAA tournament." "So I would never stay at the university just thinking about breaking more individual records, if I stayed it would be to try to help the Tar Heels team win another NCAA tournament and if I managed to break the records it would be a bonus." Jake had thought of all the answers he could give in this interview in questions that could harm him if he answered wrong, none of that was really a lie and he just couldn''t tell the real reason he was going to leave university that would be to win 3 NBA title in the coming seasons. "Can you tell the Tar Heels team fans why you decided to leave university this year to enter the NBA draft?" "I think I had two great seasons playing on the Tar Heels team with my teammates, I had two great coaches in that time and I was able to win two ACC tournaments and two NCAA tournaments in addition to getting my team a 64 win streak." "I also achieved a lot of individual records and awards and I was fortunate to achieve more than many players who played 4 years at College basketball." Chapter 437 - End of Time at the University 9 "For all that I have achieved, I will always love the Tar Heels team and my university, but I think that after achieving so many things, it is time to leave." "I plan to finish my university course later while playing in the NBA, and this season almost all of my teammates left the team, Okulaja, Cota and many others are still going on, but I think this is the right time for me to leave." "I want to play on the best NBA teams against the best players in the world to learn a lot from them in the years to come and have more challenges as a player so that I can continue to improve." "The university players are great, but I want to play against the best players and be one of the best players in the future who knows, only the future will say if I can become an NBA star or I will regret not staying 4 years on the Tar Heels team." Jake was very honest in saying what he thought, he couldn''t say the real reason for going to the NBA, but he said what he really thought to decide to go to the NBA, Jake knew he could wait for a season if he was unsure, but with the system and the experience he had in basketball he thought he was ready to play with the best players in the world. The reporter who was interviewing Jake was excited too, he knew Jake was smart, but it seemed like Jake knew how to answer questions better than many professional NBA players. And even with him asking some questions that could harm Jake, he was answering all the questions without leaving any unanswered as he had agreed before the interview. "Jake, could you say what you expect from the NBA draft and your first NBA season?" "Yes, I hope that I will be chosen in the draft by a team that really needs a player in my position who is from PG, I would not want a team that would choose me just for what I did at the university, but a team that really think about putting me in the games to help the team win." "From my first season in the NBA I know that I''ll probably play a few minutes in the first season, I''ll have to prove my skills to my future coach to have the chance to play and so maybe hopefully become an important player for the team in my first season." "That''s why I preferred to be chosen by a team that really needed a PG, so it was more possible that I would have more playing time in my first NBA seasons." "Thanks for the great responses, Jake, I hope you succeed in the NBA and become one of the best players in history." "Thanks." After doing the interview Jake can be more relaxed, he liked the interview and thought that he had answered all the questions that someone could ask him in the coming months, now he could return to focus on his running training and his training with Yuen Woo-ping and his friends. Jake just had to worry about finishing classes at the university and then going to Australia, he was fine with his friends and his teammates, Tar Heels team fans were disappointed in him, but as college fans basketball they were used to great players leaving the team. Since Jake helped the Tar Heels team win 2 NCAA tournaments they couldn''t be mad at him, as Jake had won the Naismith College Player of the Year, the number 7 shirt he wore at the university would be retired from North Carolina University. So Jake could finally have peace until the end of his classes at the university and the trip to Australia, the race training with trainer Davis and Zack was easy because it was the same as always. But his training with Yuen Woo-ping was much more intense, Yuen Woo-ping knew that soon Jake would have to go to Australia, getting there Jake would have to train the movements suspended on the cables and then he would have to study his lines at script and film. So it was less than two weeks before he taught everything he could to Jake in that time, of course, if it was for Jake to learn everything Yuen Woo-ping even with his intelligence it would still take a few more months. So Yuen Woo-ping taught Jake just what he might need to use in action films and martial arts films, Jake even learned to shoot to better train his movements with Firearms. Even though Jake had not done any proper training to learn martial arts, he could defend himself even from a skilled fighter for a while using his speed and what he learned. If it was an armed fight Jake would be even more prepared to defend himself even though he hoped that with his luck it would never be necessary, in these teachings Jake learned why he needed the photographic memory skill when he learned his job as an actor with the system. Jake thought that to be a good actor he just needed to be able to express himself well, using his speech and expressions to pass on the emotions he was feeling to the audience, but after learning from Yuen Woo-ping he realized that in today''s cinema it wasn''t even close enough to be a good actor. If Jake couldn''t learn things just by watching a few times and being taught he couldn''t learn enough in the short time he would have in filming a movie. Thinking about it Jake realized that his role in this film The Matrix would really open up new doors and give him more opportunity to have more roles in the cinema, Jake thought that playing in the NBA he would not be able to act in films. But Yuen Woo-ping said that if he became a good actor and a director liked him, it was quite possible that the director could organize all the film footage in the time that Jake could shoot his scenes in the off-season of the NBA. But even though he knew that Jake knew it was almost impossible for him to receive so much recognition for a film director to go through so much difficulty just having him as the actor in the film, Jake knew that almost everyone he knew in Hollywood had more skill and more time available than him. Not to mention that a lot of shooting in other settings and countries would be harmed because Jake would have a few months out of the basketball season to participate in the recordings, but for the future when Jake left the NBA he might have more opportunities to act. So in the next few weeks, Jake went out more often with his friends from the university that he wouldn''t see for a while, even if he could meet them in the future it wouldn''t be a meeting with everyone together as it was at the university. They stayed together until Jake''s classes ended, after taking the exams Jake could say that he had finished his time at the university even though he was going to come back in the future to finish his course. Jake needed to do only a few subjects because of the great grades he always had and would get his diploma, Jake had three parties after his exams, one of them was with his friends at the university and mainly his roommates and classmates that he had. This was a lively party even though Jake had banned alcoholic beverages at his parties because he and his friends were not of legal drinking age and it could damage his reputation, his friends understood and then they would have other parties with a lot of alcohol. Another party Jake had with his teammates and even though this party wasn''t that big it was very important because Jake had spent a lot of time with his teammates, even Coach Guthridge showed up at the party and as he had no alcohol players were not intimidated even by coach Bill Guthridge at the party. Another party that Jake had was with his fraternity people at the university, Jake did several activities with the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity, mainly in his first year at the university when he had Charlie McNairy to accompany him, but because of the grades Jake had and the several sporting achievements he had on the Tar Heels team and even in the marathons he had become one of the most important members of that fraternity at North Carolina University. Jake managed to make many friendsh.i.p.s in the fraternity that he would remember for many years, Jake did not break the rules because he had the mentality of a 49-year-old man, but he really enjoyed his time at university and if he did not regret having spent those two years at North Carolina University. Jake could understand why players who went to universities sometimes stayed 4 years even though they had the chance to enter the NBA before, that was because the university environment was great and it was an experience that everyone had to have. After the exams, Jake was out of college and had to go to Australia soon, but before that, he asked for a week to go to Miami to spend that time with his mother before going to the shoot with Yuen Woo-ping. Fortunately for Jake, Yuen Woo-ping had told the directors that Jake had learned everything he needed and that another week would not delay filming and so Jake could go to Miami, Jake would stay in Australia until the NBA draft and then return to Australia again. Only after that could he spend more time with his mother because Jake knew that the NBA season wouldn''t start as it normally does every year and Jake would have more time before he started training with his team. Eva was very happy when Jake came home because she was also prepared to go another month without seeing Jake until the NBA draft, the truth was that Jake didn''t even want to go to Australia to have to return in a little over a month for the NBA draft, but Yuen Woo-ping said that Jake would be able to do several cable scenes this month. Chapter 438 - End of Time at the University 10 So he had to accept to go to Australia because he knew he was already delaying the recording of the film a lot, the actors in Australia started filming in April and they were expected to finish in August. But because of Jake, they would shoot until September and Jake would shoot until October if necessary, maybe Jake was one of the only players who would like the NBA lockout, the other players would not like it because with fewer games they would not get paid and would lose popularity. But Jake didn''t mind losing wages or sponsorship money if he could have a few more months to adapt before the NBA season started, he could shoot the movie, run the marathon and stay home more because of this. Arriving in Miami, Jake again did not go to Eva''s restaurant, even though everyone said that Lola had already overcome the situation and had forgotten about Jake, he felt that he had to respect her and not go to the restaurant since after that he would stay a few more months before heading back to Miami again. Now Jake even knew that soon it was very possible that he would start dating Kate, he liked her and Jake knew that Kate liked him too, the problem was that they hadn''t yet had a chance to meet even though she had been together with his game. After filming in Australia Jake thought he would have time to have some dates with Kate and he thought about asking her to date when that happened, he was a basketball player who had a lot to do and Kate was a singer who was busy in the year all. So Jake thought about starting dating Kate now and in time the media would know it and accept it before they even had time to be together when they had time for it, after all, it was bad for Jake to have a vacation and not be able to be with Kate just to escape the media. More than that, Jake wanted to start dating Kate well before the 2000s, because it was now known to the media that Kate had more money than he did even though it was far from true because the media didn''t know about Jake''s business. But after 2000, all of Jake''s and Matthew''s businesses would certainly be revealed, because they would receive billions of dollars after the sale of shares in the company Cisco, so Jake wanted to be dating Kate for a long time so that no strange rumors start as the media loved to do. Since Jake was at home Eva wanted to close the restaurant that week to stay with him at home, but Jake said that was not necessary, Jake knew it was not good for the restaurant''s reputation to close for no reason many times. The problem was that Eva and Anna were the chefs and also the ones who ran the restaurant, but Anna was getting older and Eva didn''t want her to run the restaurant alone when she had to leave. Anna was already 62 years old and that''s why Eva was worried about her, of course, fortunately, Anna was in very good health and would still live more than 25 years with the health she had and could even continue working at that time. Eva did not think about hiring more chefs in the restaurant because normally it would take no more than two chefs and that would cause problems in the authority they had under the cooks if they had a lot of people to send. The best part was that the restaurant had a lot of profits even though it hadn''t changed prices in the last few years, because of inflation and market changes the restaurant''s profit decreased every year, but as they always had a full restaurant this wasn''t a problem. Jake thought about increasing the size of the restaurant, but Eva said that in order to do that they would have more work and would have to hire more employees, Jake thought a lot about the business side, but Eva knew she was not taking care of this restaurant to get rich but to do it her dream. She already had a successful restaurant and considered the restaurant staff to be members of her family, so Eva was satisfied with things as they were and didn''t want to change anything at the restaurant. Of course, Jake knew that, but he had to ask why sometimes people can change their minds and have new dreams, who knows if Eva might want to create a restaurant chain or increase her restaurant to serve more customers. His job was always to ask what his mother wanted and if Eva wanted to change anything Jake would do to make her happier, Jake could invest all his money and live a simpler life because of that. But he knew that if it was necessary he could spend millions of dollars in a few days after Jake started receiving his salary on the NBA team and sponsorsh.i.p.s, Jake could start spending more money to make him more comfortable and for his mother. Meanwhile Jake cooked every day while in Miami for his mom and they went out on a few days to go to the beach to relax after Jake joined the NBA he thought about taking his mom on some trips, even though he had to hire some chefs to run the restaurant while she was away. The relationship between them was very good, but there was a problem and that problem was that Eva trusted Jake too much and that is why they didn''t talk about almost anything about Jake''s decisions, whether at work or in his personal life. Of course, seeing the success that Jake had, it could be said that Eva was sure not to worry, but that ended up driving away a little bit them who didn''t talk about subjects like that and lived most of the year apart. Thinking about it Jake always talked to Eva about all his decisions, Jake just didn''t talk about his investments because that way he would have to say he knew the future, Jake told Eva why he decided to go to the NBA draft this season and also said that would probably play for the Lakers'' team. Jake also said that he intended to start dating Kate that year if it was possible, and Eva was very happy to see that Jake trusted her and told people about him even without her asking. Eva was very proud to have Jake as her son and didn''t know that Jake was like that because his mental age was even greater than hers and Jake was extra careful to talk to her because of what happened before Jake had the second chance his. Jake spent his week at home very well and the media didn''t have so much time to think about Jake that he would just be an NBA newbie with the problem of a possible NBA lockout by the owners that could even end this NBA season. With such a serious problem and also rumors that Michael Jordan might not play next season made fans very concerned and Jake wouldn''t have mattered until NBA draft day, and Jake was happy with that because he would have peace to film his movie. This was really one of the most different seasons that happened in the NBA and Jake wanted to use a 50 game season like this to debut in the NBA, so even if he didn''t have many minutes to play in the debut season he could still show his skills. So Jake could take advantage of this season to convince the coach that he was able to become a starting player on that team, good players usually had no problem getting a spot as a starting player after a season. It would all depend on the team''s coach, Jake knew that if he played with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal, he would definitely have a great debut season even if he scored an average of fewer than 10 points per game. That''s because with the skill that Jake already had he knew that he could do a lot of assists for these two players and also get some steals and rebounds for the Lakers ''team, with that he could help the Lakers'' team to win the games. Jake knew well that the stars of this Lakers team would be Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal, and because of that he was prepared to help both of them play well for the Lakers'' team to win, after playing a few seasons with these two Jake had I''m sure he would be able to play much better after getting experience and becoming an NBA star. The days passed quickly and the last day that Jake would stay at home arrived, for that day Eva decided to close the restaurant, Anna said that it was not necessary and that she would take care of the restaurant and close earlier. Knowing that Eva was not going to work at the restaurant Jake decided to go out with his mother to a different place that he wanted to go with his mother, what Jake had prepared was a different tour so that the two could volunteer for a day in a center of children with cancer. Jake was very sensitive to this because he had an accident in his past life and was unable to walk because of it, even Eva ended up dying of depression because of it before Jake went back in time, so Jake always thought about doing something to help others, people, if he had the financial means to do that. So he found a center that helped families that had children with cancer and decided to stay a day as a volunteer and make a donation of 100 thousand dollars, Jake thought after 2000 that he would win his shares of the company Cisco in making a donation very more generous, but for now, he wanted to help with $ 100,000. With Jake saying he would make this donation, the cancer center made it easier for both of them to volunteer, Jake called Eva because he knew his mother would like this and he was right because Eva was happy when she knew she would help take care of the children. Chapter 439 - The Filming in Austrália 1 So the two spent the whole day taking care of the children as volunteers, some of these children were from poor families and needed centers like these to survive, some children came from families that were able, but would go into debt if they paid for the treatment of their son. Seeing this situation with children so good that they needed help, Jake was happy to be able to help because of his work, Jake thought again that in the future he would make even bigger donations, but only to institutions that he trusted. Of course, even though making the donation Jake asked not to reveal that he had made this donation so as not to appear that he was doing it just to get the media''s attention, even though Jake was well known, the children could not recognize him and so Jake stayed with Eva the last day of him with the kids. Eva liked it a lot and was much happier after spending the whole day with the kids, Jake knew she would like it, he wanted to see someplace where there were people with paralysis in his legs just like he did, but Jake imagined that Eva didn''t I would like to spend a day volunteering in a place like this. So Jake would go alone and make donations to help people who were like him, of course, a good part of people who suffer accidents can continue with their normal lives and could even work as he did, but some people couldn''t and needed help. Jake wanted to help people because he wanted to see the people he helped be happy and also because he was happy to do that, Jake in a few years would have billions of dollars and if the businesses he invested and planned to invest in the future were right he would have hundreds of billions of dollars in shares. Jake actually just kept investing because he knew he could make a lot out of it, but in fact, he didn''t even know what he could do with that much money, Jake still didn''t think about having children, but when he only had the shares of Amazon a lifelong heritage for his children. So Jake thought that donating part of that money could be something that would make them happy and help a lot of people and maybe even save lives after they came home Jake thought about talking to Eva before the day was over. "Thanks for the idea you had, son, it was great to spend time with the kids, I hope they get well soon because they have a beautiful future ahead of them." "I hope they will be fine too, if you want in the future we can make a few more visits when I come to Miami." "I think it''s a good idea, we''ll do this more often." "Okay, mom, tomorrow as you know I''m going to Australia to participate in the filming of the movie The Matrix, I''m sorry I can''t spend this vacation with you, but this is a good opportunity for me to fulfill my dream of becoming one actor and make a successful film." "I really think this film will be a much bigger success than the people participating in the film are expecting and if I have an important character in this film part of my dream will be realized." "I understand that Jake, I know you always make your decisions with the best in mind, I wish you could spend more time here at home because after you join the NBA it will be difficult for you to have time to come home during the season." "It''s true, but it is possible that this NBA season may take longer to start than last year, I cannot be sure of that, but if it happens after the film is over I will try to spend a few more weeks here at home before to start training." "Also, in just over a month we will see each other again in the NBA draft, you have to be there and hope that I find a good team." Eva didn''t know why, but she believed that Jake was right that the season was going to take even if she knew it had never happened before, maybe Eva just wanted to believe it, or maybe it was because of the incredible things that Jake has achieved in the last few years. Before Jake left Anna came to their house after closing the restaurant earlier and Jake can talk to her a lot and then they had dinner and Anna stayed at Jake''s because it was too late. The other day very early in the morning Jake said goodbye to his mother and Anna and went to the airport to meet Yuen Woo-ping for them to go together on the plane to Australia, Jake was excited to start filming, but was nervous about the long day trip like Jake had to do once going to Tokyo. Jake thought that maybe when he had to arrive in Sydney he would have to spend a day or more resting before he could start shooting, but he didn''t say anything to Yuen Woo-ping and would wait to see how he would arrive before saying he would have to rest. After a long trip that Jake slept on the plane, they arrived in Sydney, contrary to what he expected the impact of the flight was not so great for Jake that he arrived just a little tired. Yuen Woo-ping was actually more tired than Jake and as the two arrived later in the afternoon they went to the hotel room where the film crew was resting to meet with the directors and the rest of the travel team the next day. Jake was not recognized at Sydney airport because no one in the sports media he knew the most could imagine that Jake would go to Australia after school ended, for many Jake was still in Miami. So the film crew would have the peace of mind to continue filming and there was a lot for them to do now that Jake had arrived, the idea of ??the directors the Wachowskis brothers, was to record some scenes with Jake that were delayed while Jake still had to train to learn how to fight on the cables. Then they would shoot the action scenes and cable fights with all the actors and so they could continue shooting normally and finish on time if something delayed the actors would have to stay another month and Jake could stay up to 2 months beyond the end of filming because the scenes in which he could record alone he would do after all. Jake and Yuen Woo-ping were able to rest well and the next day the two went to talk to the directors, the directors knew that Jake had arrived and had to organize the scenes that would be recorded in the next few days, they were talking to the rest of the staff movie and they saw Jake and Yuen Woo-ping coming. "Jake, you finally arrived, we have been waiting for you for the past few weeks, I hope you have learned all the fight scenes in these months with Yuen Woo-ping." "Thank you for giving me that time, I know I couldn''t make it when filming started because of the basketball season, but I will do my best to record the delayed scenes and not delay the shooting." "Yuen Woo-ping taught me everything I needed to learn for this film, now we will have to see how I''m going to do while I''m struggling over the cables, I think in a few weeks I can learn." The Wachowskis were happy to see Jake''s willingness to shoot the scenes, they risked a lot by bringing Jake who was not a very experienced actor for this film, especially since Jake couldn''t be on the film for several months like the other actors. Even so, they thought Jake had talent and could call several fans of his to see this film, the Wachowskis were happy when they learned that Jake was learning the fighting moves well if Jake could fight well the film would be more successful. "Now that you are here, we are going to record the scenes where you appear that was late with the other actors, you can meet them later when you learn to fight on the cables we can do this scene too." It seemed like a simple thing to shoot some scenes without an actor and make that actor appear later, but for the actors to better show their feeling in the scene it was better that they did the scene with the other actors. Mainly because sometimes the director likes to use multiple cameras and shoot in different ways and so they shot from different angles, so the actors in animation films were respected because they only saw the scene and had to start several times to decide. "Here is your script Jake, the scenes that are marked are the ones that will be recorded today and for that reason, you should focus more on memorizing, we will pass on the scenes that you have to record in the next few days, you can go meet the other actors if you want." Jake received the script and saw that just as he expected he had many lines, neither in the day nor in the entire film, and Jake hoped for that because even the main characters didn''t have so many lines in this film that there was a lot of action and fights. Jake was just as important as Cypher in this film and they were indirectly related in the story of The Matrix, Jake had heard about the character he would play from the Wachowskis brothers before, but seeing the script he could see the difference his character would have in the original story he knew. Jake was feeling better after sleeping and the long trip hadn''t affected him as much as before, as he wouldn''t be running a marathon he could also recover faster than last time and so he didn''t need to say anything to the Wachowskis. Jake was very excited when he went to meet the actors in the film, he was very easy on Keanu Reeves who was not yet so famous because the movie The Matrix would bring him more success, Jake also liked the other actors and really wanted to meet them. Chapter 440 - The Filming in Austrália 2 Jake soon went to where Keanu Reeves was because he wanted to talk to him more, Keanu Reeves was famous even before the movie The Matrix, Jake watched some of his films Bill & Ted''s Excellent Adventure, Bram Stoker''s Dracula and Speed. But the films that Keanu Reeves made that Jake liked the most were the Matrix, Speed, Constantine, The Lake House, and John Wick franchise, even so, Jake watched almost every Keanu Reeves film and in the future, he would be one of the most beloved actors in the world. "Mr. Reeves, it is a great pleasure for me to meet you in person, I am a huge fan who has watched several films that you have made and I really enjoyed." "You must be Jake Smith, I heard a lot from you too, you don''t have to be so formal with me and you can call me Keanu, did I hear that this is your first supporting character in a movie?" "Yes Mr. Reeves, this is the first film that I will have a character that is important for the film, I am very happy to work with you, I am sure that this film will be a success." "It is good to see that you are excited, you learned in the last few months with Woo-ping, so if he said that you are prepared you will have a good performance in this film, don''t be nervous and do what the directors say and everything will be fine." "Thank you, Mr. Reeves, I will speak to the other actors and then we will meet at the scene of the shooting." Jake was happy that Keanu Reeves was as nice and kind as he had heard in the media, Jake admired Keanu Reeves for many things, one of which was because he was filming this movie and doing fights even with a spinal injury. After that Jake told Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving that he was also a fan for their work on The Matrix and also in other films, the two had a very successful career and Hugo Weaving mainly for being part of The Lord of the trilogy Rings, V for Vendetta and part of the Marvel films. Jake was also happy to meet Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano who had outstanding characters in this film, the other actors did not know that Jake was a fan of them because of the film The Matrix and just thought he was polite and excited and liked him. The other actors were not bothered by Jake coming to Sydney after them for filming because they knew that all of this was the directors ''decision and the actors normally did not question the directors'' decision unless they were big names in Hollywood and so they could pressure the director. Jake was calm because he already knew the film very well and seeing his script Jake can see why the character he would play did not exist in the movie The Matrix he watched because his character would only change the story of the film a little, but the end of the film would be the same. Jake''s character could make the story more realistic and acceptable to the audience, the name of the character Jake would make was Jev, some critics said the story was meaningless because the crew of Morpheus'' ship to Nebuchadnezzar always survived by escaping from the agents. But in the film, it is shown that not even Morpheus can fight the agents and so there was no logic that they could survive so long by invading the Matrix, even more, because they had other sh.i.p.s that could also enter the Matrix without problems. So Jake''s character would be the only one of the sh.i.p.s that could fight against the agents to help his team escape in the most dangerous missions, of course, Jev could not dodge bullets and always had to be taken care of in fights. So also when Neo who was Keanu Reeves'' character appeared as "The One" and Cypher decides to betray them, the crew would suspect that in fact, Jake''s character could be the traitor because Jev always fights the agents and finds a way to escape alive. So even though Jake''s character was important, it didn''t have much relevance to the story and was cut to make Neo more special as the only one who can fight the agents. Even so in the changed story, Jake would have an important character who would have a highlight and would be one of the few who would survive Cypher''s betrayal at the end of the film, Jake''s character would not die in the first film. But Jake worried about that because he remembered that the second and third films would be shot together and he would not have time to participate in the other films so the story could have a problem in the future. But Jake wasn''t going to talk to the Wachowskis about it because they could just change their mind and make the two films in two separate years outside the NBA season and Jake would definitely be on the record. Or the Wachowskis could simply give Jake a small part in the next film and kill his character so as not to cause trouble for the shoot, anyway Jake was happy to be in that first film. As Jake''s part was more in the fights and in the action scenes he didn''t have many lines in one day of recording and with his photographic memory, he could decorate after reading a few times, as Jake knew the film well he had to train the speaks a few times to look like the other characters in the film. After that Jake trained how to speak and trained his diction, Jake didn''t know how the directors would want his character, so he could just train as he normally did and then he would change to the way the directors wanted. But the afternoon that day they went to shoot some scenes that Jake''s character had and that was late, in those early days, Jake would do the scenes that were in closed scenarios and then he would do the scenes of open scenery. It was a good thing that the place where they were filming was in the Fox studio so that they could have more time to shoot the scenes, everyone expected Jake to make mistakes in the first scenes because he didn''t even know what his character was like. The first scenes that Jake would have to shoot were on Morpheus'' hovercraft, Nebuchadnezzar, Jake entered just before the film crew and looked like a fan inside Nebuchadnezzar, he saw the film The Matrix many times and that was one of the most important scenarios of the movie. Of course, the coolest things were done in computer graphics and Jake could even see some green screens inside the Nebuchadnezzar, over time the actors were positioning themselves and the film crew as well. Jake was already wearing one of the clothes that Nebuchadnezzar crew members wore and the makeup had already been done, Jake could feel the makeup in the neck of the hole where the cable to enter the Matrix was placed. Jake still felt like a fan as the sound crew and camera crew positioned themselves, Jake was called in by the Wachowskis brothers to work out the last details before they started shooting the scenes. "Jake, this scenario is the Nebuchadnezzar hovercraft, much of the film will be shown in this scenario and most of the characters in the film will also be here, your character is a man who is serious whenever he does the missions and relaxes a little when he is away of the Matrix." "You have to try to talk like the other characters and when you talk to Neo and the other characters you have to look kinder, remember that your character is one of the only ones who believe that Neo is "The One"." "I see, in these next scenes on Nebuchadnezzar I have to look kinder even though I am serious, and I also have to speak and act like the other characters." "Okay, did you manage to memorize your lines for today''s scenes?" "Yes, I think I managed to decorate and I hope I won''t delay filming." "No problem, you arrived yesterday from a long trip and you don''t have much experience, I just want you to get your lines right and try to get into the character." Jake knew that in fact the directors and the other actors expected him to miss him several times before he started getting it right, but Jake didn''t care about that because it was true that he had no experience and with no one expecting much from him Jake had less pressure to do the scenes. Because Jake was not in the first weeks of filming, the directors decided to make the scene that Neo woke up from the Matrix and his body was rescued, so the first scene would be of Jake''s character talking to the character of Keanu Reeves. So contrary to what everyone expected, Jake did well on his first attempt, he looked serious and even so he welcomed Neo and still talked in a similar way as the other actors talked. Of course, Jake still didn''t get it right the first time and the directors corrected some mistakes he had made for not knowing the character, with Jake acting so well the other actors started to respect him more and the directors were more demanding. So Jake managed to record the first scene much faster than everyone expected, then it would be a scene where Mouse arrived to talk to Neo and so the three talked a little, these scenes were fast, but took a few hours to be recorded and so The day''s recordings ended and the directors were happy with that. The Wachowskis were happy with Jake''s performance on his first day and were happy to have made that bet if Jake knew how to fight as well as Yuen Woo-ping said they knew they would have no problem putting Jake in that movie. After the first day of filming that Jake participated, the members of the filming had a dinner at the hotel to talk and socialize, the most incredible thing was that almost none of the actors knew Jake about basketball or even the marathons he won. Only a few who followed sports watched the NBA and other major competitions, but as several actors were not American they did not follow College basketball or marathons. Chapter 441 - The Filming in Austrália 3 But that did not stop Jake from being able to talk and other actors and film crew from enjoying what he was like since he was a child Jake knew how to talk to people and make new friends easily. And social situations like this dinner helped him a lot because people became more open and kind and made friends more easily, Jake can talk a lot with the other actors who did not have much participation in the film and even talked for a while with Keanu Reeves. But it was more difficult for Jake to talk to Keanu Reeves because even though he was very kind, Keanu Reeves was a famous actor and so it was more difficult for Jake to talk to him having so many people who also wanted to talk to Keanu Reeves. Even so, Jake can relax a little more and talk to most of the actors and even with the film crew after that Jake went to rest early because early in the morning he would have to train the cable movements to prepare for the film. The other day Jake woke up very early and went to prepare for training, in the afternoon they would have more footage to do, so Jake went to the place where he was told to go and there were Yuen Woo-ping and his assistants and Jake you can see the cables and the place where he would train. Jake already imagined what the cable training would be like, but seeing it in person even he was surprised how they had equipment and machines to help them have more movement and safety too. "Hi Jake, today we are finally going to be able to start your cable training, I am sure you will not take long to learn everything you need to learn, after that, you will be ready to do the fight scenes." "The most important thing for you in this training is to learn how to balance yourself while being suspended by cables after you learn to balance yourself you will have to learn to move freely and then we will train the fighting movements." "Some of the dubs in the movie will demonstrate how you need to move and then they will fight so you can see how you have to do it." After Yuen Woo-ping said that the machines lifted the stuntmen by the cables and in a short time they managed to balance themselves, after that some started to show what the fight scenes would be like. Even if it was difficult to train most fights it would not be off the ground but on the ground itself and the cables would only serve to simulate scenes with blows to appear that the opponent had attacked with more force than it was in reality. Some simpler scenes had already been done, but they needed Yuen Woo-ping to help organize the most important fight scenes, one of the scenes was Neo and Morpheus in training, Neo and Neo''s struggles with Agent Smith. The scene in which Trinity fought with dozens of policemen and ran away from the agents had also been filmed, even if it was a complicated scene to do, Jake''s character would participate in few fights, but the fights he participated in would be important and had to be well choreographed. Jake would fight in the scene where Morpheus would be captured and he would also fight in the scene in which Neo''s group fled after Morpheus had been captured, in that fight Jake''s character would be injured after helping everyone escape and he would be the one who would kill Cypher to save Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus. So Jake''s character would be important in the film even if it didn''t take away the importance of the other characters and besides some scenes that would be changed the rest of the film would be the same, the only difference was that it would be longer because of those scenes. After Jake saw the dubbing demonstration he started to learn how he had to move when he was suspended on the cables to gain balance, just as Jake had thought it was much more difficult than he thought. After a few hours of training Jake had learned to gain balance and could now move better by hanging on the cables, but Yuen Woo-ping realized that Jake had learned better than he expected, even so, they would need a few days of training before they could start filming the fight scenes with the actors. In the meantime the recording of the scenes from the movie that didn''t need a fight happened, even when I didn''t have to record Jake, I would go to the scenes to see how one of his favorite films was recorded, because of that the other actors and directors praised Jake because they thought that he was watching to learn. In fact, Jake was a good surprise for the directors because he made fewer mistakes than the actors who had much more experience than him, it seemed that Jake knew the film and the characters well and therefore he had an easier time doing the scenes. So after another week, Yuen Woo-ping realized that Jake had also learned to move while hanging from the cables and he told the directors that the fight scenes could start to be recorded. The directors hoped for this because the scenes that didn''t need to be recorded outside the studio were ending, now they could do several fight scenes and then make the recordings that needed to be done in the city and that was more complicated. For a film like A Matrix the fight scenes were very important and very difficult to do, so it was one of the most complicated things in the film and so the directors asked the actors to do several months of training with Yuen Woo-ping. The fight scene that would take place after Neo went to see the oracle where Morpheus would be captured would be one of the most important scenes in the film and it would be this scene that they would record now that Jake had already trained on the cables. In this scene the mouse character would be killed after Cypher''s betrayal and then Neo''s group would try to escape and Morpheus would sacrifice himself for the group to escape, in this scene Jake''s character would be fighting the other agents while Morpheus would be captured by agent Smith. After Morpheus is captured, Jake''s character thinks about rescuing Morpheus, but he has to fight to help Neo and the others to escape and after that fight, he is shot and has to go back to the ship before and even wounded he still takes the gun and kills Cypher to save Neo. Some changes would be made in this scene to make it happen and this scene would have more fights and more emotion, Tank also survives Cypher''s attack in this scene and because Jake remains injured only Neo and Trinity return to try to rescue Morpheus. Most of the fight scenes in this movie involve Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity, so Jake''s character would not have as many scenes to fight, but with the few scenes he would fight Jev would be remembered in the film and if the audience liked him he there would be even more fight scenes in the next films where the secondary characters had to fight more often. As soon as the fight scenes started, the actors and the Yuen Woo-ping brothers realized that Yuen Woo-ping spoke the truth by saying how Jake fought very well, the other characters had a few months to learn and because of the lack of physical training and training. martial arts their fight scenes seemed very fought. But with the efforts of the actors and the fights being well choreographed, it still pleased the audience and the critics, but Jake was an athlete and quickly learned what Yuen Woo-ping can teach and so he really looked like a professional fighter fighting the other actors. Jake had even greater control than the others and so the scenes became more realistic and Jake didn''t hit anyone in the recordings and avoided being hit, this made the scenes where Jake''s character fought to be recorded more easily because the agents were actors more trained in fighting. The Wachowskis brothers were even happier and knew that they had been right to invite Jake to participate in this film if this film even had sequences that even they didn''t think Jake''s character would have even more importance in the next films. After a few more weeks, part of the fight scenes had been finished, even though the actors were talented the scenes had to be choreographed and the actors had to fight using the cables so that some blows seemed to send the opponent away. But Jake had to stop recording again to go to the NBA draft this season, he had already warned the Wachowskis brothers about it and in his absence, other fight scenes that Jake''s character would not appear in could be done. Thanks to Jake''s good performance, the recordings were early and they wouldn''t have to stay in Australia any longer to finish filming, Jake went directly to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada just as he had agreed with David Falk and his mother who was going there too. Jake went to Vancouver a few days earlier because he had arranged with David Falk to speak to him prior to the NBA draft, just as Jake hoped the Clippers'' team won in the NBA Draft lottery the right to choose the first pick. So everything would be easy because the agreement between the Clippers and the Lakers had already been completed and the Lakers just had to tell the Clippers'' team to choose Jake for the first pick, then they would make the switch and then everything would be fine. In this situation, Jake was still concerned because maybe the Clippers ''team didn''t really expect them to get the right to choose for the first pick and if they did, they might not close the deal with the Lakers'' team because Jake knew they wanted to choose Michael Olowokandi. In addition, after the NBA draft, Jake could officially sign the contract with the sponsoring companies that David had already made a verbal agreement with, especially Adidas, which would pay a few million in that contract and was very important. Chapter 442 - The Filming in Austrália 4 Jake had asked the directors for two weeks to be able to sort out everything he had to do after the NBA draft and be able to go back to Australia, Jake knew that a few days after the NBA draft the teams would announce the NBA lockout and so Jake could quietly return to filming. So without giving too many details, Jake had already asked David to speed up the signing of contracts with the sponsoring companies and even with the Lakers'' team, so as not to have any problems and delay his schedule. David did not know the real reason and thought that Jake was concerned about the filming he was doing, David was not so excited about it because he was concerned that the team that selected Jake would not like him to be gone for a few more weeks. So David agreed that it was better to speed up the signing of the contracts because later it would be more difficult for these companies to withdraw from the agreement, with David urgently organizing the meetings the companies that had already prepared for it a few months ago agreed to sign the official contract quickly. David couldn''t ask the Lakers ''team to do this because until Jake was selected by the Clippers'' team their deal was not going to happen, moreover, David represented the side of many players who were against the NBA owners and that was one of the reasons for the NBA lockout. Fortunately, Jerry West''s interest in Jake was great and he had the authority to sign the contract with Jake quickly, in the next few days before Eva arrived in Vancouver, Jake and David were scheduling several meetings and resolving the final arrangements for the deals. So the two could see a sports program on television that was talking about this year''s NBA draft that would take place in 2 days, naturally, that caught Jake''s attention because it was known to everyone that Jake would be in that draft. "In the coming days, we will have the NBA draft for this season, with the discussion between NBA players and owners the future of this season is uncertain and may even be canceled which has never happened before." "Few players who are big stars like Michael Jordan, Shaquille O''Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and others are paid very high salaries and only the biggest teams can pay those salaries." "In the meantime, ordinary players are paid very low wages and the teams want a salary cap for the teams to try to maintain a more competitive season in the coming NBA seasons and for them to pay fewer wages of course." "But even in this situation the players who came from universities, high school, and other countries are wanting to enter the NBA and so this year''s draft has to happen, this year''s draft seems to have big names who can be NBA stars in coming seasons." "It''s true, I also think that the draft can be one of the best in history and so more teams can have good players to try to get a place in the playoffs for the next seasons." "So today we''re going to try to decide who the players are most likely to be the top 10 choices in this draft and which players the teams might want more and need more of." "Yes, I think the player who could be first in this NBA draft is Vince Carter, he has performed very well in the last three years playing for the Tar Heels team and won two NCAA tournaments and has the style of play that all teams want." "It really is possible, Vince Carter is a very skilled player who scores a lot and is still improving and is also the type of player that fans like and can help teams regain popularity." "But if you think about it like that Antawn Jamison has a better chance of being the first pick in this draft, he was one of the best players on the Tar Heels team in recent seasons and had a great rebound and point average in games too." "Thinking about it Larry Hughes can also be a good choice if the team needs an SG, he will definitely be in the top 10 in this draft." "If the team needs a Center this season they don''t have many options, there are Raef LaFrentz and Michael Doleac who can play as Center and as a PF also in games, we also have Robert Traylor and Michael Olowokandi who can be chosen." "That''s right, but we don''t really have a big name that everyone expects to be an NBA star like Shaquille O''Neal and Tim Duncan in recent years, as a strong player we also have Dirk Nowitzki who comes from Germany and can be a star the NBA for the next few seasons." "We have other players like Paul Pierce who is an interesting player for several teams in this draft and playing as PG we have Jason Williams and Mike Bibby who can also be the first pick of this draft." Jake was watching this program and was secretly impressed because the commentators hit almost every player who would be in the top 10 in what Jake remembered before he had his second chance. But one thing he was surprised about was that his name was never mentioned by commentators, he knew that he might not be the favorite among commentators to be the first pick, but he should be in the top 10 for having won the NCAA twice tournament and the Naismith College Player of the Year. "And we have perhaps one of the most important players in this draft who is Jake Smith, we know which teams will have the choices in this draft, and Jake is perhaps one of the only players who would be among the top 3 choices of all teams in this draft." "Jake is a PG who can play as SG as well and even as SF if necessary, Jake has an incredible average of over 33.9 points per game and 10.5 assists per game, a great player in three-point shots It is very fast." "In addition, Jake was the College Player of the Year twice and helped the Tar Heels team win the NCAA tournament for two seasons, in addition, Jake is a great defensive player and averages 7.6 steals per game, 1.2 blocks per game and 8.1 rebounds per game." "Even so, I don''t think the Los Angeles Clippers team will think of choosing Jake as his first pick, the Clippers team should choose Michael Olowokandi because they want a Center and believe in his potential." "The Vancouver Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings teams can choose Jake because they need a PG, so Jake can be the second pick in this draft or the seventh pick, I''m sure Jake will be an NBA star and any team that chooses him will be doing it right." "But these are just our speculations and in the next few days we will see which players will be chosen in the 1998 NBA draft." Seeing the commentators speaking well of him Jake was very happy, he knew that the negotiation of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers team is a secret, there were not many times that these rival teams from the same conference did negotiations like this. So everyone would be surprised when that happened and many commentators would criticize the Lakers team for exchanging three players for a new player, Jerry West would be highly criticized and Jake would be lucky that the NBA lockout would attract media attention and he would go to Australia after that NBA draft. The other day very early Eva arrived at the hotel where Jake was and a room was already reserved for her, naturally Jake spent the whole day with Eva while David was still talking to the companies, Jake realized that Eva was a little nervous about this NBA draft and decided to talk to her about it. "What happened, mom? Is there anything that worries you?" "You know well what is worrying me, I know that you are very talented and can be successful on any team, but I am nervous to know which team you will play on." "You don''t have to be nervous, mom, I''m going to tell you a secret to calm down, it''s very likely that the team I''m going to play is already decided." "What do you mean, Jake? Wasn''t it a lottery chosen by the teams by luck?" "Yes, it was a lottery and no one is doing anything wrong, but a few months earlier my sports agent, David, who you know well, negotiated with the Lakers team for me to play there this season." "So the Lakers team made an advance negotiation with the Clippers team that if the Clippers team chose me in this draft they would change some players so that I can play for the Lakers team." "Luckily the Clippers team got the opportunity to choose the first pick in this draft and so it is almost certain that they will choose me to make this exchange with the Lakers team, it is not certain yet because the Clippers team may change their mind at the end and choose another player taking advantage of their first pick." "But it is very difficult for something like this to happen and that is why I am more likely to play for the Lakers team in the coming seasons." Listening to Jake talking like that Eva can be more relaxed, if Jake had had all this work and asked his agent to choose the Lakers team then it should be the team that Jake wanted to play and that was what mattered to her. Even Eva, who didn''t understand basketball well, knew that the Los Angeles Lakers team was a very good team and had chances to win several games and she thought that having a good team Jake could show all his talent. So that day passed quickly and David Falk continued talking to the companies that were sending representatives to sign the contracts with Jake when everything seemed to be right the day of the 1998 NBA draft arrived. The 1998 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1998, at General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and would be broadcast on TNT, Jake well remembered that this was one of the most striking drafts because of Michael Olowokandi, so it was called one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history. Chapter 443 - 1998 NBA Draft 1 Jake and Eva sat at a table next to Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter and their family, it was a request from them to be together and the organization saw no problem with that, they talked a little and the three were very excited for the NBA draft. After the order of the teams that would choose the players in the draft was defined, sports commentators began to make guesses as to who would be the 10 chosen first, in these choices Jake was the second pick, Carter being the fourth pick and Jamison being the fifth pick. With so many commentators saying that Carter and Jamison remembered that Jake said that they would be among the 5 first picks of that draft, that day they just laughed, but now it could be a reality, anyway it was certain that their dream of playing in the NBA would be accomplished. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch the 1998 NBA draft here at TNT sports, today it will be decided which NBA teams will have 58 young players, we will see who will be the 10 first pick of this draft. "I''m Ernie Johnson and I''m talking about General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia." "With me here today we have sports commentators Hubie Brown, John Thompson, and Rick Majerus who will comment on the chosen players and the teams that will choose them in this draft." "Young players are the stars of today and everyone wants to know which teams they are going to, but we must not forget to talk about the possible NBA lockout that could happen on July 1 because the team owners and the players will not reach an agreement." "If this happens even this season it can happen with fewer games or in the worst scenario we may not have an NBA season if this happens these young players will not have a debut season this season." "That''s right, Ernie, because of this situation this NBA season could be canceled and that will be bad for team owners and players, but especially for fans." "What is being offered by team owners may harm players and more than that, players fear that if they accept bad conditions another NBA lockout may happen in the future when the owners are not satisfied and want to pay less to the players." Sports media members and basketball fans were really concerned that this NBA season could be canceled or at least there would be fewer games, players and owners already knew it would happen and were preparing for it. Media members and fans alike were saddened by this lockout because the NBA was the only major sports league in the United States that had never lost a game because of a work stoppage, and that would change after that season. "Let''s stop talking about the NBA lockout because this NBA draft is about to start, let''s listen to the NBA commissioner David Stern." "Good night everyone, and welcome to the 1998 NBA draft, I thank all the fans who are following this draft, everyone knows the rules and so let''s start this draft with the Los Angeles Clippers team who will have 5 minutes to say who will be the first pick of that 1998 NBA draft." "Now the Los Angeles Clippers team will have 5 minutes to decide who will be their chosen player and the first pick of this NBA draft, who do you think they will choose Hubie Brown?" "I think they can choose Jake Smith or Michael Olowokandi, analyzing the needs of the Los Angeles Clippers team for sure Jake Smith could be the main player for that team in the future." "But most likely they will choose Michael Olowokandi, he is a player with a lot of potential and is the Center they want and can be important for the defense and attack of the Los Angeles Clippers team." "I agree with that too, Michael Olowokandi is the player who seems to best fit the needs of the Los Angeles Clippers team, but I would definitely choose Jake Smith because he can change the future of any NBA team." Eva was nervous even though she knew that Jake had an agreement with the Los Angeles Clippers team and the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake was relaxed because if David hadn''t said anything it was because of the Los Angeles Clippers team hadn''t changed their minds. After a while David Stern came back to announce who the Los Angeles Clippers team had chosen, everyone was tense waiting to see who they would choose, the other teams also had 3 players chosen and awaited the Los Angeles Clippers team''s decision. "With the 1998 NBA draft first pick, the Los Angeles Clippers select Jake Smith." With the official announcement, Jake and Eva celebrated a lot and the fans who were at the General Motors Place in Vancouver also applauded and liked that Jake had been chosen as the first pick of the 1998 NBA draft, the fans of the Los Angeles Clippers team were very pleased to have Jake as chosen. Eva was very happy with this and was thrilled because she knew how Jake loved basketball, she knew that Jake didn''t need to be a player because of the money because he would earn a lot more by becoming an entrepreneur with so many deals that he did. Jake''s friends were also naturally watching this NBA draft, Matthew, Oliver, Joseph, Clara, Anna, Tiffany, roommates, Kate and many others stopped what they were doing to watch the moment that Jake would join the NBA, and everyone was proud when they saw that he was the first pick of this draft. Jake put on the Clippers cap and knew it would be for a short time, all the cameras were focused on Jake who was smiling a lot and was even thrilled to make one of his biggest dreams come true before he got that second chance. Jake went up to David Stern and greeted him and the two took a photo together, it wouldn''t be on that day that the Lakers ''team would make the switch with the Clippers'' team, they were already thinking about completing the agreement in Los Angeles on Following. "Contrary to what we expected, the Los Angeles Clippers team made the safest choice and chose Jake Smith in the first pick, everyone expected them to choose Michael Olowokandi for what the Clippers team needed, but Jake''s choice was right." "For sure, Michael Olowokandi has an exciting history in basketball of playing for just 2 years at the University of the Pacific and already becoming one of the most important players in College basketball." "He may become one of the biggest stars in the NBA like Shaquille O''Neal, Michael Olowokandi may be one of the biggest names in basketball, but for now he''s just a bet on that draft." "Jake Smith is already one of the players that we all know will be a great NBA star for years to come, he is a complete player great in attack and good in defense, if he does half the points, assists and steals he did helping team Tar Heels to win the NCAA tournament twice it will already be a good choice for the Los Angeles Clippers team." The Clippers team general manager Doc Rivers was in Los Angeles and spoke to Elgin Baylor, as Baylor knew that Jake would not be a player on the Los Angeles Clippers team for a long time he decided to just praise Jake. "Now Doc Rivers is with Los Angeles Clippers team general manager Elgin Baylor." "Yes, Ernie, I''m here in Los Angeles with Los Angeles Clippers team general manager Elgin Baylor, Elgin, how difficult was it for you to decide to choose Jake Smith in this draft?" "It was not very difficult, it was a decision that the team had already decided a few days ago that if it were possible we would choose Jake Smith in this draft, he is an excellent player and will be important for our team." "It was thought by all commentators that the Los Angeles Clippers team would choose Michael Olowokandi as the first pick in this draft, what has changed for you to choose Jake Smith?" "We really had a great interest in Michael Olowokandi for our team, but the situation for our team changed and we decided that choosing Jake Smith would be better for our team." This change that Elgin Baylor was saying was that the Los Angeles Lakers team offered three players who could greatly improve the Los Angeles Clippers team if they chose Jake Smith and switched with the Lakers'' team. In this situation, it was much more sensible if they got these 3 players than betting on Michael Olowokandi, in addition, it was possible that they could still choose Michael Olowokandi because they had the twenty-second pick yet. "Craig Sager has the number one pick now, let''s go to them." "Thanks, Ernie, I''m here with Jake who was expected to be among the top 5 picks in this draft, because of the excellent season you had in your two seasons on the Tar Heels team." "But the Los Angeles Clippers team was not expected to choose you as the first pick, what do you think about that Jake?" "I am very happy to have been chosen as the 1998 NBA draft first pick with so many talented players, I am very happy to have entered the NBA which has always been my dream and I hope I can play well for my team in the coming seasons." "You have a very different style of play being a PG who scores a lot of points in three-point shots and often prefers assists and also defends well with steals, do you think that your style of play can help deceive opponents or do you think about defining an attacking style in the NBA?" "I don''t think much about it in games, I''m PG and I organize my team''s attacks according to the team''s coach''s instructions, if I have freedom in the attack I''ll choose the best way to score and get my team to victory." "If the defense is putting a lot of pressure on me, I can try assistance if a teammate is better able to score or I can get the dribble to get rid of the opponent." Chapter 444 - 1998 NBA Draft 2 "I prefer to try the three-point shot in which I am more confident than trying to steal or dunk because I can get more points for my team by shooting from outside, and in defense, I do my best to help the team." "So it will depend on the coach of my team if I play in a team that has Michael Jordan or Shaquille O''Neal I would prefer to do assists rather than attack alone." "One more question, you had two great seasons on the Tar Heels team winning the NCAA tournament twice and being chosen as the College Player of the Year twice, many say you should stay at the university for two more seasons, what do you think about this?" "I''ve said it before, I loved playing for the Tar Heels team and I had great teammates, I had coach Dean Smith and coach Bill Guthridge who taught me a lot, I accomplished a lot of things that several players wanted to achieve and I think my time in university is over." "So I want to enter the NBA this season to have new challenges and improve, even more, I want to win the NBA title and become the MVP of a season, I want to break several records in the NBA and for that, I have to risk entering the NBA as soon as possible." "Thanks, Jake, good luck to you in the NBA." After the interview Jake came back to celebrate with his mother and rarely did he feel as happy as he was now, Jake knew that the next day the Lakers ''team would complete the deal with the Clippers'' team and he could sign the contract with the Los Angeles Lakers team before the NBA lockout. The NBA draft continued and Jake wanted to see if he had changed anything else in this draft besides helping the Clippers ''team that didn''t choose Michael Olowokandi as they would, Jake didn''t know if another team would choose him or if the Clippers'' team would still choose Michael Olowokandi in the twenty-second pick. "The next team to choose in this draft is the Vancouver Grizzlies team, before the start of the draft it was clear their intention to choose Jake Smith in this draft because they need a PG and they also thought that the Los Angeles Clippers team would choose Michael Olowokandi." "But with the Los Angeles Clippers team choosing Jake Smith, they should choose Mike Bibby who was another name that was spoken by the Vancouver Grizzlies team in recent days." "That''s right, Ernie, the Vancouver Grizzlies team can also choose Vince Carter and Paul Pierce to suit their needs, but Mike Bibby is most likely to be chosen by the Vancouver Grizzlies team." With the change in the Los Angeles Clippers'' team selection, everyone''s draft list changed, but commentators already had an idea of ??what the other teams would choose, so it was time for David Stern to announce the second pick. "With the second pick of the 1998 NBA draft, the Vancouver Grizzlies select Mike Bibby." Jake saw that Bibby was still selected in second and the scene he saw at General Motors Place in Vancouver the same as he remembered seeing on television with Bibby and his mother celebrating. "Mike Bibby is the second pick to be selected by the Vancouver Grizzlies team as expected, Mike Bibby is a talented PG who can shoot from three points and get smart assists as well as being able to fight opponents to get the layup if necessary." After Mike Bibby''s choice, commentators were unsure whether the Denver Nuggets team would even choose Raef LaFrentz as they were supposed to do before or choose Michael Olowokandi who could still be chosen. "I think the Denver Nuggets team should choose Raef LaFrentz as they thought to do before, even though Michael Olowokandi can become a good player he may not be ideal for the Denver Nuggets team as LaFrentz is." Just as commentators said, the Denver Nuggets team chose Raef LaFrentz for the third pick, after that the Toronto Raptors team and the Golden State Warriors team chose fourth pick Antawn Jamison and fifth pick Vince Carter and then switched players. To everyone''s surprise, Michael Olowokandi still took a long time to be chosen and besides Jake, the other picks in this 1998 NBA draft were the same as it was in Jake''s past life, only in the twelfth pick that the Orlando Magic team chose Michael Olowokandi. So in the twenty-second pick, Michael Doleac that would have been chosen by the team of the Orlando Magic was chosen by the team of the Los Angeles Clippers that was disappointed for not being able to hire Michael Olowokandi. Apart from Brian Skinner who ended up not being chosen by any team the rest of the draft was normal but probably Brian Skinner would enter the NBA in the future and everything would be as it was before, the Los Angeles Clippers team got rid of getting one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history for having made one of the biggest drafting mistakes by exchanging Jake Smith with the Lakers team. At least for one season, they would have better players on their team that could be exchanged for other players or at least give some money to the Los Angeles Clippers team. Jerry West knew he would be criticized for switching three players to Jake, but he thought that in the future he would be praised as he was for getting Kobe Bryant to the Los Angeles Lakers team. After the end of the draft Jake and Eva went to dinner with Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison and their family, Jake invited them because the next time they met they would be on different teams and would-be opponents. They all talked happily even though their families didn''t know each other. They knew that Jake, Vince, and Antawn were friends after dinner Jake asked Eva to stay with him until he went to Australia, but Eva said she would stay only one day because to come back to help Anna run the restaurant. Jake arrived in his hotel room and was finally able to relax when he lay in bed, it had been a lively day and many things had happened that year, he won almost all individual awards and managed to win the NCAA tournament with the Tar Heels team. Jake also started filming for the film The Matrix which was sure to be a big hit and he would be closer to his dream of becoming a successful actor, now he had been chosen by the Los Angeles Clippers team and would play on the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA. All his dreams were gradually coming true, his mother was already very happy and he was already rich as he wanted, there was little to fulfill his dreams in basketball and as an actor and his relationship with Kate was progressing and this year they would start dating if everything went well, thinking about it Jake decided to talk to the system. "Fate, thank you very much for this second chance, everything that I wanted and always dreamed of is coming true and I am achieving much more than I expected, I really appreciate it because I know that if it weren''t for you none of this would be happening." [You deserve everything that is happening Jake, I helped you because you deserved it and you are using the skills you have well and intend to even help others and do not forget your gratitude and what you went through.] [You will continue to have the things you want because you have the capacity and can still improve, just be careful not to forget what is most important to you.] "I''m not going, Fate, can you show me my stats for my first job?" [Yes, here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 19 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: NBA Pro Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 2.01 m] [Weight: 103 Kg] [Force 43] [Agility 42] [Resistance 45] [Intelligence 63] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling A] [Body Control B] [Man to Man B] [Dribble A] [Layup S] [Set Shot SS] [Block B] [Pass S] [Rebound A] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] [Steal SS] [Dunk S] --------------------------------- Jake for a moment thought that nothing had changed after the draft, but soon realized that his job title had changed to NBA Pro Player, his skills had also changed even though his skill levels had not dropped as he expected before. It made Jake very happy because he didn''t have to spend a lot of time trying to improve his skills for the SS rank, and it also gave Jake more confidence because he trusted the system and knew that it meant he was able to perform well in the NBA also. [Your skills are like I told you if you got the S rank in all your basketball skills you would be a good player in the NBA, and how you got SS in various skills means that you kept improving even while playing at university.] [Some of your skills have dropped to rank B because you haven''t trained so much on those skills and the skill standard in the NBA is higher, but many of your skills are already worthy of the S rank.] [Another thing I have to tell you is that you have reached the maximum skill level that a basketball player can have, this means that your skills that have an SS rank are already the best and can be called the skills of an All-star the NBA and may make you an MVP in the future.] Hearing this Jake managed to understand a few things, the system was saying that his mid-range shooting skills and also outside shooting skills were those of an NBA All-Star player, which meant he had a skill close to Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, and Stephen Curry. This might seem logical seeing that Jake managed to hit 549 three-point shots in two seasons at College basketball, he had an average of 73.8 percent hits on his 3-point shots, but Jake couldn''t think he was that good like Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, and Stephen Curry because he always admired them. Chapter 445 - 1998 NBA Draft 3 [Another thing that you have to understand is that even if your skills are in the SS rank they can still improve a lot, your skill in the three-point shot and the mid-range shot has already passed a lot of other players who also had SS rank in these skills.] Jake understood that too, even if he had SS rank in Layups one day, he wouldn''t be as good as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was, even if he had SS dunk rank he wouldn''t be as good as Michael Jordan, even if he had rank Blocked SS he wouldn''t be as good as Hakeem Olajuwon and even if he had SS rank in rebounds he wouldn''t be as good as Wilt Chamberlain. Of course, Jake had no intention of being better than these basketball legends in all his skills, but he wanted to be the best of the three-point shot that was what he was always best at, Jake also saw the possibility of being the best in steals in his career. Jake also didn''t think he could be considered the best player in NBA history, he knew that even if he scored more points and won more NBA titles than Michael Jordan he still wouldn''t be a better player than him. Maybe after leaving the NBA, someone could say that Jake Smith was just like Michael Jordan and that would be the greatest honor that Jake thought he could have in his career, especially since Jake would know he got what he had thanks to the help of the system while these other players did not. After talking to the system Jake understood his skills more, even so, he couldn''t help but be excited about having such good stats, he was more confident about his debut season in the NBA. Jake spent the next day with his mother until Eva had to go to Miami in the afternoon, Jake told her that he would go home if all went well after finishing the film shoot in Australia, while Jake was happy negotiations were going on NBA. As agreed on the next day of the draft, the Los Angeles Lakers team general manager Jerry West concluded Jake''s exchange agreement with Elden Campbell, Eddie Jones, and Derek Harper, thereby the Los Angeles Clippers team general manager Elgin Baylor was happy because he thought he had made a great deal for his team. Jerry West had already spoken to Elden Campbell, Eddie Jones, and Derek Harper before the negotiation and the three accepted the change, Elden Campbell was a young and skilled player and knew he was the type of player that the Los Angeles Clippers team wanted. So he would have more playing time and also have more prominence on the team and with the other players who would go with him the Los Angeles Clippers team would improve a lot, Eddie Jones could play only one year on the Los Angeles Clippers team and then leave for another team. And Derek Harper was thinking about retiring this season, but he could play another season for the Los Angeles Clippers before retiring, they didn''t care that they would be traded in exchange for a new player because they knew the NBA was like that. So Jake traveled to Los Angeles the same day with David Falk, David had already told the sponsorship companies that they would be in Los Angeles next week and that there would be signing of endors.e.m.e.nt contracts, the companies were more excited and confident knowing that Jake would be playing for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Naturally, everyone in the sports media heard about the news of the exchange of three great players who were featured on the Los Angeles Lakers team to have newcomer Jake Smith, most of the media criticized Jerry West''s decision and said he went crazy after the success of the hiring Kobe Bryant. Of course, many who were smarter realized Jerry West''s intentions and secretly praised him, the Lakers'' team had Shaquille O''Neal and wouldn''t have much room for Elden Campbell to play. Derek Harper was close to retiring and having a young player like Jake was much better and they wanted to sell Eddie Jones to have more time for Kobe Bryant to play games, moreover, they would free up a lot more space to pay a higher salary for Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant. Even so because Jake had been the first pick, his salary would be very high and would only increase in other years, but Jerry West was right and Jake Smith was one of the best players on the team in the coming years, it would be worth paying a high salary. Even with a high salary, the Lakers'' team would save 6 million dollars with this exchange and that amount would only be higher if Elden Campbell and Eddie Jones received the salary increase this season. Jake arrived in Los Angeles and soon went to Jerry West''s office to sign the contract, even though David Falk said that Jake could be paid less because of exceptions to his contract, Jerry West decided to pay the salary that Jake would receive as the first pick of that draft. It was interesting that for at least 1 season Jake would receive a higher salary than Kobe Bryant who would renew the contract only next year, Jake was happy with the respect that the Lakers'' team had with him. "Jake, I am very happy to have a great player like you on our team for the next few seasons, we have hired you because we have a lot of expectations that you will be an excellent player as soon as you make your NBA debut." "In this team of the Los Angeles Lakers we have Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant who are excellent players, I hope you can help them make more points, as PG we hope you organize the team''s attacks and make the points when you think it is necessary." "Welcome to the Los Angeles Lakers and I hope you can bring some more NBA titles to our team with the team we have." "Thank you, Mr. West, if I''m a bit as good as you were as a player, I know I will succeed." Jake''s first year of contract with the Lakers team would be $ 2.7 million, and in the possible 5 years of the contract he negotiated with Jerry West he would receive $ 23.5 million, Jake thought it was good because he remembered which was similar to the contract that Mike Bibby would receive in 5 years. So Jake was officially hired by the Los Angeles Lakers team and knew where he would play for the next 5 seasons at least, with the situation of the possible NBA lockout coming up in the next few days. Jake still wouldn''t report to the team for training. But he would still remain in Los Angeles to sign his sponsorship contracts until the NBA lockout was confirmed and the players were released by the teams and so Jake would go to Australia. The media continued to talk about the bad business of the Los Angeles Lakers team, but the truth was that fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team and the Los Angeles Clippers team were satisfied with this exchange. Fans of the Los Angeles Clippers team were happy to have Jake on their team, but they were more than happy to welcome Elden Campbell, Eddie Jones and Derek Harper on their team because even though Jake was a genius he couldn''t change the team. Los Angeles Clippers alone. But with three good players, the Los Angeles Clippers team could improve already this season, and the team had a star who was Eddie Jones who was missing before, and fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team were upset that Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell would leave. But they understood that with that Kobe Bryant would have more time to play in the games and with the success of Kobe Bryant, they had more confidence that Jake Smith would be an equal success and so they would have three excellent players to try to win an NBA title. On Jake''s second day in Los Angeles, an Adidas representative had come before the other sponsors to sign the official contract with Jake Smith, perhaps the one who was happiest with Jake going to the Los Angeles Lakers team was Adidas. Of the best players on the Los Angeles Lakers team, one was Kobe Bryant who had a contract with them and the other was Shaquille O''Neal who had a contract with the Reebok company, so if Jake played as well as they thought he would become the third main player of that team and he had a contract with the company Adidas. If the Los Angeles Lakers team won the NBA title in any of the coming seasons with two players on contract with them, it would be the glory of Adidas and they would gain an advantage over Nike. The only thing Adidas regretted was not trying to negotiate a bigger contract with Jake even if they had to pay more money, even so, some directors were against it, they thought to pay a 52 million dollar contract for 5 years to a novice player was taking too many chances. Even more because Jake would receive 4 percent of the revenue from selling shoes that were related to Jake, that was a large part of the money the company could receive back from the $ 52 million that they would pay in 5 years. But the company''s salespeople didn''t care about that because their goal was to sell the shoes but even more was to get a more prominent place in the world of basketball worldwide, and Jake was already very popular in Europe and Asia too. The Adidas representative was called Mike Morris and he was 1.70 m tall and looked elegant wearing a suit with black hair and eyes, Mike had not negotiated Jake''s contract with David, but he was chosen as the company''s representative Adidas because he knew how to be polite and David would negotiate deals directly with the company anyway. Chapter 446 - 1998 NBA Draft 4 Usually, endors.e.m.e.nt contracts were made at Adidas with a presentation by the company on the marketing proposals they had for the player they would sign, but David had already seen it all and it was Jake who had asked to sign the contract. In Los Angeles. Jake would rather have signed with Nike because he knew the future, but he actually liked Adidas very much and wanted to do his best to help the company over the next 5 years that the contract between them would last. In the meantime he would leave everything to Adidas and David Falk to take care of a tennis brand using his name and also the advertis.e.m.e.nts, Jake trusted David for this and knew that David was happy because he would receive 10 percent of those 52 million dollars. contract dollars. "My name is Mike Morris, it is a pleasure to meet you, Jake Smith, I will be the representative of Adidas company to talk to you for years to come and if you have any questions you can call me and I will do everything I can to help." "We at Adidas expect a lot from you in basketball and also in marathons, so if you need any help in the next marathons we can help and if you think about an advertising campaign we will also listen to you." "Thanks, Mike, I also hope that we will work together for many years, I already left my coach taking care of the next competitions in the marathon for me, but he will let you know when I am going to compete and so you can prepare." "Okay, how are you going to play here in Los Angeles so you will probably find a place to live here in the city when you do that we will send you some of our company''s products for you to use whenever you want." "Okay, I''ll let you know." After that the contract that had already been made by David and the Adidas company was handed over to Jake who signed it after reading it carefully, he was happy that David had already negotiated the contract with the sponsoring companies so that they could do things faster. In the next few days, the other companies came so that Jake could sign the endors.e.m.e.nt contract, in the end, no new company decided to sign with him after David increased the contract to $ 2 million a year. So Jake signed with 4 other companies a 4 million dollar contract for 4 years, the companies were Gatorade, Gillette, Pepsi, and Chevrolet, so Jake managed an additional 16 million dollars in 4 years with these companies and would receive 4 corn of dollars a year. David Falk was satisfied with these contracts that Jake had signed and knew that Jake did not intend to sign any new contracts that did not pay more than he had asked for before the NBA draft. Jake knew well that the way to be successful in the NBA was not always to negotiate millionaire contracts with the teams but to negotiate millionaire contracts with the endors.e.m.e.nt companies, Jake got Pepsi, Gatorade, and Gillette because of the old contracts sponsorship and because of David''s help. Jake was sure that in the coming years these companies would be happy if he really won 3 NBA titles and he would get new contracts and renew those contracts with much higher values. Even after signing the contracts, Jake did not leave Los Angeles because there was still one day left before the NBA lockout that would be on July 1, Jake had to wait for the teams to release the players and so Jake would go to Australia. With all the sponsorship contracts and the Los Angeles Lakers team signed, Jake didn''t care about the NBA lockout, even though this season he knew the players would be paid less than he did. Just as Jake expected in the next few days the NBA lockout actually happened and the Los Angeles Lakers team had to release the players, the same day Jake managed to schedule a flight to Australia and after saying goodbye to David he went to Sydney. Jake was no longer suffering from the long 1-day trip on the plane and after resting for just one day he was much better and ready to re-shoot the scenes he missed in those weeks. While Jake was away the actors did more fight scenes than Jake''s character would not participate, Jake really wanted to see the footage of those scenes in person, but he couldn''t ask the directors for it and had to settle for seeing the footage later. Some more complicated scenes took days to shoot and some stuntmen were actually injured during the shoot, Jake suffered no injuries because he had a better physique than many stuntman''s and also had faster reflexes. Of course, Jake was lucky that his character didn''t have to be thrown away in any scene, the scenes like when Neo was thrown into the phone booth the stuntman could get hurt, of course, part of that was the directors'' consideration knowing that Jake was a professional basketball and did not have a stuntman. While filming Jake can befriend Keanu Reeves and also Laurence Fishburne, Keanu and Laurence were not basketball fans, but they knew that Jake had been the first pick of the 1998 NBA draft and would play for the Los Angeles Lakers team and so they naturally they were more interested in him as a player because it was clear that if Jake did that he was a talented player. Jake also couldn''t help looking at the two of them as a normal fan would do, luckily he was a calm person and the two didn''t bother with it, as the filming went on for weeks, Jake can calm down and treat them like friends himself. Filming continued and Jake did all the fight scenes very well and also his performance was highly praised, so the Wachowskis brothers enjoyed working with Jake very much and intended to work with him again in the future if they were able to schedule the filming for the vacation of Jake in NBA. Soon more time passed and the month of August had arrived, the filming was close to the end, but they would not end in August because Jake delayed the recording a little, but it was also because with the entry of his character in the film they had more scenes for the record. Jake was fortunate enough to follow the scene where Neo and Trinity invade the agents'' building to rescue Morpheus and they have one of the coolest shooting and fighting scenes that Jake had seen in which the two fight with dozens of policemen and win. This scene took 10 days to be filmed because the visual effects were practical and not done by the computer, it was interesting for Jake to see how the scene was actually filmed and he was praised by the directors because his character was not in that scene and even then Jake was there every day to follow the recording. Perhaps seeing the scene like this only the Wachowskis and Jake brothers could know what this scene would be like when going through post-production, Jake had brought one of Matthew''s company digital cameras and whenever he could he took pictures of the actors and places of Australia that were close to where he was filming. That was how after a little over 1 month the last scene was finally recorded and they had officially finished the recording period before the post-production started, a party was prepared to celebrate the end of filming. At this party, they had farewells from the actors who would have different jobs and they weren''t even sure if they would meet again, especially Jake that for everyone would go to the NBA games, only Jake knew it would still be a few months before the season really started. "You did a great job, Jake, I confess I didn''t expect you to be such a good actor, in the action and fight scenes you were also very good, I hope to work with you again." "I have to thank you, Director Larry Wachowski, I appreciate this opportunity that you and your brother gave me and I also hope to work with you again, if you can organize the filming period for the season that does not have NBA games, I would certainly I will participate." "Yes, I am confident that this film will be a success and so we will see each other in the recording of the sequence of this film, if there is an upcoming film I guarantee that you will have many more fight scenes to show your talent, Hahaha." "I am also sure that this film will be a success, I hope to have time to watch the film premiere together with all of you." After talking to Larry Wachowski, Jake went to talk to Keanu Reeves, just as before Keanu was surrounded by people because besides being a famous actor Keanu showed that he was very kind and charismatic in these months of recording and made friends with many of the film crew. But this time Jake had an easier time approaching Keanu Reeves to talk to him because they became friends after filming, Jake thought that maybe they would have to shoot one more movie together at least if the sequel to The Matrix really happened. "Keanu, it was a great pleasure to work with you these past few months, I am a big fan of yours before this film and seeing your dedication to the recordings I admire you even more." "Hahaha, thank you, Jake, you also did an excellent job in this film, you were better than me in the fight scenes and in the action scenes, and for your first film without having an experience you did as well as the other actors in the scenes and did not make a mistake." "This is nothing, I may have been better in the action scenes because you just had surgery, I''m sure in the future you will be one of the biggest names in cinema in action films like this." "I hope we can work together again, and good luck to you at the NBA games." Chapter 447 - 1998 NBA Draft 5 "I also hope that we can work together again, I hope that you are very successful in your next films and that everyone knows more about your talent, I also hope that you are going to watch some game on my team, I send the tickets to you on the front row." "For sure, if you send the tickets and I''m not working, I will watch your games." Jake was very happy to befriend one of his idols Keanu Reeves, he can also work with Tom Cruise, but he was unable to be as close to Tom Cruise as he was able to with Keanu Reeves, afterward Jake still spoke with other actors and especially with Laurence Fishburne who became friends with him too. Jake also talked to Carrie-Anne Moss, she was very kind, but Jake was shyer around her because he was also a fan of her because of the movie The Matrix, but Jake didn''t know how to make friends with beautiful women. He befriended Tiffany, Clara, and Emily because he worked with them and met them when he was a child, but with Carrie-Anne Moss, he was unable to talk as well as he talked to others. Jake would try to solve this problem because otherwise, he would have a hard time making friends in society, luckily it seemed that it was only with her that he was most famous, because he managed to talk to the other women on the film crew who were also beautiful. After filming Jake had finished his work, he would have to do the audio recording of his scenes in the film after editing because when recording the scenes the audio of the actors was very noisy, but this he could do in Los Angeles. Jake has not yet been to Miami or Los Angeles after finishing filming, Jake had to go to the Silicon Valley in San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, because after the end of filming Emily asked Jake to go there. Jake naturally accepted it because he had things he wanted to do in this region anyway, it seemed that the technology company that Charlie''s team ran there was in need of more employees and more resources to do what Jake had asked. Of course, even though Jake trusted Charlie and his friends who made the prototype of the smartphone with the touch screen, Jake still asked them to sign some confidentiality and intellectual property contracts. That''s because even if they were the ones who developed the technology it was at Jake''s request and the idea for the products was Jake''s and the most important points for development were passed on to Charlie''s team by Jake. In the past, Jake invested a few million dollars in the company they worked for and equipment to develop touchscreen and multi-touch technology, but although Jake accepted that they had some temporary employees he did not want anyone else to work on the development of the product. But this time just money wasn''t enough and Charlie''s team needed more programmers to create the new technology''s algorithms for creating the Android system, as that was an important subject Emily who knew Jake had finished filming decided to ask that he himself decided. "Hi, Emily, how long have I not seen you, are you all right?" "Yes, Jake, I have had a lot of work taking care of your companies, but all of this is very rewarding seeing the growth in the value of the shares and also the patent processes that you have requested that are progressing well and without much competition in the market and neither many barriers." "This is good, thanks for the work you are doing, Emily, I can only go to the shoot and also soon go to Los Angeles because I trust you and your work." "Thanks, I called you here because of Charlie''s request, he says that to make the Android system he needs more employees and more developers." "I understand, I was hoping for that when I asked him to create this operating system, you can let me talk to him, you can prepare more restricted contracts for the employees who will work at my company." "So you will allow the hiring, I understand, I will prepare everything, you have to ask Charlie to take care of the hiring because I don''t have time for that, then I will send you the budget." "Okay, I''ll see you soon Emily." Jake naturally hoped that Charlie''s team would not be able to create the Android system easily, he hoped that Charlie needed help because there was still no smartphone that the system he had to create. So Charlie''s team had to do this on computers that weren''t quite that powerful and the operating system that Jake was asking for was more advanced than the system Apple and Microsoft used for computers. The worst was that with Jake saying the most important points and how it worked Charlie realized that it was possible and the way Jake spoke it seemed even simple, but he had no idea how to do it without help. "Hi, Charlie, it''s good to see you, I came because Emily said you need to hire more employees?" "Yes, Jake, it''s good to see you too, I can''t even begin to create the codes for the Android system you told me, it''s very complex and it seems more difficult than creating an operating system for a computer." "That''s right, it''s really more difficult than creating an operating system for a desktop, after all, it''s the same principle, only that it has to work with fewer components, I came here to approve that you hire employees." "But you have to do an interview and choose only the best and everyone has to sign the exclusive contracts and they cannot sell this idea to other companies." "Thanks, Jake, I will be able to successfully do what you want with more help." "I believe in you, but I came here to better explain to you how you can start creating this operating system." So Jake started explaining to Charlie that he had now studied much more about operating systems after those months, Jake explained that he needed hardware to make the Android system work. He needed a RAM memory, a smaller motherboard the size of a smartphone, BIOS, battery, a small microprocessor like the cache memory, data storage device and the other things that were important for a smartphone to work and the system Android would have to make this work. Now that Charlie understood a little more about what Jake was talking about he understood how much work they would have and how difficult it would be to do what Jake had asked for, luckily he knew a few things after making the smartphone and he understood a little of what Jake was thinking. Jake told Charlie in the future to think about putting a Sound Card and a video card that would be very important, but now he wanted him to create a smartphone that would work as a regular cell phone and had it work with a touchscreen. And for that he had to create a Software using the Linux kernel and the C and C ++ language, Jake explained that he wanted only simple things and with that Charlie finally knew what he and his team could do to start. After that conversation, Charlie said that for now he would not need employees and Emily knew that, Jake was confident that Charlie could do this with his team and so he was willing to invest a few million dollars. "Charlie, you and your friends studied at Stanford University, can you arrange a lunch with some of the students at that university? I need to talk to them about something." "Sure, I can do that, what''s their name?" "It''s Larry Page and Sergey Brin." Jake knew since he hired Charlie that he had studied at Stanford, so he had thought for many years to meet Larry Page and Sergey Brin who were the creators of the Google company with Charlie''s help. Of course, Jake thought about meeting with them a few years earlier, but Jake knew he would be very busy and would not have time to do almost anything, Larry Page and Sergey Brin had already created the Google company and started a business. So Jake thought that this could be the ideal time to talk to them, after all, he knew the story that the two tried to sell the company Google in 1999 to the CEO of Excite, George Bell for 1 million dollars. So Jake, who was smart, thought about investing a few million dollars right after they failed to sell the company, so they would certainly accept it because they were even thinking about selling the company, and Jake would get a large percentage of the company. Of course, Jake would not ask for much and would still make several deals to ensure that Larry Page and Sergey Brin always continued with many shares in the company and thus he would ensure that the future he knew for that company happened. If Jake achieved this he could even pass on the development of the Android operating system to Google in the future as it was originally, but of course, it would always be his patent and his idea. In a company like Google, helping to develop the company was sometimes more important than just investing money in the company, so Jake would ensure that he would always have some authority in the company even if he didn''t think about doing anything to change how things were. So Jake went to a hotel near his company, Charlie was very prestigious at Stanford University because he was always a good student and was working on developing important products. In the future Charlie''s team would be known for developing touchscreen and multi-touch technology, creating the prototype of the smartphone and also developing the Android operating system that would be the most used by smartphone companies worldwide in the future. Just as Jake hoped Charlie got the meeting Jake wanted with Larry Page and Sergey Brin, he said that Jake was a very important businessman who invested in various areas of technology which was true and so the two agreed to come over to where Jake was to find with him. Chapter 448 - 1998 NBA Draft 6 Jake had to be careful because first, he wanted to make friends with the two and make them understand that Jake was able to invest and also understood technology, Jake didn''t need to meet Larry Page and Sergey Brin many times because next year he could do the investment and become their partner. Of course, even though Jake planned it all out calmly and just talked to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the two could never imagine that Jake knew what would happen in the future and was just waiting for them to try to sell the company to invest. Naturally, Larry Page and Sergey Brin did not expect Jake to know their company and just hoped that Jake was looking for opportunities to invest, but they were looking for an investor now that their company was starting. The truth was that Jake always saved a few million dollars thinking about making this investment that he knew would be more important in the future than investing in shares of the company Cisco, it was the same when he decided to invest in the company Amazon. After getting this investment, Jake would no longer have to worry about saving money, especially since he would start receiving money from his NBA contract and sponsorsh.i.p.s that would give him over 16 million dollars a year. Especially since the year 2000 was approaching and Jake could sell his shares of the company Cisco and would have a few billion dollars to receive after that Jake would not have to worry about making any more investments. Of course, Jake still intended to make some millionaire investments that he knew would make a profit just to keep his investment company and maintain his employees'' and Emily''s salaries. Emily was already receiving a salary of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and Jake intended to further increase her salary after he sold his shares in the Cisco company, she was always by his side helping him with all his investments and would always be she wanted to continue working with him. So Jake would hire Haruto who was his friend at the university, so Emily would have fewer responsibilities and be less stressed about her responsibilities, Jake had intended to give her some well-deserved vacations for some years. So the other day Jake went to the restaurant to meet Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the two had arrived before him at the restaurant and had some reports that could be from their company. "Good afternoon, my name is Jake Smith and I asked you to meet with the two of you." "Yes, Mr. Smith, it is a pleasure to meet you, they called us from the university and said that you wanted to talk to us, could I ask what it would be about?" "I heard you were doing a doctorate at Stanford University, I have a technology company that has Stanford University students as its main developers." "So knowing how great they are at computing, I was curious when I found out, did you create a company based on your research project?" Larry Page and Sergey Brin were surprised when Jake appeared in front of them when they heard that the head of one of the most important students at Stanford University and that he was a major investor wanted to speak to them, both thought it was an excellent opportunity. But seeing how young Jake was if they didn''t know the information that he was an investor before they probably wouldn''t believe it, even if Jake was really wealthy and wanted to invest they just needed money and an investor who didn''t get involved in the development of their company. What happened was that as Larry Page and Sergey Brin were very busy with the university and their company, they didn''t keep up with the news and sports and didn''t know who Jake was, if they knew he was an athlete who won a gold medal and several marathons and was an NBA player they would not be surprised that Jake was so young. Jake also didn''t want to explain who he was and didn''t intend to invest after this conversation with them, he just wanted to make friends with them and show that he was interested in the company, so after they tried to sell the company they wouldn''t be surprised that Jake invested a few million dollars suddenly. Jake wanted to guarantee making an investment of $ 1 million to earn a percentage of the company that was developing now, but he feared that it would change the future a lot if he made that investment and Larry Page and Sergey Brin might not think about selling the company for Excite CEO George Bell for $ 1 million. If that happened, Jake could miss the investment opportunity and could own more than 25 percent of the company without changing the company''s future too much, after all, Larry Page and Sergey Brin would get a few millions of dollar investments a few months after failing to sell the company for George Bell. "Yes, Mr. Smith, we have a company whose main product is a search engine, it is a search algorithm in which when you type something to search the internet it shows the most searched and accessed sites and the most used search words." "It is based on the PageRank algorithm that we created, and we realized that this search engine based on PageRank produces better results than the existing techniques." "We are against the use of advertising pop-ups on a search engine and we think that after we have more active users on our website we can create several methods to earn revenue even without using pop-ups." After that, the conversation continued and the two said several things that were important to explain the use of the search site that Jake actually knew better than they did, then Jake said some opinions of him about the search site that he had studied in the future that very impressed Larry Page and Sergey Brin. "I was really impressed with your company and the proposal you have for the internet, as you know I am investing in an electronic product development company and I have invested in some technology companies." "But probably next year I can invest in your company if the site shows better results, I cannot make a promise, but I will look for you when I decide to make the investment." When Jake said that Larry Page and Sergey Brin thought for sure that Jake had decided not to invest in their company and they were upset about it, of course, if Jake really wanted to invest he would give some time or say some amount to make a commitment. But Jake was happy with this conversation and if the future didn''t change he could make his investment next year and thus secure another society that would be worth billions of dollars to him in the future. Jake was also sure that if they ever saw him in the newspapers or on television they would recognize him and at the next meeting they would know exactly who he was, Jake knew that they had received an investment from Jeff Bezos and so it would be easier for him to negotiate when he revealed that he was an Amazon partner. After talking to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Jake said goodbye to Charlie and traveled to Los Angeles, soon Jake would have to come to Los Angeles again to start training, so he wanted to buy the house now so he could stay home with his mother until the Los Angeles Lakers team called him. Jake had a house in Miami that was actually the house that Jake gave to his mother, but Eva didn''t accept it so Jake didn''t tell her that that house was hers, so Jake thought that this house in Los Angeles would be the first house of himself that he would buy. Jake received, after signing the sponsorship contracts, the annual value of all the companies, so Jake received 14 million dollars, David Falk received 1.4 million commission and thus Jake got 12.6 million dollars. With more money that Jake had already saved after making the investments he had $ 43 million in the bank, thinking about the investment he would have to make next year in the Google company, Jake still had a lot of money that he could finally use as he wanted. So he spent two days looking for a mansion for him in Los Angeles in upscale neighborhoods, Jake didn''t think it would be a bad investment even if he happened to not be in Los Angeles too long because he could change teams. After all, in the future, he knew that because of inflation and other things, real estate would appreciate more than 100 percent in value, so it was a good investment even if Jake wasn''t going to use the house in the future. Jake hired a real estate agent just to close the house deal and show him the houses he wanted, the real estate agent happily knew Jake and knew he would play for the Los Angeles Lakers team. As the agent was a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers team he thought that since Jake was buying a house in Los Angeles it meant that he intended to play for many years on the Los Angeles Lakers team. As the agent knew Jake was rich he had no hesitation in taking Jake to the neighborhoods with the most luxurious mansions in the city just as Jake had asked, he knew that players liked to spend millions of dollars buying houses when they started playing in the NBA. "Mr. Smith, we have several wonderful houses that are for sale in several upscale neighborhoods in Los Angeles, I will show you these mansions first and if you don''t want to I can show you the mansions that are not for sale, but then you will have to pay much more for them." What the real estate agent wanted to say to Jake was that there was no house that wasn''t for sale, he just had to offer a lot more for the real price that the house was worth to buy it, many rich people didn''t like to hear that they couldn''t buy one House. Chapter 449 - Jake Vacations 1 And Jake was like that too, he was not arrogant, but he didn''t like it when he had to buy a house in Miami and they said to and showed him only the cheapest houses for him, of course, Jake wasn''t picky and would probably choose one of the houses that were for sale. The real estate agent showed Jake homes in Beverly Hills, Beverly Park, Hidden Hills, Malibu Colony Beach and many other neighborhoods, Jake saw incredible homes and also saw smaller houses and very expensive and small apartments just because they were in a prestigious neighborhood. So Jake made it clear that he just wanted to buy mansions and didn''t want small houses and apartments, Jake was not against buying apartments, but for him, it wouldn''t do because he wanted to buy a mansion in an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood just for the sake of security. He didn''t want to live in a place that had little security so as not to risk that what happened in Miami would be repeated again, and he knew that the most prestigious neighborhoods were safer. So after two days of a lot of searching, Jake found the house that was perfect for him, it was a mansion in Bel Air that the real estate agent just showed Jake to impress him because this was one of the most expensive mansions in Los Angeles. But he didn''t expect Jake to be enchanted by this mansion and ask to see it, the real estate agent luckily was really a man with many contacts and got the keys to the mansion to show the land to Jake. It wasn''t just the mansion that was big, the lot was also very big and that''s why the mansion was so expensive, after all, it was in a prestigious neighborhood in Los Angeles and was even on a lot that was a kind of condominium with high security. But Jake wanted this mansion precisely because of that, it was much bigger than in Miami and Jake thought what he wanted to do with this mansion as soon as he saw it, as the real estate agent saw that Jake was really interested in the mansion he decided to say the price of the mansion. It was a Mansion in Bel Air, 73,000 m2, 15 million dollars, the house had 7 large rooms with one bathroom in each room, 13 bathrooms throughout the house, the house had an elevator and a garage for seven cars. Seeing this Jake started to imagine how he could use all this land for him, Jake saw that he had a house for employees and a large area, Jake also looked inside the mansion that was as big as it looked and started to think about what he would do. On the ground, there were two houses for employees, an office, a swimming pool and a free area that Jake would order to build a basketball court and an Olympic running track just as it was at his home in Miami. The house would still have a cinema room, library, and gym, in addition to a soundproofed musical studio and completely assembled like the professional, Jake naturally thought of Kate when he thought of buying this house. Even if he didn''t end up dating her, Jake could return to playing the piano and the instruments he enjoyed playing in his past life and had no opportunity and time to play on his second chance. $ 15 million could certainly seem like a lot of money, but Jake didn''t think so because he remembered looking at house prices in the future and a mansion like this would cost close to $ 40 million in 2019. "I am going to buy this mansion, if you can prepare the mansion purchase contract and the land deed as soon as possible I would appreciate it, I need to travel in a few days and I will hire some companies to prepare some renovations in the house for the next months." The real estate agent was even more shocked when he heard that Jake said he would buy the mansion, but he was smart and realized that Jake had the money to buy the mansion and was not kidding. If this mansion were to be sold he would not receive a large percentage of commission because of the high value of the house, but would still receive 5 percent which was $ 750,000 on the sale of this mansion. Because of that, the real estate agent was very efficient and in a few days he was able to prepare the sales contract and Jake paid to receive the contract for the house, the real estate agent was very happy with this because he had guaranteed an income to make him well for two years until. So he was smart and left his contact to Jake in case he wanted to buy another mansion in the future, Jake would definitely buy other houses in the future, especially when he had billions of dollars that he was not sure where to spend. After buying this mansion Jake still had one more thing to do, he always wanted to buy a great car, but he always had to save money to invest, but this time Jake didn''t have to worry about it because he knew he would still receive the money NBA and Matthew''s company profits. So Jake didn''t want to hesitate any longer and decided to buy a car that he always wanted, but Jake had a problem that he didn''t find almost any car from that time really beautiful, and a car other than a house was not a good investment. Unless he wanted to buy an old car that always appreciated, but Jake didn''t think about doing it, so Jake thought that in the future he would have to buy some cars that he really dreamed of buying. Luckily for Jake one of the cars he liked the most even in the future was still sold, it was the McLaren F1 that was always one of the fastest and most praised cars of that time, it was one of Jake''s favorite cars that were very beautiful. In addition to being beautiful, it was fast because it could easily reach 221 mph (356 km / h) at full speed, it could reach 0¨C60 mph (97 km / h) in 3.2 s, in addition, it was practical because it had three places different from others cars that reached that speed. Of course, Jake wasn''t going to accelerate much because of what happened to him in the past, he was lucky to have overcome his trauma with cars, so he didn''t intend to go over 80 mph even in places that it was safe for him to accelerate more. But a man''s pride was a strange thing because even though he knew he couldn''t accelerate, a man sometimes liked having a car that he knew could reach 221 mph. Jake really liked that car and didn''t think about selling it or thought of the car as an investment, but he knew that this car would become a collector''s dream and could be worth up to $ 20 million at auction. This was the last year that this car would be manufactured because it was too expensive even for the wealthy who liked a car, but Jake didn''t think it was expensive because in the future a $ 3 million car would not be considered as expensive. Jake was lucky to be in Los Angeles and easily found a place of imported cars that had contact with McLaren, Jake didn''t take long and chose a yellow McLaren F1 that he liked a lot. In a few hours, Jake bought the car for 1.2 million dollars, so Jake had a car that he always wanted and also had a house that he always wanted to have, it was two more dreams that had come true in just one day. Jake would have to wait a few months before he could receive the car and be able to drive with him, but he was in no hurry and asked them to leave the car at the import store and he would come back to get the car right there. After solving his house and his car Jake still had $ 24.4 million and had to save that money to make the investment next year in the Google company, next year Jake would receive the money from the NBA and also from the company from Matthew even when it was to invest in the Google company, so Jake was cool. The other day Jake finally traveled to Miami and would stay with his mother until the day of the Chicago marathon would be in October, so Jake had less than a month to stay home, but after the marathon, he intended to stay home until that he be called to start training on the Los Angeles Lakers team. Eva was very happy when she saw that Jake had come home, it was almost 3 months since the last time they saw each other, Eva didn''t think Jake would still come home that year, she thought that after filming he would go to Los Angeles to play in the NBA. Jake had said he would come home and did as he promised, Jake told Eva that maybe he would still be there for another 3 months and she was happy with that, Jake had called Coach Frank Davis to say he was in Miami and would be in Miami for a few months. Jake had to train before the Chicago marathon in which he would run with Zack, otherwise, he would be suspicious if he won the marathon even though he had not trained for almost 6 months after the marathon Jake would ask to improve his time in training the marathons and also for modalities of 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters. Jake would not allow Davis to deny his training again, after all, he almost missed his chance in the last year because Coach Davis thought it was better to wait a little longer, Jake didn''t even know what could happen in the next few years. If a director asked him again to shoot another movie he liked or a movie he thought could be a success then Jake would do it, so Jake had to enjoy this end of the year which would probably be his last chance to improve his training. Jake was concerned because they were almost at the end of 1998 and he was less than 2 years old until the Sydney Olympics in Australia that Jake wanted to at least compete in the marathon, in the 5000 meters, and in the 10,000 meters. Chapter 450 - Jake Vacations 2 Fortunately for Jake, the Olympics would begin just before the NBA season began, so Jake didn''t have to worry about losing any official games and could easily compete in athletics competitions. Jake had no hope of being chosen for this Olympic basketball team in 2000, after all, he knew that a young player had little chance of being chosen on a team that had Jason Kidd and Gary Payton he would not be chosen to play. After all, besides the two being excellent players who played for many years in the NBA, they had experienced in the Olympic basketball team and that is why Jake didn''t think it was fair that he should be chosen. But he would try to be chosen in 2004 and was confident that he would be chosen if he won the NBA title by the Los Angeles Lakers team, until then if Jake managed to win 3 gold medals at the 2000 Olympics he would be an athletics legend. In the early days in Miami Jake told his mother everything that had happened in the last few months and said his expectations for the film he had participated in, he also told her about Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne with whom he had befriended during filming. Eva also told Jake several things about the restaurant, in fact, Eva''s life in Miami was a routine of going to the restaurant every day and with a lot of work, luckily she and everyone who worked with her loved it and so they could continue happily. Eva said that they changed the menu again that year just as she had already told Jake that she would, and as always the new menu was approved by customers, as always Jake was happy if Eva was happy. After that Jake said he had bought a house in Los Angeles where he would play in the NBA and also that he had bought a car, Eva just said she wanted to see his house and his car in the future and Jake promised that he would take her to Los Angeles to see his house. Eva believed in Jake and knew that he knew how to take good care of the money he had, even though she didn''t know when money Jake had she knew it was tens of millions of dollars and she had never seen Jake spend it irresponsibly. After Jake joined the NBA Eva knew that Jake would never again have money problems with the investments he had, she was proud to know that Jake was finally having a better life after working so hard. Jake just stayed home with his mom resting a little at home where he could be at peace, but after two days Jake knew it was no longer time to rest when Coach Davis arrived in Miami. Jake had already told Coach Davis that he would live in Los Angeles and Coach Davis intended to buy a house to live with his family there, after all, he had been living with his family for the past few years in a hotel that was close to Jake''s university. Jake had offered to buy him a house near North Carolina University and now he had also offered to buy him a house in Los Angeles or the coach''s family could live in one of the servants'' houses that Jake had in his mansion. Even though it was called a house for employees it was much bigger than an ordinary house and had 3 bedrooms and was very good for Coach Davis'' family to live in, after all, Jake could move and buy another house in another city when he changed teams and the Davis coach could not buy a home in several different cities. But Coach Davis said it wouldn''t be a problem because he had talked to his wife and he would buy a house in Los Angeles and then live in hotels elsewhere where Jake played in the NBA, the important thing was that his family had a home to stay in. So Jake suggested that he buy a house in Miami because Jake himself would return to live in Miami in the future, but Coach Davis denied it because he knew that Jake would at least stay another 4 years in Los Angeles and after that, his daughter Lara who already had 10 years would be 14 years old and they would have no problem living in hotels. Not to mention that with the salary Jake paid he could save to buy another house in another 4 years if he wanted to, Jake felt bad for Frank''s family, but as Coach Davis had decided that there was nothing Jake could do about it. Coach Davis had also already talked to the organizers of the marathon in Chicago and the registration of Jake and Zack was decided, after all, Jake had won in the last 3 years and even people in the sports media knew that Jake would be there. Zack was studying at the university, but he always talked to Jake just like his other friends and so Zack said he was still training even after Coach Davis who helped him out. Coach Davis said that Zack had a good chance of finishing the Chicago marathon in less than 3 hours and could even surprise and get a great time in that marathon, Jake was very happy to know that because he knew the effort that Zack continued to have in training. "Coach Davis, as you well know we were lucky to get those next few months to train before the Chicago marathon and maybe we have a few more months before the NBA season starts." "So I wanted to do that training to improve my time in the marathons because I know that I have improved a lot and I can improve my time in the races even more, and this may be the last chance to improve my training before the 2000 Olympics because I don''t know if I have time to train for the next vacation." Coach Davis knew that Jake was upset that he had not improved training when he asked last year, but Coach Davis could not have imagined that besides basketball and marathons Jake would still try to be an actor thereby wasting training time on vacation that he could have. But since Jake decided to train, he knew he would have to agree with Jake''s increase in training, and after spending so much time with Jake, Coach Davis learned to accept that Jake''s body was different from other athletes. Even though Coach Davis knew that Jake had a lot of resistance and so he was able to run 50 km every day in an average time to break the world record, he was afraid that Jake would try too hard and end up with an injury that would end his career in athletics and also in basketball. But now he trusted that Jake had a much stronger body than all the athletes in the world he knew, so he would help Jake improve his training in the coming months and so he could follow Jake''s training to make sure he didn''t. could get hurt. The biggest reason that Coach Davis wanted to deny that Jake tried was that he was trying to do what was considered impossible in marathons, running in less than 2 hours a 42.2 km marathon, was impossible because it required a lot of effort from the athlete to run up the limits for so long to break that record. Jake thought he was capable because his stats have improved a lot since he managed to run for the first time in his current time, in addition, Jake had trained for many months to get better. Jake''s resistance statistic was now 45, his strength statistic is 43, and his agility statistic is 42, because of the conversation Jake had with the system he might not have the greatest stat in agility and strength, but already had achieved in resistance. Certainly Jake had a much bigger statistic than big names in athletics, Jake thought he was able to run a marathon under 2 hours because he had the system and also because he trained a lot, Jake was sure that one-day champion athletes would also succeed run under 2 hours even without the help of the system. In Jake''s training, he was already running much faster than his current world record, so he runs 42.2 km in 122 minutes and 21 seconds, it was a great time and Jake was still over 50 km running at that speed average and thus ran 50 km in 145 minutes. For an elite athlete to run a 42.2 km marathon in 145 minutes it would be excellent and Jake did that every day running 50 km, so Jake was sure he would be able to improve his training. Even if he couldn''t run in less than 120 minutes to break the limit, he could close that gap and hope to get more statistic points until he can run at that time. After talking to Coach Davis, Jake started on the first day to try to run the 50 km in the time he normally ran, Coach Davis wanted to see if Jake had not really lost his ideal physical condition even though he had not been training for more than 6 months. Jake would naturally not forget the techniques he had learned and running for him after training for over 2 years was very easy after 50 km Jake managed to run at the same time he was used to 6 months earlier and Coach Davis thought until Jake managed to run more easily. So Coach Davis had no choice but to admit that Jake''s body worked differently than other athletes, he approved that the next day Jake would try to improve his running time, to run a marathon in less than 2 hours Jake had to run 4 seconds faster per km and so he would take more than 160 seconds of the final time he could now. Chapter 451 - Jake Vacations 3 But even Jake didn''t want to try the madness of trying to run with 4 seconds less time than before for km, he would try to decrease 2 seconds per km to see what he could do, so the other day very early after Eva left to go to Jake''s restaurant went to the race track at his house and Coach Davis arrived shortly after. "Jake, I didn''t approve of this because you can''t understand what you''re trying to do, we can say you''re almost at the general limit of marathons if you decrease 1 second per km you have to decrease more than 42 seconds in a total time of racing." "So, as you are in the elite of runners, you can manage to do that, what you have to understand is that 1 second less per km makes a lot of difference at the end of the marathon, which didn''t make much difference before." "What you are trying to do is run 4 seconds less per km and so you want to decrease your total running time by more than 168 seconds, this is very dangerous for you." "As we still have three months I will let you run 1 second less in 43 km in today''s training, you will not run 50 km as you normally do, and if you can easily do it tomorrow we will try to take another 1 second per km." Jake had to agree with Coach Davis because he knew Frank was doing it for his sake, besides, even slowing it down by just 1 second per km Jake knew it would help him run even faster. So after getting ready and having managed to run the 50 km in the best time he had before he was more confident of achieving that, Jake had to use the system to control his running pace and his time. So it was not difficult for him to take exactly 1 second of each km of running, thinking normally taking just 1 second of each km should be a very easy thing, but only an athlete who ran knew how difficult it was. Jake controlled his pace well in the race and he managed to get through the 20 km with ease, Coach Davis hoped that Jake would be able to run the first 20 km easily because of his good resistance, after the 40 km that Jake would feel the difference more in the race. Jake continued calmly and passed the 30 km and then also passed the 40 km, Jake had high control over what happened to his body and he can see that after 40 km he felt much more tired than the day before. He could feel that the tiredness was bigger, but he still wasn''t tired because normally he still had another 50 km to run, Jake continued and ran the last 3 km still not feeling tired and can finish the 43 km that he had combined with Coach Davis. Even running 1 second per km faster than the day before Jake was much less tired because he had run 7 km less than the day before, seeing that Coach Davis could not deny that he was really surprised because he thought Jake would have a lot more difficult on his first day. Jake managed to finish the 43 km in a time of 2 hours, 3 minutes and 59 seconds, that time excited him and Coach Davis too, because Jake had run almost 1 km more than the 42.2 km that the marathon usually had and got a better time than his current world record. So Coach Davis allowed Jake to run a second faster the next day, so Jake was excited that he would get half of what he wanted, and Jake was confident that he could slow down 1 second more on the next race day. Jake made dinner every day that they were at home and Eva came home to have dinner with him, Eva realized that Jake was excited and realized that Jake should be training again and had managed to improve and so he was happy. Eva was happy to see how hard Jake was at training himself even though he had reached the height of the marathons and had the money to live his whole life, many would surely give up on the marathons and try to just play basketball in the NBA and still be praised if they had the talent that Jake had. The other day Jake went running the 43 km again after doing the warm-up and trainer Davis arrived Jake went running thinking about taking another second for km from the time he had managed the day before. Jake had to improve his time because he no longer knew when he would have time to do such long training, so he could be his last training in many years, in this next Chicago marathon Jake intended to break his world record again. That''s because honestly, he didn''t know when he could run another marathon again, he intended to run the Chicago marathon every year if it was possible, but that could irritate the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers team. His current world record was 2 hours, 5 minutes and 55 seconds that he achieved in 1997 at the Berlin marathon, and that record would be broken next year if Jake did not improve him. So Jake wanted to run to create a world record that would not be broken for many years, so Jake could lose a few years without running in the marathons until he broke his world record again. Thinking about it Jake was even more willing to run and did 1 second less per km than the day before, Jake ran 1 km in 2 minutes and 52 seconds this time and that time was really fast. Again, Jake had no difficulty running until the first 20 km, but after that, he started to feel that he was trying harder and getting more tired, Jake knew he had the resistance to run in that faster time. But what he felt was that he was straining his muscles in that race and that was something he hadn''t felt since the marathon he got injured in New York, of course, he didn''t feel he was pushing his limits and all athletes should feel this normally after 20 km running a marathon. After reaching 30 km Jake started to feel like he normally felt only after running 43 km in his previous training time, Jake hoped for this and even though the day before it was easier to run Jake knew he would suffer to be able to run 50 km as he usually did in training. Even so, it was a running pace that Jake would normally manage and so he kept running and passed 40 km, after going through 40 km of marathon Jake felt more tired than he felt running the 50 km normally, which is why since the beginning he wanted to start training by being 2 seconds faster. Even so Jake managed to run another 3 km and thus complete the 43 km he had to run, Jake certainly felt very tired as he normally did not feel after training, of course, Jake thought he could still run a few more kilometers and still you wouldn''t need to use the stamina bar. Jake ran this 43 km in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 16 seconds, Jake didn''t know that, but with him running like that he managed to shock Coach Davis again, that time running in 43 km was already well below Jake''s world record and it seemed like Jake could still take his time better. Coach Davis was impressed that he had already coached other athletes with less talent than Jake, so he knew that normally after a few months of training it was normal to see the younger and slower athletes having minute improvements in their time in racing. long distance. This was normal for talented athletes who had no training time until it reached the time that an elite athlete can achieve, that time for athletes who dream of winning marathons are running in less than 2 hours and 20 minutes in a marathon. Until that time, the athletes'' improvement is very fast and it is normal to see athletes like Zack improve his time by more than 1 hour after a year of training if they are compromised. But in Coach Davis''s experience after 2 hours and 20 minutes, the athlete''s improvement slows a lot, even the geniuses take months to improve a minute in their time and it wasn''t something stable and in some marathons, they could have better times or worse. But Jake managed to improve his time which was already faster than the time of the world record that was his own in almost 2 minutes in just 2 days, things that would take months of training for athletes who were training with a time of 2 hours and 20 minutes. And it was even more shocking because Coach Davis knew as Jake''s coach that he hadn''t coached his races for more than 6 months before that, so after that, Coach Davis learned that Jake''s body really worked differently than other athletes. Seeing that Jake was not feeling exhausted or in pain even though he ran 43 km, Coach Davis thought that if he wanted to help Jake achieve better results he had to find out what was Jake''s limit. "You did very well today, Jake, with this race time you can certainly guarantee the world record for many years, but as you said we don''t know when we will have time to do training like this again." "So I was thinking that before this Chicago marathon as we are just going to train you to run the marathons, we could see what your limits are, so tomorrow you will run 1 second less per km, I believe you can do it with this pace faster." Chapter 452 - Jake Vacations 4 Jake was thinking that this running pace was good for his new training, if he could run 50 km a day at that running pace he would definitely feel like he was training for real. But listening to Coach Davis saying that Jake thought it was true, he didn''t know when he could train like that again and it was a good way for him to find out what his limit was after winning so many physical stats. After the marathon, they would train the 10,000 meters and the 5,000 meters also already thinking about winning the Olympics, so Jake would not have time to further improve his pace of running the marathons. If Jake could even manage to run in less than 2 hours he would be very happy and feel that he had realized a dream, after all that was one of the main goals for Jake in the future. And Jake knew that he was really close to achieving this if he slowed down just 2 seconds per km in his running time he would be able to achieve that dream even if it was not official. Shortly after Jake decided this and arranged with trainer Davis Jake came home to rest and got a surprise, Adidas representative Mike Morris had come to visit him in Miami. Jake had told Mike to send some of their products like clothes, sneakers so that Jake could actually advertise the company as he was very well paid to do, Coach Davis had also warned Mike that Jake was going to run the Chicago marathon. But he never expected Mike to appear in Miami at his house, especially since there were no NBA games going on and Jake was training for the Chicago marathon while on his vacation. In fact, while Jake was in Australia, a lot of things happened in the United States and in the sports world, mainly because it was confirmed that Jake Smith would play on the Los Angeles Lakers team with Kobe Bryant who was another young NBA genius at that time and Shaquille O''Neal. But after Jake went to Australia it was revealed that Jake had signed one of the biggest shoe contracts with Adidas, many thought Jake would sign with Nike and that was surprising to many, especially since Adidas had already managed to hire Kobe Bryant with another multi-million dollar contract. Luckily the values ??of the contract were not revealed because of the efficiency of the representatives of Adidas and David Falk, for sure in a few more months the values ??of the negotiation would be revealed. But that was what they wanted because when everyone forgot about this story in a few months when the values ??are revealed to Adidas it would be news again, Jake''s other contracts were also surprising making him one of the highest-paid players in the NBA since his first season. But not all of this was good for Adidas and other companies, normally Jake would have already done a commercial campaign or a television commercial for Adidas and these other companies, but as NBA lockout the companies thought wisely that it would not be a good idea to do something like that. But Jake knew through David Falk and that it was confirmed by Mike that Adidas was preparing a great marketing strategy and a product line with his brand for the next few years, Jake even had the idea for sneakers and decided to use his brand. to avoid having copyright issues in the future with Adidas. Jake learned that Adidas was already making a shoe that would be his trademark with Adidas, there would be two shoes, one for basketball and one for running, the running shoe would be called Adidas JKS Velocity, and the basketball shoe would only be Adidas JKS 1. The sneakers would be black with blue and purple details, the two sneakers were almost the same and very beautiful, but one was for elite runners in marathons and the other was for playing basketball or just walking with them on the street. Jake had the number 7 of the shirt that was his favorite and would be his brand in the NBA, so Adidas would make a jacket with Jake''s brand called Adidas JKS 7, Jake wore the number 7 by his own choice in the Tar Heels team and would use the same number on the Los Angeles Lakers team. After all, the shirt 7 he wore on the Tar Heels team had been retired and he wanted to continue wearing it on the next teams he played, Jake was happy with his two sneakers and hoped they would sell well. "Sorry for coming to see you, Jake, but I needed to talk to you and I took advantage of the fact that I had to deliver some Adidas products and brought them to you." "It''s okay, Mike, I appreciate you bringing the products to me." Jake asked Mike to enter his house and also helped to carry the boxes he had brought, inside one of the boxes he had the sneakers he had ordered, in the 90s among the best-selling sneakers most were from Nike and few were from Adidas. Of course, Adidas wouldn''t give Jake a Kobe Bryant sneaker if he didn''t ask, so Jake received some of Adidas''s most popular sneakers and also had it for his mom, Mike said that when Jake was in Los Angeles they would send a lot more sneakers to him. Jake received jackets, blouses, T-shirts, pants and many other products just as he had requested, he did not mind his training and also the next marathon to go with some of the Adidas products. He would also go to the city with some of these clothes and if he was photographed he would advertise as he should, Mike said which shoes he should wear in the Chicago marathon and Jake accepted the shoes and found it comfortable. "So, as I said to you before I came here to say something important, your coach told me that you are going to race in Chicago, so I wanted to ask if you could also run the Athens Classic Marathon." "Surely you must know and know that it is one of the most difficult marathons and has an important historical value, so the company wanted you to run there if it was possible after running in Chicago because we want to promote the company and you also in Europe where you have the most fans." Jake didn''t know that most of his fans were from Europe and he only went there a few times, but if that were true he really thought he could be sure he would have to go there to participate in a marathon, especially since the Adidas was a European company. Jake had his current world record made in the Berlin marathon that was in Germany where Adidas was headquartered, and he didn''t really think about participating in more marathons in Europe, but with an invitation from the Adidas company he would accept." "It''s okay for me, I can recover before the Athens marathon and go running there, I didn''t know I had a lot of fans in Europe." "Okay, thanks for that Jake, you seem to have a lot of fans in Europe and Asia too, you played basketball in some cities in Europe when you were younger and also won some important marathons there, so it was natural for you to receive more attention of the audience there." "Furthermore, it seems that it was known that your mother was of Spanish descent and that is why you received more attention from there, you certainly have a lot of fans in the United States too, but as the United States has many stars in basketball and athletics for while your fame is not as great as theirs." "And the fans you have in Asia are because you won an important marathon in Tokyo and Asians are very fond of basketball too and have a greater identification with you too." After hearing Mike''s explanation he can understand, surely Adidas had done research with fans to find out where Jake was popular before they decided to sign with him, it was true that his mother was of Spanish descent and so Jake didn''t care to say that he had European descent as well. And Jake also knew that in the future because the economy in China has become so strong, basketball fans there have started buying a lot of NBA products and many players have become popular in China because of that. After that Mike talked to Jake for a while before he left, Mike was not like John and could not be in all of his marathons and would only be in Athens because Adidas asked Jake to run there. But Jake knew that some Gatorade representatives would naturally be at the Chicago marathon, they were an athlete drink company and supported the marathons and sponsored Jake mainly. The other companies would also send representatives, but they would not advertise there because they did not sponsor the marathon and therefore could not hinder the sponsors of the marathon. Gatorade sponsored many of the big marathons and it wouldn''t be a problem for them to advertise, for them to sponsor an athlete like Jake would be much better than just sponsoring the marathons. Adidas and other companies also planned to start sponsoring marathons in the coming years and all of this was related to Jake, for sure these companies intended to renew sponsorship contracts with Jake if he had no problems with scandals and played well in the NBA as everyone expected. When Jake thought that the surprises were over a good surprise that happened to him, the Chevrolet company had sponsored Jake too and naturally had to get something from Jake, but with this NBA situation, they couldn''t just like other companies do a new commercial with him. So they had the great idea to send Jake two Chevrolet corvette zr1 1990, which was one of the good cars that Jake thought to buy, so Jake asked to deliver one of them in Miami and another one in his house in Los Angeles. Chapter 453 - Jake Vacations 5 This car that would be sent to Miami Jake would give it to his mother and only use when he was in town and so he would advertise, Jake was happy to receive this car because he knew it would be strange to ride the McLaren F1 to some public places in Los Angeles. Also, even though the McLaren F1 was an amazing car it still wasn''t a good car when you had to ride with other people in the car, so the corvette zr1 would be good for him to use and if someone asked why he was driving the car he could say it was because of the sponsorship. Jake was happy that a lot of good things were happening to him this year and especially in the last few months, he hoped he could win in Chicago and Athens because afterward he probably wouldn''t have time for marathons until the next Olympics. Later that day Jake told his mother that he had received some Adidas products and that he would receive two Chevrolet cars and Eva was very happy for Jake, Jake had also asked Mike for some products for women and handed over one of the boxes for his mother. The other day Jake waited for Coach Davis to continue training on the track that was in his house, for someone who had a lot of money as Jake had certainly helped to have an athletics track, a court and a gym in his house so that he could train better with more comfort. That''s why he had the same thing done at his house in Los Angeles, other athletes didn''t have the opportunity to do that and Jake had to take advantage of this advantage that he had, so he hoped to become the best in marathon history. After Jake finished the warm-up exercises, Coach Davis arrived and Jake started his race from that day, Jake knew it would be more difficult and was determined to get even if he suffered more. Jake was wearing the Adidas sneakers and clothing that he would wear on the day of the Chicago marathon to get used to the outfit, Jake used the company''s sneakers before if they were good but not as good as the elite sneakers for athletes. Even so for Jake, it was not a big difference and it only brought more comfort to his body while he ran, just like in the previous days Jake had no difficulty after passing 20 km. Naturally, he felt that he was pushing the muscles in his legs a lot more and the fatigue was a little greater, but the 20 km was not even half the marathon and Jake could not get tired at this distance if he wanted to have a chance to finish the marathon in the right time. Coach Davis, unlike other days, was also closely monitoring Jake''s performance for this training, if he felt Jake was at risk of getting hurt he would ask Jake to stop. After driving 30 km Jake really started to feel tired and more pain in his legs, it was the pain of the effort that his body was making to keep up with the pace that Jake wanted to run, but Jake still felt he could finish the marathon. After passing 40 km Jake clearly realized the strong fatigue he was feeling and the pain in his legs was stronger, Jake was not used to trying so hard and reaching that limit, but as he was determined he kept running. Coach Davis can also clearly see that this running pace was the maximum limit that Jake could reach today, it was admirable how Jake improved in just three days if training and knowing Jake as he knew after a few weeks Jake would be able to run up to 50 km all the days at that running pace. Jake continued running without fear because he knew that his body was much stronger than before and he had confidence in the statistics that he had achieved with a lot of effort, besides, he knew that if his body really couldn''t take it he would be warned by the system before getting hurt. Fortunately, Jake managed to run another 3 km and finished his training of 43 km and fell on the track exhausted, Jake had managed to run at a pace of 2 minutes and 51 seconds per km and finished that 43 km in 2 hours, 2 minutes and 33 seconds. This was an incredible time that was just a little bit longer than his previous time running 42.2 km, and Jake did that time in 43 km, which meant Jake did the 42.2 km in this training in 120 minutes and 16 seconds. So Jake did it in 2 hours, and 16 seconds, that was just 17 seconds slower than the time he wanted to break, it cheered Jake and Coach Davis even more who thought this effort and training had been worth it. This was a running pace that Jake wanted to train until the Sydney Olympics in 2000, if Jake managed to run 50 km in daily training running at that pace he would feel that the training was really paying off. After training Jake felt his leg muscles aching, he felt very tired too, but he didn''t eat the stamina bar because he knew he had the rest of the day to rest and with the natural recovery his body had the other day he would be fine to run again. Jake also thought that if he felt this pain he could maybe improve his endurance and muscle strength and maybe even increase his stats if he trained hard, neither Jake nor trainer Davis talked about trying to improve this race time and they decided that this would be Jake''s training until the Chicago marathon. After that marathon, he would still have the Athens marathon, but Jake had to train before the Chicago marathon because he intended to try to break his world record again, but after the Chicago marathon, he would train to run the 10,000 meters and 5 thousand meters. It was only 2 years until the Sydney Olympics and Jake had to be ready to run there, he needed at least two years of training to have more confidence, luckily he had already trained the 10,000 meters and would try to improve his time for a break at least the Olympic record and thus try to win at the Olympics. With the NBA and basketball games, Jake didn''t think about participating in international athletics competitions anymore if he didn''t have time for that, so the Olympics were the focus of Jake''s training. If he managed to break the Olympic record in all his training he was more likely to win in both modalities in the next Olympics and thus break another record and maybe come out of the next Olympics with 4 gold medals in total as long as the gold medal that he won in Atlanta. Coach Davis said nothing to Jake not to make him vain, but he was sure after those last few days of training that Jake would be able to run in time to break the Olympic record in the 10,000 meters. After all Jake was currently able to run 43 km at a pace of 2 minutes and 51 seconds per km, for the 10,000 meters Jake needed to run only 10 km and he had to run at a pace of 2 minutes and 36 seconds per km to break the record worldwide in this modality. And he could run at a pace of 2 minutes and 42 seconds per km to break the Olympic record that was his goal, Coach Davis thought that for just 10 km Jake could calmly run at a pace of 2 minutes and 42 seconds without getting tired. Of course, at this rate, Jake could only train once a day for 10,000 meters and not train 3 times a day as they did that year, but knowing how Jake''s body was different from an ordinary athlete, Coach Davis thought Jake could train only once a day and still be prepared for the Olympics. It was different for the 5,000 meters, but Coach Davis had already trained athletes of various modalities and knew that Jake had the necessary agility that was more important to run the 5,000 meters and was not so important for the other long-distance races. Even if Jake didn''t manage to run the 10,000 meters sport, only the two sports he would run would already guarantee a special place for Jake in the history of athletics, he certainly would already be known as the best athlete in the marathons in the history of athletics. So Jake had already set his training pace for the next training until the Chicago marathon, Jake knew that his university roommates would go to Chicago to cheer for him and Zack too, so Jake was excited about it. Jake came home in pain, but happy to get what he wanted and feeling again that his training was being useful to him, Jake rested for a few hours to prepare to make dinner for Eva. While he was getting ready he received a call that was expected by him a few days ago, it was Kate who was calling him as she often did when Jake was in Australia, they were getting very close and talking a lot on the phone while Kate and Jake were busy working. Kate had agreed with Jake that she would call him because she would choose a time when she wasn''t working and didn''t have her manager around, which usually worked because Jake could almost always answer his cell phone and if he couldn''t he would text her she. "Hi Jake, how are you?" "Hi Kate, I''m fine, happier because you called me today." "Hahaha, you always say that you said you were going to leave filming in Australia the last time I called you, are you in Los Angeles now?" "No, I''m in Miami at my home right now, I took advantage of the fact that I wouldn''t have games in the coming months to be with my mom and also to train for the next marathons." Chapter 454 - Jake Vacations 6 "You never really rest, do you, I also had a break after doing so many shows and recording my musical album this year, I think in the next few months I will rest before I go back to doing shows." Jake always heard Kate say what her work routine was like and he was impressed with so much work that the singers had to do, sometimes Kate said she had to do 7 shows in a week in different cities and still had to participate in shows. radio and commercials. Luckily it looked like it was having a good result because she had achieved her first song by being in the first place on the Billboard, she already had some songs in the top 100 a few times, but it was the first song that stayed a week in the first place. This was incredible because she had changed her style of music a lot and her fans also just increased, especially since she was considered a new singer who had a chance of winning the 41st Annual Grammy Awards as Best New Artist. After all, currently, only she had a song on Billboard''s top spot that year among new artists, but Jake knew it wouldn''t be so easy because Lauryn Hill who would win the prize would also have a song on Billboard''s top spot. "Since you are thinking of resting in the coming months, come here to Miami, it is a great place to rest and that way we could meet for lunch more often, I miss you." Jake took courage and said what he was thinking and it surprised Kate that she didn''t say anything on the phone for some time, Jake knew that he actually loved Kate and was thinking about asking Kate to date him this year. But it was difficult for them to have time to meet and next year it would be even more difficult with Jake playing in the NBA, so he had to be more honest with his feelings talking to Kate so that they would have a chance. "I really wanted to go to Miami on my vacation, I love the beach and I like Miami a lot, I think I''m going to be there in the next few days and we can go out to lunch." "For sure, you can call me as soon as you get here that I will meet you, I will wait for you." With this good news Jake was even happier, with Kate coming to Miami he could finally ask her to date him, he would prepare this for lunch, Jake was happy that this year was really one of the best in his life. At dinner Eva realized that Jake was much happier than usual, she realized that Jake was more tired and excited because of his training, but today she could feel that it was something different and not just because of training. "You look very happy today, Jake, did anything special happen?" "Yes, good things happened today, I was able to improve my training for marathons even more and I came close to my goal that I always had when I started running." "So it could happen that I break my world record again in the Chicago marathon and win another gold medal at the next Olympics, even though I am very tired I am very happy." Eva saw that Jake was speaking the truth and was also very happy to know that, few times she saw Jake confidently asserting that he could win a marathon or win a gold medal at the Olympics. But this time Jake did even more and guaranteed that he could break his world record which naturally meant that he could win the marathon, yet Eva still thought it wasn''t just that and that Jake was hiding something. "This is really great son, congratulations, but it seems that there is something else that is also making you happier today." "I really can''t hide anything from you mom, I talked to Kate today on the phone and she told me that she was thinking of taking a vacation in the next few months, so I suggested that she come and spend the holidays here in Miami." "And she said she would come and so I am going to invite her to lunch and we can meet several times in the coming months." With Jake saying that Eva can understand why he was so happy, she knew that Jake was really in love with Kate by the way he talked about her and how he always talked about her even when they saw each other so rarely. She was naturally happy for Jake and would support her son to live that love for him, but she couldn''t help but worry about Lola after hearing this, Lola had been trying to forget Jake for almost 3 years and had seen him a few times. In the restaurant, it was difficult to do that, but Eva and Anna and almost nobody in the restaurant spoke about Jake''s name out of consideration for Lola, of course, in the kitchen Eva and Anna talked a lot with the cooks about Jake and even watched his games at the university. But that was because Lola was the receptionist at the restaurant and didn''t often enter the kitchen and she naturally had to get used to Jake''s games being broadcast in the restaurant that he was practically the owner. Eva and Anna thought that Lola had already forgotten about Jake and even her father J¨²lio said that her daughter had already overcome this relationship that never really happened, but Eva still worried about Lola and until she knew that Lola was dating her she didn''t he would know even if she had forgotten about Jake. That''s because Eva knew that when Jake started dating Kate for sure after a few weeks all the magazines and various television shows would talk about it because even though Jake and Kate were not the most famous and well-known in the country when they started dating, they would be one of the best known young couples. Even more with Jake participating in a big movie and joining the NBA and Lola gaining more and more fans in the music world and having a song in the first place on Billboard, even so, Eva wouldn''t say that to Jake because she knew Jake was not to blame in this situation and has already had too much consideration for Lola not going to the restaurant almost once for almost 3 years. "Mom, as I said to you when Kate comes to Miami I intend to ask her to date me if she accepts I want to bring her here to have dinner together so I can introduce her to you." "Sure, son, if you start dating I will fully support your relationship and you can bring her here and I will love meeting your girlfriend." Having talked about it with his mother, Jake was even happier that everything in his life was going well, even though he was tired Jake was still very agitated and decided to go to the court after dinner to do some three-point training to relax. Even though Jake hadn''t been doing any basketball training for the past few months and was just using his gym after returning to Miami, he still did imagination training every day as usual. Jake could do this training twice a day and did it every day even when he was tired and when he was filming in Australia, and now Jake was even more excited about doing his imagination training. That''s because after the NBA draft when he became a professional player and he leveled up in his first job in the system, Jake could play against better players than he did in imagination training. And Jake had to say that finally, this training was very useful for him, it seemed that the problem of lack of intelligence of his opponents in the training of imagination had almost disappeared, his opponents thought about the plays and so the training was never the same. Also, when Jake put his opponents in the SS rank like he always did, he really regretted doing it, the players in his imagination training were much better than his teammates Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison. They were better than many of the toughest opponents he had at university like Mike Bibby, Jake had to believe that they really were better than most of the NBA players he would play for years to come. Of course, players like Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O''Neal, and Michael Jordan had many things that were better than these opponents that Jake had in his imagination training, but not even these geniuses had SS rank in all abilities. So Jake could see how a skill rank made a big difference when he reached the NBA level, it wasn''t like that at other levels, but he realized that difference and how he put the height of all his opponents being taller than him, Jake had a hard time even hitting three-point shots. After all, with opponents having SS rank in the block they seemed to know what was the right time to hinder blocking when Jake tried the three-point shot, that was good because Jake trained more for when he joined the NBA and also I learned how he would have to try three-point shots in the NBA playing against opponents who could get the block. Fortunately, his skill rank in the three-point shot was also SS rank and he was more agile than his opponents in training and thus still managed to hit more than 50 percent of his three-point shots. His steal and passing skills still worked well in his imagination training, but Jake didn''t even want to try to layup and dunk with so many higher opponents and SS block rank, it was almost suicide to do that. Fortunately, his teammates were also SS rank in skills and Jake was still smarter than his opponents and so they managed to almost win some games, the problem was that all opponents also had SS rank in three-point shots. Chapter 455 - Jake Vacations 7 Jake thought it would certainly be a big nightmare if it were really like that in reality, playing with opponents who were better than him in almost every skill and knew how to use their skills better. But it did a little to take away all the arrogance that Jake had being the first pick in the NBA draft and winning several individual awards at College basketball, Jake had to learn that even if he had good skills he would still start as an NBA rookie. It was certainly difficult for other talented players to learn this lesson in humility as Jake learned before he even joined the NBA, but it would probably make teammates find him more enjoyable if he was humble in the beginning. Of course, Jake still had the same dreams and still thought he wanted to win several NBA titles and be the MVP in several seasons, but he didn''t need to think about getting it in his first NBA seasons. So for him to spend more than an hour doing three-point shots on his court it was much more relaxing than the training he normally did, Jake was also developing another special move for when he had to play in the NBA. It was a special three-point shooting movement that was different from the way he normally did, but if Jake managed after a lot of training to have the same hit percentage as he had to do the three-point shot it was usually very good. This was a move he thought after doing this imagination training with opponents who were very good at blocks, and with this move, it was impossible for an opponent to block without missing Jake. But Jake thought that this move could only be done better if he had more stats points in strength, even so, he could use it in games against opponents who were very good at blocks and were defending against him. After relaxing with the three-point shots, Jake can go home and sleep peacefully, the other day Jake went too early to do his normal training that he had to continue, especially now that he felt he was really getting better with this training. Jake had already recovered completely from the tiring run he had done on the last day just as he thought and after doing the warm-up exercises Coach Davis arrived, Coach Davis was also excited after Jake''s training on the last day. He couldn''t help thinking that he was Jake''s trainer who could win several gold medals in the marathons and in the 10,000 meters in the next Olympics and Jake could still run under the 2 hour time and break the world record that would be harder to break in history. Even so, he still asked if Jake was fine and if he could try to run the same way as yesterday, after all, Jake could not try too hard and end up getting injured, otherwise it would be better to train more lightly and not take the risk. Jake said it was okay and after doing the warm-up exercises he started running again, Jake would try to run at the same pace as on the last day and would do it until he didn''t feel exhausted and the other days he would try to increase the total training distance. If Jake managed to run the 50 km at this pace every day, he could guarantee that he could run at that pace in an official marathon and only then would he explore his limits and be able to improve even more in the coming months or years. Jake was not in such a hurry anymore and didn''t mind not improving his running pace until after the Sydney Olympics in 2000, after all, even though Jake had a dream of running in less than 2 hours in an official marathon, he didn''t have to work too hard to train to achieve this in the coming months. After managing to win in the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters and once again winning a gold medal in the marathons, Jake would try once again to improve his race pace. Without the stress of the challenge and having more confidence, Jake managed to run the 43 km at the same pace as the previous day and was much less tired, but he still wouldn''t risk running for more km than that. Jake analyzed his physical condition and saw that he could run a maximum of 45 km at this pace and he would be exhausted if he did, and Jake thought that in the coming months he probably could not run more than 45 km. After all, Jake had 45 points in the resistance statistics and was running very close to the pace to be able to run a marathon in less than 2 hours, so Jake didn''t think it would be easy to increase his resistance to be able to run more kilometers. But he was already satisfied with that so that he could break his current world record smoothly and still continue training to improve even more in the years to come, Jake continued to train with great effort in the next few days and one day Jake received a new call from Kate that he was waiting. "Hi, Jake, I arrived in Miami a few hours ago, I will be staying at a hotel in the next few months and if you want to tomorrow we can go out to lunch as you had invited me." "For sure, I was looking forward to your arrival and if you want I can stop by your hotel to take you to the restaurant." "Okay, tomorrow you will call me when you arrive." Jake was very happy to know that Kate had arrived and even more so because they were going to meet for lunch the other day, Kate actually had a house in Miami, but she would probably stay at the hotel because of her manager who should have come with her and to hide from paparazzi in magazines. So Jake was excited again, and the next day after his training he soon ate a stamina bar so he wouldn''t get tired all day and dressed up for lunch and took the red corvette zr1 car that arrived in Miami. For Los Angeles, he had ordered a blue zr1 corvette, but he asked for a red one to stay in Miami because he knew his mother liked red cars, but it was a beautiful car and it was also discreet and would not attract the attention of others. Jake arrived at the hotel where Kate was and called her to say that she had arrived, Kate had also dressed up for lunch and was wearing high heels and a beautiful blue dress, she was surprised by Jake''s car, but she thought it was beautiful. Even though Jake was afraid of cars in the past with the agility he had now with the help of the system, he became an excellent driver, especially since he did not like to race too much with the car for more safety. Jake and Kate talked about what had happened in the last few months while Jake drove to the restaurant, he was very interested in her stories because it was all different from what happened in the past that he knew. Of course, Jake didn''t really follow the music world at the time and just knew about the songs that were on Billboard and who would win the Grammy, but he knew that everything Kate did was different than what he knew because she hadn''t been one. singer in Jake''s past. When they arrived at the restaurant that Jake had already made a reservation with, they kept talking, Jake had VIP status at several Miami restaurants because he always had a lot of business lunches, so it was easier for him to get a table available to book. Jake told what had happened on the shoot from Australia and told about the martial arts training he had to do and also about the other actors and the friends he made, of course, Jake was careful not to tell Kate about how it would be the film not to spoil her. After all, Jake intended to take Kate to watch The Matrix with him at the cinema, so she could watch the scenes he had participated in, Jake also talked about the NBA draft that Kate had watched and what happened there that was not broadcast by the TV. "I''ve been listening to your songs, Kate, I think they''re all great, do you think you can win the Best New Artist award?" "I don''t know, from what my manager said it is almost certain that I will at least be nominated, but it is difficult to know if I can win because there are many talented singers competing like Andrea Bocelli, Dixie Chicks, Backstreet Boys and Lauryn Hill." Jake agreed that it would be difficult to imagine Kate winning if he were to think about what these great artists she mentioned did in the future of the music he knew, but Jake really liked Kate''s music and thought she would also be one of the biggest names in music in the future. Kate also told Jake that her birthday had just passed and she was now 20 years old, her birthday was in September and Jake didn''t know that before because she hadn''t told him that. They talked about various things and stayed for a few hours in the restaurant before Jake realized how much time had passed and took Kate to her hotel, even though they had known each other for more than 3 years they had talked in person a few times in those years. So Jake decided that he would treat Kate with the respect she deserved and would still meet her a few times in the next few months before asking her to date him, so they really would know each other well before Jake asked her to date him. Jake took Kate back to the hotel and saw that she too was happy with their lunch so Jake can be more relieved, Jake returned home and on the way, he went to a flower shop and chose flowers for them to send to Kate at the hotel. Chapter 456 - Jake Vacations 8 So Jake''s next days were a lot of training with trainer Davis, in which Jake increased his daily training to 45 km which was the maximum he could handle today, even so, he was very happy with the satisfactory training he was having. On those days Jake also invited Kate to go out with him almost every day and as long as he felt that she enjoyed meeting with him, Jake would continue to ask almost every day, and it seemed that Kate enjoyed these meetings as much as he did. Jake took Kate to several restaurants that had different menus and always for lunch, Jake also always sent flowers, chocolates, and stuffed animals as gifts to Kate''s hotel, and it seemed that she liked that too. After a few weeks, Jake started taking Kate to other types of dates like going to the movies, to the theater, to the park to have a picnic, to the beach and to various places that Jake knew and wanted to share with Kate. After several weeks of dating, Jake thought he liked Kate even more and also knew her a lot more than before and so Jake thought he made the right decision to go out on several dates with her before asking her to date with him. Jake''s strategy was that even though he asked Kate to meet him several times, he never asked her to go to dinner with him, and he thought of asking her to go to dinner with him only when he intended to ask her to date him. But before that the day of the Chicago marathon was approaching, Jake trained every day and no longer suffered from running at this intense pace the 45 km, of course, it would not be at this pace that Jake would run the Chicago marathon and therefore missing a week to the Jake marathon returned to his old training pace by running 50 km. Running at his old pace Jake found it much easier and had almost no fatigue for himself running 50 km, but of course Jake knew it was necessary, Jake warned his mother and Kate that he was going to Chicago to run the marathon there and the two understood. This time as he had time Jake went to Chicago two days before the marathon at a hotel he had booked for himself because it was the same hotel he went to compete in the marathon every year and Jake had become a VIP customer at that hotel. Jake also made reservations at this hotel for Coach Davis who went with him from Miami and also for Zack and his former roommates who would come from the university to see Jake and Zack running in the marathon. Jake missed his friends William and Aaron and of course Zack too, Jake invited Zack''s family too, but everyone was busy and said they would go when Zack ran in a marathon closer to where they lived. Zack could already run any marathon and finish, but his goal that year was to run a marathon in less than 3 hours, and since he had already agreed with Jake that he would go again to the Chicago marathon, he didn''t want to risk running in another marathon that year to get tired. But in the next few years, Zack didn''t intend to go back to Chicago anymore and he would just run in cities in North Carolina and force his family to watch his marathons, Jake didn''t think it was that serious because he didn''t even ask his mother to watch his marathons. This time, unlike in recent years, everyone expected Jake to participate in this marathon in Chicago because Jake had done it in recent years and now the NBA season was rarely happening. Jake had just run the Tokyo marathon that year and had won well and everyone expected Jake to win that marathon again and perhaps break the world record, Adidas and Gatorade had sent sponsors to Chicago and so everyone was even more sure that Jake would run in Chicago. Of course, the Chicago marathon organizers already knew that Jake was going to participate, but they wanted to keep it a secret because they knew that Jake didn''t normally announce when he would run any marathon. Jake was running for the first time with Adidas sneakers and Adidas clothes, as Jake was committed to sponsorship he was even wearing an Adidas bandana, this was also the first time he was free to talk about his sponsors. That''s because in his time at university, Jake was forbidden to speak on behalf of the companies that sponsored him because he could only receive sponsorship because the university had specifically allowed this for Jake. With one day left before the Chicago marathon, Zack and the others finally arrived and met Jake at the hotel where they would stay, his friends were impressed with the hotel where they would stay. "Hi my friends, I missed you in the last few months." "Hi Jake, we saw the NBA draft this year, congratulations on being the first pick and still playing for the Los Angeles Lakers." "It''s true, it is said that the Los Angeles Lakers team had already negotiated with the Los Angeles Clippers team to choose Jake in the first pick, this is even more incredible." "Yes, it''s a shame that the NBA season has been postponed and maybe it won''t even happen, I miss watching the games." "It''s true, I miss the games too, I''m so sorry Jake that this happened in his first season in the NBA." "It''s okay, I had more time to do my thing thanks to that, and I believe that we will still have this NBA season, but we will only have games next year if these discussions continue." With Jake saying that his friends started to wonder if Jake had inside information because he was a professional player and they were excited, of course, Jake had inside information, but it was because he knew the future and not because he was a professional player. "But let''s change the subject, Zack, do you think you''re ready for this marathon?" "Yes, I am confident that I will be able to run this marathon in less than three hours, because I did it once in training with Coach Davis before he left for Miami, so I am confident." While Jake was in Australia filming he asked Coach Davis to stay at the university and continue teaching Zack until Jake returned to Miami, as Coach Davis was paid by Jake on a monthly basis and also liked Zack he accepted and helped Zack a lot in the latter months. Coach Davis had even praised Zack saying he had the potential to become a professional marathon runner, of course after watching Jake run a marathon in just over 2 hours, it was difficult for Coach Davis to remain impressed with Zack. After that they continued to talk about things that happened in the last few months, Jake talked about filming in Australia and they were all interested in watching the movie, Jake said he had bought a house in Los Angeles and invited them to see it in the future. Of course, Jake didn''t say about his business in Silicon Valley or about Kate, after all, Jake didn''t want to expose Kate and they hadn''t started dating yet and Jake didn''t want to take any chances or tell his friends. Another subject they talked about was the Tar Heels team, after all, even though Jake and almost all the players had left the team this season, the record of games being lost by the team would still continue next season. Jake said he was confident that the current team would still be able to maintain that record until completing more than 70 games without losing which would make that record even more exciting, the others were not as optimistic as Jake and thought that the Tar Heels team would lose after two or three games. They still talked at night and then everyone went to sleep because Jake and Zack had to run the marathon the next day and so they had to rest well to be prepared for the marathon. The other day in the morning everyone woke up and left the hotel early to go to the place where the marathon would take place, as soon as they arrived the others went to where the crowd was and only Jake and Zack went to where the competitors were. As soon as Jake arrived in the competitors'' area there were athletes who started to recognize him because they expected Jake to participate in this marathon, some said that he would no longer run in marathons after entering the NBA because he already had a very high salary. But most did not believe it because he had already won a gold medal at an Olympics and athletics world and would not give up just because he no longer needed the marathons to make money. And that almost became true, of course, Jake still wanted to run the marathons and didn''t really care about the money, but it was because with NBA games he normally wouldn''t have time to compete in several marathons a year. Maybe Jake wouldn''t even be able to participate in this Chicago marathon any more if the Los Angeles Lakers team coach didn''t allow it, of course, Jake would still run another marathon during the year and would run every Olympics. "Good luck with that marathon, Zack, I trust you will be able to run that marathon in less than three hours." "I also believe, to achieve this I am going to do something I always wanted to do and I think I am capable of that now." "And what is this?" "I will do like everyone else and run in the same group like you in the marathon and thus follow you for more than 15 km and then continue the marathon at my pace and so I will finish in less than 3 hours." "If you really think you can follow my pace for 15 km and still finish the marathon at your pace, I approve of your idea." Chapter 457 - Marathons and Business 1 Jake really trusted that Zack was able to run that marathon in less than 3 hours, and thought until he was able to run in a time of close to 2 hours and 30 minutes, and if Jake was right it meant that Zack could run in the group of elite in the marathon and still finish the marathon without getting exhausted. Zack had really asked Coach Davis this before, the biggest difficulty for Zack and other athletes in the marathon was keeping a steady running pace so they wouldn''t get too tired, and that was the biggest benefit of running in Jake''s group who was a master of running at the right pace, even if Jake''s pace was very fast. And after running 15 km in Jake''s group he just had to run at a slower pace than normal and continue as soon as Zack could finish the marathon before 3 hours, and if in the final part of the marathon he still had breath I could try to get an even better time. After a while, the 1998 Chicago marathon finally started and Jake and Zack were going to run for the first time together and from the beginning, a large group of athletes stayed close to Jake because they thought the same way as Zack. "Welcome to everyone who came to follow the 1998 Chicago marathon, and just as everyone expected one of the biggest champions of that marathon to come back this year to try to win again." "Okay, Jake Smith is the current record holder for victories in this Chicago marathon having won three times and the most amazing thing is that it was three years in a row, so naturally Jake is the favorite to win this marathon for the fourth time in a row and who knows maybe breaking his own world record again." "We hope that happens, let''s see if Jake continues to run at a high level even after becoming an NBA player." Jake was surprised at the start of the marathon because there were never so many athletes running in the same group as him during that marathon, many were Americans, but some were from other countries and wanted to run with Jake so that they would keep a good running pace. Everyone knew the rules for running in Jake''s group that was created by other athletes and so the other athletes took turns to lead the group while everyone followed Jake''s pace and so Jake and most of them didn''t have to face the wind resistance. Jake also felt that in this marathon as well as in training his clothes were more comfortable and his shoes were more comfortable, so he found it easier to maintain his running pace, especially after training normally at a pace of 3 seconds less for km. Jake stopped at the fuel points and always took a drink to hydrate himself, with Gatorade he felt it was better than before, Jake didn''t necessarily need to stop at all the fuel points, but he wanted to do that because of the other athletes who were running with him. And Jake trained every day to do this and did not lose his race pace making these detours, Jake also knew the course well and that was why it was easier for him and that is why Jake trusted this marathon to break his world record with ease. After 10 km of the marathon the athletes of the group of Jake still did not feel very tired even running at such an intense pace, not even Zack felt tired and everyone felt confident knowing that they were running correctly with Jake. Jake hoped for this because, in addition to Zack, all the other athletes in his group were elite and wanted to finish this marathon in the top 50 of the marathon, so in addition to Zack, he expected everyone to accompany him up to 25 km at least. Jake continued running with his group and so he passed the 15 km and looked to see how Zack was doing, Zack still looked good and knew he was going to endure more, but thinking about his goal for the marathon he warned Zack that they had reached us 15 km. Zack was a little shocked because he never ran 15 km in such a short time and he decided not to be greedy even though he was not tired and was the first to leave Jake''s elite group and started to slow down his running pace. Zack knew that that 15 km had changed all the running pace that he normally had to do, after all, he normally ran half the marathon in 1 hour and 30 minutes and in the final part of the marathon he increased the pace a little more to try to run in less than 3 hours. But now Zack had passed the 15 km and not even 44 minutes had passed, luckily he had combined a running pace with trainer Davis and soon he slowed his running pace, Zack mainly intended to run in less than 3 hours in that marathon and not to have the best time possible. Meanwhile, Jake''s elite group went through 25 km and the other athletes in Jake''s group started to leave the group and slow down the race, Jake was still calm and in this marathon, he didn''t care who would be the second and only with his race. "Jake Smith''s elite group continues to lead the race, even though Jake is never leading the group we can say that he was the first in this whole marathon and he continues running smoothly after 25 km while several athletes left his group and the others are very tired." "After this 25 km, we can see that Jake continues to run very well in this marathon and still has the same physical conditioning as the other marathons and he can certainly win this marathon if we have no other surprises." "I don''t think we will, I think some of the athletes who remain in Jake''s group want to do like the American athletes who accompanied Jake until he slowed down his running pace and so they were able to finish second and third in that marathon." Jake didn''t think about it, but if he knew he would say that if the other athletes in his group intend to do that they will have two results in the marathon, or they will be able to finish the marathon with the best time in their career, or they will not be able to finish the marathon. That''s because Jake would run at a different pace than the other marathons because he intended to break his world record, so he asked Zack not to stay with him for many km or else he could be harmed. Jake reached 35 km and continued running at the same pace as he had done a few times in other marathons, of the 6 athletes who continued to follow him after 30 km, 4 had already given up and only 2 followed because they knew Jake would slow down his. But those two who were accompanying him had never even been in the top 10 in other marathons and were thus suffering to accompany Jake, who had not yet slowed down the running pace. With 37 km of running Jake slowed down his running pace and the other athletes relaxed but realized that they might not be able to finish the marathon because they were too tired and had worked too hard. "In that marathon, Jake kept his pace for 37 km and just started to slow down, the athletes who were running with him took it well, but now they look very tired and will have to run much more slowly to try to recover their energy to finishing this marathon." "The athletes who left Jake''s group after the 30 km marathon are far behind, but they have the energy to run at a good pace until the end of the marathon and these two athletes will pass." "That''s right, Jake has a very intense running pace that only he can handle and in this marathon, Jake has a great time to be able to break the world record, so these athletes should not have followed him for 37 km." "Who knows, one day we will see Jake run an entire marathon at this incredible pace that he does in most of the marathon, so it will be a hard world record to break, we hope that Jake does not slow down his running pace and break the world record in that marathon." At the time that Jake was running, commentators would normally celebrate that the athlete would break the world record, but they knew that Jake had a habit of slowing down his running pace a lot in the final km of the marathon and so they didn''t know what Jake intended. While Jake was in the final part of the marathon Zack had still just passed the 30 km, unlike last time he passed the distance that was a barrier for normal athletes with ease, Zack felt just a little tired and still hoped to finish this marathon before 3 hours. Even though he was doing well in that marathon, Zack still did not know if he could finish the marathon before 3 hours because he ran the initial 15 km at the same pace as Jake and then had to change his normal running pace so as not to get too tired. Zack spent half the marathon in a much shorter time than 1 hour and 30 minutes as he had calculated at the beginning of the marathon when he approached the end of the marathon if he did not feel tired he would increase his running pace to finish in the best possible time. But as Zack didn''t have the system to help him as Jake did he didn''t know if running at the pace he was going to be able to finish this marathon before 3 am as it was his goal. Meanwhile, Jake had already passed the 41 km marathon and was just over 1 km to finish the Chicago marathon that year, at that point, everyone could see that Jake was still running at a fast pace and his time was much lower than his old world record. So unless Jake got hurt or slowed down his running pace until he was almost walking he would break his world record in that marathon. Chapter 458 - Marathons and Business 2 The commentators as well as all the fans of the marathon and Jake realized this and started to cheer up, the fans hoped to cheer up Jake for him to keep running at this pace and thus break his world record again in this Chicago marathon. "We are reaching the last km of this marathon and Jake Smith continues to run at a very fast pace, this way he will break his world record again and he will decrease his previous time by many seconds." "It is true, it seems that this is what Jake really intends and he does not look very tired even after running 41 km, it seems that the sports media was wrong and Jake continued to train a lot for the marathons and that is why he is going to break the world record today." "Yes, he is coming in the last few meters of this Chicago marathon and can already see the track that is at the finish line, Jake Smith is still fast and we cannot even see where the second place is." "And so Jake Smith finishes the 1998 Chicago marathon in the first place and breaks the world record that was his own made in Berlin and with an incredible time, Jake finished that marathon in 2 hours, 4 minutes and 50 seconds." "It''s really incredible, he broke his last world record for a long time, his last world record was 2 hours, 5 minutes and 55 seconds and he cut that time by more than 1 minute in that marathon and he doesn''t even look very tired." Jake was very happy to break his world record again, he ran in such a fast time because as far as he knew his current record could only be broken in 2007, by then Jake would have been able to train to run in less than 2 hours and will have improved his current world record again several times. Jake had to do this because after starting games in the NBA he didn''t know when he could run another marathon, he would definitely run in the Olympics, but he couldn''t run that fast because he had to run several sports in the Olympics. Jake went to do a test for the organizers to prove that he was not using drugs to break that world record and then he went to celebrate and received his award for the track record, the world record and the victory. Jake received 175 thousand dollars for the victory and was happy to take another medal and trophy to his house that was already full, Jake greeted one of the representatives of Adidas who was in the marathon and took a photo with him, after all, Jake was using several products from Adidas when he won that marathon. Jake also received a Gatorade from the Gatorade representative and took a photo with him too, both were very pleased with Jake breaking that world record and having such a good time, it was a good start for their sponsorship. Just like in the last year Jake warned the organizers that he would be near the finish line waiting for a friend and they organized a chair and table for Jake who was comfortable sitting there. Certainly, Jake was an athlete different from the others and did things that other athletes didn''t and for that reason, he was a star in the marathon world and brought a lot of visibility, the stations that were broadcasting the marathon still didn''t know, but many Los Angeles fans Lakers were watching this marathon. Los Angeles Lakers fans naturally researched Jake who would play on their team and was first in the draft this year, so they knew that Jake was also someone running in the marathons and had already won a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics and in an athletics world. They also knew that Jake had only missed one marathon since he started running and won all others even though he ran in more than 10 major marathons around the world, so as the NBA season was suspended some fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team decided to watch that Chicago marathon that Jake would run to see him win. And that''s exactly what happened and Jake even broke the world record in that marathon, some of those fans might have started watching other marathons after watching this one and everyone was happy that Jake had won. After a few minutes waiting for Jake to finally see Zack and he was close to finishing the Chicago marathon, Jake could see that Zack was trying his best after seeing that the marathon was over. Seeing this, Jake was very happy because he was less than 200 meters away and the marathon time was many minutes below 3 hours, which meant that Zack had broken his personal record and would be able to finish this marathon with a time well below 3 hours that it was what he wanted. Zack ended the marathon with a time of 2 hours, 46 minutes and 12 seconds and broke his personal record and managed to run in time below 3 hours and actually finished just under the first 100 of that marathon. This was incredible for the second marathon just that Zack participated and showed that he had the potential to be an elite athlete and maybe one day become a professional who could win a marathon. Jake went to where Zack was and celebrated with the friend who had managed to break a personal record of him, Zack was very happy and did not know that Jake had broken his world record in that marathon. "Congratulations Zack, you managed to break your personal record and finished this marathon in a lot less than 3 hours, you really have a talent for marathons." "Thanks, Jake, I''m really happy, I feel like it was worth all the training I did in over 2 years, I want to continue training after that and run more marathons." "Thanks a lot, Jake, it was you who showed me how fun it could be to run marathons and I was healthier and happier because of that, and it was because I ran that 15 km with you that I managed to finish this marathon in less than 3 hours." After Zack finished the marathon Jake said goodbye to the marathon organizers and left to return to the hotel, his friends who were watching the marathon came to celebrate with Zack and Jake. As soon as Zack learned that Jake had broken the marathon world record again and was a little embarrassed, he said congratulations to Jake and his other friends laughed, Jake wanted to take everyone to a restaurant, but Zack was still very tired after that marathon. So everyone went back to the hotel as they had agreed and the next day they would go to the restaurant, after all, Zack would stay in Chicago for two days to recover from the marathon and Jake would have to return the next day. After a few hours that everyone had arrived at the hotel and even Zack had rested some more, the hotel called Jake''s room saying that someone was looking for him in the hotel lobby. Jake already imagined who he was and asked them to wait a few minutes, he had already showered as soon as he arrived at the hotel and was wearing comfortable clothes and had to change clothes to talk to the person he was thinking about. But Jake didn''t put on his social clothes like he always wore and put on an Adidas shirt and pants and an Adidas sneaker before coming down with a bottle of Gatorade, Jake always liked to show off his sponsor''s products and he couldn''t before because the university wouldn''t let it. So Jake went down to the hotel lobby and just as he expected whoever wanted to talk to him was Chloe who was a reporter for WBBM-TV, Chloe was surprised because she didn''t think Jake came to talk to her in an Adidas outfit, but how she came to ask to interview he had no way of asking Jake to change his clothes. "Hi Jake, sorry to come like this without telling you before, but I don''t know your phone number and I just knew the hotel where you normally stayed." "Chloe, it''s good to see you again, it''s okay for you to show up here at the hotel to call me, what did you want to talk to me about?" "I wanted to do an interview with you, after all, you just broke the world record again in that marathon, and a lot of fans of the marathons and the sports media have some questions that you could answer." "Okay, I''m going to do this interview with you, Chloe, but watch out for the questions or I won''t answer." Chloe hoped that Jake would actually accept the interview, after all, he was never afraid to speak the truth, but what Chloe could not imagine was that Jake expected her to come to do this interview because he wanted to say a few things about the marathons. So the hotel arranged a separate place for them to talk, even though Chloe saw that Jake was wearing Adidas clothes, she was a reporter for the broadcast station and couldn''t just write what Jake was saying. So the hotel made the press room available for them, and the reporting team came in to organize the filming, normally that couldn''t happen, but Jake was an important customer of the hotel and he was also important to the broadcaster that sent the reporting team. "First, Jake, first of all, I would like to congratulate you on winning once again in the Chicago marathon and still managing to break the world record." "Thanks, Chloe, my first marathon was in Chicago and I have a very special affection for this marathon and this city and I am very happy to have won 4 times here." "That was my next question, Jake, this was your fourth victory in the Chicago marathon and so you became the athlete who won this marathon the most and also the one who won 4 times in a row and I think it will be difficult for someone to break this remember, what do you feel about it." "I feel very happy, I never expected anything like this to happen when I decided to run my first marathon here in Chicago when I was 16 years old, it is a great honor for me to have achieved this." Chapter 459 - Marathons and Business 3 Jake was being sincere saying he was very happy and proud to have won 4 marathons in Chicago, he couldn''t say that, but in his past life as Jake was very fond of marathons he watched the Chicago marathon many times and always thought about what it would be like winning. Now he had won 4 times and if he could he wanted to win that marathon more times, but he didn''t know if the Los Angeles Lakers team coach would allow Jake to do this every year just before the season started. So Jake wanted to break his world record in that marathon that he liked so much because in the future he might have to run other marathons when the Los Angeles Lakers team was out of the game season. Chloe looked like she realized what Jake was thinking and soon decided what the next question would be, the problem that Jake had was what everyone in the sports media also thought that Jake could no longer run in marathons. "Jake, many in the sports media comment that you are going to stop running in the marathons now that you have joined the NBA and become a professional player, is this really going to happen?" "I heard it a lot in the last few days, and I have to say that this is really something complicated, from what I heard they said that I would not play anymore because I am rich now because I entered the NBA and I have to say that this is a lie." "But I think in the next few years I''m going to compete in fewer marathons, just like I''ve been in the past few years, and that has to do with the fact that I entered the NBA, but the reason is because of the long season of NBA games." "I have a duty to be in every game of the Los Angeles Lakers team in the NBA for the next few seasons, and even before the seasons start like the next Chicago marathons I may not be able to participate because of that." "I do intend to continue participating in all the Olympics and I am training to run in the 10,000 meters competition and in the 5000 meters competition in the next Olympics." "Also, I''m going to look for another marathon I can start running every year that''s out of the NBA game season, and I''ll continue to love the marathons and push myself, so I tried so hard to break my own world record today here in Chicago, because it may take time for that to happen again." Chloe didn''t expect Jake to answer her question so completely, after that there would be no more rumors as to why Jake might not be in the next few seasons and the sports media would know that was true. In addition, this news that Jake would compete in the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters modalities was very shocking in the world of athletics, historically athletes who ran well in the marathons also had good results in the 10,000 meters modality. And if Jake said he would do that since he was the best athlete in the marathons and even had a world record, it meant that he was confident that he could win the competitions in the 10,000 meters and the 5,000 meters, otherwise, he wouldn''t risk it just to be ashamed. "It''s a shame that you don''t think about running here in the Chicago marathon anymore because of the NBA game season, but do you already know which marathon you plan to run annually if you''re not going to run in the Chicago marathon?" "I haven''t thought about it yet, but in November of this year I will run the Athens marathon, it is an interesting challenge for me and I will try to win this marathon which is one of the most difficult in the world." "Thanks for the interview, Jake, and good luck with the upcoming marathons and your NBA career." "Thank you, Chloe." Chloe had to close because she didn''t get much time from her station to do this interview and was not prepared for the direction the interview took, she hadn''t prepared questions because she didn''t know that Jake would reveal that she would participate in the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters. Still, she was satisfied with this interview with Jake which could be her last interview with him if Jake no longer planned to run other Chicago marathons, yet she hoped that Jake would continue to be successful. The other day Jake had lunch with his friends and they talked about various things that could happen in the future and kept saying that they wanted to keep in touch and remain friends even after the end of the university. After that, Jake had to go back to Miami and Aaron had to go back to university because of the football team, and just the other day that Zack and the others would go back to university. After Jake returned to Miami things continued as they were before, Jake still went out with Kate several times during the week and continued with his training, and the rest of the day Jake stayed with his mother after she returned from the restaurant. After Jake recovered from the Chicago marathon he was ready to start training him for the 5,000 meters and improve his time in the 10,000 meters training, and Jake would continue training for the marathons. In less than 1 month Jake would have to go to Greece to run the Athens marathon, but until then Jake wouldn''t just focus on training for the marathons because after seeing the performance he had in Chicago Coach Davis and himself they didn''t think it was necessary. Even more because Jake didn''t intend to break any records and just wanted to win this marathon, even if it was more difficult than the others Jake was confident that he could slow down his running pace and with his strength and endurance statistics a marathon more difficult it would not disturb him. Even more, because Jake was used to running 50 km at a very fast pace, so if he ran at a normal pace to win the Athens marathon, Jake could run up to more than 60 km if it was a normal marathon. Coach Davis arrived at the track behind Jake''s house to start training, he couldn''t deny that he was excited to start training for the 10,000 meters with Jake because he was prepared to be surprised after testing Jake''s limits. Before Jake stopped his training for the 10,000 meters because of the Tokyo marathon earlier this year, Jake was able to do the 10,000 meters in 27 minutes and 30 seconds, at a pace of 2 minutes and 45 seconds per km. With that time Jake could have taken fourth place at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, so it was already an amazing race time that showed why trainer Davis and Jake were so confident of winning a gold medal in the 10,000 meters. Running at this pace Jake could run 3 times a day in his training, thinking about it and as Jake could have different training, trainer Davis wanted to test Jake''s limits and asked him to run at a pace of 2 minutes and 40 seconds per km. If Jake could run at this pace he could run the 10,000 meters in 26 minutes and 40 seconds, if Jake could run at this pace he could win the next Olympics for sure because this was a faster time than the current Olympic record and it would be a record Olympic who would never be broken by what Jake remembered. The 10,000-meter world record that Jake remembered before going back in time was the world record that Kenenisa Bekele managed to make in 2005 with 26 minutes and 17 seconds, and that record was no longer broken. So the time Coach Davis wanted Jake to achieve was close to the current world record, but Jake was not afraid of that if he was to run at that pace just once a day, Jake thought he was capable. The biggest difference of the 10,000 meters for the marathon was that the athlete had to have a lot of resistance and agility to achieve this, and in all those years in basketball and marathons the system had given Jake a lot more statistics of agility and resistance than all 10,000-meter athletes had. So even if Jake hadn''t tried for several years to train in the 10,000 meters he could still start running at a very high level because of his years of training in basketball and marathons. It was only because of the help of the system that Jake had the courage to try to win a gold medal in various sports in athletics, even so, Jake was prepared to train in the coming years to have a chance to win in the next Olympics. Jake didn''t know that, but his statement in the report with Chloe that he would try to participate in the 10,000-meter sport had had a lot more impact, just as Chloe thought the others also thought that Jake would only risk trying another sport if he thought he had many chances to win. And this was very important for the sports media and even for the American athletics association, after all, the United States did not win many medals in the 10,000 meters modalities and in the marathons in the last Olympics. And Jake, who was very young, suddenly appeared bringing a gold medal to the United States at the last Olympics, and now he was saying that he could also compete in the 10,000 meters sport. If Jake also won in the 10,000 meters at the next Olympics he could bring 2 more gold medals to the United States, that was something that the Olympic committee wanted very much and was good for the sport in general. The only thing that wasn''t that good was that Jake was also a great professional basketball player who was in the NBA if he were just a young athlete they would have a much easier time making sure he had the support to focus only on athletics. Chapter 460 - Marathons and Business 4 But in fact, those who were most happy with this announcement by Jake were his sponsors, mainly Adidas and Gatorade, after all, they were two companies very related to sports and athletes and that was a pleasant surprise for them. Of course, these companies would never pay such a huge sponsorship contract to Jake if he was just a marathon athlete and 10,000 meters, but since they already had a contract with Jake because of the NBA, that was just a bonus for him. On the first day of training just as Jake did with the marathon, Coach Davis asked him to run at the pace Jake did before 2 minutes and 45 seconds per km to see how he was doing at that pace. Jake still remembered trainer Davis''s tips on positioning and pace that was different from when he ran in the marathons, just as expected. Jake managed to run at that time easily and was not too tired. This was normal if it was thought that Jake used to do the 10,000 meters 3 times a day at this pace for training, thinking about it Coach Davis talked to Jake who also agreed with this and so after resting for 1 hour, he ran the 10,000 meters again and then a third time. This was the training that Jake did before going to Tokyo and then stop with normal training, the difference was that this time Jake did not need to eat a stamina bar to run the third time and was not yet exhausted. This showed how Jake had improved his fitness a lot after gaining more stats in resistance, strength, and agility after that first day of training Jake was much more confident to run the 10,000 meters at the pace that Coach Davis had spoken. The other day Jake was prepared to run at a pace of 2 minutes and 40 seconds, he had to get it at least once so they could know what his limit was if Jake''s limit was not that he could try to run even more another day. Jake started training by running at a pace of 2 minutes 40 seconds per km, it was a faster pace than he had tried the day before and it was 11 seconds faster than his pace to run the entire marathon. As expected Jake managed to run 5 km with ease and still did not feel tired, after all, Jake had good resistance and managed to keep his body in a constant effort for a long time. Jake kept running and so he passed the 7 km and was still not very tired, contrary to what they thought Jake was maintaining this pace with ease, it seemed that they had underestimated the resistance and agility that Jake had. After a few minutes, Jake went through the 10,000 meters and was much more tired than the day before, but he did not feel that he had tried his best in those 10,000 meters and was not as tired as when he finished the marathon. Coach Davis also realized that Jake didn''t try as hard as they thought, so he asked if Jake wanted to run again after 1 hour of rest and Jake accepted, he wanted to see if this could be a good time for training. If after 1 hour Jake managed to run the 10,000 meters again at this pace it was certain that he would be able to run at that pace in the Olympics and win the Olympics for sure, and that was a good time for Jake to run in the coming years. Of course, they still wanted to know what the limits of Jake were in the 10,000 meters after all this could help to know what the initial training time for the 5,000 meters could be. Jake relaxed and rested 1 hour just as they had thought and after doing the warm-up exercises he started running again, Jake had a different body from the others so in that 1 hour he managed to recover a lot. Of course, that was because he hadn''t been exhausted and he hadn''t had any muscle in his 10,000 meters the first time, otherwise, he wouldn''t have recovered so quickly, but that meant he might have been able to run the 10,000 meters at this pace again. Jake managed to run the 5 km again, but this time he was much more tired than the first time he tried and he started to feel his muscles ache because of the effort that he expected the first time he ran the 10,000 meters. After Jake passed the 7 km he felt a lot more tiredness and pain in his muscles, it looked different than when he ran the marathon at the fastest pace he could, but Jake knew he could run the 10,000 meters without difficulty the way he was. Just as Jake thought he managed to run the 10,000 meters, but he was much more exhausted than he thought he would be and with a lot of pain in his muscles, it was different than when he tried too hard to run the marathon at his current pace. Jake decided not to eat a stamina bar even though he knew he would be in pain all day because Jake knew that this was the best for his training and also that the next day he would recover. "Okay Jake, I know you must be feeling very tired right now, but if you managed to run the 10 meters at this pace twice in one day I think this could be a good training time for you." "And it also means that you can with great chances win the next Olympics in the 10,000 meters modality running at this pace, after all, the time you achieved in the 10,000 meters is much better than the current Olympic record." This made Jake very excited because being able to run in that very fast time meant that he could also be able to run the 5,000 meters in a great time, after all before Jake went back in time in 2019 who had the Olympic and world records in the 10,000 meters and us 5,000 meters was Kenenisa Bekele. As Kenenisa Bekele managed to do this, Jake thought he could also do it because he had the help of the system naturally, this gave much more confidence to Jake who had the dream of winning several gold medals in the Olympics. Of course, Jake knew that Kenenisa Bekele was the greatest long-distance athlete in history and Kenenisa Bekele''s best time in one of the marathons he won was slightly longer than the time Jake currently had in his training. And currently, Kenenisa Bekele was a little younger than Jake and in another 3 years he would start running in various athletics modalities, so Jake wanted to win in this next marathon because in the next he would have a lot of competition in these two modalities. "As you managed to run at this pace twice today, we will try tomorrow with a pace of 2 minutes and 38 seconds which I think is your current limit, if you do that you will have the time to break the current world record." "If this is really your limit, we will train at a pace of 2 minutes and 40 seconds twice a day so that you can soon exceed your current limit." Jake agreed with what Coach Davis was saying, for sure if he knew he could run in time below the current world record he would have a lot more confidence in winning the Olympics in 2000. Jake came home to rest, he would not go out with Kate and so he risked not eating the stamina bar and so resting all day at home, Jake''s focus now was to adjust his training for the next Olympics. After he was able to guarantee that he would win the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters he could train in peace, at least before the start of the NBA season when Jake thought he probably could no longer train for the races. Jake would have to use his vacations wisely to do the training and so he would be prepared to win in the next Olympics that was in less than 2 years, Kate and Eva who knew how Jake was training and have already seen how tired he was after all the effort they felt even more admiration for him. Especially his mother, who knew that Jake already had money to spend his whole life well and had his career as an NBA player, even so, Jake continued training for the marathons until he was exhausted. Even though Kate didn''t know that Jake was that rich, she knew that Jake was in the NBA and had great sponsors and so he certainly made a few million dollars a year, so she also admired Jake who worked so hard even when he could rest. The truth was that Jake had a mentality that as he had a disability in his legs in the past life that prevented him from walking, Jake thought he had rested too much when he could neither walk nor run and this second chance was for him make his dreams come true with a lot of effort. The other day Coach Davis arrived at the track that was at Jake''s house and saw that he was already doing the warm-up exercises, Jake was fully rested as he expected and was ready to run again today. Jake knew that he would suffer even more by running 2 seconds faster per km, after all in this 10,000 meters mode with those 2 seconds per km he would take 20 seconds out of the time he did the day before, which was a lot in this mode. Jake started running and Coach Davis was following, he found it amazing how fast Jake adapted to changes in pace in training, many athletes took several days to run constantly when changing pace. But Jake adapted quickly as if he were a machine, which of course was something that coaches thought was great because Jake saved a lot of training time to see if he could run at a faster pace. Chapter 461 - Marathons and Business 5 Jake was able to do this with the help of the system that showed him the distance covered in the run, the pace per minute he ran and the race time too, but after a few years Jake''s body also adapted to the system and he didn''t make more mistakes than he did when he started running. Now Jake just used the system to make sure his running pace wasn''t wrong because his body knew how to change the pace for a few seconds faster or slower, this was also a talent that Jake had that was greatly enhanced thanks to the system. Jake ran the first 2 km and realized that he did not try as hard as he thought in this training, it was almost the same as he felt when he ran the second time the day before, this meant that Jake would achieve more would also suffer a little. Of course, as his muscles were rested he would not feel as much pain as the day before that he had to run twice, just as Jake thought after passing the 5 km he felt a little tired as he felt when running for the second time in Last day. But his muscles were not so sore and he just felt that he was trying too hard, so Jake kept running and at 7 km he already felt that he was very tired and he had to control his breathing. Jake also felt stronger pain in his muscles and even though he knew he could easily run the 10,000 meters he knew that this should really be his limit, just as Jake hoped he completed the 10,000 meters. But he felt pain in his legs and felt very tired, it was not compared to what he felt after running the second time the day before, but Jake knew that he could not run at an even faster pace without risking suffering one lesion. Of course, Coach Davis had also realized that this must be the limit Jake could reach, the 10,000 meters runs were different from marathons, in the marathon if Jake was on the limit he could clearly see why Jake would finish the marathon exhausted and with muscle pain. But in the 10,000 meters, it could often seem that the athlete could try to run even faster and because of that, he ended up teaching himself seriously, so it was important to have an experienced trainer nearby to tell what the limit was. "Okay, Jake, you put in a lot of effort and now we can know what your current limit is, with this pace that you run for 2 minutes and 38 seconds per km, you could be able to run the 10,000 meters in 26 minutes and 20 seconds." "With that you can break the current world record at 10,000 meters, if you run at your previous pace in the next Olympics we can guarantee a gold medal and you can train at the pace of 2 minutes and 40 seconds per km." "When you feel more comfortable running at a pace of 2 minutes and 38 seconds we can try to break the world record, but as you will not be able to train much until the next Olympics I suggest you run at this pace of 2 minutes and 40 seconds per km." Jake agreed with Coach Davis'' analysis and intended to run at a pace of 2 minutes and 40 seconds per km, after all for the 10,000 meters and for the 5,000 meters Jake had a different mentality and just wanted to win the gold medals at the Olympics and don''t break any records. Who knows in the future when Jake had more resistance and agility statistics Jake might risk improving his time even more and breaking his world record, but that was not a priority for the 2000 Olympics. After Jake defined his training for the marathons and for the 10,000 meters, he just needed to define his training for the 5,000 meters and after that Jake could just continue training for the next years until the Olympics. The only problem they had was that Jake still didn''t know if he would be able to get enough time to stand a chance of winning the 5,000 meters in the next Olympics. Theoretically Jake knew this was possible because Kenenisa Bekele got it and Jake had the system to help him get it too, but Jake knew by seeing the best NBA players that some athletes were able to overcome what the system could do. Of course, when Jake got even more stats on strength, agility, and resistance, it would be impossible for him to find someone he couldn''t overcome, but that was because he would become a superhuman when he got over 60 stats. Jake knew for example that athletes like Michael Jordan in basketball, Michael Phelps in swimming, and Usain Bolt in athletics in the 100m and 200m modalities were people that Jake knew he needed more than 60 statistic points to achieve with just the help of the system. Of course, if Jake trained as hard for it as he did in basketball, Jake could outperform these athletes even without having the 60 stats points, but it showed how incredible these athletes were and that only the system couldn''t help him achieve everything he wanted to without much effort. After a lot of training later that day Jake still went out to spend the rest of the day with Kate, after doing several things in the first few days, they now spent the entire afternoon together going to the restaurant and going to the park and doing various things together. Jake heard that Kate''s manager wanted her to come back to do the shows, but Kate said she wanted to at least stay in Miami until the beginning of 1999 and naturally her manager knew why Kate wanted it. But thinking about how much work Kate had in the last few years and how much work she would still have in the coming years, her manager decided to let Kate rest for a few months, mainly because she knew that Jake would also be very busy in the coming years when the NBA seasons returned to the normal. Jake was very happy with this and it had already been decided that he would ask Kate to date him after the Athens marathon that he had to participate in, that was because after that Jake would have nothing else to do until the end of the year and could leave often with Kate. Of course, even though Jake was going out with Kate a lot, he was still very polite and respectful of her, and he didn''t forget his mother and came home every day to prepare dinner before Eva got home after returning from the restaurant. The other day Jake came back excited to do his training for the Olympics, Coach Davis arrived and soon spoke to Jake about what training would be like on the first day and Coach Davis was very excited after Jake''s training the day before. After all, the time that Jake got the day before for the 10,000 meters with the pace of 2 minutes and 38 seconds per km, was the pace necessary for Jake to start his training for the 5,000 meters, that meant that Jake would run at the 5,000 meters by 10,000 meters. Running at a pace of 2 minutes and 38 seconds per km Jake could make a time of 13 minutes and 10 seconds in the 5,000 meters after all the current Olympic record was 13 minutes and 5 seconds, so Jake almost achieved the Olympic record of 5,000 meters running in the 10,000 meters. So on that first day, they would not try the initial time that Coach Davis had thought, they would try with a time of 2 minutes and 36 seconds per km, with this pace Jake could break the current Olympic record and Coach Davis thought that this would be easy for Jake. Knowing the pace he had to run Jake did his warm-up exercises and started running, Jake was very excited for this 5,000 meters training, after all, from what he had seen the previous day, the 5,000 meters were easy for him. Jake started his running training and easily passed the 3 km, he just felt a little pain in his muscles, but he couldn''t feel tired from that short distance he had run. Jake continued running and soon finished the 5,000 meters in 13 minutes, he was very tired and with pain in his muscles, Jake thought it would be much easier as he had to run half as much as he did the day before and with a little time smaller. But it looked like it was more difficult than Jake thought, Coach Davis was already expecting it and was excited because it looked like Jake could still improve more in this training, if Jake could improve even more it meant he could easily break the Olympic record at the Olympics 2000. Jake also realized this and was excited to know that he could improve his running time even more, especially since Jake knew that this training was only for the 2000 Olympics and that after that it was almost certain that Jake could improve his time at all the modalities. "You did very well, Jake, you can see how it is not necessarily easier and less tiring to run a shorter distance at a faster pace, you will be able to run like that at 5,000 meters because you can run at 10,000 meters in a very long time fast." "For 1500 meter races you will need more strength and agility than resistance, so as you are a great runner in long-distance races I would not recommend that you try this, not to mention that the shorter the distance the more athletes have interest in competing in the modalities." "The most popular and disputed athletics modalities are 100 meters and 200 meters, after that they are 400 meters and so on, so I suggest that you focus on these three modalities than trying to train to win in other modalities." Chapter 462 - Marathons and Business 6 Coach Davis had realized that Jake seemed to have an impossible dream of running in various sports at the Olympics to win several gold medals, and Coach Davis knew that Jake was talented, but that was impossible to achieve. Even though the shorter distance runs did not require so much resistance, they did require a lot of muscle effort, and also a lot of agility and strength, not to mention that if Jake wants to participate in various modalities he will not have time to rest. Jake was also realizing that he had been very innocent thinking that he could one day win all athletics in track racing, he had never tried to run 100 meters and 200 meters and thought it would be easy because it was a short distance. But now Jake realized that it would be impossible to do that, not to mention that like Coach Davis, the best athletes in the world want to win 100 meters and 200 meters, maybe when he had more than 60 points in all physical statistics he could take it to compete in all modalities. Even so, if it was possible, Jake still wanted to try the 1500 meters and 800 meters, so that he could at least fulfill part of his dream and win 5 gold medals in just one Olympics if he did that Jake would be satisfied. "I saw that you still had the ability to run at this pace, so tomorrow we will increase your training intensity and you will run at a pace of 2 minutes and 34 seconds per km." "I think you can run at that pace and so you can guarantee that you can reach the Olympic record, and I also think that this is currently your maximum limit, after the next Olympics we can train to try to break the world record in this sport too." Jake agreed with Coach Davis that maybe that was his current limit, after all, he was feeling a lot of pain in his leg and was very tired after running the 5,000 meters for the first time, so Jake didn''t think he could take much more. What made Jake happy was that after just over an hour he had almost completely recovered from running the 5,000 meters, that''s where Jake''s strong resistance helped a lot if he further improved his agility and strength, Jake thought that these 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters modalities would not be so difficult anymore. Now it was a few weeks before the Athens marathon and Jake had to finish the 5,000 meters training the next day because after that he would start changing the training, he would run the 45 km one day, the other 10 thousand meters twice and on another day run the 5,000 meters 2 times too. And Jake planned to continue this training until the NBA games returned and so he would know that he would have to save his resistance for NBA games that were 48 minutes long and sometimes happened 3 times in a week. Jake kept training every day in his imagination training against much better opponents than he did, in these training sessions Jake was testing different types of ways he could play in a game. In some training sessions, he only made three-point shots and made many assists, in other training he hardly tried three-point shots and only tried mid-range shots and layups in addition to the assists. The hardest thing was when he tried to just do layups and dunks, even with his superior agility, the opponents managed to do the steal and block in several moves, but in all his training there had to be a lot of assists that was much easier playing with quality teammates. Jake knew that he would shine on the Los Angeles Lakers team as a PG having teammates like Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal, he could make several assists and his teammates would definitely score. Not to mention when Jake did three-point shooting training at night on the basketball court that was at his house, Jake did this training almost every day because that was how he got the stamina bars and it was also good for that he could relax. The other day it was Jake''s day to know if he could train at the pace that Coach Davis suggested for him, Coach Davis arrived early because he was also excited about it, a few years after becoming Jake''s coach he could feel that he was finally managing to teach Jake some things. He taught Jake several techniques to run correctly and helped him with various training to increase resistance, of course, Coach Davis thought he had helped Jake improve his resistance because he didn''t know Jake had the system. After doing the warm-up exercises Jake started running, he was excited because if he could run at this pace he could say he was ready for the next Olympics, then he could just train normally and have more confidence that he could win. After running for 3 km Jake could feel that he was trying too hard and he could feel the muscles in his legs hurting, Jake was feeling tired, but he could still keep running because he had high resistance. Just as they expected Jake managed to run the 5,000 meters at a pace of 2 minutes and 34 seconds per km, so Jake ran the 5,000 meters in 12 minutes and 50 seconds, it was a time still above the world record, but it was good to enough to win the Olympics. Jake was exhausted after this training and feeling a lot of pain in his leg muscles, but now Jake was prepared to win 3 different sports at the next Sydney Olympics in 2000. Just as Jake, Coach Davis was impressed and thought what was happening was unbelievable, Jake was running at 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters in a time that could be enough for Jake to break the Olympic record. And he also ran the marathon at a time when he could break his own world record, and he could almost run in less than 2 hours someday and that was not far from happening, it was a dream for any coach to train a great athlete what Jake was like. "Okay Jake, with that we don''t need to make any changes to your training until after the Sydney Olympics in 2000, you will train these three modalities alternately, first you will train for the marathons running at the pace of 2 minutes and 51 seconds per km for 45 km." "The next day you will train the 10,000 meters at a pace of 2 minutes and 40 seconds and you will do this training twice that day, and the next day you will do the training for the 5,000 meters, you will run in a pace of 2 minutes and 36 seconds twice that day." "I am very confident that in the next Olympics in Sydney you will be able to make history and thus win 3 gold medals in these 3 sports, congratulations, Jake." "Thank you, Coach Davis, without your help none of this would be possible, you can be sure that I will continue training to win these 3 gold medals in the next Olympics." With Jake saying that Coach Davis was also confident, this time Jake took more than 1 hour to recover and this training were important for him to understand more the complexity that had the modalities of athletics and that it would not be as easy as he thought to win several gold medals even with the help of the system. After that Jake was prepared to start his new training routine, with training for the next Olympics and going out several times a week with Kate, and at night he stayed at home with his mother talking about various things. After Kate had been on vacation for over a month and still she didn''t think about going out and continued to meet Jake several times, Kate''s manager really believed that the two were in love because in the time she was dating she couldn''t stand being that much with her boyfriend. And the worst was that she knew that Jake and Kate hadn''t even kissed even though they had been dating for so long, so it was certain that they enjoyed each other''s company, what Jake and Kate thought was that they knew they wouldn''t have much time to be together for years to come so they were enjoying this vacation. Jake planned to continue with his routine until he had to go to Los Angeles to start training with the Los Angeles Lakers team, but a week after Jake had finished organizing his Olympics training, Adidas representative Mike Morris had come to speak to him again. Jake naturally knew why Mike had come to talk to himself even a few weeks before the Athens marathon where they would meet, it was because of the interview he gave Chloe after the Chicago marathon. It was really shocking that Jake said that he intended to run in the 10,000 meters and 5000 meters, if Jake, who was the best marathon runner today, said it was because he really thought he had a chance to win, otherwise he wouldn''t try to run in other ways just to lose. "Hi, Mike, you could have waited a few more weeks, we could have met in Greece to talk." "You are right, Jake, but you know why I came to your house even though you are busy with your training, it is because of the interview you gave after the Chicago marathon." "We knew that after the NBA game season started you would have less time to run other marathons and that is why we asked you to run in Athens in a few weeks." "But I''m more curious about what you said about thinking about running in the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters, is that true?" Chapter 463 - Marathons and Business 7 "Yes, Mike, of course, it is true, I would not lie in an interview that I knew was being recorded, I intend to start running in the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters." "So how are you saying this is that you are confident that you can stand a chance of winning the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters?" "I would not say that I am confident, I am certainly training to run in the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters, and from what my trainer and I saw in my training I certainly have the possibility of winning running in these modalities." "What complicates things a little is that because of the NBA game season I decided that I''ll just try to run the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters in the next Olympics, I''ll do the qualifiers and try to get the time for the Sydney Olympics in 2000." "So I''m just going to be able to find out if that''s possible when I participate in the qualifiers and I''m going to take advantage of my NBA vacation to train more for the next Olympics." Hearing this Mike understood that Jake and his coach were really confident that Jake could win in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters, otherwise they would not think about competing in the Olympics where the best athletes in the world are trying to win. If that really happened it would be great for the Adidas company, Jake could win up to 3 gold medals at the next Olympics and that would be very good for the company and of course, it would be even better for Jake. "David Falk really should have said that when he was negotiating the sponsorship contract with our company, if he did that we would agree to that contract much faster." "He couldn''t have said that because I hadn''t spoken to him, that contract was negotiated more because I''m a basketball player going to the NBA than because of athletics, so it was just relevant to talk about the marathons that I won and about the Olympic medal I won than talking about things that can happen." "I think about trying several things in the future and I can''t say everything I think about trying until I have some confidence that I can do that." Mike realized that Jake was telling the truth, he knew well that the main objective of Adidas was the NBA and not the marathons that Jake could win or he won the 10,000 meters and the 5,000 meters. So much so that even if Jake won 3 gold medals in the next Olympics and played badly in the NBA they might even think about renewing his contract, but it would be with a much lower value than it was. But this conversation with Jake made him curious about what Jake thought about trying to do that he couldn''t talk about right now, it didn''t help Mike to think about it because he could hardly imagine that Jake still intended to run in the 1500 meters and 800 meters and also intended to run a marathon in less than 2 hours. After talking to Jake for a while, Mike left to confirm the information for the company, it was good news for them at a time when the NBA game season hadn''t started yet and it could only start next year what it was too bad for them. The teams could negotiate with the players to pay a lower salary because they played less, but the sponsors still had to pay the entire contract year even though the players only played half the season. So over the next few weeks, Jake continued his routine by training hard and getting less and less tired after workouts that were now much more difficult, Jake was happy because that meant he was improving a lot. So soon the month of November arrived and Jake had to go to Greece to participate in the Athens marathon, Jake went two days before to Athens because he wanted to rest before the marathon, after all, Jake knew how more difficult this marathon was than the others with so many ups and downs. Jake knew about the importance of the Athens marathon taking place in the country of the first marathon that took place, Jake knew the story of Pheidippides who died after running from the Battle of the Marathon to Athens to announce the victory of the Greeks over the Persians. Jake even thought about running at a slower pace in this marathon because of the difficulty, but then he thought it wouldn''t be difficult for him to run the entire marathon at his old pace and he would slow down the run in the final part anyway. The sports media were excited for this marathon because this time Jake had announced a long time ago that he would participate, but this time there were not many athletes who planned to run in the same group as Jake in that marathon. After all, everyone knew that this marathon would be very difficult, but the sports media knew that Jake had many chances of winning in that marathon because although it was the first time that Jake had run in the Athens marathon, he had already run in Athens at the World Championsh.i.p.s in Athletics in 1997 and had won. Of course, Jake wouldn''t say that it was the Adidas company that asked him to run this marathon, Jake liked to run marathons and if he could run more than 5 marathons a year, he accepted, and Jake also wanted to run the official marathon of Athens. After resting for two days at the hotel that Coach Davis booked for him, the day of the Athens marathon came, Jake went very early in the morning to the place where the marathon would begin, when Jake arrived at the marathon site many athletes recognized him. Many of the athletes who were there admired Jake who was currently the reference in the world of marathons and was already considered one of the best marathoners in history, some did not like Jake out of envy and others did not like him because he was also a basketball player in addition to being a marathon runner. But even though everyone knew that Jake was the favorite to win this marathon, there were still many people who thought that Jake had no chance of winning that marathon, because most of the athletes who won that marathon until this year were athletes from European countries. The athletes from Greece had already won 16 times before this marathon started, so many thought that Jake didn''t have much chance of winning this marathon, Jake also remembered that the athlete who would win this marathon was Nik¨®laos Poli¨¢s who before he went back in time he had won that marathon four times. Until that year Nik¨®laos Poli¨¢s had won the Athens marathon twice, and this would be the third time that he would win if Jake did not participate in that marathon, of course only the other athletes and part of the sports media thought about it, the marathon fans who were at the marathon site they cheered a lot for Jake. Mike had also arrived the night before the marathon, he should have arrived earlier to talk to Jake before the marathon, after all, it was the Adidas company that asked Jake to run that marathon, but he had other things to do and ended up being late. Mike still wanted to talk to Jake when he arrived, but he didn''t know what hotel Jake was in and Jake had hung up on him during the night because he went to sleep early to prepare for the marathon. Jake had come to Greece alone because Coach Davis preferred to stay with his family than come to Greece knowing that Jake didn''t need him, so Mike was unable to speak to Jake the day before. After a few minutes, the athletes were already prepared and the Athens marathon officially started, even if this was one of the most difficult marathons, the difference in time when the athletes finished this marathon was not that big. When Jake started running differently from other times, no athlete wanted to run in the same group as him, and it was not because they thought Jake couldn''t win, it was because they knew Jake was running at a very fast pace up to 30 km. And in this marathon running at a very fast pace for the first 30 km that was the most tiring part of the marathon was not a smart thing to do, Jake didn''t have to worry about that because he could easily achieve that with the resistance he had. "Welcome to everyone who came to accompany the Athens marathon, this is one of the most important marathons in the world and certainly the one with the most historical importance, in addition to being one of the most difficult marathons in the world." "Running in this marathon are several marathon runners from Greece and the European region who are veterans, and also the current best marathon runner in the world Jake Smith who is running for the second time here in Athens." "Yes, not long ago he declared that he would not be competing in so many marathons after joining the NBA, and that is a shame for the world of marathons, but he declared that he would continue training and that he would try to compete in the Olympics in the marathon and also in the 5,000 meters and in the 10,000 meters." "This is certainly a very good thing for athletics in general and Jake Smith is still young and can compete in several marathons in the future, but the important thing is this marathon, will Jake win here in this Athens marathon?" "I think it is certain that he will win, I myself have doubted several times whether he could win in other marathons and he always won, we have to understand that normally if Jake Smith participates in a marathon he will win." "Proof of this is that he lost only one marathon that he ran in his career and it was his second marathon that he came in second just because he got injured in that marathon, so seeing that we can see why many say that Jake Smith is the best marathon runner in every time." Chapter 464 - Marathons and Business 8 As in this marathon nobody wanted to run at the same pace as Jake, he did as in the first marathons he ran and in the first km, he found small groups that were running at a pace similar to him and ran with them for a few hundred meters. In the first 5 km, he always found small groups of athletes to run with them, but after that, they didn''t have many groups anymore because few ran at a pace equal to or greater than Jake in this marathon. Those athletes that Jake ran with at the start of the marathon would probably be athletes who would not even finish the marathon or who would arrive after 3 hours of the marathon, Jake didn''t really need to run with other athletes to be able to finish the marathon. But he learned from Coach Davis to save his stamina as much as possible to ensure he could win the marathon with ease, but how difficult it was to find a group that ran as fast as he did Jake decided to run alone. Jake continued running in the lead of the marathon and soon passed the 20 km, even though he almost reached the middle of the marathon Jake still did not feel a bit tired and did not feel much difficulty even with this marathon being more difficult than the others. "Jake Smith is already over 20 km, he is still in first and unlike the other marathons he is not in an elite group because the other athletes did not want to risk running at the fast pace that Jake Smith runs." "But it looks like it didn''t really matter to Jake Smith who is still running alone and doesn''t look tired even after 20 km of the marathon." "That''s what I said, Jake Smith seems to have great stamina and stamina and running a marathon even at a pace to break the world record doesn''t seem so difficult for him, for sure in this marathon he won''t try to break the world record, so it will be even easier for him to finish that marathon first." Jake continued running smoothly without worrying about anything else, concentrating on running in the best possible way and in a short time he reached 35 km from the Athens marathon after 30 km Jake started to feel a little tired. So in the 30 km, Jake slowed his pace to run more smoothly, so after 35 km he was not very tired and was still far ahead of the other athletes in that marathon, Jake did not want to break any record and just wanted to win quietly. After the 41 km marathon, Jake was already feeling much more tired and starting to feel pain in his muscles, but he knew he would win smoothly and that he could run another 10 km without being exhausted. "And so Jake Smith goes over 41 km, it''s another victory for Jake Smith and he will officially win the Athens marathon, he has a lot more advantage over the runner-up and he doesn''t look too tired." "That''s right, this may be the most difficult marathon in the world, but Jake Smith is certainly the most endurance and stamina athlete in the world and does not seem to have any difficulties even after running 41 km." "And now Jake Smith passes the finish line and wins the Athens marathon, Jake Smith ended that marathon with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 12 seconds, it is the best time for that Athens marathon." Jake was very happy to have won the marathon and the people at Adidas and Gatorade were also happy, Jake was also happy to see that many of the people who came to watch the marathon had been rooting for him since the start of the marathon. Jake won his medal which meant a lot to him and he didn''t care about the money, he participated in this marathon because Mike said Adidas asked and because he also wanted to participate in this marathon. If Mike had told Jake to run another marathon that he had no interest Jake would definitely refuse, after finishing the marathon Jake quickly spoke to Mike that he didn''t have much to say because he knew Jake would rest until the start of the NBA games. So Jake went back to his hotel because he was going to stay in the city that day to rest and would go back to Miami the next day, after a night of rest Jake went back to Miami very early, but when his mother arrived he had already gone to the restaurant. Kate also said that she was going out to go to some work appointments that she had left for later because she was on vacation, luckily for Kate, her songs were doing well and her CDs were selling well even though she was on vacation. It was normal for singers and artists to take a vacation after several years of work without rest, luckily for her also the media had not yet discovered that Kate was in Miami, they went to her house and found no one and did not suspect that she was in a Hotel. So Jake took the opportunity to rest all day and when Eva came home Jake told his mother how the Athens marathon was and that he had won again, Eva was also happy to see that Jake had won again because she knew how much he had trained the past few months. After that marathon Jake would return to his normal training routine until he had to go to Los Angeles next year, Jake was happy to have more time to be with his mother and also with Kate. But Jake had to recognize that he missed playing basketball a lot, even if he did imagination training every day and also trained with three-point shots, it was a difference that really playing with teammates and opponents. Jake thought it was great that he could stay home until after his birthday, but he really wanted to play basketball again, thinking about it Jake had an idea that he thought could be very good. He could use some of the money and influence he had to organize a charity game in Miami, Jake knew that David Falk wanted to make a game in December that would be like an All-Stars, so Jake thought about making a game just for the novice players. His idea was that the younger players who didn''t have the opportunity to debut in the NBA this season and the players who debuted in the NBA last season played this game, Jake thought about it just because he really wanted to play and that game could give him more fame for the other young players. Of course, from the beginning, this game would be charitable and the proceeds would be donated to charities, Jake could also look for a broadcaster to broadcast this game and donate the proceeds to needy institutions. He himself would make a donation of 1 million dollars to this institution that would be chosen for everyone to know that the players did not really think about the money, Jake was not afraid of the owners of the teams or of the veteran players. Jake was confident that he would be able to do this because he was a close friend of Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison and also had a friendship with several players who joined the NBA in this draft with him. Jake would also ensure that the plane ticket and hotel for all players were paid for by him, of course, he would pay all bills with the income that the game would give and only afterward would he make the donation or he would have to spend a lot more million dollars. But as this was a charity game if he managed to sell it to a broadcaster he could raise a lot of money for a charity even after paying all the costs. As Jake decided he would do this he called David Falk to see if he could get any help from him to do this, he needed David to help get the phone number of the other players he planned to invite. If David could help Jake to rent the Miami Arena for the game, it would be good, and if it were possible for him to also help talk to the broadcasters to see if anyone was interested in broadcasting the games. This was all just things that Jake could do to help convince other players to participate in this game, after all, it was a game that might not attract many fans and it might not be as exciting as the other game that David Falk would organize. "Hi David, I''m sorry to call you right now that you must be very busy, I wanted to ask you a favor." "Hi Jake, I''m really busy right now, but if it''s something I can help with, I''ll do my best." "I heard that players are thinking of making a game in December of this year and you are helping to organize." "How did you know that?" "I heard some rumors, but knowing you, I knew you should be helping to organize this, I was thinking of doing something like that, but only with the rookie players, it will be here in Miami and it will only be to donate the income to institutions of charity." "I don''t think this is a good idea, the players are doing this to get some money on this game and also to pressure the owners who are thinking about taking the game they would have for Christmas and are also thinking about taking the All-stars." "I know that, but I''m thinking of making a game just to give more recognition and fame to the players who were going to debut this season and some players who debuted last season." "I will pay the gambling expenses myself if we don''t get more income, but if we do I will organize to pay for the plane ticket and the hosting of the players here in Miami until after they return home." "I just wanted you to get the number of all the players that I''m going to tell you about, and if you could also talk to those responsible for the administration of the Miami Arena which is where the game is going to take place and also a broadcaster that wants to pay to do the game broadcast." Chapter 465 - Marathons and Business 9 David Falk listened to what Jake said and was impressed when he heard that Jake wanted to pay for all expenses before the game if they didn''t get an income from sponsors and a broadcaster interested in broadcasting the game, the costs before the game for bringing all the players and renting the Miami Arena was very high. David estimated it could be over 1 million dollars, he sure knew Jake had that money, but in this situation where many players who made millions of dollars were thinking about organizing a game to make money, Jake who was a newbie I was thinking of organizing a game to raise money for a charity. Thinking about what Jake asked David realized that it would not be difficult for him to achieve this in a few hours, and if the purpose of this game was to give more fame and publicity to the new players, David did not think that Jake would have any problem with the team owners and with veteran players because of that. "Okay then, Jake, I''m going to help you organize some things, but it''s up to you to talk to the broadcasters and sponsors to get more income for this game to happen." "Thanks, David, this is enough for me, but before talking to the broadcasters get me the number of players please." With David having agreed to his idea, Jake became more excited, he now had to convince the players to come to the game because without them he would not be able to convince the broadcaster and the sponsors or even the fans to come and watch the game. On the same day David sent Jake the contact details of all the players he had put on the list, David did not understand why he did not put several names that could make this game even more successful, but Jake already had everything in mind when he invited the players. First, because he thought that several of the names he was going to invite would not want to come to that game, and Jake also knew which players were playing in Europe or intended to play in Europe during the lockout until the beginning of the NBA games. Jake''s goal was to make a game in which the coaches would be him and another player on the opposing team, on his team Jake did not want to have another PG because he intended to play the 48 minutes, but as he could not do that he would invite another player to his team, but he would warn that this other player would not play for long in the game. Jake started by calling Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, the two quickly agreed to participate in this game if it was really going to happen, Jake said the game would be in Miami and it would be December 17th if everything worked out as he planned. Jake also asked Vince Carter to invite Tracy McGrady to this game because he knew that Tracy McGrady was dissatisfied with his debut season in the NBA and also that Vince was very close to him. So Jake had invited 3 more players and his friends had confirmed, of course, that Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, and Tracy McGrady would be on his team if everything went well, after that Jake decided to call some people he played against when he was on the Tar team Heels. Jake called Mark Bibby and told how he planned to make this game and that if the players accepted everything it was confirmed, so luckily Mark Bibby accepted Jake''s invitation and Jake said that Mark would be the coach of the other team and of course he would be the captain of the opposing team too. Jake was happy to get 3 players and so he called Michael Doleac, Michael D.i.c.kerson, and Matt Harpring, the more players who accepted his invitation the easier it was to invite others and so Jake called only who he knew they would accept. Jake also called Paul Pierce and Bryce Drew to play on his team and so he had 6 confirmed players for his team and 3 confirmed players on the opposing team, after confirming with so many players it was easier to convince the others. Jake also called Raef LaFrentz, Robert Traylor, Jason Williams, Pat Garrity, and Larry Hughes who also agreed and knew they would play on Mark Bibby''s team, Jake also invited some players who were chosen in last season''s draft. In addition to Tracy McGrady that Jake had asked Vince Carter to invite, Jake also called Ron Mercer and Tim Thomas, and with great courage, Jake also called Tim Duncan to this game after inviting everyone. Jake said it was a game for charity and he had no purpose other than this game and so he would not have to accept the invitation of the other players who wanted to make a game with all-stars, Jake invited Tim Duncan because he knew him from the games from the university and hoped that Tim Duncan would accept. Luckily for him Tim Duncan really accepted and Jake said he would play for his team, of course, Jake did not want to have Tim Duncan as an opponent in such a game and if Tracy McGrady accepted his team he would be much stronger than the opponents'' team. The same day later Vince Carter called saying that Tracy McGrady had agreed to go to that game and Jake was very happy about it and told Vince Carter about all the players who had accepted and so the game could happen regardless of anything. One day Jake had talked to the players and organized an important game like this, now it was just a matter of waiting for David Falk to organize the Miami Arena and then Jake could call the sponsors and the broadcasters. Jake would call his sponsors first to see if anyone wanted to support this game that would have the proceeds sent to the charities, those sponsors could even talk to the broadcaster who would broadcast the game later to have their commercials in between games. When David got the call from Jake saying he had already found 17 other players besides him to participate in that game, David had to say that he was really surprised, especially when no real benefits other than fame were promised to the other athletes. Even more when Jake said that Tracy McGrady and Tim Duncan had agreed to participate in the game as well, so David decided that he would help Jake to rent the Miami Arena for December 17th and get the telephone numbers of the stations. Even so, David still doubted that Jake would get many sponsors for this game because the sponsors might not have commercials broadcast on television, but it was a benefit game and only with the money that Jake would get from broadcasting the game and game tickets already could donate more than $ 1 million to a charity. But again David underestimated Jake''s ability, the first person he called the next day was for Matthew, Jake thought Matthew''s company was making millions from digital camera sales. But even selling so much they didn''t have much advertising for the company, thinking about it Jake thought that this game could be a good opportunity to advertise Matthew''s company. Since it was Jake who helped his company to be as successful as it was today even before it was a company that was at risk of going bankrupt, Matthew trusted Jake a lot and couldn''t imagine how bad it would be for his company to sponsor a game like the one the income was for a charity. As it was for just one game Jake asked for $ 50,000 in sponsorship, that would also be a good value to attract other companies to sponsor that game, after confirming with Matthew, Jake called Mike and quickly got Adidas support for that game since that they could make the teams'' uniforms and everyone wears their shoes. Jake just thought that it would only help him to have fewer things to do, Jake also got support from Gatorade and Pepsi, so Jake would get drinks and a lot of things that the players needed. Jake also talked to his mother and all the players would eat at her restaurant so that the restaurant would get free publicity, Jake did not want to try to get sponsorship from any hotel and would also pay for the players'' airline tickets. Jake also called Jeff Bezos and asked if Amazon was interested in being one of the sponsors of this game, it was the company that Jake was also a partner in, but he promised that he would leave all decisions to Jeff Bezos. The company was not yet as big as it would be in the future and had not made a profit yet, but for $ 50,000 to do something new and still help a charity Jeff held a quick council meeting and agreed to sponsor this game. So in just 1 day Jake had managed to get $ 250,000 to pay all the costs of the game as sponsorship and he got uniforms for both teams and drinks for everyone, so Jake knew he had a lot more influence than he imagined. After achieving all of this, Jake was much more relaxed and excited because for sure everything would work out now that he had already obtained almost everything he needed, he just had to wait for David to confirm the rental of the Miami Arena and after that, he could start talking to broadcasters. While Jake did all this, he didn''t forget to do his training for the marathons every day, and the most important thing was that Kate had returned to Miami after her work commitments. Jake decided it was time for him to take courage and ask Kate to date him, Jake was very confident that Kate also liked him as he liked her, and after the marathon, he had no more commitments before the game he would organize. So Jake thought it was the right time to start dating Kate and they could still spend almost two months together dating before they had to go back to work next year. Chapter 466 - Marathons and Business 10 ake called Kate and asked her to dinner, Kate was a little surprised because she remembered that in these months that she went out with Jake for several dates they never met for dinner, but she also wanted this very much and accepted the invitation. Jake told Kate that he would take her to dinner at a restaurant they met for the first time, it was a very elegant restaurant and Kate had really enjoyed this meeting, as it was an elegant restaurant she put on the best dress she had. It was a white dress that she had gotten from a stylist she worked with, she put on some jewelry that she had also bought that matched the dress and a high heel that was also white, that was the style she liked the most and also it made Kate even more beautiful. Jake also put on the best suit he had bought that was an Armani, Jake also bought a bouquet of roses and put it on the corvette zr1 and went to get Kate, even if it wasn''t the car that Jake liked the most, it was considered a luxury car at that time. When Jake arrived at the hotel before the scheduled time he could see Kate who was in the hotel lobby coming and so he was a little mesmerized by the beauty of Kate wearing a dress and all the white clothes which made Jake look like an angel to Jake. "Hi, Kate, you look even more gorgeous today, stunning." "You look better today too, Jake, I thought you didn''t like wearing suits." "Today is our first dinner, I thought it was a special day." Kate smiled because she also thought it was a special day because their first dinner, Jake took the flowers and handed it to Kate who was very happy, then he opened the car door for her, Kate had to put the flowers in the behind the car and so they went to the restaurant. While they were going to the restaurant Kate told Jake what she was doing in the past few days while he was in Greece, and Jake also told him about the marathon and what Greece was like. Arriving at the restaurant even with many people from high society having already entered Jake and Kate drew a lot of attention, the two were very beautiful and even though Kate was tall, Jake was much taller having more than 2 meters. Of course, the two were used to having the others looking at them and went quietly to the table that Jake had reserved, Jake ordered the wine he liked best and the two started talking. As time passed at dinner Jake became more anxious to say what he had to say to Kate, so he couldn''t wait for the end of dinner to say what he wanted to say to Kate, she had also realized that Jake was looking forward to some reason. "Kate, I actually called you here for this dinner because I have something to say to you." When Kate heard this her heart started to beat faster, this was the restaurant where they had their first date in Miami and it was also the first time they went out to dinner since they started going out in Miami, realizing it Kate knew what Jake wanted to say. "Kate, I love you, I liked you since the first time I saw you, after that time I was never able to forget you and I always thought if you remembered me too, just like when we met again and I knew you remembered me too, I realized that it really love what I felt for you." "I''m sorry if it took me a long time to say this to you, but I never had a relationship that really worked, so I was afraid, but I wanted it to be perfect this time and that''s why I waited to have this dinner with you to say what I feel." "Kate, do you want to date me?" Jake took the courage he needed and had to say everything he felt at once to Kate, Jake was happy when Kate got emotional and smiled after he finished saying everything he felt to her. "Yes, Jake, I want to date you, I also liked you since the first time we met and I was also afraid of that feeling, but today I know that I really love you and I was happy that you said you love me even though I have to wait for it." Jake was very happy and as they were in a restaurant he just held her hands, but it was enough for Kate to know what Jake was feeling, after that the two were finally dating and they still had to continue dinner because Jake was rushed. Even though they were dating they kept talking the same way and the only thing that had changed was that they knew how they felt about each other, Jake would wait to talk about the game he was planning after David called saying he managed to rent the Miami Arena and after he had managed to speak to the broadcaster. But he decided to tell Kate about this game because he was really excited about it, so much because he was going to play against the NBA players who were the best players at the university until a while ago. So Jake told the idea that he had and said that the income that this game would get would go to a charity, he did not say that he would donate 1 million dollars of himself to that institution after the game because he thought Kate might think he was just showing off. Kate was really surprised by Jake''s initiative and the influence he had to be able to call all these players even though he was just a new player in the NBA when Jake told everything he had to say Kate gave him an idea. "Jake, if you want I could sing in this game that you are going to organize, I could sing the national anthem before the game and it could help to get more income for the charity." "Are you sure about this, Kate? The paparazzi will know where you are if you decide to appear in that game to sing." "I know that, but I would go to watch you play anyway, so if I sing in the game the paparazzi might think I''m a guest artist and I can watch the game." "So if you want you can sing the national anthem before the game and sing some songs at halftime, you can sing some of your new songs." Kate thought this was a good idea, she had her band and her dancing team that the manager had hired to do the shows, this would be a good chance for Kate to present her new songs and it was also good for her image to sing in a charity game. "I have to talk to my manager, but I think at least to sing the national anthem before the game is certain that I will be able to do it." Jake was happy to know that Kate could participate at this moment that would be important to him, so if she participated in this game Jake would have an easier time negotiating with the broadcasters to get more money for the charities. Jake had also called the accounting firm that worked for him now to organize the expenses and income for that game so that everything was transparent and no one could accuse him of taking the money that would go to the charity. After dinner was over Jake and Kate were very happy because they were now boyfriends, Jake took Kate to the hotel where she was living and this time different from the other times Jake got out of the car and entered the hotel with Kate. Jake went with Kate to the elevator and took her to the door of the room where she was staying, Kate was a little embarrassed because Jake was her first boyfriend, but from what she had talked to her manager this was normal. "Thanks for bringing me here, Jake, I loved the dinner and the flowers." "I am happy to know that you liked it, I was also very happy with everything that happened today and also with everything that has happened in the last few months." After saying that, the two stood looking at each other for a while until Jake moved very slowly and kissed Kate on the mouth, she was prepared for this and knew what would happen, Jake gave a kiss because he knew that was Kate''s first kiss, then Jake said goodbye and went home. Jake was very happy with everything that had happened, everything had happened as he planned and now he was finally dating Kate, even though others thought it took Jake a long time to ask him to date her, Jake thought it was the right time. In these last months, they got to know each other better and so now they were sure they really loved each other and could continue with this relationship with confidence, as Jake said to Kate he was afraid that this relationship would not work because he had lived more than 49 years single. But after spending these months with Kate he knew he loved her and so Jake was not afraid to ask Kate to date him, now they could continue this relationship slowly once Jake knew it would be all right. This time as Jake had gone out with Kate for dinner he told his mother before he had eaten at the restaurant, Eva was not worried about Jake because she knew he was responsible and just as she expected before 11 pm Jake was at home. When Jake arrived Eva soon realized that something very good had happened because she saw that Jake was smiling very happily as soon as he got home, but seeing that he was wearing his suit Eva wanted to wait for Jake to change clothes before talking to him. Chapter 467 - Basketball and Business 1 But Jake didn''t want to wait that long to talk to his mom, so when Jake saw that Eva was still awake he went over to the couch where she was and just took off the suit he was wearing to get more comfortable with his dress shirt. "Hi, mom, I didn''t know you were going to stay up until this hour." "I was waiting for you, I knew you wouldn''t belong in coming back." "I see, it''s good that you''re awake because I have some good news to tell you." "Tell me then." "As I said to you, I went to dinner with Kate today, and at that dinner, I finally took courage and asked Kate to date me, and luckily she accepted." "This is very good, Jake, I''m happy for you." Eva hoped it could be something like this when she saw that Jake was so happy after going on a date with Kate, in fact, Eva hoped that Jake had already started dating Kate long before and maybe he hadn''t told her because of so much of times they went out together. Just as she said to Jake, Eva was happy to know that he was finally dating the woman he loved, but she also couldn''t help feeling sorry for Lola who had now lost all chances of ever dating Jake. Of course, Eva knew that Jake was not to blame for this and he was having a lot of consideration because of Lola, Eva knew Jake and knew that he wanted to take Kate to her restaurant someday, but maybe he would never do that because he had respect for Lola. Eva also couldn''t help but like Kate who seemed a very independent and intelligent woman and also who really liked Jake, after all, she met Jake before he was an NBA basketball player and when he was not very famous. "So, Mom, I was wondering if I could invite Kate over for dinner so you could meet, she always wanted to meet you, but here is the only place where you can meet." "Of course, Jake, I would love for you to bring your girlfriend here, I also wanted to meet Kate." "This is great, as soon as I sort out the details of the game, we arrange this dinner here at home, so you and I can prepare some special dishes and surprise Kate with better food than the restaurants we went to, Hahaha." After that busy day, Jake can sleep peacefully and happily, the next day Jake woke up very early to go to his daily training, after a few weeks in that training Jake was no longer tired running the 45 km of the marathon or even in the 10 training sessions. thousand meters and 5,000 meters. Coach David said this was a good thing because it showed that his resistance was improving and his muscles were gaining more strength with this new training after the Olympics Coach Davis was sure that they could improve this training even more. Today Jake was not going to meet Kate because he wanted to give Kate a day to get used to the fact that they were dating, after all even though Jake was inexperienced Kate was even more so because Jake was her first boyfriend. So Jake planned to rest for the rest of the day, it was good for him to rest his body and mind sometimes, from time to time Jake called to talk to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, they talked about technology and the future of the internet and they talked too about the Google company that the two had. Jake had already become friends with them and they both knew that Jake was a millionaire NBA player and also a marathon runner who won the gold medal at an Olympics, so they knew he was able to invest in their company if he was interested. They didn''t know that Jake was a partner with Jeff Bezos on Amazon and also that he had money invested in the Cisco company, Jake wouldn''t say that either, and he just wanted to remind both of them that he was interested in the company, so when he invested a few million they wouldn''t be surprised very. While Jake was resting he got a call from Davis Falk, Jake thought it was time for David to get him to rent the Miami Arena, so Jake could start talking to broadcasters before December. "Jake, I have good news for you, I was able to rent the Miami Arena for December 17th, I was late because I negotiated a lot with them saying this was a charity game and I was able to rent for 40 thousand dollars for a day all." Jake was very happy with this, he hoped it would cost a lot more than that, after all, it was for a whole day and he knew that before he went back to the past some rich people rented big arenas for 100 thousand dollars or more. "Thank you very much, David, with this I can finally call to confirm with the players and already buy tickets and organize the hotel for all of them, now I just have to call the stations with the number you gave me." "Good luck with that, I''m sorry, but I''m not going to be able to help with your game anymore, but I know that you will be able to make a good game." "Okay David, thanks for all the help you gave me, I hope the game you are going to organize will be a success too." Now that Jake already had the Miami Arena confirmed he could call the players again, he called all 17 other players and said the missing details, he said where the game would be and the day and also said he would have Adidas and other companies as sponsors. So the players who didn''t expect that much from the game was much more excited and realized that Jake really wanted to make a great game as was the NBA games, Jake also said he would talk to the television stations to broadcast the games. When the players confirmed again Jake asked Emily to send one of her assistants to contact the hotel and make reservations and buy tickets as well, Jake talked to the players and they agreed to come to Miami 3 days before the game to make a training between teams to play better. And they were leaving the day after the game, so Jake had to book the rooms in a 5-star hotel for 5 days, and as he said that would be more expensive than renting the Miami Arena, to pay everyone''s airfare and for 5 days of the 5-star hotel would be almost $ 40,000. Still, Jake didn''t care about that because he had raised $ 250,000 in sponsorship for the game, so the sponsorship money would still go to the charity even after paying all the costs. Jake sought to hire some NBA referees for that game and succeeded easily, he also paid for a team that organized events to help the stadium team to take care of parking, game day sales and all the red tape. With that, everything was fine for the game and Jake was just waiting for Kate''s call saying whether or not she could sing on the day of the game after that Jake would call the broadcasters with much more confidence in getting a lot of money for a charity. After a few hours Kate called saying she would sing on Jake''s game day, she would sing the national anthem and two songs at break time, Jake thought it was great and thanked Kate because he knew that her manager would not easily agree thereby. With everything he needed to be confirmed Jake started calling the broadcasters, Jake already had three broadcasters that he thought could buy the rights to that broadcast, Jake called CBS, ABC, and NBC first because he wanted millions of people could watch that game. But the three broadcasters did not seem very interested in this game because they were new players and it was not like the All-Stars that naturally attracted the public, moreover, most players had not even debuted in the NBA. But because they didn''t have any games to transmit and also because the income was for a charity, they made a proposal, but it was a really bad proposal that Jake thought they shouldn''t even have offered. So Jake ended the contact with these stations and did not even say that Kate would sing during the game break and before the game the national anthem, so after thinking a bit Jake decided to call TNT. He already had a good friendship with this broadcaster and knew that in the future they would be one of the big broadcasters that broadcast NBA games in the future, in addition, they had problems with the audience and had a lot of money too. In addition, they already had contact with the NBA because they showed the NBA drafts every year when Jake told the representatives that David had passed the number they soon became interested in the game. "It will be a charity game organized by me in Miami, it will be a game among NBA newbies, most of them are players who haven''t even debuted in the NBA like me, and there are some players who came from last season''s draft." Then Jake said the names of all the players who were going to participate and also that the game would take place at the Miami Arena, unlike what happened at other stations, the TNT representative seemed really interested in the game. Realizing this Jake also said that Kate would be on the day of the game singing the national anthem before the game and at halftime, Jake also told the sponsors of that game and that they could try to contact them to get their commercial to appear on the interval of that game. After hearing everything Jake had organized, the TNT representative realized that Jake already had a lot of influence in the NBA and also among businessmen even before his debut in the NBA, as it was a benefit game, even if it did not attract a lot of audiences it would be good for the company''s image. Chapter 468 - Basketball and Business 2 "Jake, we are really interested in broadcasting this game, but before that I will have to have a brief meeting to find out if we have free time to broadcast this game on December 17th, if everything goes well I will call you in a few minutes." "Okay, I''ll be waiting." Jake was very confident that this time he would get the sponsorship because the TNT representative seemed genuinely interested in buying the game broadcast, as this money was for charity Jake didn''t mind receiving less than he expected, but he wouldn''t accept either with the other three broadcasters offered. After almost an hour waiting for the TNT representative to finally call again, Jake had already thought of a value that might be acceptable, in the future a common NBA game would be worth an average of 6 million dollars to be broadcast by a broadcaster, Jake wanted a lot less than that. "Jake, I talked to the directors of the broadcaster and we have time to broadcast the game on December 17th, are we really interested in broadcasting this game, but just to make it clear, will we have the exclusivity to broadcast this game?" "Of course, we just want fans to see this game and also help a charity, you can even say that the income you paid for the game also goes to the charity, the costs of the game are already paid by the sponsors." "This is great, so we want to buy the broadcast of this game, as it is for a charity we are thinking of buying for 1 million dollars, what do you think of that?" "I think it''s a good value, the charity that receives this will thank you, so we have an agreement, I will send one of my assistants to send the signed contract to you." "Okay, we hope it''s a good game." Jake was really happy with the amount he got for that game, it was even more than he expected to get and thinking about inflation it was a value very close to what would be paid in the future for a normal game. Jake was very happy to have managed to set everything up for the game he decided to do on a whim, he wanted to set this game closer to the date they were on, but Jake knew that some players were not yet in perfect physical condition to play 48 minutes. But even though it was almost 1 month before the day of the game Jake was already excited to know that he could play with his friends, Jake asked Emily to send her assistants to solve the last details of the game and he returned to his normal routine. Jake had already done the most difficult and with the teams, he hired to organize events the rest would be organized, Jake called Kate to tell her the good news first because his mother was still at the restaurant. "Kate, luckily everything went well and I managed to organize everything for the game on December 17th, it will be broadcast on TNT." "How great, Jake, I was hoping that everything would work out, you already know which charity you are going to donate that money to?" "I am thinking of an institution that I have already donated before and went there with my mother, it is an institution that helps children with cancer, it helps mainly needy families who cannot afford treatment." "That''s great Jake, I''m sure a lot of people can be helped with that money." "I also hope, that I wanted to ask if you need any help with the show that you are going to do on game day? If you have any equipment, dancers, clothes, or anything needed for the show, you can tell me. " "I don''t need many things, I have my dancers and my team that helps me with my shows, but I will need equipment and some things for the show, after all, it will have to be organized quickly at the break." "Can you tell me a company that takes care of that and I''m going to hire them to organize it all." Jake also told Kate that she would not be able to do a stage to sing and she and the dancers would have to perform on the court, Kate said she understood this and so they talked about more subjects of the show, Jake used the knowledge he had at other events like this to talk to Kate. So the doubts she had about how she was going to do a show at the break were resolved and it would also help when she had to talk to the companies that would organize the equipment for the show. After talking to Kate, Jake had to call the other players again to tell them about the good news, everyone was happy to know that the game would be broadcast on TNT, Jake even said that he offered it to other companies that didn''t offer fair value and the players agreed with it. Jake didn''t know, but in doing so he gained more respect from all the players he invited to this game, after all, Jake was a novice player who was playing on the Los Angeles Lakers team and was not afraid to organize a game like this that could be misinterpreted by team owners. The night when Eva came home Jake said excitedly to her that he had managed to organize everything for the game and that everything had worked out, Eva was very happy also because she knew how Jake was committed to it and was dedicating himself to organize this game. Even more because Jake was still training every day with Coach Davis, even though Jake was tired less than he used to be, he still got tired a good part of the day when he did the marathon and 10,000 meters training. After that the days passed quickly and Jake continued with his routine, he continued to go out with Kate as many times as he left before they started dating, but after they started dating they had dates in more private places where they could kiss. By the end of November, the preparations for the game were complete and TNT started making commercials between programs announcing the game on December 17, it was also announced that Kate would sing in this game in which the NBA rookies would play. At the same time, tickets began to be sold in the Miami area, tickets costing between $ 50 and $ 200, for a game that was a special event it was cheap and $ 200 was the cabins and best seats. Jake did this because they had raised more than $ 2.1 million for charity with the money Jake would personally donate, so the value of the tickets would not increase that much. Even so, if all the tickets were sold they would collect over 1.2 million dollars, Jake also thought that maybe Kate fans could buy the tickets to watch her sing two songs on match day. That month the college basketball games had also started, and to Jake''s happiness, the Tar Heels team had yet to miss a game this new season just as it did in Jake''s past life. If this continued so they could get closer to the UCLA team record, Jake had heard that Vince Carter was at university studying and helping the basketball team while training to be ready for when the NBA arrived. If Jake didn''t have so many things to do these months he could have done it too, luckily for Jake he was almost graduated and just needed to attend classes when the Los Angeles Lakers team was out of season to get his diploma. The problem was that when other commitments arose for Jake at that time he would not have time to take classes to get his diploma, Jake thought that when the film The Matrix came out and was a success the continuation of the film would be approved and maybe the Wachowskis would want to make the recordings with Jake in those months that the Los Angeles Lakers team didn''t have games. With the end of the month has arrived, Jake decided it was time to make dinner at his house and invite Kate, so Kate could finally meet his mother, Jake was taking a while because they started dating very recently. But Kate even talked about the times she wanted to meet Eva and Jake had already talked about it with his mom, so it was time for them to talk to his mom so they could prepare this special dinner for Kate. "Mom, I think the time has come to prepare that dinner so Kate and you can finally meet and talk, she talks about you always and you also said that you wanted to meet my girlfriend." "Okay, Jake, if you think this is the right time we can do this weekend, what do you think?" "I think it''s a good idea, let''s prepare a great dinner for Kate, with you and me cooking she will be in for a surprise." "Hahaha, you cook better than me Jake, if only you cook it will be even better, but since you want it I will also make some dishes that are praised in the restaurant." Jake wasn''t kidding when he said that he intended to surprise Kate with this dinner, he cooked better than some chefs, especially now that he had gained more system agility and thus he had more skill with his hands. And Eva''s restaurant was always packed and was praised by all the city''s food critics, so it wasn''t wrong to say that with Jake and Eva cooking they could make dishes better than some restaurants. The other day Jake had another date with Kate where he took her to an amus.e.m.e.nt park, after that date he told her that they would have dinner at his house at the end of the week and just as Jake expected Kate was very happy to know about that. Chapter 469 - Basketball and Business 3 "I am happy to know that I will finally be able to meet your mother, Jake, you talk about her so much that I was really curious to meet her." "She is also curious to meet you, after all, I also talk a lot about you to my mother, you can expect to eat there at my house the best food you have ever eaten in Miami." "I know, you told me that your mom has a restaurant that is very popular here in Miami, I wanted to go to her restaurant sometime." "My mom really has a restaurant and she cooks very well, but I will also help to prepare this dinner and you will know about my culinary skills." "I didn''t know you knew how to cook, of course, it must have been your mother who taught you how to cook." Kate was very excited knowing that she was going to dinner at Jake''s house and could meet his mother, she didn''t even realize that once again Jake deviated from the subject of her wanting to go to his mother''s restaurant, Jake didn''t want to talk about Lola to Kate because she could be jealous of her. So Sunday arrived and Kate took a taxi to Jake''s house this time, he wanted to pick Kate up at the hotel, but since dinner was at his house Kate didn''t accept Jake to do that, Kate put on a nice dress, but no very festive because she had to look good because it was the first time that she would meet Jake''s mother. It was Jake who opened the door for Kate and he was also wearing a dress shirt that was Jake''s normal style and he had met Kate so many times, Kate entered Jake''s house surprised by the beauty of Jake''s mansion. Not even she who was successful with her music had a house like this, of course, she had the money to buy a house like this, but Kate didn''t know where she wanted to live and so she only saved money for when she decided, and she had the house that was of her parents in Miami to stay if she wanted to. Jake and Eva had already prepared dinner and changed clothes before the time they had scheduled with Kate, now they just needed to wait for some dishes to come out of the oven and dinner was ready. Jake took Kate to the living room where his mother was, so for the first time Eva and Kate met in person, Eva already knew Kate through pictures in magazines and on television, yet she was surprised by Kate''s beauty. And Kate was even more surprised by the beauty of Eva, after all, it was the first time that she saw Jake''s mother and she did not know that Eva had a Latin beauty, especially because she knew that Eva was 37 years old and yet she looked very young. "Good evening, Mrs. Smith, it is a great pleasure to meet you, Jake always speaks very highly of you, but he never said how beautiful you are." "It is a pleasure to meet you too Kate, you can call me Eva if you want, after all with you dating Jake you are family." "I had seen pictures of you and also commercials you did on television, but personally you are as beautiful as Jake had said." The two praised each other and showed that they wanted to become friends since they met, it was how Jake hoped it would happen after all his mother and Kate were very kind and wanted to be friends so that Jake would be happy and for the relationship between Jake and Kate worked. Jake left the room to get an orange juice that he had prepared for the three of them to drink and left Eva and Kate talking, the two had a good first impression of each other and so they started asking questions to get to know each other better. Jake knew this was an important moment so he decided to leave the two of them talking for a longer time and went to prepare cubes of cheese to put on sticks after the two met a little they started talking about the only common subject that the two had to it was Jake. Because of Jake''s personality, the two had only good things to talk about him and Eva was the one who had the most stories to tell about him, so when Jake came back with the appetizers and the orange juice the two were already laughing and had become friends. When Jake realized this he was relieved and so the evening continued pleasant and fortunately, Kate did not speak about Eva''s restaurant because she had realized that Jake did not like to talk about it and so everyone was very well. For dinner Jake had prepared a lamb shank, Ratatouille, and a risotto for the main course, while Eva prepared the desserts and side dishes, it was a lot of food for just the three of them and so Jake had more difficulty having to make the portions of the food so that it wouldn''t be leftover after dinner. Jake did this because he realized in the various restaurants that he and Kate went that she liked lamb and Ratatouille, Eva prepared a Petit gateau, and Cheesecake for dessert and various side dishes like salads. Kate was really surprised by the quality and quantity of different dishes that she had for this dinner, she knew that Jake was going to prepare dinner, but she thought he would make only one dish because of that, then Kate was even more surprised when she saw how everything the dinner menu was delicious. Jake had been smart and done different things than his mother and so Kate didn''t have to say who cooked better, but she was surprised when she learned that Jake had done the main dishes for dinner. At that dinner, Jake didn''t speak to Kate often and left only for his mom and Kate to talk and get to know each other better and maybe later they could be friends, after dinner Jake took Kate to her hotel and asked her what she thought about dinner. "I loved everything, I really liked your mom and I think she liked me too, I honestly didn''t expect her to be as cool as you said she was, but she is even better than you said." "And the dinner was really delicious, I don''t have the confidence to cook for you one day because I don''t know how to make that many dishes." "Hahaha, I''m glad you liked it, I''m sure my mom loved you too, so we can make dinner like that again soon." "I would love to, thanks for that great dinner, Jake, good night." "It was a pleasure to make this dinner, good night." They said goodbye with a kiss and so Jake came home happy, coming home he asked his mother what she thought of Jake and just as he expected she said that she liked Kate very much and approved of this relationship between the two. After that Jake can sleep well knowing that everything was going well, after that dinner Jake and Kate became even closer and the relationship between them improved a lot, the days passed and soon the month of December arrived. The NBA lockout continued and the NBA had announced that the Christmas game would be canceled and David Falk announced the game between players that would be to benefit players and charity as well and that game would be as an NBA all-star. The media began to speculate that David had this idea because of the game that Jake was going to play, others said that David had also organized Jake''s game as a test to have the game among All-stars. But Jake and the other rookie players didn''t care about that because they realized their game was different because Jake did it from the start thinking about helping charity and played this game near his house which showed that he hadn''t planned much before. Jake would not give any more interviews to any channels until the NBA games returned, just as he had not given any interviews since he did the marathon, the players were free to speak, but Jake didn''t care much about that lockout because he always knew it would happen, after all, he knew about the future so it was something natural for him. Jake could understand why the owners were doing this lockout and he also understood that many players were suffering because they did not have salaries and wanted to play, but it was something that would not last long and several players would receive more than 200 thousand dollars a month and would forget about it. time without money. Jake knew that many players received millions and also spent millions of dollars every year, these players Jake felt no pity, after all, he had more than 1 billion assets in his account because he knew how to save and invest in the last few years. It was only now that Jake had a great source of annual income that he decided to start spending the money he earned, yet he still had his investments for a possible emergency. So several weeks passed quickly and the day of the game that Jake organized was close, in that time Jake trained every day with trainer Davis and it was much easier for him to do the training, even though Jake knew that his resistance had not increased. Coach Davis said that Jake had gotten used to running at this new pace and his body was naturally stronger than that of other athletes so he didn''t feel tired or sore in the muscles even with such intense training. Jake was also training more often on the basketball court that was at his house, in the last few months Jake had only trained on his three-point shots and his imagination training, even though Jake could improve his skills and increase his experience playing against skilled players, it was not real training. So even though Jake was alone, he had to do some training so that his body would not be uncomfortable on the day of the game, Jake thought about calling his friends from high school to play, but Jake remembered that everyone was at the university and so he continued training alone. Chapter 470 - Basketball and Business 4 That was the problem with Jake not having many friends who played basketball, he thought that would change when he started playing in the NBA, after all, he could play with his teammates, after all, Coach Guthridge had told him that sometimes training with players with little skill could be more of a hindrance than a help. Jake started to train even more because since a few weeks before Kate started training with her dancers and her show team to sing on the day of the game, it had been a few months since Kate did the last show and even though she was still going to the gym to keep in shape she still needs to train. Kate was a pop music singer and even though she had changed her style of music in the last few months, she still sang and danced at her shows, this was normal for a pop music star, but to achieve this a lot of training was necessary. At the beginning of her training, Jake asked to go along to give some support while watching the training, so Jake could see the intensity of the training and how many times Kate and the other dancers had to repeat the choreography of the music, sometimes making small mistakes. But as soon as Kate''s manager learned about it, she forbade Jake to attend her training, after all, it could distract Kate from training and sometimes paparazzi and journalists would stay where she trained and so they would know that Jake was her boyfriend. Jake and Kate didn''t care that the paparazzi knew this, but Kate''s manager thought it was not yet the right time for them to find out, after a while if the paparazzi revealed that Jake and Kate were dating and they said they were together in secret for many months fans would more easily accept. Certainly, a lot of rumors have existed since Kate hugged Jake the second time they met at a party, the rumors were even bigger now that it was announced that Kate would sing on the day of the game that Jake was organizing. Jake understood that Kate''s manager was right and so he stayed at home training, Jake ever wanted to meet in person and talk to Kate''s manager and thank her for taking such good care of his girlfriend. So at that time, Jake had more time to train and realized that he had gotten better after training so many times in imagination training with players who had SS rank skills, so Jake had decided to join the NBA this season. When the games come back, players would not be so excited about the games because of the reduced game season and a lower salary, so Jake thought he would have more opportunity to play more time in the games just like the other players in this year''s draft had. This was the last day that Jake had to train alone because that day the players that would come to the game would arrive in the city of Miami, Jake had organized all the details for the game that they would have and even the company that Kate suggested that he hire to organize the equipment Kate would need to sing on the day of the game, she had already come to the Miami Arena and knew the equipment needed for the show. So the other day Jake had already agreed with all the players on his team that they would train at his home in Miami, which had a professional court and was a place that had no danger of having the media appear to ask questions of the players. The players of the opposing team could train in a court that Jake had rented for the next 5 days, Jake had prepared everything to have a good game, even though Jake had arranged for the players to eat in his mother''s restaurant, the hotel where they were also had a restaurant of course. But for the first day, he called Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter to dinner with him, after all, they were the best friends he had on the Tar Heels team and until now they were the best friends he had in the NBA. "Hi, Jake, what a great game you organized for us, Hahaha, I thought we would still be a few months away from playing again." "It''s true, I was already at North Carolina training with our team, I tried to help them with training and study for another semester, but I really wanted a game like that so I wouldn''t be out of shape." "I also really wanted to play basketball again, I could just ask you to play, but I thought I could enjoy and make a game that could make us better known to NBA fans and we could also help a charity." Vince and Antawn thought that Jake had a great idea, in fact, others might have an idea like that, but they wouldn''t be able to organize a game like Jake did so quickly and even call a singer and have the game broadcast and even get sponsors. Of course, they didn''t know that Jake intended to pay for everything himself if he couldn''t get sponsors, plus Jake would donate $ 1 million which he would pay to pay for all the costs of the game and still help a charity. "You said you were at North Carolina University with the Tar Heels team, so you can follow the team these past few months, it''s amazing how the Tar Heels team continued to win several games and took this game streak without losing to 75 games before they lose." "Yes, it was a shame that the team lost, but it was really hard to break that UCLA team record, we know well the pressure we felt on having to keep winning without losing any game to try to break that record." "Even so, I think it''s incredible what we helped to achieve, it will be very difficult for someone to break our record of winning streak, so we can enter the history of college basketball." So the three laughed, they were in the NBA right now that they still didn''t have the opportunity to play, but none of them regretted the time they spent at the university, the three talked more about the university and Antawn asked a question that left Jake without know how to respond. "Hey Jake, Vince and I already talked about it, it was a coincidence that we have changed teams in this draft, now I''m in the Golden State Warriors and Vince is in the Toronto Raptors, do you think we will have a good performance in our teams and that are we going to play there for many years?" Antawn was just kidding asking Jake this, but seeing as Jake was serious as if hesitating to say what he was thinking, Antawn knew what Jake was like, so now Jake should be thinking seriously about it. "You can tell us what you think, Jake, we just want to know your opinion, it''s not like what you say is really going to happen." "Okay, Jake, you can tell us what you think." "Okay, I don''t think we will be in our teams for many years, 5 or 6 years at the most, after all in the first years we will not receive a big salary and then maybe the other teams will offer much better offers." "I myself don''t think I''m going to stay in the Los Angeles Lakers for many years, that could change if the team becomes a united team as we were in the Tar Heels team, so I might want to continue." "As for our first year in the NBA, I think that between you two it is Vince who will be most successful because the Toronto Raptors team needs a player in his position and also because they like his style of play." "Also, in the Toronto Raptors team there is also Tracy McGrady who is very talented, so I think Vince is going to have a better debut year." Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison thought about what Jake said and understood what he was thinking, it was certainly true that Antawn would have to fight for a spot on his team and Vince would have a spot on his team. But it was strange for Jake to talk about it because Tracy McGrady didn''t even play long last season on the Toronto Raptors team, but it made sense, of course, they didn''t ask how Jake thought his NBA debut year would be. After all Jake was playing on the Los Angeles Lakers team that had Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal, in addition, the Los Angeles Lakers team switched 3 players to have Jake on their team so it was natural to think that Jake would have a lot of time to play. They even thought it possible that the Los Angeles Lakers team could win the NBA title with Jake on that team with great players, after all, they knew Jake well and knew how he could help the team win in many ways. Jake could help by being put on defense because of the steals he made and the rebounds he picked up, he could be placed just to make assists and organize shots, or just to make points with three-point shots or speed shots. that he had. They were sure that Jake would be a big NBA star in the future, they realized that Jake had a different style of play than most of the players they knew and still managed to make an average of 30 points, 10 assists and 7 steals per game. So in the future when Jake started winning several NBA championsh.i.p.s and becoming the MVP, his playing style would finally be praised, it was strange for them who played with the game and knew he was already a basketball genius and even so he kept improving during the season. If they realized that Jake has improved even more in the past few months even without playing or training hard they would have to admit that even they could not imagine what Jake would become for basketball in the future. They didn''t talk about it so as not to put too much pressure on Jake, but if he managed to maintain the average points, assists and steals he had at university playing in the NBA, he would definitely be the best player of all time. Chapter 471 - Basketball and Business 5 The other day very early he sent some drivers he had hired for the next few days to take some rental cars to pick up his team players at the hotel, Jake would not rent a bus or order several taxis for his teammates. Jake had already called the players who were waiting in the hotel lobby, they were curious because they never saw anyone do this, but they soon accepted and got into the cars that followed one after the other until they reached the mansion where Jake lived. All the players were surprised by the mansion that Jake owned, they thought he managed to buy this mansion after getting his sponsorship contracts with Adidas and other companies, but they soon realized that this was a house that had existed for many years. "Welcome, I wanted to thank everyone for coming to Miami for this game, I hope everyone will have fun in the game and know that you will help thousands of people from a charity with this game." "Let''s go to the back of my house, which has the court and a locker room where you can change clothes." So the players followed Jake and went to the locker room where they had prepared uniforms, they were not the uniforms they would wear in the game, but they were from Adidas too, they had blue and red shirts to differentiate the teams. The players started talking while warming up and Jake went to talk to all the players a little bit, he spoke to Tracy McGrady to thank him for accepting the invitation, he spoke to Paul Pierce, and also to Tim Duncan to thank. So the players thought Jake looked very humble and spoke to everyone politely, many skilled players like him became arrogant over time, so they soon went to the court at Jake''s house. They were impressed with the quality of the court, Jake had done something as professional as possible, but without bleachers and without all the beauty of an Arena, so it didn''t cost millions of dollars as the Arenas did. "I was thinking that we could do some team training to warm up a little bit and then we can do two teams of 4 players and have one player on reserve, whoever stays on reserve can play on both teams." "So we can have a little training playing a game with 2 times of 10 minutes, what do you think?" Everyone agreed with Jake and thought it was best to do it anyway, so all the players did exercises doing passing and dribbling training and then doing three-point shots and mid-range shots. Almost all of the players on Jake''s team were skilled at three-point shots, most notably Jake, Paul Pierce, and Vince Carter, all players had skills to catch rebounds, but Jake, Antawn Jamison, and Tim Duncan were superior to everyone. So after training and with everyone warm-up, the hardest part was putting together two teams balanced with these players, Jake knew how to put together the best team possible, but that would make the training boring. But Jake didn''t want to lose, so he wouldn''t send the best players to the other team, so after thinking a little, Jake decided to build a team to win, but that the game could be played too. The teams would be Jake, Tim Duncan, Vince Carter, and Paul Pierce, the other team would be Michael Doleac, Tracy McGrady, Antawn Jamison, and Tim Thomas, Bryce Drew would play in reserve, Jake knew his team was much stronger, but at least he would be able to train like that. The players thought that the two teams were balanced after all in Jake''s team only Tim Duncan was a player that everyone knew he played well, the training game started and Tim Duncan won the contest at the top and passed the ball to Jake. Jake calmly advanced the ball remembering the feeling of playing a game with real teammates and opponents, it was great to do his imagination training, but it could never be like a real game. Jake advanced with the ball and soon passed to Vince Carter who was on the left, Carter advanced with the ball and soon Tracy McGrady arrived to defend, Carter tried to pass by McGrady and failed and had to pass to Paul Pierce on the right. Pierce advanced with the ball and managed to get rid of Antawn Jamison''s defense and ran to make the layup and get the first 2 points of the game, Jake could soon see that all the players were in good physical condition. Jake also realized that this game they were playing was different from what it was at university, Paul Pierce seemed to have much more skill and agility to get rid of his opponent''s defense than Carter and Jamison had. Jake also realized that he could just pass the ball to Tim Duncan because Michael Doleac would not be able to defend against him, so the attacks would be much faster, soon after it was the turn of Antawn Jamison''s team to attack. As they were not playing with a PG, Tracy McGrady was setting the shots, so it would be him who Jake would have to defend against McGrady stepped forward and tried to get rid of Jake''s defense, but Jake was faster and just kept his distance. So McGrady had to pass the ball to Jamison on the right, Jamison took the ball and Pierce soon appeared to press on defense, Jamison tried to pass through the defense and failed and had to pass to McGrady further back. McGrady observed the placement of his teammates and passed the ball to Tim Thomas, Carter was defending against Thomas, but Thomas could not try to get rid of the defense easily because Jake and Tim Duncan were watching him. So Thomas passed the ball to Doleac who was ahead, Doleac received the ball and turn to make the layup, but Duncan used his strength to hinder Doleac in the play that missed the attack, Duncan soon caught the rebound and passed it to Jake. Jake calmly advanced into the attack while his teammates advanced into the attack, reaching the three-point line, this time McGrady was defending against him and Tim Thomas was defending against Carter. Seeing this, Jake realized that McGrady was too far away and so he took advantage and tried the three-point shot to hit and make 3 more points for his team who already had a 5 point advantage. So Jamison''s team realized that Jake''s team was much stronger and they had no chance of winning, the training game ended with Jake''s team winning by 16 points. In this training it was easy to see the qualities and defects of almost all the players, Jake managed to defend very well against McGrady and for that reason McGrady had no opportunity to make any points. Jake made 4 steals in that game and 2 blocks and left the rebounds to Duncan, with Duncan catching the rebounds of Jamison''s team failed to catch any offensive rebounds, and Jake tried more to make assists than to make points to know how his teammates They were playing. Tim Duncan, Tim Thomas, and Tracy McGrady who already had experience in the NBA realized that Jake already had the quality to be a very good player in the NBA even though he didn''t debut, they knew that because the three wanted to have someone like Jake playing on their team. For the training to be fairer in the coming days the teams were changed with Tim Duncan always playing on Jake''s opposing team to make everything more balanced, but Jake''s team won in all training sessions. On those days, in addition to training the players of the two teams, they also made new friends, Jake became more friends with Tim Duncan and Paul Pierce as well, the two teams made two different groups of friends on those days. The players invited by Jake agreed to go to dinner a few times at Eva''s restaurant, but Jake didn''t accompany them once because he still wanted to respect Lola and didn''t want to cause unnecessary discomfort. The sports media in the United States began to gather more in the city and were able to interview the rookie players several times during these days, so basketball fans started to become more interested in this game. Tickets for the game had already sold out and so Jake managed to raise another $ 1.1 million for charity, players were excited to learn that 15,000 tickets had been sold to watch their game. The ticket price was not expensive, but it was also not cheap and it was basketball fans who decided to pay for tickets, Jake also knew that more people were subscribing to TNT just to watch their game. That was because TNT was doing good advertising and making it easier for more people to pay for the subscription, the fans liked it because it had a lot of good programming on the other subscription channels as well. Fortunately, Jake had already warned all players more than a month ago and so everyone managed to be in the best physical condition for this game, so it would depend on the performance of the players to gain the recognition of the fans. After several days of training, Jake''s teammates were confident that they would win this game because with Tim Duncan, Jake, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison and Tracy McGrady they had the confidence to win that game. Antawn Jamison would play as a PF in that game and thus the team would have more speed and with Jamison and Duncan they would get all the rebounds and many points inside the area, and in defense, they would have Jake and Tim Duncan to avoid the attacks of the opponents. So with only one day to go before the special game Jake can finally meet Kate, she had called him because her manager wanted to talk to him, Kate''s manager was called Lily, she was 31 and was already married to a lawyer. Lily was a beautiful woman who took care of herself, but she was a little overweight because she didn''t eat properly because she had to work a lot, Lily had black eyes and hair and her eyes were highlighted because of the glasses she wore. Chapter 472 - Basketball and Business 6 Jake went to meet Kate and Lily at a more elegant restaurant that was more appropriate to talk business, this restaurant could also drive away from the paparazzi who were trying to find out if Jake and Kate were really together and wanted to take a picture of them together. This time Jake can''t take Kate by car and went to meet them at the restaurant, they were both dressed elegantly, Kate was wearing a simpler blue dress and Lily was wearing a green dress. "Good night to you, it''s nice to meet you in person, Lily." "It''s a pleasure to be able to talk to you too, Jake, I''ve seen you a few times, but we haven''t had a chance to talk." "I wanted to thank you for taking such good care of Kate for all these years, she always speaks very highly of you and I know you have always supported her and helped her career to succeed." "Thanks, even though I always liked Kate a lot it was my job to take care of her career and other singers too, it was Kate''s talent and effort that brought her success." "I certainly know that Kate is very talented and hardworking, and she deserves all the success she is having, but I also know that without a good businesswoman, her career would not have been so successful." "I know that a businesswoman for a singer is like a coach for an athlete like me or a good manager for a manager, I only succeeded in basketball and marathons because I had good coaches and I only succeeded in my investments because I have Emily who helps me with everything." Lily felt Jake''s sincerity in those words and was grateful to him for the compliments, Kate was also very happy that Lily and Jake were getting along, Lily was the most important person in Kate''s life after Jake now that she had no family. Lily was like an older sister that Kate always wanted to have and Kate knew that Lily spent a lot more time helping her than the other artists in her company, and just like Jake said, Kate thought that without Lily she would never have the success that had. Lily liked Jake very much and really thought he was the ideal boyfriend for Kate since she always needed to travel and could never be like ordinary women, Jake also always needed to travel and it would be easy for Kate to take a vacation when Jake was on vacation and they would have a few months together. But Lily knew how many men there were who just seemed to be the perfect man, but actually wanted to deceive women and just enjoy it, even though Lily thought Jake wasn''t like that because of the way he treated his mother, she had to know for the good Kate. So the three talked happily without talking about any more serious matter, when Kate had to go to the bathroom Lily didn''t go with her and stayed to talk to Jake more when Kate left Lily decided to ask Jake more serious questions. "Jake, I''m going, to be honest with you, I had a great first impression of you and I think you are a really great person by the way you treat your mom, but I''m still worried about Kate." "She met you the day her parents died and said that she had liked you very much since the first time you met, but my fear is that the shock caused by her parents'' death and the fact that Kate stayed talking to you saved her life may be misleading her feelings." "Do you really think that could be possible?" "I don''t know, I don''t think it''s possible because you guys saw each other again when Kate had already recovered from the trauma of her parents'' death, what may have happened is that the feelings she already had only intensified because you saved her her life." "So I have to tell you, I have been working in the world of artists for many years and I have learned to recognize when someone is lying, so I am going to ask some questions while Kate is not here." "Do you really love Kate?" "Yes, I can''t explain if it''s really love, but I can say that I never felt what I feel for Kate for anyone before, it''s a very strong feeling that I have felt since the first time I met her and it just increased. last months." Lily liked Jake''s response and felt that he really was honest saying that he thought he loved Kate, with that she can now be much more relaxed because it meant that Jake was not manipulating Kate''s feelings by taking advantage of her fragility. "I''ll ask you one more question, do you think about marrying Kate? Even knowing that because of her career she will never be able to live normally in the same house as you as other women normally do?" "I think, after the last few months I got to know Kate a lot better and I respect her a lot and I love Kate, that''s why I''ve been doing everything slowly in our relationship, this care is because I''m afraid of losing Kate, if I could I would ask her in marriage today." Lily was really surprised this time, she didn''t expect Jake to really think about marriage so seriously and from what she can see Jake could really ask Kate if he didn''t know it was too early yet. So Lily was no longer afraid that Jake would hurt Kate''s feelings, only if Kate wanted to part with Jake that they would part, what Lily didn''t know was that Jake already had a mentality of almost 50 years old. So he naturally wanted to marry Kate as soon as he was sure he loved her, even though she couldn''t live normally with him as an ordinary couple, Jake was prepared for that when he decided to enter the NBA. After a while, Kate came back to the table at dinner and saw Jake and Lily talking quietly and did not know the serious conversation they had involving her just a few moments ago, so dinner went on smoothly and after a while they said goodbye. Lily wasn''t going to tell Kate about anything she had talked to Jake about and she was going to let their relationship progress naturally, and Jake was just happy that Lily had liked him and it wouldn''t be against his relationship with Kate. At dinner, they naturally talked about Kate''s show and she was very confident that everything was going to be all right and she and her dancers were prepared to get ready in between games. The other day finally came the big game day that Jake had organized, the sports media and basketball fans who were interested in that game were looking forward to the game that would start at 7 pm, so fans at home and at the Arena could watch the game and go home quietly afterward. In the morning Jake was very excited when he woke up early to prepare his breakfast, Eva had gone to the restaurant and would stay there until 5 pm, then she would go with Anna to the Arena to watch Jake''s game. Jake invited several of his friends to watch the game, but the people who were in Miami were very busy with work and didn''t even like basketball very much, they just watched Jake''s important games to support them. His friends from the university decided to travel to their house to see their family, after all besides Zack who lived close to home his other friends did not see the family for more than 3 years. So only Kate, Anna, and his mother would watch this game, but Jake understood the situation of his friends and was not discouraged by it, the important thing was to play a good game and have fun knowing that he could help a charity with that. After a few hours, Jake went to the hotel in his car, the other players would go in the cars he had rented, Jake had heard reports that the opposing team had also trained a lot these past few days on the basketball court that Jake prepared. Jake spoke several times with the players of the opposing team to find out if they were well on their trip to Miami, so he knew they were well and prepared for the game, Jake wanted a game played even though he knew his team was stronger. Jake arrived a little earlier in his team''s locker room, he knew that Kate was also already at the Miami Arena with the dancers and the team that would prepare her show at the break, the Arena speakers and other speakers were arranged so that Kate to sing the national anthem before the game. Jake was the first to arrive at the Arena and can see the uniforms prepared for his team by Adidas and some drinks from Gatorade were placed in an icebox, this made Jake very happy, his bandana and his arm protector were also prepared to the game. Jake was very proud of the preparation he was able to do for this big game, this was the first big event he organized and everything was going very well, Jake started doing the warm-up exercises for the game. This game would be in 4 quarters of 12 minutes each as it was in the NBA, the break would have 20 minutes for players to rest and for Kate''s team to quickly prepare the court for her to sing two songs. Since it was Jake who was going to prepare the game and the referees were warned it would be no problem to have another 5-minute break, Jake also asked the company he hired to organize a place for reporters to stay and the sports media as well. Of course, for TNT reporters Jake ordered that the same access be given as it was on match days, as the teams would not have official coaches only the captains of the teams could ask for time and replace the players, and the captains would be Jake and Mike Bibby. Chapter 473 - Basketball and Business 7 After some time the players'' cars arrived and they were entering the Arena to go to the dressing rooms that were prepared, the fans were already entering the Arena and going to their seats in the stands to watch the game. When the players of Jake''s team arrived they saw that Jake was already wearing the uniform and had the bandanna and the yellow arm protector that was the color of their uniform, Jake''s team would play in yellow uniforms and the opponents they would have blue uniforms. The players greeted each other and put on their uniforms and then started the warm-up exercises, then they would have to make some moves on the court to be more relaxed for the game, so Jake decided to say a few words to the players. "Once again I would like to thank everyone who came to this game that I organized, this will be important for children who receive help after we send all that money to charity." "As I said before, this game will also be important for NBA fans to get to know you more and how you play, of course, some do not need this game for this, but that way we will help others with this game too." "Everyone knows who will be the starting team for this game that was decided in yesterday''s training, everyone will have the opportunity to play, I want you to have fun and relax and play as you always do that we will win this game." After Jake''s speech, they and the players went to the court to finish the warm-up there, the opposing team had also arrived on the court and were in the left half of the court. The players looked at the stands and saw that they were full of fans who came to watch them play, of course, everyone was used to it playing at their universities, but they knew this was considered a game by NBA players, so it was special. In the crowd, the fans shouted more the name of Tim Duncan and some fans called the names of the other players who had already debuted in the NBA, of the players who had not yet played in the NBA the name most shouted by the fans was Jake. After all Jake was very famous in Miami for appearing several times in the newspaper and for playing in high school in Miami too, besides, Jake was known for his marathons and commercials too. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch the broadcast of this special basketball game among NBA rookies who haven''t made their NBA debut yet, and also some who made a good debut season last year." "This is a special game in which all the money raised goes to a charity, this game was organized by the number 1 draft pick of this season Jake Smith, and it is also for basketball fans who were longing for basketball games between NBA players." "That''s right, we only have new players today and many of them could become big NBA stars in the future, Tim Duncan, Ron Mercer, Tracy McGrady, Jake Smith, Vince Carter, Mike Bibby, Antawn Jamison, and many other players could be the stars the NBA." "The players have already warmed up and now everyone will stop respecting because the national anthem will be sung, the singer Kate Annesley who had a song in the first place on Billboard that year will sing the national anthem." Kate was very applauded by the basketball fans and the players were already waiting for the national anthem, Jake knew that Kate was very talented and the only advice he gave was for Kate to sing the national anthem normally using her talent and not try to be different. After all, Jake had already seen big names in the music being embarrassed for trying to sing the national anthem in many different ways, Jake thought that the national anthem had to be sung with respect and a lot of talent could be shown singing correctly. Kate listened to Jake''s advice and sang the national anthem normally with only a few differences in that she sang a few longer lines to show her talent, and the audience loved what Kate did and applauded a lot. "It was a beautiful presentation of our national anthem sung by Kate Annesley, she will still be back in the game to sing two songs, we can wait for that." "The players are already prepared for the start of this game between the yellow team of Jake Smith and Tim Duncan and the blue team of Mike Bibby and Ron Mercer." "The yellow team starts playing with Jake Smith, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Tracy McGrady, and Tim Duncan, and the blue team starts playing with Mike Bibby, Larry Hughes, Ron Mercer, Raef LaFrentz, and Robert Traylor." "They are two very strong teams of young players, but I think the yellow team is more likely to win this game with Tim Duncan, Jake Smith, and Vince Carter on the team, but we will follow the game to know the result." The game started and Tim Duncan soon won the ball for the yellow team to start the move, Jake received the ball and advanced slowly towards the attack, Mike Bibby was defending against him, but knowing how Jake played Bibby was a little distant to prevent Jake move quickly with the ball. Jake advanced with the ball and soon passed to Vince Carter on the left, Carter was being defended by Larry Hughes, Carter held the ball and soon passed ahead to Antawn Jamison who was playing as a PF in that game. Jamison was being defended by Raef LaFrentz and would have difficulty to attack calmly in that game, Jamison passed the ball to Tim Duncan who was on the right, Duncan received the ball and advanced to make the layup and the first 2 points for the yellow team. Robert Traylor who was defending against Duncan cannot do anything to stop him, Bibby took the ball and went forward to try to make the first points for the blue team, the defense of the yellow team was not so good with the defense of the blue team, but they still had Duncan and Jake to defend. Bibby knew that and was prepared not to score too much in that game, he went forward and passed the ball to Hughes on the left, Hughes advanced with the ball and quickly passed it to LaFrentz later on. LaFrentz received the ball and turn to lay up and get the first 2 points for the blue team, Jamison was unable to stop LaFrentz who made the points easily, both teams had players in the attack who could easily make the points. In the first minutes the two teams were seeing how they were doing and making safe plays, so the two teams were still tied in the game, the fans were excited to see a game played and the players attacked with skill. "Almost 5 minutes of play and the two teams are tied, it seems that the players are still trying to analyze the opponents and making the plays safer, neither team is taking risks in the attack nor putting pressure on the defense." "Duncan has already scored 4 points in the game and Jake has yet to attempt a three-point shot, so when players start to take more chances the game will be more exciting." Jake really wanted to give his teammates the opportunity to score and show their skills, in the attack the most guaranteed plays were with Duncan and Tracy McGrady, Jamison had difficulty winning the plays against LaFrentz and Carter had difficulty winning many plays against Hughes. And on the side of the blue team, the attacking players who had the easiest were LaFrentz, Hughes, and Ron Mercer, so the two teams were pretty much the same after Carter scored 2 points for the yellow team the blue team was attacking with Bibby. He advanced with the ball and passed it to Hughes, Hughes did not try to do the feint and passed the ball to Mercer on the right, Mercer tried to do the feint against McGrady, but failed and passed the ball farther back to Bibby, Jake was further behind analyzing the move and Bibby tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the blue team. Jake was surprised by this because he thought Bibby would assist, but he didn''t care and went on the attack after receiving Duncan''s ball, Jake passed the ball to McGrady on the left who advanced to the three-point line and went on to the ball for Carter. Carter received the ball and held the ball a little before passing it to Jake who was further behind, Jake received the ball and even far from the three-point line he tried the shot from outside and hit with 3 more points for the yellow team. Jake wanted to make more assists in that game, but he thought that Bibby had challenged him by making the three-point play and he had to respond, the crowd that had been excited about Bibby''s play was also excited by Jake''s play. So the first quarter ended with the yellow team winning by 3 points difference and Jake had made 6 points in that game, Jake decided to let Bibby make the shots from three points so that he could also show his skills in that game. After all, if the two tried 10 shots from three points Jake would hit 7 and Bibby would hit 5 at the most, so it would not hinder the yellow team from getting the win after all this was a friendly game and Jake didn''t need to show all his skills to the team yellow achieve victory. "The yellow team ended up winning this first quarter, it is being a balanced game in which the two teams are very offensive and the defenses are unable to stop the opponent''s attack." "That''s right, Jake and Bibby started trying the shots from outside as well and the game started to get more excited, the fans are enjoying this game and we are seeing the skill of the new players." In that first quarter, Jake had played the 12 minutes, made 6 points, and 2 assists, as was agreed in the second quarter the players who were in the reserve would enter and only one player from each team would remain on the court. Chapter 474 - Basketball and Business 8 So the yellow team would play Bryce Drew, Tracy McGrady now playing as SG, Paul Pierce, Tim Thomas, and Michael Doleac, the blue team would play Jason Williams, Michael D.i.c.kerson, Matt Harpring, Pat Garrity, and Raef LaFrentz playing as Center. In this second quarter, the teams were more balanced and the yellow team had a small advantage in attack and the blue team was stronger in defense, unlike the first quarter also in the second quarter the players were playing more seriously wanting to play the best they could. In an attack by the yellow team, Bryce Drew was advancing with the ball, and reaching the three-point line he passed to Tracy McGrady on the left, McGrady managed to get rid of Michael D.i.c.kerson''s defense and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the yellow team. The blue team also attacked and after a good attacking move Jason Williams passed the ball to Michael D.i.c.kerson who tried the shot from outside and scored 3 more points to the blue team, that game was much more played in the second quarter. The yellow team attacked again and after a good attack play Doleac passed the ball farther back to Paul Pierce, Pierce stepped back and tried the shot from outside and scored 3 more points for the yellow team. With this game played the blue team got the advantage with LaFrentz''s plays and the whole team attacked well, Michael McGrady tried to make many attacks alone and the defense of the blue team pressed the defense against him and thus he lost many attacks. Pierce still made some good plays and made 6 points in that second quarter, Jake had promised that he would leave the team as it was for everyone to have the opportunity to play, but in the third and fourth quarter, they could regain the advantage and win the game. "The two teams changed almost all the players and we could see all the players of the two teams playing in those first two quarters, the blue team goes to the break with the advantage, but when the initial yellow team comes back the result of the game will be uncertain." "It''s true, Tracy McGrady who was left to play for the yellow team in the second quarter wanted to receive the ball and score points in several plays and so the defense of the blue team defended well against him and managed good plays with Raef LaFrentz." "Now that we are on break we are going to follow Kate Annesley''s show that will sing two songs, one of them is the song that was in Billboard''s first place for two weeks this year and the other song was in the Billboard''s top 100 this year too." The team recommended by Kate was very good and in a few minutes prepared a stage and everything for Kate''s show at the game break, some people who came to this game just wanted to watch Kate''s show. Jake also didn''t go to the locker room to rest and stayed in a hidden place to watch Kate''s show, Eva and Anna who came to watch Jake''s game would also have the opportunity to see Jake''s girlfriend sing. The first song that Kate sang talked about love and it was a romantic and lively song as well and it had been very successful that year to be able to enter the first place on Billboard, even those who didn''t know her who came to see the game liked this song and Jake was happy about it. Kate''s second song was a song that talked about how women were independent, but it didn''t offend men either, with a lively rhythm that song pleased women a lot more and men also liked it. Kate and her team of dancers had great choreography for the two songs and Kate danced well while singing what pleased the fans too, when the two songs ended at the Miami Arena they applauded her, and Jake went back to the locker room to wait for the go back to the court. With this show, Kate was very happy and Eva and Anna also liked Kate''s songs very much, TNT was also happy because there were millions of people watching this game broadcast by them and most people were watching Kate''s show during the game break too. It was their audience record for this game, so the directors of the network who were already thinking about starting to broadcast basketball and football games realized how good it could be for their network. Jake was happy with Kate''s success and had decided that he would return after the break to win that game, the two teams returned with the same players from the first quarter to the third quarter, Jake let Tracy McGrady remain on his team, but in the last quarter, he would make a change in the team. Early in the third quarter Jake moved forward with a faster pace, Jake passed the ball to McGrady on the right, and Mercer pressed the defense against him, so McGrady had to pass the ball to Carter from the left, Carter passed the ball to Jake in the back. Bibby was defending against him and Jake saw that Carter was free from the left after passing the ball to him, so Jake passed the ball back to Carter who tried the shot from outside and scored 3 more points for the yellow team. Carter seemed to be training more three-point shots from what Jake had seen, on the Tar Heels team he and Shammond Williams were very good at three-point shots, so Vince Carter didn''t try much, but Jake remembered that Carter would be an of the best players in the NBA three-point shots. In another play Bibby advanced the ball to organize the attack of the blue team, Bibby saw that Jake was away from him and tried to pass the ball to Mercer, but Jake was too fast and intercepted the ball making the steal, Jake advanced using his speed and Bibby who was further behind was unable to keep up. So Jake can easily do the dunk and 2 more points for the yellow team, Jake had returned to the third quarter thinking about winning the game so he would start playing seriously in defense. The players of both teams realized that Jake was playing seriously and started to work hard too, Bibby advanced with the ball and passed to Mercer on the right, Mercer passed the ball to LaFrentz who soon managed to get away from Jamison and went to make the layup, but Duncan understood the move well and went on to make the block. Jake picked up the ball after Duncan''s block and held the ball and didn''t try to move fast when Jake advanced to the three-point line Bibby started to press in defense, so Jake signaled and Duncan came and made the screen and Jake could pass freely on the right. But Jake didn''t try the shot and Robert Traylor who came when Duncan made the screen and Bibby tried to pressure Jake, he was smarter and made a high pass to Duncan who took the ball high and made the dunk to complete the alley-oop. Jake''s yellow team managed to tie the game and started to open the lead before the blue team managed to recover in the game, the blue team managed to press and attack too, but the yellow team already had the advantage. "What a great game we''ve been having so far, Jake and the yellow team''s starting players came back with a desire to win in that third quarter." "The blue team was unable to defend the great moves of Jake, Duncan, and Carter, and Jake started making more steals, and Duncan also started making more blocks and so the yellow team has a big advantage on the scoreboard." "We still have the last quarter and the blue team still has a chance to win, but if Jake and the other players on the yellow team continue to play well so the yellow team is closer to victory." In the last quarter of the game, Jake decided to put Paul Pierce on the yellow team in place of Tracy McGrady, McGrady cannot be upset because only he had played 36 minutes in the first three quarters of the game. The blue team did not replace anyone and still left Raef LaFrentz to play the entire game, LaFrentz had already been replaced for a few minutes in that game to rest and could play most of the 12 minutes in the last quarter. In the last quarter the yellow team continued to press in attack and defense, Jake talked to Carter and Pierce and they decided to make more three-point moves and so the blue team''s defense had to leave the inside area to defend. Even though they went out to defend Traylor, he was always defending against Duncan, but so Antawn Jamison had a lot of freedom to attack, Jamison had made few points in that game because Raef LaFrentz was playing very well in defense. But with Jake, Carter, and Pierce making several three-point shots, the blue team could no longer defend against Jamison and leave the other players free, with this change the blue team''s defense failed to adjust and the yellow team won the game. The yellow team won having 123 points against 102 points of the blue team, in that game, Jake had 27 points, 13 assists, 2 rebounds, and 6 steals, Jake only played for 36 minutes and in the first quarter he had only 6 points, but he was satisfied with his performance in that game. "And so the game ends with the victory of the yellow team, Jake Smith played very well in that game showing all his skills, Vince Carter also played very well and Antawn Jamison had his highlight in the last quarter." "Paul Pierce entered the team very well and performed well and Tracy McGrady managed to score 24 points, and the highlight of the yellow team in attack and defense was Tim Duncan." "In the blue team all the players also performed well, but the yellow team was better and so the fans were able to meet the new players and see a little bit of how they can do in the next NBA season." Chapter 475 - Basketball and Business 9 The game ended and all the players enjoyed this game very much, even the players of the blue team who lost, the fans who paid for tickets were also happy with the high-level game they were able to see. TNT was also happy with the game and with the audience record, Kate''s show also made the station''s directors happy, Kate was very happy because everyone liked her presentation, and Jake and Anna''s mother was also happy that Jake''s team won the game. In a game where the money would be raised for charity, it was normal for everyone to enjoy the game and be happy with what happened, the players even did interviews with TNT reporters talking about their expectations for the next NBA season. Jake did not give interviews and after saying goodbye to the players left for the house after meeting Eva and Anna inside the Arena, Jake wanted to meet Kate, but he knew the paparazzi were waiting for this to start the rumors. The players would still stay another day in Miami and Jake had agreed to have lunch with all 17 players he invited, everyone was happy with the result of that game, and the next day Jake would announce in a newspaper all the amounts that were collected for that game. It would be reported the costs of the game, and the travel and lodging of the players and the money received by the sponsors and TNT, the money from the ticket sales and the additional 1 million dollars that Jake would donate, in total 3 million and 325 thousand were collected dollars that would be donated to the institution that cared for children with cancer that Jake had visited. The other day Jake woke up happy with the result of the game he organized, many fans of the sport and the sports media were surprised with the income that this game raised for charity and also with the additional donation of 1 million dollars from Jake. This took away any suspicion that Jake was thinking of making this game thinking about making money or having another type of win, Jake had published all the values ??involved in this game and even made an audit to anyone suspicious of him. So the other players had even more respect for Jake and many basketball fans became fans of Jake who was being a generous person at that time when the NBA was involved in a lockout that was a fight between the players and the team owners for seeing who could make the most money. Jake had lunch with the players and everyone became more friends after that, Jake was sad to have to say goodbye to his friends Vince, Antawn and Tim Duncan, because he knew they would meet again as rivals in the NBA. Jake said goodbye to the players and went to meet Kate, he can''t speak to her on the day of the game and I really wanted to congratulate her for the excellent show and her success that was praised after singing the national anthem. "Hi, Kate, congratulations on the success of your performance yesterday, you sang the national anthem very well and you were also great singing your songs at break time, I was watching in secret." "Thanks, Jake, I saw you watching when I sang the first song, I was really happy that everyone liked it, thanks for inviting me." "I am the one who thanks you, you suggested that you could participate and I could never imagine that there would be a great singer like you singing in the game, it helped a lot to increase the audience and made this game more memorable." "Congratulations on the success of the game too, I watched almost the entire game and I was happy to see your team win, I also saw in the newspaper your donation to the charity, you deserved to be successful for your generosity." "I had already made a donation to this institution and had promised to donate again, fortunately with this game, the opportunity arose for me to fulfill my promise, I hope this donation helps the children." Kate was even more impressed by Jake''s generosity for making this donation, she knew several basketball players and very few players thought so much about helping charity, even the highest-paid ones didn''t think about doing it. Jake and Kate talked for a while longer and then Jake returned home, a few days after Jake''s game, he had another game with much better-known players in the NBA, but because the game would be broadcast by subscription and the players said they wanted to be part of the game. income before the game, this game was not as successful as the newbie game that Jake organized. The end of the year passed quickly and Kate spent the Christmas parties at Jake''s house and they felt more like family, so in January Jake had a simple celebration of his 20th birthday. Only Kate, Anna and some of Jake''s friends were invited, and as the party was in Miami everyone was able to go, Clara, Tiffany, Joseph, Oliver, Matthew, and a few others went, Eva was very happy that Jake could spend the birthday in the home that year. After his birthday, Kate told Jake that she would have to end her vacation, which was too long, it was almost 4 months of vacation and if it weren''t for her participation in Jake''s game, her label would have called to complain. Jake was sad to know that Kate would have to leave, but he understood and knew that soon he would be called to Los Angeles because the lockout was close to ending, besides, Jake knew that dating Kate he would have to get used to staying long periods of time away from it. Kate had previously thought about making another musical album, but after the show at Jake''s game she got a lot of invitations and was going to organize a tour of the world, her musical album had been made in 1998 and it was still recent, so it was better than she does the shows to get more fame and money. After Kate left Jake decided to settle the deals he was late to do after his birthday, 1998 had ended and Matthew''s company and Clara''s company had finished the balance sheet and could pay shareholders for the profits they had. But before Jake thought about going to Matthew''s house to talk to him, Emily showed up at his home in Miami very excited to give reports on the earnings of Cisco''s stock in 1998. Jake knew why Emily was so excited because he remembered how the stock price had increased in 1998, in 1999 it would increase even more, and in 2000 when he sold the shares they would become billionaires. "Hi, Emily, calm down a little and sit down first." Emily was embarrassed to be more excited than Jake about this and sat on the sofa in Jake''s living room, he poured Emily a glass of water that managed to compose herself to speak with Jake more calmly. "I''m sorry, Jake, I was really excited, I was worried that the stock price might drop in the last year and that''s why I was surprised." "Okay, well, I understand your turmoil, I was also surprised at how much these stocks appreciated so much, I expected the stock price to increase, but not that much." "That''s why I told you to trust me, Emily, I know that many analysts are saying that it is dangerous and risky to invest in the current market situation and that we have billions of dollars invested, but for me, this is a calculated risk and the greater the risk the greater the gain." "I trust you, but it is my job to check all the possibilities, now I will tell you first how your actions have appreciated." "You have that year after investing in the last few years just over 659 million dollars, if next year the shares will appreciate like that again you can have more than 1 billion dollars." Even though Jake already knew everything, he was still excited to know how much he had in shares, if the value of his shares in Matthew and Amazon''s company were counted, Jake would have already invested 1 billion dollars. That was why he decided to buy him a house and a car last year because he already had enough money to live on for a lifetime if he wanted to, plus he would make a lot more money in the next few years in the NBA. Emily was a little disappointed to see how Jake was not as excited as she expected, Emily knew that Jake always knew he would earn a lot of money by investing in Cisco, but even she was excited knowing that she would earn 1 percent of that money that was currently 6 million dollars. Emily didn''t talk about the shares with her father anymore after he decided to sell his shares if her father continued to invest his shares they would be worth more than 3 times when he sold, but surely her father would know that in the future and would repent for a lifetime for giving up that opportunity. "Matthew''s shares also appreciated a lot and are now worth $ 2.5 billion, as our company has 10 percent of his shares as a commission we would receive $ 250 million if we sold those shares." Jake was happy that Matthew''s shares appreciated so much, Jake wanted Matthew to earn more from his shares than his company, but luckily Matthew''s company was selling so much that Matthew earned more than $ 2.5 billion per year in profit sharing. "Thanks for the report, Emily, you''re doing a great job taking care of the company''s investments, as soon as I receive my profit share in Matthew''s company I''ll invest more money in Cisco''s shares, I think in the next few years we''ll win much more money." "If I didn''t know you, I would think you are very greedy, but I saw how you donated $ 1 million to a charity." Chapter 476 - Basketball and Business 10 "I think I should invest my money well and earn as much as I can from it, after getting a lot of money I can donate several million to charities without a second thought." "The only thing I will not do is to exploit others to make more money, but investing like everyone else is not a problem for me." After talking a little more Jake went to Matthew''s house, he was excited to know how much the company had made that year, normally they would have sold just over 1 million cameras because in the last year they sold more than 9 million cameras. But since this year they would start selling more in Asia, which was the world''s largest market for digital cameras, Jake had more hope that they could sell 2 million or more digital cameras. Arriving at Matthew''s house, Jake can see Oliver and Joseph in his office, after Matthew''s company started making a lot of money Oliver spent almost all day at Matthew''s house helping him solve the company''s problems. Joseph''s classes had not yet started so he was with his father and grandfather, they both saw Jake coming and had been waiting for him since Jake''s birthday was over. "Hi Jake, we were waiting for you, I''m going to call my dad here and we can talk more about the company." "No need Oliver, we can go to where Matthew is." "Today my father is off duty and is not resolving company matters, so talking here in the room is more comfortable." After saying this Oliver went to where Matthew was and left only Jake and Joseph in the room, the two had not talked much in the last few months and after spending so many months studying at different universities they were not as close as before. "Congratulations on the success of the game you organized, Jake, I couldn''t go in person, but I watched the game at the university." "Thank you, I was very happy that everything went well in this game, and how is your course at the university?" "Okay, I''m not one of the best students in my classes, but I get above average grades, I think the important thing is that I''m learning a lot of new things when I come home now and see my father and my grandfather talking about the company I understand everything they say." "Now I realize how amazing it was that in middle school you can talk to my grandfather about business and even give advice on his business and investments, so you don''t have to finish university to be a good manager." Jake can see that Joseph had changed so much in the last few months that they didn''t speak to each other, that was normal because Jake met Joseph when they were still children and Joseph went through adolescence and was now understanding what life really was like. "I''m happy to know that you can talk to your grandfather about the company now, after all, who are you going to be the president of the company after your grandfather retires, and how is Liza doing?" "She''s fine, Liza completely changed her personality, you wouldn''t believe it if you talked to her now, luckily she didn''t change what I liked most about her, let''s do 5 years of dating this year." "I am happy to know that you are well together, can you see her often?" "Yes, I bought a car, and several times when we don''t have classes I take my car and go to her university so that we can be together." "After the last semesters of the university, she doesn''t care that I come home as my grandfather always commands, in fact, she even advises me to come home and so she goes to her house." "Here in Miami, I can see her if we want to meet." Jake was happy that the relationship between Joseph and Liza seemed to be very well, Jake knew that Joseph liked Liza very much and if her personality was really better they could even be friends again. Now Jake and Joseph were more mature and had other friends so it was easier for them to talk quietly and they could be mutual friends again, the important thing was that after several things had happened they were still friends. Jake and Joseph continued to talk about various subjects because they had so much to say after many months of not talking when Matthew and Oliver arrived they were happy to see the two talking. "Jake, I was waiting for you, I knew you would be coming soon to hear the company''s sales report." "If I knew you were resting today, I wouldn''t have come, I didn''t want to disturb you." "Hahaha, you never bother, I already said that you are part of my family, now let''s talk about the company first." "As you know, I received an order from several large stores in Asia for our company to sell more digital cameras, we were concerned with the dam of the large camera companies in Japan, but with the order of the large stores we produced more cameras and took them to Asia." "Our sales in America and the rest of the world were not as good as we expected because of the large number of cameras we sold in the last year, but in a few months sales in Asia surprised us and we made a great profit this year too." "We sold approximately 4 million digital cameras this year, as it was not as much as last year I will reinvest 50 percent of the profit, so we will receive 2 billion and 640 million dollars in profit." Jake was impressed again, he hoped they would sell just over 1 million cameras, but they sold 4 times as many cameras, he could never hope that the Asian market was as strong as half the rest of the world. And as Matthew had said they only sold for a few months and Matthew did not produce as many cameras for fear of not selling all cameras in Asia, so until the next camera launch, they could still sell many more cameras in Asia. So Jake did a quick calculation and realized that he would receive $ 66 million more in his profit share, it was much less than in the last year, but it was because in the last year Matthew had paid 75 percent of the share to shareholders, and in that year was only 50 percent. After all, it was important to reinvest the money in the company because they were close to creating the camera and the whole system that could be used on cell phones, at Jake''s request, Matthew ordered the developers to make several models in different qualities. "And how are you planning to start selling the new camera?" "It''s like I told you it would be, the camera was already ready at the end of last year and we would start selling only in September of that year even though we had almost no profit that year, and we will continue with that period." "The camera will cost the same as the current camera and will have an improvement in the zoom system and in the resolution of the photo, we are using the technology that you developed from the touchscreen that makes the camera much easier to use." Jake allowed Matthew to use the new touchscreen technology he was close to getting the patent on, which was a strategy for them to get patent approval more quickly by showing that it really worked. Jake thought that this would help Steve Jobs think about creating the iPhone that was important to the whole world of technology, nobody could develop the touchscreen so quickly in time to produce it before Jake''s patent was approved. "And how is the development of cameras for cell phones?" "It''s going well, we have already managed to create a digital camera that could be used on a cell phone, but it will cost a lot to create just one and the resolution of the photos will be very low." "But just like you said, after we managed to create this first prototype, we started experimenting with what other cheaper components we could use, by the end of this year we will have the first product that can be sold and at an acceptable cost." Jake was very happy with this because they had been trying to develop this technology for many years and create the components that could be used, probably the way they found it was different than in Jake''s time. Of course, the camera for the cell phone would be much worse than the digital camera from Matthew''s company, and that was a request from Jake because as soon as sales of the digital cameras would stop, they had to find a cell phone company and get a profitable deal. and that would last for many years. Their biggest challenge was to create good sensors for these cell phone cameras, and that was important because in the future it would be the Sony company that would be the largest manufacturer of camera sensors for several smartphone companies. Jack was thinking about making Matthew''s company so much better than the others that whoever had a contract with his company would have the leadership in smartphones based on camera quality for many years. "Matthew, I have to tell you the report of your shares invested in the company Cisco, you now have just over 2.5 billion dollars, and I think these shares will still appreciate a lot in the coming years." Matthew, Oliver, and Joseph were very surprised to hear that, Matthew was so busy with his company''s business and the development of new products that he had even forgotten to keep up with his stock appreciation. Of course, Matthew didn''t need to be so attentive because he had full confidence in Jake and his company, after all, it was because of Jake''s encouragement that he had invested, but he heard the comments of analysts saying that they expected the stock value soon. fall too much. He could never expect his stock to appreciate more than 120 percent, that was certainly a good surprise and for the first time, his stock was worth more than the annual profit Matthew received from his company. Chapter 477 - NBA Season Begins 1 With this great appreciation Matthew regretted not having thought about investing more money than he had saved in the bank when Jake suggested this, Matthew actually thought about selling his shares and did not think about investing more. But now he realized that he had missed an excellent business opportunity, he should have trusted Jake who saved his company from bankruptcy to become the leading company in the digital camera market. Jake did not know that Matthew thought that way, in fact, he understood well what Matthew thought before, Jake was so confident that the shares would appreciate because he came from the future, otherwise he would never invest almost all of his money in Cisco shares. And Matthew had been right to invest the money back in the company, now the future of Matthew''s company was guaranteed for many years by selling digital cameras and cameras to a cell phone company. Matthew received in profit share much more than the total value of his company and he would continue to receive a lot of profit because he continued to reinvest profits in the company again. This camera would be the last one they could sell for so much profit, the next ones would have to be much lower in order to keep having so many sales, even so, Matthew had a profit margin of 60 percent and could be reduced to just 20 percent cent and greatly lower the cost of the camera. This digital camera that was being sold cost 440 dollars, and it sold for 1100 dollars, Matthew could sell for 660 dollars and still earn 220 dollars and the camera would have a value that competing companies could not compete and still earn profits. Jake really admired Matthew and knew that Matthew just needed help to be one of the most successful men in the world, today if Matthew''s equity was calculated he would be 15th among the richest men in the world. After all, Matthew''s total fortune was over 11 billion dollars, that was because he still had 78 percent of his company and had 2.5 billion invested in shares and had gained almost 5 billion in profit share from his own company. always having reinvested in the company. Jake knew that Matthew was much richer than him and would be even more so when Jake sold the shares in 2000, but in the future, Jake knew that the richest in the world would be him because he intended to invest in 3 of the 4 largest technology companies in the world. "Jake, I confess that I didn''t trust your investment vision very much and that''s why I refused to invest more in the Cisco company, but I realized that I was wrong and I could have gained many billions to trust you more." "It doesn''t matter, Matthew, I understand why you did this and I confess I would do the same if I were you, the important thing is that your company has managed to grow and will continue to grow." "Yes, that is important, Jake, because now I am going to try to correct my mistake and invest almost all the money I earned with the company in shares of the company Cisco, and you will take care of that money for me." Jake, Oliver, and Joseph were shocked to hear this, at a time when the market was most uncertain and no one knew when the stock market bubble would burst and it was hard to believe that someone as conservative as Matthew would risk everything. "Dad, I don''t think it''s a good idea to do that, I know you trust Jake and I do too, but we''re talking about the stock exchange and not Jake, you can lose everything." "Oliver is right, Matthew, it is very risky for you to invest all that money, even because it will be difficult to sell all the shares in a short time if you have so many shares." "I trust you, Jake, I know you invested all the money you earned in the Cisco company, and you are not sure of earning that money again if the company you invested in goes bankrupt, so I will trust you." "I am going to invest 4 billion dollars in shares of the company Cisco, even so, I will still have money saved and it is impossible for me to lose all that money, at most I will lose a few million dollars." Jake did the calculations quickly and realized that Matthew would probably have 6 percent of the company if he invested that $ 4 billion now if it were that much Jake could sell before the stock devalued. Oliver and Joseph tried to convince Matthew but failed and Jake tried just a little before accepting this challenge if Oliver and Joseph knew that Jake had come from the future they would not be so concerned. Jake would receive more money with his profit share and if everything went well Matthew would make it into the top 5 on the list of the richest men in the world, so they agreed to this investment, and Jake went back to his house. He had to wait because the next day he would talk to Clara at lunch, after knowing how much he would receive from Clara''s company profit share he would set up a meeting to send Emily to invest Matthew''s money and his as well. Clara''s company had made 50 million dollars in profit in 1997, it was very much thinking that the company had made many investments in the whole year and was starting to make new agreements to sell even more in 1998. But in 1998 Jake had ended their sponsorship contract which did not help the company to earn more profits, of course, some people who bought the products because of Jake would continue to buy, but now was the time when Jake was becoming more famous in everyone after joining the NBA. Even so Jake expected them to earn more that year because it was the first profit after making all the investments, after that the company would depend on making new investments and the quality of the products to make more profit. Jake was waiting at the restaurant he arranged to meet with Clara to talk business, it was different from Matthew that Jake could come into his house to talk, Jake realized that Clara was happier than at their last meeting. Of course, on his birthday Clara was happy, but it was a party occasion so he hadn''t noticed any difference, so Jake can be more excited waiting for good news from Clara. "Hi, Clara, you look happier and more relaxed today." "Yes, fortunately, the company''s results in the last year were better than expected, they were not as good as they could be, but the company finished the improvements that were invested at the end of the last year, so we hope that this year will be even better." "This is good, I am happy for you, Clara, I know how you have fought for the success of your company for many years and I want you to know that I will always support you in any decision you make." "Thanks, Jake, but let''s talk about business, in 1997 we started a lot of investments and we were also recovering from the years of lost company growth, but we did not have a good financial result." "But in 1998, because of our investments, we were able to earn much more than expected, our company''s profit was 114 million dollars, much more than double the last year." "I''m going to have to reinvest half that money, but you will still receive $ 5.7 million for your 10 percent stake in the company." "It''s really good, Clara, your company is doing very well and I''m sure that in 1999 your company will have an even greater profit, you managed to recover the lost time that you could have invested and now it will improve your company even more." "Thanks for the support, Jake, I know that you and Tiffany have always supported me, and that gives me the strength to make this company grow even more." They talked for a while and then Jake went to meet Emily, in the conversation with Clara, he didn''t mention Tiffany''s company because he knew Clara was a little envious of Tiffany''s company even though they were friends. After all, Tiffany''s company had a much smaller investment than her company and started later and in the last year it made more profit than her company did that year, and in 1998 Tiffany''s company made 156 million dollars. The biggest difference was that Tiffany owned more than half of the shares in her company, and even by reinvesting in the company, Tiffany earned much more than she did, not to mention that Tiffany also owned 10 percent of Clara''s company. Of course, the two were still very friendly and supported each other, but Clara''s pride was very great and so it was better not to mention it near her, Emily was already waiting anxiously because she knew that Jake would invest even more in the Cisco company and she would win more with that too. "Hi, Emily, sorry to call so urgently, but you and your team are going to have a lot of work in the next few days and the sooner I speak to you the better." "It''s okay, Jake, I knew something like this was going to happen and I got everyone ready to work hard for the next few days." "Okay, well, I decided to invest an additional $ 66 million in shares of the company Cisco, and Matthew asked me to invest $ 4 billion in his name, so you''re going to have to work hard to get all those shares." Emily, who was concentrating on writing, was shocked and even stopped writing when she heard what Jake had said, she thought she had already gotten used to working with a lot of money after taking care of Jake and Matthew''s actions, she already took care of more than 3 billions of dollars. This put a lot of pressure on her and the employees of Jake''s investment company, but she could never hope that Matthew would still decide to invest more money than she currently cared for, with those 4 billion dollars she would look after more than 7 billion dollars. Perhaps only the biggest investment companies in the world worked with so many stocks and so much money, and it was crazy for any investor that they invest everything in just one company. Chapter 478 - NBA Season Begins 2 "Are you sure it''s $ 4 billion?" "Of course I''m sure, you think I would be wrong talking about so much money, I know you will have a hard time buying all these shares, but in this moment of distrust of investors you may be able to buy these shares." "Okay, you can trust me and my team that we will be able to take care of everything before the stock price increases again, will this be your last investment? After all, you said you would sell the shares in 2000." "No, at the beginning of 2000 I will receive my profit share from Matthew''s company and I will also receive again in a few months this year''s money from the sponsors and the Los Angeles Lakers too. "Until a few months after the beginning of the year, the shares will still appreciate a lot and soon after we will sell the shares, but at the beginning of 2000 we will have to make a strategy to sell all the shares at once, we have to do this so as not to break the market." Emily didn''t know where Jake''s confidence came from, but she learned to trust him, and if they really wanted to sell the shares, even if they lost some money from it or broke the stock market the most important thing was that they didn''t lose money on it. This was good for Emily because Jake said he would give her and the rest of the company a break as soon as they sold all of the shares, in addition, Emily would receive 1 percent of Jake''s earnings from the sale of the shares. This counted on the shares that Jake had and the money he would receive on the sale of Matthew''s shares, that for Emily, who received a great salary to take care of Jake''s companies, would be very good and would make her an even richer person. After resolving all his affairs in the NBA, Jake was called to New York to vote on the deal that the players'' association and team owners had proposed. It was on January 10, a few days later than it normally would have been for what Jake remembered, it showed that he caused a small change in the events that should have happened with his game. Jake went over there and saw several players and a climate of tension in the place of the vote, Jake didn''t care much for what the sides said and voted for the deal to be accepted because he knew it would be accepted anyway. Jake returned to Miami because the Los Angeles Lakers team had not yet asked him to return to training, Jake was prepared to start playing as soon as the deal was decided, and after a few weeks as it had originally been signed. Jake said goodbye to Eva who was happier that Jake had spent many months at home this time, Jake would go to Los Angeles before the Los Angeles Lakers team had to call him. Jake warned Coach Davis before that and he had already bought a house in Los Angeles to live with his family, meanwhile Jake was training on his own because currently, his training was so much easier. Jake could feel that he was ready to compete in the Olympics that would be next year, and he wanted to compete to win all the disciplines that he would participate in, Jake knew that he would not get as much popularity in the NBA in the coming years with Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant on his team. With Michael Jordan''s retirement, many NBA fans who were already frustrated with the NBA blockade would stop watching the games, and even if they didn''t stop watching the games they would not buy shirts and products from the teams they supported. After a few years, the NBA would regain some of its popularity because more fans would have access to internet games and more fans would have money to buy shirts and sneakers that they couldn''t before when the economy was weaker. Jake knew there would never be a player like Michael Jordan, but many talented players like Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Stephen Cury, and maybe even him, would make the NBA have several talented players and not just one who would rule. Jake arrived in Los Angeles and went directly to the house he had bought a few months ago, arriving at his home in Bel Air he saw his house differently than when he bought it after the renovation he had done. His house already had a house with the employees that he sent a trustworthy company to hire, had employees to clean the house, take care of the garden, take care of the swimming pool, sports facilities, to cook, and a housekeeper. All these employees lived in one of the employee houses and the other employee house was occupied by Jake''s security team, they would take care of the house''s surveillance and his protection as well. It was a different team than the security guards who took care of him in Miami and who took care of his mother for many years, Eva had even gotten used to having security guards protecting her in the restaurant and everywhere she went. Jake has done this since his house was invaded many years ago and just so he could be calm, he just didn''t hang out with his security anymore because when Jake went to university he had to live in the dorm for many years and so more security guards taking care of him. But in Los Angeles he would leave the security guards who could protect him from paparazzi too, his house already had the security of the condo and so he could rest easy, Jake saw that the basketball court and the Olympic track with the official measures were ready. His gym was also ready after the renovation and his pool was also bigger now, inside his house Jake can see the movie theater he had ordered, the library and the soundproof music studio that was the same as the record companies. Jake decided to do this because his house was very big and still had 7 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms and even had an elevator going to the second floor and to his garage that had space for 7 cars, going to the garage he saw the Chevrolet corvette zr1 blue color that he had gotten from Chevrolet. And there was also the yellow McLaren F1 that had finally arrived earlier this year and Jake had sent them to his garage, that was one of the advantages of having a security team, being able to have things delivered to his house. The housekeeper at Jake''s house was called Mary and she was 41 years old in 1999, she was an efficient housekeeper who knew how to organize the other employees of the house and still be discreet, she was the type of person that Jake looked for to receive guests and take care of the house while he was traveling. Jake was happy to have the house renovated and to buy all the necessary things several months ago, now he could just live peacefully in his complete house and wait to start training and games. After spending a few days in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles team coach Lakers Del Harris asked him for training, Jake knew that the team''s first game would be on February 5th and not be surprised with that even though he had little time to play. train with the team. Jake was the player who had been the first pick of the draft this season, and he was switched to three players to play on the Los Angeles Lakers team because the team needed a player like him to score a lot and to support Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant in the team''s attacks. But the Del Harris team coach didn''t want to put Jake as a starting player, he didn''t even intend to let him play for many minutes just like he did with Kobe Bryant who was on reserve in his first year and only started a few games. Even the other teams that didn''t have the first pick would let novice players play every game as was the case with Mark Bibby and Vince Carter on the Vancouver Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors teams. That was why Jerry West wanted to switch the other players in Kobe Bryant''s position so he could play more and it was one of the reasons why the Lakers'' directory disapproved of him, with pressure from the board Coach Del Harris would have to put Jake to play. This was something that Jake did not know, but he also thought he would play for the team after all the team had weaker players in two positions after this exchange so that he would join the Los Angeles Lakers team. For sure next season the Los Angeles Lakers team would buy players to strengthen those positions and also change the coach as Jake remembered, but he was happy to be able to play on the team and show his skills to be able to play next season too. When Jake arrived for his first training, he was thrilled to see so many players that he was always a fan in his past life, especially now when he was a player he was still a fan of those players and would have the opportunity to play with them. Jake saw Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal, he also knew many other players, but he was more a fan of these two players, of course, Jake knew he shouldn''t go where they were because the team was going to start training. Who came first to talk to Jake was Rick Fox who was one of the players who would be starting this season with Jake''s entry, Rick Fox was a skilled SF and had previously been a player on the Tar Heels team as well as Jake. "Hi, you must be Jake Smith, I''m Rick Fox." "You can call me Jake." "Nice to meet you, Rick Fox, I know you naturally, I''ve seen you play and I know you played for the Tar Heels team, I''m happy to meet someone who played at the same university as me." Chapter 479 - NBA Season Begins 3 "You can call me Rick too, I''m happy to know that you know who I am, Hahaha, I''m also happy to see someone from the same university as me playing with me." "Congratulations on helping the Tar Heels team to achieve this incredible record of more than 70 games without losing, I know how it is almost impossible to pass the UCLA team record, but the record you have achieved has already brought many glories to our university." "Even more after winning the NCAA tournament twice in a row, in my last year we almost managed to win, luckily you managed to bring that joy to fans of the team like me." "Thanks, Rick, I know you did great things for the Tar Heels team, and now we are playing together here at the Los Angeles Lakers, I hope that together we will be able to win an NBA title." "Hahaha, I like how optimistic you are." Jake and Rick soon became friends and Jake was more comfortable in the team, in the first training Jake showed all his enthusiasm and impressed all the other players and the team''s technical committee with his dedication to training and how much stamina he had. Jake clearly did the training with more intensity than other players and did not need to stop to rest, and that was on the first day of training after the end of the lockout where the players did not dedicate themselves so much to training. Even though Jake impressing them all knew that Jake was an athlete who was the best in the world in marathons so it was only natural that he had more stamina than the other players, this made Coach Harris happier to have Jake on his team. Even more because as the game season was less time and they would still have 50 games, the teams would have to play more games to keep the schedule and some players would not be able to handle this intensity. The first day of training was just for Coach Harris to see the physical condition of the players, Coach Harris saw that Rick Fox would not be able to play and also saw several players who were not in perfect physical condition. Fortunately, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal were in the good physical condition and could play in that first game, what the Los Angeles Lakers board and Jake didn''t even know was that Coach Harris was thinking about letting Jake play, but not as PG in the first games. He knew that Jake had the ability to play in various positions and so he would put him in the place of other players who were tired in the first games to see how Jake would do, after all, Derek Fisher was a player that Coach Harris liked. So if Jake made a good debut game, Coach Harris would have to put him in to play as PG if he received pressure from the Los Angeles Lakers team board, but he thought Jake was young and couldn''t handle the pressure of debuting playing in a different position. After training Jake couldn''t take it and went to talk to Kobe Bryant, he was a big fan of him and Jake was nervous when he went to talk to one of his biggest idols as a basketball player and as a basketball fan. "Hi, Kobe Bryant, my name is Jake Smith, I wanted to say that it is a great pleasure to talk to you personally, I am a fan of yours and I admire how you play." "I didn''t know I had a fan after playing for a few years, let''s be teammates now, you can call me Kobe." "It is true that I am a fan of yours, I also believe that just by working hard in training I can do better and I heard that you are like that too, I also just want victory for my team." "So you really know me well, I really believe that more effort can lead to victory and I really want to win, if you are like that then we can get along very well." Jake was very happy because it looked like he had become friends with Kobe Bryant, he didn''t lie saying that he liked to train a lot and also that he thought a lot about winning, but he said this to Kobe because he knew after seeing several interviews with Kobe that he thought so too. Afterward when the players were leaving the training site, Jake still went to talk to another of his idols Shaquille O''Neal, even though Jake was tall he felt small near Shaquille O''Neal, but Jake was not intimidated and went to talk to him. "Hi, Shaquille O''Neal, my name is Jake Smith, I wanted to say that I am a big fan of yours, it is a great pleasure for me to speak with you." "So you are the rookie who was the first pick in last year''s draft, I saw a few games of yours and I think you are very good, I hope you help me make a lot of points just like you helped your teammates at the university." "For sure, this is what I plan to do, with you playing on the same team as me, it is easier to make a lot of assists and I can do the three-point shots with confidence knowing that you can catch the rebounds." "Hahaha, that''s what I wanted to hear, you also have to make as many points as you can, if you can make at least 14 points per game and make assists our team can win the NBA title." Jake was happy to have a good first conversation with his two idols on the team, Jake knew that this season he would have one of the best opportunities to be the leader in NBA assistance and that was what he wanted. With the coach changes that the team would have and this reduced season, it would be difficult for the team to win the NBA title this season, so he just had to adapt to the team and have the best performance possible, and next season they would fight for the NBA title. Jake went home happy and called his mom and Kate to tell them how it was his first day of training on the Los Angeles Lakers team, that day Jake can rest easy knowing he had done well on his first day on the team the Los Angeles Lakers. On the other training day, the players were finally able to have a training game-playing among the team players that would be divided in two teams, in this training Jake played as PG and Derek Fisher was the PG of the other team. Jake admired Fisher too and knew his career as a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers team as Jake always was, but Jake knew that he was a better player than Fisher in almost every area of ??basketball. Even though Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant are in the Fisher team, Jake still took the ''reserve team'' to make a good game and narrowly lost, it was a two-minute 10-minute training and Jake managed to score 18 points and 3 assists. This impressed the other players and the members of the coaching staff, it was normal for Jake because he trained twice a day in training his imagination with much tougher opponents and always tried to win. The difference was that in his imagination training his teammates were as good as his opponents, so in the next few days the team did a lot of training, and Jake continued to show his talent. In that time Jake won the respect of his teammates and managed to talk several times with Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O''Neal and his friend Rick Fox, Jake felt that he was becoming part of the team and the day of the game was coming. The day before Jake''s debut game in the NBA, coach Del Harris called Jake to have a private conversation with him, Jake thought the coach was calling him to say that he would play in the next game and try to make Jake less nervous for this one game. "Jake, you''re going to play on the starting team in the next game, but since Rick Fox is still not in his best physical condition and he won''t be able to play, I''m going to have to put you in the Small Forward position, is it okay for you?" Jake was surprised to hear that, he never thought he would not play as PG in his debut game, but hearing the coach say that Rick Fox was not in his best physical condition it was understandable that he had to play in another position. Even more, because Coach Harris would let him play on the team and Jake was prepared to play as SG or SF if it was going to help the team in any way, it was different from high school and university where he still had to prove to everyone that it was a skilled PG. Everyone knew that he knew how to play as a PG, so to help his team Jake didn''t mind playing in other positions, with his imagination training, Jake had experience playing in all positions in basketball. "Alright Coach Harris, thanks for the opportunity to let me start playing in the next game if you want I can play as SF, but I will not play as well as I play as PG." "Okay, I understand that you will be playing in a position that you are not used to playing, you are a good defensive player and you also score a lot and that is enough to help us win in the next game." Jake didn''t think Coach Harris was doing it on purpose and just thought he would have to play in another position to help the team, especially since the player who was like SF before was switched so he could come to the Los Angeles team Lakers. The other day Jake woke up very early excited because that was the day of his debut game in the NBA, it would be a game at the Great Western Forum that was the arena that the Los Angeles Lakers team used that year. It was the realization of another dream for Jake and it would be in this team that he could fulfill his other dreams as a professional player who was to win the NBA title, Jake would fight for it and wanted everyone to remember that he was fundamental for the team to achieve this NBA title. Chapter 480 - NBA Season Begins 4 Jake arrived at the arena and went straight to the locker room to put on his uniform for the first time, Jake''s uniform on the Los Angeles Lakers team was his favorite number that was number 7, Jake asked for that number while David Falk was still dealing with the team. After a few minutes the other players arrived and put on their uniforms and so they started doing warm-up exercises before going to the court, Jake saw that there were a lot of fans at the Great Western Forum to watch that first Lakers game after the lockout. Jake didn''t know that well, but the Lakers team fans had high expectations for him because they said the team needed a good Point Guard for the team to win the NBA title, after all with Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant on the team they should make many points. The opponent of that debut game was the Houston Rockets team, they had great players that Jake was also a fan of, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, and Hakeem Olajuwon, in addition, they had two players that he played in the game he organized between the newbies who were Bryce Drew and Michael D.i.c.kerson. But even though it was a team full of skilled players, there were a lot of players who were old now and didn''t have as much agility as in their main years, so the Houston Rockets team was not a favorite despite having so many good players. The players from both teams were eager to play after several months of not playing because of this lockout, the Lakers team players were surprised when they learned that Jake would play as SF, but as they saw that Jake didn''t care about it they decided to trust in the coach''s decision. "Welcome everyone who came to see the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets team''s first game after the NBA lockout, the team owners won a good deal and the NBA fans were the ones hurt." "It''s true, fans of many teams were furious about this lockout and after Michael Jordan''s retirement even more fans gave up basketball, at least temporarily, but what we see here are the fans of the Lakers team that almost filled the Great Western Forum to support the team." "Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers team made it to the playoffs in the past two seasons with Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant on the team, last season they made it to the West Conference Finals, and in the last two seasons they were eliminated by the Utah Jazz team." "This season, fans have even more expectations of perhaps the Lakers team winning the NBA title again with the arrival of the first draft pick of the 1998 draft Jake Smith which is a great PG that the Lakers team needs." "That''s right, but maybe the Los Angeles Lakers Del Harris team coach doesn''t think so after all this will be Jake Smith''s debut game on the Lakers'' team and he will play from SF and not from PG." "Maybe it was a coach decision because of the need for a player in that position, after all, Eddie Jones who could play in that position was switched with the Los Angeles Clippers team so that Jake Smith would come to the team." The Los Angeles Lakers'' starting team for that game was Derek Fisher playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Jake Smith playing as SF, Corie Blount playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. In the Houston Rockets team, the initial players were Matt Maloney playing as PG, Michael D.i.c.kerson playing as SG, Scottie Pippen playing as SF, Charles Barkley playing as PF, and Hakeem Olajuwon playing as Center. Even though Hakeem Olajuwon was 36, he was still a great player and Jake realized that Shaquille O''Neal was excited to play against him, after all, O''Neal had already praised Hakeem Olajuwon several times. The game started with the Houston Rockets team gaining possession of the ball, Maloney advanced with the ball to make the Houston Rockets team''s first attack in the game, Jake was anxious because he was defending against Scottie Pippen in the game, Jake was a fan of him, but I would defend with all his skill to have a good debut game. Maloney passed the ball to D.i.c.kerson who was being defended by Kobe Bryant and soon felt the pressure on the defense and had to pass the ball to Charles Barkley, Barkley used his ability to easily pass through Blount and make the first 2 points of the game for the Houston Rockets team. Shaquille O''Neal passed the ball to Derek Fisher who started the play, Fisher advanced the ball and passed it to Bryant from the right who was behind the three-point line, Bryant passed the ball to Jake who touched the ball for the first time in an official NBA game. Jake received the ball and noticed O''Neal''s movement and passed the ball to him in-depth, Shaquille O''Neal received the ball and advanced to make the dunk and the first 2 points of the Los Angeles Lakers team. Shaquille O''Neal passed close to Jake when he was returning to the defense and praised him for his assistance, even playing as SF Jake could still make some assists when he had the opportunity. In the first minutes, the teams were not putting much pressure on the defense and the two teams were well balanced, but the Los Angeles Lakers team managed the advantage with a rebound that Jake picked up after D.i.c.kerson''s mistake in attempting a three-point shot for the Houston Rockets team. Scottie Pippen was the one who was most feeling Jake''s dedication in defending against him, so in one play Maloney was setting up the game and passed the ball to Pippen, Pippen tried the feint to advance with speed to the inside area. But Jake was very focused and managed to make the steal and soon passed the ball to Fisher, Scottie Pippen was shocked by a rookie stealing his ball, so Pippen decided that he would not let Jake play anymore and would show why he was one of the best SF of all time and one of the best in defense too. In another move, the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack and Fisher passed the ball directly to Jake this time, Jake received the ball and Pippen soon pressed in defense, so Jake had no option but to pass back to Fisher or try to get rid of the defense Pippen. A few minutes of the first quarter had passed and Jake had not made any points yet so he wanted to make his first points in the NBA, so Jake made a feint, but Pippen was experienced and was not fooled. Jake could see that the movement of his teammates had given him an opportunity to play, so Jake pretended he was going to try a feint and moved forward using his agility into the inside area. Pippen, who was fast, also reacted a little after trying to accompany Jake in the play, but Jake was very fast and entered the inside area through the opening that was in the Houston Rockets team''s defense when his teammates had formed, Pippen was unable to follow and Jake dunk to score his first 2 points in the NBA. Jake greatly celebrated his first points as he returned to defense and Pippen realized that Jake was a really talented player that he would have to work harder to defend against. As Pippen was defending against Jake, Kobe Bryant had more freedom to attack, so he and Shaquille O''Neal commanded the attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team, unlike other games, the main players were much freer to attack. Fisher had more freedom to organize the plays and Jake was the one who was having a hard time defending against Pippen and with Pippen defending against him, even so at the end of the first quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning with a good lead on the scoreboard. Jake had played very well even playing in a position he didn''t have much experience and having Scottie Pippen defending against him, in the first quarter Jake played the 12 minutes and made 6 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal. "What a good first quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team is doing, Shaquille O''Neal is the player who scored the most points and is playing very well against Hakeem Olajuwon, Kobe Bryant is also playing very well and is having more freedom to play and is making lots of points." "The most surprising thing is the good performance of Jake Smith who is debuting today playing improvised as a PF and against Scottie Pippen and is helping the team a lot, even in defense he can defend well against Scottie Pippen." "It''s true, and Scottie Pippen and Hakeem Olajuwon are not playing as well as they usually do, and the Houston Rockets team can only keep up well with the performance of Charles Barkley and rookie Michael D.i.c.kerson." "We will continue to follow the game to see if the Los Angeles Lakers team continues to win or if the Houston Rockets team wins in the end." Los Angeles Lakers fans and other players on the team liked Jake''s first quarter and supported him to continue playing well, the Houston Rockets team realized that Jake was doing well in defense and so they started playing more with Charles Barkley. In another Houston Rockets move, Maloney had the ball and passed it to Pippen on the left, Jake soon arrived to press on defense and Pippen passed the ball to D.i.c.kerson on the right, D.i.c.kerson soon passed the ball to Charles Barkley. Barkley got rid of Blount''s defense and went inside to make the points, Shaquille O''Neal who expected Barkley to pass through Blount tried to press on defense, but Barkley was smart and passed the ball to Hakeem Olajuwon who was free to do dunk and 2 more points for the Houston Rockets team. Chapter 481 - NBA Season Begins 5 After this attack by the Houston Rockets team, the game became more balanced and Pippen did not try so many more attacks in the game and make some mid-range shots when needed, in the attack the Los Angeles Lakers team was counting on Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal who were playing well like that Jake didn''t get many passes. Jake knew this could happen in a team with so many talented players, so he just played his part and made assists when he saw the opportunity, after a move by the Los Angeles Lakers team in the attack, the ball was left for Kobe Bryant. He was playing well in the game and tried to make the three-point shot, the shot was very short and Jake who was attentive in the play managed to catch the rebound, Jake caught the ball and then hooked to make 2 more points for the team Los Angeles Lakers. In another play, Fisher received the ball with a few seconds to end possession, and realizing these two players from the Houston Rockets'' team went to press Kobe Bryant and Hakeem Olajuwon pressured Shaquille O''Neal in defense as well. So Fisher passed the ball to Jake from the left, Jake received the ball and tried the shot from outside even with Pippen very close to him, Jake managed to hit the first three-point shot in the NBA and that was his seventh point in the second quarter that was ending. The Houston Rockets team still wanted to reduce the advantage to have a chance to win in the second half of the game, so Matt Maloney advanced with the ball and passed to Charles Barkley who was being the best player of his team in the game. Barkley easily passed Blount and tried to advance to make the layup, but Shaquille O''Neal appeared to try the block, seeing that Barkley reacted quickly and passed the ball to Olajuwon who was free in the play. Olajuwon received the ball and when he thought about making the dunk Jake appeared and did the steal with great skill, it was a move that Jake made several times in the training of imagination playing several times against Centers that were high and had SS in various abilities as Olajuwon should have. Jake couldn''t catch the ball after the steal and it was Kobe Bryant who took the ball and held the ball to calm the players, Bryant passed the ball to Fisher and everyone went on the attack, the crowd was excited about this Los Angeles team defense Lakers and Olajuwon still did not believe that Jake steal him. Fisher advanced with the ball and passed it to Jake before the three-point line, this time Pippen pressed on defense not to let Jake make the move, Jake saw that Kobe Bryant had got rid of the defense and passed the ball to him. So Bryant received the ball and tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Bryant also thanked Jake for the good assistance after he made a steal. The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team with a good lead on the scoreboard that only increased in that second quarter, Jake managed to make 7 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal. Coach Harris also realized this was happening, but he didn''t say anything to the other players because Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant were already making a lot of points for the team in that game. "Thus ends the second quarter of the game, Jake continues to make a great debut game and has already scored 13 points in the first half of the game, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team are not passing the ball so much to Jake and he is depending on the rebounds him to make the stitches." "The Los Angeles Lakers team is playing very well in this game with Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant already making 33 points together, so it is normal that they would rather pass the ball to both of them than to Jake who is a rookie and is playing in an improvised position." "Of course, he would receive more passes at the end of the game if the Los Angeles Lakers team secured the victory, but he has already made 13 points despite receiving few passes, this shows the skills of Jake who is also very good in defense, not allowing Scottie Pippen make lots of points." Fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team were also enjoying Jake''s first game on the team, they had already realized that Coach Harris had put him to play as SF which was not his position, and even then Jake was having an excellent game. The Houston Rockets team coach was in a difficult situation, Pippen who was one of the best defenders on the team was defending against Jake and even though he had scored 13 points in the game, it showed that Jake really had the skills. In the third quarter, the Houston Rockets team tried to attack more to still fight for the victory, but even the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team was not very strong they still defended well with Jake, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O''Neal. And the Lakers'' team was also attacking and maintaining the advantage on the scoreboard with good plays from O''Neal and Bryant, Jake was never replaced after having a conversation with Coach Harris saying he could handle playing the entire game. Coach Harris really had no one to put Jake in position with Rick Fox or being on the Lakers team''s bench, and Coach Harris naturally had plenty of time to watch Jake''s games in that lockout and knew Jake was never replaced in almost every game of his second season on the Tar Heels team. The only thing that Jake''s coach and teammates didn''t understand was because he wasn''t trying to make three-point shots when he got the ball, he got few passes, but if he hit three shots from the outside he would make 9 points in few minutes. The truth was that Jake had a different thought for each position he played, as PG and as SG he would certainly try more shots from three points and receive more assists too, but as SF he was more within the three-point line. In addition, Pippen was a very good player in defense and Jake preferred in his debut game to make more assists than trying several shots from three points and could suffer Pippen''s block, even more, because he did not receive many passes and had O''Neal and Bryant playing so well. In another Houston Rockets attack move, Bryce Drew joined the team playing as PG and made a pass to Pippen, Jake was close to Pippen pressing on defense and Pippen passed the ball back to Drew. After passing the ball Pippen moved to get rid of Jake''s defense, but Jake did not continue defending against Pippen and realized that Drew was relaxed as Fisher was defending away from him. So Jake moved quickly and made a steal taking everyone by surprise, Jake took the ball and ran to the attacking court, Drew was the last player in the Houston Rockets team''s defense and tried to chase Jake. But Jake was very fast and ran up to the three-point line and jumped doing a reverse dunk to liven up the Lakers crowd at the Great Western Forum, the fans were excited to see that and Jake''s teammates greeted him. The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a big advantage on the scoreboard, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 6 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, even though he was not the player who made the most points Jake was being praised as the best player in that game. The other players were also realizing that Jake was much more skilled than they thought before and could be playing at the same skill level as them, in the NBA a player could only receive more respect by playing well. In the last quarter, the Houston Rockets team continued to press on defense and attack, but they already knew they could not win this game, even so, the players played well until the end. The Los Angeles Lakers team won that game with 115 points against 84 points for the Houston Rockets team, Jake played for 12 minutes in the last quarter and had 7 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal. "What a great game the Los Angeles Lakers team had, it was a great debut with victory and the good debut of Jake Smith who may be one of the main players in this team that already has Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant." "For sure, the objective of the Los Angeles Lakers team is to win the NBA title and with Jake Smith in this team they can achieve that, in this debut game he had 26 points, 9 assists, and 9 rebounds, and that was because he was playing improvised like SF." "Yes, he was one of the best players in this game if not the best, Shaquille O''Neal had 34 points and 14 rebounds so he was also very important and Kobe Bryant had 27 points and 10 rebounds, so the whole team played very well." "It''s true, as you said the three together scored 87 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team and got 33 rebounds, that''s impressive and shows the strength of this young Los Angeles Lakers team." "The Houston Rockets team also played well, but Scottie Pippen ended up not having a good game because he had to defend against Jake Smith and Jake defended well against him, Hakeem Olajuwon also failed to play as well with Shaquille O''Neal playing so well." "But Charles Barkley had a great game with 33 points and 15 rebounds, this was only the first game and even though this team has older players, they are some of the best players in the NBA." Jake was also happy with his first game on the Los Angeles Lakers team, he managed to score more than 20 points which were his goal and made more assists than he expected to play as SF. Jake hoped that when Rick Fox was in a position to play he could debut playing as PG and so he could show all his skill, Jake hoped that Robert Horry would recover and be able to play soon or that Dennis Rodman would be hired to play. Because in that game it was clear that Corie Blount was not able to defend well or attack playing against the best NBA PFs, it is clear that against Charles Barkley he could not play as well, but Jake was sure that Horry or Rodman would play better. Chapter 482 - NBA Season Begins 6 Jake called his mom and Kate to tell him about his first NBA game and they were happy that he won, the other day the media and fans were excited about Jake''s performance at the premiere and everyone was saying that he deserved to be the first draft of 1998. Coach Harris had to do an interview to talk about Jake, he praised Jake''s debut game and said he would have to play some games like SF until Rick Fox could play, and he also said he believed Jake had the quality to do that. That was not the initial intention of Coach Harris, but as Jake had played so well he started to have greater respect for Jake and the team management was happy with that, the players had a light training because the next day they would have another game. All teams would have to play more than 14 games that February and many games would be on straight days without rest for the players, so Jake had stopped training for the Olympics and was even thinking about eating a stamina bar if necessary. So the day came for the second game of the Los Angeles Lakers team and Jake''s second game in the NBA, the opponent was the strong Utah Jazz team, and in that game, the Los Angeles Lakers team would lose so Jake could try to change the result of that game with his skills. The Utah Jazz team had great players that Jake admired a lot too, that player was John Stockton who was one of the best Point Guard ever in the NBA, John Stockton ended his career with an average of more than 10 assists per game and he was also sometimes leader in steal and assist in the seasons. In addition to Stockton the Utah Jazz team still had Karl Malone who was one of the best Power Forward of all time, Karl Malone would enter the NBA Hall of Fame along with Stockton and be the second player with the most points scored in his career in the NBA. This season even Karl Malone would be the MVP of the season doing one of the best seasons of his career even at the age of 35, so it was not strange that the Los Angeles Lakers team ended up losing to them. Jake really wanted to play defending against Stockton in this game, but he would have to play as SF in that game again, even so, Jake was happy to play his second game in the NBA, this was the second game of the Los Angeles Lakers team at home playing at Great Western Forum. It was another opportunity for fans to watch Jake play and so Jake wanted to help the Los Angeles Lakers team win that game, Jake again arrived at the Great Western Forum before the other players and Kobe Bryant arrived right after him and came over to talk to Jake. "Jake, congratulations on your great debut game, I confess I didn''t expect you to play so well playing in the SF position." "Thanks, Kobe, it was thanks to your good performance and the team that I had the opportunity to score so many points and get assists." "It''s good to be humble, but you don''t need to be underestimated because of that, you showed that you are a great player, I will pass the ball over to you and I hope this debut game is not the only good game of yours this season." Jake was happy to receive recognition from Kobe Bryant who was an idol for him, so he was even more determined that he would play well and help the team to win the game even if it was difficult. The opposing team had Stockton and Malone, but they both played as PG and PF, and on the Los Angeles Lakers team there was Kobe Bryant who played as SG, Shaquille O''Neal who was the Center and Jake who played as SF and they wouldn''t have one quality opponent to defend against them and could make several points. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch this great game from this reduced NBA season, this season we will see more games this month and maybe the players will not be able to play all the games or the reserves will have more opportunities to play." "This is not such a problem for the Los Angeles Lakers team that has young players, Jake himself said he could play every 48 minutes in every game, we saw him doing it in last Friday''s game." "That''s right, Jake Smith made a great debut scoring 26 points and almost triple-doubling his debut game which would be historic, and that''s because Pippen was pushing in defense against Jake the entire game." "Yes, we can see in the next games Jake playing as SF which is not the position where he plays best, but seeing this debut game I think he can play more games in that position and that would perhaps help the Los Angeles Lakers team more." "It''s true, but due to his different playing style, we can see that Jake can play in various positions, like PG, as SG, and as SF that he''s been playing, of course in this Lakers team I think he could help the team more as PG, after all, he still had more than 30 points and 10 assists per game as a PG at the university." "The Los Angeles Lakers team needs a good PG to organize the plays for this team, we can see how John Stockton and Karl Malone make a good team, Jake could help Shaquille O''Neal to score his points without having to work so hard and I would still be able to assist Kobe Bryant." "I liked this comparison of Jake Smith with John Stockton, Jake also does a lot of steals and assistance and can score a lot which can help the Los Angeles Lakers team to win the NBA title." The Los Angeles Lakers team came with the same starting team as the last game, Derek Fisher playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Jake Smith playing as SF, Corie Blount playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center, the only difference is that Robert Horry was on reserve and could come in to replace Blount in that game. The Utah Jazz team came with the initial team formed by John Stockton playing as PG, Jeff Hornacek playing as SG, Bryon Russell playing as SF, Karl Malone playing as PF, and Greg Ostertag playing as Center. The game started and Ostertag won the ball for the Utah Jazz team to start attacking, Stockton got the ball and went to organize the attack calmly waiting for the other players on his team to go on the attack. Fisher and Blount were feeling the pressure of having to defend against Malone and Stockton, Stockton passed the ball to Hornacek and Bryant soon pressed in defense, Hornacek passed the ball back to Stockton who passed the ball to Malone. Karl Malone received the ball and then made a Power move and went towards the inside area to hook and the first 2 points of the game for the Utah Jazz team, Corie Blount didn''t even have the opportunity to defend and Malone made the first points of the game. The Los Angeles Lakers team players remained calm after that and Derek Fisher started to organize the first attack for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Fisher passed the ball to Jake from the left, Jake held the ball a little and passed it on to Kobe Bryant. Bryant received the ball and soon passed it to Shaquille O''Neal, O''Neal received the ball and Spin and drive against the defender and hooked to make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team and tie the game, Blount knew he would receive few assists in that game because he had Karl Malone defending against him. Coach Harris also asked Fisher not to try to make individual plays and just pass the ball so as not to risk that John Stockton could make the steal, Stockton moved forward and passed the ball to Russell. Russell received the ball and Jake was already pushing in defense, Russell tried to use force to get inside, but he couldn''t push Jake back using his strength and had to pass the ball to Stockton further back. Stockton received the ball and passed Fisher and tried the mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Utah Jazz team, Stockton and Malone had already shown that they were playing well in that game, so the Los Angeles Lakers team would have to try harder. In another move, the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack, and Fisher passed the ball to Bryant, so Bryant passed the ball to Jake on the left, and as he had said Jake was getting more passes in that game. Jake caught the ball on the left side and Bryon Russell was defending against him, Jake made a feint and tricked Russell, soon after Jake crossed quickly and got rid of Russell''s defense, Jake drive from the basket and made the layup to do more 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. This move cheered the Los Angeles Lakers fans at the Great Western Forum, Kobe Bryant praised Jake for the move, and Jake saw that it was better for him to try harder to make the moves and stand out. In another move the Utah Jazz team went on the attack and Stockton passed the ball to Russell and went inside the area, Jake who was defending against Russell realized that Russell was thinking of returning the ball to Stockton so he anticipated and managed to intercept pass it by doing the steal. Stockton realized that Jake had anticipated the move and therefore made the steal, Jake did not advance for the attack and passed the ball to Fisher and Fisher waited for the Los Angeles Lakers team to organize in the attack before starting the play. Fisher went on the attack and passed the ball to Jake on the left, Jake got rid of Russell easily and advanced into the area, the Utah Jazz team''s defense realized the move and tried to stop Jake from moving forward. Jake did not attempt the individual play and passed the ball to Kobe Bryant who was free from the right, Bryant received the ball and shot from outside to make 3 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the fans were excited about the Lakers team with so much advantage on the scoreboard. Chapter 483 - NBA Season Begins 7 The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team with the advantage on the scoreboard, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake played this first quarter much better than the past game. Still, Jake was not scoring as many points as he still had to pass the ball to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal, but Jake realized that he had a lot more confidence from his teammates in that game. "What a great first quarter for the Los Angeles Lakers in that game too, in defense they are not doing very well, but the Los Angeles Lakers'' attack misses very little and that''s why they manage to finish the first quarter with a good advantage." "Jake is not intimidating himself because it is just his second game in the NBA and he is making all the moves correctly, he is doing dribbling and feints and Bryon Russell is having a hard time in that game." "It''s true, we can see that Jake is getting more passes from his teammates, that''s because he is showing that he knows how to play well as a team and that is making things more difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team." "The Utah Jazz team is also not defending well, but John Stockton and Karl Malone are playing very well in this game and we cannot say yet which team will win." The second quarter of the game started with the Los Angeles Lakers pressing on the attack, after all, as the defenses did not work well, the attacks had to score more points than the opposing team. Fisher advanced the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant, Bryant passed the ball further to O''Neal and the defense pressed and Malone came to press it too, O''Neal passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake saw that Bryant was free and passed the ball. Kobe Bryant tried the shot and ended up missing, Shaquille O''Neal was quick and managed to catch the rebound and made the layup to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Los Angeles Lakers team had the advantage in rebounds in that game and it helped them to keep winning the game. In another move, the Utah Jazz team was pushing forward, after a good move Stockton passed the ball to Russell, Russel was quick and passed the ball back to Stockton near the free-throw line. Fisher arrived to defend, but Stockton was quick and soon passed the ball to Malone who received the ball and made a dunk to make 2 more points for the Utah Jazz team, the game was played and both teams were strong in the attack which left the most animated game for fans to watch. The Los Angeles Lakers team attempted another attack with a few minutes left to finish the second quarter, Fisher held the ball and Stockton was defending well against him, so Fisher passed the ball to Bryant again. Bryant was not playing as well in that game and even though Hornacek''s defense was not as good Bryant did not play as well as in the first game of the season, so Bryant passed the ball to Jake who was on the left. Jake was playing very well in that game and was defending well against Russell who had only scored 8 points in that game and in other games he helped the Utah Jazz team to win, and Jake was also good in attack and assists. Jake made a feint and failed to fool Russell this time, Jake tried another feint pretending he was going to the back of the court and Russell stopped waiting for Jake to make the move, Jake realized this and stepped away from Russell and tried the shot. out to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Russell was tricked by Jake and didn''t even have time to react when Jake attempted the three-point shot, it was difficult to defend against a player who made good assists, was quick in individual shots and knew how to shoot with great skill. The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a good advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes in that second quarter and had 9 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake was very well and hoped to get the first double-double in that game. "What a good game we have been following so far, a game in which the attacks of the two teams are very strong and the defenses are also very good, the Los Angeles Lakers team has the advantage because there are three players playing very well in that game." "Shaquille O''Neal is playing very well and got 8 rebounds and scored 20 points in the first half of the game, Kobe Bryant is also playing very well and has 5 rebounds, and 9 points, both of whom have been the main players of this Los team Angeles Lakers." "And we also have Jake Smith who has been playing another excellent game in his second game in the NBA, Jake had 17 points and managed to get 6 rebounds in addition to making 6 assists, and that with Jake playing improvised as SF." "It''s true, Jake Smith has been showing that it was the right time for him to leave university because he is ready to play in the NBA, in this game he is receiving more passes from his teammates and is playing better rewarding the confidence of his teammates." "Did Jake''s performances in the last few games make us wonder if he played as SF on this team would not be the best option for him in the Los Angeles Lakers?" "I don''t think so, playing as SF Jake Smith doesn''t have as much freedom in the moves and he can''t help that much in defense either, with Jake creating the moves the other players like Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal would receive more assists in a position to make the points and would receive less pressure from the opposing defense." Jake knew that playing as well as SF would put many people in doubt whether he should even play as PG, Jake really wanted to play as PG and he thought that with Rick Fox as SF and him as PG the Los Angeles Lakers team would be much better. Jack was very fond of Derek Fisher, but he thought that Rick Fox in the SF position helped the team much more than Derek Fisher playing as PG, after all, Jake was much better than him playing as PG. But it was not because he wanted to play as a PG that he would show a poor performance playing as SF on the team, he wanted to help the Los Angeles Lakers team to win, and thought that if it was necessary he would demand that he play as a PG on another team that he would play in the future in the NBA and play as SF on the Los Angeles Lakers team. What Jake didn''t know was that Jerry West and the Los Angeles Lakers team directors also wanted to see Jake playing as PG which was the position he was hired to play in, so they pressured coach Del Harris to put Rick Fox to play like that that was possible. Jake wanted to win as many games as he could to help the team and thought that would change something, but the truth was that Del Harris would leave the team even if they won all of the first 12 games. After all, the team''s stars didn''t like him very much and Coach Harris challenged the Los Angeles Lakers team''s board a lot, not to mention that Jake knew that the Lakers team''s board wanted Phil Jackson as coach next season. In the third quarter, the Utah Jazz team began to put more pressure on the attack and defense, the Los Angeles Lakers team''s advantage was more than 15 points in the game and therefore the Utah Jazz team''s attacks were intense. In an attack by the Utah Jazz Stockton team he came at a faster pace and passed the ball to Russel, Russel quickly passed the ball to Malone before Jake pressed the defense, Malone held the ball and then passed it to Stockton again. Stockton was on the free-throw line and had gotten rid of Fisher, so Stockton drive to the basket and scored 2 points for the Utah Jazz team, Stockton was very good in that game and Fisher was unable to defend against him. Jake was doing the best he could to defend against Russell, and that was forcing Russell to try the mid-range shot and he had a low hit rate in that game, and Malone was having a hard time playing because O''Neal was helping Horry in defense, Robert Horry came on for Corie Blount and Malone was having a harder time attacking. So Stockton was the best player on the Utah Jazz team and in addition to making assists he was still trying to score, Jake couldn''t help but think that if he were in that game he could disturb more Stockton in that game and so the Los Angeles Lakers team would have easier to win the game. In another attacking move by the Utah Jazz Stockton team, Russell passed to Russell again, Russell had to pass to Stockton again who tried to shoot out, but he missed and Jake was quick to catch the rebound. Jake took the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant and went on the attack, Bryant passed the ball to Fisher who went to organize the play for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Fisher passed the ball to Kobe Bryant who soon passed the ball to Jake on the left. Russell pressed the defense and Jake saw O''Neal getting free in Ostertag''s defense and passed the ball to him, O''Neal went up to hook to try to score, but Malone came to try the block and ended up missing O''Neal. Shaquille O''Neal was the most missed player in the Los Angeles Lakers team because he didn''t have such a high hit rate on his free throws, O''Neal hit the first free throw attempt, he tried the second and missed. The ball hit the backboard rim and went away from the inside area and close to where Jake was, Jake took the rebound from O''Neal''s second attempt and was close to the three-point line, but Jake did not attempt the shot from outside and made a high pass to O''Neal who noticed the move and caught the ball high to make the dunk completing the alley-oop plus making 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Chapter 484 - NBA Season Begins 8 The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a big advantage and practically guaranteeing victory in the game, Jake played for 12 minutes in that third quarter and had 6 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal. "The third quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team with the lead, the Utah Jazz team is playing very well in that game with John Stockton being the highlight of the team and Karl Malone playing as well as ever." "But they can''t defend the attack from the Los Angeles Lakers team that has Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Jake Smith, with Jake on that team the attack from the Los Angeles Lakers team is very difficult to stop, just another team with a strong defense you can manage to win against them." "Yes, it seems that the decision of the Los Angeles Lakers team to hire the rookie Jake Smith was correct, with Jake in the team the defense of the team improves a lot he also manages to catch the rebounds and helps in the attack making the defense not focus on O ''Neal and Bryant just like they did in other games." In the last quarter of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team remained strong, but Coach Harris decided to let Bryant and O''Neal rest for the next games that would be difficult and so the Utah Jazz team had to defend only against Jake and that made it difficult for he makes the points. The attack of the Utah Jazz team, which had not yet given up winning, pushed and the advantage diminished, Coach Harris knew it would happen and put O''Neal and Bryant in the game again, Jake had to try 3 shots from three points in that four-quarter and hit just two by missing his first three-point shot in the NBA. At the end of the last quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 109 points against 92 points of the Utah Jazz team, Jake played for 12 minutes in that four-quarter and had 8 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal. Jake managed to make his first triple-double on the Los Angeles Lakers team and in the NBA too, Jake went to celebrate and Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O''Neal, and the other Lakers team hugged him and praised him for the great game. "The second game of the season ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team won their second game at home, a game in which Jake Smith was certainly the best player on the team achieving his first triple-double in the NBA." "Jake Smith had 31 points, 11 assists, and 11 rebounds as well as making 6 steals, Kobe Bryant also played very well with 19 points and 12 rebounds and Shaquille O''Neal with 39 points and 14 rebounds." "O''Neal could be the best player in that game with his second double-double of the season and almost 40 points, but with the triple-double Jake deserves to be the best player in that game." "Sure, O''Neal, Stockton, and Malone have a lot of double-doubles in their career, but even for them it''s hard to get a lot of triple-doubles and Jake a 20-year-old man did in that game, he could be a big star in the future the NBA as these players are." "The Utah Jazz team lost that game, but the players played very well in that game and we will definitely see the Utah Jazz team in the playoffs this season, let''s see if the Los Angeles Lakers team continues to play well." Jake was happy with the praise from his teammates and the praise from the fans too, it was only his second game in the NBA and even though he performed well he knew that nothing would mean if the team didn''t win. Jake realized in that game that if Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant performed poorly in any game he alone would not have the ability to lead the team to victory, Jake realized better the importance of teamwork and teammates had for the victory. Of course, Jake already knew this and that is why he did not want to join the starting teams in the NBA draft, he had to have good teammates even if he received a lower salary or even if he was not the main player on his team. Jake was thinking about going home when he was called by Coach Del Harris to talk, Jake was excited because the last time he spoke to Coach Harris he knew he would play in the starting team in the SF position, so this time it could be that he would play like PG. "Good job in these last two games, Jake, I could see why the board of directors likes you so much, I know I left you in a difficult situation putting you to play as SF, but I wanted the team to have quality while Rick Fox I still couldn''t play." "You impressed me in those two games and played better than I thought possible, in the next game against the San Antonio Spurs team you still have to play as SF because Rick Fox is still not in ideal condition after all the first game was just 3 days ago." "But in the fourth game of the season against the Denver Nuggets team, Rick Fox will be able to play and you will have your opportunity to play as PG if you play as well in the PG position as you play in the SF position you will have your place on the team." "Thanks for the opportunity, coach, I will do my best in the next games." Jake was happy to know that he would have the opportunity to play as a PG in the fourth game of the season, with that promise from the coach he was even more excited to play the next day against the San Antonio Spurs team. This time the players would not have a day to rest before the next game and would not even have training because of that, luckily Jake was able to rest completely after a good night''s sleep. He did not know if at the end of the season he would have any acc.u.mulated fatigue, but for now, he saw no need to eat a stamina bar, he played for 48 minutes in the first two games and did not feel too tired after the game was over. This didn''t surprise Jake very much after all he had 45 points of resistance, he got tired at the university because he was still training with the basketball team and had training for the races that he had to do. So came the day of the third game of the season and the first game playing away from home, the Los Angeles Lakers team would have to play against the San Antonio Spurs team at Alamodome Stadium, they would have to travel to San Antonio in Texas to play that game. It would be Jake''s first trip with the Los Angeles Lakers team, he naturally knew about the difficulties that the players had to go through to play, the team had to catch a plane that had already been booked well in advance and then the players would take a bus to the hotel and then from the hotel to the Alamodome. This only increased the players'' fatigue when they had to play several games in a week as was the case with the teams now at the beginning of the season, Jake did not suffer so much after traveling a few times to Japan and Australia which were very long trips. His teammates also didn''t suffer so much because they had several seasons to get used to this routine, Coach Harris observed Jake during the trip because some rookie players had difficulty with the trips in their debut season, but seeing that Jake was fine he got calmer. Jake could feel when the team arrived at Alamodome that it was really different than playing at home, the fans were not rooting for them and it was the opposing team that had the most support from the crowd. Jake had experienced it at the university and so he hoped for it, but in the NBA the proportion of things was much higher, the other players were used to it and so the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the locker room to put on the uniform and make some warm-up exercises. The opposing team of the San Antonio Spurs didn''t have the best players, only Tim Duncan and David Robinson stood out in this team, Steve Kerr had a standout for having a good hit rate on his three-point shots, but he didn''t score many points in a game. But they were a very strong team that with Duncan and Robinson managed to win the NBA title this season, the San Antonio Spurs team only managed to win the NBA title again when Tony Parker and Manu Gin¨®bili were on the team. Even so, Jake had a lot of respect for this San Antonio Spurs team and knew that it would be difficult to win that game, in that game he and Kobe Bryant would have to perform better because Shaquille O''Neal could not score as many points as in other games. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game of the NBA this season, the third game of those teams this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team facing the San Antonio Spurs team." "The San Antonio Spurs team that never won an NBA title or any Conference title, but with the arrival of the 1998 rookie of the Year Tim Duncan last season, the San Antonio Spurs team got stronger with the Twin Towers Tim Duncan and David Robinson and this year they can try to win the NBA title for the first time." "Of course, the Los Angeles Lakers team also wants the NBA title this season with Superstars Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant and rookie Jake Smith who made two excellent games this season." "I certainly think the Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win the NBA title this season, it is very difficult to imagine that the San Antonio Spurs team can beat the great teams this season and win the NBA title for the first time." "In this game, the Los Angeles Lakers team has the advantage even playing as a visitor, if the main players of the team Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O''Neal and Jake Smith play well the team Los Angeles Lakers will get the victory." Chapter 485 - NBA Season Begins 9 Just as the commentators said everyone thought the same, the Los Angeles Lakers team had the advantage in that game and could get their third win in a row if they performed well. Coach Harris was also looking for victory and finally put Robert Horry on the main team, so the Los Angeles Lakers team had Derek Fisher as PG, Kobe Bryant as SG, Jake Smith as SF, Robert Horry as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The San Antonio Spurs team had as initial players Avery Johnson playing as PG, Mario Elie playing as SG, Sean Elliott playing as SF, Tim Duncan playing as PF, and David Robinson playing as Center. Certainly, the San Antonio Spurs team had a stronger team defensively and if they can stop the attack from the Los Angeles Lakers team they may be able to win that game, and Jake had to help in the attack so that it didn''t happen. The game started with the Sun Antonio Spurs team getting the first ball possession, so Johnson started to move forward to organize the first move for the San Antonio Spurs team. Johnson came forward and passed the ball to Elliott on the right, Jake already arrived to press in defense and Elliott tried to do the feint and when he saw that he could not deceive Jake passed ahead to Robinson. O''Neal was pressing in defense against Robinson and Robinson was unable to make the move and passed the ball to Tim Duncan, Duncan received the ball and Horry was well defending against him, but Duncan tried a hook and scored the first 2 points of the game for the San Antonio Spurs team. The crowd at the Alamodome was excited about the first points in Duncan''s game, the Los Angeles Lakers team players were already waiting for this and Fisher started to move forward, Fisher passed the ball to Jake on the left. Jake received the ball and managed to get rid of Elliott and advanced to the inside area when other players of the San Antonio Spurs team tried to defend against Jake he passed the ball to O''Neal later on, O''Neal received the ball and made the layup to make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team and tie the game. From the beginning of the game Jake has already shown that he would go more into the attack, he wanted to attract the attention of the defense to him so that Bryant and O''Neal would have more freedom to make the plays, only attacking that his team would be able to win against the team defensive of the San Antonio Spurs. In another play the San Antonio Spurs team went on the attack and Johnson passed the ball to Elliott on the right, Jake was pressing on the defense again and Elliott passed to Duncan on the left. Duncan received the ball and Horry was also pushing in defense, O''Neal was defending against Robinson, but if Duncan tried to layup again he would try the block, Duncan knew he couldn''t be the only one on the team to attack and made the pass to Mario Elie. Elie received the ball and tried the mid-range shot to hit and score 2 points for the San Antonio Spurs team, the San Antonio Spurs team realized that this Lakers team was much more defensive than in other games and it would be difficult for them to attack too. In another attack by the Los Angeles Lakers, the ball landed in the hands of Kobe Bryant, Bryant passed it to Horry who received the pass and Duncan pressed the defense, Horry passed it to Jake on the left who analyzed the move and passed it to Bryant who was free now. Bryant received the ball and attempted the mid-range shot and hit it with 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the sports media already said that Jake was doing a lot more assists than Derek Fisher even playing as SF. It wasn''t because Jake wanted to show that he was better than Fisher, but Jake knew how to take advantage of opportunities to make assists at a time when his teammates could already attempt the shot to score. Fisher did not have this vision of making the assists at the right time and when he made the assists, the Lakers players scored the same points, Fisher knew that and was not irritated that Jake had more assists than he. The San Antonio Spurs team went for another attack and after a good move Duncan passed to Elliott, Jake was close to Elliott who attempted the mid-range shot and scored 2 more points for the San Antonio Spurs team. It was close to the end of the first quarter and Elliott did not risk many plays with Jake defending against him, so Jake had only managed one steal in that game, but with this pressure from the Lakers team players, Jake had already caught 3 rebounds in that first quarter. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a small advantage, the defenses of the two teams got in the way, but the Lakers team had the advantage in rebounds and making less of an attack. In that first quarter, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 6 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal, it was a good game for Jake who was trying to leave the Lakers team with the advantage in the game and did not focus on making many points. "What a good game we have been following so far, we have the Los Angeles Lakers team that has one of the best attacks this season against the San Antonio Spurs team that has one of the best defenses." "For the time being, the two teams don''t seem to try their hardest to win, the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack was not as strong and the defense surprised, even though they still have the advantage in the game." "The attack by the San Antonio team is not very strong and besides Tim Duncan, the other players seem to be having a hard time attacking, we will follow in the second quarter if the two teams try harder to achieve victory." Commentators said the two teams did not seem to want the victory, but the truth was that the teams were choosing the best path to attack, the Lakers team was not trying to attack with Horry and Fisher and the San Antonio Spurs team was trying more to attack with Duncan. The Los Angeles Lakers team had to put more pressure on the defense to make the opposing team''s players miss the attacks so that they could get the rebounds to attack and the San Antonio Spurs team had to try the same. But with Jake in the Lakers team, they had more of an advantage for making less of an attack and could also get more rebounds with him, in one play the San Antonio Spurs attempted the attacking play and Avery Johnson passed the ball to Sean Elliott on the right. Elliott caught the ball and Jake soon pressed in defense, Elliott tried to get away and managed, Mario Elis moved and Elliott tried the pass to Elis, but Jake was attentive in the play and managed to intercept the pass getting the steal and ran for the attack. Elliott who missed the pass and Johnson were further behind and went back to defense when Jake got the steal, Jake was quick and soon passed Elliott, so only Johnson was within the three-point line to try to defend against Jake. Jake continued to advance with speed and made his characteristic move at the university, he took a step to the right and made the body move that would go to the right to deceive the opponent, then Jake did the spin and ended the move with a dunk. That move was LeBron James'' unstoppable Spin Move, even fans of the San Antonio Spurs team had to applaud Jake''s beautiful play and dunk, Jake''s teammates also praised him as they went back to defense. Jake was fine in that game and after two games he was already drawing more attention from the opposing team''s defense and giving Bryant and O''Neal more space to play and score points, the San Antonio Spurs team still wanted victory and went on the attack again. Elliott was more attentive to making the moves so Jake would not make another steal, but that puts even more pressure on him to make the moves correctly, after a while of the game the plays were all with Duncan and Robinson. Elliott passed the ball to Johnson further back, Johnson received the ball and attempted the mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the San Antonio Spurs team, Avery Johnson was also able to make some attacks because Fisher was unable to defend well against him. The Los Angeles Lakers team attacked again and Fisher passed the ball to Jake on the left, Jake received the ball and held it just before passing it to Bryant on the right, Kobe Bryant tried a feint and seeing that Elis had not been tricked he passed it on to Jake again from the left. Jake tried another speed shot and this time Elliott followed, so Jake did a crossover and a step back, and Elliott who was trying to follow Jake''s movements ended up falling to the ground, Jake tried an outside shot to make 3 more points for the team Los Angeles Lakers. The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team again praised Jake for this beautiful move, they couldn''t imagine how Jake was not an SF after playing as well as other great NBA players. The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team with the lead on the scoreboard, a good game from Jake, Bryant, and O''Neal who was making the game more difficult for the San Antonio Spurs'' defense. In that second quarter of the game Jake played for 12 minutes and made 9 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake was getting a lot more passes from his teammates and so he could make a lot more plays helping the team to win more easily. "What a beautiful game we have followed up until that break, the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning the game so far and the Lakers players are clearly better than the San Antonio Spurs players." Chapter 486 - NBA Season Begins 10 "That''s right, we can see that the players of the San Antonio Spurs team are having a difficult time playing in attack and defense, Tim Duncan, Avery Johnson, and David Robinson are managing to play well even with the strong defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team." "But Mario Elis and Sean Elliott are having a hard time making the attack and defense plays with Kobe Bryant and Jake Smith playing so well, and the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack has been better in that game too." "Jake Smith is making another great game with 15 points until the break of that game, he made two beautiful attacking plays and one of those plays came with a steal he made, Jake has an average in the two games he played this season of 5 steals per game." "Yes, if he continues like that he can break the record on average steals per game in one season in the NBA, and it has helped the Los Angeles Lakers team this season a lot." In the third quarter the San Antonio Spurs team wanted the victory so the players started to put more pressure on the attack and defense, Coach Harris also wanted the victory and asked that the team also put more pressure on defense and attack. In an attack move by the San Antonio Spurs Johnson team came with the ball and passed it to Elis, Elis quickly passed the ball to Duncan who moved away from Robert Horry who was defending very well against Duncan in that game. Duncan tried the mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the San Antonio Spurs team, even though Horry played well in defense and O''Neal tried to help in defense it was difficult to stop Duncan''s attack. In this game, because David Robinson was being well defended by Shaquille O''Neal, it was Tim Duncan who had to work harder in the attack to score the points or try to get the rebounds over O''Neal, Bryant, and Jake from the Lakers team. The Los Angeles Lakers team quickly reacted and Kobe Bryant made one for the individual play and tried the mid-range shot and ended up missing, Shaquille O''Neal caught the rebound and saw that he was pressured by the defense of the opposing players and passed the ball to Jake through left. Jake received the ball and the defense concentrated on him, so he made a high pass for Shaquille O''Neal to take the high and make the dunk by completing the alley-oop and making 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. O''Neal praised Jake again for the pass and they soon went back to defense, Jake made a lot of assists for O''Neal and Bryant and everyone knew that was his style of play, so Fisher didn''t mind not being the player who he was making assists because he knew he would soon be no longer a starting player for the Lakers team. Coach Harris also knew he could leave the team and wanted to win several games before he had to leave the team, after all, he could coach other teams after leaving the Los Angeles Lakers. The San Antonio Spurs team went for another attacking move and after a beautiful move Johnson received the ball further back, Jake was pressing in defense against Elliott, Steve Kerr had taken over from Mario Elis. Kerr entered the game much better than Elis and Bryant were having difficulty defending against him, Johnson passed the ball to Kerr from the left, Kerr received the ball and tried the shot from outside and scored with 3 more points for the San Antonio Spurs team. In another move by the Los Angeles Lakers Fisher team, he came with the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant, Steve Kerr was defending against Bryant and O''Neal was resting on the reserve bench, so there was another player pressing in defense against Bryant. Bryant passed the ball to Jake who was on the left and already advanced to the inside area, Jake received the ball and this time he had two players defending against him, Jake made a bounce pass with the ball hitting the ground before reaching Kobe''s hands Bryant in the inner area and he dunks to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Bryant did not expect to receive a pass with the ball hitting the ground when Jake did not have a clear vision to make the assist, but that was better because the opponents did not wait for this move either. The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning and Jake again being one of the best players in the game, in that third quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 9 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. "What a great third quarter for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the players on both teams had to rest for a few minutes and Jake Smith didn''t leave the court in that game again and played the 36 minutes so far." "In this game, Jake Smith has received more passes from his teammates and has made more good plays and it seems that he forgot that he is playing at the Alamodome which is home to the San Antonio Spurs team." "That''s right, I rarely saw a rookie playing so well in the first games of a debut season, and even more playing improvised like SF and on a team that has stars like Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant." "The San Antonio Spurs team is also doing a good game, Tim Duncan is playing as well as ever and the other players are also working hard, but the Los Angeles Lakers team looks stronger in that game." In the last quarter of that game, the two teams decreased the intensity of the game even though they were still trying to win the game, this was because the Los Angeles Lakers team had a big advantage on the scoreboard and all players would have another game after two days. Jake continued to play well and so the Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 95 points against 69 points for the San Antonio Spurs team, Jake played for 12 minutes in that last quarter and made 7 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. Jake got another triple-double in that game and left all his teammates and the sports media surprised by his performance, with the first three games of this season being great and making a triple-double in two of them it was impossible not to recognize Jake Smith''s talent. "And so the game ends with another victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the first of them playing as a visitor and the third this season, in a shorter season like this a sequence of 3 victories is very important for any team." "Jake Smith was once again the name of that game, he made another triple-double with 31 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds, this season Jake Smith has averaged a triple-double after that game." "This is certainly incredible for any NBA player and Jake Smith is a rookie and plays on a team with Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant, many other rookies have been performing very well this NBA season, but Jake has been showing performance from another level." "The San Antonio Spurs team played well in the game today, but against the strong attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team they could not defend well, and being able to defend the San Antonio Spurs team did not win." "In addition to Jake Smith, Tim Duncan performed well for the San Antonio Spurs team, and alongside the Los Angeles Lakers team Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant played in that game too." "That''s right, Smith gets the assists more easily because he can pass the ball to Bryant and O''Neal, the three together had 80 points and 34 rebounds, which shows how important the three players are to the Los Angeles Lakers." "We will continue to follow the games of the Los Angeles Lakers team to see if they can win this season''s NBA title with this strong team." After this excellent game by Jake, the media started talking a lot about him, after all, Jake had an excellent debut in the NBA and his first games could make him the MVP of the season if he continued with these good averages in all games. Jake talked to all his teammates and was always very humble, so team stars Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant were not bothered by Jake having more media attention than they were. Coach Harris also had no doubts and would put Jake to play as PG in the next game, after all, he was not so happy with the performance of Derek Fisher in the last games, for him Fisher was the player who helped less in the victories. Coach Harris liked how Rick Fox played and Fox was a player who helped in defense and had the quality to score more than 9 points per game, as the team didn''t have a lot of SF to put, it would be better to let Rick Fox play and Jake playing as PG he played better. Players would travel to Denver, Colorado to play the next game, the Los Angeles Lakers team would have a day of rest and training before the next game, and players needed that day of rest with the intensity of the games. Arriving in Denver the players went to rest at the hotel and Jake, who was not so tired, called his mother to talk, Jake talked to his mother every day after the games. After all, Eva wasn''t always able to watch the game in Miami and so Jake called her to tell her about the game and also to talk to his mother, after all, even though he was so busy, Jake still worried a lot about Eva. "Hi, mom, how are you today?" "Is everything okay here, Jake, and how was your game?" "It was great, we won that game and I did a triple-double, in the next game Coach Harris will put me to play in my PG position and if I continue playing well I can guarantee my place in the starting team." "I''m glad to hear that, Jake, I know that your dream since the age of 10 has always been to play in the NBA, and now you are making that dream come true even though you don''t need that money anymore." Chapter 487 - A Great Deal 1 "Yes, I love to play basketball and I love to run and I like to win too, I am managing to make all my dreams come true, I was able to play in the NBA, I was able to be happy and you are also happy, mom, I know you suffered for many years and I think you''re happier now." "I''m very happy, having a restaurant has always been a dream of mine, I have great friends around me, and you''re happy what''s most important to me, Jake, I''m sure your dad would be proud if he saw the man you became." Jake talked to Eva for a while and went to sleep to get the rest he deserved, the next day Jake woke up very early and rested, that day the team would have no game and only have light training. Even though he was able to rest fully after a good night''s sleep, Jake knew his body needed a few days like this to rest, Jake needed to rest his mind also with the pressure of NBA games. Jake thought about just resting before going to train with the team, but he got a call from Emily saying that Charlie sent word that Larry Page and Sergey Brin had already tried to sell their company to Excite''s CEO, George Bell and had failed. Jake warned Charlie that if Larry Page and Sergey Brin tried to sell the company and couldn''t, it was for Charlie to tell him soon afterward, Charlie didn''t understand how Jake knew they would try to sell the company, but he kept watching to see what happened and when what Jake wanted happening he asked Emily to let Jake know. Jake was risking a lot by letting Larry Page and Sergey Brin tried to sell the company because Jake knew he had already changed the future he knew and so it could happen that George Bell decided to buy Google and that would be a disaster. Even so Jake decided to wait for everything to happen as it should, the only problem was that he didn''t know when the two would try to sell Google, he just knew it would be in early 1999 and before June 1999 when they were going to make a round of investments. So Jake asked Charlie to watch when Larry Page and Sergey Brin would try to sell Google and if they couldn''t, it would be an ideal time to make his offer, now it seemed like the right time for that. Jake was happy to hear that and thanked Emily and asked her to thank Charlie for the information, Jake had been waiting for it since the first time he met them both last year, Jake picked up the phone and called the number he talked to Larry Page. "Hi, this is Jake Smith speaking." "Hi, Jake, I didn''t expect you to call me so soon, you usually talk to me once in several months." "Hahaha, I know that, but I heard that you tried to sell the company and I was shocked to hear about it." "So you already know about that, we thought about selling the company to Excite, but we couldn''t, after thinking about it we thought it might be good that we were unable to sell the company." "Of course it''s good, you should have talked to me before trying to sell the company, I said I was interested in investing, I just didn''t have the money to invest yet, but seeing that you tried to sell the company for 1 million dollars I decided that I should invest in the company right now." "I want you to come to Los Angeles on the 12th of this month, bring your lawyer because I am going to make an offer you cannot refuse and we will become partners." Larry Page was quiet on the phone if it was someone else saying that he certainly wouldn''t go to Los Angeles thinking it might be a joke, but Jake had already told them several times about his interest in investing in their company. They thought that Jake didn''t really want to invest after going several months without making a proposal, but now Larry felt that Jake was really prepared to invest, at the very least they could talk to Jake and if they didn''t like the proposal they would refuse. "Okay, Jake, I''m going to talk to Sergey and we''ll be there in Los Angeles on the 12th, I hope your proposal is as good as you said." Jake was happy that Larry agreed to do this meeting in Los Angeles, he couldn''t go to California right now because he was at the beginning of the game season with his team and had trained almost every day. If Larry said he wanted to hear his proposal then it meant that they were interested, after all, they intended to sell the company a few days ago for $ 1 million and Jake would offer much more than that for only part of the company. But Jake had to focus on the games because the Los Angeles Lakers team would still have 2 games before the day of their negotiation, later on, the team did light training before the next game, and Jake was already in the PG position in training. Seeing this, everyone understood what was happening because it was expected by everyone, Rick Fox was happy too because he was finally going to play in that game, he was afraid Jake would continue as SF of the team and so he would never have the opportunity to play again. Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant spoke to Jake after training, they were happy that Jake would finally play as PG in the next game, in PG''s position Jake would have much more opportunities to organize plays and assist. Not to mention that it could disrupt the PG of the opposing team to organize the plays, they knew how a good PG could make an opposing team be much more dangerous than a team with a player who scores a lot of points. With that day of rest, the players ''physical condition was much better for the next game, so the next day came and that was the day of the Los Angeles Lakers'' game against the Denver Nuggets team. The Denver Nuggets team was the weakest opponent they would face this season, they got Raef LaFrentz who was an excellent player in the 1998 draft, but after a few more games after that LaFrentz would suffer a serious injury that would leave him out for the rest of the season. Even so, the Denver Nuggets team should not be underestimated, any NBA team could win a game if their opponents underestimated the difficulty of the game, of course, Jake would try his best in this game that would be his first as a PG in the NBA. After a few hours the Los Angeles Lakers team arrived at the McNichols Sports Arena for the game, basketball fans would fill the McNichols Sports Arena in that game because the opponent was the Los Angeles Lakers team that had Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant and the rookie Jake Smith. The players put on their uniforms and went to the court to warm up a little more before the game, Jake was excited about this game and Rick Fox was also if he played well in this game he could be the starting player on the team throughout the season. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch this game of the NBA season, today''s game is between the Los Angeles Lakers team that won all three games this season and the Denver Nuggets team that lost the first three games of the season." "So the Los Angeles Lakers team is definitely the favorite to win this game after all this team has players like Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant who are making a great start to the season and the best rookie of this season currently Jake Smith who made 2 triple-double in three games." "Certainly Jake Smith is the center of attention in this game, mainly because he will play his first game as a PG on the Los Angeles Lakers team and in the NBA, he had played improvised as SF and had made excellent games, let''s see how he does on PG position." "I think he will play the same or worse than he played as SF, after all, PG doesn''t normally have as many chances to score points and rebounds as an SF has, only his assists and steals can increase in that game." "I don''t think so, Jake Smith seems to play differently than other PG we know, and we had NBA Magic Johnson to show that a PG can also score a lot and help the team win." The Los Angeles Lakers team came in this game with the starting players Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center, that was the debut of Jake as the team''s PG and everyone was excited to see what it would be like. The Denver Nuggets team that was playing at home came in this game with the initial players'' Nick Van Exel playing as PG, Chauncey Billups playing as SG, Bryant Stith playing as SF, Raef LaFrentz playing as PF, and Antonio McDyess playing as Center. Antonio McDyess was the main player of this Denver Nuggets team and he was really a great player at that time before injuries hindered his performance in games, Nick Van Exel who was a player of the Los Angeles Lakers team was also one of the highlights of this Denver team Nuggets. The game started with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the first ball possession, Jake received the ball and was thrilled playing the first time as PG, now he could organize the plays and control the pace of the Lakers'' game. Jake advanced with the ball and Van Exel came to press on defense, Jake did not rush and passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and easily got rid of Chauncey Billups defense and made the mid-range shot to make the first 2 points of that game. Kobe Bryant played well in the first three games of the season, but he thought he was not good enough as in all games Jake Smith and Shaquille O''Neal played better than him, so in this game, he wanted to take the opportunity to score more points. Chapter 488 - A Great Deal 2 After the first attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Denver Nuggets team had to react, Nick Van Exel started to organize the attack and advanced to the attack with Jake defending against him. Van Exel passed the ball to Billups on the left, Billups tried the feint, but Bryant was firm on the defense and was not fooled, so Billups had to pass the ball to Raef LaFrentz later on, LaFrentz received the ball and Robert Horry pressed the defense. LaFrentz was quick and made a spin and managed to make a mid-range shot to make 2 points for the Denver Nuggets team and tie the game again, LaFrentz really was a great player and unfortunately, his career would be hampered by injuries like many players. In another move by the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake started to organize the move and passed it to Rick Fox on the left, Fox was not participating as much in the game because the Los Angeles Lakers team did not have so much trouble making points against the Denver Nuggets team. Fox received the ball and Bryant Stith soon pressed in defense against him, Fox held the ball and soon passed to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and two players from the Denver Nuggets team came to defend against him. So Bryant passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and soon got rid of the Van Exel defense and went inside, the Denver Nuggets team''s defense was open and Jake took the opportunity to advance. Antonio McDyess realized that Jake was going to make the points and tried to defend against him, Jake realized this and made an assist to Shaquille O''Neal who was free, O''Neal received the ball and made the dunk to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. O''Neal praised Jake for his assistance and Jake was happy with that, Jake thought it best to play as PG because he could defend better and organize his team''s plays, moreover, Jake participated in all plays and had more freedom to make assists or make the stitches. In another play by the Denver Nuggets team, the ball stayed with LaFrentz, LaFrentz held the ball and passed it to Van Exel further back, Van Exel received the ball and made a pass to McDyess further on McDyess protected the ball and O''Neal was defending against him. McDyess used his ability to position himself to hook to make 2 more points for the Denver Nuggets team, McDyess, LaFrentz was playing very well and were giving problems to the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team in that first quarter. Jake received the ball and began the attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and felt the pressure of the Denver Nuggets'' defense and had to pass to Horry later on. Horry received the ball and LaFrentz was already defending against him, Horry passed the ball to Jake further back, Van Exel was not pressing in defense and Jake decided to try the shot from outside and hit it with 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. That was another difference that he had playing as a PG and playing as an SF, the three-point shots were easier for Jake to try and he would try less 2 point shots, so the tendency was that he had more chances to make assists and could also make more points. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers having a big advantage on the scoreboard, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 9 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake can make assists and points more easily but had less chance of catching rebounds. "The first quarter ended, the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning with a big advantage on the scoreboard and it seems to be an easy game for them even with the team playing away from home." "Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers team was the favorite in this game anyway, after all, the Denver Nuggets team hasn''t won a game this season yet, even with the good performance of Raef LaFrentz and Antonio McDyess they can''t stop the opponent''s attack." "And in the Los Angeles Lakers team we have the whole team performing well in that game, Jake Smith has been playing well and controlling the pace of his debut in his PG position in the NBA." "Kobe Bryant started trying to make several plays and made some points and realizing that the Denver Nuggets team''s defense was focusing on him, Bryant started to pass the ball more." "Shaquille O''Neal is playing as well as always scoring 8 points in that first quarter in 6 attempts, and even Robert Horry and Rick Fox who are debuting this season are playing well." Seeing Jake''s first quarter as PG, coach Harris can relax, basketball fans might not realize it, but the team played completely differently with Jake playing as PG than it did before with Fisher. Coach Harris realized that Rick Fox was not making many moves because it was not necessary with Jake, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O''Neal, and even Robert Horry playing well in the attack, the team''s defense was not so good, but even so, the Denver team Nuggets were unable to score points at all attacks. It didn''t make much of a difference in this game that was easier for the Los Angeles Lakers team, but in more played games and against tough opponents the pace and control of the game in Jake''s hands would help the team achieve victory. The second quarter started with the Denver Nuggets team pushing in the attack, with Raef LaFrentz and Antonio McDyess playing so well, the Denver Nuggets team manager decided to try to exploit that to get the win. In a good attacking move by the Denver Nuggets team the ball was passed to McDyess, O''Neal was pressing and Horry also approached to help in the defense, so McDyess passed the ball to LaFrentz who was free from the left. LaFrentz received the ball and tried the shot from outside to score 3 points for the Denver Nuggets team and cheer up the crowd at McNichols Sports Arena, even with that play going on Horry was playing well in defense otherwise LaFrentz would make even more points. In another move by the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake started to organize the attack, he passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and passed it to Fox on the left, Fox tried to get rid of the opposing player on defense, but he couldn''t and passed it to Jake in the back. Jake received the ball and Van Exel pressed in defense, the Denver Nuggets team''s defense increased the pressure defending O''Neal and Bryant, so Jake made a long pass to Horry who was free in the attack, Horry went forward and hooked to do more 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. As commentators said all the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team were well on the attack and so Jake had an easier time getting assists in his debut game, even so, Jake passed the ball over to Bryant and O''Neal to make the attacks. In another play by the Denver Nuggets Van Exel team passed the ball to LaFrentz, LaFrentz failed to deceive Horry in defense and passed it to Bryan Stith on the right, Kobe Bryant soon went to defend against Stith who tried to pass the ball further back to Van Exel. Jake, who had already noticed the move, anticipated and managed to intercept Stith''s pass making the steal, Jake did not run for the attack and held the ball until his teammates had time to go on the attack. Jake moved slowly forward because the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning and he didn''t want his teammates to tire of anything, Jake passed the ball to Fox on the left. Fox received the pass from Jake and held the ball before passing it to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and with a feint, he got rid of Billups, Bryant advanced to the inside area and after a beautiful play, he made the layup and more 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Jake was happy that the team did not lose the attack and that they increased the advantage on the scoreboard, in this game in which the two defenses were not playing very well, the steals that Jake managed helped to increase the advantage on the scoreboard. After another good play by the Denver Nuggets team Raef LaFrentz shot outside to make three more points for the Denver Nuggets team, Jake received the ball and started organizing another play for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Fox on the left, Fox held the ball and passed to Bryant on the left, the Denver Nuggets team''s defense soon pressed against Bryant who had to pass to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and made a feint getting rid of the defense of Van Exel and tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake had a large percentage of correct three-point shots, so he had no afraid to try whenever I had the chance. The second quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team got a good lead on the scoreboard, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 7 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals, Jake had a great second quarter and almost got the double-double before the game break. "The second quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team increasing the points advantage, even more, it looks like the Los Angeles Lakers team will get another victory and the Denver Nuggets team will lose another game." "The Denver Nuggets team''s attack is fine in that game with a good performance by Raef LaFrentz, and Antonio McDyess, but that didn''t seem enough for the Denver Nuggets team to win." "After all, the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack has been very strong this season and they are doing very well in this game too, Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, Jake Smith, and Robert Horry have been playing very well and Rick Fox is also doing a good game." Chapter 489 - A Great Deal 3 "Yes, today the entire Los Angeles Lakers team seems to be playing well, but in defense, they are making some mistakes that make the Denver Nuggets team still stand a chance of winning that game." "The highlight of the game so far seems to be rookie Jake Smith again, he was the best player on the Lakers team so far he is playing very well as a PG on the team." In the third quarter of the game, coach Harris started replacing some players for a few minutes so they wouldn''t get tired, but Jake was always on the court because he himself asked not to be replaced. For some reason the team coach Denver Nuggets also made some substitutions for a few minutes, he even replaced Raef LaFrentz who was making an excellent game and Nick Van Exel too. When Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant were replaced, Jake had a few minutes when he decided to attack alone taking advantage of the weakness of the Denver Nuggets'' defense, in a few minutes Jake scored 9 points by hitting 3 shots from 3 points from 4 attempts. This showed one of the reasons Jake was chosen as the first pick of the 1998 draft, Jake also achieved a steal in those minutes and increased the Los Angeles Lakers'' lead by 5 points, so the Denver Nuggets fans realized they wouldn''t see the team of them winning that game. In another attacking move by the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake came at a fast pace for the attack, Kobe Bryant was still off the court and Jake passed the ball to Tyronn Lue from the right, Lue received the ball and the Denver Nuggets team''s defense pressed and Lue had to pass the ball to Fox. Rick Fox had made a good defensive game and helped the team with some points, Stith pressed in the defense and so Fox passed the ball back to Jake, Jake saw that Shaquille O''Neal was asking for the ball and passed it to him. McDyess pressed O''Neal in defense, but O''Neal did a Power move and passed McDyess and dunk using all his strength and held the hoop making the hoop swing, it was a good move by O''Neal who was annoyed with McDyess''s good defense in the game. The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team being close to winning the game with a big points advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes and had 13 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. "What a great third quarter of Jake Smith we could see, he scored 13 points in those 12 minutes and still got 3 assists, this is the fourth game of the season and Jake Smith has played every minute so far and this has been helping the Los Angeles Lakers team a lot." "It''s true, Jake Smith won several marathons and shows that he really has great stamina at the beginning of the season, his first game as PG shows that he has to stay in this position and help the Lakers team to continue winning." "With the big advantage in points that the Los Angeles Lakers team has in this game, we can say that they have already won this game, they are more than 22 points and the Denver Nuggets team has only 12 minutes to make that difference." Just as the commentators said in the last quarter of the game the two teams had already accepted the result and were not putting so much pressure on the attack and defense, so the last quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team won the fourth game this season and the Denver team Nuggets lost the fourth game. The Los Angeles Lakers team won with 118 points against 91 points of the Denver Nuggets team, Jake played for 12 minutes in the four-quarter and had 7 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake made another triple-double, but this time with points, assists and steals. "And the game ends with yet another victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team in a game that they won from start to finish, a great game from all the players on the Lakers team and the Denver Nuggets team had no chance of winning." "Jake Smith was once again the star of the game making his third triple-double followed by him and this time making 10 steals and not 10 rebounds, he got 9 rebounds and with one more rebound he would make a historic quadruple-double." "Yes, if Jake Smith continues to play like that he could be this season''s MVP in his debut season, and the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack remains unstoppable, Kobe Bryant had 23 points and Shaquille O''Neal had 31 points." "With a strong attack like this, the Los Angeles Lakers team is coming as a favorite to win the NBA title this season, we will follow in the next games if Jake Smith continues with these incredible performances." After another victory, the media started to say that the Los Angeles Lakers had a strong team to win the NBA title, Jake was the most talked about player of the moment because with 3 games in a row doing triple-double and with an average of more 7 steals per game Jake showed himself to be a different player than he was normally seen in the NBA. Jake was already mentioned together with the big stars of the NBA and the hopes of the fans in him increased a lot after those initial games, only Jake was realistic and knew that things would not always be like that, this triple-double sequence came because his teammates his team were playing very well. But when his teammates underperformed, the Lakers team would lose and he wouldn''t be able to stand out in those games, but it was undeniable for everyone that Jake would be the best rookie of the season if he continued to play well. The companies that chose to trust Jake and David Falk were very happy with Jake''s performance in the first games of the season, they thought it was good that they had not yet made a television commercial with Jake would take advantage of it after the season was over to enjoy the best Jake''s moment in the NBA. David Falk was also happy and he could not even expect Jake to perform as well as he did in his first NBA games, what nobody knew was that since the 1998 draft Jake was training every day with very skilled opponents in training his imagination and the real NBA opponents were usually not as good as the SS rank players in all the skills he faced. Without Jake knowing Adidas was accelerating the production of the sneakers that were created to be the brand that Jake represented, Adidas planned to wait a few months before thinking about selling that sneaker, but with Jake''s great performance in his debut year, they didn''t think they needed to wait any longer. Of course, it would still be a few months before it was possible to start selling these sneakers worldwide, so Adidas representatives decided not to tell Jake and David that, so Jake was just focused on the next game. For the next game, the Los Angeles Lakers team had to travel again, this time to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the third game as a visiting visitor, the opponent of their fifth game of the season was the Minnesota Timberwolves team. The Minnesota Timberwolves team was not such a tough opponent, but they had young star Kevin Garnett of whom Jake was also a fan, Kevin Garnett became one of the greatest players of all time and was an excellent defensive player. Jake remembered that the Los Angeles Lakers team lost that game and one of the reasons for that was that Shaquille O''Neal had not played in that game and this time again coach Harris said O''Neal would not play that game. Even though he was on the team, Jake didn''t know the reason for this decision by Coach Harris, Shaquille O''Neal was not hurt and even though he was tired he could play for at least 20 minutes in that game. So not even Jake could guarantee that he could change the outcome of that game, it was a certainty that the Los Angeles Lakers team currently depended on Shaquille O''Neal for good results, after all, he was the main player on the team and a reference in the attack. Kobe Bryant was certainly a genius and would be an idol in the future, but currently, O''Neal was the most important player for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jake was playing well, but without good teammates, he could not guarantee any victory. The day of the game came and the players were a little tired with so many trips in a row, so the team did not do any training and the players could not prepare well for the game in which Shaquille O''Neal would not be playing. The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the Target Center which was full of Minnesota Timberwolves fans, Jake was not anxious about it because he would try to make the best of him in this game and if the Los Angeles Lakers team lost he would have more peace of mind knowing that in his past life the Lakers team had also lost that game. Players put on their uniforms and did warm-up exercises in the locker room and went to the court to start the game, Jake''s teammates were also concerned about not having Shaquille O''Neal in that game, but with Jake and Kobe Bryant, they knew that could win. "Welcome that you came to watch one more game this NBA season, in that game we will have the Los Angeles Lakers team that comes from 4 victories in 4 games this season against the Minnesota Timberwolves team that had 2 victories in 3 games this season." "The Minnesota Timberwolves team, which is playing at home here at the Target Center, has a lot of problems this season after giving Kevin Garnett a $ 126 million contract for 6 years." "It is undeniable that Kevin Garnett is an excellent player and a young man who can be the star of the Minnesota Timberwolves team for many years, but with this contract, the team no longer has the money to pay for other good players." "Yes, the question is not whether Kevin Garnett is worth a contract of that amount, but that the Minnesota Timberwolves team is unable to pay." Chapter 490 - A Great Deal 4 "The Los Angeles Lakers team doesn''t have that problem, even if the star of the team Shaquille O''Neal doesn''t have that big a salary, Kobe Bryant and Jake Smith still get low wages, Kobe Bryant will renew his contract this year, but Jake Smith will still receive the rookie salary for a few years." "With the exchanges made by the Los Angeles Lakers team, they still have a few million dollars to spend on wages if they want to sign more players." "What worries me is that Shaquille O''Neal is not going to play in that game, he is not even on the bench and did not know if he was injured or would have any problems not being able to play in that game." "We have no way of knowing that, now let''s see how the Los Angeles Lakers team can play without the team''s biggest star, after all, Shaquille O''Neal is an important player for the team''s attack." The Los Angeles Lakers team came with the starting players Jake playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Travis Knight playing as Center in place of Shaquille O''Neal. Playing at home, the Minnesota Timberwolves team came with the initial players'' Bobby Jackson playing as PG, Malik Sealy playing as SG, Sam Mitchell playing as SF, Kevin Garnett playing as PF and Joe Smith playing as Center. Even without Shaquille O''Neal playing the Los Angeles Lakers team still had the best players, but they had no training playing without Shaquille O''Neal on the team, and with the Los Angeles Lakers team playing as a visitor they didn''t have much of an advantage. The game started with the Minnesota Timberwolves team in the attack, Bobby Jackson started the move for his team passing to Malik Sealy on the left, Kobe Bryant tried to press the defense and Sealy passed the ball to Kevin Garnett later on. Garnett got rid of Robert Horry easily and went ahead to layup and make the first 2 points of the game for the Minnesota Timberwolves team, the two teams did not have a good defense and without Shaquille O''Neal, in the Los Angeles Lakers team, Kevin Garnett would have it easier to make the attack moves. The Los Angeles Lakers team had to attack and Jake started to organize the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Sealy started to press in defense. Bryant easily passed Sealy and tried the mid-range shot to score 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team and tie the game, in that game without Shaquille O''Neal it would be Jake and Kobe Bryant who would have the responsibility to score more points for the team. Both teams had good attacks and did not have good defenses, Jake helped with the steals in some games and some players defended well, but the NBA players were almost all very skilled in attack so the defense of these players looked bad. In another move by the Minnesota Timberwolves team, Jackson passed the ball to Sealy on the left, Bryant pressed the defense and Sealy had to pass it back to Jackson again. Jackson received the ball and paid attention to the movements of Jake who was defending against him, Jackson knew that Jake was skilled in defense and was good at steals so he didn''t try to make any bold moves. Jackson passed the ball to Sam Mitchell on the right, Mitchell received the ball and Rick Fox was defending against him, Mitchell managed to trick Fox with a feint and advanced into the inside area to try the layup and make 2 more points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team. In another attacking move by the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Fox from the left, Fox received the ball and Mitchell soon pressed in defense, Fox passed the ball to Robert Horry later on. Horry soon passed the ball to Jake later because Garnett was already pushing in defense, Jake received the ball with freedom and tried the shot from outside and hit to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Jackson who was defending against Jake was careless and Jake tried the three-point shot before he could react, so Jackson understood how difficult it was to defend against someone who was good at three-point shots. At the beginning of the game the two teams were balanced hitting most of the attacks, so the first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team with a small advantage on the scoreboard because of Jake''s three-point shots. In that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 11 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal, Jake was having to focus more on defense and did not find as many opportunities to do the steal and as Kobe Bryant made many individual plays Jake I didn''t have as many assists as in other games. "The first quarter ended with the two teams surprisingly balanced, the Los Angeles Lakers team is clearly feeling the absence of Shaquille O''Neal in that game, the attack is focused on Jake Smith who made a great first quarter with 11 points." "The Minnesota Timberwolves team managed to organize a good team considering the problems they had this season, with Kevin Garnett leading this team they can make it to the playoffs." "But for sure the Los Angeles Lakers team has a better team and if Shaquille O''Neal was playing in that game it would be difficult for them to lose that game, but as the game is I don''t know what can happen." As commentators said the team was not playing as well without Shaquille O''Neal on the team, Jake was playing well, but if the Minnesota Timberwolves team increased their defense against him and Kobe Bryant they would have more difficulty in that game. The Minnesota Timberwolves team returned to the second quarter thinking about winning this game, the Minnesota Timberwolves team coach realized that they should defend against Jake and Kobe Bryant and that is what the team started to do in the second quarter. Jake and Bryant had skills to get rid of the opposing defense, but with two players defending against them it was more difficult for them to make the moves, after all the players of the Minnesota Timberwolves team had a good defensive ability. It looked like the Minnesota Timberwolves team coach had trained this move because when Jake and Kobe Bryant were not with the ball they had only one player defending against them, only when they received the ball that another player approached them. In one of the attacking moves of the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Bryant, two players came to defend against him and pressed in defense, Bryant had to pass the ball to Horry who also had difficulty with Garnett defending against him. Horry tried a feint and failed to trick Garnett and had to pass the ball to Travis Knight, Knight received the ball and Joe Smith pressed the defense against him and Knight had no ability to try to make the move and had to pass the ball to Jake more behind. As soon as Jake received the ball two players came to defend against him, Jake could not get rid of the two players and had not trained with Knight to do a Pick and roll, of course, if Shaquille O''Neal was on the team it might not be necessary. So Jake passed the ball to Rick Fox on the left, the ball possession time was running out and Fox tried a mid-range shot and hit the Los Angeles Lakers team with 2 more points, with the Minnesota Timberwolves defense so Jake could rely only on Rick Fox to make the attacks. Jake and Kobe Bryant would have to push hard to make the attack with two players defending against them, but with the Minnesota Timberwolves'' defense so Fox was always free to try the move, but he made far more attacks than Jake and Bryant did. With the Minnesota Timberwolves team playing so they managed to tie the game at the end of the second quarter, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 5 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals, at least with the steals Jake helped the Los Angeles Lakers team not to end up losing that second quarter. "With the end of the second quarter, the Minnesota Timberwolves team managed to draw with their good defensive strategy and the pressure in the attack they made throughout the game, so the Minnesota Timberwolves team can see the chance of winning that game." "Certainly, with this defensive pressure from the Minnesota Timberwolves team Kobe Bryant and Jake Smith do not have much freedom to attack and make the plays, moreover, in this game only Jake Smith can count only Rick Fox to make the attacks." "After all, it looks like Jake Smith and Kobe Bryant always have to face two players in defense when they have the ball, Robert Horry doesn''t have that problem, but with Kevin Garnett defending against him, Robert Horry also can''t attack." "And Travis Knight also misses a lot of attacks, so Rick Fox has more freedom to attack, but he doesn''t hit as many attacks as Jake Smith and Kobe Bryant normally do." "Yes, and the Minnesota Timberwolves attack is working well in that game too, if Shaquille O''Neal was playing, the Minnesota Timberwolves team couldn''t do that, but now the Los Angeles Lakers team has to do something about it." Just as commentators said the Los Angeles Lakers team would have to find some way to win that game, Coach Harris thought of replacing Jake Smith and Kobe Bryant, but this would make it even easier for the Minnesota Timberwolves to defend. The biggest problem was not the Los Angeles Lakers team playing without Shaquille O''Neal on the team, but that they had not done training without Shaquille O''Neal on the team, so they were not prepared for the opponent''s defensive moves. Jake couldn''t just try multiple three-point shots because he knew that against two opponents he would definitely suffer a lot of blocks if he didn''t end up missing more three-point shots in that game. Chapter 491 - A Great Deal 5 The third quarter started with the Minnesota Timberwolves team in the attack trying to get the victory, Jackson advanced with the ball and passed to Mitchell on the right, Mitchell received the ball and passed to Joe Smith ahead. Smith received the ball and Knight arrived to defend, Smith managed to spin and hooked to make 2 more points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team, the Los Angeles Lakers team''s weak defense also helped the Minnesota Timberwolves team to score more points. Jake advanced with the ball trying to win this game, Jake passed to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and tried the move and soon two players from the Minnesota Timberwolves team went to defend against him. Bryant tried to pass the ball to Horry ahead, Garnett came in defense and Horry still tried a feint and failed, Horry had to pass the ball to Fox from the left, Fox tried to advance and Sealy came to defend against him. So Fox soon passed to Jake behind who was only with Jackson defending against him, so Jake was quick and tried the shot from outside even with Jackson pressing in defense, Jake hit-making 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. When Sealy didn''t try to help defend two Minnesota Timberwolves players Jake and Bryant had a chance to make the move and the points, realizing that the Minnesota Timberwolves coach asked Sealy not to defend against Fox anymore. So Rick Fox was defenseless to try mid-range moves, but when he advanced Joe Smith came to defend against him and left Travis Knight defenseless, but Knight missed more attacks than Fox. Of course, Travis Knight still managed to score a lot if he got more assists, but Fox hit more attacks than he did, and even Knight didn''t expect to be able to play in that game until he was warned by Coach Harris. So the third quarter ended with the Minnesota Timberwolves getting a small advantage on the scoreboard and playing even better than at the beginning of the game, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 5 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal. In the last quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team still tried to win the game, but with the good defense of the Minnesota Timberwolves team and the bad defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team they ended up losing that game. The Minnesota Timberwolves won the game with 92 points against the Los Angeles Lakers'' 84 points, Jake had 5 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal and ended that game this time without even a double-double. "And so the game ends with the Minnesota Timberwolves team winning, this is their fourth win in 4 games and the Minnesota Timberwolves team really got good players to be playing so well this season." "Yes, Kevin Garnett had a good game today with more than 20 points and Sam Mitchell also managed to make more than 20 points, with the Minnesota Timberwolves team''s good defense they managed to win." "The Los Angeles Lakers team had Kobe Bryant who managed another double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds, and Jake Smith who failed to achieve another triple-double in that game with 26 points, 9 assists, and 9 rebounds." "Jake Smith played well in that game, but if Shaquille O''Neal the Los Angeles Lakers team failed to attack as well and the Minnesota Timberwolves team''s strategy of putting two players to defend Jake Smith and Kobe Bryant when they had the ball did that they lose this game." "This is the Los Angeles Lakers team''s first defeat this season in 5 games, so it''s not that bad, we hope Shaquille O''Neal comes back in the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win again." The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were upset about the first loss of the season, but of course, they already expected that the team would lose a few times in the season, what was worse was that this loss had happened because Shaquille O''Neal did not play in that game. Luckily after that game the whole team went back to Los Angeles because the next game would be just after 3 days and it would be a home game in Los Angeles, Coach Harris didn''t say much about the defeat and just said that they could rest the next day. The players were happy with that, even though Jake who had great stamina was getting tired after playing 48 minutes in every game, Jake would not be training the next day, but he would not have time to rest because Larry Page and Sergey Brin would come to Los Angeles to talk to him. Jake can sleep well at his home in Los Angeles and the next day he woke up excited to make a big deal, he had already called Emily asking her to prepare the contracts and come to Los Angeles. Jake was confident that he could close this deal because his offer was very good and he would invest a lot of money in a company that didn''t even have a million dollars invested yet, in addition, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were just rejected to sell the company. When Larry Page and Sergey Brin arrived in Los Angeles by plane Jake had already sent a driver in a rental car to pick them both up at the hotel where he had made a reservation for both of them, it was a kindness Jake had made for both of them before the conversation. The driver was waiting for them to get ready to take them to the restaurant where Jake was waiting for them, Larry Page and Sergey Brin knew that Jake was busy and so they accepted his request for them to go to Los Angeles. Even though the two had accepted Jake''s invitation for this negotiation, they still doubted whether this time Jake would really make a good proposal, they knew that Jake had the financial means to make an excellent proposal, but even they knew that this was a risky investment. Larry Page and Sergey Brin packed their things at the hotel Jake had prepared and changed clothes before going with Jake''s driver to the restaurant he had booked for them to talk business. "It''s nice to see you again Larry and Sergey, sorry to ask you to come to Los Angeles, but you know how busy I''ve been lately." "It''s okay, Jake, if your proposal is as good as you told me on the phone, we don''t mind coming to Los Angeles." "Actually, I wanted to make you a proposal after the end of this NBA season, but as you even tried to sell the company, I was a little anxious to talk to you." "We really thought about selling the company, but after we couldn''t do it, we thought better and decided to invest more time in it to make a great company." "This is great, if you had asked my opinion, I would also say that it is crazy to try to sell a company like Google that has such great growth potential, that is why I want to invest in that company." "And what is your proposal, Jake?" "My proposal is thinking about what the future of the company can be at best, if you do a great job the company can do what I am investing and even more, then I am investing in you too." "It is such a good proposal that there is no negotiation, you must accept or decline the proposal." Hearing this Larry Page and Sergey Brin realized that Jake really wanted to make an excellent proposal and they were excited about it, of course, if it was not a good proposal he would not emphasize it so much that there would be no negotiation. "Given the potential of the Google company, I am going to offer an investment of 25 million dollars and I want 50 percent of the company, but this proposal has some conditions." "I want 50 percent and you should have more than 45 percent of the company with the current valuation of the company after my investment, I want a contract saying that I will never take less than 35 percent of the company''s shares no matter how diluted they are." "In return, I will not have any decision power in the company with my shares, I sign a contract that I pass full powers that I have with my current 50 percent to you who will have 95 percent of the votes in the company." "What do you think about this proposal." Larry Page and Sergey Brin were really shocked by Jake''s excellent proposal at their company, even though 50 percent of the company was half of the company''s control, Jake said he would sign a contract giving up his voting power at the company and handing it over to them. And Jake was offering $ 25 million for that 50 percent, they were denied to sell the company for less than $ 1 million and a few days later they received a $ 25 million investment proposal. Their biggest fear was precisely to get a big investment in the company and thus lose control over how the company would grow, they wanted to keep their ideas and moral values ??in the company even with investment. "Jake, Sergey and I have to discuss your offer, can you give us some time alone to discuss?" "No problem, I''ll be out of here for a while and you will call me when you decide." Jake left the restaurant confident that they would accept his proposal, especially because he said he would not get involved in their decisions for the company, Jake had to trust them because he himself did not know how to make a technology company worth almost 1 trillion of dollars. Jake said he would not negotiate after making the offer, but if they refused he would ask for 40 percent as they did in their company''s first round of investment, the important thing was that Jake never cheated them and said he always thought the company worth what he was investing. After all, investing $ 25 million at 50 percent, Jake was increasing the company''s valuation to more than $ 50 million, and Jake would still accept that his shares be diluted by 15 percent. Chapter 492 - A Great Deal 6 Jake had no doubt that Larry Page and Sergey Brin were smart businessmen, even with such a proposal from him, the two were still talking and discussing whether or not to accept Jake''s generous offer. Only after a long time that Larry Page went to call Jake at the entrance to the restaurant so they could give him an answer, Jake was not eager to hear their response, but Larry Page and Sergey Brin were anxious. "Jake, we decided to accept your proposal, it really is a very good and fair proposal and if you really pass your voting rights on to us, then it will be a great deal for us too." "This is good, I''m glad you decided to accept my proposal, I asked my assistant who is also my lawyer to prepare the contracts for us, you can ask your lawyer to come to Los Angeles so that he can review the contracts before you sign." "It''s okay, you can fax the contracts to our lawyers for review and if it''s okay we''ll sign right here." Emily was still a few hours away from arriving in Los Angeles, so Jake asked if Larry Page and Sergey Brin would like to go back to the hotel to rest, in the meantime, Jake asked Emily to send a fax to Larry and Sergey''s lawyers for the contract to be signed more quickly. Jake was happy to have closed this big deal, even if because of him the company Google did not become a company of almost 1 trillion dollars, it would still be a great company because of the quality of the unique search engine that the site has. Emily asked her trusted assistants to fax the contracts to Larry Page and Sergey Brin''s lawyers and before Emily arrived in Los Angeles their lawyers had already reviewed the contract and said it was all as Jake had said. Including the contract that Jake would pass the voting rights on his shares to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, seeing that it was all right the two could relax and were already decided that they would sign the contract with Jake. Emily arrived in Los Angeles and Jake sent the driver to pick her up at the airport and take her to a hotel in the city as well after all these costs were low for Jake to treat his staff and guests well. As soon as Emily packed her things at the hotel she already called Jake to ask when the contracts would be signed and Jake said it would be dinner, so she could rest for a few hours. Emily was surprised when she learned how much Jake was going to invest in a company she didn''t even know, but she learned to trust Jake''s decisions, especially when it came to investment, as she met him before Jake managed to earn more than 1 million dollars. In fact, Emily has repeatedly regretted not investing the money she had in Jake''s investment company, but now she did not have the courage to invest in the Cisco company with all the market analysts saying the bubble would burst and all companies would lose billions of dollars in stock value when that happened. So the driver brought Emily with the contracts to the restaurant where Jake was, soon after the driver brought Larry Page and Sergey Brin who were excited to sign the contract, they knew they were doing a good deal for Google. "So? Did your lawyer review the contract Emily sent them?" "Yes, everything is fine as you said it would be, we are ready to sign the contract." So Emily took the contracts she had brought and everyone signed the contract very happy, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were happy because they had made an excellent deal and could continue to invest in the company. And Jake was happy because he knew what it would be like in the future and how these actions could make him one of the richest men in the world having invested only 25 million dollars, with the shares he had invested in Amazon he could already become the richest man of the world in the future. "Very well, I said that I will not interfere with your decision on how you should take care of the company, but I know that the company needs more investment to start having some revenue without doing anything that is against your moral values." "So with this investment that I made the company is much more valued and with this investment you can further improve the company Google, even so, I suggest that in the coming months you look for Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers." "Make a round of investment to raise a few million dollars, it maybe 25 million dollars or even more with the current valuation of the company, these are companies that provide initial investment in technology companies that can be very successful in the future." "How much they don''t invest doesn''t matter much, but you can negotiate for some of their employees to join Google''s board of directors just like they did with other big companies like Amazon and Yahoo." "This is fundamental to the development of our company, I am also a partner at Amazon and I know how good their work is, another thing that you will have to do is to hire a president for the company." "I''m not going to say when you should do this, but it is essential for our company to be even better, this is just advice that I am giving and you may not listen to me, but I have a good sense of investment." Larry and Sergey were surprised because they didn''t know that Jake was a partner at Amazon, and since Jake was saying that he was a partner, so he should have more than 5 percent of the company, they didn''t know that and was even more impressed with Jake. As Jake had given these councils they would go and search for these companies that he said Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyers, if they were really good for the company they would talk to them. So Jake talked to the two of them for a while and Emily also took part in this millionaires conversation and then Larry Page and Sergey Brin went to their hotel, Jake had booked a plane ticket for them the next day and they wanted to go back to work even more in the company now that they had a big investment. "Thanks for coming here Emily, this was an important investment for me, after this negotiation, I will be able to focus more on basketball until we have to start selling the shares of the Cisco company." "No problem, Jake, if you invested in this company they should make a big profit in the future, after all, the Amazon company you invested in has the company valued at billions of dollars, you will soon be a billionaire because of this company." Jake knew that Emily was right, in 1999 Amazon would appreciate a lot and Jeff Bezos would enter the list of richest men in the world, this time Jake would also enter that list with a few billion dollars. But Jake wouldn''t mind that because Matthew would be on the top of that list in 1999 and in 2000 too, Jake already knew that in the future he would be the richest man in the world so he would start thinking about how he would use some of that money to help others. Jake didn''t want to have more than 100 billion dollars just to be the richest man in the world, he took advantage of those chances to invest in more business and earn more to help people, with the money he would receive in his NBA career would be the enough for Jake to live with his mother his whole life without worrying about money. Jake waited until the driver came back to take Emily back to the hotel she was at and said goodbye to her, Jake went home because he would have to train with the Los Angeles Lakers team the next day and after completing this great deal he could relax. In that month yet another important thing would happen in Jake''s life, Kate had been nominated for the Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards, she had not been nominated for other awards just for her music to deserve because Kate''s producer wanted her to win this award. Jake remembered that Lauryn Hill had won this award and in that Grammy, she had won a total of 5 awards, so Jake believed that Kate could win this award with her company''s strategy. Currently, Kate was better known than Lauryn Hill, but that was not the most important thing because the Backstreet Boys were also very famous and did not win this award, unfortunately, Lily, who was Kate''s manager, prevented him from going to this award with Kate. After all, that would be the same as publicly assuming that he was dating Kate, Lily thought that this was not the right time to reveal their relationship and so Jake had to root for Kate watching the awards. The 41st Annual Grammy Awards would take place at the end of February so Jake hoped Kate could win, so Jake had to think only about basketball for the next few weeks, the next day Jake woke up well and went to train with the team. Arriving at training Jake was happy that Shaquille O''Neal was training with the team normally, but Jake soon realized that the other players didn''t look very happy, he soon approached Rick Fox and asked what had happened. "It looks like Robert has a health problem and is not going to be able to play the next games, he will lose at least the next 6 games, so we are not going to play with the full team in the next games." "What a pity, he was playing very well in the last games and helping a lot in defense, is his health problem very serious?" "I don''t think so, after all, he will be playing again this season, so there is not much risk to his life." Chapter 493 - The NBA Season Continues 1 With this bad news from Robert Horry the Los Angeles Lakers team did not train as well, not even Jake remembered that Robert had been sick at that time, he just thought Robert Horry did not play because coach Del Harris chose another player. Without Horry on the team, coach Harris decided to put Travis Knight on the team, this time the team still had one day to train before the next game so Horry''s absence would not be so bad for the team. After the first 5 games of the season, Jake had won the respect of his teammates, now the other players on the team treated him like a professional player and as Jake talked to everyone politely, all the players liked him. The team managed to find a way to play even without Horry on the team, but the team''s defense would be weaker without Robert Horry, the attack would not be a problem because the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack was the strongest this season. The next day came the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team in the NBA, this would be a team game in Los Angeles at home at the Great Western Forum, with the team''s good start to the season everyone hoped the Los Angeles Lakers team would win that game easily. Of course, the Indiana Pacers team was a strong and difficult opponent, but after beating other tough opponents the fans had confidence in the Los Angeles Lakers team, the fans started to like Jake Smith even more, who seemed to help the Los Angeles Lakers team. winning the NBA title again. Jake and the other players arrived at the Great Western Forum and went to the locker rooms to put on their uniform and do warm-up exercises for the game, Jake could see that Shaquille O''Neal was very excited about that game after not playing in the last game. So the two teams soon went to the court and Jake could see the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers much happier than in the first two games of the team this season, after all the team Los Angeles Lakers managed to win 4 games of the 5 games that they played in that one season. "Welcome to everyone who will watch another game this season in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers team that has 4 wins in 5 games this season will face the Indiana Pacers team that won 3 of the 5 games this season." "The Los Angeles Lakers team lost the last game playing as a visitor, but in that game, Shaquille O''Neal was not playing and today he is back, but in this game who will not be playing is Robert Horry, it seems that in the next games he will not participate due to health problems." "Certainly without Robert Horry who performed well in the Los Angeles Lakers team in those early games, the team will be left with the weakest defense, but with Shaquille O''Neal, back on the team I think they will win this game." "Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers team is the favorite to win this game, Jake Smith so far is the best rookie of the season, if he keeps playing well he can even be chosen for the All-NBA First Team like Tim Duncan did the previous year." Normally the media and fans would not be so excited about 5 good games by a rookie player because it was always good to wait and see how a rookie player would end the season, but with Jake it was different. In this season of just 50 games, Jake had already played very well in a tenth of them, moreover, after that lockout and the retirement of Michael Jordan, the sports media and basketball fans wanted to find another NBA idol. Jake had a big difference, which was that Jake was also an athlete who ran marathons and won more than 10 marathons and had a gold medal in the Olympics, so even if Jake Smith didn''t become a maximum idol in basketball, he would be a maximum idol in American sport. In the games of the Los Angeles Lakers team, there were many posters calling Jake by the nickname that was given to him in the races that were Captain America, this showed the great affection that basketball fans, in general, had for Jake Smith. The Los Angeles Lakers team came in this game with the starting players Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing improvised as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center back for the team. The Indiana Pacers team came with early players Mark Jackson playing as PG, Reggie Miller playing as SG, Jalen Rose playing as SF, Dale Davis playing as PF, and Rik Smits playing as Center. Jake knew that the players on the Indiana Pacers team were good and this season they would be first in the Central Division, it showed how strong their team was this season, Jake also knew Reggie Miller well and even though Miller was not an idol for Jake, it was someone he respected a lot. The game started and the Los Angeles Lakers team won the first possession of the ball, Jake received the ball and started to organize the first attack of the game for the Lakers team, Jake advanced and passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right. In the previous game, Kobe Bryant and Jake suffered a lot from the opposing team''s defense strategy, so in that game, Bryant wanted to make more moves, Reggie Miller soon arrived to defend against Bryant who soon felt the pressure of the defense. Bryant thought about trying the individual play to make the points, but decided it was better to pass the ball and passed it to Rick Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Jalen Rose soon pressed in defense, so Fox decided to pass the ball to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and decided to try the shot from outside and made the first 3 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake thought it was good that the Lakers team started the game with the advantage on the scoreboard to pressure the Indiana Pacers team. The Indiana Pacers team tried to react and Mark Jackson advanced with the ball, Jake was a little far from Jackson in defense, but Jackson did not want to try the individual play and passed the ball to Rose on the right. Rose received the ball and advanced with the ball and Fox pressed the defense, rose passed the ball to Rik Smits further on, Smits received the ball and O''Neal soon pressed the defense, Smits tried to position himself to try the play and was unable. So Smits passed the ball to Miller further back, Miller received the ball and Kobe Bryant was defending against him, Miller got a good individual play by making a feint and cheating Bryant and then he tried the mid-range shot to make 2 points for the team Indiana Pacers. The two teams looked the same in the game, but the players on the court soon realized that the Los Angeles Lakers team had the advantage with Jake on the team, Mark Jackson was an excellent PG and had good game attendance statistics. But in this game, he had to be more careful when making passes because he knew that Jake was very skillful in making steals, so he could not make passes in the right moves at times thinking that Jake could intercept his passes. Jake didn''t have to worry about that and as he showed in the last few games, any opponent had a hard time defending against him, especially when Jake used his speed, so the Los Angeles Lakers team had a greater advantage in controlling the game. The Los Angeles Lakers team attacked again and Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Fox from the left, Fox received and ball and held on a little and Rose soon pressed in defense, so Fox decided to pass the ball to Bryant on the right. Bryant received the ball and Miller soon pressed in defense against him, Bryant was having trouble making the move in that game and passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and saw Shaquille O''Neal''s good movement and passed the ball for him. Shaquille O''Neal received the ball and protected the Smits ball that was in defense, O''Neal protected the ball and can advance to make the layup and 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake had realized that O''Neal wanted to make the points in that game so he would pass the ball over to him. The Indiana Pacers team went on the attack and Jackson was organizing the play, Jackson advanced with the ball and Jake was on defense waiting for Jackson''s move, so Jackson passed the ball to Miller on the left. Miller received the ball and Bryant soon pressed in defense against him, Miller tried an individual play and Bryant defended well against him, so Miller passed the ball to Rose from the left, Fox was pressing in defense against him, and in front O''Neal was defending well against Smits. So Rose had to try the pass to Jackson further back, but Jake was watching the move and was anticipating to intercept the pass and make the steal, Jake intended to hold the ball in defense until the team prepared to make the attack. But Kobe Bryant quickly advanced to the attack and in the defense of the Indiana Pacers team he had only 3 players, so Jake also ran for the attack and the defense of the Indiana Pacers team had to return. In the attack there was Kobe Bryant and Jake and in defense, there was Jackson, Rose, and Miller, Kobe Bryant was more ahead and Jackson was defending against him, with Jake''s speed in the race, Miller was unable to keep up and so was Jake and Bryant against the defense of the Indiana Pacers team. Jake advanced on the left and Bryant was on the right, near the three-point line Rose tried to hinder Jake in the play or even try to make the steal, Jake was quick and made a crossover that tricked Rose. Soon after Jake made his special move that was the Ghost Move, Jake made the Ghost Move and Rose could no longer see where the ball was and looked at where Kobe Bryant was thinking that Jake had made the pass and Jake easily passed Rose with the ball. Chapter 494 - The NBA Season Continues 2 Rose stayed behind and Bryant and Jackson who were watching Jake''s move could not understand why Rose let Jake pass and stayed behind, Jake continued advancing to the inside area to make the layup. So Jackson went to defend against Jake, so Jackson came to defend against him Jake assisted Kobe Bryant by passing the ball behind-the-back, Bryant received the ball and just dunk to make 2 more points for the Los team Angeles Lakers. With this beautiful move, the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team at the Great Western Forum cheered a lot, Kobe Bryant praised Jake for this move, Bryant had thought that Jake would not make the pass and would try to make the whole move on his own. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team with the lead on the scoreboard, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals, with Shaquille O''Neal playing again the entire team can play well and Jake had a good first quarter. "And so the first quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning so far, the Indiana Pacers team is playing well so far, Reggie Miller has done a good first quarter and the rest of the team has also played well in attack." "But with Jake Smith''s great attacking moves in that first quarter and Shaquille O''Neal''s good game, the Los Angeles Lakers team also has the advantage in that game, Shaquille O''Neal seems to want to show what he''s capable of after staying out of the team in the last game." "For sure, with Shaquille O''Neal playing the Los Angeles Lakers team playing much better, Shaquille O''Neal is the most important player on the Los Angeles Lakers team, not least because he is more experienced than Kobe Bryant and Jake Smith and he plays as Center which is a very important position in the NBA today." "Yes, that''s also why the Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win this game, after all, Shaquille O''Neal seems to be playing very well in that game and it''s been difficult for Rik Smits to attack." Just as commentators said Jake also knew that Shaquille O''Neal was the most important player on the team today, one of the reasons why Jake wanted to play on the Los Angeles Lakers team was Shaquille O''Neal. Certainly Jake had great admiration for Kobe Bryant too, but currently, he was not yet the incredible player he would be in the future, Jake also knew that he was not the most important player on the team. The second quarter started with the Indiana Pacers team pressing in the attack, Mark Jackson advanced the ball and passed to Reggie Miller on the left, Miller received the ball and Bryant soon pressed in defense. Miller did not want to try a move and passed the ball to Dale Davis later on, Davis received the ball and Travis Knight soon pressed in defense, Davis managed to spin and then tried a hook to make 2 more points for the Indiana Pacers team. Travis Knight was a good player in defense and also in attack, but unfortunately, they had many other players better than him playing in the same position as him in the NBA, so he couldn''t help the Los Angeles Lakers team much. In another move Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and managed to get rid of Miller''s defense and attempted a mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers. Bryant was also playing well in that game, but because of Miller''s pressure on defense he would rather pass the ball than attempt an attack that might not work, Coach Harris realized that and was satisfied with Bryant''s game that he was thinking more about in the team. In another attacking move by the Indiana Pacers team Jackson started to organize another attack, Jackson advanced the ball and passed to Miller on the left, Reggie Miller was the best player on the Indiana Pacers team in that game. Miller received the ball and Bryant soon pressed the defense, Miller passed the ball further back to Jackson, Jackson received the ball and Jake was pressing the defense, so Jackson decided to try a shot from outside, but Jake was alert and soon jumped to do the block and prevent Jackson from shooting. This block by Jake animated the Los Angeles Lakers team at the Great Western Forum, it was Jake''s first block in the NBA and he was proving to be more and more of a good defensive player, even with Jake''s block the possession of the ball still continued with the Indiana Pacers team. Jake''s good moves were putting a lot of pressure on the Indiana Pacers team, but they still wanted to win that game, so Jackson advanced the ball and passed it to Miller on the left, Miller received the ball and passed it to Rose on the right. Jalen Rose had the ball and managed to outwit Rick Fox with a feint and tried the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Indiana Pacers team, the Indiana Pacers team was still alive in the game, but the pressure on the team players Indiana Pacers was increasing. The Los Angeles Lakers team started another attack with Jake advancing with the ball, Jake passed the ball to Fox from the left, Fox was playing well in the games even though he didn''t stand out very much, he averaged 11 points per game and that helped Los Angeles Lakers team. Fox received the ball and soon passed it to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and tried an individual play, Jackson tried to surprise Bryant and tried to make the steal, but Bryant reacted quickly and passed the ball to Jake who was free. Jake received the ball and tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, he did not expect Jackson to leave him free to try to defend against Kobe Bryant, but that helped him got 3 more easy points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team having an even greater lead on the scoreboard, Shaquille O''Neal was playing very well and scoring more points than Jake in the game, and that helped Jake to have more assists. In that second quarter of the game, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 10 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block, with this good second quarter Jake had more confidence that the Los Angeles Lakers team would achieve victory in that game. "The second quarter of the game with the Los Angeles Lakers team ends with the advantage of points, a great game so far by the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake Smith is playing very well in this game also helping in attack and defense." "Kobe Bryant is also playing very well and Shaquille O''Neal is the best player in this game so far, Shaquille O''Neal had 16 points and had 8 rebounds in this first half of the game, but Jake Smith also helped a lot with 18 points and 7 assists." "Really Jake Smith has been making a great start to the season, he averages over 29 points per game in 5 games this season, with Jake Smith the Los Angeles Lakers team being a favorite to win the NBA title this season." "The Indiana Pacers team is also playing a good game and they are not far behind on the scoreboard, Reggie Miller is playing well defending against Kobe Bryant and making the points in most of his attacks." "We will continue to follow the game to see if the Los Angeles Lakers team will win the game or if the Indiana Pacers team will still make the turn." The third quarter started with the Los Angeles Lakers team pressing in the attack, they wanted the victory and did not want to have a second loss this season, even more playing at home. Jake advanced to the attack with the ball and passed to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Rose soon came to press on defense, Fox tried to feint, but failed to deceive Rose, so Fox passed the ball to Bryant on the right. Bryant received the ball and with a good individual move, he passed Miller and advanced to the inside area, the defense of the Indiana Pacers team did not expect this move and so Bryant drive to the basket and tried the layup to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The Indiana Pacers team soon went on the attack because they still wanted to win the game, Jackson moved forward and passed the ball to Rose through the right, Rose received the ball and Fox soon came to press on defense. Rose passed the ball to Smits further on, Smits received the ball and Shaquille O''Neal soon pressed in defense, so Smits passed the ball to Miller from the left, Miller received the ball and stepped back and tried the shot from outside make 3 more points for the Indiana Pacers team. In another move, the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack and Jake was organizing the move, Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Bryant from the right, Bryant received the ball and held it a little while thinking about the next move. Miller pressed the defense and Bryant passed the ball to Fox from the left, Fox received the ball and then passed it back to Jake, Jake received the ball and tricked Jackson with a feint and advanced into the inside area. The defense of team Indiana Pacers pressed in defense against Jake who soon passed the ball to Shaquille O''Neal, O''Neal received the ball and advanced to make the dunk and 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The third quarter of the game was more balanced and the Los Angeles Lakers team could not open more advantage on the scoreboard, the Indiana Pacers team also could not reduce the advantage of points that the Los Angeles Lakers had. So the third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team maintaining the points advantage, in that third quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 7 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, in that third quarter Jake tried more to help his teammates than making the points. Chapter 495 - The NBA Season Continues 3 "The third quarter ends now, those were 12 minutes in which the two teams were very balanced, but the Indiana Pacers team was unable to diminish the points advantage that the Los Angeles Lakers team had." "So for the last quarter of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team has the advantage and just have to defend well and keep the game balanced in order to get the win, in the meantime the Indiana Pacers team will have to put more pressure on the attack." "Yes, even with the effort of the Indiana Pacers team in that third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team is playing very well and it will be difficult for them to lose this game." In the last quarter, the Indiana Pacers team tried to put even more pressure in the attack, but this made their defense more open, besides, the players of the Indiana Pacers team got more tired even with the team coach making several substitutions. So the Los Angeles Lakers team won the game making 112 points against 98 points of the Indiana Pacers team, in that last quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 7 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake got a double-double in that game with 9 steals too. "And so the game ends, the Los Angeles Lakers team won their fifth game of the season, with just one defeat the team shows that it is really favorite to win the NBA title this season." "The Indiana Pacers team played well in that game and the players did a good second half of the game, but the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were very good in that game, Shaquille O''Neal played very well with 38 points and 17 rebounds making one double-double." "But for me, the best player in that game was once again Jake Smith with 32 points, 14 assists, 9 steals and 8 rebounds, even though Jake Smith didn''t score more than Shaquille O''Neal, he helped the team a lot more in that game." "I think Shaquille O''Neal was the best player in that game with those 38 points and 17 rebounds, but it''s amazing how Jake Smith, who is a rookie, can play at the same level as NBA All-Star Shaquille O''Neal." "For sure, Jake Smith has been very important for the Los Angeles Lakers team to achieve these victories in the first games of this season, and it has already been 6 games out of the 50 games that we will have this season." Jake was happy with his performance in that game and was happy with the victories that the Los Angeles Lakers team was achieved in those first games, of the three defeats that the Los Angeles Lakers team would have this season, Jake managed to avoid two of them. Even though Jake could see how Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant still didn''t like Coach Del Harris, Jake didn''t know if it was Coach Harris who had prevented Shaquille O''Neal from playing in the game that the Los Angeles Lakers team lost. Jake had nothing against Coach Harris, Jake didn''t like the coach very much, but he also didn''t want him to be fired, but Jake wanted Coach Phil Jackson to be hired next season and for that, Coach Del Harris would have to be fired. Jake admired Coach Phil Jackson who was one of his NBA idols, Jake also couldn''t help but wonder if Coach Phil Jackson could help him be an even better player as he did with Shaquille O''Neal, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant. Los Angeles Lakers team fans and the media talked a lot now about Jake and as he was the team''s new star, older fans couldn''t help but remember the times when Magic Johnson played as PG and team leader Los Angeles Lakers. Before Michael Jordan''s time, it was the Los Angeles Lakers team that dominated the NBA along with the Boston Celtics team, of course, they couldn''t expect Jake to help the Los Angeles Lakers team win another 5 NBA title as Magic Johnson did, but if Jake could help the Lakers team win an NBA title they would be happy. The sports media commented on the story of Jake Smith who was doing an excellent season as a rookie and also talked about how he was also currently the best marathon athlete in the world. What the media said and the fans agreed was that if this season he had an all-star game, Jake would certainly be one of the chosen ones because American fans liked him a lot, it was a pity that this season the game had been canceled. The Los Angeles Lakers team players were happy that they would have a day of rest before the next game, that day they would only have the training, in addition, the next three games of the Los Angeles Lakers team would be at home, so the players would get tired any less. The next day Jake woke up very early excited, he was very happy with the games he had this season, the training he did in his imagination training helped him a lot to adapt more quickly to the NBA level. Of course, Jake knew he still had a lot of things he could improve on to play even better, for sure when he was more used to playing with his teammates the next games would be easier. Jake rested at his house, he took the opportunity to see some films he hadn''t seen in a long time in the cinema that was at his house, Jake always wanted to have something like that and at that time it was much cheaper to build a cinema when he was already if you had a room big enough. In the future, Jake would only need to change the projector for something more modern when the films started shooting in better image quality, of course, Jake could still watch the movies at the cinema when he wanted to leave. After all, what Jake liked most to do at his house was sports, he used the pool, the gym, the basketball court, the athletics track, so the movie theater and library were the places that Jake would only go to when he had more time. Jake''s dream was that when the films he participated in were released he could receive a copy to watch in his cinema room, Jake had already obtained a copy of the film Jerry Maguire, and he would order a copy of the film The Matrix as soon as it was launched. The premiere of the film The Matrix was close, Jake was sure it would be a success after all the film was similar to what he remembered and the essence that made the film a success continued, he had to see if with him participating in the film could get better and maybe earn even more profit. When Jake was invited to participate in the film he was a famous person even though he had not yet made his NBA debut, so Jake could have asked for a higher salary than Warner Bros would still pay. But Jake was offered to receive a small percentage of the profits from the film and Jake naturally accepted that and had not received a salary, he would receive 2 percent of the profits from the film, it was little close to the salary of the great actors, but it was very good for his first salary since he did not receive for his participation in the film Jerry Maguire. Later on, Jake went to do training with his teammates, it was lighter training to correct positioning problems and to train players who were making mistakes in the games. So the day after the game came, that game was against the Charlotte Hornets team, the Los Angeles Lakers team would play at home and as Glen Rice would not be playing in that game, it was expected that the Los Angeles Lakers team could win with more facility. Jake went to the Great Western Forum and saw that it was packed because fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team came to support the team that was having a great start to the season, Jake went to the locker room and soon all the players arrived. Soon the players went to the court and could see the fans cheering for another victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game, this made the players even more excited to win this game that would soon begin. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game this NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers team will play against the Charlotte Hornets team to try to get another victory." "The Los Angeles Lakers team is playing at home and has 5 wins in 6 games this season, a very good start to the season and with the debut of Jake Smith who has been playing well and the great players Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant they have won several games." "With the Charlotte Hornets team it''s the other way around, they have 4 losses in 5 games this season, with injuries from Anthony Mason and Glen Rice the team is struggling to win games earlier this season." "Yes, in this game the Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win, even with the absence of Robert Horry, the Los Angeles Lakers team still managed to win in the previous game and they can win that game too." The Los Angeles Lakers team came with the starting players Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Charlotte Hornets team came with the initial players'' BJ Armstrong playing as PG, Bobby Phills playing as SG, and they were playing with two PF on the team, JR Reid and Derrick Coleman, Coleman could play as Center also in the game to help Charles Shackleford who was playing as Center. Team coach Charlotte Hornets decided to do this to improve the defense against Shaquille O''Neal and also take the opportunity to attack more because it was Travis Knight who was defending, even if Rick Fox helped in the defense they could attack with more intensity. The game started with the Los Angeles Lakers team pressing in the attack, Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Bryant from the right, Bryant received the ball and Bobby Phills soon pressed in defense. Bryant soon passed the ball to Rick Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Reid was defending against him, so Fox passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake realized that Reid was not defending against Fox and passed the ball to him again. So Fox took the opportunity and tried a mid-range shot to make the first 2 points of the game for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Reid did not expect Fox to receive the ball again, and so the Los Angeles team started with the advantage in the game. Chapter 496 - The NBA Season Continues 4 The Charlotte Hornets team players soon felt the strength of the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack that had the best attack this season in the NBA, as the Charlotte Hornets team players were not good at defense, they had to try to attack more to try to get the victory. The Charlotte Hornets team went on the attack with B. J. Armstrong organizing the play, B. J. Armstrong came forward and passed the ball to Phills who was on the left, Phills received the ball and Kobe Bryant soon came to defend against him. Phills held the ball and passed it to Reid on the right, Reid received the ball and Fox soon came to press on defense, Reid managed to spin and tried a hook to make 2 more points for the Charlotte Hornets team and tie the game. Both teams had no strong defenses so they had to rely on the attack to win the game, so the Los Angeles Lakers team had the advantage in this type of game for having the best attack of all NBA teams this season. In another move, the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack and Jake was organizing the move, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Reid was already pressing in defense. After the play in which Reid left Fox alone and he made the 2 points, Reid defended well against Fox in all plays, the Charlotte Hornets defense with Derrick Coleman and Charles Shackleford was managing to defend well against Shaquille O''Neal. Fox held the ball and then passed it to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and managed to get rid of Phills'' defense and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for Los Angeles Lakers team. In another move the Charlotte Hornets team was on the attack, Armstrong advanced with the ball and made a pass to Reid on the right, Reid received the ball and Fox came to press on defense, Reid passed the ball further to Shackleford. Shackleford received the ball and Shaquille O''Neal came to press on defense, so Shackleford held the ball a little and passed it to Phills on the left, Phills received the ball and managed to get rid of Bryant''s defense and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Charlotte Hornets team. In another move towards the end of the first quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team went on the attack again, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and tried to trick Phills with a feint, but failed. Thus Bryant passed the ball to Fox from the left, Fox received the ball and Reid pressed again in defense, so Fox passed the ball to Jake who was coming from the left as well Jake advanced and Armstrong was defending against him. Jake did a feint and a step back and fooled Armstrong and managed to try a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers in that game, Jake was attacking more in that game because the Charlotte Hornets defense was defending better against Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with several points of advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal, Jake played well in that first quarter, but it was more difficult defend with the team thinking more about attacking. "The first quarter ends, the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning the game with a good point advantage, both teams were thinking more about attacking and the Los Angeles Lakers team that has the best attack got the advantage." "Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers team made fewer mistakes in attack with Jake Smith organizing the attacks well, in this game Jake Smith, Kobe Bryant, and Rick Fox are having a good performance, and Shaquille O''Neal also even though he was well defended by the team Charlotte Hornets." "If the Charlotte Hornets team continues to play just thinking about the attack it will be difficult for them to win that game, the only team that beat the Los Angeles Lakers this season used defensive tactics to achieve victory." "It''s true, the biggest problem is that the Charlotte Hornets team is without two major players who are injured, Glen Rice and Anthony Mason, so coach Dave Cowens is still looking for the ideal team for this season." "Yes, Jake Smith is having another great performance so far in this game, it looks like it will be another good game this season and with that, we can see that Jake Smith can be considered more of an NBA star." Coach Cowens of team Charlotte Hornets was really looking for the best team to have this season, moreover, he had to worry about the players'' fatigue and so he replaced some players for a few minutes in each quarter. This could be a good advantage for the Los Angeles Lakers team, but Coach Harris realized that the game was favorable for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win easily, so he decided that he would also start in the second quarter to replace the important players. Coach Harris thought about doing this so that the players would not get too tired from this intense sequence of games, but in doing so the team would be weaker in the minutes that the main players on the team had to leave. Fortunately, he didn''t think about taking Jake out of the team because after 6 games playing every 48 minutes of the games, Coach Harris believed that Jake had a lot more stamina than most other players. In the second quarter, the Charlotte Hornets team continued to put pressure on defense only against Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant, luckily Rick Fox was playing very well in that game so it was easier for Jake to make the attacking moves. In one of the Los Angeles Lakers team''s moves, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and held on with Phills pressing against him in defense. Bryant did not attempt an individual move and passed to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Reid started to press on defense, so Fox had to pass back to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Armstrong was defending against him, but no so close to him. Jake advanced with the ball using his speed and managed to get rid of the opposing defense, Jake advanced with speed towards the inside area and took the Charlotte Hornets team''s defense by surprise. Coleman tried to defend against him, but Jake realized that and passed the ball to Shaquille O''Neal who received the ball and soon tried a dunk to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, that was a move that Jake and O''Neal had trained in team training. With Jake breaking the Charlotte Hornets defense with quick moves, the Charlotte Hornets defense couldn''t handle the Los Angeles Lakers'' attack, so they tried to attack more when Coach Harris replaced a starting player. In another move the Charlotte Hornets team went for another attack, Armstrong advanced with the ball and passed to Phills on the left, Phills received the ball and Bryant soon pressed in defense, so Phills passed the ball to Reid on the right. Reid received the ball and Fox pressed further in defense to hinder Reid in the attack, realizing this Reid passed the ball to Coleman, Coleman received the ball and Travis Knight was defending against him. Coleman managed to make a spin and tried a hook to make 2 more points for the Charlotte Hornets team, Knight could not defend well against Coleman and the Charlotte Hornets team was taking advantage of that in the attacking plays. In another attacking move by the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Bryant from the right, Bryant received the ball and Phills came to press on defense, so Bryant passed the ball to Knight later on. Knight received and the ball and Coleman were already pressing in defense, so Knight passed to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and with a feint, he deceived Armstrong and advanced into the area, this time it was Reid who tried to defend against Jake. Jake was quick and passed the ball to Fox from the left who was free, Fox received the ball and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Los Angeles Lakers team was managing to increase the lead on the scoreboard. But after a few minutes in the second quarter that the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to increase the lead on the scoreboard, Coach Harris decided to make some substitutions at some points during the game, taking players out of the team. Fortunately, he took only one player at a time and didn''t affect the team that much, yet it was harder for Jake to make the attacking moves when Shaquille O''Neal or Kobe Bryant left the team. In one of the moves when Kobe Bryant had been replaced, the Charlotte Hornets team went for another attack, Armstrong came with the ball and passed to Phills on the left, Phills received the ball and Tyronn Lue pressed in defense and Phills was unable to deceive Lue this time and passed it to Coleman ahead. Coleman received the ball and held it up a little before passing it to Reid on the right, Reid received the ball and Fox soon pressed for defense, Reid decided not to attempt the individual play and passed it to Armstrong further back. Armstrong had only scored 4 points in that game because he knew Jake''s defensive skills, so Armstrong tried a pass to Phills, but Jake anticipated that move and intercepted Armstrong''s pass making the steal. Jake stole the ball and advanced for the attack, Jake ran for the attack and only Armstrong who missed the pass managed to accompany Jake in defense because he was further back in defense. Jake made a crossover and with a beautiful play he deceived Armstrong and continued advancing towards the inner area, Armstrong was unable to follow Jake after Jake''s move and so Jake dunk to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Chapter 497 - The NBA Season Continues 5 Fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team who were at the Great Western Forum celebrated Jake''s beautiful move and points, with coach Harris replacing the starting players Jake had to make more attacking moves. The second quarter ended the Los Angeles Lakers team slightly increasing the lead, Jake played for 12 minutes in that second quarter and had 13 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. "The second quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team goes to the break with a big advantage in points, even though Coach Harris decided to replace the main players for the Los Angeles Lakers team for a few minutes." "Yes, Coach Harris seems to be trying to spare the main players so they don''t get so tired in a game in which they have a big advantage, but the Charlotte Hornets team also didn''t know how to take advantage of that because Coach Cowens also replaced the players from his team." "The Charlotte Hornets team has been doing this a few times in the last few games because Coach Cowens seems to be looking for an ideal team to play even with some players that he counted injured." "It''s true, and the Los Angeles Lakers team only managed to increase the advantage even more because Jake Smith had an excellent second quarter and scored 13 points, Jake Smith has been showing that he is an excellent player even in this strong Los Angeles Lakers team." The third quarter started and the Charlotte Hornets team started to press further in the attack to try to win, Coach Harris continued making substitutions because he saw that Jake could help the Los Angeles Lakers team to win. The Charlotte Hornets team went on the attack with Armstrong organizing the play, Armstrong was perhaps the only player who wanted to be replaced on the Charlotte Hornets team, he could not attack well with Jake defending against him. Jake had already managed to make 3 of the steals he got in that game by intercepting passes from Armstrong, all players knew that Jake was very different from other players with an average of more than 7 steals per game. So Armstrong soon passed the ball to Reid on the right, Reid was playing well in that game pressing in the attack on Fox, and Fox was also playing well in the attack in that game, so the two were defending badly in that game. Reid managed to trick Fox with a feint and advanced to the inside area, Knight realized that Reid wanted to make the layup and went to defend against Reid, Reid did not expect Knight to do that and passed the ball to Phills on the left. Phills who saw the play better than Reid tried to pass it to Coleman who was free, but Knight had already returned to defend against Coleman, and Fox managed to recover and was defending against Reid. Phills also failed to make the move with Bryant on defense and passed to Shackleford later, Shackleford received the ball and this time Shaquille O''Neal had been replaced and it was Corie Blount in defense. Shackleford managed to spin and tried the hook to make 2 more points for the Charlotte Hornets team, the two teams managed to attack well against the weak defense of the teams, only Jake was helping in the defense, and Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal defended well when they were on the court. In another move by the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake charged forward and passed the ball to Kobe Bryant, Bryant received the ball and tried to make a feint to get rid of Phills, but Phills was not fooled and so Bryant passed the ball to O''Neal later in the attack. Shaquille O''Neal received the ball and soon Shackleford and Coleman pressed in defense against him, O''Neal was unable to make the move with two Charlotte Hornets players defending against him. So O''Neal passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and saw that Fox was free from the left and passed the ball to him, Fox received the ball and took advantage that Reid was not defending against him and tried the mid-shot range to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Coach Harris also did not take Fox out for many minutes in that game and so Jake and he was playing well in attack, Jake continued to attack more when O''Neal or Bryant was replaced and Armstrong was unable to defend against him. In another move the Charlotte Hornets team was on the attack again, the players were trying to attack to diminish the advantage on the scoreboard that the Los Angeles Lakers had, but even if the Los Angeles Lakers'' defense was not so good, they still managed to defend in some plays. After a good attacking move, the ball was left for Phills on the left, Bryant was defending against him and Phills could not get rid of Bryant''s defense, so he passed the ball to Reid on the right. Reid received the ball and Fox came to press on defense, Reid saw he could not make the move and passed the ball to Armstrong further back, possession was running out and Armstrong had to try the shot from outside. Jake was not close to Armstrong, but it did not take long to react and approached Armstrong and jumped with him, with Jake''s pressure, Armstrong ended up missing the shot and O''Neal caught the defensive rebound. The Los Angeles Lakers team failed to increase the advantage in the third quarter because of the good defense of the Charlotte Hornets team and their intense attack, but with the advantage they had in points, it was difficult for them to lose the game in the last quarter. Jake played for 12 minutes in that third quarter and had 10 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, in that game Jake was certainly the highlight of the team having the best performance, but at the end of the game, he would have more than 16 minutes to more playing than his teammates. As expected, the Charlotte Hornets team tried to push forward in the last quarter, but the Los Angeles Lakers team still won the game with 122 points against Charlotte Hornets'' 86. Jake played for 12 minutes in that last quarter and made 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, with that, Jake managed to a double-double and was the best player of the Los Angeles Lakers team being important in the game when Coach Harris replaced the main players of the team for a few minutes. "Another game ends this NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers team won another game this season, with this victory they have 6 victories and only 1 defeat in 7 games, the Los Angeles Lakers team has been showing more and more that it is favorite to win this season''s NBA title." "That''s right, the Charlotte Hornets team tried to attack a lot and they made a defensive strategy to defend against Shaquille O''Neal who is the best player of that team, but it didn''t work very well for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win with an advantage of more 30 points." "Their defense strategy was good, they tried to stop Shaquille O''Neal who is the player who scores the most points in the Los Angeles Lakers team, but in that game Coach Harris decided to let Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant rest for a few minutes." "So their defense strategy was avoided, even so, Shaquille O''Neal scored 20 points in that game playing for just over 25 minutes, Kobe Bryant scored 18 points playing for just over 30 minutes in that game." "It''s true, Rick Fox played more time in that game and managed to score 26 points and helped the team a lot, but the highlight was really the rookie Jake Smith who managed to double 39 points and 11 assists." "Yes, we will continue to follow the games of the Los Angeles Lakers team to see if they remain favorites to win the NBA title and whether Jake Smith will continue to play thus being very important to the victories of the Los Angeles Lakers team." After that game Jake was praised by his teammates, even though he was the main player in that game, it was because Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant had not played more than 30 minutes. Jake''s teammates couldn''t complain about this because Jake had more stamina than the other players, the other players were already a little more tired after playing 7 games that month. After the game was over the players were able to return to their home to rest, after all the next game would be the very next day and the players would not have time to rest, so Coach Harris decided to let the main players play less time in that game. After all, players would continue with this intense sequence of games that could make players more tired and even get injured because of that, the problem with the Los Angeles Lakers team was that they had no players to replace the top players at a high level. If Coach Harris could, he would replace the main players again if the team was winning, especially now that he knew they could count on Jake to play the entire game. Arriving at home Jake called his mother to tell him that his team had won this game more, Eva was very happy and she knew how in the NBA Jake would have opponents much more difficult than at university. Even so, Eva was happy because Jake continued to win most of the games he played, just like it was at university, of course, Eva knew that the Los Angeles Lakers team was very good and it was the basketball team that Jake had always been a fan of as a child. After Jake''s years at College Eva was used to going several months without Jake around, that year at least Jake can stay in Miami until the beginning of the year and could return to Miami in July of that year. Of course, Eva didn''t know that Jake was thinking of going to the 1999 World Championsh.i.p.s in Athletics that would be in Seville, Spain in August of that year, so Jack didn''t know if he could go back to Miami or have to do other things before the 1999 World Championsh.i.p.s in Athletics. Chapter 498 - The NBA Season Continues 6 To participate in this 1999 World Championsh.i.p.s in Athletics Jake still had to participate and win the competitions in the 5,000 meters and in the 10,000 meters and in the marathon in the 1999 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championsh.i.p.s to qualify for the 1999 World Championsh.i.p.s in Athletics. Of course, Jake didn''t need to participate in the marathon because as he had won the 1997 World Championsh.i.p.s in Athletics he had a guaranteed spot, but he would still participate in the marathon too because he would have to run in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters anyway. Jake had not yet told his mother that he intended to participate, because he could give up if there was something else he was interested in doing on his vacation, but Jake would probably be running at the 1999 World Championsh.i.p.s in Athletics. And that was because he loved running and it would be important for him to reveal what he was capable of in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters for the next Olympics, Jake knew that Adidas would no longer pressure him to run in marathons because he already had started playing in the NBA and his contract was more because of the NBA. Certainly, Adidas and the other companies that sponsored them were very happy to see how skillful Jake was and was having an excellent performance in the NBA in those first games of this season. After a good night''s rest, the day of the next Los Angeles Lakers team game in the NBA came, Jake went to the Great Western Forum and can see that the Los Angeles Lakers fans were coming to watch another team game. The Los Angeles Lakers team was making an excellent start to the season and unlike what happened in Jake''s past life, they won 6 games and lost only 1 in 7 games this season, it was two more victories than in Jake''s past life. This intense sequence of games was only better for Jake, who had much more stamina than the other players, even though his teammates were also affected by fatigue, Jake could play better against opponents more tired than him. Jake and the other players went to the locker room and put on their uniforms and went to the court, this time the names of Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, and now Jake''s name were called by the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team. "Welcome everyone to another game this season in the NBA, this is the game between the Los Angeles Lakers team and the Dallas Mavericks team." "The Los Angeles Lakers team plays at home today and comes from a great start to the season with 6 wins in 7 games, with stars Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant and rookie star Jake Smith the team Los Angeles Lakers is definitely a favorite to win that game." "The Dallas Mavericks team has been having a bad start to the season, they are 6 losses in 7 games and their only victory was in a game that went overtime, it is a situation opposite to that of the Los Angeles Lakers team." "Yes, unlike this season''s star rookie Jake Smith, rookie Dirk Nowitzki has been disappointing for the Dallas Mavericks team, Dirk Nowitzki has been criticized for being a terrible defensive player in the last games of the Dallas Mavericks team." "This is a game that coach Harris will want to replace the main players of the Los Angeles Lakers team if they have the points advantage in the game." Jake remembered that at the beginning of Dirk Nowitzki''s career in the NBA he was very criticized for not adapting well to the NBA and not being able to defend or attack well against NBA players who had greater physical strength, especially those who played as PF. Of course, Jake knew that in the future Dirk Nowitzki would be one of the biggest supporters of the Dallas Mavericks team and an idol for European fans and NBA fans as one of the greatest players in history. The Los Angeles Lakers team came to this game with the starting players Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Dallas Mavericks team came to this game with the initial players'' Steve Nash playing as PG, Michael Finley playing as SF even defending as SG, Cedric Ceballos playing as SF, Gary Trent playing as PF, and Dirk Nowitzki also playing as PF, but defending as Center. It seemed that the Dallas Mavericks team wanted to make a similar strategy like the one used by the last opponent of the Los Angeles Lakers team, but last time it didn''t work very well and this time it wouldn''t work very well either. Jake found it interesting how two of his NBA idols were playing on this Dallas Mavericks team and even though they were playing so badly this season, Steve Nash was one of Jake''s idols, especially since he was one of the best PG in NBA history. And Dirk Nowitzki was also one of Jake''s idols in the NBA, it was interesting to see how these great players also had moments when they were criticized and even called bad players even though they became NBA geniuses. Jake also knew that it would be a shame that he had to compete with Steve Nash to find out who would be the best PG in several seasons, with the points and assists that Jake normally had on average he thought he would win most seasons in the NBA in the future. The game started and the Los Angeles Lakers team won the first ball possession, Jake advanced with the ball and soon passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Michael Finley was defending against him. Bryant managed to get rid of Finley''s defense easily and tried a mid-range shot to score the Los Angeles Lakers team''s first 2 points in the game, Kobe Bryant knew he would have less time to play in that game, so he wanted to score more points while he was on the court. The Dallas Mavericks team''s defense was one of the worst this season in the NBA and the attack was also not that good and because they were losing so many games, the Dallas Mavericks team soon went on the attack trying to tie the game. Steve Nash had the ball and advanced for the attack, Jake was defending against him and he wouldn''t underestimate Nash because he wasn''t playing so well this season, Steve Nash was also only in his third season in the NBA and he knew it had to be careful playing against Jake. Nash passed the ball to Finley on the left, Finley received the ball and Bryant soon pressed in defense against him, Finley did not want to try the individual play and passed to Gary Trent, Trent received the ball and Travis Knight soon pressed in defense. Trent used his strength to force his advance and tried a hook to make 2 points for the Dallas Mavericks team and tie the game, the Dallas Mavericks team''s strategy was to attack from the side where Knight defended that was the weakest part of the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team. In another move by the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake charged forward and passed the ball to Rick Fox on the left, Fox was excited in that game because he had played so well in the last game and tried to trick Cedric Ceballos with a feint. Ceballos was not fooled and so Fox had to pass the ball farther back to Jake, Jake received the ball and then made a high pass and Shaquille O''Neal took the ball high and made the dunk to complete the alley-oop and do more 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team and cheer on the fans. With the time of training, Jake had trained many plays with Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant that served to cheer the crowd, but also served to break the opposing defense in more difficult games. In another play the Dallas Mavericks team was attacking, Steve Nash advanced the ball and passed to Ceballos on the right, Ceballos received the ball and Fox came to press on defense, so Ceballos passed to Finley on the left. Finley received the ball and Bryant came to press on defense, even so, Finley tried the individual play and after a feint, he tried the mid-range shot to miss, Jake managed to catch the rebound and waited for a little before advancing slowly for the attack. The Los Angeles Lakers team''s defense was not currently one of the best in the NBA, but Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal could be excellent defensive players and would improve a lot in defense in the coming seasons and Jake were already playing very well in defense. But the attack by the Dallas Mavericks team was also not so well this season and the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team could defend well against them, of course, their goal was to attack more to increase the advantage in points. Jake moved forward after catching the rebound and passed the ball to Fox from the left, Fox received the ball and Ceballos was pushing in defense, so Fox had to pass to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and passed to Bryant from the right who was asking for the ball. Bryant received the ball and managed to get rid of Finley''s defense by fooling him with a feint and moving forward using his speed, so Kobe Bryant drive to the basket and after going through the Dallas Mavericks team''s defense tried the layup to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The Los Angeles Lakers team cheered up with Kobe Bryant''s play and celebrated, in the rest of the first quarter Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal tried to attack more, and Jake attacked less to help his teammates. So the first quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team had the points advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 5 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake played well again, but Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal played better. Chapter 499 - The NBA Season Continues 7 "The first quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a good point advantage, the Dallas Mavericks team was unable to attack well and defend in that first quarter and the Los Angeles Lakers team dominated." "Yes, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal played well both in attack and defense and Jake Smith played well too, but in that first quarter he seemed to want to help his teammates score more than he did more points himself." "We really still have to understand Jake Smith''s style of play as PG, we have already seen that he is very skilled at scoring with an average of 80 percent in Field Goal Percentage and an average of 82 percent in 3-Point Field Goal Percentage." "Just because of that we can see how Jake Smith is an excellent offensive player, in addition, he has an average of 11.7 assists per game in these first 7 games of this season, he is currently the highest average of assists this season and that is making an average 31.4 points per game." "We could see an average like that maybe if Jake Smith was on a weaker team wherein the entire game he ran his team on almost every point, but Jake Smith plays on the Los Angeles Lakers team that has players like Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant." "Yes, Magic Johnson got an average of assists like that, but in points, he was nowhere close to what Jake has been getting this season, John Stockton could also get more assists than him." "We have to note that we are talking about two players who were some of the best PGs of all time and we are putting a rookie on that list." After Michael Jordan''s retirement and the NBA lockout, the media really wanted to find a player to stand out and that basketball fans could really have as an idol, players like Shaquille O''Neal and Karl Malone would always be fans'' idols. Players who were SG like Michael Jordan could only be compared to him, but the media knew they could probably never get over what Michael Jordan represented to the NBA and basketball around the world. So what they could do was choose a player from another position who also had a great ability to be praised and placed for fans to say that that person could be their new idol and they would not compare much with Michael Jordan for being from another position. Of course, the sports media and basketball fans didn''t think that Jake would maintain this incredible average of points and assists throughout the season, they thought that when the games got tougher and Jake got tired he would start making more mistakes. The second quarter started with the Los Angeles Lakers team still pressing in the attack, in the first quarter Coach Harris took Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal for a short time, but from that second quarter, he would start to leave them out of court for longer. Jake advanced to the attack with the ball and passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and tried to deceive Finley, but this time Finley was not deceived and was pressing on defense, so Bryant passed the ball to Fox on the left. Fox received the ball and Ceballos was pushing in defense, Fox had a good performance in the previous game and was also playing well in that game, he was one of the players who most liked Coach Harris to replace the main players. Jake did not need to be replaced and he still managed to play longer than the others, even though he was also replaced, Fox tried the move and Ceballos pressed on defense and so Fox had to pass to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and advanced using his speed, Steve Nash tried to keep up on defense, but Jake was faster, watching Jake move forward Finley approached to do double-team defense on Jake. Jake realized this and decided to pass the ball to Kobe Bryant who was free, Bryant tried the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Bryant was happy to see that Jake was passing the ball more and helping him to make the stitches. The Dallas Mavericks team went on the attack to try to diminish the advantage in points of the Los Angeles Lakers team, Nash advanced with the ball and passed to Ceballos on the right, Ceballos received the ball and Fox pressed in defense. Ceballos made a feint and tricked Fox and drive to the basket to make 2 more points for the Dallas Mavericks team, it was a good move by Ceballos taking advantage of an opening in the Los Angeles Lakers defense. After a few minutes Coach Harris removed Kobe Bryant from the team and added Tyronn Lue, Lue was happy to have more opportunity to play, so the Los Angeles Lakers team went on the attack. Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Lue on the right, Lue received the ball from Jake and Finley already pressed in defense, so Lue passed the ball to Travis Knight ahead, Knight received the ball and soon passed to Jake further behind. Jake received the ball away from the three-point line, even so, he tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jake tried that shot from a distance of 35 feet and Nash did not expect it and nor tried to block. The Los Angeles Lakers crowd cheered they liked Jake''s long-range shots and also liked the three-point shots made when Jake tried the jump shot, the Los Angeles Lakers crowd was enjoying three-point shots more and more that gave the team more advantage on the scoreboard. What was more interesting was that many sports critics said that Jake only had a great average on three-point shots in the NCAA because the distance from the three-point line was shorter than in the NBA. The Dallas Mavericks team tried another attack with Nash organizing the play, Nash moved forward and passed the ball to Ceballos on the right, Ceballos received the ball and Fox came to press on defense. Ceballos passed the ball to Dirk Nowitzki, who was not participating much in the game, Nowitzki received the ball and moved away from Knight''s defense to try the mid-range shot and make 2 more points for the Dallas Mavericks team. The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team with the points advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes in that second quarter and had 11 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake attacked more in that second quarter and also tried to help his teammates making assists. "The second quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team increased the lead even more, even though coach Harris replacing Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal for a few minutes, Jake scored more points and the opponent was unable to press so hard in the attack." "It''s true, it seems that the Dallas Mavericks team''s attack is not working very well and the defense too, we can see that in this game Dirk Nowitzki is not even showing up much, Cedric Ceballos and Michael Finley who are the main players in the attack are not getting score so many points in that game." "In the Los Angeles Lakers team Rick Fox is also playing well and even playing less time Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal are still playing a great game and getting a lot of points, so I think the Los Angeles Lakers team will really win this game." "We will follow in the second half of the game if the Dallas Mavericks team gets a turnaround and puts even more pressure on the Los Angeles Lakers team to get their second win this season." The Dallas Mavericks team wanted the victory in that game, but the players knew it would be difficult to beat the Los Angeles Lakers team playing at the Great Western Forum, in addition, all the other teams realized that the Los Angeles Lakers team had become very strong with Jake Smith joining the team. The third quarter started with the Los Angeles Lakers team in the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Bryant on the right, Bryant tried a feint and failed to trick Finley, so Bryant passed the ball to Fox on the left. Fox received the ball and Ceballos arrived to press in defense, Fox made a feint and a step back and tried an outside shot to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Fox was playing well taking advantage of that Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal were being replaced. The Dallas Mavericks team soon went for another attack to try to stay in the game, Nash advanced with the ball and passed to Ceballos on the right, Ceballos tried a move to deceive Fox, but failed and passed to Finley on the left. Finley received the ball and Bryant soon pressed on defense, so Finley passed the ball to Trent further on, Trent received the ball and Knight tried to press on defense, but Trent used his strength to advance and dunk and 2 more points to the Dallas Mavericks team. Coach Harris continued making substitutions and Jake had to change the pace of the game and who he would pass the ball to when the players on the court changed when Bryant left the game the pressure on defense against him also increased. In another move by the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and passed it to Lue on the right, Lue received the ball and passed it to Jake further back. Nash was lobbying in defense against Jake and Finley was also observed that he would play what Jake would do, so they could double-team, Jake held the ball a little and saw an opportunity, so he passed the ball to Shaquille O''Neal. O''Neal had gotten rid of Nowitzki''s defense and Jake had realized that and passed the ball on to him, O''Neal received the ball and went forward to make the dunk and 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Chapter 500 - The NBA Season Continues 8 The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team with a good point advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 10 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake was having a harder time stealing in that game because Steve Nash he didn''t try to attack often and knew how to pass the ball. In the last quarter the team tried to put more pressure on defense and attack, so the Los Angeles Lakers team scored fewer points, but even so at the end of the last quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team had achieved yet another victory. The Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 112 points against 82 points for the Dallas Mavericks team, Jake played in the last quarter for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal, it was another triple-double for Jake in season. "The game ends with another Los Angeles Lakers team win this season, 7 wins in 8 games, a great start to the season showing the strength of the Los Angeles Lakers team this season." "Yes, even with Coach Harris again replacing the best players on the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Dallas Mavericks team is unfortunately having a very bad team this season and the players are not playing very well." "Jake Smith again was the highlight of the game playing all 48 minutes of the game and making another triple-double with points, assists, and rebounds, really Jake Smith has been showing that he is one of the best players at this beginning of the NBA season." "Yes, Jake Smith managed this triple-double and also managed 7 steals in that game, he has been showing to be an excellent defensive player in this Los Angeles Lakers team, and managing to play the 48 minutes in all 8 games of this season that took place in 12 days, shows the great stamina he has." "It''s true, Jake Smith is a key player in this Los Angeles Lakers team, just because of his steals and being able to play every 48 minutes in the game already makes him irreplaceable, and he still manages to do more than 10 assists per game and is an of the players who score the most points in games." With this victory, the Los Angeles Lakers fans were very happy with the team this season, they were sure that with all the players they could have a great chance of winning the NBA title this season. Some fans and media people criticized Coach Harris for replacing the main players for many minutes in the last games, but several teams were also doing it because this very intense sequence of games could cause injuries and decrease the performance of the players. The criticism just wasn''t greater because Jake was playing every minute in every game and it helped the team to always perform well even with the main players outside the court, as time went by Jake became more and more an idol for the fans. The next day the players could rest for a day because there would be no game, even Jake was happy with that day of rest, just playing in the NBA he can understand how difficult it was to play every minute in every game. Even more so for him to score points, defend, organize plays, make steals and still get rebounds, Jake had to run more than other players in all games to be able to stand out. On that next day, they wouldn''t even have a light training because coach Del Harris thought about letting the main players play as long as they could in the next game, the players would be rested and the criticism against him would decrease. Jake had overheard the players commenting that coach Del Harris could be fired in the next few days even though the team had won so many games, it seemed that it was not because of the team''s results, but because of what Harris did when the team was not there playing. Jack thought that the Los Angeles Lakers team wins that he helped the team achieve could leave Coach Harris longer, but it looked like it was something that the Los Angeles Lakers team''s management had long thought about. While Jake was thinking about staying home that day resting, Kobe Bryant called him so they could have lunch and talk, Jake talked a lot with Kobe Bryant on the team, but they weren''t very close because Jake respected Kobe Bryant a lot and saw him as an idol. Jake had gone to lunch with Rick Fox only once, Jake knew Kobe Bryant better from what he''d heard the media talk about him than meeting him in person, but Jake was sure the subject of this lunch would be basketball. Jake went to a restaurant he didn''t know taking his McLaren F1 this time, Jake had driven a few times with his new car just to try out the capacity of the car, but this was the first time he was driving the car to the city itself. "Hi, Jake, thanks for coming even though I suddenly invited you." "It''s okay, Kobe, when you want to talk, you can call me, I''m alone here in the city and besides training and playing I just stay at home." "I''m glad to hear that, Jake, do you know why I asked you to talk to me here?" "It must be to talk about basketball." "Yes, we are players and teammates, I wanted to ask what do you think of our team this NBA season?" "I think our team is doing really well this season, you and Shaquille O''Neal are excellent players, I think our team is a favorite to win the NBA title this season." "I agree, after you joined the team we really improved a lot, you are really an excellent player to be able to play so well even though you are still an NBA rookie." "Thanks, I was lucky to be on a team with you and with Shaquille O''Neal on the team, it''s a team that was already strong before and I can play with all my skills, I was lucky to go to university too and playing on the Tar Heels team, there I learned a lot of things that are helping me in my season as a rookie." "I wanted to ask you which teams do you think are favorites to win the NBA title this season?" "It is difficult to say, this is a different season because there are fewer games, so I believe that some teams can surprise and some teams that have more interaction between the players can be the favorites." "There''s our team that is a favorite, the San Antonio Spurs team, the Indiana Pacers team, the Portland Trail Blazers team, and the New York Knicks team that can surprise in the playoffs." Jake could confidently say these teams because he knew which teams would be the top four in the playoffs, but if he didn''t know the future he wouldn''t say these teams were favorites either. Kobe Bryant was also surprised by the teams Jake had chosen, of those teams he thought maybe the Indiana Pacers team and the Portland Trail Blazers team could be in the top 8, but the other two teams he wouldn''t even think about talking about. "What do you think our team is missing to win the NBA title this season?" "It''s hard to say, but I''ll be honest with you, our current team can really win the NBA title this season, but for that Robert Horry has to recover, he could help our current team to improve a lot." "But if I had to say what our team could improve, it was to have an SF who could score more and put more pressure on the opposing defense, to have a PF to help Shaquille O''Neal and to score and help in defense." "And also a change in the coach maybe, because I heard rumors that coach Del Harris may be fired after a few games, after that we will not find another coach better and one of the assistant coaches will have to become the main coach until the end of the season." Kobe was surprised to see the answer Jake had given, he thought Jake would try to avoid answering sincerely for fear that Kobe could tell other people what Jake was saying to him. But Jake had given an answer in all sincerity, there were things he thought of himself and Jake even talked about Coach Harris that he also suspected that the coach might actually be fired. So Kobe knew that Jake was sincere with him and so he decided to ask the most difficult questions for Jake to answer, because they were questions that were related to himself, and Jake might be afraid to annoy him. "I agree with you, I want you to be sincere in answering my next question, who is currently the best player on our team? Who do you think is the main player?" Jake didn''t answer quickly this time, he didn''t want Kobe Bryant to ask that question because he wouldn''t like the answer Jake would give him, but Jake learned to try to be always sincere, so he decided to speak the truth. "The best player on our team and the main player is certainly Shaquille O''Neal, he is an experienced player and an excellent Center, as PG I can say that I prefer to be on a team with a skilled Center, so I have a reference in the attack." "I think that the best NBA teams currently have a good PF or a good Center, teams that don''t have a good Center or a good PF don''t have much chance of winning an NBA title, even if that team doesn''t have a Center or an All-Star PF who scores more than 20 points per game." "At the very least a team has to have a Center or a PF that can defend well, catch rebounds or score a lot, so I think the San Antonio Spurs team that has Tim Duncan and David Robinson is the favorite team to win this NBA title beyond our team." Chapter 501 - The NBA Season Continues 9 Kobe Bryant was not happy to hear that, but he had to admit that Jake was right in what he was saying, the best teams in recent years had a very good Center or PF to make them a good team. Even Michael Jordan''s team that was different from all the teams because they had Michael Jordan and coach Phil Jackson knew how to make a team that worked very well with Scottie Pippen, but even that team had Dennis Rodman to catch the rebounds that were a PF and before there was Horace Grant who was a great player. The Boston Celtics team in the past had Larry Bird, but it also had Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, the Los Angeles Lakers team in the past had Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Detroit Pistons team had Dennis Rodman and Bill Laimbeer. The Houston Rockets team that won recently also had Hakeem Olajuwon to help the team win, thinking about it Kobe Bryant had to admit that for the past 20 years Centers and PF have been instrumental in all the teams that have won major titles. So it wasn''t strange that Jake just thought the Los Angeles Lakers team had a chance to win this season because of Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe accepted that, but he still had some more difficult questions to ask Jake. "And who do you think is currently the second most important player on our team?" Hearing this, Jake understood that this was the question that Kobe Bryant wanted to ask from the beginning, once again he knew that being honest would not be the best for him, but Jake didn''t want to lie just to remain Kobe''s friend. "I think that I am currently the second most important player on our team, because I can play 48 minutes in every game, because of the steals I make, because of assists too, points and rebounds are the least important." "But to be quite honest, I think our team doesn''t need me, if I didn''t have it on the team we would still win most games this season and lose just 2 more games, our team just needs Shaquille O''Neal and more a skilled player to be a strong team." "But our team needs three skilled players to have a chance to win the NBA title this season without having to sign any players." Kobe Bryant was not surprised by this because he realized that even though Jake was modest and humble, Jake was very self-confident and knew his skills and the importance he had for the team. "I already expected you to think you were better than me, so I''m not surprised by that, so if you think that, what do you think I can improve to be an even better player?" Jake didn''t expect Kobe Bryant to accept it so well that and Jake was better than him, but it seemed like he was more interested in how he could improve than to care what Jake really thought. "I''ll be honest again then, I think what you need to improve the most on is your defense, you need in the future to become the best defensive player on your team if you want to be the most important player." "I don''t know if you noticed, but Shaquille O''Neal is improving a lot in his defense, I think next season if he works hard he could be one of the best defensive players in the NBA." "You are younger and you can certainly improve a lot more in this area, moreover, I think you need to learn to play more thinking about the team than about individual plays, I understood this as soon as I joined this team and that''s why I have more than 10 assists in most games." "Our team has good players, especially you, Shaquille O''Neal and me, so you don''t have to force individual moves when you can pass the ball, of course when you have confidence you can make the individual move because I know you have the quality to do that." "Another thing that you could improve on was to start trying more three-point shots and also improve your mid-range shot, you can''t miss many attacks for our team to win." "So above all, you have to understand that you need a team with good players to win, you alone can''t even score more than 50 points in all games, so you have to be more friendly with your teammates and also know to play better as a team." Kobe Bryant was really shocked to hear everything Jake said, he had already realized that Jake was sincere, but he didn''t expect Jake to think he had so many flaws even when he was one of the most praised young players. The problem was that all the criticisms that Jake had spoken were things that Jake was very skillful, Jake made few attacks in the game and knew very well how to play as a team, besides, Jake was currently the best defensive players of the Los Angeles Lakers team. "I was sincere with you, Kobe, I really admire you very much and I like you, I wanted to be your friend and I respect you too, I only did that because you asked me and also I think you can be a much better player than Shaquille O''Neal or other great players in the future." "I understand, Jake, I really felt that you were sincere with me in this conversation and you just said your opinion, of course, I would also like to remain your friend, what I like most is having sincere people at my side." "What do you think we go to some court to play a little and relax after eating?" "I think it''s a great idea." Jake suggested that Kobe go to his house which was nearby and had a professional court there, so they would not be disturbed by reporters and fans while they were playing, Kobe thought it was a good idea and it was better to play on a professional court. Jake was very happy to have Kobe Bryant who was an idol for him at his home, even though they could talk naturally Jake would never forget what it was like to see Kobe Bryant playing at his peak in the Los Angeles Lakers team. Kobe went to Jake''s house and can''t help but be surprised to see Jake''s McLaren F1 and the huge house he owned, Kobe couldn''t help criticizing Jake in his mind for spending so much money on a car and a mansion in his first year in the NBA. Of course, Kobe couldn''t have known that Jake actually had investments worth more than $ 1 billion, so Jake was spending his money because he had reserves and investments to spend his entire life with if necessary. Even so, Kobe cannot deny that Jake''s car and his house was really beautiful, the two went to the basketball court and Kobe was impressed again by seeing the pool, the athletics track and the professional court that Jake had at home. Arriving on the court, Jake took Kobe to the locker room so that he and Kobe could change into more comfortable clothes for playing basketball, Kobe had already brought his sneakers and clothes from home and Jake had several Adidas uniforms and sneakers from his locker room. Jake only wore Adidas shoes and clothes, which was the company that sponsored him, Jake had this ideal to respect more the companies that sponsored him, before he used most of the time sneakers and uniforms from Clara''s company. After that the two went to the court to start a one-on-one dispute in half-court, the game would be up to 11 points and each 2 point shot would be worth 1 point after a player scored 1 point he would have to give a ball for the other player to start attacking. "We will not have shots from outside worth 3 points, otherwise I will have a lot of advantage, we will only go with plays worth 1 point." Jake said that because it was true, he could hit a three-point shot from a distance of 35 feet, and Jake hit more than 70 percent of his shots from outside, so he would have an overwhelming advantage if shots from outside were worth 2 points, but Kobe Bryant didn''t like it because he thought Jake was belittling him. Jake realized that, but he didn''t change his mind because he wanted to have a one-on-one played against his idol Kobe Bryant, Jake got the ball from Kobe and he was the one who would start attacking, Jake took the ball and started thinking about how he would make the first point. Jake decided he would use his speed and after making a small feint he advanced with speed on the right, Kobe was not deceived by the feint, but he was slow to react and went to defend against Jake. Jake moved quickly to the right and Kobe was unable to follow and so Jake tried to layup to make the first point of this dispute, Kobe knew that Jake was very fast and so he was not surprised that Jake did that. Jake threw the ball for Kobe to make the next attack, Kobe received the ball and tried a feint too, Jake was not deceived and was concentrated waiting for Kobe to make the move, Kobe decided to make a speed move from the left. But Jake can easily follow Kobe''s attempted to move, so Kobe made a quick move that tricked Jake, so Kobe took the opportunity to crossover and move forward to make another point with a layup. Jake was happy to see Kobe Bryant''s skill move, he had a lot of agility stats and for that reason his speed of thought and reaction had increased a lot, which is why Jake defended so well and managed so many steals without ever making a mistake. Even so Kobe could still deceive him and it made Jake more excited about this training, Jake didn''t want to have shots from outside to not have many advantages and now he had to try harder. Chapter 502 - The NBA Season Continues 10 Jake received the ball to start another attack, this time he pretended he would try a feint, but in fact, he really started running from the left, Kobe managed to follow and Jake made the fast crossover and Kobe was unable to follow, so Jake scored another point with the layup. The game got excited and after a while Jake was winning with 6 points against Kobe Bryant''s 4 points, in fact in some plays Jake thought he could do the steal and didn''t try to keep the game more excited. Kobe also realized that Jake didn''t seem to be working so hard in the game against him, Kobe had never played so many times in one-on-one against Jake in training, so he hadn''t realized how skillful Jake was. In another move Kobe tried to make another attack and decided to use force to make sure he made the next point, so Kobe started to protect the ball as he advanced and tried to use his shoulder to push Jake back as he advanced. Jake didn''t face that move often playing as PG, he just had to defend plays like that in his imagination training when he played in other positions to train, but in this one, he didn''t want to lose. Kobe tried to push Jake, but to his surprise, Kobe could not push Jake back using force, certainly one of Jake''s greatest advantages in basketball was his strength, after all, agility was normal that many players had a lot in basketball, but strength was something that was a top priority for the Center and the PF. So Kobe realized that Jake was stronger than him and moved away from him and tried a mid-range shot by making a fadeaway and scored another point, Jake wanted to force Kobe Bryant into trying one of his characteristic moves in this one-on-one to win. Jake took the ball and made a feint pretending he would go to the left and doing a step back and trying the mid-range shot to score 1 more point for him, Jake didn''t want to try the mid-range shots because he had a rate of more 80 percent correct and the game would be very easy for him. But he wanted to pressure Kobe to try to attack in every way he knew, Jake threw the ball to Kobe who started another attack, Kobe advanced with the ball and Jake gave him a little space. So Kobe finally started making one of his main moves which were the between the legs dribble move, it was the play in which Kobe bounced the ball between his legs to prevent the opponent from trying to steal and for the opponent not to know if after he would advance with the ball or attempt the shot. Kobe made this move because he really wanted to beat Jake who was winning by 2 points and Jake had 4 more points to win the game, Kobe made that move and Jake didn''t have a chance to steal until Kobe showed him what move he would do. Kobe did the between the legs dribble moves for a while and then did a feint that tricked Jake and he went on to make another 1 point with the dunk, Kobe made the point, but it was Jake who was excited that the game was getting more fun. Jake received the ball and Kobe was prepared to defend or at least hinder Jake to try to make him miss, Jake advanced with the ball slowly and realized that Kobe was focused on defense. So Jake smiled and made his own move this time, it was the Ghost move dribble that was never stopped by any opposing player, Jake did the Ghost move and Kobe didn''t see the ball for a while, he didn''t know what Jake had done. After Jake passed Kobe like he was no longer with the ball Kobe heard the ball hitting the ground and Jake scored another point with a dunk soon after, Kobe didn''t understand this move that Jake had made, but he knew Jake had made it 1 more point and was with 8 points now. Kobe tried again to do the between the legs dribble move soon after in another move, again he tricked Jake with a feint and advanced to try to make the layup, but this time Jake recovered quickly and managed to jump together and make the block preventing Kobe from doing the point. Soon after, Jake ran out of the three-point line and made an outside shot that was now worth 1 point also because of the chord Jake made before the game, with Jake winning by 3 points Kobe understood that Jake was not being arrogant when decided that the three-point shot would not be worth 2 more points. In a few more plays Jake won with 11 points against Kobe Bryant''s 8 points, Kobe didn''t like to lose, but he was happy with the good game he had with Jake, Kobe realized that his defense was really weak because he couldn''t make Jake miss any attack. After that good game Kobe went to his house and Jake stayed at his house happy with the good game he had with his idol, Jake thought that Kobe was not angry that he told him the truths, it would be good if they could be more friends after that day. That day as he had no game he decided to call Kate even though it might hinder her because it was less than a week before the Grammy Awards happened, Jake really wanted Kate to win an award, but he knew how Lauryn Hill had a great year at the world of music and was one of the best singers at the Grammy and not just among new singers. "Hi, Kate, sorry to call you even though you are busy, but I missed you and wanted to know how you are with Grammy being so close?" "Hi, Jake, you didn''t bother me, I''m always happy when I talk to you, I also didn''t call you because I know you''re busy with games, congratulations on your team''s victories in the last games." "I''m really looking forward to the Grammy being so close, I really want to win, but seeing how Lauryn Hill has done so well in the past year I don''t know if I have a chance." "You sure have a chance, Kate, your songs were great and I know how you''ve been trying to get this album, rest easy and wait until Grammy Day, I''ll be rooting for you." "Thanks, Jake, I am calmer and happier listening to this, it is a pity that I think we will not be able to see each other this year, because of those months that I stayed in Miami I will have to work all year." "I could have another vacation in November, but that''s when the next NBA season starts, so I''m going to expect to have my vacation in June next year." "I''m really sorry, Kate, I wish I could see you this year too, but with basketball, I''m going to be really busy." "I understand that Jake, I also have this same problem that you have to work all year, let''s try to combine our vacations so that we can spend a few months together." Jake was happy to talk to Kate for a while, he knew she was busy too and so he felt less guilty about being so busy too, next year he would have to go to the Olympics on his vacation, but he just needed a few weeks to stay at the Olympics. The next day after a good rest came the day of yet another game by the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake and Kobe hadn''t rested all day, but that one-on-one game wouldn''t make them any more tired. Jake went to the Great Western Forum for the last game of this sequence of games at the home of the Los Angeles Lakers team, after that game they would have a difficult sequence of 4 games playing as a visitor with the players traveling a lot and thus getting more tired. Jake saw the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team filling the Great Western Forum hoping for another victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team this season, Jake went to the locker room and put on his uniform and went out onto the court with all his teammates. The opponent in that game was the San Antonio Spurs team, which was a very strong team that hadn''t started well this season, they had a lot of defeats in the first 10 games of this season, but after that game against the Los Angeles Lakers team, they would lose very few games in rest of the season. Tim Duncan and David Robinson already played well together and the other players would also improve so they could start winning more games, but for that game Jake thought the Los Angeles Lakers team was a favorite to win. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch another NBA game this season, the game today is between the Los Angeles Lakers team and the San Antonio Spurs team." "The Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win this game, after all the Los Angeles Lakers team had 7 victories in 8 games this season, with Jake Smith joining the team they could improve a lot and are winning the games." "The stars of team Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant were also very important in these games that the Los Angeles Lakers won, they are considered one of the favorite teams to win this NBA season." "The San Antonio Spurs team won 4 games and lost another 4 games this season, it''s a very bad start for the San Antonio Spurs team this season, but the interesting thing is that even in games where they lose the players of the San Antonio Spurs team they play very well." "It shows that the San Antonio Spurs team is playing well in the games, but something is missing for them to start winning the games, let''s see if they find what is missing and start winning more games." Chapter 503 - Change in Los Angeles Lakers Team 1 The Los Angeles Lakers team would start this game with the starting players Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Corie Blount playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The San Antonio Spurs team would start this game with the starting players Avery Johnson playing as PG, Mario Elie playing as SG, Sean Elliott playing as SF, Tim Duncan playing as PF, and David Robinson playing as Center. The game started with the Los Angeles Lakers team pressing in the attack and the San Antonio Spurs team pressing in the defense, the Los Angeles Lakers team got the first ball possession and Jake advanced for the attack. Jake came forward and passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Mario Elie came to press on defense, Bryant did not try to make the individual move and passed the ball to Rick Fox on the left. Fox received the ball and Sean Elliott came to press on defense, Fox held the ball a little and passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Avery Johnson pressed on defense, Johnson knew he couldn''t defend well against Jake, so he could at least press on defense to try to hinder Jake in that game. Jake tricked Johnson with a feint and passed him using his speed, Jake kept advancing towards the inside, Elie tried to defend and Jake passed the ball to Bryant from the right, Kobe Bryant was free and tried the mid-range shot to make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The San Antonio Spurs team defended very well, so Jake had to do more than just pass the ball in a few moves if he wanted to help his team win, then the San Antonio Spurs team went on the attack to tie the game. Johnson advanced with the ball and passed it to Elie on the left, Elie received the ball and Kobe Bryant came to press on defense, Elie held the ball for a while and passed it to Elliott on the right. Elliott received the ball and Fox came to press on defense, Rick Fox was happy that he was playing longer this season and was having good performance with Jake helping him make great assists. With Jake, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O''Neal drawing the attention of the defense he had much more freedom to attack, Elliott tried the feint, but Fox was not fooled, so Elliott passed the ball to Tim Duncan on the left. Duncan received the ball and Corie Blount arrived to press in defense, Duncan made a dream shake and tricked Blount, so Duncan just turned and hooked to make 2 points and tie the game. Jake didn''t understand why Coach Harris decided to put Corie Blount in that game and the team had gotten used to playing with Travis Knight on the team, after all, Jake didn''t think it was even good to give Blount an opportunity to play in a game he would play against Tim Duncan. The Los Angeles Lakers team continued to press in the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Elliott arrived pressing in defense, Fox still held the ball a little before passing to Kobe Bryant on the right. Bryant received the ball and Elie came in the defense, Bryant held the ball and passed it to Jake further back, Jake saw that Fox was freer and passed the ball to him, Fox was out of the three-point line and decided to try the shot from outside and made 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. In another attacking move by the San Antonio Spurs team, Johnson forwarded the ball into the attack, Johnson passed the ball to Elliott on the right, Fox pressed on the defense and Elliott still held the ball before passing it on to Elie on the left. Elie received the ball and Bryant was on the defense, Elie decided to try an individual play and tried a feint to deceive Bryant, Bryant was not fooled, so Elie tried a quick crossover and managed to move through the middle. Elie managed to advance and Fox came to help the defense, Elie realized this and tried to pass it to Elliott on the right, but Jake realized this move and anticipated and managed to intercept the pass making the steal. Jake advanced with the ball quickly and only Johnson and Elie managed to get back to defend before Jake advanced, Jake advanced and passed Elie using his speed and Elie was unable to keep up. So only Johnson was the last player in the defense of the San Antonio Spurs team, Jake continued to advance at high speed and approaching Johnson he tried a quick crossover and Johnson was out of balance. So Jake managed to advance on the left, but Johnson did not want Jake to make the points and still tried to defend, so Jake made a spin, and Johnson couldn''t keep up, so Jake tried to make a dunk and Elie who had recovered tried to make the block. But Jake managed to make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team and Elie only managed to make a foul on Jake, the crowd of the Los Angeles Lakers team celebrated this play a lot, Jake was a player who almost never made fouls and also hardly suffered fouls. After all Jake tried most of his moves after getting rid of the opposing player who defended against him or he tried three-point shots and the players in the defense knew that if they tried the block and missed they would give Jake 3 free throw attempts. So Jake had a chance to score 1 more point and hit the free throw and scored 1 more point for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake had almost 100 percent use in free throws, so the opponents preferred not to miss him. The first quarter ended up with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a good point advantage, with Jake the Los Angeles Lakers team was very strong in the outside shots and got several steals which greatly improved their defense and made things difficult for opposing teams. In that first quarter, Jake played for 12 minutes and scored 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals, it was a good first quarter for Jake who managed to help his teammates score and also scored a few points. "The first quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team is ahead on the scoreboard, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team are playing very well and even with the players of the San Antonio Spurs team also playing well, the home team has the advantage." "Yes, in the last games of this season it has been like that, the players of the San Antonio Spurs team have a good game, but the San Antonio Spurs team cannot win most games." "Maybe that''s the problem, some of the big teams lose when some players perform poorly if a team like the Los Angeles Lakers team has some players playing badly they lose, but if all the players are playing well the team wins." "So maybe the San Antonio Spurs team is not a team with such good players this season, so even if they play very well they end up losing games." "That may be, we will continue to monitor this game to see if the Los Angeles Lakers team wins." Jake would laugh if he heard what the commentators were saying, he also didn''t know why the San Antonio Spurs team performed so poorly at the beginning of the season, but he knew they had a team with good players who played very well and so they managed to win that season''s NBA title in Jake''s past life. For the second quarter, the San Antonio Spurs team wanted to put more pressure on the attack and keep pressing on defense, the two teams did not plan to replace the main players for a long time and so it would be a more disputed game between the teams. The San Antonio Spurs team went for another attack and Johnson was organizing the play, Johnson advanced to the attack and passed the ball to Elie from the left, Elie received the ball and Bryant soon pressed in defense. So Elie decided to pass the ball back to Johnson again, Johnson received the ball and Jake was close to him defending, so Johnson decided to pass the ball to Elliott on the right. Elliott received the ball and Fox soon came to the defense, Elliott made a feint and managed to deceive Fox and tried the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the San Antonio Spurs team, Elliott and Duncan were playing well in that game and taking advantage of the weakness of Blount and Fox''s defense. The Los Angeles Lakers team soon went on the attack as well, Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Elie came to press on defense, Bryant tried a feint, but Elie was not fooled. Thus Bryant passed the ball to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Elliott pressed in defense, so Fox passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and passed the ball to Shaquille O''Neal further ahead. Shaquille O''Neal was having more difficulty in this game because sometimes David Robinson and Tim Duncan double-teamed when he had the ball and it was very difficult for O''Neal to score. In this play Jake passed the ball when Duncan was further away from him and so O''Neal received the ball and used his strength to move closer to the hoop, Robinson was on defense, but he could not stop O''Neal''s advance, so O''Neal tried the hook to score 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. In that second quarter, the San Antonio Spurs team tried to put pressure on the attack and defense, but the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack was very strong and even if they couldn''t hold on well in defense they still managed to increase the advantage in points. In another play by the San Antonio Spurs team, Johnson advanced the ball and passed it to Elliott on the right, Fox arrived pressing in defense so Elliott did not have space to make the move. Chapter 504 - Change in Los Angeles Lakers Team 2 Elliot still tried to feint and outwit Fox, but Fox was not deceived and remained steady in defense, so Elliott passed the ball to Robinson later on, Robinson received the ball and O''Neal was pushing in defense. Robinson tried to hook and ended up missing, Duncan was quick and got the rebound and made the dunk to make 2 more points for the San Antonio Spurs team, the biggest strength of the San Antonio Spurs team was having two great post players who played in the paint area. So they were more likely to catch rebounds and teams that had only one Center or a better PF suffered playing against the San Antonio Spurs team, and those who had none of these quality players suffered even more. In another move the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Fox on the left, Elliott came to press on defense, Fox held the ball and passed it to Bryant on the right. Kobe Bryant received the ball and passed it to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Johnson soon pressed in the defense, Jake tried a feint and managed to get rid of the defense, Jake did not try to advance and tried the shot from outside and made 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team maintaining the advantage on the scoreboard, in that second quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake performed well and helped the Los Angeles team Lakers to stay ahead in the second quarter. "What a good second quarter we had in that game, the San Antonio Spurs team really tried to recover in the game, the players defended well and attacked well, but they only managed to prevent the Los Angeles Lakers team from increasing their points advantage." "That''s right, the Los Angeles Lakers team is having a very strong attack after Jake Smith''s arrival, Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant have more freedom to play and with Jake Smith making the assists they have been playing even better." "Jake Smith is really doing a great rookie season so far, I don''t think we''ve ever seen a rookie start so well in the NBA, so the Los Angeles Lakers team really have a chance of winning the NBA title this season." "I agree with that, last season we had Tim Duncan doing an excellent debut season and this season Tim Duncan is already one of the main players in the NBA, now we have Jake Smith this season." With coach Harris deciding not to make substitutions during the game, the San Antonio Spurs team did not have much hope of recovering in the game, but they were really playing well as in the last few games. Kobe Bryant had also realized this after the conversation he had with Jake, if the San Antonio Spurs team learned to use Tim Duncan and David Robinson better in the attack they could certainly play even better and the Los Angeles Lakers defense couldn''t stop them. The third quarter started and the Los Angeles Lakers team still pressing in the attack, as the defense of the Lakers team was not so strong, attacking was their way of maintaining the advantage in the game, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Bryant on the right. Kobe Bryant received the ball and tried a feint and managed to trick Elie, Bryant advanced to the paint area and drive to the basket making 2 more points with a layup, Kobe Bryant was playing well in that game and as he was passing the ball more, his individual moves were more unpredictable. The San Antonio Spurs team did not give up and still wanted to win that game, Johnson advanced with the ball and Jake was on defense, with the steals that Jake made in that game and did in other games Johnson and the other players of the San Antonio Spurs team were worried every time they had to pass the ball. With that they lost several chances of attacks that they would normally do, and even so Jake still managed to make some steals in all quarters, Johnson passed the ball to Elie from the left. Elie received the ball and Bryant came to press on defense, so Elie held the ball and passed it to Duncan further on, Duncan was the best player on the San Antonio Spurs team and many attack plays were with him. Duncan received the ball and made the spin and so he got rid of Blount''s defense and advanced to the paint area, O''Neal saw that Duncan was going to make a layup and went to try to stop Duncan, Duncan saw O''Neal coming and passed the ball to Robinson who received the ball and scored 2 more points with a dunk for the San Antonio Spurs team. The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team managing to slightly increase their points advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. In the last quarter of the game the San Antonio Spurs team still tried to win, but at the end of the game the Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 118 points against 90 points for the San Antonio Spurs team. In that last quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 8 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake made another triple-double in that game, his fifth triple-double in his debut season. "The game is over and the Los Angeles Lakers team wins their eighth game this season, really the Los Angeles Lakers team is one of the teams that have the most victories this season, and with this game, the San Antonio Spurs team has 5 losses this season." "Yes, the San Antonio Spurs team played well in that game with Tim Duncan and Sean Elliot being the best players, but it seems that something is missing for them to be able to start winning more games and it is good that they find what is missing soon or they will be out of the playoffs this reduced season." "That''s right, the Los Angeles Lakers team is really doing well this season, Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant are playing very well in every game and Rick Fox has also been important in the games and is managing to score more than 12 points in almost All the games." "But surely the highlight of this game and of the Los Angeles Lakers team this season is certainly Jake Smith, in this game he got another triple-double, he got 5 triple-double in 9 games and he also has another 2 double-doubles." "With such a performance I have to say that we can no longer see Jake Smith as a rookie but as one of this season''s MVP candidates, Jake Smith played 9 games this season and played 48 minutes in every game." "In these 9 games Jake Smith has a Field Goal Percentage average of 81 percent, and in the 3-Point Field Goal Percentage the average is 80 percent, this is something incredible even for the best players in NBA history in shooting three points." "Jake Smith still has an average of 32 points per game and 12 assists per game, any of those statistics would be enough for Jake Smith to be one of the MVP candidates of the season and Jake Smith has them all." "I also agree, if Jake Smith continues to play like that and the Los Angeles Lakers team advance into the playoffs, I think it''s quite possible that Jake Smith will even be chosen as the MVP of the season." The commentators were excited after seeing Jake''s first games of the season, they used to wonder if Jake could be the best rookie of the season and now they were wondering if he could be the best player of the season. It was also noteworthy to see the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team at the Great Western Forum, with the passing of the games of this season more fans began to bring posters with the name of Jake and his nickname of Captain America. It showed how Jake was becoming one of the Los Angeles Lakers fans'' idols after only 9 games on the team, that was because Jake was playing very well and because the fans wanted to see the Los Angeles Lakers team win the NBA title again and they could see that Jake could help the team achieve that. After that great game, the players went home happy, the Los Angeles Lakers team had lost just 1 game this season and the team played well in all games, so the players knew it would stay that way throughout the season. The next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team would be in two days so players would have one day to rest before the next game, but as it was a game in which they would be the visitors the team would travel the next day. Jake could return to Los Angeles just the day before the Grammy where he had to attend to support Kate, he was still sad that he couldn''t go to the Grammy to cheer for Kate and had to attend at home. Only when he was most upset about not going to the Grammys did he receive an unexpected call, Keanu Reeves who had become friends with him in the filming of the movie The Matrix called him, Jake was happy and surprised by Keanu''s call. "Hi, Jake, how are you?" "I''m fine Keanu, we haven''t spoken for a few months already, I wanted to call you, but I didn''t want to disturb you." "You can call me whenever you want, Jake, congratulations on your excellent performance in the first games of your NBA debut season, when I saw that you wanted to become an actor I thought you didn''t play that well Hahaha." "But from what I''m seeing in the media, you''re the best rookie and can become an MVP candidate of the season, it really surprised me." "I am also happy with my performance and with the Los Angeles Lakers team if we continue this way we can win this season''s NBA title." "That would be really amazing, what are you waiting for next month''s premiere of our film?" Chapter 505 - Change in Los Angeles Lakers Team 3 "I think it will be a huge success, the film is really good and it is an innovative film in action scenes and special effects, it will certainly be a worldwide success and you will be one of the best actors in action films." "I also hope that the film will be a great success, you know that I am a big fan of science fiction and I liked this film since I first read the script, I also thought that the work of the Wachowskis directors is brilliant and the Yuen Woo-ping''s work was also amazing." "I know that I really think it will be a success, we are going to have some more sequences of this film yet and you can participate in more films like this." It was difficult for Jake whenever he had to talk about the future because he knew what would happen so he had to try to say things without showing too much certainty in what he was talking about, he knew the film would be a success that Keanu Reeves would be one of the greatest actors in action films in the future. "Jake, I know you like music a lot and you are here in Los Angeles now playing basketball, so I got some tickets to go to the Grammy that will happen in a few days, but I won''t be able to go." "I heard that you have a friend who is going to be competing for one of the prizes and wanted to know if you accepted a ticket." Jake was really surprised to hear Keanu talking about it, he really talked to Keanu about music and talked about Kate too, of course, he said he was her friend which was not a lie because at that time they were still friends. Jake talked more about music because he knew that Keanu once had a band and also liked music, but now it seemed that the great luck he was having was helping him get a Grammy ticket. "I do want to, actually I really wanted to go to the Grammys, but because of the games I was unable to organize myself to get a ticket." "Great, I''ll send the ticket to your home, see you after the movie opens." Jake was very happy to receive a ticket to go to the Grammy, he could go and if someone asked how he got the ticket he could say that he had won the ticket from Keanu Reeves. The best thing was that it was not an ordinary ticket and Jake could sit together with the guests, so he could see and close if Kate won the prize as he expected, it would be difficult because the Los Angeles Lakers team would have a game the next day as a visitor and Jake would have to travel after the Grammy to go to the city where the team would play. Jake can sleep soundly after learning that he could go to the Grammys, the next day the players would have a day of rest, the Los Angeles Lakers team would still do light training, but they would be fine for the next game the next day. Jake started the day excited after the good news and he decided to call Kate to tell her about the good news, he thought about making a good surprise for her by appearing at the Grammy without warning before. But he thought Kate might be too surprised and look at him many times during the awards or try to ignore him which would make everyone even more certain that they had a type of relationship. Kate was happy and surprised to learn that Jake was going to the Grammys, Lily prevented Jack from going to the Grammies with her and had not forbidden Jake to attend the Grammys, with Jake winning the ticket it was even better. Jake chatted for a while with Kate and then had to go to training with the Los Angeles Lakers team, training that day was light for players not to get too tired, players talked normally and there was no dispute between players. The only thing that made the situation more complicated was that it was increasingly noticeable that coach Del Harris could be fired if it were like in the past when the team was losing several games and losing a sequence of games it would be understandable. But thanks to Jake being on the team the situation was different and the team had lost just one game this season, it was no secret that Coach Harris had problems with some players and had problems with the team''s board. But it was hard to fire someone when the team was winning a lot of games and the board didn''t have any better coach to put in place of Del Harris, the truth was that Del Harris was a good coach who helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to improve a lot in the last few seasons. The biggest problem was that the Los Angeles Lakers team board was demanding and after hiring Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal they naturally expected the team to win an NBA title again. And Del Harris has not managed to get far in the playoffs of the last few seasons, so the board decided that Coach Harris would not agree to exchange Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, and Derek Harper for the rookie Jack Smith. Fortunately, this exchange had worked out and the Los Angeles Lakers team started this season well, and the board decided that to win the NBA title, the Los Angeles Lakers team needed a new coach. If Jake didn''t know that next season the Los Angeles Lakers team would hire Phil Jackson, he could say that it was better if Coach Del Harris remained on the team, if Coach Del Harris continued and the Los Angeles Lakers team won the NBA title it was impossible that Coach Harris was fired. And Jake was not confident that with coach Harris and him on the team they could still win the NBA title in the next three seasons as the Los Angeles Lakers team did with Phil Jackson. After training the players went on the Los Angeles Lakers private plane to Seattle, Washington where they would face the next opponent the next day, with the team traveling the day before they would less tired for the game. The players went to a hotel that the team had prepared and would wait there until they had to go to the place of the game, the next day came the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the players went to the KeyArena and saw the cheers from the Seattle SuperSonics team excited about the game. The Seattle SuperSonics team was the team of one of the players who was Jake''s idol, that player was naturally Gary Payton, even though Gary Payton did not achieve as many achievements as Magic Johnson, Oscar Robertson, Jason Kidd, Isiah Thomas, John Stockton, Steve Nash, and other great PGs, he was one of Jake''s references. Especially in the defensive game of Payton that Jake was very inspired and the characteristic of being able to play many games and many minutes in all games, Jake respected Payton even more because he achieved this with the help of the system and Payton had only his natural talent. This would be the second game that Jake would play against one of the great PG he respected, of course, he also played against John Stockton, but in that game, Jake was playing as SF and cannot defend directly against John Stockton. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch another great game this NBA season, in this game we have the Seattle SuperSonics team playing at home today, they started the season well with 6 wins in 8 games." "The Seattle SuperSonics team has great player Gary Payton and also Detlef Schrempf and Vin Baker who are all-stars, so it''s a good team that struggles to make it to the playoffs this season." "And we also have the Los Angeles Lakers team that has had an excellent start to the season so far with 8 wins in 9 games, the Los Angeles Lakers team has all-stars Shaquille O''Neal who has been the most important player and young Kobe Bryant." "And we also have rookie Jake Smith, with an average of over 32 points and 12 assists per game Jake Smith is certainly the best NBA PG at the beginning of the season, he can even fight to be the MVP of the season if he continues playing like that." "This game will be a challenge for Jake Smith who will play against the great PG Gary Payton who managed to defend well even against Michael Jordan, if Jake Smith still plays well in that game, he will be considered an excellent player." Just as commentators said this was a big challenge for Jake, Gary Payton was still playing at a high level and was really great at defending, Jake managed to play well playing against Scottie Pippen defending against him, if he got it in that game again he would be really recognized as an excellent player. Coach Harris trusted Jake and asked him to play as he had been doing in the last few games, so Jake would pass the ball and score normally, Jake was excited about this challenge to play against Payton, but he would not hinder the team by because of that. Jake saw Payton as a player with SS rank in some defensive skills as well as players in his imagination training, the difference was that Payton was much more intelligent and would make the moves in the best possible way. The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Seattle SuperSonics team would start the game with Gary Payton playing as PG, Hersey Hawkins playing as SG, Detlef Schrempf playing as SF, Vin Baker playing as PF, and Olden Polynice playing as Center. Even though the duel between Jake and Payton was perhaps the most important issue in this game, the most important player for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win was Shaquille O''Neal and the team also needed Kobe Bryant. Chapter 506 - Change in Los Angeles Lakers Team 4 Vin Baker was a skilled PF and Olden Polynice played well as Center, but in that game, Shaquille O''Neal could play more smoothly and the defense would not bother him as it did in other previous games. In that game Coach Harris decided not to take any chances and put Travis Knight on to play again, Jake thought that this would be a difficult game in which the Los Angeles Lakers team lost in his past life. And the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team played well in that defeat, what happened was that the players of the Seattle SuperSonics team played even better, in this game Jake was confident to change that and bring victory to the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game. The game started with the Seattle SuperSonics team pressing in the attack, Gary Payton advanced the ball and passed to Hersey Hawkins on the left, Hawkins received the ball and Kobe Bryant came to press on defense. Hawkins held the ball and passed it to Detlef Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Fox came to press on defense, Schrempf tried a feint and managed to fool Fox and advanced into the area and tried a mid-range shot and made the first 2 points for the Seattle SuperSonics team. Jake was skilled in defense, but what he was best at was steals and intercepting in defense, if the opponent tried to get past him using the force he would also defend well, but in a game like this if Payton tried to get past him using the skill would be difficult for Jake to defend. So in this game Jake would not try to make so many steals by intercepting the ball and would concentrate only on defending against Gary Payton, only then would he be able to defend better and hinder Payton in some plays. Jake picked up the ball and started organizing the Los Angeles Lakers team''s first attack in the game, Jake went forward with the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Hawkins came to press on defense. Bryant held the ball and managed to get rid of the defense and advanced into the area, Bryant advanced and Olden Polynice came to defend against him, Bryant was smart and passed the ball to Shaquille O''Neal who made the first 2 points for the Los team Angeles Lakers with a layup. Polynice and the other Seattle SuperSonics defense players did not expect Kobe Bryant to pass the ball and his good move ended up making the Los Angeles Lakers tie the game. After Jake spoke to Kobe Bryant, he started to think things over and agreed to a little with most of the things Jake had said, of course, some of the mistakes Jake said he had Bryant didn''t want to admit he had because of pride his as a player. Kobe Bryant heard some advice from Jake because he realized that Jake had said all that with the intention of helping him to improve as a player, but he wasn''t going to change that quickly. Of course, Jake didn''t expect that when he said what he knew, Jake was just trying to get Kobe Bryant to understand what would make him one of the best players in the NBA when he got older and realized these mistakes alone. Jake was a fan of Kobe Bryant and could only imagine how he could be an excellent player if he had his maturity and experience when he was at his peak while Kobe Bryant was still in peak physical condition. In another move Payton started another attack for the Seattle SuperSonics team, Payton advanced with the ball, and Jake arrived to press in defense before Payton reached the three-point line. Jake was determined to defend Payton as he never did before playing with another player, Payton did not want to try the individual move and passed the ball to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Fox came to press. Schrempf tried another feint, but Fox was attentive and was not fooled, so Schrempf decided to pass the ball to Hawkins on the left, Hawkins received the ball and Kobe Bryant soon arrived to press in defense. Hawkins held the ball for a while and then passed the ball to Vin Baker ahead, Baker received the ball and Travis Knight soon came to press on the defense, Baker tried a feint and soon after made a spin and managed to get rid of the defense and advanced to layup and 2 more points for the Seattle SuperSonics team. The Seattle SuperSonics team was managing to press well in attack and playing well in defense leaving the game much more balanced than everyone expected, many hoped that perhaps the Los Angeles Lakers team could lose this game. The Los Angeles Lakers team went on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and Payton came to defend against him, Jake was concerned with defending against Payton and Payton was also concerned with defending against Jake who had an average of over 30 points per game. The two had already made some points in that first quarter, but they were careful with each other while attacking, Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Fox from the left, Fox received the ball and Schrempf soon arrived to press in defense. Fox held the ball and soon passed it to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and wondered if he would make any individual moves, Hawkins also pressed in defense and Bryant decided to pass the ball to Jake further back. Jake held the ball and Payton soon approached to press in defense, Jake made a quick feint and then did a step back, Payton was distracted by Jake''s feint and so Jack managed to try a shot from outside and score 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The Seattle SuperSonics team ended the first quarter by winning the game with an advantage of just 1 point against the Los Angeles Lakers team, it was a really balanced game in which the two teams were still trying to analyze the opponent. In that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal, Jake was having to work harder to score and defend, but he still managed to play well in that first quarter against Gary Payton. "What a great first quarter we had in that game, a game so far balanced and the Seattle SuperSonics team is winning by just 1 point, but this was one of the few times that the Los Angeles Lakers team lost on points in a quarter." "The Seattle SuperSonics team is really doing well this season, it''s a team with great players and they can perform well in games, with Gary Payton leading the team and the other star Vin Baker that team can make it to the playoffs." "That''s right, it''s a team with great players, four players who have been NBA all-stars in the past and that shows their quality, and with the Seattle SuperSonics team playing at home I think they can win this game." "Yes, but the Los Angeles Lakers team also played very well in that first quarter, Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, Jake Smith, and Rick Fox did well in attack and they are the best attack of this season, so they can still win this game." "The Los Angeles Lakers team lost just one game this season and I think they can still win that game, the most important thing is that Jake Smith is still managing to play well even with Gary Payton defending against him." "Yes, Jake Smith was defending well against Gary Payton too, the two players respect each other and I think that in the next quarters of the game this dispute will be even more intense." "It''s still amazing how well Jake Smith still plays with even one of the best defensive players in the NBA Gary Payton, we will continue to follow this game to see what happens." The second quarter started with the Los Angeles Lakers team putting pressure on the attack, they wanted the victory in this game more and could use the strong attack of the players to try to put pressure on the Seattle SuperSonics team. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Schrempf arrived pressing in defense, Fox held the ball and passed to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Payton arrived in defense attentive to prevent Jake from doing any move. Jake passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Hawkins came to press on defense, Bryant received the ball and made a feint and moved away, Bryant made the between the legs dribble move and Hawkins was unable to get close. So Bryant made a feint and attempted the mid-range shot and made 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, a compliment that the Los Angeles Lakers team received was that Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal were making fewer mistakes and had an average of Field Goal Percentage higher after Jake joined the team. Before it was normal for them to have more than 18 Field Goal Attempts per game and to have less than 50 percent correctness, that was normal for many teams, in fact, so Shaquille O''Neal was several times first in the Field Goal Percentage with little more than 50 percent. That changed after Jake''s arrival and he got an average of 80 percent in the Field Goal Percentage himself, so for every 10 attempts, Jake made the points he hit 8 of them even though he averaged more than 30 points per game, so Jake was surprised so much. The Seattle SuperSonics team went on the attack shortly thereafter, Payton advanced the ball and passed it to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Fox arrived to press on defense, so Schrempf decided to pass the ball to Payton again. Payton received the ball and Jake arrived to press in defense, Payton tried a feint to deceive Jake, but Jake was not deceived and continued watching Payton, Payton tried to advance using speed, but Jake continued to press in defense and did not let Payton advance. Chapter 507 - Change in Los Angeles Lakers Team 5 With the possession time gone Payton tried the mid-range shot and ended up missing and Kobe Bryant got the rebound, in another dispute between Jake and Gary Payton, Jake showed that he also knew how to defend well. Bryant advanced with the ball and passed to Jake further back after passing from the middle of the court, this game was well balanced and therefore Jake could not keep the game pace as slow as he liked and the Los Angeles Lakers team had to press on the attack to try to win the game. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Schrempf arrived pressing on defense, Fox held the ball and soon passed to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Hawkins arrived pressing on defense. So Bryant passed the ball to Jake further back who tried a feint against Payton, Payton was not fooled and kept pressing in defense, Jake made another quick feint and then advanced using his speed. Payton reacted quickly, but Jake was even faster and Payton could not keep up, Schrempf approached to do the double-team defense together with Payton, Jake realized this and passed the ball to Fox on the left. Fox who was free tried the mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake had a very high basketball IQ and could always analyze the play and the position of all the players on the court. This could be a consequence of his high intelligence statistics, Jake once asked the system why Basketball IQ did not appear on his statistics list and the system said it was because Basketball IQ was something that was not possible to measure. It was almost like intelligence, but intelligence was something that the system could measure using all humans as a reference, but for basketball, only players had it, and even among the best players Basketball IQ was different. Payton was having a hard time defending against Jake who was smart, fast, strong, and didn''t try many moves going to layup or dunk, most of the points that Jake often made were three-point shots and Payton had a harder time defending against such a player. In another move the Seattle SuperSonics team went on the attack, Payton advanced with the ball and passed it to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Fox arrived to press on defense, Schrempf passed the ball to Polynice later on. Polynice received the ball and O''Neal came pressing on the defense, Polynice tried a strong shot, but O''Neal remained firm in defense, so Polynice made a feint and moved away from O''Neal and tried the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Seattle SuperSonics team. The second quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to recover and ended the second quarter by winning by 2 points, Jake played for 12 minutes and had 11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal. "The second quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to recover in the game and are now winning by 2 points, the two teams remain balanced and the two teams are playing very well." "Yes, maybe this is the most difficult game that the Los Angeles Lakers team had this season, they lost a game, but it was because Shaquille O''Neal wasn''t playing, now they have the full team and they''re still having a hard time on the scoreboard." "Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant are playing very well as they have done throughout this season, Rick Fox is also performing well and mainly Jake Smith is playing very well." "Yes, even though he''s doing fewer steals in that game, Jake Smith is focusing on defending against Gary Payton who is one of the best PG the NBA has today." "Jake Smith is still playing as well as in other games this season, and he is defending very well against Gary Payton who is having a hard time making the shots and missed many mid-range shots in that game." In the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to push forward, in a game like this, Coach Harris did not think of replacing the main players of the team for a long time and only replaced when O''Neal, Bryant and the others were tired. The coach of the Seattle SuperSonics team also did not think about replacing the players, this made the dispute between Jake and Payton even more interesting since Jake always played in the 48th minute and Payton also endured playing for a long time. Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Schrempf arrived pressing on the defense, so Fox passed the ball to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and held it for a while before passing it to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and Payton already started to press in the defense not giving Jake room to try another move, so Jake tried a feint and Payton was not fooled, Jake saw an opportunity and made a high pass to Shaquille O''Neal who took the ball at the top and did a dunk completing the alley-oop and making 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. In another move the Seattle SuperSonics team went on the attack, Gary Payton charged the ball forward and Jake came to press on defense, Payton did not attempt the individual move and passed the ball to Hawkins on the left. Hawkins received the ball and Kobe Bryant came to press on defense, Hawkins tried a feint, but failed to trick Bryant who was firm in defense, so Hawkins passed the ball to Payton further back. Payton received the ball and tried a feint to deceive Jake, but Jake was not deceived and continued in defense, so Payton tried to advance and Jake pressed further in defense, so Payton did a quick step back and tried the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Seattle SuperSonics team. Payton was quick and Jake was unable to react, but Payton still tried to shoot the mid-range shot, Payton also tried several shots from outside that he missed, luckily his teammates managed to get some rebounds and so the game was still balanced. The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a 6 point advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes in the third quarter and had 8 points, 2 assists, and 1 rebound. The three-point shots Jake was able to hit were helping the Los Angeles Lakers team to increase their points advantage in the game, but in defense, he was concentrating so hard to defend against Payton that he was unable to make any steal in that quarter. Payton''s attacking moves were so good that Jake remembered when he played one-on-one against Kobe Bryant, of course, Payton was not a player with offensive skills as good as Kobe Bryant, but in a multiplayer game, Payton was making it much harder for Jake to defend. "The third quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team continues to win and managed to increase the points advantage, Jake Smith continues to play very well and this is being fundamental for the Los Angeles Lakers team to achieve this advantage in points." "Even with Gary Payton''s good defense, Jake Smith has already scored 27 points in that game, and the opposite is also true because Gary Payton has managed to score 15 points in that game, the difference being that Jake Smith missed fewer attacks and can make more passes also." "Yes, we can see in this game that the two are excellent players and are very good in defense, of course, Gary Payton is a player with more than 8 years of experience in the NBA, 5 times an All-star player and was the defensive player of the year in 1996." "And Jake is a rookie player who debuted this season in the NBA, so it''s amazing what Jake Smith is doing to attack well even with Gary Payton defending against him and him managing to defend well against Gary Payton." In the last quarter, the Seattle SuperSonics team started to press both in attack and defense, they wanted to take advantage of playing at home to try to win, Payton advanced with the ball and passed to Schrempf on the right. In the expected duel between Jake and Gary Payton what happened was that the two were more intelligent and tried to score the points avoiding the opponent to defend, Payton didn''t do it so well because Jake pressed hard on the attacks and Payton tried several times the layup and the mid-range shooting what was his style of playing. Jake didn''t need this because his style of play was to try three-point shots, and Payton wasn''t able to hinder Jake in three-point shots, so Jake was able to attack well, Payton also had to be more careful when making passes because Jake was very good at steals. Jake managed to make assists with difficulty, but he did even better than Payton in that game, yet whoever was watching this game could see that Jake was playing very well against Payton and it showed that even though he was a rookie he was already one of the best NBA players. The last quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team got the win by making 100 points against 88 points from the Seattle SuperSonics team, in that last quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound, and 1 steal. "Another NBA game ends this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team won another victory in this difficult and balanced game, the Seattle SuperSonics team played very well in that game and all the players performed well." "All the starting players scored at least 10 points in that game and Gary Payton scored 22 points even though Jake Smith was defending so well against him, but the Seattle SuperSonics defense was unable to stop the strongest attack this season in the NBA and Team Los Angeles Lakers still won." Chapter 508 - Change in Los Angeles Lakers Team 6 "The Los Angeles Lakers team also played an excellent game, all the players performed well, but unlike the Seattle SuperSonics team, the focus on the attack was Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, Rick Fox, and Jake Smith." "Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant played an excellent game, Rick Fox has also been surprising and making more than 14 points in the last games, and Jake Smith was once again the highlight of the game." "Jake Smith played very well in that game and managed to score 35 points and 9 assists even with Gary Payton defending against him, Jake Smith showed all his skill in that game and also defended well against Gary Payton and made him miss many attacks." "Yes, Jake Smith played that game really well, even though it looks like he got fewer steals and rebounds than in other games, that''s normal thinking that Gary Payton was defending against him." "Jake Smith had the advantage in that game because of his three-point shots that helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to win and also play better than Gary Payton, but that is also his credit for training for so long to get that average hits on three-point shots." The game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning once again, Jake was happy because he knew that in the past the Los Angeles Lakers team had lost that game, now he wanted to win as many games as he could this season. Jake thought that when he entered the NBA he was very good at defense after training for several years in his imagination training and playing at university, but in that game, he realized again that he was still far from being a great player in defense. Jake had already realized this when he played against Kobe Bryant, even though he could defend well and prevent the opponent from making some points, he couldn''t really prevent the opponent from making points in mid-range shots. Of course, Jake knew it must be natural, after all, Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton were two of the best players in NBA history and Jake was just a rookie in the NBA, but what made Jake think so was his system and physical statistics that it was what helped him most to get the steals in the games. But this game was important for Jake to realize that he still had a lot of things that he needed to improve in order to be a great player, Jake still had to improve his skills and statistics and also play better when he got more experience. After all Jake knew that even when he had all the skills in the SS rank he would just be on a par with the best NBA players, so he still needed to improve a lot to be able to beat them. After that victory, the Los Angeles Lakers team had a lot of time to rest because they would have to travel to Denver, Colorado where they would have to play the next game. It would be the second game of the Los Angeles Lakers team in Denver, Colorado to play against the Denver Nuggets team the second game as a visitor, the first game was very difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win and Jake was the main responsible for the good advantage on the scoreboard at the end of the game. But in that game Jake did not know if things would be like this again, the rumors of the possible dismissal of Coach Del Harris just increased and so Coach Harris did not seem to be very happy with this situation. The players made the trip on the team plane during the night and when they arrived in Denver they immediately went to the hotel to rest for the game the next day, the players were not so tired because they were able to rest a few minutes in the last games with the substitutions of Harris coach. So the next day Jake woke up completely rested and ready for the next game, that day the players heard two rumors that could be good things, but one of that news could be bad for the team. One news that was certainly good was that Robert Horry was recovering well and maybe in 3 more days he could play again, the Los Angeles Lakers team was missing Horry in the team''s defense and also in the attack. The other news was that maybe the Los Angeles Lakers team could sign 5-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman in the next few days, Jake knew it could happen, so he naturally also knew what could happen in the future. Jake naturally respected Dennis Rodman, who was an important player in the 5 NBA titles he won, but his personal behavior was something Jake did not agree with and even found it difficult to understand. Jake played professional basketball and still ran marathons because he loved doing it and didn''t mind trying harder to do it, but Dennis Rodman, who also said he loved basketball even with his talent, still did a lot of things wrong. Jake thought that Dennis Rodman could actually be an important player for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win the NBA title this season if he played seriously and worked hard in every game to win he could help a lot. Dennis Rodman was a type of player who got a lot of rebounds and defended well and didn''t score many points in games, but with Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, Rick Fox, and Jake Smith on the team they didn''t need anyone else who could score. What the Los Angeles Lakers team needed was a good defensive player, and Dennis Rodman was the type of player the Los Angeles Lakers team needed, in addition to Jake, other players were also concerned about having Dennis Rodman on the team. But in the afternoon, the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the game to try another victory, arriving at the McNichols Sports Arena Jake can see the Denver Nuggets team crowd filling the Arena. Jake and the players put on their uniforms in the locker rooms and went to the court to get ready for the start of the game, the Denver Nuggets team needed this victory and they were determined to achieve that victory. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game of the NBA this season, the second game this season between the Los Angeles Lakers team and the Denver Nuggets team, in the first game the Los Angeles Lakers team won." "And the Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win this game too, the Denver Nuggets team that plays at home today had just 1 win this season and they have already had 8 losses, this is certainly irritating their fans." "The Los Angeles Lakers team already has 9 wins in 10 games and they want to get another victory in that game, if Jake Smith and the other players were playing well it wouldn''t be difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win again." "Yes, Jake Smith has been playing very well in the last few games, but Shaquille O''Neal has managed to make almost 1 double-double in every game and Kobe Bryant has also been helping to lead the team to victory." Everyone in the sports media and fans also hoped that the Los Angeles Lakers team could achieve an easy victory in that game, which is why the Denver Nuggets team achieving victory was difficult for everyone to understand. The Los Angeles Lakers team came with the starting players Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Denver Nuggets team came with the starting players Nick Van Exel playing as PG, Chauncey Billups playing as SG, Eric Washington also playing as SG and helping to defend against SF, Antonio McDyess playing as PF, Raef LaFrentz playing as Center. The game started with the Los Angeles Lakers team in the attack, Shaquille O''Neal won the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team and passed to Jake, Jake advanced to the attack at a slower pace. Jake passed the ball to Kobe Bryant from the right, Bryant received the ball and Chauncey Billups came in pressing on the defense, so Bryant held the ball just before passing it to Rick Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Eric Washington came pressing on the defense. Fox tried to make an individual move, but Washington would not let Fox move forward, so Fox passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Nick Van Exel arrived pressing on defense, Van Exel was upset with the Los Angeles Lakers team after leaving. Nick Van Exel played well in his time on the Los Angeles Lakers team and did not understand why he left the team in an exchange with two players who were not as good as he was, especially in a time when the Los Angeles Lakers team did not have good PG on the team. So Nick Van Exel was even more upset with Jake who joined the Los Angeles Lakers team playing as PG and was now one of the best players in the NBA, so in that game, Van Exel wanted to show all his skill and help the Denver Nuggets team win the game. Jake held the ball a little and passed it to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and made a feint that tricked the opponent and Bryant tried the mid-range shot and made the first 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Soon the Denver Nuggets team went on the attack and Van Exel advanced the ball, Van Exel passed the ball to Billups on the left and Kobe Bryant was on the defense, Billups tried to make a feint, but Bryant was not fooled, so Billups decided to pass the ball to Washington from the right. Washington received the ball and Fox came to press on defense, Washington managed to trick Fox with a feint and attempted a mid-range shot to score 2 points for the Denver Nuggets team and tie the game. The Denver Nuggets team wanted to win this game and pushed in attack and defense from the beginning of the game, Jake was controlling the pace of the game and trying to help the defense so that the Los Angeles Lakers team could gain the advantage in points in the first quarter. Chapter 509 - Change in Los Angeles Lakers Team 7 In another move Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Washington came to press on defense, Fox held the ball a little and passed it to Bryant on the right. Bryant received the ball and Billups came to press on defense, so Bryant tried a feint, but Billups was not fooled, so Bryant passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and with a feint, he managed to get rid of the opposing defense. Van Exel was able to react quickly, but Jake was faster and advanced into the area, Jake advanced and the Denver Nuggets team''s defense didn''t know how they could stop Jake, so Jake took advantage of that opportunity and passed the ball to Shaquille O''Neal. Raef LaFrentz was not close to O''Neal in that play, so O''Neal advanced and scored another 2 points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team, O''Neal was happy to score his first points in that game. Even though the Los Angeles Lakers team played so well Shaquille O''Neal thought he could score more points in the last games, in the first games of the season he scored more than 30 points in several games, but in the last games, he failed to score 30 points. Shaquille O''Neal knew that with the whole team playing well it was more difficult than he had so many opportunities to score more points, but Jake was scoring more than 30 points in every game, and in most games, Jake was trying fewer attacks than he was. Of course, the biggest reason for that was that Jake scored a lot on three-point shots, so Jake needed less attack than he did to score 30 points, Shaquille O''Neal was happy with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the games and also thought that Jake was doing a great job as a PG. For Shaquille O''Neal the most important thing was to win the NBA title at the end of the season, so he was more dissatisfied with his performance in the games than with the performance of his teammates. The Denver Nuggets team soon went on the attack, Van Exel advanced with the ball and went to Washington on the right, Washington received the ball and Fox arrived to press in defense, Washington held the ball a little and passed to Billups on the left. Billups received the ball and Bryant came to press on defense, Billups did not hold the ball and passed the ball to Antonio McDyess later on, McDyess received the ball and Travis Knight came to press on defense. McDyess managed to spin and tried the hook to make 2 more points for the Denver Nuggets team, the Denver Nuggets team was pushing in the attack and the game was balanced and this impressed the crowd that did not expect the Denver Nuggets team to play so well. The first quarter ended with the Denver Nuggets team winning by 2 points, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake started playing well in that game too. "The first quarter ends and the Denver Nuggets team is surprising everyone and winning the game so far with a 2 point advantage, due to the performance of the two teams in the season so far, everyone hoped that the Los Angeles Lakers team would be winning this game." "It''s true, but we also have to say that the Denver Nuggets team is playing very well in this game, it is a different game than the last one that the players of the Denver Nuggets team did and that is why they are getting this game balanced." "Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers team is also playing well, even though some players don''t seem to be playing as well as in other games, Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Jake Smith are playing well as in all games and are keeping the balanced game." "The players who are playing best on the Denver Nuggets team are Antonio McDyess and Chauncey Billups, on the Los Angeles Lakers team Rick Fox and Travis Knight is not playing as well as in other games." "It is good news for the Los Angeles Lakers team that Robert Horry may return in the next games, and the Los Angeles Lakers team is negotiating to sign NBA title winner 5-time Dennis Rodman." "I don''t know if hiring Dennis Rodman can be a good thing for the Los Angeles Lakers team because of the personal problems that Dennis Rodman has, but it will definitely be a good PF that the Los Angeles Lakers team needs." This was a tough game for the Los Angeles Lakers team and Jake knew he had to try harder in that game if he wanted to win, but coach Del Harris thought that in that game Shaquille O''Neal had to rest for a few minutes. So in this second quarter and in the other quarters, Coach Harris wanted to replace Shaquille O''Neal for a few minutes, which would certainly make things more difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win, luckily Coach Harris did not intend to replace other players. The Denver Nuggets team started in the attack in the second quarter, Van Exel advanced with the ball and went to Washington on the right, Washington received the ball and Fox came to press on defense, Washington tried a feint and got rid of the defense and tried a shot from mid-range to make 2 more points for the Denver Nuggets team. In another move the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Washington came to press on defense, so Fox did not attempt a move and passed to Bryant on the right. Kobe Bryant received the ball and Billups came in to press on defense, Bryant decided to make an individual move and did the between the legs dribble move, so Billups didn''t know what Bryant was going to do and he stayed put. After that move, Kobe Bryant managed to advance to the inside area and Billups was unable to keep up well in defense, Bryant advanced and drive to the basket and made 2 more points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team. In this second quarter, the two teams were still balanced and it was being a game in which the two teams attacked well, the Los Angeles Lakers team was playing better and was increasing the advantage a little on the scoreboard. But when Shaquille O''Neal was replaced, the Denver Nuggets team was able to press again, Jake was playing as smoothly as in other games and was defending well against Van Exel who was not attacking much in that game. In another move the Los Angeles Lakers team went on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Washington came to press on defense, Fox decided not to make any moves and passed to Bryant on the right. Bryant received the ball and Billups came to press on defense, this time Bryant did not try to make an individual play, Van Exel saw the play and moved even closer to Jake to try to prevent Kobe Bryant from passing the ball to him. Bryant realized this and decided to pass to Fox on the left again, Fox received the ball with a little more freedom this time and tried a mid-range shot, this time Fox did not hit and McDyess managed to catch the defensive rebound for the Denver Nuggets team. Van Exel called for the ball further and McDyess passed it to him, Van Exel received the ball and quickly tried to advance to get a counterattack, Van Exel and Billups advanced quickly in the attack. Jake and Kobe Bryant who were further behind managed to get back to defense, the Denver Nuggets team tried to make a quick counterattack, but Jake was even faster and managed to get back to defend quickly. Seeing this, Van Exel decided to pass the ball to Billups who was on the left, Billups received the ball and had already noticed that Bryant was approaching quickly to defend, Billups, advanced further. Arriving in the inside area Bryant had arrived to defend against Billups, so Billups decided to pass to Van Exel, Van Exel received the ball and advanced to try the layup, Jake who was in defense did not think that Van Exel would try the layup, so Jake waited the right time and jump to make the block. Van Exel and Billups did not expect Jake to be able to make the block, Kobe Bryant who already hoped that this could happen managed to catch the rebound, and passed the ball to Jake again, with this counterattack the players of both teams were on the side of the Los Angeles Lakers team court. Except for Shaquille O''Neal who had stayed on the side of the Denver Nuggets team, Jake realized this and made a high pass to Shaquille O''Neal, it was a long pass that crossed almost the entire court and O''Neal can easily catch the ball. So Shaquille O''Neal advanced alone to make the dunk and 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, with this move the Los Angeles Lakers team did not lose the advantage they had on the scoreboard and increased the players'' spirits. The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team recovering and ending the second quarter by winning the game with a good lead on the scoreboard, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 8 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block. "What an incredible game we are watching here today, the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to recover and ended the second quarter by winning the game with the points advantage after finishing losing in the first quarter." "The Los Angeles Lakers team really played well in that second quarter, with a great performance by Jake Smith, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O''Neal who attacked and defended well, that play in which Jake made a block after the counterattack of The Denver Nuggets team shows the dedication that the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team are having in this game." "It is true, we must also say that the Denver Nuggets team played very well in that second quarter as well, the players put pressure on the attack and defense and so the game remained balanced." "We cannot say which of the two teams will win this game, so we will continue to follow this good game to know which team will win at the end of the game." Chapter 510 - Change in Los Angeles Lakers Team 8 In the third quarter, the Denver Nuggets team had to keep pressing in attack to try to win the game, but it was the Los Angeles Lakers team that started strong in attack and also in defense. Even with Coach Harris replacing Shaquille O''Neal for a few minutes in all quarters, Jake was still able to organize his attacks well and Nick Van Exel was unable to defend well against him in that game. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Billups came to press on defense, Bryant held the ball before passing to Fox on the left, Fox was not playing so well in this game, but he was still helping the team Los Angeles Lakers with several points and defending too. Fox received the ball and Washington came to press in defense, Fox tried a feint, but Washington was not deceived and stood firm in defense, so Fox decided to pass the ball back to Jake. Jake received the ball and Van Exel came to press on defense, Jake made a feint and step back and tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers, Van Exel didn''t even have a chance to hinder Jake in this play. The Denver Nuggets team was not doing so well in the third quarter, the players were missing a lot of attacks and with the Los Angeles Lakers team realizing that they were putting even more pressure on the defense. The Denver Nuggets team went on the attack and Van Exel advanced to the attack and passed the ball to Billups on the left, Billups received the ball and Bryant pressed the defense, so Billups decided to pass the ball to Washington on the right. Washington received the ball and saw that Van Exel was free and decided to pass the ball to him, but Jake hoped for that and managed to intercept Washington''s pass, Jake took the ball and advanced with speed to attack. Van Exel was the last player in the Denver Nuggets team''s defense and tried to accompany Jake to defend against him, but Jake was faster and Van Exel was unable to follow, Jake advanced to the painted area and scored 2 more points with the dunk for the team Los Angeles Lakers. The Denver Nuggets team could not attack as well as in other quarters and the Los Angeles Lakers did not miss the opportunity to further increase the advantage in points that they had in the game. The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a big lead on the scoreboard, Jake played for 12 minutes in that third quarter and had 11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. In the last quarter, the Denver Nuggets team came back much better as it was in the initials quarters, but the advantage of the Los Angeles Lakers team was already very large and the attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team remained good and the Denver Nuggets team was unable to reverse the score. The Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 116 points against 99 points from the Denver Nuggets team, Jake played for 12 minutes in the last quarter and had 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, thus achieving another double-double. "And so this great game that we had ended, the Denver Nuggets team played a great game surprising everyone, but the Los Angeles Lakers team still managed their tenth victory this season." "Really, the Denver Nuggets team played really well, but the Los Angeles Lakers team has the best attack this season and has won 10 of the 11 games they have had this season." "It is even more amazing to remember that this season we will only have 50 games, so we have had more than 20 percent of the games this season and the Los Angeles Lakers team has only one defeat." "Yes, Jake Smith, Shaquille O''Neal, and Kobe Bryant played very well and it was important for the Los Angeles Lakers team to get another victory in that balanced game." The Los Angeles Lakers team had made a great start to the season and the sports media increasingly thought they had a team that could win the NBA title this season. After the end of the game, the reporters came to interview some players from the Los Angeles Lakers team, this time the players wanted to talk to the reporters, one of the reporters approached Shaquille O''Neal first to speak with him. "Hi Shaq, what do you think of the Lakers team''s performance so far this season?" "I''m very happy, we started this season very well with just one defeat so far, Jake''s entry into the team helped our team to achieve these victories, I think with more games the team will have the players even more in touch and we will play the games even better." "And what do you think about Coach Harris starting to replace you and the other players in the games so that you don''t get tired?" "I feel like I could play longer in that game and of course I don''t like being replaced, but this season is really having a lot of games and I and the other players don''t have that much time to rest." "I think Coach Harris knows what he''s doing and as long as our team gets the win I don''t mind playing a few minutes less." "Shaq, you talked about Jake, what do you think about his joining the Lakers team?" "I think Jake is an excellent player, he debuted this season and he adapted very well to the NBA and our team too, he is really an incredible player with that average points and assists he gets." "Jake has managed to do 5 triple-double this season which is quite impressive, I think he is the best rookie of this season and one of the best players in the NBA today." After the reporters spoke to Shaquille O''Neal they went to talk to Jake, it wasn''t at all games that players did interviews, and with these victories, the Los Angeles Lakers team was one of the most sought after media teams. "Hi, Jake, you have been making one of the best debuts as a player in NBA history, what have you thought of your debut season on the Lakers team so far?" "I am very happy with the season we have had so far, I have always been a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers team and have always dreamed of playing for this team, I am doing my best to help the team win and I am happy that this has happened." "Playing with great players like Shaq and Kobe has been very good, making assists have been easier playing with them, Rick is also playing very well and it helps me to perform better." "Jake, the game you had against the Seattle SuperSonics team was talked about a lot because you played against Gary Payton who is one of the best PG in NBA history, what did you think of this game?" "It was a great honor to play against Gary Payton in that game, he is one of my idols in the NBA, the game was very difficult because Payton defends very well, I had to work very hard to defend against him and I couldn''t even try many steals in that game." "Even with my efforts Payton still played very well and scored a lot, I was also happy to play against Scottie Pippen and against John Stockton who are also idols that I have." "The truth is that most of the games that I have this season will be against great idols that I have, and I will try even harder to perform well in those games." The reporters were satisfied with the interviews and the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team left the Arena and returned to the hotel, everyone was tired and happy with the victory in that game, they were not playing away from home so they were facing teams that were not having a good season. But these games were surprisingly difficult, so players would not underestimate the next opponent after the players rested for a few hours, the Los Angeles Lakers team board decided to make the trip that night. So the players left the hotel and took the plane to Vancouver, British Columbia where they would play the next game as a visitor, arriving in Vancouver the players went to the hotel reserved to rest for the next game that would be the next day. The game happened the next day, the Los Angeles Lakers team came prepared for a difficult game, the game would be against the Vancouver Grizzlies team that had 6 losses and only 3 victories in the 9 games that they had this season. It would be Jake''s first official game playing against Mike Bibby who was a friend of his, in that game the Los Angeles Lakers team was not playing well, Coach Harris also looked different because this was perhaps his last game at the helm of the team. In the Vancouver Grizzlies team, Shareef Abdur-Rahim played very well and Mike Bibby also played a good game, fortunately with Jake''s great effort the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to win the game making 94 points against 91 of the Vancouver Grizzlies team. Shaquille O''Neal also played very well defensively in that game and managed a double-double with 10 rebounds, O''Neal also made 6 blocks and 2 steals in that game, with which the Los Angeles Lakers team won 11 games in 12 games this season. After another victory the Los Angeles Lakers team was fine, but Jake realized that coach Del Harris would be fired, Jake was not happy about it and was worried about playing with coach Phil Jackson, because he might not adapt to the strategy to play in an offensive triangle. After the end of that game, Jake told Coach Del Harris that he would return to Los Angeles and head to the next game in Los Angeles, Coach Harris knew Jake was in the good physical condition and didn''t even know if he would continue to be team coach then allowed. Jake flew to Los Angeles the same day because the next day he would go to the Grammys to hope for Kate''s victory, Jake was used to flying and arriving at his house very late to rest. Chapter 511 - The Grammy Awards 1 Jake woke up rested the other day in the morning, this was going to be a lively day for him and he was too excited to go to the Grammys at night, Jake called his mom to talk to her about the latest games and also to talk about the Grammys. Eva was very fond of music but did not understand very well about the awards they had, Jake had given all the CDs he had of Kate and Eva had also watched Kate sing in the game that Jake organized. After that Eva also really liked the way Kate sang, Jake had already told his mother that Kate was going to run for this year''s Grammy and with Jake reminding her, Eva said she would watch Kate''s show. "I think it''s cool that you go to the Grammy this year to cheer for your girlfriend, being there with her can support her a lot on that day that she must be nervous." "Yes, I think so too, mom, but I won''t be able to be with her, yet she knows that I''m going to be rooting for her." "Why can''t you be with her, Jake? Aren''t you going to Grammy with Kate?" "No, I''m going alone with a ticket I got from a friend, Kate''s manager thinks that revealing our relationship can hurt her career, which is undergoing a change right now." "At the beginning of next year we will reveal about our dating to everyone and say that we have been dating since the end of 1998, so the media will not be able to say that it is not a serious relationship." "I don''t know how to reveal that Kate is dating a successful man like you can hurt her career, you two are famous and make a beautiful couple." "I don''t care about that, mom, the important thing is that Kate and I are dating, I don''t need everyone to know about it, her manager knows what she does." "If you don''t mind I''m not going to say anything, I''m glad you are well together." When Jake called his mom the topic was often Kate and it wasn''t Jake''s games, Eva just needed to know that Jake was happy and that his team was winning to be happy about it. Jake tried to talk to Kate after talking to his mother, but Lily had taken her phone so Kate wouldn''t be too anxious on the day of the awards, Jake had the whole day to rest because Coach Harris had dismissed him. During the afternoon, his housekeeper brought Jake the newspaper that had important news about the Los Angeles Lakers team, the news that he already knew that Robert Horry was almost recovered and could already play in the next game and the news that the Los team Angeles Lakers had hired Dennis Rodman. Jake already hoped that these two things would happen and he also knew that Dennis Rodman would also be at the Grammys that night along with his wife Carmen Electra, if Rodman wanted to talk to him Jake would talk to him, but he wanted to remain discreet so as not to have rumors about him and Kate. The other news was something Jake expected, but he didn''t want it to happen, it was the news that Coach Del Harris had been fired, Jake hoped it didn''t happen because the Los Angeles Lakers team managers had said in his past life that reason for the dismissal of Coach Harris had been the bad start to the season with 6 wins and 6 losses in 12 games. This time the Los Angeles Lakers team had won 11 games and lost only 1 of the games, even if he had been fired it was because the Los Angeles Lakers team should have already started talking to coach Phil Jackson so he could be the coach of the team since the beginning of next season. For that, the team directors were willing to abandon the Los Angeles Lakers'' chances of winning the NBA title this season, interim coach Bill Bertka would take over the team in the next game, but Jake knew it would be for just one game and then coach Kurt Rambis would lead the team until the end of the season. Of course, Jake still intended to help the team try to win the NBA title this season, but without coach Del Harris it would be more difficult, it would depend much more on the players than on the team''s strategy. After hearing this news about his team Jake went to a hairdresser that one of his Hollywood friends had indicated, Jake had also ordered a suit, pants, and a set of social clothes so he could go to the Grammy Awards. The hairdresser made only a few adjustments to his hair, the suit and set of clothes to go to the Grammy was from the Armani brand, to the hairdresser and to the Armani store Jake said who he was so he could get the best treatment. Of course Jake intended to pay for everything, but with him saying he was an NBA player and an actor who would go to the Grammy, the hairdresser and Armani store would do their best to make Jake look great. For the suit and the social clothes Jake asked for a set of black color that was the color he liked most for suits, it was also a safe color to make him look good at the Grammy, as the people at the Armani store knew Jake they had already prepared a set of social clothes and just needed to make adjustments with Jake in the store. Jake was as handsome as the models and had an athlete''s body, so it was not so difficult to make the adjustments so that the clothes fit perfectly with Jake, the store attendants couldn''t help looking at Jake intensely after he put on the clothes and the suit. This was normal because in the media there was no news that Jake was dating Kate or anyone, so several women fantasized about having a loving relationship with Jake who was handsome, rich, and famous. After a few hours Jake left the Armani store ready to go to the Grammy, he went back to his house before to wait there until the Grammy start time, when the time came Jake put on his dress clothes and suit and got in the car that he had rented for that night. Jake didn''t want to go in the cars he had because it would get a lot of attention, so he chose a black executive car that was elegant, but not so flashy, Jake arrived at the Grammy and entered the Shrine Auditorium through an entrance that didn''t draw much attention. Jake arrived very early at the Shrine Auditorium, shortly after people were allowed in, but Jake''s place at the Shrine Auditorium was not so modest and was close to the front in the place for spectators and competitors to sit. Even though Jake didn''t want to attract attention, he attracted the attention of the officials who were organizing the Grammy, Keanu Reeves just said to those who gave him the invitations that a friend of his would go to the Grammy in his place but did not say that this person was Jake. After a long time everyone entered the Shrine Auditorium and sat down waiting for the Grammy to start, Jake was trying to be discreet so he didn''t look for Kate, this Grammy Kate hadn''t been invited to sing any songs, so only if she won she could see Jake. If she were to receive the award she would find Jake who was in the front rows and was one of the tallest in the entire Shrine Auditorium, Jake remembered few things about that Grammy he had attended. Jake remembered that Rosie O''Donnell would present this year''s Grammy, she also remembered that women would win most of the awards deservedly, Jake also remembered that Madonna would win more than 3 awards, Celine Dion would win 2 awards for the song My Heart Will Go On that would win 4 awards in this Grammy. Jake also remembered that Lauryn Hill would win 5 awards at this Grammy, so he thought that if Kate won one of those awards it wouldn''t affect Lauryn Hill so much, they were all amazing singers and so Jake and Kate were nervous because they didn''t know if she could win. At the beginning of the Grammy, Jake heard the song Nothing Really Matters that was sung by Madonna, Jake was not a fan of Madonna, but he knew she was an excellent singer and paid close attention to the show. Jake always watched these awards on his home television in his past life, he watched almost all the most important awards, it was really different to be in person at the awards venue. Before the awards started, Jake had already observed all the decoration of the place, the stage was prepared for a show and Jake knew that the Grammy team would set the stage for the different presentations of the singers like the presentation of Madonna in the beginning. The Grammy went on and Jake really liked almost everything that was going on, the Grammy was hosted by Rosie O''Donnell and she showed up several times to speak, Jake also liked her and found it very fun and different to see everything this time at the awards venue. At the beginning of the awards Madonna won one of the awards that would be just 1 of the 4 awards she would win, then the song Heart Will Go On which became very well known after the success of the movie Titanic, won the Song of the year award and the songwriters Will Jennings and James Horner went to receive the award. Then the Grammy had the rock performance of "There Goes The Neighborhood" by Sheryl Crow, which The Globe Sessions took home for Best Rock Album, then Alanis Morissette for "Uninvited" on the City of soundtrack Angels who won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song. Shania Twain also won two awards that night, but Jake who was a fan of hers thought she should have won four awards that night, she won the Best Female Country Vocal Performance award and the Best Country Song award. But Jake thought she should also have won the Album of the Year and Best Country Album awards, after all, much thought that her Album was one of the best of all time in Country music. Chapter 512 - The Grammy Awards 2 Jake was enjoying the Grammy a lot, but he couldn''t help but be worried about the prize that Kate was competing for, the Grammy continued and Ricky Martin performed with a performance singing "The Cup Of Life", which would make him even more recognized in the world of music. Afterward, Ricky Martin also won the Best Latin Pop Performance award for "Vuelve", Celine Dion of whom Jake was also a fan won the Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance awards and sang along with Andrea Bocelli the song "The Prayer". Lauryn Hill who was the great Grammy star sang the song "To Zion" with Carlos Santana, Lauryn Hill also won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best Rhythm & Blues Music and Best R&B Album, with the album The Miseducation. At the end of the Grammy, she would still win the Album of the Year award, being the first hip-hop singer to achieve that, but Jake was more interested in the Best New Artist award, so Kate could compete for that award, Natalie Imbruglia had left the contest for that Jake remembered. So the contestants for this award were the country music band Dixie Chicks that had won 2 awards that night, the group Backstreet Boys, Andrea Bocelli, Lauryn Hill and Kate, reason why Lily had spoken the Album and Kate''s music could compete with others awards that night, but the record company decided to put all its efforts into winning it. Jake was waiting for that moment and started to get anxious, soon the contestants were introduced, when Kate''s name was called, people at the Shrine Auditorium applauded quite like the favorite singers. "And the Best New Artist is Kate Annesley." When the presenter of the award spoke Kate''s name, Jake couldn''t resist and stood up to applaud, with Jake standing up to applaud some other people also stood up to applaud him. With Jake standing up to applaud first it was natural for Kate to see him, she was really beautiful in a white dress as she liked to wear with some parts of the dress is blue which made her even more beautiful. Jake didn''t want to stand out, but he ended up standing out too much to applaud, as Lauryn Hill would win 4 Grammy awards nobody would complain about if she didn''t win the Best New Artist award, Kate was very happy when she received the award and went to give a speech fast. "I''m really happy to have won this award, I didn''t expect it even if I really wanted to win, Lauryn Hill is really an excellent singer and deserves all the awards she won and I hoped she would win this one too." "I want to thank my fans who have always supported me at all times in my career, I also want to thank my manager Lily, and thank everyone who has supported me until today." "I wanted to thank my label, the musicians and producers who participated in my music and my albums." "I wanted to dedicate this award to my parents who cannot be here, thank you." While giving the thank you speech Kate looked several times at where Jake was, so if someone was watching them see if they were dating after this award they would be pretty sure. Jake was embarrassed because he was sure Lily would be mad at him, so at the end of the Grammy when Lauryn Hill won the Album of the Year award Jake was the first to get up again to applaud and again several people stood up as he did. The Grammy ended and Jake was very happy that Kate had won the award, Jake thought he was lucky that he didn''t know many people and he was one of the first to leave the Shrine Auditorium, some people would come looking for him to go to one of the parties he had after the Grammy, but Jake was not interested in participating. After all, besides having to be discreet, Jake had to rest because he had a game the next day, besides, he couldn''t drink even then he would have to stay at the whole party refusing the gifts of the other guests. When Jake got home he changed his clothes and called his mother to tell the good news, Eva was also watching the Grammy on television so she already knew that Kate had won, she also celebrated a lot like Jake and was very happy for Kate have won. "I hoped she really won, Jake, you know how talented Kate is and she deserved to win this award, I hope she still wins many awards like that in her singing career." "I expected it too, mom, but the other artists who were competing with Kate were so good that I was worried and anxious, even Kate wasn''t sure she could win." "I understand that I saw how anxious you were as you were the first to get up to applaud when they announced that Kate had won, Hahaha, you were filmed on camera and everyone saw it." Jake didn''t expect him to be filmed, now he was sure that Lily would be irritated with him, Jake didn''t care if they found out he was dating Kate, and with Kate winning this award they would have less trouble taking over the relationship that they had. Jake talked a little more with his mother and then went to watch some movies at the cinema he had at his house, Jake would wait a few hours because he wanted to try to talk to Kate on the phone. But Jake knew that Kate should have gone to one of the parties as most artists also had to go, she should have to go to her label''s party or the party of some more well-known artists. After a few hours Jake watched 2 movies and called Kate if she couldn''t answer he would have to go to sleep because he would have a game the next day, Jake waited awhile and luckily Kate can answer the phone. "Hi, Jake, I''m glad you called me." "I didn''t know if you were busy after Grammy, so I waited a few hours before I called you, I wanted to congratulate you for winning the Grammy, you deserved it, Kate, for your hard work." "Thanks, Jake, I was very happy to see you when I won the Grammy, I really wanted to say your name in my speech, but know that I spoke of you indirectly when I made my speech." "I understand, then, that this will be a motivation for you to win another Grammy in the coming years, so you can say my name in your thank you speech." "Hahaha, I will try to win another Grammy to say your name, but next time I want you by my side at the awards." "I will be there, I hope Lily is not too angry with me for what I did at the Grammy, I tried to be discreet, but I couldn''t do it when I heard that you won the award." "She was a little upset, but Lily knows the great effort you had and the understanding you had to not disrupt my career if everyone knows it can be better this way because we won''t have to hide it from anyone else." "I also don''t like to hide it, but I understand that it is the best for your career, don''t worry, at the beginning of next year Lily said that we can announce that we are dating, it won''t be that long." Jake talked a few more hours with Kate before he had to hang up because he had to sleep, Jake was very happy with everything that had happened that day, so if the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to win the next day he would be very happy. The next day Jake woke up very early and ate well to prepare for the game he would have later, the game would be in Los Angeles so the other players were also able to return home after Jake asked for a day off to go to the Grammy. The housekeeper Mary brought Jake back to the newspaper from the previous day''s news, Jake searched the newspaper and saw the news about the Grammy that happened the day before, in the newspaper it said "The Night of Divas", it talked about Lauryn Hill, Madonna, Celine Dion and also talked just a little bit about Kate. Even so Jake was happy that Kate won the award and so maybe she could get even more fans, in the newspapers that Jake read nothing spoke about him, so he was happy that there were not many rumors about him. After that Grammy, Kate would go back to doing her shows and would be very busy for the rest of the year, Jake would also be busy with the NBA and they could just meet up and talk over the phone. Jake went to training with the Los Angeles Lakers team, when Jake arrived at the training place he saw that Dennis Rodman had already arrived, he would not play in that game, but would start training with the team because the next day he would play. Coach Bill Bertka was not annoyed that Jake missed training the day before because he was around when Jake asked the former team coach for permission to have a rest day, Coach Bertka didn''t imagine Jake already knew Coach Harris could be fired. Even if Coach Bertka knew that he still wouldn''t care because he knew that Jake was in great physical condition playing the 48 minutes in every game, so missing a day of training wouldn''t be a bad thing. Jake went to where Robert Horry was, Jake could imagine how bad it was to have a health problem and have to stay several games without being able to play, of course, Horry appeared sometimes in training and the players talked to him, but in games as a visitor that the team had they could not talk. "How are you, Robert? He recovered from his illness." "Not completely, I''m not in my best shape yet either, but I can go back to playing for a few minutes in that game." "It''s good to hear that, I hope you recover completely soon, the team needs you." Chapter 513 - A Different Team 1 With Dennis Rodman joining the team and Robert Horry''s return the Los Angeles Lakers team was complete again, Rick Fox was playing very well this season and the only concern for Jake and the coaches was the position of PF. But now they had Robert Horry and Dennis Rodman to complete that missing position, Dennis Rodman could help the team more defensively and with rebounds, but because of the problems he might have, maybe it would be Robert Horry the main player in that position. From what Jake remembered the most difficult phase of the team at the beginning of the season had passed, then the Los Angeles Lakers team won 10 games in a row and went back to being one of the main teams in the NBA, with Jake in the team they had lost only one game, so these 10 victories would make the Los Angeles Lakers team even stronger for the playoff. After training Jake could see that Dennis Rodman was still in the good physical condition and could actually play in the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team, while Jake was getting ready to leave, Dennis Rodman came over to talk to him. "Hi Jake, I already talked to all the players and I wanted to talk to you too." "Hi Dennis, I''m a big fan of yours, I think it''s incredible the NBA title you managed to win and I think you''re an incredible player because of the rebounds you get" "I think you''re a good player too, I saw you at the Grammy yesterday, I thought I''d ask you to come to the party after the awards, but you left very quickly." "I didn''t know that I went to the Grammy with a ticket that I got from a friend, so I didn''t think it would be good to go to any party after the awards." "So you thought wrong, I''m sure you just weren''t invited because they didn''t know that you liked to participate in awards, but now that they know you''re going to receive several invitations to attend the Grammy, Oscar and other awards." Jake thought about it and thought Dennis was right, he hadn''t received any tickets because the people at the Grammy organization didn''t know he liked to attend these events, but now he would probably receive several invitations. Jake and Dennis talked a little more before Jake left, later in the afternoon, the players got together again at the Anaheim Arena which was where the game would take place, the Los Angeles Clippers team was one of the teams most affected by Jake''s coming to the NBA. In Jake''s past life the Los Angeles Lakers team would lose all 9 games earlier this season, but the Los Angeles Lakers team switched Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, and Derek Harper to have Jake on the team. So the Los Angeles Clippers team was unable to sign Michael Olowokandi and chose Jake, because of this change the Los Angeles Clippers team had won 3 of the 9 games they had this season. It was not a good result yet, but they did not lose all the games as they normally would have, with the experience of Derek Harper and Eddie Jones leading the team they achieved three victories and played well in most of the 9 games. The three players that were switched to Jake to go on the team were very talented, but because of the excellent season that Jake was making the crowd happy, he no longer cared about the players who left the Lakers team. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch one more game this NBA season, in that game the Los Angeles Clippers team will play against their biggest rival in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers team." "This is the fourth game in a row for the Los Angeles Lakers team playing as a visitor, the last three games that could have been easier have become very difficult games in which players have had to work hard for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win." "The Los Angeles Lakers team also has a lot of changes in the last few days, Dennis Rodman signed a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers team and will be able to play in the next game, Robert Horry has recovered from his illness and will play in that game." "The biggest news is that coach Del Harris was fired even after this excellent start to the season with 11 wins in 12 games, so assistant coach Bill Bertka will head the team today as head coach." "This is also the first game that Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, and Derek Harper play against the Los Angeles Lakers team that was their team, it is also the first game between the rookie Jake Smith plays against the team that selected him in this draft season." "So we expect an exciting game today between these two teams." The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Los Angeles Clippers team would start the game with Derek Harper playing as PG, Eddie Jones playing as SG, Rodney Rogers playing as SF, Elden Campbell playing as PF, and Lorenzen Wright playing as Center. Coach Bertka decided to leave Travis Knight playing that game because Robert Horry was still not very well, but after the third quarter, coach Bertka would put Horry in the game, in the first quarter and in the second quarter Horry could still be substituted. In the next game when Dennis Rodman could play, he could put Robert Horry in for a few minutes and Dennis Rodman in the game and thus he would have qualified in the position of PF in every game, the truth was that coach Bertka did not think that the Los Angeles Clippers team could win that game and so he intended to replace the starting players for many minutes in the game. At the start of the game Shaquille O''Neal won the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jake calmly advanced the ball and Derek Harper gave Jake space to move forward, Jake advanced further and passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right. Bryant received the ball and Eddie Jones came to defend, they were friends, but in the games, Jones and Bryant would still face each other as they did in any game, Bryant tried a feint, but Jones was not fooled, so Bryant passed the ball to Rick Fox through left. Fox received the ball and Rodney Rogers came to press on defense, Fox held the ball for a while and passed it to Jake further behind, Jake received the ball and quickly passed it to Shaquille O''Neal ahead. O''Neal received the ball and Lorenzen Wright came to press on defense, O''Neal made a strong move and managed to spin and tried the hook to make the first 2 points of the Los Angeles Lakers team. In another move, the Los Angeles Clippers team went on the attack and Derek Harper came forward and passed the ball to Jones from the left, Jones received the ball and Bryant pressed the defense, Jones tried a feint, but Bryant was not fooled. Then Jones passed the ball to Rogers on the right, Rogers received the ball and Fox arrived to press, Rogers quickly passed the ball to Jones again, this time Eddie Jones received the ball and tried a mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Los Angeles Clippers team. Eddie Jones and Derek Harper were the players who stood out the most on this new Los Angeles Clippers team, perhaps with a few more new players on the Clippers team they could try a spot in the playoffs of the coming seasons. The Los Angeles Lakers team ended the first quarter by winning with a good point advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake realized that in this game Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal did not were performing well. Bryant was still replaced in the first quarter for a few minutes and had even less time on the court, it seemed that coach Bertka did not expect this game to be very difficult and so he decided to let Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal rest. In the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers continued to press forward and even with the Los Angeles Clippers team doing better they were unable to defend against the best NBA attack. At the end of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team won with 129 points against 95 points of the Los Angeles Clippers team, Jake played for 48 minutes in that game and had 43 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds, and 7 steals. "The game ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team achieving another victory this season, the Los Angeles Clippers team played well, but could not handle the strong attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team." "Even with coach Bill Bertka replacing Kobe and Shaq for many minutes, the Los Angeles Lakers team still managed to win with Jake''s good performance that made 43 points and 11 assists." "Yes, Jake was once again the highlight of the Los Angeles Lakers team and those 43 points were the maximum points he made in a game this NBA season, with the top players on the Los Angeles Lakers team being replaced Jake had to try even harder to take the team to victory." "Rick Fox played very well in that game too and Robert Horry also performed well even though he played less time in that game, it shows that he can help the team even more in the next games." In this game Jake played very well and had a good performance, he did not let Derek Harper manage to attack a lot and still got many steals, in addition to the points he made in that game, Robert Horry also played well despite playing for only 20 minutes. Robert was certainly concerned about Dennis Rodman joining the team, everyone knew that Dennis was an excellent player and if he worked hard at the games Dennis could certainly be a starting player on that Los Angeles Lakers team. Even more, that the coach had changed, so Robert knew he had to prove that he was the best player to be one of the starting players on that Los Angeles Lakers team. Chapter 514 - A Different Team 2 The other day after the players were able to rest, it was announced that Bill Bertka would no longer be the main coach of the team in the next game and would return to be the assistant coach, who is the main coach was Kurt Rambis who was also an assistant coach of the team. What was announced was that this time Kurt Rambis would be the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers team until the end of the season, this calmed the players who would be unsure if the team changed the main coach several times in a season. The next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team would be again in Los Angeles, with the Lakers team being the team that would play at home this time, it would be again against the Los Angeles Clippers team and the players would not underestimate the opponent in that game. That game would be the debut of Dennis Rodman and coach Kurt Rambis too, Coach Rambis said in his first training that he intended to replace the starting players again to save them for the next games. The Los Angeles Lakers team already had 13 games in the month of February and would have 2 more games before the month ended, so they would have an average of 1 game every 2 days, this month had fewer days and they had the first game on February 5th. So it was natural for players to get tired after so many games and even to risk injury, that''s why Jake was so impressive for being able to play every 48 minutes in every game. After a few hours, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the Great Western Forum, with the Lakers team playing at home the crowd was all around them in this game and that made the players more excited. "Welcome everyone to another game this NBA season, we will once again have the game between the Los Angeles Lakers team and the Los Angeles Clippers team, in yesterday''s game the Lakers team achieved a great victory with a good performance of Jake Smith and Robert Horry. " "So in this game, the Los Angeles Lakers team is the big favorite, especially with this performance of 12 victories in 13 games, this game also has the debut of Dennis Rodman who won 5 NBA title playing in two different teams and hopes to win one more NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers team." "In addition to Rodman''s debut, we also have the debut of coach Kurt Rambis, the Lakers team changed coaches again after the victory in yesterday''s game, now we hope that coach Rambis will stay until the end of the season." The Los Angeles Clippers team would start the game with the same starting players as the previous game, Derek Harper playing as PG, Eddie Jones playing as SG, Rodney Rogers playing as SF, Elden Campbell playing as PF, and Lorenzen Wright playing as Center. The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with only one chance in the starting team, Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. Robert Horry showed that he had recovered from his health problem in the previous game and would start playing, Dennis Rodman would come in to play as a substitute, so Robert could rest for a few minutes and Rodman would make his debut. Shaquille O''Neal won the first possession of the ball for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jake received the ball and advanced to organize the first attack of the game, Jake passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right. Kobe received the ball and tried a feint to outwit Eddie Jones, Jones was not deceived so Kobe passed the ball to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Rodney Rogers arrived to press on defense. Rick managed to trick Rogers with a feint and advanced to the corner of the court on the left side, Rogers still tried to recover and come back to defend, but Rick tried a mid-range shot to make the first 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The Los Angeles Clippers team soon went on the attack and Derek Harper was arranging the play, Harper moved forward and passed the ball to Eddie Jones on the left, Jones received the ball and Kobe came to defend. Jones tried to trick Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not fooled, so Jones passed the ball to Rogers on the right, Rodney managed to get away from Rick and tried a mid-range shot to score 2 points for the Los Angeles Clippers team. In this second game, the attack by the Los Angeles Clippers team was not as strong as in the previous game, but the attack by the Los Angeles Lakers team was fine, in this game Kobe Bryant wanted to play much better even though he had to play for fewer minutes. In the last game, Kobe did not perform well in attack or defense, in this game, he was much better in attack and defense, Robert and Rick were not playing so well in attack because the defense of the Los Angeles Clippers team was defending better against them. In another attacking move Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball and Rogers came to press on defense, Rick held the ball for a while and passed it to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and Harper came to press on defense, Jake made a quick feint and managed to trick Harper and move forward using his agility, Jake advanced into the inside area and the Los Angeles Clippers team''s defense tried to stop him. Jake was quick and passed the ball to Kobe on the right while the defense was paying attention to him, Kobe received the ball and drive to the basket and scored two more points for the Lakers team with a layup. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a good point advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, in that first quarter only Shaquille O''Neal was replaced by more time, so the Lakers team still managed to attack well. In the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to put pressure on the attack, coach Rambis started to replace the players seeing that the Lakers team had the advantage on the scoreboard. So in the second quarter Dennis Rodman made his debut on the Los Angeles Lakers team replacing Robert Horry, everyone knew that Dennis Rodman came to the Los Angeles Lakers team to help defend and also help catch rebounds. Jake knew that too, so he wouldn''t make as many assists for Rodman in the games, in another move the Los Angeles Lakers team went for the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right. Kobe received the ball and Jones came to press on defense, Kobe tried to trick the opponent with a feint, but Jones was not fooled, so Kobe had to pass the ball to Rick from the left. Rick received the ball and Rogers came in to press the defense, Rick held the ball a little and passed it to Jake in the back, Jake received the ball and Derek Harris was pressing in the defense, Jake stepped back and tried the shot from outside to do more three points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Jake learned in his imagination training that against opponents who were good at defense, he had to be quick to try the three-point shot to avoid the block, so he was able to hit the three-point shots in his imagination training against opponents of rank SS and also managed in the NBA. The Los Angeles Clippers team wanted to win that game and had to start putting pressure on the attack too, the players were not doing so well in the game and were missing many attacks, so Coach Rambis decided to put Dennis Rodman in the game. Harper advanced with the ball and passed to Jones on the left, Jones received the ball and Kobe was pressing in defense, Jones tried a feint, but Kobe was not fooled and pressed further in defense. Jones realized this and passed the ball to Rogers on the right, Rogers received the ball and Rick also came pressing on the defense, Rogers tried to use his speed to get rid of the defense, but Rick continued to follow and was firm in defense. So Rogers had to pass the ball to Harper in the back, Harper tried a feint and managed to get away from Jake, so Harper had to try a shot from outside because the time of possession was running out. Harper missed the shot from outside and Dennis Rodman arrived to catch the defensive rebound, with Shaquille O''Neal being replaced only Jake and Kobe could catch the rebounds, and with Rodman coming in it helped the team. The Los Angeles Lakers team continued to play well throughout the game and ended the game with another victory, the Los Angeles Lakers team scored 114 points against 95 points of the Los Angeles Clippers team. In that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 32 points, 15 assists, 7 rebounds, and 9 steals, it was another double-double for Jake and a good game for the Lakers team, Kobe returned to play well even though he was still replaced by a few minutes, and Shaq also played well with the little time he had in the game. "The game is over, the Los Angeles Lakers team managed another victory this season, Dennis Rodman also had a great debut catching 12 rebounds and making 6 assists, everyone knows that the Los Angeles Lakers team wants him to catch the rebounds and he worked hard to do this even while playing for less time in that game." "Kobe Bryant played well in this different from the previous game and helped the Lakers team, Shaq also performed well even playing for less than 25 minutes in that game, and Jake led the team to victory again with a great performance with 32 points and 15 assists." "The Los Angeles Clippers team did not play as well in that game, Eddie Jones still performed well and Rodney Rogers also played well, but they missed a lot in attack and were unable to stop the Lakers'' attack." Chapter 515 - A Different Team 3 "From what I saw in that game, the Los Angeles Lakers team has an even stronger team with the return of Robert Horry and the entrance of Dennis Rodman, with the team even stronger the chance of this team winning the NBA title as well and bigger." "It''s true, we will continue to follow the Lakers team this season and see if they can win the NBA title again after so many years." After the game the reporters asked again to interview some players, they went this time to interview Kobe Bryant and Jake, Kobe didn''t give interviews at all games, but it was Dennis Rodman''s debut so he knew what the questions would be. "Hi Kobe, you performed poorly in the last game against the Los Angeles Clippers team, but in that game, your performance was much better, why do you think it happened?" "In the previous game I had less time playing, it happens in some games of a player to perform poorly, so in this game, I focused more and managed to make a better game." "What did you think of signing Dennis Rodman on the Los Angeles Lakers team this season?" "I think he can help the team a lot this season, we need a player to help more in defense and rebounds, and Dennis is an excellent player and has won some NBA titles and he can certainly help us." After the interview with Kobe, the reporters tried an interview with Jake who was also a difficult player to interview, Jake also knew he had to speak to the reporters at Dennis''s debut. "Jake, what did you think of signing Dennis Rodman on the Los Angeles Lakers team and what did you think of his debut in that game?" "I am a big fan of Dennis, I think he is an excellent player who proved this by winning 5 NBA titles, he is also a great defensive player and the rebounds he picks up can help our team win more games this season. " "With Robert''s recovery and Dennis joining the team, we have a stronger team now that can handle this difficult game sequence." "In this game, Dennis showed that he can help the team a lot by catching the rebounds, with him on the team, I and the other players will have more confidence to make mid-range shots and shots from outside." Jake said what he thought about Dennis, he didn''t talk about his concerns, but that was something he just needed to worry about if it really happened, Jake thought that with the Los Angeles Lakers team beating Dennis he could stay on the team in the playoffs and help team trying to win an NBA title. The fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team were very happy with the team after this great sequence of victories at the beginning of the season, the players were also happy with that and the hope of winning the NBA title at the end of the season only increased. After that game the players returned home to rest, the next day the Lakers team would have no game and the players would just have to do a light training and that would give the players more rest. The coach Kurt Rambis was concerned with this sequence of games without rest for the players, the medical team was also concerned with injuries of the players, after all any simple injury that would take the player for 1 week would leave him out for 4 games. So coach Rambis had to replace players in most games, so coach Rambis was even more satisfied with Jake who could play the full 48 minutes in every game. Of course, the Los Angeles Lakers medical team was running tests on Jake to make sure he could handle this long streak of games by playing 48 minutes in every game, but the doctors said Jake had almost no muscle tension. It was very good for Jake that he could use his training for the marathons as an excuse to say why he had so much resistance, after all the real reason was the system that left his body improved because of the statistics. The next day the players had time to rest before the next game and their training was light, the biggest concern of the medical team was still Robert who had just returned from an injury. The players rested that day and soon the day of the next game came, the next game would be against the Houston Rockets team again, in the first game Jake of this season between these teams Jake was playing as SF. So this game would be different for Jake too, the Houston Rockets team was one of the favorite teams this season, the biggest problem was the advanced age of the main players, but these players were more skilled than most NBA players as well. Jake did not expect this to be a very difficult game, but he would have to try his best to help the Lakers team win another victory, Jake went to the Great Western Forum and saw that the crowd was excited about the game. "Welcome everyone to another game this season in the NBA, in this game we have two teams that are performing well this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team that won 13 games in 14 games this season." "Against the Houston Rockets team that had 8 wins in 13 games this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team is doing better, but it has changed coaches twice and coach Kurt Rambis plays his second game as head coach of the Lakers team." "It''s true, what makes the Los Angeles Lakers team win all these games is the great performance of rookie Jake Smith, Shaquille O''Neal, and Kobe Bryant, these three players have been performing well since the beginning of the season and so the Los Angeles Lakers team has the best attack today." "On the Houston Rockets side, Scottie Pippen has been the highlight of the team with good performances in all games, he helps the team both in attack and defense, Hakeem Olajuwon is also another highlight in this team, even though in some games he did not perform well, he is one of the most important players." "Charles Barkley had an injury this season and will return to play in that game, maybe his absence could be the reason for these losses at the beginning of the season, now let''s see if the Houston Rockets team starts to win more games." Just as commentators said the two teams had problems earlier in the season, in Jake''s past life the two teams had a similar start to the season, so Jake was the one who helped the Lakers team win more games they would have lost. Coach Rambis did not intend to let any main player rest for a long time, but he would still have to replace the players for at least 12 minutes in the game so that they would not get too tired. The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Houston Rockets team would start the game with Brent Price playing as PG, Michael D.i.c.kerson playing as SG, Scottie Pippen playing as SF, Othella Harrington playing as PF, and Hakeem Olajuwon playing as Center. The Los Angeles Lakers team would start with Dennis playing because coach Rambis still worried about Robert playing for a long time after returning from injury, Othella Harrington would start playing for the same reason, but Charles Barkley would still play in that game as a substitute. The game started with Hakeem Olajuwon won the first possession for the Houston Rockets team, Brent Price received the ball and advanced into the attack until he passed the ball to Scottie Pippen on the right. In the first game between these two teams, Jake was playing as SF and managed to defend well against Scottie Pippen and still scored a lot, in that game Rick Fox would suffer to defend against Pippen and still attack. But Jake knew it wouldn''t be like that, what would happen was that Scottie Pippen would defend against Kobe Bryant who was one of the best players in the Los Angeles Lakers team in the attack, Rick would still defend against Pippen and thus Pippen would have more opportunities to make the points. Pippen received the ball and Rick came in to press on defense, Pippen held the ball and moved away from Rick to try a mid-range shot to make the first 2 points for the Houston Rockets team. The advantage that the Houston Rockets team had was that more experienced players like Pippen knew how to make the right moves to score points, so the Houston Rockets team''s attacks were often quick and the opponent didn''t have time to defend. Jake received the ball and went on the attack to start another play, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Scottie Pippen arrived to press on defense just as Jake thought. Rick was playing very well this season, but surely the Houston Rockets coach would send the best player to defend against Kobe who was one of the best players in the Lakers'' attack. Kobe held the ball and did not attempt an individual move and passed the ball to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball and Michael D.i.c.kerson came to press on defense, Rick made a feint and tricked D.i.c.kerson and got space to try the mid-range shot for make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Both teams had a strong attack and started pressing on the attack, the coaches would not try to take away the main players for a long time in this game in which victory was important for both teams. In another move the Houston Rockets team went on the attack, Jake advanced the ball to organize the attack and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and tried another individual move, but this time D.i.c.kerson was not fooled and Rick had to pass the ball to Kobe from the right. Chapter 516 - A Different Team 4 Kobe received the ball and Pippen came pressing on defense, Kobe tried a feint to outwit Pippen, but Pippen was not deceived and Kobe had to pass the ball to Jake who came in the middle. Jake received the ball inside the three-point line and advanced quickly for the attack, Brent Price and the Houston Rockets defense did not wait for this move and Jake managed to advance until Othella Harrington went to try to stop Jake''s advance. Jake continued advancing to the painted area and tried the tear drop even though Harrington tried to block and managed to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, it was a beautiful move that the Lakers fans at the Great Western Forum liked. In fact, Jake hoped that Hakeem Olajuwon would try to stop him from going forward and he would pass the ball to Shaq who would make the points, but as it was Harrington who tried to stop him from going forward, Jake decided to end the play with the points. In another move, the Houston Rockets team was on the attack, Price advanced with the ball and passed it to Pippen on the right, Pippen received the ball and Rick arrived to press on defense, Pippen did not attempt an individual move and passed to Olajuwon later. Olajuwon received the ball and Shaquille O''Neal arrived to press on defense, Olajuwon managed to make a spin and tried the layup to make 2 more points for the Houston Rockets team, in the dispute between Olajuwon and O''Neal the two could not defend well opponent and for that the two made many points. The two teams attacked a lot in the first quarter, but it was the Los Angeles Lakers that ended the quarter winning, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, it was a good start to his game and that of the Lakers team. "The first quarter ends, the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning as expected, but it was a balanced game in which the Houston Rockets team is also strong in attack." "Kobe is having a hard time making plays with Scottie''s strong defense, yet Kobe still made a good first quarter and Scottie also did well in attack." "Jake got off to a good start in that game by making some infiltrations and good plays which is confusing the Houston Rockets team defense." In the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers continued to press in the attack, the Houston Rockets also continued to press in the attack and the game was very balanced between the two teams. In another move the Houston Rockets team was on the attack, Price advanced with the ball and passed to Pippen on the right, Pippen received the ball and Rick arrived to press on defense, Pippen made a feint and managed to trick Rick and go to the painted area. Pippen came forward and Rodman arrived to try to stop him from going forward, so Pippen passed the ball to Othella Harrington who was free in the painted area, Harrington went to make the layup, but Shaq was waiting for it and made the block. Shaq made the block and D.i.c.kerson managed to catch the ball soon after and tried the mid-range shot and ended up missing with Kobe pressing in defense, Rodman got the rebound and the Lakers team managed to stop the Houston Rockets attack. The two teams continued to put pressure on the attack, in this game the Houston Rockets team coach was replacing the players to let Olajuwon rest and to put Charles Barkley to play, so the Lakers team had a bigger advantage. Coach Rambis also made substitutions, but he only took the main players for a few minutes and put Dennis Rodman on the team, which only helped the Lakers team to get more rebounds and have a good defense. Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and D.i.c.kerson arrived pressing on the defense, Rick held the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and managed to deceive Pippen with a feint and advanced to the area painted. Pippen still tried to defend against Kobe, but Kobe was faster and advanced to make 2 more points with a layup for the Los Angeles Lakers team, even with difficulty Kobe still managed to make the plays with Pippen pressing in defense. The game continued with the Los Angeles Lakers team with the advantage on the scoreboard, until the third quarter the Houston Rockets team still managed to keep the game balanced even with the Lakers team winning the game. But in the last quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team started to dominate the game and the Houston Rockets team seemed to have given up on winning the game, so the Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 118 points against Houston Rockets'' 86 points. In that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 32 points, 13 assists, 7 rebounds, and 8 steals, Jake managed another double-double in that game and helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to win another victory. "Another game ends this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team get another victory and won against the strong Houston Rockets team." "The Houston Rockets team managed to keep the game balanced until the last quarter when the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to guarantee victory with a big point advantage." "That''s right, the Houston Rockets team managed to maintain a balanced game, but with Charles Barkley still not being able to play many minutes and the Houston Rockets coach also replaced Hakeem Olajuwon and that made it more difficult for the Houston Rockets team to win." "In that game, Jake played very well again and led the team to victory, Kobe performed well, but it seems that with strong pressure on the defense that Scottie Pippen made Kobe did not play as well as he could have played." "Shaq played well in that game and was replaced for a few minutes in that game and Rick played very well again with 25 points and hitting all three-point shots he tried in the game." Another game ended and the players were able to return home tired, this was the last game in February and the season of the Los Angeles Lakers team could not have been better, Robert Horry''s illness and the change of coaches was not a good thing, but the team''s performance was great. With the end of February, which was the first month of this NBA season, sports media journalists were talking in more detail about Jake''s NBA debut, especially since he was chosen as the rookie of the month and player of the month of February in the 1998-99 NBA season. Jake was expected to be chosen as February''s rookie of the month, but many did not expect him to be chosen as February''s player of the month either, but that was normal because Jake made the top 20 in the NBA in 4 different statistics. Jake was the player with the most points this season with an average of 33.4 points per game, in one of the players with the most assists with an average of 11.6 assists per game, and he was also one of the players that most steals with an average of 7.5 per game. In addition, Jake was also good at catching rebounds and certainly had the highest average of minutes played per game, with these excellent averages it was only natural that Jake was chosen as the player of the month. With almost a third of the games of this season has already taken place, Jake could already be considered one of the best players in the NBA, after all with an average of these points and assists playing in 15 games it was difficult to be just coincidence and showed the quality of Jake. Certainly, the 5 triple-double that Jake had and the 6 double-doubles also helped Jake to be the player of the month, many good players took years to make 5 triple-double, and Jake managed in less than 10 games in his debut season. The very next day the players had to travel to Phoenix, Arizona which was where they would play the next game, even though the month of February had ended and the month of March had started, the teams still had many games in a row to do. The players traveled to Phoenix and had a few hours of rest at the hotel before having to go to the America West Arena where the next game would take place, the opponent for that next game was the Phoenix Suns team. Earlier Jake received congratulations from his teammates, Shaq, Kobe, Rick, Dennis, Robert, and the other players spoke to him and they were also happy that Jake was chosen as the player of the month and rookie of the month. Jake can see that at the America West Arena, the Phoenix Suns fans came to cheer for the team and watch a great game, the Los Angeles Lakers team was the visiting team and would have some disadvantage in that game. The Phoenix Suns team had a good team that had a good attack and a good defense, it was a well-balanced team that brought difficulties to the opponents, but this season they won only 7 games and lost 6 games of the 13 games that they had this season. This was not a good thing for the Phoenix Suns team, the Phoenix Suns team did not expect to win the NBA title and if they managed to make it to the playoffs they would already be satisfied, of course in this game they would try to get the victory for playing in home. Jake was also excited about this game because he would face one of his great NBA idols, in the Phoenix Suns team he had the great PG Jason Kidd, Jason Kidd was an excellent PG who attacked very well and also defended very well. He was the second-best in NBA history in assists and steals, and Jason Kidd was also ninth in 3-point field goals made, it showed how Kidd was an excellent player, in addition, he was always known for being an excellent leader of the team on the court. Of course, in the current Phoenix Suns team, he didn''t have many opportunities to win the games and the NBA title, even so, Jake respected him a lot and would try his best to win that game. Chapter 517 - A Different Team 5 The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the locker room and after some time they went to the court to prepare for the start of the game, the players of the Phoenix Suns team already looked at Jake in a different way after he was chosen as player of the month. "Welcome everyone who came to watch one more game this NBA season, today''s game is between the Phoenix Suns team that plays at home and the Los Angeles Lakers team." "The Phoenix Suns team had a bad start to the season winning 7 games and losing 6 games, in most games the players of the Phoenix Suns played well, what it seems is that the Phoenix Suns team needs some great players to have a team winner." "The highlight of the Phoenix Suns team is Jason Kidd who is one of the best PG in the NBA today, Jason Kidd has been playing good games with a lot of assists at the beginning of the season, Tom Gugliotta is also another good player on this team." "The Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win this game with a season with 14 wins and only 1 loss in 15 games, the Los Angeles Lakers team has a team with excellent players and has a chance of winning the NBA title this season." "There''s all-star Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, Dennis Rodman who joined the team recently and Jake Smith who was chosen as the player of the month and rookie of the month." "Certainly, the Los Angeles Lakers team is the favorite to win this game, and Jake being chosen as the player of the month was well deserved and a correct decision for the great performance he had at the beginning of the season." "We will see in this game two great PG playing in different teams, Jason Kidd who is one of the best PG in the NBA and has the experience, and Jake Smith who is a rookie who has made one of the best seasons starts in NBA history." The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Phoenix Suns team would start this game with Jason Kidd playing as PG, Rex Chapman playing as SG, George McCloud playing as SF, Tom Gugliotta playing as PF, and Luc Longley playing as Center. As commentators said, the Los Angeles Lakers team was a favorite to win that game, but that could change because coach Kurt Rambis intended to replace the top players for a long time so they could rest. The game started and Shaquille O''Neal won the first ball for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake received the ball and went on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Rick Fox on the left. Rick received the ball and George McCloud arrived to press on defense, Rick held the ball for a while and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Rex Chapman arrived pressing on defense. Kobe tried to make a feint, but Chapman was not fooled, so Kobe passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Jason Kidd came in to press on the defense, Jake made a feint and step back and tried an outside shot to make 3 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Kidd did not expect Jake to attempt a three-point shot early in the game and was not prepared to defend, Kidd received the ball and began to organize the attack for the Phoenix Suns team, Kidd advanced with the ball and passed to Chapman through the left. Chapman received the ball and Kobe came to press on defense, Chapman held the ball and passed it to McCloud on the right, McCloud received the ball and Rick arrived to press on defense. McCloud tried a feint, but Rick was not deceived, so he decided to pass the ball to Luc Longley later on, Longley received the ball and Shaquille O''Neal came pressing on the defense, Longley tried to advance using his strength, but Shaq pushed Longley away close to the painted area. Longley made a spin away from Shaq and tried a hook shot to score 2 points for the Phoenix Suns team, at the beginning of the game the two teams were balanced, Kobe was not playing well in that game and the Phoenix Suns team defense did not let the Lakers team attack make many points. In another play Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Chapman arrived to press in defense, Kobe did not attempt an individual play and passed to Rick on the left. Rick received the ball and McCloud came pressing on the defense, Rick managed to trick McCloud with a feint and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Rick was playing very well in the last games and was helping the team Lakers winning games. Coach Rambis started to replace players for a few minutes since the first quarter, this would leave the Phoenix Suns team with more opportunity to try to win the game, in another move Kidd started to organize another attack for the Phoenix Suns team. Jake was having an easy time defending against Kidd because Kidd was not a player who scored many points in games, but it was difficult for Jake to get the steals by intercepting Kidd''s passes who, knowing Jake''s skill, were more careful. Kidd advanced with the ball and passed to McCloud on the right, McCloud received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, McCloud decided not to try the individual play and passed to Chapman on the left. Chapman received the ball and Derek Fisher arrived on defense, Kobe had been replaced and in the last games, the coaches started to put Fisher playing as SG when Kobe had to be replaced. Chapman passed the ball to Tom Gugliotta later on, Gugliotta received the ball and Robert Horry came up to press the defense, Gugliotta managed to spin and advance to make 2 more points with a layup for the Phoenix Suns team. With the substitutions of coach Rambis and Kobe not playing very well in that game, the Los Angeles Lakers team still managed to finish the first quarter by winning, Jake played for 12 minutes and had 11 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal. "The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to finish that quarter by winning with a small lead on the scoreboard, the Phoenix Suns team performed well, but only Jason Kidd, Luc Longley, and Tom Gugliotta played better." "Jake was again the best player on the Los Angeles Lakers team, Kobe was not playing well in that game and was replaced for a few minutes by coach Rambis, Rick is playing well in that game and Shaq is also performing well when he was on the court." "Jake is playing very well even with Jason Kidd defending against him, and Kidd is also managing to perform well with Jake defending, the two have not tried many infiltration moves, so we don''t know how it will be in the rest of the game." Just as the commentators said Jake and Kidd were playing very well, they respected each other a lot and didn''t try to infiltrate plays, yet both were playing very well in that game. In the second quarter the Phoenix Suns team started to put more pressure on defense and attack because they saw that they could have a chance to win the game, Kidd advanced with the ball and passed to Chapman on the left. Chapman received the ball and Kobe came in pressing on defense, Chapman passed the ball to McCloud from the right, McCloud received the ball and Rick came in pressing in defense, McCloud tried an individual play, but Rick continued to press in defense. So Chapman passed the ball to Kidd further back, Kidd received the ball and took advantage that Jake was not so close and tried the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Phoenix Suns team, Kidd did not try many mid-range shots, but when he tried it was because he thought he had a chance to get it right. In another move the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack and Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and tried a feint and managed to trick Chapman, Kobe tried the mid-range shot and ended up missing. Rodman managed to catch the rebound and passed the ball to Shaq, Shaq received the ball and scored 2 more points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Rodman was playing his best game for the Lakers team since his debut. The game continued with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning and with a good lead on the scoreboard even with the substitutions of coach Rambis and Kobe not playing very well, Jake was the highlight of the Lakers team and it was the game in which he scored the most points. At the end of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team ended up winning 119 points against 86 points for the Phoenix Suns team, Jake played in that game for 48 minutes and had 46 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. In this game, because Jason Kidd, Jake was unable to make many steals, and because his teammates were not playing very well he only managed 9 assists in that game. So even though this was the game where Jake scored the most points he was not happy with his performance, Jake broke the record that was his own this season of hitting 12 shots from three points in one game. "The game is over, another Los Angeles Lakers team win with Jake Smith making the most points of him this season and in the NBA, Jake scored 46 points and broke his own record of more shots of 3 points hit in one game." "Jake hit 14 3-point shots and made 42 points in that game with just three-point shots, and he only tried 19 3-point shots in that game, so in Jake Smith''s first game against Jason Kidd, Jake managed to score more points." "In that game, we also saw Jake making fewer assists and less steals too, with coach Rambis replacements the main players were replaced, Kobe Bryant did not play well and played for only 25 minutes in that game." Chapter 518 - A Different Team 6 "Shaquille O''Neal played for only 34 minutes and performed well in that game, so the highlights of the Lakers team were Jake, Shaq, and Rick Fox again who performed well in that game." "Dennis Rodman also managed to stand out in this game with 16 rebounds which helped the Lakers team to get such a big advantage in points, Dennis has been performing well in the last games showing that he can help the Lakers team to get more wins." "The Phoenix Suns team started the game well, but then they could no longer handle the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack, the highlights being Jason Kidd who had 12 points and 11 assists, and Tom Gugliotta who had 20 points." The game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team achieving another victory, the players were very tired after the game and still had to travel back to Los Angeles where the next game would take place. Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant were not happy to be replaced in the last games and to have less playing time, but they understood that this was to prevent them from having injuries, Kobe was even more upset with the poor performance he had in the last game. They were even more upset seeing how Jake played each game better and always played the 48 minutes if Jake was just a PG they would understand that he could get tired less, but Jake scored a lot, a lot of assists, and still got rebounds and steals us games. So Jake got tired even more than they did in the games and was able to play 48 minutes every game, for sure if they could play 48 minutes every game they could score more points in the games. Fortunately, they would have a day of rest before having to play the next game, this reduced season with fewer games was tiring the players a lot more than the normal season they had in other years. The players arrived in Los Angeles and were able to go to their home to rest until the next day, Jake was also happy that he would have a day to rest, but the next day when he woke up very early he got a call from David Falk. "Hi, Jake, congratulations on the victories of your team and also for the excellent performance you had this season, making an average of 33 points and 11 assists per game is really incredible, and you were still chosen as the player of the month and rookie of the month." "I confess I didn''t expect you to be able to do that in your NBA debut season, especially when you said you wanted to play on the Los Angeles Lakers team, I thought that if you played on a team that wasn''t that good you would be the team star and could score more points and perform better." "Thanks for the compliments, Davis, I know that you are used to working with excellent players, after working with Michael Jordan you will not be surprised by any player." "I have to thank you too for getting me to play on the Los Angeles Lakers team and getting the great sponsors I have." "Hahaha, you deserved it, but let''s stop compliments, I called you because I wanted to know if you are not tired or busy today?" "No, I''m fine after sleeping well, what do you want?" "With the success, you are having in your debut season in the NBA, Adidas called me saying that they wanted to anticipate the launch and sales of the products that you will represent for them." "The project for both sneakers was already ready and they even started producing, they wanted to wait until the end of this season, but as you are playing so well they want to take advantage of your popularity to start selling the sneakers." "I have to say that they created two beautiful sneakers for you, you will be proud of your first brand as an NBA player and as a runner too." Jake did not expect the two sneakers to be ready anytime soon, of course, this was possible since he had already agreed on this contract for almost 1 year and had already signed the contract for more than 6 months. Jake recalled that Adidas representative Mike Morris said he had a lot more fans in Europe and Asia than in the United States, Adidas was a very strong brand in Europe and they could sell a lot of sneakers there. Jake naturally agreed to go to record the commercials for Adidas, after all, they had paid 52 million dollars for 5 years of contract and 1 year of the contract was almost lost because of NBA lockout. After a few hours Jake arrived at the advertising studio where the commercials would be recorded, it was several times bigger than the commercials Jake had recorded in Miami, of course, Adidas would not save on advertising if it had paid a 52 million contract. dollars with Jake. Jake arrived at the advertising studio and saw David and Mike talking to the director of the commercial that he was going to record and other people at the advertising company, as it was a commercial for Adidas Jake couldn''t say how he thought the commercial could be better. What Jake did as soon as he arrived at the filming location was where some Adidas sneakers were, he knew that some of those sneakers must be the brand that would be his, so Jake can see the two sneakers he would represent. The two sneakers had similar colors but were clearly different, the running shoes looked more comfortable and were black in color with some blue and purple details, the blue and purple details were metallic and stood out a lot. On the shoe, it said JKS Velocity 1 and it had the Adidas brand too, Jake had really liked the shoe and used it quickly and I find it comfortable, it was a shoe that he could use for his marathons, it looked like he had the best technology for tennis race that Adidas had developed. The other shoe was also black and had some blue and purple details, but the details were different from running shoes and also had no metallic color, moreover, it was similar to other Adidas basketball shoes. This other shoe called JKS 1 and had the Adidas brand, it seemed that Adidas already intended to make other shoes for Jake in the coming years, Jake had no way of knowing if the shoe would sell well because it would depend on the fame he had in the NBA. But he liked the two sneakers and wanted many so he could use them in his training, while Jake was looking at his brand shoes David and Mark had already finished talking and went to where he was. "I saw that you liked the shoes that our company made for you, Jake, everyone at the company went to great lengths to make this design and to get the shoes ready more quickly to be launched in the coming months." "I really liked the sneakers, I liked the colors and found them comfortable too, even if I had given my opinion I couldn''t suggest anything better." "Glad you liked it, we are sure that your fans will also like the two shoes, the ideal is that basketball fans also wanted to buy running shoes, that would be the best for the company." "We will talk about this later, Jake, you will have to record for a few hours here, we want to take this day to create at least 3 commercials, the 3 of which will be the same commercial that tells the same story told in three parts." Jake asked what would be the story of the commercials and Mike explained to him, in the commercial Jake would be in a block of a community center, he would be in the stands, and inside the court, some young people who were more popular were winning all the games. In the commercial there would be some women in the stands who were more interested in Jake who was in the stands than in the young people who were winning the games, so the young people in the stands who would be jealous would challenge Jake who was in the stands to impress women. Jake who was challenged would accept playing a game with the youth on the court, so he gets up and the youth on the court realizes that Jake is taller than he looked while sitting, only one of the players on the court was taller than him. Jake found it interesting and they went to the place where the commercial recordings would be made, it would not be at the advertising company, it would be elsewhere when Jake arrived everything was prepared for the commercial recording and the actors were prepared as well. The recordings started and everything was done as Mike said it would be, Jake had to record the first scenes a few times because the actors hired them to miss their lines when Jake was challenged by the young people who were on the court, he opened the sports bag he had at his side and his new JKS 1 sneaker was shown on camera. Jake put on his tennis shoes for the first time and the recording continued with Jake entering the court, the young men realized that Jake might know how to play basketball, so they chose the two best players in the group and challenged Jake to a one-on-one. In the history of the commercial the best player challenged Jake first for the one-on-one, Jake did what he knew and naturally, he easily won the actor in the recording, even though the author was also a skilled basketball player to bring more realism for the commercial, Jake was an NBA player so he naturally won easily. The youth on the court was annoyed that they lost and realized that Jake was much more skilled than they were, so they started challenging Jake to challenges that could be unfair to Jake. The first challenge was the one-on-one game that Jake won, the second challenge was that Jake could only try the three-point shots when he was on the attack and the youngest man who was the tallest could do the shots just inside the line three points, so Jake would naturally be at a disadvantage. Chapter 519 - A Different Team 7 Jake accepted this challenge and he hit all three-point shots and when the tallest opponent attacked Jake got some steals and some blocks and also won the second challenge, so the young people realized they couldn''t beat Jake in basketball. Then one of the young men challenged Jake to a 10,000-meter long-distance run, the others understood that they couldn''t win in basketball and even forgot that they wanted to win the attention of women in the stands, now they just wanted to defeat Jake. Jake accepted this third challenge and took his sports bag and put on his running shoe that was the JKS Velocity 1, so the young people realized before the race that they were going to lose, and the commercial ended. Recording the commercial took a few hours because the other actors made a lot of mistakes, Jake made no mistake and the directors knew that Jake was an actor too, yet they were impressed by his talent. This commercial would be divided into three smaller commercials after the edition, the first commercial was with Jake winning the first challenge, the other commercial was with Jake winning the second challenge was with the young people giving up on challenging Jake in basketball and challenging him to the running of long-distance and with them realizing that they could not win. Jake thought the commercial was very simple, but it was interesting for someone to see, Jake remembered that the Adidas commercials at that time were that simple and they just wanted to get the public''s attention and show off the sneakers they were selling. Then Jake had to go back to the advertising company to take some more pictures that would be used as advertising by the company, Jake had never done such a big advertising campaign and he didn''t know it took that long. Mark seemed to understand what Jake thought and said that this recording for the commercial would only last a few hours because the company knew that basketball players were very busy and had a few days off to do the recording. That''s because sometimes some commercials they did could last a few days or even a few weeks, Jake returned to his house when it was dark, and David told Jake that maybe in the next few weeks the other companies he endorsed could ask him to record a commercial too. After all, the other companies also wanted to take advantage of this high popularity that Jake currently had in the NBA, Jake was happy because he knew that this recording of this commercial would also be good for increasing his fame in the world of sports. NBA fans knew that the biggest stars normally had big NBA sponsorship deals, if Adidas managed to finish this commercial quickly and start selling the sneakers, it could coincide and even help the popularity of the movie The Matrix that Jake would participate in. Jake asked Wachowski directors that he did not need to participate in talk shows to talk about the film, Jake thought it best that only the main actors worked to promote the film. Certainly just because he participated in the film, NBA fans and especially fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team might want to watch the film he participated in, Jake was sure of the success of the film because the film had become similar to what he remembered in the past and just his character who was different in the film. Now Jake already knew that he should expect several things in the coming weeks and the premiere of his film at the end of the month, the next day Jake woke up very early to prepare for the game that the Los Angeles Lakers team would have that day. It was the second game in a row that the Los Angeles Lakers team would have against the Phoenix Suns team, in the last game the Phoenix Suns team played at home and in that game it would be in Los Angeles, so again the sports media expected the Los Angeles Lakers team to have the advantage. When the game time was coming Jake arrived at the Great Western Forum which was packed again, he was one of the first to arrive and knew he had missed the training the team had the previous day to go and record the commercials. Of course, Jake asked Coach Kurt Rambis first, but Jake didn''t like to miss training, Coach Rambis and the other players didn''t care because Jake played 48 minutes in every game and was being the team''s main player in the last few games. After a few minutes, the two teams were ready for the game to begin. The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Phoenix Suns team would start this game with Jason Kidd playing as PG, Rex Chapman playing as SG, George McCloud playing as SF, Tom Gugliotta playing as PF, and Luc Longley playing as Center. They were the same players from the last game, the Phoenix Suns team started pressing in the attack and they were also pressing in defense, it seemed that they wanted the victory in that game even though the Los Angeles Lakers team was playing at home. Because of that, the Phoenix Suns team ended the first quarter with a small advantage on the scoreboard, but in the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team started to press much more in the attack and managed to reverse the score and finish the second quarter by winning. In that game, Coach Rambis did not replace Kobe Bryant and did not replace Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe played very well in that game and with that, the Phoenix Suns team could not handle the attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team. In the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to put pressure on the attack and further increased the lead on the scoreboard, and the game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with 114 points against 91 points for the Phoenix Suns team. Jake played for 48 minutes in that game and had 28 points, 15 assists, 8 rebounds, and 11 steals, Jake managed to make another triple-double in that game and played a really good game even though he didn''t score more than 28 points in that game. In this game, Kobe Bryant also stood out a lot and played his best game this season, Kobe had 32 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds, this was the game where Kobe scored the most points, Shaq also made another excellent game with 27 points and 9 rebounds. Dennis Rodman had another excellent game and managed to get 17 rebounds, this was the game in which Dennis got the most rebounds and in the last game he had already managed to get 16 rebounds, Dennis was showing that it could be important for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win more games. After that victory, the Los Angeles Lakers team had managed to win 16 games in 17 games that happened in the season, this season was being really excellent for the Los Angeles Lakers team and the fans and the sports media talked more and more about how the Lakers team was favorite to win the NBA title. The next day the Los Angeles Lakers team would not play and the players could have another day to rest, the team would only have a light training as it always did and the players did not care. Los Angeles Lakers team fans were happy with the team''s victories before they were worried about these coach changes that the Lakers team had, but coach Kurt Rambis seemed to be doing very well and since he started coaching the Los Angeles team Lakers didn''t lose any games. Of course, the fans of the Lakers team knew that the greatest merit was of the players who continued to play well throughout the season, but as long as the team continued to win, they did not care who the team coach was. The other day the players did just a light training and were able to rest even more before the next game, the day of the game came and it would be again in Los Angeles that made the players even happier. Jake went to the Great Western Forum again and saw that the Los Angeles Lakers fans had come to support the Lakers team again with many fans, Jake entered the locker room and in a short time, the players were out on the court ready for the game to begin. The opponent in that game was the Seattle SuperSonics team again, the last game this season between these teams was well balanced and the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to win with a good performance by Jake, Shaq, and Kobe. This was a highly anticipated game by the sports media because of the dispute between Jake Smith and Gary Payton, in the last game the two achieved good performance and Jake got some steals in the game, but the two respected each other and managed to play well. In this game, the dispute was again awaited because this time Jake had been chosen as player of the month and was not just a rookie, the sports media even said that Jake could be chosen as MVP of this season. This could encourage Gary Payton to try to defend even more against Jake so that fans could see an intense dispute between the two players, of course, the most likely was that something like that would not happen. "Welcome everyone who came to watch one more game this NBA season, today''s game is between the Los Angeles Lakers team against the Seattle SuperSonics team." "The Seattle SuperSonics team has 9 wins and 5 losses this season and is one of the best teams this season, with Gary Payton and Van Baker this team has been performing well in most games." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has 16 victories and only 1 loss this season, one of the best starts of the season in the history of the Lakers team, with Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant and rookie Jake Smith the Lakers team is having an excellent performance this season." "Shaq and Kobe are playing well this season again, but Jake is a big surprise for everyone in the NBA, now he is one of the players who can win the MVP this season." Chapter 520 - A Different Team 8 "Yes, it''s important to say that Jake had averages similar to these in the two seasons he played on the Tar Heels team at the university and was twice an MVP at the university before entering the NBA." "It shows that he played well for two seasons at the university before entering the NBA, with that regularity Jake shows that he will continue with this great performance throughout this season." The commentators didn''t even talk about the dispute between Jake and Gary because everyone thought the Los Angeles Lakers team would win that game, Gary Payton was certainly an excellent player, but the Seattle SuperSonics team didn''t have a very good team and the Lakers team had the best players. The Los Angeles Lakers team would start that game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Seattle SuperSonics team would start this game with Gary Payton playing with PG, Dale Ellis playing as SG, Detlef Schrempf playing as SF, Vin Baker playing as PF, and Olden Polynice playing as Center. Robert Horry was not going to play in that game because the doctors thought it was better for him to rest and stay a game without playing so that his illness wouldn''t come back, with Dennis Rodman playing longer in the games that were possible. The game started and Shaquille O''Neal won the first possession of the ball for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Dale Ellis came in to press the defense. Kobe held the ball and passed it to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Detlef Schrempf arrived pressing on the defense, Rick held the ball and passed it to Jake further on, Jake received the ball and Gary Payton arrived to defend. Jake held the ball and passed it to Shaquille O''Neal further down the left, Shaq received the ball and Olden Polynice came in pressing on defense, Shaq managed to spin and scored 2 points with a layup for the Los Angeles Lakers team. In another move the Seattle SuperSonics team was on the attack, Gary Payton advanced with the ball and passed it to Ellis on the left, Ellis received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense. Ellis held the ball and passed it to Vin Baker further on, Baker received the ball and Travis Knight came in pressing on the defense, Baker managed to advance to the painted area using his strength and tried the hook shot and made 2 points for the Seattle SuperSonics team. Both teams started the game by pushing forward and trying to defend too, even though the Los Angeles Lakers team had the strongest attack the game was balanced and the Seattle SuperSonics team players were playing well in the attack as well. In another move, the Los Angeles Lakers team was in the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball and Schrempf arrived pressing in defense, Rick held the ball a little and passed it to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and quickly passed it to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and made a feint that tricked Ellis and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. In another move, the Seattle SuperSonics team was on the attack, Payton advanced with the ball and passed it to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Rick came pressing on the defense, Schrempf tried to make a feint, but was unable to deceive Rick. So Schrempf decided to pass the ball to Payton further back, Payton received the ball and Jake arrived to defend, Payton stepped back and tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Seattle SuperSonics team. In that first quarter, Jake realized that Gary Payton was trying to attack a few more times, in that quarter Payton tried some three-point shots and Jake just tried to hinder the shot from outside Payton. Kobe Bryant was well on the attack and Shaquille O''Neal was also playing well, so Jake was attacking as he did in other games just trying to defend well, at the end of the first quarter the Lakers team was winning, and Gary Payton approached Jake to say something to him. "In this game, I will show that you are not the only PG who can score more than 30 points in a game and still do assists." Jake was really surprised to see Payton saying this to him, in the first game they didn''t even talk during the game and the two respected each other, it seemed that it was true that Payton got more excited in this game now that Jake had been chosen as the player of the month. Jake was not bothered by what Payton said and would continue to play the same way he had thought before, in this game where Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal were playing well he wanted to take the opportunity to make more assists. But Jake could do a lot more defense and try to do some steals and some blocks to show the strength of his defense, Jake knew how to play 48 minutes in every game was tiring, so he just tried to do the steals and press the defense, but I didn''t try to press too hard or make blocks. Because if Jake tried to put a lot of pressure on the defense and make several blocks he might not be able to play for 48 minutes, so he also didn''t try his best in attack and preferred to make assists when he could. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning and getting a small point advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal. "The first quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game so far with a small point advantage, the game was much more balanced than I thought and the Seattle SuperSonics players are playing very well." "Yes, Gary Payton is playing really well in this game, it looks like he''s really more excited to play against Jake after he was chosen as the player of the month, he''s not putting much pressure on defending against Jake, but Payton is attacking very well and he''s even hitting some three-point shots." "On the side of the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake is playing as well as ever, Kobe Bryant is also playing well and Shaquille O''Neal is playing very well, with the strength of the Lakers team''s attack they are winning the game." "Let''s see if the Seattle SuperSonics team can beat the Los Angeles Lakers team that lost just one game this season." The second quarter started with the two teams pressing in the attack, in another play the Seattle SuperSonics team was in the attack, Payton advanced with the ball and passed to Schrempf on the right. Schrempf received the ball and Rick arrived pressing in defense, Schrempf held the ball a little and passed it to Ellis on the left, Ellis received the ball and Kobe arrived pressing in defense. Ellis tried a feint and managed to outwit Kobe, so Ellis did a quick crossover and got space to try a mid-range shot and make 2 more points for the Seattle SuperSonics team, Ellis was also playing well in that game and Kobe was not defending well against him. In this game coach, Rambis decided that he would not replace the main players, after all, he knew that this could be a difficult game and did not want to risk losing, in addition, the players did not get tired much in the last days having a day to rest between games. The Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack and Jake was organizing the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and tried a feint to deceive Ellis, but Ellis was not deceived. Kobe held the ball and passed it to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and made a feint and then stepped back and attempted a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Payton was tricked by Jake''s feint and failed to do anything in this play. In another move the Seattle SuperSonics team was on the attack, the second quarter had started a few minutes ago and Payton realized that Jake continued to play normally and was no longer pressing on defense or trying to attack anymore. Payton spoke to Jake to see if it made him more agitated and so he could try to attack more often so that he could defend better against Jake, but Jake looked like he didn''t care what he said. Payton advanced the ball and passed it to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Rick arrived to defend, Schrempf held the ball for a while and passed it to Ellis on the left, Ellis received the ball and then passed it to Payton further back. Payton received the ball and tried to deceive Jake with a feint, Jake was not deceived and started to put more pressure on the defense, Payton saw that he was unable to deceive Jake and tried to make a quick crossover and advance from the left. Jake managed to react quickly and continued to press on defense without letting Payton advance, with Jake doing this Payton realized that Jake was defending differently from the first quarter, it looked like Jake would not let him make the points easily. Payton tried another feint and did a step back, Jake realized that Payton would try to do that and was faster and managed to do the steals and catch Payton''s ball, Jake held the ball and passed it to Kobe on the right. Payton was surprised because even he didn''t realize he had left an opening for Jake to do the steal, Payton knew that Jake was good at stealing, but he thought Jake was better at just intercepting passes. After that move Payton became more careful in making the attack moves, his attacks continued, but Jake pressed on defense in every attack he tried to make, because of that Payton felt he was missing more attacks. Payton wanted to press on defense as well and prevent Jake from attacking many times, but Jake didn''t attack often and when he attacked he couldn''t react quickly enough to disrupt the three-point shots and mid-range shots that Jake tried. Chapter 521 - The Season Continues 1 The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with an even greater advantage in points, in that second quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals. "The second quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team continues to win the game, in that quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack was stronger and the Seattle SuperSonics team''s defense failed to stop them." "Jake played very well in defense in that second quarter making some steals at Payton in more difficult plays and also pressing in defense, in attack Jake played well as he has done in recent games." "Payton was not able to attack very well because Jake was very well in defense, but in the third quarter he will have to attack more if he wants the Seattle SuperSonics team to win." "Jake and Shaq also played very well in that second quarter, and Dennis Rodman is not playing as well as he has in the last few games, but he did get some rebounds." In this game the Los Angeles Lakers team was playing very well, with coach Rambis not making many substitutions Kobe and Shaq managed to play well in that game, even though Robert wasn''t playing Travis managed to make a good game, even though he couldn''t defend against Vin Baker. In that second quarter, Jake started to press more on defense and try to steals after Payton spoke to him, but in the second quarter, Payton attacked less after seeing that Jake was pressing on defense. Just as commentators said in the third quarter, the Seattle SuperSonics team had to push harder in the attack if they wanted to win, so Payton would also have to attack more, and Jake was prepared for that. In a move the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Ellis arrived pressing on the defense, Kobe held the ball and decided to pass to Rick on the left. Rick received the ball and held it for a while and passed it back to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Payton came in and pressed the defense, Jake held the ball a little and made a high pass to Shaq who took the ball high and made it the dunk to complete the alley-oop and make 2 more points for the Lakers team. The crowd was excited by the good move of Jake and Shaq after the two played together for several games, they understood each other better and could make more moves like this without the opponent noticing. In this third quarter, the Seattle SuperSonics team was really trying to attack more, Payton also tried some attacks, but he no longer tried the individual play and tried more mid-range shots and three-point shots. Jake had more difficulty defending against Payton with him making those mid-range shots and three-point shots, in another move the Seattle SuperSonics team was on the attack, Payton advanced with the ball and passed it to Ellis. In this game Gary Payton, Dale Ellis, and Vin Baker were playing very well and were helping the Seattle SuperSonics team to keep their chances of winning the game, Ellis received the ball and Kobe came up to press the defense. Ellis tried to deceive Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not deceived, so Ellis passed the ball to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Rick came in to press the defense, Schrempf decided to pass the ball to Payton further back. Payton received the ball and Jake arrived at the defense, Payton realized in this game that Jake was really good playing defense and that was why he was taking advantage in this game in which he was hitting a lot of mid-range shots and shots from outside so as not to try to challenge Jake in the plays. Payton tried a feint and did a step back as he did in several plays, so Payton tried a shot from outside, but this time Jake was prepared and he was quick and jump together to make the block and reject the attack and Payton. Kobe took the ball after Jake''s block and passed the ball to Jake again, Jake received the ball and moved quickly for the attack, Payton did not expect Jake to try to make the block and he had to go back to the defense when he saw Jake attacking. Jake was very fast and Payton couldn''t keep up, but Payton was further back in defense when Jake started the attack and so he still tried to hinder Jake to wait for the other defensive players to arrive. Jake got close to the three-point line and realized that Payton was doing this, so Jake took advantage of his agility to do a quick crossover to trick Payton, Jake managed to trick Payton, but Payton was quick to react and didn''t let Jake pass him. So Jake decided to play his signature play and did the Ghost move dribble, Payton could no longer see where the ball was and could not understand what had happened, Jake pass by him and Payton cannot stop Jake without making a foul. When Jake hit the ball on the court again he had already passed Payton and scored 2 more points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Payton understood that Jake had managed to trick him with the last few moves, but he did not know how. In the third quarter Jake continued to press on defense and Payton continued to attack without much to do, so at the end of the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning with an even greater advantage in points. In the last quarter, the game continued in the same way with Payton and the other players of the Seattle SuperSonics team still trying to win, luckily for the Los Angeles Lakers team with Kobe and Shaq playing very well, Jake had an easier time playing even with Payton pushing hard on defense. So the game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning 116 points against 86 points of the Seattle SuperSonics team, in that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 34 points, 14 assists, 8 rebounds, 11 steals, and 3 blocks. Jake managed to make another triple-double in that game and felt much more tired after doing that, with his current resistance, Jake knew he couldn''t take playing all games that way, but with Gary Payton''s provocation he had to try harder. At the end of the game, Jake was still to congratulate Payton for the good game and Payton did not answer anything for him, Jake still thought that Payton was his idol and he would continue playing with respect in the next games. "The game ends with another victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the strong attack of the Lakers team once again guaranteed their victory in that game, especially with Jake Smith making his best game this season and defending very well against Gary Payton who I was playing very well in attack." "That''s right, Payton still played very well in that game even though Jake defended well against him, Payton still managed to make 22 points and 10 assists in that game and also defended well against Jake in that game." "I also agree that Jake played his best game this season, this was his seventh triple-double this season and was the first with him also making 3 blocks, even more in a game against Gary Payton who is one of the best players in the NBA currently." "It is true, with the good game of Kobe and Shaq, the Los Angeles Lakers team achieved another good victory even though Robert Horry did not play in that game, Rick Fox did not play as well and Dennis Rodman did not play as well as in the last few games." Jake also thought that this was his best game this season, he only intended to try so hard in the playoff games that the Los Angeles Lakers team would have, but he didn''t regret trying a little harder in that game. Even more so because the Los Angeles Lakers team was always having a day to rest between games which were enough for Jake to rest very well, once the game ended the Los Angeles Lakers team had to travel to the next game. The team traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah where it was going to be the next game, this was a strategy of the Los Angeles Lakers team board so that players would tire less, they would arrive at the game city overnight and have more time to rest before the game. The other day the players were more relaxed and the team did a light training on that day when the Los Angeles Lakers team would have no game, the rest of the day the players were able to rest for the game the next day. Soon the game day arrived and the players went to the Delta Center some time before the game, the opponent in that game was the Utah Jazz team that the Los Angeles Lakers team had already faced the beginning of the season. In the first game, Jake was playing as SF and the Los Angeles Lakers team got the win, the Utah Jazz team was a good team and Jake was excited about this game because he would play as PG and could play against another idol of his that was John Stockton. In the first game, Jake can play against Stockton, but he was not defending against him and so Jake cannot be satisfied, in that game Jake could play against Stockton and see how his idol really played. Of course, Stockton was already 36 years old and didn''t play as well as he did at his peak, but even at that age Stockton was still one of the best PG in the NBA and would still play for several years before retiring. In addition to Stockton, the Utah Jazz team still had Karl Malone who was one of the best players in the NBA, in that game Robert Horry could play and he with Dennis Rodman would have the difficult job of defending against Malone. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game this NBA season, this is the Los Angeles Lakers game against the Utah Jazz team, it is one of the most awaited games of the past few weeks and the second game between the two teams." Chapter 522 - The Season Continues 2 "The Utah Jazz team is having a good season with 12 wins and only 4 losses in 16 games this season, it is one of the teams with the most victories this season, this season with the least games the Utah Jazz team has won almost a third of the games that season." "In the first game, the Utah Jazz team lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in a well-balanced game between the two teams, in that game the Utah Jazz team plays at home and has John Stockton and Karl Malone who are two NBA stars to try to get the victory in that game." "The Los Angeles Lakers team is the team with the most wins this season with 17 wins and only 1 loss in 18 games, with Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant and rookie Jake Smith the Los Angeles Lakers team is the favorite to win this game." "That''s right, in this game we will also have the confrontation between Jake Smith who is the best PG of this season so far against John Stockton who is one of the 5 best PG of all time in the NBA." "In the last game Jake played very well and defended well against Gary Payton, so we are looking forward to seeing what he can do playing against John Stockton." This was a game in which everyone was looking forward to the dispute between the two teams, the dispute between Jake and John Stockton and also the dispute between Shaq and Karl Malone, two of the teams that were doing very well this season were facing each other. Many also expected a dispute between Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman, after all the two faced each other several times while Dennis was playing on the Chicago Bulls team, so this was a game that many people who were not fans of these teams wanted to watch. The Los Angeles Lakers team would start with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Utah Jazz team would start that game with John Stockton playing as PG, Jeff Hornacek playing as SG, Bryon Russell playing as SF, Karl Malone playing as PF, and Greg Ostertag playing as Center. The game started with Shaquille O''Neal winning the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaq passed the ball to Jake who started organizing the play for the Lakers team, Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right. Kobe received the ball and Jeff Hornacek came in to press on defense, Kobe held the ball and passed it to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Bryon Russell came in to press in defense. Rick held the ball and passed it to Jake in the back, Jake got the ball and John Stockton came in defense, Jake made a feint and managed to go to the right, Jake moved away from Stockton and tried a shot from outside to make 3 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Jake scored 3 early in the game showing that he would attack normally even playing against Stockton, Stockton was not as good a defensive player as Payton, so he knew that in this game he might not be able to defend as well against Jake. In another move, the Utah Jazz team was on the attack, Stockton advanced with the ball and passed it to Russell on the right, Russell received the ball and Rick came pressing on the defense, Russell held the ball and passed it to Hornacek on the left. Hornacek received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Hornacek tricked Kobe with a feint and tried a mid-range shot to score 2 points for the Utah Jazz team, the Utah Jazz team was strong in attack too and so everyone expected a game more balanced. In another move the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and managed to deceive the opponent with a feint, Kobe advanced to the inside area and drive to the basket doing more 2 points with a layup for the Los Angeles Lakers team. In this game, Kobe Bryant was playing well and Shaquille O''Neal also, it made Jake more relaxed to make the passes, Rick Fox was not playing so well in this game again and in this game, Jake did not intend to make many passes to Robert Horry because Karl Malone was defending against it. In another move, the Utah Jazz team was on the attack, Stockton advanced with the ball and passed Hornacek on the left, Hornacek received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense, Hornacek held the ball a little and passed it to Russell on the right. Russell received the ball and then passed to Stockton further back, Stockton received the ball and Jake came to defend, Stockton passed the ball to Karl Malone further on the right, Malone received the ball and Robert Horry came in to press on defense. Malone used his strength to move closer to the painted area and did a spin and tried a hook shot to make 2 more points for the Utah Jazz team, the Utah Jazz team''s moves with Malone were the moves most likely to end in points for the team. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a small points advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, it was a good first quarter for the Los team Angeles Lakers and to Jake. "The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning the game with a good performance by Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Jake Smith, the Utah Jazz team is also doing well in this game and keeping the game balanced." "John Stockton and Karl Malone were the highlights of the Utah Jazz team in that first quarter, for the rest of the game the Utah Jazz team will have to put more pressure on the defense if they want to win." "In the dispute between Jake Smith and John Stockton the two played normally and managed to organize the plays and attack in the same way as in other games, the two seem to be more careful in making assists and Jake is not trying as much to make steals as in other games." Just as commentators said Jake was not pushing as much in defense as in the last game, this was because Jake knew that Stockton would not score as many points as Gary Payton could do in the last game. Jake was not provoked and had realized how much more tired he had become in the last game, he would still press on defense, but if the Los Angeles Lakers team could win he would not press so hard on defense. In the second quarter the Utah Jazz team started to press more in the attack and the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to press in the attack, both teams had strong attacks and wanted the victory. Stockton advanced with the ball and passed Hornacek on the left, Hornacek received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Hornacek tried to trick Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not fooled. Then Hornacek passed the ball to Russell on the right, Russell received the ball and then passed to Stockton further back, Stockton took the ball and Jake came to defend, Stockton stepped back and attempted a mid-range shot and scored 2 more points for the Utah Jazz team. With the experience Stockton was very good at making the mid-range shots, he was very fast when attacking and Jake had no way to get in the way, Jake could try the block, but if he missed the right time he could miss it. In another move, the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and Russell arrived pressing on defense, Rick held the ball and passed it to Kobe on the right. Kobe received the ball and Hornacek came pressing on defense, Kobe tried to make the individual move by advancing, but Hornacek kept pressing on defense and not letting Kobe forward, so Kobe passed the ball back to Jake. Jake received the ball and Stockton came to defend, Jake made a feint and managed to outwit Stockton and used his speed to advance to the inside area, Jake advanced quickly and only Greg Ostertag came to defend, Jake was quick and passed the ball to Shaquille O''Neal who was free. Shaq received the ball and scored 2 more points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team, with this move by Jake Ostertag had nothing to do, Jake was very fast and if he did not try to defend it would be Jake who would make the dunk. The game continued with the two teams playing well and with the game well balanced, the Los Angeles Lakers team still finished the second quarter with an even greater advantage in points, Jake and Stockton were attacking normally and were not defending well. Jake still managed to make some steals and was helping the Los Angeles Lakers team to continue with the points advantage, in the third quarter the Utah Jazz team tried to press further in the attack and most of the attacks was with Karl Malone trying to make the points. In that game, coach Kurt Rambis realized that he could not replace the main players for long, so only Shaq was replaced for a few minutes in all quarters of the game. Contrary to what many expected Dennis Rodman was not playing very well in that game again and he was unable to defend well against Karl Malone and still made many fouls in that game. The game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with 109 points against 85 points from the Utah Jazz team, in that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 32 points, 13 assists, 9 rebounds, and 8 steals. This was a balanced game in which the Los Angeles Lakers team still managed to increase the points advantage in every quarter and at the end of the game, they had an advantage of more than 20 points. "The game ends with another victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team, even with the Utah Jazz team playing very well and with the good performance of Karl Malone making 32 points and the good performance of John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek, they did not get the victory." Chapter 523 - The Season Continues 3 "The attack by the Los Angeles Lakers team is very strong and Jake made a double-double in this game with 32 points and 13 assists, Shaq also managed a double-double with 23 points and 16 rebounds, and Kobe had 24 points in that game." "It''s true, the Los Angeles Lakers team is doing very well this season and after that game, we don''t know when the Lakers team will lose a game, they defeated some of the strongest teams this season and with this attack, it is difficult to find an opponent to defeat them." "Coach Rambis seems to have found a good way for the team to play and also found the ideal starting team for the Los Angeles Lakers team, with the good performance of Jake, Shaq, and Kobe, I think they will still win a lot of games this season." This victory against the Utah Jazz team left the players and fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team, this was a difficult game and it wouldn''t be strange if the Los Angeles Lakers team had lost, so it was an important victory. Even though Dennis Rodman and Rick Fox didn''t play these games so well, with the victories the fans didn''t care much about it and the sports media didn''t talk much about it either, Jack knew that this was until the Lakers team lost so journalists remember those games. The Los Angeles Lakers team players would have one more day to rest before the next game, luckily they were able to travel back to Los Angeles after the game so they could rest at home. Even if the Los Angeles Lakers team still had one more game as a visitor, it would be a game in Los Angeles and therefore the players would tire even less, after the players arrived in Los Angeles they were able to return to their home. Jake was happy that he could return to his home in Los Angeles, he lived a few months in Los Angeles in that new home, but Jake already liked it because it was a house that he chose and renovated. In the NBA, teams having multiple games during the week was a bad thing because it made players tired, but Jake thought it was good because even though the Los Angeles Lakers team had several games as a visitor, he could still return to his house in a maximum of two weeks. When Jake was in his childhood on this second chance he didn''t like to spend a lot of time away from home because he wanted to spend every day with his mother, after all, he knew how bad it was to spend several years without living with his mother in his past life. But the truth was that unfortunately Jake had gotten used to living alone after living alone for more than 15 years in his past life, so in addition to missing Eva many times, Jake didn''t mind living in a new home in Los Angeles. Jake thought that if he were married and had children this big game sequence would be bad, but Jake couldn''t imagine him getting married in the next few years, and even though he married Kate who was his girlfriend, the two traveled a lot because of from work and they would have no problems with Jake''s games in the NBA. The other day Jake woke up very early to get ready for another day, this time David hadn''t called him again to say that he had to record another commercial and Jake can rest until the Los Angeles Lakers team training that happened in the afternoon. It was a light training to not tire the players and they were soon able to return to their home, then the day of the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team in the NBA came, that was the game against the Los Angeles Clippers team. It would be the third game between the two teams this season and the Los Angeles Lakers team would face the Los Angeles Clippers team in the next game too, in the first two games the Los Angeles Lakers team got a good victory. Coach Rambis said that he intended to replace Kobe Bryant for many minutes in that game and intended to replace Shaquille O''Neal for a few minutes in that game, this could make the game more difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers. The game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning 115 points against 87 points from the Los Angeles Clippers team, in that game Jake played for 48 minutes and made 37 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds, and 8 steals, with another double-double Jake helped a lot in this victory. In this game Shaquille O''Neal played very well and scored 31 points and had 12 rebounds, it was really great performance and helped the team a lot in that victory, Kobe Bryant played for less than 27 minutes in this game and played well with 16 points and 5 assists. Dennis Rodman was another highlight of this game with an excellent performance catching 20 rebounds, Dennis had performed poorly in the last games and in this game, he had the best performance of him playing in the Los Angeles Lakers team. This made the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team happy and managed to make the sports media forget the poor performance he had in the last games, with this good game the Los Angeles Lakers team won the victory. The next day the Los Angeles Lakers team played against the Los Angeles Clippers team again, Jake remembered that in that game in his past life the Los Angeles Lakers team would have already hired Glen Rice and J.R. Reid. In that life these players would not be hired by the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Los Angeles Lakers team could not hire Glen Rice and had no player to make the switch with the Charlotte Hornets team. This was another change that Jake''s entry into the NBA had caused for the teams, in that game the Los Angeles Lakers team achieved another victory making 114 points against 82 points of the Los Angeles Clippers team. In this game Jake played for 48 minutes and made 35 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds, and 8 steals, Jake played very well in that game and managed to make another triple-double, Jake had difficulty making assists because some players from the Los team Angeles Lakers were not playing that well. Coach Rambis replaced the main players again in that game and replaced Kobe Bryant again for many minutes and Kobe played just 27 minutes again, yet Kobe underperformed and scored just 9 points. Shaquille O''Neal was also replaced for a few minutes but managed to score 31 points and get 13 rebounds making another excellent performance in that game, Rick Fox and Robert Horry had a regular performance in that game and Dennis Rodman played for a short time and still managed to catch 6 rebounds. With a strong attack, the Los Angeles Lakers team managed another victory and now had 20 wins and only 1 loss this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team had played almost half of the games and had only one defeat and was one of the favorite teams to win the NBA title this season. After that game, players would have a day to rest before the next game, it would be a game in Los Angeles and so players could rest at their home without having to worry about traveling. With the good performance of the team, this season the players were always excited, even coach Rambis received several accolades for the winning streak of the Los Angeles Lakers team. Coach Rambis decided to let the players rest the next day and decided to leave the team without the training they always had, Coach Rambis and the medical team were clearly concerned that the players would be injured and that in the last two games Kobe Bryant has not played more than 28 minutes. The players were excited that they could rest, Jake also thought a day of rest was a good one when David Falk called him again, Jake was waiting for that call and knew what David meant. "Jake, congratulations on the Lakers team''s victories in the last few games, you''ve been playing better and better." "Thanks, David, I was hoping you would call, it was a good time because Coach Rambis said the team will not be training tomorrow." "This is really good, a Gatorade representative called me and said that they want to record the commercial tomorrow, in fact, the other companies also called me, but Gatorade called first because they can earn more with the good performance you have had in this season." "But you can expect that this month you will have to record commercials for the other companies that you have endorsed." "Everything is fine with me, I expected you to call because our team will have to play the next 6 games as a visitor and I will be traveling for more than a week with the team." Jake hoped David would call him because of this, and also because David had said that other companies would want to record a commercial because of Jake''s success in the NBA, after that they talked for a while and arranged the time that Jake would have to go to the advertising company. Jake was able to rest well after sleeping and was excited to record the commercial the next day, Jake knew he might not be able to participate in many films in the coming years because of the NBA games, so recording the commercials was his chance to Act. After a few hours, Jake went to the advertising company, Jake already hoped that they would not record the commercial at the company and so he went quietly there, this time when Jake arrived everyone was waiting with him. It seems that this time David arrived at the company before and talked to the Gatorade representative and the directors of the commercials that Jake would do and they had already discussed all the details of the commercial and David went to speak with Jake alone. "Jake, I already discussed the details of the commercial with you, in fact, today two commercials will be recorded, in one, you will do the narration and record some scenes, and in the other commercial you will not do the narration, but there will be more scenes." Chapter 524 - The Season Continues 4 "The commercial that you will have to narrate, gives the idea that you have a lot of resistance and can run the marathons and play 48 minutes in the games because you drink Gatorade drinks." "In this commercial, they will show some scenes of you playing in the games of the Los Angeles Lakers team and they will also show some recordings of you running some marathons." "For this commercial you will have to record some scenes training on the court, running on the athletics track and exercising at the gym." "You will say that to play 48 minutes in all games, and to run marathons over 42 km quickly, you have to train hard every day, and during games and training you need to hydrate and recover your energies drinking Gatorade." Jake liked the idea of ??the commercial, it was a positive message that someone had to strive for better results and spoke well of the Gatorade brand, of course, the idea of ??the commercial was to suggest that drinking Gatorade helped Jake to have more resistance, but that was normal in product commercials. It was really a creative commercial that used his skills to send a message that Gatorade was important for Jake to be a better athlete, David was calm to see that Jake liked it, many players were very proud and did not understand the marketing ideas that brands had. "In the other commercial, it will show you playing basketball training to hit three-point shots, you will train three-point shots, and then you will train with a player defending against you." "It will show you running on the athletics track looking like you are trying hard to run even harder, then you will stop and drink Gatorade and you will take a deep breath and keep running, and you will continue playing basketball." "The two commercials have a similar message and will be commercials with little time and they will sometimes put a bottle of Gatorade to promote their product." Jake did not find this commercial as creative as the other, but as David said the idea of ??this other commercial was to highlight the product and Jake would only help by attracting the attention of consumers. Jake agreed to this commercial as well and soon they started with Jake recording the narration for the first commercial, Jake was good at acting and needed to repeat the phrases just a few times so that the director liked it and the narration part ended. Then Jake took some pictures that would be used to promote Gatorade products in newspapers, magazines and other ways, that was normal and Jake would have to do that for other companies as well. After that they left the company with a film crew and went first to a gym that the advertising company had already booked, they knew they only had one day to record the commercial, so they had to be quick. The gym part was simple, Jake just had to do some exercises that he normally did and the team would film him doing the exercises and the director would choose the best scenes later. The most important scene was after Jake had started to sweat he would do it by taking a bottle of Gatorade and drinking, Jake did everything easily in 40 minutes and they were able to go to a court that was close to the gym to record the next scene. In the court that was in an Arena, they would record for the two commercials, first Jake did some things that he did in his normal training and the film crew was filming everything that Jake did. Jake recorded a drinking scene in a Gatorade bottle and one of the commercials had been recorded, after Jake changed his clothes to start recording the other commercial, Jake tried to hit the three-point shots for a few minutes. Then another hired actor came on the court trying to defend against Jake by hindering him so that Jake wouldn''t hit the three-point shots, and that was the scene, then Jake drank in a Gatorade grab, took a deep breath and continued training. There was nothing for the director to send Jake to redo the scenes that were just him doing his training, the director just had to order the camera operators and lighting personnel and after more than an hour, the recording ended on the court. After Jake went to an athletics track and started running, the camera operators had more difficulty making the recordings with Jake running around the track, after all the camera operators could not run along with Jake. Just like in other shops Jake drank from the bottle of Gatorade and changed his clothes and started running again, this time he had to act to look like he was very tired even though he had only run a few kilometers. To record this part of the commercial they had more difficulty because the camera operators and the film crew had to stop to rest and could not keep up with Jake''s resistance. Jake surprised everyone with his great resistance, even without any preparation Jake could run several kilometers without getting tired, after a few hours the film crew managed to finish recording the commercial. They were lucky because if they took a few more hours it would start to get dark, Jake still talked to David about some things and then went to his house as he had already finished his work. Jake was not tired even with all the things he did on the commercials recordings, he can still enjoy the rest of the day to rest, Jake was happy to record the commercials and even called Eva to tell her that soon she could see some of his commercials on television. Eva was already used to watching Jake''s commercials on television, but even so, she was happy to know that Jake had recorded more commercials and would record even more that month, Eva was proud to see Jake''s commercials on television. Eva still remembered the difficult times where she had to work much more than normal to earn just enough so that she and Jake could have a simple life, now she only worked because she liked her restaurant and all of that was thanks to what Jake did it. Eva was also happy that Jake had found a girlfriend he loved and who was also very talented like him, even though she missed Jake who spent most of the year away from home, Eva knew that this happened in all families. The next day came the Los Angeles Lakers team''s next game, Jake went to the Great Western Forum and saw the Los Angeles Lakers crowd that had come to fill the arena again. Many fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team had already bought the new shirt with the name of Jake and the number 7 that was his number this season, Jake was happy with the affection of the fans, his nickname was also shouted by the fans during the games. After some time Jake went to the locker room and the players went to the court to start the game, the opponent in that game was the Golden State Warriors team, this was Jake''s first NBA game playing against one of his former teammates on the Tar Heels team. Playing on the Golden State Warriors team was former teammate Tar Heels and Jake''s friend, Antawn Jamison was chosen by the Toronto Raptors team and was replaced by Vince Carter who had been chosen by the Golden State Warriors team. Unfortunately Jake knew that Antawn was not having many opportunities to play this season, Antawn would still play in most games, but he would not play more than 24 minutes on average, Jake thought this was a mistake by the Golden State Warriors team. Jake was well aware of Antawn''s skills, how he could attack well and catch a lot of rebounds, the only defect Antawn was that he was not very good at defending, but the Golden State Warriors team lacked one of the best defenses and needed an attack much better if they wanted to win the games. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch one more game this NBA season, today''s game is between the Los Angeles Lakers team and the Golden State Warriors team." "The Los Angeles Lakers team plays this game at home and they have the best attack this season and also the team has done an excellent season with 20 wins and only one defeat in 21 games." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has all-star Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant, both of whom have played very well this season and have been important to these Los Angeles Lakers victories. "Rookie Jake Smith has been the main player on this team with an average of over 33 points and 11 assists per game, Jake is certainly the best rookie of this season and is one of the best players this season." "The Golden State Warriors team has had an average season, they have 9 wins and 10 losses in 19 games this season, they have no player who is the highlight of that team this season." "The current Golden State Warriors team can be happy if they make it into the playoffs this season." The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Golden State Warriors team would start the game with Bimbo Coles playing as PG, John Starks playing as SG, Chris Mills playing as SF, Donyell Marshall playing as PF, and Erick Dampier playing as Center. The game started and Shaquille O''Neal won the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers, Shaq passed the ball to Jake who started to organize the attack, Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right. Kobe received the ball and John Starks came in pressing on defense, Kobe held the ball and passed it to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Chris Mills arrived to press in defense. Chapter 525 - The Season Continues 5 Rick tried to deceive Mills with a feint, but Mills was not deceived and continued to defend, so Rick decided to pass the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Bimbo Coles arrived to defend. Jake tried a shot from outside and made 3 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, in that game the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were not very well, Kobe would still make a good game, but it was nowhere near the best he could do as in other games. Rick also wouldn''t be doing very well in that game, luckily the players of the Golden State Warriors team wouldn''t play very well in that game either, so the Los Angeles Lakers team could still achieve victory without playing so well. In another move, the Golden State Warriors team was on the attack, Coles advanced with the ball and passed to Mills on the right, Mills received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, Mills held the ball a little and passed to Starks on the left. Starks received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Starks tried a feint and managed to trick Kobe and tried a mid-range shot to score 2 points for the Golden State Warriors team. The Los Angeles Lakers team continued to push in defense and Jake was leading the attack for the Lakers team, so the first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a good lead on the scoreboard. In the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to push in the attack and the Golden State Warriors team was trying to defend how the players managed, in the third quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team had an even greater advantage in points. In that game, coach Rambis decided that the opponent was not too difficult and replaced Shaquille O''Neal who played only 30 minutes, in this game Kobe was not replaced and still did not have a great performance. Dennis Rodman played for a few minutes in that game because coach Rambis decided to let him rest for a longer time in that game, at the end of the game the Los Angeles Lakers team won the victory making 111 points against 74 points from the Golden State Warriors team. In this game, Jake played for 48 minutes and had 43 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds, 8 steals, and 2 blocks, in this game Jake attacked more than in other games, but even if he defended well, the opposing team did not attack much and for this, he failed to make more than 8 steals. Shaq had 20 points in that game and 17 rebounds playing very well even playing for fewer minutes, Kobe had 18 minutes and Rick had 14 points, the Los Angeles Lakers team managed another victory and that was what mattered most to the fans. "The game with the Los Angeles Lakers team ends with another victory, with the weaker performance of the Lakers team attack Jake standing out with 43 points in that game and leading the team to victory." "The Golden State Warriors team did not attack much and focused more on pressing in defense, it worked against some players like Kobe and Rick, but it was not able to stop Jake''s attack." "After this game, the Los Angeles Lakers team will have a difficult streak of 6 games as a visitor, if the Lakers team still continues with the winning streak then they will surely be the biggest favorites to win the NBA title." With this victory more the players were more excited, but the sequence of games as a visitor was something that worried the players and the coach Rambis too, Jake was also concerned about this because he knew that the Los Angeles Lakers team would lose 3 games of those 6 games as a visitor. The next day the players would have a day to rest, the team board decided it was best for the players to travel to Sacramento, California, which was where the Los Angeles Lakers team''s next game would be. Fortunately, this would be a short trip for the Los Angeles Lakers team which would make players less tired, when the players arrived in Sacramento they went to the hotel chosen by the team''s board and the players were able to rest. The next day the players could have the whole day to rest and coach Rambis would not give any training to the team, this was because the next games would be very tiring and the players had to rest as much as they could in order to play well in the games. After resting well for a day, the day came for the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team, for that game Coach Rambis had already warned that Dennis Rodman would not even be a substitute in the game and would not play. Jake didn''t know if he had any reason for this to happen or if it was just so that Dennis Rodman could rest, but he didn''t talk to Dennis Rodman much in training and Dennis probably wouldn''t talk about it if he had a problem. After a few hours, the players went to the ARCO Arena to face the opponent in this game that was the Sacramento Kings team, the Sacramento Kings team had the second-best attack this season after the Los Angeles Lakers team. But unlike the Los Angeles Lakers team, Sacramento Kings had the worst defense this season in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers team had a good defense and with the best attack, they achieved many victories. In the Sacramento Kings team, there was also the rookie Jason Williams who was a great player, unfortunately, this season there was Jake who was a better PG than he and also Mike Bibby among the rookies, so Jason did not have the recognition he deserved. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch a game this NBA season, in today''s game the Los Angeles Lakers team faces the Sacramento Kings team, it is the confrontation of the two teams with the best attacks of this season." "The Sacramento Kings team has been having a regular season with 9 wins and 12 losses in 21 games, this team has good players like Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, and rookie Jason Williams." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has had an excellent season with 21 wins and just 1 loss this season, the Lakers team has all-stars Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant and rookie Jake Smith who has been the best player on that team." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has been playing better this season, but this is a game in which we cannot know that they will win, especially since the Sacramento Kings team plays at home." The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Sacramento Kings team would start the game with Jason Williams playing as PG, Tariq Abdul-Wahad playing as SG, Peja Stojakovi? playing as SF, Chris Webber playing as PF, and Vlade Divac playing as Center. The game started with Shaquille O''Neal winning the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaq passed the ball to Jake who started organizing the attack, Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right. Kobe received the ball and Tariq Abdul-Wahad came in to press the defense, Kobe held the ball and passed it to Robert Horry ahead, Robert received the ball and Chris Webber came in to press the defense. Robert protected the ball and passed it to Rick Fox further on the left, Rick received the ball and Peja Stojakovi? arrived pressing in defense, so Rick passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the free ball on the right and Tariq was not close to him. So Kobe tried a mid-range shot to score 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Los Angeles Lakers team started pressing in the attack even though they were the visiting team, the players knew they were better in the attack and the Sacramento Kings team didn''t have one good defense. In another play the Sacramento Kings team was on the attack, Jason Williams advanced with the ball and passed to Tariq on the left, Tariq received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense. Tariq held the ball and passed it to Peja on the right, Peja received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, Peja tried a feint and managed to trick Rick and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 points for the Sacramento Kings team. Just as everyone thought the two teams started the game by pressing forward, so in that game, the team where the players had a better performance would win, luckily for the Los Angeles Lakers team Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant were playing well in that game. But Rick Fox and the other players were not doing so well, Jake was playing very well too and would try to help the Los Angeles Lakers team achieve that victory that they did not achieve in Jake''s past life. In another move Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and Peja came pressing on the defense, Rick tried to trick Peja with a feint, but Peja was not fooled and Rick passed to Kobe on the right. Kobe received the ball and Tariq came in pressing on defense, Kobe held the ball and passed it to Jake in the back, Jake received the ball and Jason arrived pressing in defense, Jake made a feint and stepped back and tried an outside shot to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Jake was paying a lot of attention on defense because Jason Williams was playing well in that game and Jake knew that Jason was a very skilled player, Jason also realized that Jake was pushing on defense and that made Jason tenser. In another play the Sacramento Kings team was on the attack, Jason advanced with the ball and passed to Tariq on the left, Tariq received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense, Tariq tried to trick Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not fooled. So Tariq passed the ball to Jason further behind Jason received the ball and Jake arrived pressing on the defense, Jason held the ball and passed the ball to Chris Webber further on the left, Chris received the ball and Robert Horry arrived pressing on the defense. Chris used his strength to move closer to the painted area, Robert could not defend well against Chris, so Chris moved forward and moved away to try a hook shot and make 2 more points for the Sacramento Kings team. Chapter 526 - The Season Continues 6 The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a small points advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. "The first quarter ends, the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning the game with a small advantage on the scoreboard, as it was expected the two teams are having a balanced game with the two teams very strong in attack." "The Sacramento Kings team players seem to be doing better and all the players are helping in the attack and also trying to defend." "On the Los Angeles team Lakers Shaq and Kobe are playing very well, Jake is also playing very well, and the three are putting a lot of pressure on the attack, Rick is not playing very well in this game and Robert is trying to help more in defense." "Yes, the two teams are very balanced, so players like Jake, Shaq, and Kobe can make a difference and bring victory if they put more pressure on the defense, Coach Rambis looks like he won''t replace Shaq and Kobe and so the Los Angeles team Lakers have the advantage in that game." In the second quarter, the two teams continued to press on the attack, the Sacramento Kings team players were more excited about the chance to win seeing that they were performing well. Even so Jake, Shaq, and Kobe were playing very well in the attack even though the Sacramento Kings team tried to put more pressure on the three of them, in another move the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Tariq arrived pressing on defense, Kobe tried to trick Tariq with a feint, but Tariq was not deceived, so Kobe passed the ball to Rick on the left. Rick received the ball and Peja arrived pressing in the defense, Rick held the ball and passed it to Jake in the back, Jake received the ball and passed to Shaq in the front, Shaq received the ball and Vlade Divac arrived pressing in the defense. Shaq made a forceful move to advance to the painted area, Shaq made a quick feint made a forward spin to make 2 more points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaq was really skilled in the painted area and Vlade was unable to defend. In another play the Sacramento Kings team was on the attack, Jason advanced with the ball and passed to Peja on the right, Peja received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, Peja held the ball and passed to Tariq on the left. Tariq received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Tariq tried to trick Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not deceived, so Tariq passed the ball to Jason further back, Jason received the ball with little time in possession. Jake was pushing in defense and he also knew that the possession time was running out, Jason tried to trick Jake with a feint, but Jake was not fooled, Jason tried to use speed to advance to the inside area. But Jake kept up with him and continued to press on defense, Peja got rid of Rick''s defense and gave Jason the opportunity to pass, so Jason tried to pass the ball to Peja before the time was up. But Jake was watching the move and he anticipated to intercept the ball and make the steal, Jake made the steal and ran with all his agility for the attack, Jason realized that Jake made the steal and tried to come back to defend. Jake was very fast and Jason was unable to return to defense and Jake advanced to the painted area and tried the dunk to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Los Angeles Lakers team was very well in attack and Jake was able to defend well a few times in the game. The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a good point advantage, in that second quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 10 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals. "The second quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team continues to win with an even greater advantage in points, the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack is very strong in that game and Jake was helping a lot in defense." "It''s true, the Sacramento Kings team is playing very well and is pushing forward, so we still had a well-balanced game in the first half of that game, but their defense is failing to stop the Los Angeles Lakers'' attack." "Jason Williams is playing very well in this game and with Jake defending well against him he helps the Los Angeles Lakers team to further increase their points advantage." In the third quarter, the Sacramento Kings team kept trying to attack to get the win, Tariq Abdul-Wahad, Peja Stojakovi?, and Chris Webber is playing very well too and the Los Angeles Lakers'' defense cannot stop them in the attack. Peja Stojakovi? was managing to hit a few shots from three points and Rick was unable to defend very well, but with Jake pressing on defense and not letting Jason play so well it left the Los Angeles Lakers team with an even greater advantage. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Tariq arrived pressing on defense, Kobe held the ball and passed to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and Peja arrived pressing on defense. Rick tried to trick Peja with a feint, but Peja was not fooled, Rick was not playing well in that game and Peja was playing very well in attack and defense, Rick passed the ball to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and Jason came pressing on the defense, Jake held the ball a little and passed it to Kobe from the right again, Kobe received the ball and tricked Tariq with a feint and advanced into the area using his speed. Kobe advanced and Tariq was unable to accompany him in defense, so Kobe drives to the basket and made 2 more points with a layup for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Kobe was playing very well in this game and that gave Jake and Shaq more opportunities to attack as well. In another move the Sacramento Kings team was on the attack, Jason advanced with the ball and passed to Tariq on the left, Jason managed to play more calmly after he learned to attack avoiding Jake. Jason had still made several points with mid-range shots when he had the freedom to try, Tariq received the ball and held it for a while and passed it to Peja on the right, Peja received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on the defense. Peja managed to trick Rick with a feint and did a step back and tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Sacramento Kings team, Peja was playing really well in that game and Jake wondered if it would not have been better if he defended against Peja in this game. The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team maintaining the points advantage, in the last quarter the game remained balanced and the Los Angeles Lakers team began to put more pressure on the defense. So the game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with 114 points against 98 points for the Sacramento Kings team, Jake was happy that the Lakers team won this game that they had lost in his past life, which meant he was important for the Lakers team to win. In that game Jake played for 48 minutes and made 35 points, 12 assists, 9 rebounds, and 9 steals, Jake got a double-double in that game and almost got the quadruple-double that would be his first in the NBA. "The game is over, the Los Angeles Lakers team won another game this season, this was a balanced game in which the two teams have a strong attack, all the players on the Sacramento Kings team were playing very well in that game." "In the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaquille O''Neal had an excellent game with 33 points and 11 rebounds, Kobe Bryant was also playing very well and had 29 points and 10 rebounds, and Jake Smith who was the highlight of that game had 35 points and 12 assists." "But what made the difference in this game was that the Los Angeles Lakers team''s defense was better, Jake defended very well against Jason Williams, Shaq and Kobe also played well in defense in that game." "Even though the attack by the two teams was very strong, the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team was better, the winning streak of the Los Angeles Lakers continues and they already have a streak of 18 victories." The Los Angeles Lakers team got another victory and so coach Kurt Rambis and the players were very happy with this victory, they knew that this difficult game was only the first in the sequence of games that they would have as visitors. Jake was still concerned because he didn''t know if the Los Angeles Lakers team would lose any of the next games, in his past life the Los Angeles Lakers team lost 3 games in that sequence of 6 games playing as a visitor. The first defeat did not happen because Jake helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to win, but if Kobe or Shaq did not perform well in any game he did not know if he could still help the Lakers team to win. After that game, the Los Angeles Lakers team traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota which was where the next game would be, luckily the next day the Lakers team would have no games and the players could rest. The players arrived in Minneapolis and went to the hotel that the Lakers team board had booked, Jake was in his hotel room thinking a little about what had happened in the last few years. Many things he had dreamed of in his past life had happened, he became an NBA basketball player and was playing on the Los Angeles Lakers team which was always the team he was rooting for. Jake also managed to do something that not even he dreamed it was to start running marathons, he always loved running, but it was just a hobby for him, and in this second chance of him Jake had even managed to win an Olympic gold medal. Chapter 527 - The Season Continues 7 Jake had also managed to get his mother out of that difficult life by having to work exhaustively to support him, now Eva worked in her restaurant with Anna because she loved to do that and that made many people happy. Jake was happy to have gotten a girlfriend he loved who was Kate, even though he couldn''t spend much time with her, just talking to her sometimes made Jake very happy, Jake was also happy to see Kate succeed with her career. Jake also managed to become an actor that was something he dreamed of, but he never really thought it possible for him to achieve that dream, just because he participated in the movie The Matrix, which was one of his favorite films, already made Jake very happy. In addition to all this, Jake also managed to get very rich using the knowledge he had of the future, he had millions of dollars guaranteed every year, next year he would sell his shares and keep more than 7 billion dollars. With the shares he owned of Amazon and Google Jake, his future was guaranteed with more than $ 100 billion to make, so money was something Jake would never have to worry about in the future. Jake just kept investing to make more money because he intended to make a lot of donations in the future, he wanted to help a lot of people since he had this second chance, and for that, the money would never be enough. Jake was thinking about how he traveled a lot with the Lakers team and yet he didn''t have the time or the desire to visit cities, Jake made trips to various countries in his past life to visit just because he decided to learn several languages. So Jake needed to create a reason to feel like traveling to other countries, he had fun talking to people from other countries in different languages, but Jake just really had fun visiting the same countries with his mother. With that Jake learned that the trips were only fun if done with someone he liked, a lot of the fun in the trips was seeing Eva happy, so in the future, Jake wanted to make the trips with Eva and Kate only, he didn''t want to be alone anymore travel. While thinking about these things Jake decided to speak to the system again who was the one who had helped him achieve all these things, Jake often talked to the system, after all, every day he did his imagination training. But the interesting thing was that Jake didn''t have so many subjects to talk to the system, after all, everything he did in his life was also seen by the system, so he didn''t talk about the things he saw daily. "Fate, I wanted to thank you again for everything you did for me, this second chance, everything I ever wanted has happened, in fact sometimes I wonder if all this is just a dream if in that car accident I maybe I was in a coma and just dreaming about it." [This is not a dream, I assure you that this is reality, going back in time may seem like a fantasy to you, but to me that I am the destiny of the world, I can do this and more.] [You sure are having an easier time getting things done with my help, but you tried really hard to get everything you have, if you didn''t train almost every day for the past 9 years you wouldn''t be such a basketball player good, even with my help.] [You got your wealth because you know the future, anyone who went back in the past could get it, but you just know all the things about the current stock market because you studied a lot in your past life.] [In addition, you were able to help save Matthew''s company and get the sponsorsh.i.p.s that gave you the money to invest in the shares, even if other people could go back to the past, other people might not have got the money they needed to invest.] Jake knew that the system was right, of course, that even if he had achieved everything he has to strive for if it were not for the system he would not have this second chance to strive to achieve what he has. "Fate, I haven''t seen my job statistics for a while, show me the statistics window for my first job." [Here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 20 years] [Job: Basketball Player] [Title: NBA Pro Player] [Position: PG, SG] [Height: 2.01 m] [Weight: 103 Kg] [Force 43] [Agility 42] [Resistance 45] [Intelligence 63] [Luck 99] -------------------------------- Skills Basketball [Ball Handling A] [Body Control A] [Man to Man B] [Dribble S] [Layup S] [Set Shot SS] [Block A] [Pass S] [Rebound S] [2 Points SS] [3 Points SS] [Free Throw SS] [Steal SS] [Dunk S] --------------------------------- Jake saw his statistics and already expected that his physical statistics would not increase in a few months, the system had already said that he needed more than 1 year of training to have any natural increase in his physical statistics. But his Skills improved after playing 23 games in the NBA, his Dribble increased from A to S after facing several players who were good at defending like Scottie Pippen, his Body Control also improved from B to A after playing with so many opponents using force. Skill Block also improved from B to A, that was important for Jake, Skill Rebound also improved from A to S, these improvements in his skills made Jake very happy and showed that he was really improving. Of course, Jake also remembered that his skills in the SS rank had also improved, but since they were at the top rank he couldn''t see through the system, Jake still had a lot to improve to be an even better player in defense. "Fate, show me my statistics window for my second job." [Here it is.] Statistics Jake -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 20 years] [Job: Businessman] [Intelligence 63] [Luck 99] [Charm 48] [Leadership 41] [Policy 34] [Eloquence 47] -------------------------------- Active Techniques [Business Administration] [See Through] [Business Vision] --------------------------------- Jake was even more surprised to see his statistics window on his second job, Jake had seen it a few times when he started investing that statistics window, the statistics that gave this job increased much more than the statistics on his first job. And Jake hadn''t won those statistics as he did in his first job winning the marathons, those statistics from his first job naturally increased without him even realizing it. His Charm statistic was high the last time he saw it and it was 42 and now it was 48, the Leadership statistic has also increased a lot before he had 33 Leadership and now he had 41. His Policy statistic was 24 and has now reached 34, his Eloquence statistic was 40 and now it has increased to 47, as these were not physical abilities he had not noticed the increase in those statistics in recent years. In addition, Jake realized that he had one more active skill that he didn''t have before, it was the Business Administration skill, the other skills were very useful for most entrepreneurs, but for Jake, these skills were useful only a few times. "Fate, why did my stats increase so much in this job and what new skill is that?" [You think these statistics have improved very quickly, but in fact, it has normally increased over time, after all, you are always using statistics from your second job while you are investing in the Cisco company.] [You have achieved many things in the last few years, you became a partner of Amazon and a partner of Google, which are two of the companies that will be the largest companies in the world in technology, you helped Matthew''s company to have a high valuation and also started to develop patents for revolutionary new products in the future.] [With you doing all of these things your stats would naturally improve quickly, plus some of your statistics for your second job have also improved with your fourth job.] [You managed to act in a big movie that is likely to have a large audience and it was also a success in your past life, that naturally increased your Charm and Eloquence statistics a lot.] [This new Skill Business Administration is an active Skill that makes sure you have accurate reports whenever you want about any business that you have an investment in.] [This can be a very useful skill for you who have investments in several companies, if any partner of yours or employee of the companies you invest in changes any report or steals money from the company, you can know the difference using this skill.] Jake did not expect that the Skill he had received would be so useful, it was a skill that many entrepreneurs would do anything to have, after all with this skill Jake could know if he was cheated and also save time that he would need to use to see the reports. With the system explaining Jake was able to understand why his statistics improved so much, he had certainly done many things that no entrepreneur would be able to do and guaranteed a billion-dollar gain even if he started from scratch. Besides, Jake hadn''t thought that making a big movie like The Matrix could improve some of his stats so much, that was an unexpected gain and naturally made Jake happier. "Fate, show me my statistics window for my fourth job." [Here it is.] -------------------------------- [Name: Jake Smith] [Age: 20 years] [Job: Actor] [Intelligence 63] [Luck 99] [Charm 48] [Eloquence 47] -------------------------------- Active Techniques [Emotion Control B] [Communication Skills A] [Photographic Memory A] [Positioning A] --------------------------------- Jake saw his statistics window and remembered that his job had no different statistics than other jobs, but his skills were different, Emotion Control was a skill that was in rank D and was now in rank B. Jake knew that this was one of the most important skills for an actor to have, after all, he needed to show the emotions that the characters he was playing were feeling even if it wasn''t his emotions. Chapter 528 - The Season Continues 8 Jake imagined that when he had this skill in the SS rank he could cry when he wanted to and no one could tell if he was faking or feeling real emotion, it was a skill that any actor would want to have. Jake''s Communication Skills skill was previously in rank B and now they were in rank A, this was a fundamental skill for the actors to have, he had to pass confidence and emotions in his voice and speak in a way that anyone could understand. This was an important skill for an actor and very important for anyone, with good Communication Skills a person would never have a hard time saying what he wanted to say in a way that everyone understood. The Photographic Memory skill also improved from rank B to rank A, this ability was already great for Jake in rank B, he did not forget the scripts he read and Jake also forgot a few things. With this ability in rank A, he would practically forget nothing, this ability was even more important to Jake because with this ability Jake was also able to remember several things he had seen in his past life. This was very important in business and basketball as well, Jake currently remembers all the games he saw only some news in his past life, so he would know when his teammates would be playing badly or when his team could lose. The Positioning skill was also in the B ranking and was in the A rank now, this ability improved a lot after the movie in which Jake had to make special moves to do the fight scenes that were choreographed. This skill could also help Jake in basketball to get more rebounds and make better plays, Jake was very happy with all of his skills that have improved a lot in recent years. Jake also asked to see his statistics window for his third job, but the system said these skills had not changed since the last time Jake saw him, after all, Jake was already one of the best runners in the world winning almost all the marathons he participated and his main skills were in Rank S. Jake improved his skills in basketball because he was not the best NBA player, there were many players who were much better than him in defense and other things, so Jake was still improving his skills. Of course, Jake would still improve his skills in his third job when he started running the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters and even short-distance athletics, but that would still take years to happen. After talking to the system and seeing his skills improve, Jake was more excited to continue working on the next NBA games and the other things he did. Jake managed to sleep well after being happy to see his stats and think about the past, that other day the Los Angeles Lakers team had no game and the players had only light training to do on the court and in the gym. With the players having a day to rest between games, the medical team and coach Rambis were no longer so concerned, so in these important games coach, Rambis could let the main players play longer. The next day came the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the players went to the Target Center to prepare for the game, the opponent in that game is the Minnesota Timberwolves team. This was the Los Angeles Lakers'' second game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, in the first game the Los Angeles Lakers won and they were expected to win again. Jake was still focused on that game because the opposing team had Kevin Garnett, Dennis Rodman would not play that game again and Robert Horry would not play either, so the pressure on defense was Travis Knight. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game this NBA season, in the game today we have the Los Angeles Lakers team facing the Minnesota Timberwolves." "The Minnesota Timberwolves team has been performing well this season with 13 wins and 9 losses in 22 games, the star of this team is Kevin Garnett who has been playing very well this season." "In this Minnesota Timberwolves team, Joe Smith has also been doing a season, if the Minnesota Timberwolves team continues to win they may make it to the playoffs and even compete in the NBA title." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has been having one of the best starts of the season in the history of this team, so far there are 22 wins and only 1 loss in 23 games, this team has had three coaches this season and some problems with player injuries." "Stars Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant were very important for the Los Angeles Lakers team to have a great start to the season, but it was the entrance of rookie star Jake Smith that the Los Angeles Lakers team got the best attack of this season and a good defense." The Los Angeles Lakers team would start that game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Minnesota Timberwolves team would start this game with Terrell Brandon playing as PG, Sam Mitchell playing as SG in that game, Kevin Garnett playing as SF in that game, Joe Smith playing as PF, and Dean Garrett playing as Center. The game started and Shaquille O''Neal won the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers, Shaq passed the ball to Jake who started to organize the attack, Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right. Kobe received the ball and Sam Mitchell came in pressing on defense, Kobe held the ball and passed it to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Kevin Garnett arrived pressing in defense. Rick tried a feint and was unable to deceive Garnett, so Rick passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Terrell Brandon came pressing on the defense, Jake saw Shaq''s good movement inside and passed the ball to him. Shaq received the ball and Dean Garrett did not follow Shaq''s movement and was far away, so Shaq took the ball and scored 2 points with the dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaq made a good move and Jake passed the ball just in time. In another move, the Minnesota Timberwolves team was on the attack, Brandon advanced with the ball and passed it to Garnett on the right, Garnett received the ball and Rick came pressing on the defense. Garnett held the ball and passed it to Sam on the left, Sam received the ball and Kobe arrived pressing on the defense, Sam held the ball for a while and passed it to Joe Smith later on. Smith received the ball and Travis Knight came in to press the defense, Smith made the spin and tried the hook shot to make 2 points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team, the two teams were balanced at the beginning of the game. The Minnesota Timberwolves team had a regular attack and defense this season, in the first games of this season they started by winning several games, but Jake knew they would start losing several games by the end of the season. Jake advanced to the attack and passed the ball to Rick from the left, Rick was not playing very well in these last games, he had some tough opponents like in this game that Kevin Garnett was defending against him. Rick received the ball and Garnett came pressing on the defense, Rick held the ball a little and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Sam came pressing on the defense, Kobe managed to deceive Sam with a feint and advanced to the inside area. Some opposing players tried to defend against Kobe, but Kobe kept going and tried a layup to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, in that game Kobe and Shaq were well on the attack which made it easier for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win. In another move the Minnesota Timberwolves team was on the attack, Brandon advanced with the ball and passed it to Sam on the left, Sam received the ball and Kobe arrived pressing on defense, Sam held the ball a little and passed it to Garnett on the right. Garnett received the ball and Rick came in to press the defense, Garnett tricked Rick with a feint and advanced into the area, Garnett advanced and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning and getting a small point advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 8 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. "The first quarter of this game ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a small points advantage, we had a balanced game so far between these two teams that had a good start to the season." "The Minnesota Timberwolves team is playing well this season with Kevin Garnett, Joe Smith, and other players performing well, and the Minnesota Timberwolves team has achieved 13 wins this season." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has the best attack this season and lost just 1 game this season, with Jake Smith joining the team and with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal playing very well, they are one of the strongest teams this season." "We will continue to monitor whether this game will remain balanced and whether the Los Angeles Lakers team will be able to continue with the incredible sequence of victories." In the second quarter the Minnesota Timberwolves team started to press more in attack and defense, they were the team that was playing at home and did not want to lose another game playing in the Target Center. At the beginning of the second quarter, the Minnesota Timberwolves team was on the attack, Brandon advanced with the ball and passed it to Garnett on the right, Garnett received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense. Garnett held the ball for a while and passed it to Sam on the left, Sam got the ball and Kobe got on the defense, Sam didn''t try the move and passed it to Brandon further on, Brandon received the ball and Jake was on the defense. Chapter 529 - The Season Continues 9 Brandon had the ball and tried a mid-range shot and scored 2 more points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team, Jake still tried to hinder Brandon in that play and he couldn''t, Brandon was playing well in that game and Jake knew he had to press more on defense. Jake had managed to make a steal in the first quarter by taking Brandon''s ball and so Brandon was only trying mid-range shots, but now Jake realized that maybe he would have to press even harder on defense. In this balanced game, coach Rambis decided not to replace the main players, the players were not so tired because they were having 1 day of rest between games, in addition, coach Rambis knew that the opponent players were also tired. It was easier for Jake to organize the moves when Shaq and Kobe had been playing for more than 37 minutes and were playing well in the games, Rick was not playing very well in the last games, but it helped to prevent the opponents from making double-team defense against Shaq and Kobe. In another move, the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Sam came pressing on defense, Kobe tried to trick Sam with a feint, but Sam was not fooled. So Kobe passed the ball to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball and Garnett came pressing on the defense, Rick held the ball a little and passed it to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and tried an outside shot to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Jake tried a shot from outside the three-point line, so Brandon didn''t have time to react and so Jake scored 3 more points, in that second quarter the game was still balanced, but the Los Angeles Lakers team was managing to increase the advantage in points. So the Los Angeles Lakers team ended up winning the second quarter, in the third quarter the Minnesota Timberwolves team tried to press further in attack and defense, but with Jake, Shaq and Kobe playing the Los Angeles Lakers team very strong. At the end of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers won with 119 points against 97 points for the Minnesota Timberwolves, in that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 32 points, 11 assists, 11 rebounds, and 8 steals. Jake managed to make another triple-double in that game and with Shaq he was not well to catch rebounds and Dennis Rodman was not playing, Jake decided to try harder to catch defensive rebounds to help the team and not give more attacks to the opponent. "The game is over and the Los Angeles Lakers team has achieved another victory this season, with almost half of the games of this season already played, the Los Angeles Lakers team continues with just 1 loss." "This game was balanced like some games by the Los Angeles Lakers team this season, the Minnesota Timberwolves team played very well and the players performed well, but the Los Angeles Lakers team still won that game." "Shaquille O''Neal did not play as well as in the last games and scored 24 points, Kobe Bryant played very well and scored 21 points, and Jake was again the highlight of the Los Angeles Lakers team." "Jake managed to make another triple-double this season, this was his ninth triple-double this season, Jake had 32 points, 11 assists, and 11 rebounds and played again every 48 minutes." "It''s true, I think Jake can really win the MVP award this season, after all, he has been the best player this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team is almost guaranteed in the playoffs and if the Lakers team advance further in the playoffs Jake can really be chosen as an MVP." The Los Angeles Lakers team managed another victory and Jake remembered that the Minnesota Timberwolves team had qualified for the playoffs with 25 wins, so with two more victories the Los Angeles Lakers team would be guaranteed in the playoffs. Getting to the playoffs was Jake''s first goal in his debut season, then he wanted to try to win the NBA title, if the Los Angeles Lakers team won the NBA title Jake would really feel that he had changed the future of the Los Angeles Lakers team for the better. The players were excited about this victory and coach Rambis was also happy, the players were performing well in most games and when one player played poorly the team still had Jake who played well in all games this season. After 24 games Coach Rambis has already started to see Jake as the most important player for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaquille O''Neal was certainly a player who had to be in every game and the team could even win without Jake on the team. But that was because Shaq didn''t have a good substitute and Derek Fisher could play well as PG even if he wasn''t as good as Jake, so the team depended more on Shaq, but Coach Rambis thought Jake was the most important. Jake was the leading player in various game statistics on the Los Angeles Lakers team and just because he was able to play 48 minutes in every game already showed the importance he had for the Lakers team. After the end of the game the Los Angeles Lakers team traveled to downtown Cleveland, Ohio which was where the next game would be, the players arrived at the hotel and could rest well because the Lakers team would not have a game the next day. The beginning of this month of March was being very good for the teams that sometimes had 1 day for the players to rest between games, the teams still had a difficult and tiring sequence with many games, but it was better than in the month of February. The other day the players just did a short training and so they would be more rested for the next game, then the day of the next game came that would be against the Cleveland Cavaliers team. The Cleveland Cavaliers team was having a regular season with 10 wins and 10 losses in 20 games, even though the Cleveland Cavaliers team was playing at home, everyone thought the Los Angeles Lakers team would win that game. Jake remembered that in this game the Los Angeles Lakers team lost in his past life, so he would not underestimate the opponent, but Jake thought that if he played well the Los Angeles Lakers team would still win. The game started with the Cleveland Cavaliers team pressing in the attack and showing that they wanted to win, the Los Angeles Lakers team also pressing in defense as they did in every game and the game was even. At the end of the first quarter, the Cleveland Cavaliers team was winning a small 2 point lead, in the second quarter Jake started trying more attacking moves and more steals too and he was helping in defense. So in the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team ended up winning, and in the third quarter too, at the end of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 108 points against 96 points of the Cleveland Cavaliers team. This game was more difficult because only Shaquille O''Neal and Jake were playing well in that game, Shaq had 37 points and 19 rebounds and 5 blocks and had one of his best this season, Jake double-double with 32 points and 10 assists. Dennis Rodman did not play again in that game and Coach Rambis seemed uncomfortable with it, Jake had a different contract that allowed him to miss some training and even lose some games and even then Jake did not use this benefit and asked Coach Rambis when he needed to miss training. Kobe Bryant was not playing very well in that game and had 14 points and Rick Fox was also not playing very well and had 12 points, even so, the Los Angeles Lakers team managed another victory and that made the players happier. After that game, the team traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where they would play the next game, this time the players would not have 1 day off because the next game would be the next day. The other day the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the First Union Center to face the Philadelphia 76ers, the other players and even coach Rambis were not concerned with that game because the Los Angeles Lakers team had lost just one game that season. But Jake knew that the Philadelphia 76ers team was probably the toughest opponent that the Los Angeles Lakers team this season, the Lakers team would have lost 8 games this season if Jake had not been on the team. So even though they now had 24 wins and only 1 loss it was because Jake had joined the Los Angeles Lakers team, only Jake knew the real difficulty of the games and that game would be very difficult. The Philadelphia 76ers team had 13 wins and 9 losses this season which was already very good, and they had 3 games less than the Los Angeles Lakers team, in Jake''s past life these two teams had similar results in the season. The Philadelphia 76ers team still had Allen Iverson who was a great Jake idol in the NBA, Allen Iverson is one of the best players in NBA history, this February Allen Iverson would be the player of the month if Jake was not chosen. Allen Iverson would also be the player with the most points per game this season, Jake would probably be the player with the most points this season, so Jake was looking forward to this game and knew that all players would have to play very well for the team to win. Jake even talked to Kobe before the game to ask Kobe to let him defend against Allen Iverson in that game, Jake knew that Allen Iverson would score a lot in that game and only he could help in the defense to prevent Allen Iverson from scoring so many points. Ideally, Jake would suggest this to Coach Rambis, but Jake had a good friendship with Kobe and didn''t want to do that without talking to him before, unfortunately Kobe was very confident that he could defend well against Allen Iverson and did not accept Jake''s suggestion. Chapter 530 - The Season Continues 10 If this dispute between Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant was in a few years in the future Jake would want to watch, after all, in the future, Kobe would be an excellent defensive player and would also attack even better, but in this game, Jake preferred to defend against Allen Iverson. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch this game this NBA season, in this game the Philadelphia 76ers team that is playing at home faces the Los Angeles Lakers team." "The Philadelphia 76ers team is having a good season with 13 wins and 9 losses, with Allen Iverson as the big star of this team they have been achieving good victories and can reach the playoffs this season." "The Los Angeles Lakers team is playing the fourth game as a visiting visitor, yet they haven''t lost any of the last 3 games, they have a great start to the season with 24 wins and just 1 loss in 25 games." "So half of this season is over and the Los Angeles Lakers team has just 1 loss, with Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant and Jake Smith the Los Angeles Lakers team has the best attack that has worked very well this season." "The Philadelphia 76ers team has one of the best saves this season and with Allen Iverson, they can beat this Los Angeles Lakers team." The Los Angeles Lakers team would start that game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Philadelphia 76ers team would start this game with Eric Snow playing as PG, Allen Iverson playing as SG, George Lynch playing as SF, Tyrone Hill playing as PF, and Matt Geiger playing as Center. The game started with Shaquille O''Neal winning the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers, Shaq passed the ball to Jake who started organizing the attack, Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Rick Fox on the left. Rick was not playing very well in those last games, he knew that coach Rambis just did not replace him because he had no other good players in the SF position to play as his replacement and because Rick was scoring more than 10 points in most games. Rick received the ball and George Lynch arrived pressing on defense, Rick held the ball a little and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Allen Iverson arrived pressing on defense. Kobe tried a feint to try to deceive the opponent and made a crossover to try to advance to the internal area, Iverson was not deceived and managed to continue well in the defense, Kobe made another feint and managed to advance for the left quickly. Kobe drive to the basket and tried the layup to make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Kobe didn''t play well in the last game and wanted to have a good performance in that game, especially because he wanted to show Jake that he was able to defend and attack. Of course, Jake knew better than Kobe how skillful he was and how he would be even better in the future, but Jake knew that although Kobe is currently a player who helps in defense he did not play as well against very skilled opponents in the attack. Soon the Philadelphia 76ers team went on the attack to try to tie the game, Erick Snow advanced with the ball and passed to Allen Iverson on the left, Iverson received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense. Iverson did not expect this intensity in defense since the beginning of the game, Iverson held the ball and passed it to Lynch on the right, Lynch received the ball and Rick arrived at the defense, Lynch made a feint and managed to trick Rick, so Lynch tried a mid-shot range to score 2 points for the Philadelphia 76ers. The two teams were pressing in the attack and the Philadelphia 76ers team were better in defense, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Iverson arrived pressing in defense. Kobe held the ball a little and passed the ball to Rick from the left, Rick tried to make a feint to deceive the opponent, but Lynch was not deceived, so Rick passed the ball to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and Snow arrived pressing in defense, Jake advanced with the ball and made a feint to deceive the opponent, Jake deceived Snow and advanced using his speed for the attack. Snow still tried to keep up with the defense, but Jake was faster and advanced with the ball, Jake advanced to the inside area and Matt Geiger tried to defend against him, Jake saw Geiger coming to defend and passed the ball to Shaq later on. Shaq received the ball without anyone defending against him, so Shaq advanced and scored 2 more points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers, Shaq praised Jake for the good move and they went back to the defense. Even though Jake was the highlight of the team today and scored more points than all his teammates, Jake was highly respected by his teammates and no one was jealous of him. This was because Jake was not a player who didn''t know how to play as a team and just wanted to score and didn''t bother to pass the ball, Jake was the player with the most assists in the NBA today and it showed how he passed the ball in most plays. Everyone knew that Jake was the player who scored the most because he was the player who made the least mistakes in attacks and also played 48 minutes in every game while his teammates couldn''t stand to do that. For the other players on the Los Angeles Lakers team, it was normal for Jake to be the best player on the team because he was an excellent player who worked harder than the other players in training him. In another play, the Philadelphia 76ers team was on the attack, Snow advanced with the ball and passed it to Lynch on the right, Lynch received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, Lynch held the ball a little and passed it to Iverson on the left. Iverson received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Iverson tried to trick Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was attentive on defense and was not deceived, Iverson did not understand why Kobe was defending so intensely since the beginning of the game. Iverson tried another feint and made a quick crossover and advanced from the left, Kobe was unable to follow in defense, but soon he recovered and returned to defend against Iverson, Iverson made a feint and tried a fadeaway shot to make 2 more points for the team Philadelphia 76ers. The fadeaway shot was a move that Kobe made many times in games and it was difficult for him to see Iverson making that move against him, this was not the first move that Iverson made the points and Kobe began to realize that maybe he was not able to currently defend well playing against Iverson. The two teams were very balanced in the game, even so, the defense of the Philadelphia 76ers team was better and Allen Iverson was playing very well in that game, so the Philadelphia 76ers team finished the first quarter by winning with the points advantage. In that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake played well in that first quarter, but even he was having trouble attacking and assisting. "The first quarter ends and the Philadelphia 76ers team is winning with a small advantage in points, few times this season the Los Angeles Lakers team ended the first-quarter loss." "The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team are not playing very well, but that was not much different than in the last games, Jake Smith and Kobe Bryant are playing well in that game and Shaquille O''Neal is also playing well despite having played for fewer minutes." "Rick Fox and Robert Horry are not playing very well in the attack, but they help the defense and help in the attack as well as in the last games, even so, the Philadelphia 76ers still have the advantage in the game." "In the attack by the Philadelphia 76ers team, only Allen Iverson is having an excellent performance and scored 11 points in that first quarter, in defense the Philadelphia 76ers team is playing much better and all the players are helping in the defense." "We will continue to follow this game to see if the Los Angeles Lakers team will have their second loss of the season in that game or if they can recover and get another victory." Just as commentators said the Los Angeles Lakers team was playing normally as it did in the last few games and it was the Philadelphia 76ers team that was playing better in defense and Allen Iverson who was playing really well. Coach Kurt Rambis had to replace Shaq in that game for a few minutes because the medical team had said that Shaq''s fatigue was too great and he could be injured if he played normally. Even though players had a day to rest between games, this Los Angeles Lakers team streak as a visitor was tiring the players with travel. The second quarter started with the Philadelphia 76ers team pressing in the attack, the Philadelphia 76ers team wanted this home win against the strong Los Angeles Lakers team to have more courage to continue winning the games. At the beginning of the second quarter, the Philadelphia 76ers team was on the attack, Snow advanced with the ball and passed it to Lynch on the right, Lynch received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense. Lynch tried to trick Rick with a feint, but Rick was not fooled and remained strong in defense, so Lynch decided to pass the ball to Snow further back, Snow received the ball and Jake arrived at the defense. Snow held the ball for a bit and passed the ball to Iverson on the left, Iverson received the ball and Kobe came up to press on defense, Kobe was still trying to defend better in this game and wanted to help the team win this game. Iverson tried to deceive Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not deceived and continued to press in defense, Iverson tried another feint and pretended he was going to advance to the inside area and stepped back and tried an outside shot to make 3 more points for the Philadelphia 76ers team. Chapter 531 - Sequence of Difficult Games 1 Kobe tried to defend in that play and tried to recover after being tricked by the feint, but Iverson had already played with players who were much better than Kobe in defense and he knew how to take advantage of the opportunities. Jake was watching this and wondering if he could do better than Kobe in defense, Jake knew he could prevent Iverson from making some attacks, but Allen Iverson was playing very well in that game and would still score a lot. In another move Jake started to organize the attack for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and held it a little before passing to Kobe on the right. Kobe received the ball and Iverson came in to press on defense, Iverson realized that Kobe was playing well in that game and he also had to press on defense to keep Kobe from scoring too many points. Kobe tried to deceive Iverson with a feint, but Iverson was not deceived and kept pressing in defense, Kobe tried another move doing a crossover, but Iverson kept pressing in defense. So Kobe decided to pass the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and took advantage that Snow was away from him, Jake tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Jake was playing well trying to win in that game, but the Philadelphia 76ers team started to press on defense, even though Jake was having a hard time attacking, the other players on the Los Angeles Lakers team were also having a hard time attacking. So the Philadelphia 76ers team ended the second quarter by winning the game with an even greater advantage in points, Allen Iverson continued to be the highlight of the team scoring more points than Jake in that quarter too. In the third quarter, the Philadelphia 76ers team started to put more pressure on the defense and not attacking as much, when Shaq was replaced, the Philadelphia 76ers team attacked more with Geiger and all the players of the Philadelphia 76ers team also tied when the Los Angeles Lakers team defense was concentrated in Iverson. The game ended with the Philadelphia 76ers taking the win by making 103 points against 98 points of the Los Angeles Lakers team, in that game Jake played for 48 minutes and made 35 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, and 9 steals. "The game ends with the victory of the Philadelphia 76ers team, this was the second defeat of the Los Angeles Lakers team this season in this excellent game that we had, thus ending the sequence of 20 victories that the Los Angeles Lakers team had." "This was the fourth-longest winning streak for a team in NBA history, and the Los Angeles Lakers team has the longest winning streak with a streak of 33 wins, the most interesting thing is that Jake just left university with a straight incredible of victories also playing in the Tar Heels team." "This is certainly not a coincidence and shows the skill of Jake Smith who is currently the best player of the NBA season, in this game Jake played very well with 35 points and 10 assists." "The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team played well in that game, but the Philadelphia 76ers team played much better and defended better, which was very important for this victory." "Allen Iverson was the star of that game with 41 points and 10 assists, this was one of the few games where we saw a player performing better than Jake, so the Philadelphia 76ers team managed to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers." "Now the Philadelphia 76ers team will be more excited to continue winning this NBA season and the Los Angeles Lakers team continues with the streak of games as a visitor that is being tired for the players." The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were saddened by this defeat, they realized that they could win the game if they played a little better, especially Shaq who was replaced, of course, they were professional players and knew that losing was normal in the NBA. Everyone expected that the Los Angeles Lakers team would lose at some point and that''s why the Lakers'' winning streak was so impressive, Coach Rambis was not so upset about it because he knew he had to replace Shaq in that game. The one who was most upset and saddened by this victory was Kobe because Jake had talked to him before the game to ask that he could defend against Allen Iverson in that game and Kobe refused to say that he could defend well. At the end of this game Allen Iverson had 41 points and 10 assists, even though Kobe was struggling in defense he was unable to defend well against Iverson who was playing very well in that game, Jake realized this and called Kobe to talk. "I know what you''re thinking, Kobe, you don''t have to worry about the 41 points that Allen Iverson made in that game, I wanted to defend against him because I have more resistance and I knew he would be able to play many minutes." "But even I don''t think I would be able to stop Iverson from scoring a lot, he was playing very well in that game and you don''t have to worry about that." Kobe knew that Jake was just trying to cheer him up and that probably Jake would have defended better in that game and the Los Angeles Lakers team could have won, in fact, if Jake hadn''t asked to defend against Iverson before the game Kobe wouldn''t have cared so much about the 41 points from Iverson. Jake didn''t know that, but Kobe already thought that if in another game Jake asked to defend against a player, Kobe would stop not risking regret after the game, besides, Kobe was grateful that Jake only talked to him about it and not with Coach Rambis. After the game was over, players traveled to Orlando, Florida, which was where the next game would be, players arrived in Orlando and went to the hotel that was chosen by the team directors. The next day the players would have a rest day in which they would not even have the training to be able to rest more before the next game, after all in the past game Shaq had to be replaced in order not to get tired anymore. Kobe and the other players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were professional players and had already accepted the last defeat and were already thinking about the next game, Jake was even more relaxed because he knew the team would lose even without him playing. The next day the players used the day to rest before the next game, Jake was very close to Miami and Eva had even called asking if he wanted her to go to the game, but Jake knew that this trip would tire his mother and her I would have to close the restaurant for 2 days to watch that game. So Jake told Eva not to worry and just watch the most important playoff games if she could close the restaurant for a few days, after all, Jake also wanted Anna to go to his games with Eva. So soon the day of the game arrived, the players went to the Orlando Arena where the next game would take place, this was the first game of the Los Angeles Lakers team this season against the Orlando Magic team. The Orlando Magic team was very well this season with 18 wins and 7 losses in 25 games, another interesting thing in this game was that Michael Olowokandi who would be the first pick of the draft in which Jake participated had been chosen by the Orlando Magic team. Michael Olowokandi had been chosen as the twelfth pick and that naturally changed his status in the NBA and the Orlando Magic team where he couldn''t even play as many minutes as he normally would in Los Angeles Clippers team. Of course, Michael Olowokandi did not know this would happen and many in the sports media said that choosing Michael Olowokandi as a first pick had been a big mistake, with this change Michael Olowokandi could even have a longer NBA career this time around. The game started with the Los Angeles Lakers team pressing in the attack, even playing as a visitor the Lakers team wanted to win this game after losing the last game, this was something that the Orlando Magic team did not expect and so the Los Angeles Lakers team ended the first quarter winning. Shaquille O''Neal would play much longer in this game after resting and he was playing very well, Kobe Bryant was also playing very well to forget the previous game, Rick Fox was not playing so well again. Dennis Rodman was back on the team and was not playing as well as before, but Coach Rambis took the opportunity to let Robert Horry rest in that game and Horry would play for less time in that game. With the strong attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team they managed to win this game making 129 points against 100 points of the Orlando Magic team, Jake made in that game 32 points 15 assists and 11 steals making another triple-double. Shaq also played very well and scored 31 points and had 13 rebounds, Kobe also had one of his best performances of the season and scored 38 points in that game showing that he was one of the best SG in the NBA today. Only Jake, Shaq and Kobe scored 101 points out of the team''s 129 points showing why they were the most important players for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win, this victory left players excited again for the next games. After that game the players traveled to Dallas, Texas where the Los Angeles Lakers team would play the last game in that sequence of games as a visitor, the players arrived in Dallas and went to the hotel to rest. This time the players would have no day off and the next day they would play again, so it was expected that coach Rambis would let the main players rest for a few minutes during the game. The next day the players went to Reunion Arena to play against the Dallas Mavericks team that was not doing well this NBA season despite having two of Jake''s NBA idols who were Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki. Chapter 532 - Sequence of Difficult Games 2 As the Dallas Mavericks team was not doing very well this season, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were more relaxed in this next game, everyone wanted to win this game and end this sequence of games as a visitor. Dennis Rodman would be playing that game again and Coach Rambis decided to let Robert Horry rest in that game and Travis Knight would start playing, in the first quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team started pressing in the attack. The Dallas Mavericks team also started to put pressure on the attack and to the surprise of the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Dallas Mavericks team started the game very well, so they started to focus more on the game. At the end of the first quarter, the Dallas Mavericks team was winning the game with a small points advantage, coach Rambis intended to let Shaq and Kobe rest for many minutes in that game, but seeing the first quarter of the team he changed his mind because he didn''t want another one defeat. In the second quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team played much better and started to put a lot of pressure on the attack, Dennis Rodman was also playing well, getting a lot of rebounds in that game and helping in defense. So the Los Angeles Lakers team ended the second quarter by winning, in the third quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team pressed again in the attack and Coach Rambis even started to replace Shaq and Kobe. The game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with 109 points against 89 points for the Dallas Mavericks team, in that game Jake played very well again and had 31 points and 12 assists. Shaq had a good game even playing for less time and had 25 points and Kobe Bryant had 21 points, Dennis Rodman returned to make a good game with 17 rebounds which helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to achieve this victory. After this victory, the players, the medical team, and the coach Rambis were very happy because of the victory, but also because the Los Angeles Lakers'' game sequence as a visitor had ended. The players were in better physical condition than the medical team expected and Jake surprised again by being able to play for 48 minutes in those 6 games after Jake played those 6 games they were sure he could play the rest of the season. After the game the players returned to Los Angeles and could sleep at their house for the next few days, now the Los Angeles Lakers team would have a sequence of 4 games at home and so the players would not tire so much. The next day the Lakers team would also have no game and so the players could rest and do just a quick training, Jake returned to his house after leaving for almost two weeks and was happy to be back. Jake had a lot of fun living in the dormitories at the university with his friends, but it was different when he lived in a house that was his, Jake just missed living with his mother in Miami. But Jake knew it wasn''t going to happen because he always needed to travel to the games and needed to live in the places where his team was, and Eva had her restaurant and Jake knew that his mother was happy making her dream come true. The other day Jake woke up rested and happy to be home, as soon as he woke up he got a call from David that he was waiting for, Jake just thought David would call later. "Hi, David, how are you?" "I''m fine, Jake, congratulations on the Los Angeles Lakers team''s victories, you''ve only lost two games this season and everyone in the sports media is saying that your team can win the NBA title." "I hope that happens, but we still have a lot of games this season and then we have the playoffs where anything can happen." "You are right, keep training and playing well so your team will be in the playoffs and can win the games in the playoffs." "I''m going to speak because I called you, I know you said you didn''t want to participate in this, but the directors the Wachowskis asked you to participate in an interview program to talk about the film." "I said I didn''t want to participate in this, David, I''m very busy with training and games, besides, I said that I think it is better that only the main actors participate in the promotion of the film, my character is not that important." "I know," said Jake, but it was actually a request for an interview program, the main actors already promoted the film that month, but one of the stations called the Wachowskis to say they wanted to interview you. " "Your story is very interesting, Jake, you are only 20 years old and you are already one of the highlights of the Los Angeles Lakers team, you have won a gold medal in the Olympics and won several marathons." "The talk shows are interested in players who participate in films, especially if you have an interesting story like that and are participating in a really big film." "Also, the film you participated in will soon open, so this is a good time to make people watching the interview program curious to watch the film in which you participate." Jake did not expect an interview program to invite him to participate, he knew that the best basketball players participated in these programs, but they were players like Dennis Rodman who always pleased the audience and Michael Jordan who was the best player in the NBA. Hearing what David said, Jake understood that it was true that his story was interesting, but Jake thought it was more normal for sports programs to ask him to participate in the programs, so he was called because of the film he was going to participate in. "What was the interview program that invited me to participate?" "It was NBC''s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the program is recorded in Burbank, California, so you won''t have to travel far to record the program." Jake was surprised that the production of Jay Leno''s show had invited him, it was one of the biggest talk shows in the world and was watched by a lot of people, Jake hoped maybe it was another show that needed more audience. "Okay, I''m going to be on The Tonight Show, but what day am I going to have to go to record the show?" "They know you''re going to be busy, so they left to be recorded today after 5 pm, your training should be in the early afternoon and you will have time to go to Burbank after that." "Then I will be there." Jake didn''t know what the regular time the show was on, but he knew the show usually had two guests and a musical attraction, so it was very considerate of the broadcaster to change the recording time because of him. After a few hours, Jake went for the light training of the Los Angeles Lakers team, after training he had to go back to his house to prepare his suit and after that, he went to Burbank. Jake managed to arrive at The Burbank Studios with a few minutes to go before the appointment, Jake took an ID card at the entrance to the Studio and was soon called by the makeup artists to prepare for the recording. The makeup artists didn''t have much work with Jake because his face was naturally beautiful and his hair was cut every week, Jake was wearing one of his best suits and he didn''t have to put on one of the suits they had prepared for the guests. Soon Jake knew that the other guest who would be interviewed and the musical attraction was singer Fiona Apple, Fiona Apple was a singer that Jake remembered and was well known in the 90s, Jake didn''t know Fiona and was never a big fan of her so he just he would talk to her if Fiona came to talk to him. Jake was tidy and saw that the recordings would soon begin, Jay Leno came over to talk to him a little before the recording of the program started and said he was happy that Jake had accepted the invitation. After that, the recording of the program started and Jay Leno recorded the beginning of the program with his jokes that Jake remembered that he liked to watch on television, Jake accepted this invitation because in his past life he already thought about participating in the program with Jay Leno. The recording took a while because they had to re-record some things and they had a break for a few minutes when they moved to start another part of the program, Jake was listening to everything while he waited and soon he was asked to go on stage. When Jay Leno introduced Jake the audience started to applaud him a lot, Jake didn''t expect it because he just saw the audience applauding the most famous artists like great basketball players, actors, and singers. Jay Leno stood up to greet Jake with a handshake and the two sat down to start the interview while the audience still applauded Jake, after a while everyone stopped and Jake felt lucky that he could control his emotions otherwise he would be too embarrassed. "Welcome Jake, this is the first time that you''re here on my show and I''m happy to have you here." "Thanks for the invitation, Jay, I watch your programs so it''s really cool to be here participating in your program." "Let''s talk a little bit about sports, which is where you stand out the most, you''ve already participated in 14 big marathons in your 4 years of competition as a runner, and you won 13 of those 14 marathons and came in second in the only marathon you didn''t win." "What do you feel about having achieved this brilliant career and having even won a gold medal at an Olympics in a few years?" "I always loved running, I started to enjoy sports running and it was always something that made me happy, but I never really thought that I would compete in marathons, so I started playing basketball which was always something I always loved." "I liked basketball and I knew I had a chance to make a better life for myself and my family if I played basketball well, and when I was younger I found out I was skilled at playing basketball." Chapter 533 - Sequence of Difficult Games 3 "I started playing basketball only in middle school and at that time I didn''t know much about basketball basics, I was good at making mid-range shots and I scored a lot, but I didn''t know how to make good passes and I didn''t defend well." "I learned a lot of things in middle school and thanks to the help of some friends I managed to get two companies to sponsor me, I am a friend of the owners of these companies until today and so I managed to start dreaming of playing in the NBA." "After a few years of playing basketball and training a lot I realized that I had a lot of resistance, I always ran all these years as training to improve my resistance, so one day I thought about trying to run 40 km to see if I could do it." "After a few weeks of training I managed to run 40 km and I wanted to see if I could run 45 km, after a long time I did it too and so I wanted to know if I could run faster and in less time 45 km." "So I realized that I was able to run the distance of a marathon in very good time, but I was not sure if the time I set myself was right and I decided to run my first marathon, thinking only of completing the marathon." "I managed to enroll in the Chicago marathon and decided to run as fast as I could to get the best place in the marathon, in the end, I ended up winning and so I realized I had a talent for it." Jake told the story how it really happened that he started running marathons, of course, he really started running marathons because he had the system to help him and because of the system he knew he had a chance to run the marathon before even running. Jay Leno and the people in the audience who didn''t hear Jake tell this story elsewhere were impressed by this story, especially since Jake made it look like the things he did were easy to do. After winning the first marathon I started wanting to run more marathons and when the time for the Olympics came I managed to qualify for the Olympics and then I won the marathon and won my first gold medal." "After winning this marathon I had more confidence and ran many other important marathons and was lucky to win all the marathons that I participated in after the Olympics." "This is really impressive, Jake, you said you started running after realizing that you had a lot of resistance in basketball training, you played basketball very well at North Carolina on the Tar Heels team as we all know." "And now you''re playing well on the Los Angeles Lakers team at just 20 years old, what is it like for you to have basketball and still be a marathon runner?" "As I said I love basketball since I was very young, I wanted to play to give my mom and me a better future, I was lucky to have friends and get sponsorship from a very early age." "I always trained a lot to be able to play well, I naturally was not always a skilled player, I had since I was a young talent to do mid-range shots and three-point shots, but even with my talent, I trained thousands of shots three points every week. " "To improve in defense and to get rebounds, to make assists I trained a lot and continued training to be a better player, I am very happy to see that this training paid off and that I am in the NBA and fulfilled one of my dreams." Jake finished speaking and was applauded again by the audience, Jake was a little embarrassed about it and Jay Leno continued the interview by asking some funny questions and saying fun things as he did well. Jake also knew how to be funny and answered the questions in a funny way too, Jay Leno stopped the interview for the show''s director to take the break and after that stop, Jay Leno finally started talking about the movie. "Jake, last year you acted in your second film, this time as one of the main characters in the film, it is the film The Matrix that will open later this month, what did you think about acting in this film?" "I was surprised at the invitation to participate in this great film with excellent actors, the directors Wachowskis invited me and I was very happy because I had only made a cameo in a film before." "I was very happy to participate in this film, I always enjoyed watching films and acting as well, I had some opportunities recording commercials and participating in the film Jerry Maguire, now I had the opportunity to participate in the film The Matrix." "It seems to be a great movie, in the last few weeks I received here on the show Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne who talked about the film, but talk a little about the film." "This is the film about the world of the Matrix where things seem real, but they are not really, I don''t know if I can talk about more things because I can give spoilers for the film, it''s a film that has a great story, good characters, martial arts, science fiction and also excels in special effects." "So I think this is going to be a film that is going to revolutionize the way that action films are going to be made and the audience will like it too." "Talking about the fight scenes, Keanu was here and praised you a lot saying that you stood out in the fight scenes and that you had several months of training to be able to record the fight scenes, how was that?" "Yes, me and the other actors did several months of training with martial arts director Yuen Woo-ping, Woo-ping is a really good teacher and taught me a lot of things in a few months." "I was lucky to be an athlete and so I just had to start learning to fight, the other actors also had to improve their physical condition to endure the long fights." "But all the actors did very well in the fight scenes Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving were excellent, Woo-ping was able to create a different style for all the actors, you will see incredible scenes with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in that film." "Not to mention that Keanu did the fight scenes while having a health problem that prevented him from moving around so much, everyone struggled for almost 1 year to make this incredible film." Jake spoke very well of the film even though he did not prepare for it and without even saying much of the plot of the film because he did not want to give spoilers about the film to anyone who was going to watch, Jay Leno was also impressed how Jake looked comfortable in the interview as some artists who have been on his program several times. Jake could speak very well about the film because he had already seen the film several times in his past life, in addition, Jake had also read several comments about the film made by critics and fans of the film. So Jake could speak better of how good the film was than the directors who saw the film several times after editing it, so the audience that was watching the interview also started to have more interest in the film. After some more time the interview ended and Jake left the program applauded by the audience, Jake was happy to have participated in this interview and he hoped to have helped the film to be an even bigger success. One thing Jake didn''t know was that Warner Bros had some doubts about whether the movie would be a success before, so after Jake became one of the NBA''s biggest stars this season, Warner Bros decided to invest a lot more money in advertising. So the movie The Matrix would have a lot more publicity than it did in Jake''s past life, this could help attract an even bigger audience to watch the movie while the movie was being shown in the cinema. Jake knew this was possible because, in his past life, Jake remembered that everyone he knew had ever seen The Matrix and most people liked it, of course, that was why the film was shown on television afterward a few years. After Jake left Fiona Apple joined the program and Jake waited for the program to end to say goodbye to everyone and go to his house, the recorded program would air on television after two days. After a few more minutes the show ended and Jake said goodbye to Jay Leno, Fiona Apple, and the people in the show''s production and left, Jake wanted to go to his house to get a good rest for the game the next day. As soon as Jake got home David Falk called him asking how the show had been, David was happy to know that the interview had been good, Jake''s commercial with Gatorade was going to start showing on television and that interview would be a good one advertising. Adidas also had the commercials that Jake recorded prepared, but they would have to wait for Jake''s branded sneakers to be released to start showing the commercials on television stations. David told Jake that in the coming weeks he would have to record a commercial whenever the Los Angeles Lakers team had no games, Jake still had commercials for Chevrolet, Pepsi and Gillette to record in those weeks. Jake knew he had these responsibilities and agreed to do these commercials whenever he could, Jake didn''t like to miss the team''s training, so he would talk to these companies to start recording early in the morning. Jake knew that if he missed the team''s training for 3 days in a few weeks, coach Rambis would not like it, Jake knew that Dennis Rodman was heavily criticized for missing some training and being late sometimes. Fortunately, even though Dennis was still late in training and missed a few games, as the Los Angeles Lakers team was beating coach Rambis he didn''t care much about it, Jake also missed some training and this made Coach Rambis''s treatment of Dennis less rigid. Jake also thought it was better if Dennis Rodman could continue playing for the Lakers team at least until the end of this season, after all, Dennis was an excellent player who helped the team in several games. Chapter 534 - Sequence of Difficult Games 4 Jake can rest well and soon the day of the next game arrived, Jake went to the Great Western Forum and saw that the Los Angeles Lakers team fans had come to see the game, Jake went to the locker room and met the other players and everyone went to the court. In that game, the Los Angeles Lakers team would return to play at home after the difficult sequence of games as a visitor, of the 6 games that the Lakers team had as a visitor were 5 victories and only 1 defeat. This was very good for the Los Angeles Lakers team that now had 26 wins and 2 losses in 28 games this season, Jake was also happy because he remembered that the Los Angeles Lakers team would have lost 3 games in that 6-game streak as a visitor. In this game Robert Horry would not play because coach Rambis decided to let him rest, Dennis Rodman would start the first game as a starting player with the confidence of coach Rambis after playing well in the last game. The opposing team in that game was the Phoenix Suns team that had one of Jake''s idols, PG Jason Kidd, the Phoenix Suns team had 13 wins and 13 losses this season in 26 games and they were having an average season. Jake was worried about this game because he remembered that the Los Angeles Lakers team would lose that game, so he had to play very well to try to prevent this defeat from happening, at the beginning of the game the Los Angeles Lakers team started pressing in the attack. In that first quarter, Jake realized that Shaquille O''Neal was more tired than in other games and was not playing as well as he normally played, yet he was still one of the players who scored the most points in the game. The Phoenix Suns team was also playing well, the Phoenix Suns team was a team with one of the best attacks of this season and that was bad for the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team that was not doing so well. Soon the first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a small advantage on the scoreboard, in the second quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to press in the attack, and the Phoenix Suns team was also pressing in the attack. It looked like this would be a game in which the team with the best attack would win, in the second quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team was playing very well and managed to further increase the advantage in points. Coach Rambis started to replace Shaq for a longer time in that quarter because he also noticed how tired Shaq looked, yet the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to play well and ended the second quarter by winning. In the third quarter the game looked very different, the players of the Phoenix Suns team came back with a desire to win and was playing much better and made much less in attack and the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team could not stop their attack. So at the end of the third quarter, the Phoenix Suns team managed to tie the game and in the last quarter, the two teams started with equal chances of winning the game, in that game Dennis Rodman was playing very well taking several rebounds and helping the Lakers team. Rick Fox was not playing as well, but he still managed to help the team in attack and defense as in other games, in the last quarter the two teams were pressing in attack and were balanced. Jake started to work even harder in the game by hitting several three-point shots and making steals and blocks trying to stop Jason Kidd, this helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to end the game with the victory. In this game the Los Angeles Lakers team won making 112 points against 101 points of the Phoenix Suns team, in that game, Jake scored 43 points and 10 steals getting another double-double, at the end of the game Jake was very applauded because the crowd saw how Jake struggled in the last quarter. In that game Shaquille O''Neal played less than 30 minutes and scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds, Kobe Bryant scored 25 points in that game and played well helping the Los Angeles Lakers team to win. Dennis Rodman also played well in defense and managed to catch 13 rebounds, these rebounds helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to prevent the Phoenix Suns team from having more chances to attack. After the end of the game the players were able to return to their home and Jake went to his home, David called Jake because he had asked David to do this after the game, Jake had asked David to try to organize the commercial recordings for very early in the morning and David said he would try. "Hi, Jake, congratulations on winning that last game, it seemed like a difficult victory." "Thanks, David, it was a really tough win, in fact, I expected it to be a tough game and with the fatigue of my teammates the game just got tougher." "It''s true, but you have to think that the players of the opposing teams are also tired and you who have a good resistance can take the opportunity to attack more as you did at the end of that game." After having worked with the best players for several years David learned a lot of things in basketball, so he knew that if the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team who were younger were tired then the opponents would be too. "I called to tell you that tomorrow you are going to record the commercial for Pepsi, they accepted your order and we are going to start recording in the morning, but you are going to have to come back at night to do the scenes indoors." "Thanks, David, I didn''t want to miss any more training, I don''t mind going back to the advertising companies to shoot more scenes after training." Jake was happy to know that the Pepsi representatives did not mind him recording the commercial early, Jake went to sleep and woke up very early the next day and went to the advertising company that David had given the address to on the call the night before. On that day the Los Angeles Lakers team would have no game and would only have light training, so Jake would leave the advertising company and go to training in the afternoon, and just at night, he would return to the advertising company. Jake arrived at the advertising company and everyone was waiting for him, Jake greet the directors of the commercial and the company representative Pepsi and David called him to tell him what the commercial would be like. "Jake, in this commercial you will be an athlete running a marathon, the advertising company has already prepared a place to record the commercial with several people who will be the audience for the race and the other runners." David told the rest of the commercial to Jake and he liked the idea, at that time it was normal for a beverage commercial to joke and compare it with other beverage brands if David didn''t think it would be a problem he didn''t either. Jake and the people from the advertising company went to the place where the commercial would be recorded, it was a road that would be used as a marathon route, Jake and the other actors would not run many kilometers and that was just to pass the impression on to the audience. In fact, they would run a few miles and Jake would have to splash his face with water to pretend he was sweating, soon the commercial started recording, Jake ran with the other actors while some hired people were the audience cheering for Jake and the other actors. The idea for the commercial was for Jack and the other runners to stop at the gas stations and drink water and other drinks, when Jake stopped at the gas stations to drink water he would show a face that he didn''t like what he was drinking. So Jake and the other runners would pass by various booths and Jake would show that he didn''t like drinking water and other drinks, Jake and the other actors had done the scenes and the commercial director liked it. In the final scene, Jake would pass the finish line first and win the marathon, but Jake would not stop to celebrate and receive the award and would keep running, so there was a scene with the camera showing Jake running out of the marathon location afterward to win the marathon. So Jake would continue running until he found a store and would go into the store to buy a Pepsi, he would drink an entire can of Pepsi and be satisfied finally drinking Pepsi, Jake recorded the commercial in a few hours because the film crew had to change the cameras and prepare the scenes before Jake could record. The director really liked Jake''s work and because he didn''t make so many mistakes he can go to the Los Angeles Lakers team training earlier and would have to go back to the advertising company to take the pictures for the commercials in the magazines at night. Jake, who knew a lot about business, asked David if it was okay for him to do this commercial because he realized that in the commercial he seemed to dislike the drinks he drank during the marathon. But one of the drinks he drank in the marathons was Gatorade, which was another company that sponsored him, of course, he didn''t show the Gatorade brand in this commercial, and everyone would understand that it was just advertising, but Jake knew that after a few commercial years, it wouldn''t be accepted. Jake found the commercial to be very creative and fun to do for the time he was in, of course maybe in the future a commercial like this wouldn''t be much fun for the audience to see, but Jake understood that he was in 1999 now. Jake went straight to his training and just put on his uniform to train so that the players wouldn''t get too tired they just did a little training and stayed in the gym for a while and then they were released. After training Jake went to his house to take a shower and change clothes, Jake got ready and went back to the advertising company to take the pictures and do what he had to do to finish the commercial. Jake arrived at the advertising company and everything was prepared for him to take the photos that would be used in Pepsi advertising in the coming months, Jake was used to taking the photos and finished it in a few hours. Chapter 535 - Sequence of Difficult Games 5 The Pepsi representative and the people at the advertising company were satisfied with the photos and with Jake''s work that day, they had already worked with other artists who were much more annoying and had a lot of demands. Jake did everything the director of the commercial told and worked for hours without complaining once and also did not make mistakes in the commercials, David was also happy with that because Jake was building a good reputation among advertising companies and among sponsors. These companies that sponsored Jake were big companies in the market that wasn''t even spending a lot of money on that sponsorship, so if they liked Jake and if they realized that the public was buying more of their product because of Jake they could renew the contracts throughout Jake''s career and paying a lot more. David knew that Jake was not pretending and that was his real personality which made his job with Jake so much easier, David knew he didn''t have to worry about Jake''s personal life because Jake was the type of person who wouldn''t bring problems. After Jake finished doing everything for the recording of the commercial and the photos David reminded Jake that the next day of the next game Jake would have to record the next commercial, David already told Jake that the next commercial was with Chevrolet. So Jake can go back to his house and go to sleep because the Los Angeles Lakers team had a game the next day, then the day of the next game came and after a few hours, Jake went to the Great Western Forum. The game that day was against the Sacramento Kings team, the Sacramento Kings team had 11 wins and 17 losses before that game, Jake was worried about that game because in the first game the Los Angeles Lakers team was supposed to lose because of what Jake remembered his past life. In that game, the Los Angeles Lakers team also lost to the Sacramento Kings team because of what Jake remembered from his past life, that was the reason that Jake was very concerned in that game, in the last game if he didn''t try harder than normal to Lakers team would have lost again. Coach Rambis had to replace Shaquille O''Neal for a few minutes in that game as well so as not to risk Shaq having an injury, Jake and the other players understood that, but it would be harder for the Los Angeles Lakers to win. At the beginning of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team started pressing in the attack, Jake knew that in this game he would have to try harder for the Lakers team to win, even so, the Sacramento Kings team also pressed in attack and defense. The Sacramento Kings team had the second-best attack this season after the Los Angeles Lakers team, but luckily for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Sacramento Kings team had the worst defense. In the first quarter, the game was well balanced and Rick Fox was playing very well in that game which helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to put more pressure on the defense, Dennis Rodman who had played well in the last games was also helping on defense. On the Sacramento Kings team, there were Chris Webber, Corliss Williamson, and Vlade Divac who were playing really well too and that was making things difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team that was bad. At the end of the first quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team ended up winning with a big advantage in points, it seemed that if the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to keep the game balanced they would get the victory. In the second quarter the Sacramento Kings team started to press more in the attack because they knew they needed the victory, the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to press in the attack also because they knew that it was no use just defending against the Sacramento Kings team that had the second-best attack. Jake knew he would have to try harder in this game and so he started making some steals and blocks in the second quarter and that made things difficult for the Sacramento Kings team to attack, unfortunately, Jake couldn''t help much to defend because he had to defend against Jason Williams. So the game was very balanced again, but the Sacramento Kings team was losing the game by a big difference in points and the balanced game was not very useful for them in that game. So in the third quarter the Sacramento Kings team started to press hard in the attack and even try to press in the defense, Coach Rambis saw the advantage of the Los Angeles Lakers team and started to replace Shaq for longer and so the Sacramento Kings team also took advantage of that. The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were not playing very well in that third quarter and the Sacramento Kings team managed to greatly diminish the advantage, the players of the Sacramento Kings team were also making plays far from where Jake was to avoid him who was the best player in the defense in that game. So Jake can help by making several shots from three points and thus not letting the Sacramento Kings team tie, in the last quarter the Sacramento Kings team could not stand to press so hard in attack and defense and were more tired. The game was balanced again and the Los Angeles Lakers team was still winning and had the advantage in points, the game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team achieving another victory in yet another difficult game. The Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 118 points against 106 points from the Sacramento Kings team, in that game Jake was the highlight again and was applauded again by the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team. In that game, Jake had 45 points, 11 assists, and 10 steals, getting another triple-double this season, Jake was happy that the Los Angeles Lakers team won another game they would normally have lost. Shaquille O''Neal did not play very well in that game even though he played for only 31 minutes and scored 24 points, this was one of Shaq''s worst games this season and he was not very happy after the game ended. Kobe Bryant had a good game with 26 points and helped the team to win, Rick Fox also stood out in that game with 21 points, Dennis Rodman also helped the team with 9 rebounds. The next day the players would have another day of rest and the coach Rambis even released the players from the training that day after all the next two games would also be difficult, the Los Angeles Lakers team was in a sequence of difficult games. Jake was happy to have a rest day because he was going to record a commercial for Chevrolet the next day and with that rest, he didn''t have to worry about training and could record the commercial. The Gatorade commercial had already started to run on the television stations and the Pepsi commercial would also be ready soon, only the Adidas commercial had to take a while to go on the television stations because Jake''s sneakers had to be released together. Jake was close to bedtime when he got a call from his mom, Jake talked to Eva almost every day, but for the past few days, he knew she was busy organizing the new restaurant menu with Anna and so he decided not to. call her every day. Jake hadn''t realized it earlier because he thought Eva liked to get calls from him after his game was over, but in fact, there was a 3-hour time difference between Los Angeles and Miami. So when the game was over it was already very late in Los Angeles and it was even later in Miami, even in the morning Jake couldn''t call because when he woke up in Los Angeles it was the time that Eva had already entered the restaurant in Miami. "Hi, Jake, why haven''t you called me in the past few days? I was worried about you." "Sorry about that, mom, you said you were busy at the restaurant organizing the new menu with Anna and I know that when I call you it''s too late in Miami, so I decided not to call every day." "I''m glad to hear that you care about me, Jake, but you should have warned me of this decision you made, I''ve been worried for the past few days waiting for you to call me." "Sorry, I was also busy recording commercials and games and I didn''t think about it." "I called you to talk about it, you should have told me that you would be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, you know I watch that show sometimes." "Fortunately I was lucky to have the television on that day when you participated in the program, but I couldn''t record it because there was no time, you also appeared in a Gatorade commercial." "I wasn''t sure when the program was going to be on television, I also wanted to watch it, I''m going to order a tape recording the program for the broadcaster." Jake didn''t really remember very well if David had spoken when the show was on television, he also wanted to watch to see if he made a mistake when he was on the show. "Did you say you are recording a lot of commercials? What commercials are you recording?" "I already recorded this commercial for Gatorade that you saw, I recorded a commercial for Adidas and Pepsi, tomorrow I will record a commercial for Chevrolet and in a few days I will record a commercial for Gillette." "Now that you''ve told me that, I''m going to start watching more television in the next few days, so I''m going to watch the commercials you recorded." Eva was proud to hear that Jake was going to record a commercial for these big companies, Jake had already done many things that impress and make her proud, but Jake still had things that he did that still surprised Eva. "And you mom, tell me how is the new menu at the restaurant?" "It''s fine, Anna and I have changed the menu completely several times, so we are thinking of bringing to the menu some dishes that were successful in the first years of the restaurant, we think that customers will like this." Chapter 536 - Sequence of Difficult Games 6 "I am sure that customers will enjoy seeing a menu with the best dishes that have ever been made in the restaurant, I would just recommend that you do not use some dishes from the last menu." "Anna said that too, this is not going to be a problem, we just want customers to enjoy seeing these dishes on the menu again." Jake was happy to see that his mother was happy, the restaurant was already 5 years old that had been opened and since the first year the restaurant was always full, Jake was proud of his mother and was happy that Eva had Anna to help her. Jake talked for a few more minutes with his mother and went to sleep because he had to go to the advertising company early to record the commercial, the next day Jake woke up very early and after he ate breakfast and soon after David called him. "Hi, Jake, congratulations on your victory in the last game, you scored more than 43 points in these two games, I think you will be chosen again to be the player of the month." "Hahaha, it would be nice if that happened, but I don''t know if they would choose a rookie for two months in a row, the most important thing is that the Lakers team keeps winning." "Okay, I called to remind you that today you are going to record the commercial for Chevrolet and to give you the address of the advertising company." "I would not forget that today Coach Rambis released us from training, so I will have the whole day to record the commercial." "That''s fine, I''m already here at the advertising company and I''m going to let the commercial director know that he''ll have more time to do the recording, come when you''re ready." Jake hung up the phone and as he was ready he went directly to the address David had given, Jake was enjoying filming these commercials and was excited to know what the director would tell him to do. Jake was very fond of acting and so he agreed to stay several months in Australia to do the filming of the movie The Matrix, especially on this second chance of his that he had more acting skills that were given by the system. Jake arrived at the advertising company and greet handshake the director of the commercial, the Chevrolet representative and some people from the advertising company, Jake already had a reputation in Los Angeles for being a talented actor and so the advertising companies were easy to record a commercial with him. David was talking to the commercial director and they had some assistants who were discussing something on the phone, Jack didn''t know what it was, but he knew they wouldn''t shoot the first scenes at the advertising company because there was nothing from the Chevrolet company at that time place. Jake can see only a few things that were prepared for him to do the photos for the other advertis.e.m.e.nts in magazines and elsewhere for Chevrolet, after a while, David finally went to talk to Jake. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Jake, we were trying to organize the schedules for some actors and some equipment because we are going to finish the entire commercial without having to stop now that you are not going to have the training." "I didn''t know it would cause any problems if you want we can record the commercial the way it was agreed to before." "It wasn''t a problem, the sooner we can finish this commercial it would be better for everyone here, these companies are used to working with artists who have little free time to record commercials." "We are going to the place where we are going to start recording the commercial and when we get there I tell you what you are going to have to do." The whole team traveled for more than 2 hours until they entered a place that looked like a farm, they had already left Los Angeles and had entered a dirt road that was part of the farm. Jack saw the farm and was curious to know what commercial they would have to record, when the film crew arrived at the farm Jake realized that this was no ordinary farm, it was something like a hotel and even had a basketball court and a field of football. There were still animals on the farm and Jake saw crops before they arrived at the farm, so David who realized that Jake was curious finally told him what the commercial would be like, Jake liked the commercial and thought it was a lot of fun for him to do. After they have waited for some time the other actors who had not arrived appear in the forest and so the director says that everything is ready and that they can start recording the commercial, soon Jake and the young people go to the basketball court and the commercial begins. In the commercial, Jake and several young people were playing a game of basketball and in the commercial will show some scenes of them playing, the young people seem to be very wealthy and complain about Jake having chosen a farm for them to spend their weekend of rest. Even more so because some of the young people say that it rained a lot the day before and therefore the farm officials warned that the dirt road was not very good for them to leave the farm. This was their last day on the farm and the rich young people didn''t want to stay on the farm anymore and wanted to leave for the city even with the warnings from the farm people, so Jake naturally left with his friends too. So the scene changes and another part of the commercial begins in which young people arrive to get their car for them to leave, everyone has sports cars and luxury cars and Jake has his black Chevrolet Silverado. The young people laugh at Jake''s car and say that he had to choose a much better car like theirs, after all, they are friends and know that Jake also has money, and Jake replies that he prefers this more reliable car and that he has his style. So the young people take their cars and leave the farm in a hurry towards the city, Jake is still calm and gets into his Chevrolet Silverado, then the camera shows Jake driving and the dirt road with lots of mud because of the rain. After Jake has been on the road for a while he arrives at a place on the dirt road where his friends'' cars are stuck in the mud and can''t get out, the sports cars and luxury cars are dirty with mud and can''t get out of the mud. So Jake passes his Chevrolet Silverado easily through the place where his friends'' cars are stuck, after passing through the place where the cars are stuck Jake to his car and take a rope and help to pull the other cars out of the mud. This was the commercial and just like David said it took several hours for them to record the commercial because they had to find a hotel that was on the farm and rent it for a whole day, then they had to leave the dirt road with a lot of mud and not it had rained in the past few days. It was a difficult job for the advertising team and for the director to do this scene despite all these problems, Jake found the commercial cool and interesting, the commercial showed Chevrolet Silverado well and also showed the car''s capacity. Jake thought it might be better if he just drove the Chevrolet Silverado over to the place where his friends'' cars were stuck and left to get revenge for having laughed at him. But Jake understood that with the commercial the way the director put it showed a more positive message and showed, even more, the strength of the Chevrolet Silverado towing the other cars, after several hours they finished the commercial and everyone really liked how the commercial was. Chevrolet decided to do this type of commercial using Jake''s actor side rather than showing him as a basketball player and marathoner, so they could make a more normal commercial for their company and they would still use Jake''s popularity in the commercial. After the recording of the commercial ended they went back to the advertising company to take care of the photos, the photos took a long time and Jake greet all the people who worked with him and went back to his house. Jake recorded this commercial and then there would not be another commercial to record in the next few days, the Los Angeles Lakers team would have two games in two days in a row, after those two games the players would have 3 days of rest before the other game of the Los Angeles Lakers team. This would be great for players who were having a hard time continuing to play well in this intense sequence of games, at that time Jake would have no rest because he would record another commercial and would have to go to the premiere of The Matrix. Fortunately for Jake, the next commercial would be the last one he would have to record that year, the companies that sponsored him would not want to spend money making two commercials in the same year, so maybe next year he would record several commercials again, after all, his contracts were all at least 4 years old. The other day Jake woke up very early and was preparing for the next difficult game they would have, even though in the past life the Los Angeles Lakers team won that game, Jake would not be surprised if they lost this next game. After a few hours, Jake went to the Great Western Forum where the game would take place, Jake saw that thousands of people had come to cheer for the Los Angeles Lakers team and that the Great Western Forum could sell out again. The Los Angeles Lakers team was standing out a lot this season with 28 wins and only 2 losses in 30 games, that season had only 50 games and it was certain that the Los Angeles Lakers team would qualify for the playoffs. Jake''s entry into the team this first season could not be better with an average of more than 34 points per game and 11 assists per game, Jake was also the player who played the most time in games with 48 minutes in all games. Chapter 537 - Sequence of Difficult Games 7 So it was normal for Jake to become one of the crowd''s favorite players, the people who criticized the Los Angeles Lakers team for swapping Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell and Derek Harper had disappeared and everyone praised Jerry West for yet another good choice for the Lakers team. Soon Jake and the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the court for the game to start, the opponent in that game was the New York Knicks team, this was the first game of the Los Angeles Lakers team facing the New York Knicks team this season. The New York Knicks team got off to a good start this season with 16 wins and 13 losses in 29 games, even if they didn''t win many games Jake was very careful with the New York Knicks team that would surprise in this year''s playoffs reaching the final. So if the Los Angeles Lakers team reached the playoffs final this NBA season it was very likely that the opponent was the New York Knicks team, in the New York Knicks team there was one of Jake''s great NBA idols who was Patrick Ewing who was also one of David Falk''s best customers. Patrick Ewing was always an excellent player and stood out in the current team of the New York Knicks, this team New York Knicks had one of the worst attacks of this season, but also had one of the best defenses which would make this game more balanced if the team defense New York Knicks managed to stop the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game this NBA season, this is a game between the Los Angeles Lakers against the New York Knicks, they are two great teams that will face each other today." "The New York Knicks team is doing well this NBA season and has one of the best defenses this season, with 16 victories and 13 defeats, the New York Knicks team wants to win this game more, the highlights of the New York Knicks team are the many times All-star Patrick Ewing and Allan Houston who have been playing very well this season." "The Los Angeles Lakers team is currently the best team with the best attack and a good defense too, with 28 wins and just 2 losses this season, the Lakers team is a favorite to win this home game." "With highlights from Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant and Jake Smith, the Los Angeles Lakers team can win this game if the best attack overcomes the New York Knicks team''s strong defense in this game that promises to be balanced." The Los Angeles Lakers team would start that game with Jake playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The New York Knicks team would start the game with Chris Childs playing as PG, Allan Houston playing as SG, Latrell Sprewell playing as SF, Larry Johnson playing as PF, and Patrick Ewing playing as Center. The game started and Shaquille O''Neal got the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaq passed the ball to Jake who started organizing the first attack for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Allan Houston arrived pressing on defense, Kobe held the ball for a while and passed it to Rick Fox on the left. Rick played well in the last game and was more confident to help the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game, Rick received the ball and Latrell Sprewell came pressing on defense, Rick tried to trick Sprewell with a feint, but Sprewell was not fooled. Rick held the ball a little and passed it to Jake in the back, Jake received the ball and Chris Childs came pressing on the defense, Jake held the ball a little and passed it to Shaq further on the left. Shaq received the ball and Patrick Ewing came pressing on the defense, Shaq used his strength to advance closer to the painted area, but Ewing was very strong too and did not let Shaq go too far. Shaq managed to make the spin and tried the hook shot to make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake knew that in this game Shaq would have a lot of difficulty playing against Patrick Ewing and he would have fewer points even playing normally and not being replaced. In this game Jake and the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team would have to think better about how to make the attack moves to overcome the strong defense of the New York Knicks team, achieving victory in that game was important for the Lakers team. In another move, the New York Knicks team was in the attack, Childs advanced with the ball and passed to Houston on the left, Houston received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Houston held the ball a little and passed it to Sprewell on the right. Sprewell received the ball and Rick came in to press the defense, Sprewell managed to trick Rick with a feint and advanced into the area, Sprewell advanced and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 points for the New York Knicks team. The two teams started pressing in the attack at the beginning of the game, the strong defense of the New York Knicks team prevented the attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team to attack normally and with the weak attack of the New York Knicks team, even the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team not being very good I could still defend. So the game was balanced in the first quarter as many expected it would happen, they would be the best players of both teams who would decide the outcome of the game if they played well. Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and Sprewell arrived pressing on the defense, Rick held the ball for a while and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Houston arrived pressing on the defense. Kobe returned to play well in the last games and he was helping the Los Angeles Lakers team to win in the last games with Shaq not playing very well, Jake also realized this and started to pass the ball over to Kobe. Kobe tricked Houston with a feint and used his speed to make a crossover and move left, Houston managed to recover and tried to defend against Kobe, but Kobe did not try to advance to the painted area and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. In another move the New York Knicks team was on the attack, Childs advanced the ball and passed it to Sprewell on the right, Sprewell received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, Sprewell held the ball for a while and passed to Houston on the left. Houston received the ball and Kobe came on to defend, Houston tried to trick Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not fooled, so Houston decided to pass the ball to Ewing later on. Ewing received the ball and Shaq arrived pressing in defense, Ewing made a feint and managed to spin and advance to the painted area, Shaq was deceived and tried to return to defend, Ewing advanced made 2 more points with a dunk for the New team York Knicks. Ewing and Shaq were excellent players in attack, but nowadays Ewing was much better defending than Shaq and that made Ewing have the advantage in that game, in the dispute between these two players nobody could help much. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a small points advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. "The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning the game with a small advantage in points, yet the game was well balanced between the two teams in that first quarter." "The Los Angeles Lakers team played better in that first quarter because their defense managed to stop the attack by the New York Knicks team, and the defense by the New York Knicks team failed to stop the attack by the Los Angeles Lakers team which is the best attack of the season." "It''s true, in the second quarter the New York Knicks team has to put more pressure on the attack and try to stop the Los Angeles Lakers team from making the points, I think this is difficult because Jake is playing very well and Kobe too." "Yes, Rick also seems to be playing well in this game and Shaq is managing to attack even with Ewing''s strong defense in the game, we will continue to follow up to see if the New York Knicks team defeats the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game." In the second quarter just as the commentators spoke, the New York Knicks team tried to put more pressure on the attack and defense, luckily as the commentators said the Los Angeles Lakers team players were playing very well. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Houston arrived pressing on the defense, Kobe held the ball a little and passed to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and Sprewell arrived pressing on the defense. Rick tried to deceive the opponent with a feint, but Sprewell was not deceived and continued to defend, so Rick decided to pass the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Childs came pressing on the defense. Jake made a feint and deceived the opponent, Jake stepped back and tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers, Childs still tried to defend, but he was unable to hinder Jake in a move that Jake made several times in the game. In this game as the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were playing well, Jake was not trying as hard as he did in the last games that were difficult for the Lakers team to win, Jake was beginning to feel tired after the last games. In another move the New York Knicks team was on the attack, Childs advanced with the ball and went to Houston on the left, Houston held the ball and tried to deceive the opponent with a feint, but Kobe was not deceived and kept pressing in defense. Chapter 538 - Sequence of Difficult Games 8 So Houston held the ball a little and decided to pass it on to Patrick Ewing ahead, Ewing received the ball and Shaq pressed on defense, Ewing tried to trick Shaq with a feint, but this time Shaq was not fooled and remained firm in defense. Ewing moved away from Shaq and tried a hook shot and ended up missing, Dennis Rodman managed to be quick and catch the rebound for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Dennis held the ball and passed it to Jake who calmed the Lakers team players and started to move slowly for the attack. The Los Angeles Lakers team managed to further increase the points advantage and Jake thought they did not have to rush to attack, the game remained balanced between the two teams and the second quarter ended. The Los Angeles Lakers team was playing better in attack and it was more difficult for the New York Knicks team to recover in the game, in the third quarter the game remained the same and the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to win with a good point advantage. At the end of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 113 points against 87 points of the New York Knicks team, in that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 32 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds, and 8 steals. "The game with the Los Angeles Lakers team ends with another victory this season, the attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game managed to win the defense of the New York Knicks team." "That was expected, the Los Angeles Lakers team has the best attack this season and the New York Knicks team does not have the best defense, a strong attack will always defeat a team with a good defense." "Of course, if the New York Knicks had a good defense and a good attack they would definitely win that game and would be one of the favorite teams to win this season''s NBA title." "The biggest highlight of the New York Knicks team remains Patrick Ewing who played very well in that game and in addition to getting a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds and still defending well against Shaq in that game." "But the New York Knicks team needs more players like Ewing if they want to win the NBA title, in the Los Angeles Lakers team there are Jake Smith, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O''Neal who are excellent players and so the Lakers team is winning so many games." "In this game, Rick also played very well and Dennis Rodman helped the team with 12 rebounds, with the Lakers team playing so it was difficult for them to lose this game." With this victory more, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were very happy with this victory, they would have no rest because the next day they would have another game, luckily after the next game the players would have 3 days to rest. The players went to their house to rest for the next day, Jake went to his house and can rest better as he had not tried so hard in that game, Jake hoped that the game the next day would be easy. Soon the day of the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team arrived, after a few hours Jake went to the Great Western Forum which was already starting to fill up again with the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team who came to accompany the team that was winning many games. Jake went to the locker room and soon went to almost with the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team who were ready to start the game, in this game coach Rambis plans to replace Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal for a few minutes and that would leave the game more difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win. The opponent of that game was the Vancouver Grizzlies team, which for now was one of the worst teams this season, even so, Jake did not underestimate the opponent because in his past life the Los Angeles Lakers team lost a game against the Vancouver Grizzlies team. The Vancouver Grizzlies team had 4 wins and 25 losses in 29 games this season, it was certain that the Vancouver Grizzlies team would not qualify for the playoffs so perhaps the team''s strategy would be to lose a few more games to win a better choice in the next draft. After all, this season the Vancouver Grizzlies team got Mike Bibby who was an excellent player and was helping the Vancouver Grizzlies team to play better, unfortunately, that was not enough to get more victories for the team. Soon the game started with the Los Angeles Lakers team putting a lot of pressure on the attack, the Vancouver Grizzlies team was bad this season and so even with the Los Angeles Lakers team replacing Kobe and Shaq for a few minutes, the Lakers team was expected to win. At the end of the first quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning with a good lead on the scoreboard as expected, the Vancouver Grizzlies team''s players were trying to put pressure on the defense, but the Los Angeles Lakers team was stronger. In this game all the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team were playing very well, Kobe and Shaq were well on the attack even though they were replaced for a few minutes, Dennis Rodman was also helping the team with his rebounds. Rick was also playing well in this game as well as in the last games, Rick was gaining more confidence with good performances and coach Rambis who was previously dissatisfied with his performance also started to be happier. In the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers continued to press in attack and also in defense and the advantage in points increased even more, in the third quarter, coach Rambis began to replace Shaq and Kobe for longer. As a result, the Los Angeles Lakers team slowed down the game a bit and even so, they were still attacking a lot as was their style of play, Jake managed to control the pace of the game well and that made things even more difficult for the Vancouver Grizzlies team. So the game went on like this and in the last quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team attacked again and further increased the points advantage in the game, at the end of the game the Los Angeles Lakers team won making 131 points against 94 points of the Vancouver Grizzlies team. With everyone playing well, Jake felt less pressured to work hard on this game, even though the system helped reinforce his body with statistics. Jake still felt tired after so many games and with this week''s recording commercials. In that game Jake had 35 points and 14 assists and got another double-double, Shaq also played well and scored 26 points and Kobe scored 20 points, Rick also played very well and scored 22 points in that game and Dennis Rodman helped the team taking 17 rebounds. With these victories more the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were more relaxed to rest in the next days that the Lakers team would not have a game, Jake would not have so much time to rest because the next day he would have to go to record the commercial with the company Gillette. In addition, Jake had the other day to go to the Premiere of the film The Matrix in Los Angeles on the day of the premiere, in some places the actors have already made a preview, but Jake cannot participate, so in the premiere for the audience, he would participate. With the participation of Jake in this film that was currently very famous worldwide and with Keanu Reeves who already had fame even before the film The Matrix was released, the public was eager to watch this film. Warner Bros was happy to advertise more because with the age restriction to watch the film and with the film having more than 2 hours, the producers were afraid that the film would not be such a success or at least take longer to have great success. The players returned to their home after the game and Jake also arrived at his house, Mary was still awake waiting for Jake and had already prepared a bath for him and prepared dinner. Jake was happy to have hired Mary as his housekeeper, Mary was really efficient and so Jake hardly needed to talk to the other employees in his house, moreover, with Mary and the other employees Jake didn''t feel that much alone when he was home. Jake took a shower and then ate the food prepared by the maids who had already gone to sleep, after eating Jake went back to the living room and saw that Mary was still waiting for him, Jake knew that if he didn''t go back to the living room, Mary would be waiting for some hours. "Sir, do you need me to do anything else?" "Thank you, Mary, you can go to rest, I already said that you don''t have to wait for me on the days I play." "This is my job, Sir, I need to do my job properly, good night." Jake liked Mary''s work, but he thought she was very serious, in fact, at first, Jake asked Mary to call him by name, but Mary was offended by this and said she couldn''t do it and so Jake didn''t insist anymore. Jake was tired and wanted to sleep early because he had to record the commercial the next day and the players would have training in the next few days, but before going to sleep Jake decided to call his mother. "Hi, Mom how are you?" "Hi, Jake, I''m fine, and how are you?" "I''m fine too, I called to remind you that the premiere of the film I participated in is going to be in two days, I know you really wanted to watch it and I didn''t want you to miss it." "I know that Jake, I even set my date on my calendar to keep in mind, but thanks for reminding me anyway, I will definitely watch the movie, I want to see what you are like as an actor." "Hahaha, I hope you like it, I will not participate in many scenes because I have a secondary character, but in some fight scenes you will definitely see me, I recorded several scenes and even if the directors cut some scenes I still I will appear." Chapter 539 - Sequence of Difficult Games 9 "I don''t really like fight scenes, especially when I see my son fighting, but this time I''m going to watch it and I''m going to take Anna with me." "I hope you like the movie." After that Jake talked to his mother for a while and went to sleep to be well for the next day, Jake woke up and went down to eat the breakfast that Mary had already sent the maids to get ready. Mary also liked to work at Jake''s house, Jake was always polite to her and the other maids and paid a good salary too, she and the other maids were concerned when they heard that a young man wanted to hire them to work. Even more because Jake hired only women to work in the house and live in the houses of employees, there were some men working in the house too, but none lived in Jake''s house and they only showed up a few days a week. Mary was even more concerned when she learned that Jake was a basketball player, she had previously worked in other homes in Los Angeles and knew about various rumors about how other players treated maids and various rumors of harassment. Fortunately, she soon realized that Jake was not like the players of the rumors, nor did he bring other women to his house, did not party, and was actually better than other bosses from other houses she worked for. As soon as Jake finished eating David called him, Jake found it interesting how David seemed to know the right time to call him, David passed on the ad company''s address and Jake went there. Arriving at the advertising company Jake waited awhile until he found David talking to the director of the commercial, Jake saw this and thought that the commercial must be too long or difficult to do for David to still be talking to him, so David went to talk to Jake. "Hi, Jake, I didn''t expect you to arrive anytime soon." "It is better that I come early to finish recording the commercial faster, the last commercial took several hours to be recorded and today I still have to go train with the Lakers team." "You don''t have to worry about that, Jake, I think recording the commercial won''t take too long." Jake didn''t expect David to say that Jake thought the commercial would be complicated or too long from the way he was talking to the director, but it looks like they were talking about something else. "How come the commercial won''t take too long?" "You may have seen some Gillette commercials, they like to do a short commercial where most of them don''t even have a conversation between the actors in the commercial." "It looks like this commercial will be no different, it will be recorded all here in the recording studio of the advertising company, you will not have lines and you will simply use Gillette''s razor several times in several different scenes." Jake was a little disappointed to hear that, he hoped that with this sponsorship he could do an interesting commercial with Gillette too, but it seemed like they didn''t think the same as Jake. Jake remembered that Gillette sponsored several tennis players and golfers, but Jake did not remember many commercials on Gillette''s television with basketball players. "Don''t worry about it, Jake, you have already recorded very good commercials with 4 big companies and even if this commercial is not so special you don''t care about it." "Ever since Gillette came to talk to me about a contract with you, I knew it was because you brought a lot of profits to the razor company that sponsored you for many years." With David saying that he understood, Jake didn''t really care if Gillette didn''t want to use his image a lot in advertis.e.m.e.nts, just as David said it was a deal and Jake knew that Gillette would gain a lot from it when he won the NBA title with Los Angeles Lakers team. Jake didn''t know yet if the Los Angeles Lakers team could win that year, but next year it was certain that the Los Angeles Lakers team could win the NBA title, Jake knew that the Los Angeles Lakers team won in the past and could win with him in the team too. But maybe Jake would not renew this contract with Gillette when the 4-year contract ended, if Jake got 2 more companies to sponsor him in the coming years with a higher value than his current contracts, then he might not renew the contract with Gillette. After a few minutes, Jake started recording the commercial which, just as David said, had no lines and it was just Jake using the razor and other common scenes that would be placed in a commercial after good editing and good music. Jake took some pictures after that and just as David said the recording of the commercial had only taken a few hours and Jake could easily arrive at his training with the Los Angeles Lakers team. After Jake left he was happy that this was the last commercial even though he was a little disappointed, Jake knew that the other day he still had to attend the Premiere the next day and only after that, he could relax. Jake did more heavy training with the team as they would still have 2 days to rest, Coach Rambis was concerned because in the last games the Los Angeles Lakers team won with a small advantage in points. After training Jake returned to his house to take a shower and rest, Mary knew that Jake would be coming home and had already prepared everything for him and Jake just relaxed in the bathtub. Jake got out of his bath and thought it would be good to call Kate to tell her about the movie he attended that would open the next day, even if Kate was busy she could go watch it some other day when she had time. "Hi, Kate, how are you?" "I''m fine, Jake, I miss you, but I''m working a lot after Grammy, Lily is happy with that and so am I, but I still miss you." "I am happy to know that you are doing a lot of shows, I miss you too, but I am also busy with the games and the advertising work, I am much happier to know that you are also happy working." Kate understood what Jake said, they had talked about it and Jake said that he accepted Kate to continue her career and doing shows which made her very happy, Jake said that he would feel guilty if she had to stay home alone waiting for him while he was playing in the NBA. Kate liked Jake very much and it would be a big shock to her if he wanted her to stop singing if Jake wanted that Kate would probably choose her career because she always loved singing, but she would suffer a lot from it. Kate was an independent woman, but she remembered how happy her mother was even though she didn''t work and just took care of her and her father, but Kate wanted to continue singing because she loved singing and hearing that Jake supported her and that made her so much quieter. "I know you support me and I''m happy with it, Jake, I''ve seen your commercial on Gatorade several times in the past few days and I''ve missed it most because of it." "I called you to say that tomorrow there will be the premiere of the film I participate in, but hearing you say that I don''t know if you want to watch it." "Of course I''m going to want to watch it, I like to miss you, it makes me more anxious for when we meet, tomorrow I don''t have a show, so I''m going to watch the movie, unfortunately, I''m not going to be in Los Angeles. " "I hope you enjoy the movie, try to take Lily to see the movie with you, I think she will like the movie." "I''m going to try, but I don''t think Lily likes fighting movies very much." Jake talked for a long time with Kate until they had to hang up because the two of them would be very busy the next day, Jake had his training with the Los Angeles Lakers team and then would have the film premiere. And Kate had to rehearse for her show and also go to watch Jake''s debut, Jake knew that Lily wouldn''t let Kate go to the cinema if she didn''t do her training, Jake had seen Kate training a few times and knew how much it was difficult. Jake slept well that day and soon came the Premiere of the movie The Matrix, Jake had ordered a suit from Armani especially for this premiere and they had already delivered it to his house, so Jake asked Mary to leave the suit ready for when he returned home. At this Premiere in Los Angeles, only Jake would go, after all the other actors and directors of the film had already participated in other previews a few days ago in other countries and also in the United States. Even so, several photographers and reporters would attend this premiere for the public in Los Angeles just because Jake would participate, Jake wouldn''t have to say anything before the film and would just have to take a few pictures. In the same movie theater that Jake would watch, there would be many reporters and photographers and the normal audience too, so Warner Bros. prepared some security guards with the cinema''s authorization to give Jake some protection at this Premiere. Jake ate his breakfast and waited a few hours before going to the Los Angeles Lakers team training, it would be a lighter training because the next day they would do another light training and they were already going to travel to the next game. In training, Jake realized that Shaquille O''Neal and the other players already seemed more rested after those 2 days without games, with this intense sequence of games those 3 days of rest would be great for the players to endure until the end of the game season. Chapter 540 - Sequence of Difficult Games 10 The players had to rest and the medical team was concerned that someone would get hurt by the end of the season after the season was over they expected players to try harder for the playoffs. After all, in the playoffs the intention was that the team played each game as if it were the last one because it could even be if they lost, the players knew that the Los Angeles Lakers fans expected them to win the NBA title and so the pressure was greater. Of course, this could be bad for players because if they won all games and advanced to the final they could play up to 26 games if they didn''t win all games, and at least they would play 15 games if they won all games. If they played as many games as they would have to play more than half of the game season to win the playoffs and win the NBA title, that also worried the team doctors and coach Kurt Rambis, after all, it was common for some player to get hurt in playoff games because of the intensity of the games. Jake was not worried about getting hurt during the playoffs and even if another player got hurt he could work even harder to get the Los Angeles Lakers team to the final. Jake didn''t mind eating the stamina bars to be able to play intensively in every game, his only concern was that his teammates were playing badly at the games. If that happened even if he tried, it was likely that the Los Angeles Lakers team would lose the game in the same way, the other players also thought about it and that is why they tried this training to play even better and for the Lakers team to have easier victories in the upcoming games. Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, Rick Fox, and Dennis Rodman were working hard on training just like Jake so the Los Angeles Lakers team could continue winning, Jake no longer saw Dennis Rodman missing from training as he remembered his past life. Jake thought it was because this time Dennis Rodman could see that the Los Angeles Lakers team really had the ability to win the NBA title, as a professional basketball player Dennis also wanted to win an NBA title even though he had already won 5 NBA title in his career. From what Jake remembered in his past life, the situation of the Los Angeles Lakers team was not so good and even though many thought that the Los Angeles Lakers team was one of the favorites to win the NBA title, it was not at all certain. At that time Jake remembered that the Los Angeles Lakers team had 21 wins and 11 losses in 32 games this season, this time with Jake playing the Los Angeles Lakers team had 30 wins and only 2 losses in the season, that was a very big difference between the past and the present. With Jake on the team, everyone said that the Los Angeles Lakers team was the favorite to win the NBA title, Dennis also realized that and decided to work as he did on the Chicago Bulls team to try to win another NBA title. In addition, another important thing changed in the Los Angeles Lakers team that was that the players did not argue and fight anymore, Jake thought that in the next seasons that would not change either. After all, some of the reasons for the fights were because Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal wanted to be the main player on the team, Shaq was the main player on the team at that time and Kobe didn''t like that very much. But this time it didn''t happen and it wouldn''t happen because the player who stood out the most on the team was Jake, Jake was a PG who helped the team with assists and steals, also helped in defense and that''s why Kobe and Shaq were not jealous of him and they recognized that he deserved to be the best player on the team. Rarely did some players on a team fight or decide to change teams because PG was the best player on the team, this only happened when PG was too arrogant or his teammates were arrogant. This is because for a PG to play well he has to help the team to win by making assists and helping in defense if even with PG doing that he was still the player who scored the most it was because PG was excellent. So Jake was confident that Dennis could stay on the team at least until the end of the playoffs, next year with the signing of coach Phil Jackson it would be even more possible for Dennis to remain on the team and not cause any more problems. After the training was over the players were tired and were getting ready to go to their house when Jake called them to talk, Jake was a good team leader on the court like Shaq and Kobe were and he was praised for it. But outside the court Jake didn''t talk much with the other players, he talked a lot with Rick who was his best friend on the team, and also talked with Kobe and Shaq when they were training. Players did not know that Jake knew the future and knew of the achievements they would have, Shaq and Kobe would be remembered as one of the best players in NBA history on a list of the top 100. Even though Jake wanted to talk to them it was difficult for him who was always a fan of them to talk normally, so when Jake called them, Jake only called Shaq, Kobe, Rick, Dennis, Robert, and Derek who were the players he knew best and talked sometimes. When Jake was invited by Warner Bros to participate in the premiere of the film The Matrix, they prepared for Jake 10 tickets in the same movie theater that he would be watching the movie, these tickets were for him to invite friends and his family to watch the movie. Unfortunately, his mother and most of his friends were in Miami or at university, Kate wouldn''t be in Los Angeles either, so Jake didn''t know many people to invite to watch the movie with him. If Jake didn''t take anyone, they would return tickets to the box office and tickets would be sold for the public to watch, so Jake thought about inviting his teammates to go with him to this Premiere. Jake knew it was very likely that no one would want to go with him because some players had their family at home waiting for them, but he thought it was best that he at least tried to invite them. The players were not so surprised to hear Jake calling them, some had already seen Jake''s interview on television and others had seen advertis.e.m.e.nts for the film that were shown several times on television. Normally they wouldn''t think about going to see a movie like that on such a sudden invitation, but they knew this was Jake''s debut as an actor in a big movie and they were friends with him. Rick and Dennis agreed to go to the cinema to watch the movie with Jake, Robert and Derek refused because they had to go and stay with their family, so there was only Kobe and Shaq left to answer, the two were friends of Jake as well as Rick who had agreed to go to the movies. With that, the two also agreed to go to the Premiere with Jake to watch his movie, so the players from the initial team of the Los Angeles Lakers would go together to the Premiere of the movie The Matrix to watch the movie that Jake would participate in. Jake was sure that Warner Bros did not expect this when he asked Jake to be the Premiere of the film, that Premiere could be even more impressive than the Premiere that the main actors and directors were. So Jake and the other players went to their house to get ready to go to the Premiere, Jake arrived at his house and Mary had already prepared a dinner for him and his bath too, so Jake went straight to shower and then went to dinner. Jake was going to eat because there was no party after the Premiere and he just wanted to go back to his house after the movie, Jake was sure that his friends thought the same too. After Jake ate dinner he went to put on his suit that Mary had prepared, Jake tried it on and was happy that the suit was perfectly fitted even though he hadn''t been to the store many times to make adjustments. After putting on the suit Jake called the car he had rented and went to the Cinerama Dome which was where the film premiere would take place, the Cinerama Dome was a cinema known for many years and Warner Bros decided it would be a good place for Jake participate in the Premiere. Jake did not use the cars he had because they were both very flashy and Jake would only use them when he had private matters, it was better that he rented a more luxurious and simple car that would not attract so much attention in Los Angeles. Soon Jake arrived at the Cinerama Dome and was surprised to see a red carpet and several reporters, Jake had heard that no interview would take place and it would just be a simpler Premiere, he did not expect a red carpet and so many reporters. Of course, he knew that some reporters and film critics were invited to this Premiere to watch the movie, but Jake didn''t expect the red carpet, so Jake arrived at the security guards that Warner Bros prepared were there to protect Jake and accompany him into the movie theater. Jake was not used to it and was also surprised to see that there was a large audience that was shouting his name in front of the cinema, this was a film open to the public and they should want to watch the film and not act like fans. Of course, what happened was that in fact, Jake could not understand yet that he was as famous today as many famous actors and artists, Jake did not attend many Premiere and party parties and that was why he hadn''t seen so many fans besides when he was on the court. Chapter 541 - The New NBA Star 1 Jake waved to the fans who were shouting his name while the security guards were protecting him and taking him to the cinema, Jake asked the security guards to stop because he still had to wait for his friends before entering the cinema. Jake saw the fans shouting his name and decided to go and sign some autographs for the fans who had just come to see him for a few moments, Jake was not a famous actor so all his fans liked basketball or athletics. Jake had arranged an hour with his teammates and he had come earlier, after all, he might have to do something before entering the cinema that Warner Bros wanted him to do and Jake wanted to guarantee. With Jake seeing how he was on the movie road he realized he was right, reporters realized that Jake had stopped walking towards the cinema and started calling him for an interview. They knew there was no interview scheduled, but only Jake had come to this Premiere and they thought that Jake would be the only famous person who had come to this Premiere and they had to try to talk to him. Jake didn''t mind talking a little bit about the film before the film started because he knew the film better than anyone, even though he still hasn''t seen how the film has changed with him participating, it shouldn''t be that different. "Jake, this is the first major character you play in a movie, how do you feel about that?" "I am a little anxious to know what the critics and the public will think about my performance, it is a dream that I realized by participating in this film and I hope that I have other opportunities in the future." "What do you think audiences and critics will think of The Matrix?" "I am confident that everyone will like this film very much, it is a story that has a very deep theme and that can make you think about it for a long time, but the directors did it in a way that you can understand it easily." "Keanu, Laurence, Carrie, and Hugo had excellent performances and that made the film more exciting, even more so in the action scenes and in the fight scenes, so I think the audience will really like the film." "Jake, a question about basketball, you were chosen as the player of the month this March and you had already been chosen as the player of the month in February, do you think you can win the MVP award this season?" "I don''t know what''s going to happen, I am happy that everyone can recognize my effort in the past few months and it is an honor to be chosen as a player of the month, but there are many players who have also had excellent performances." "My team even had Shaq and Kobe who played very well, Karl Malone, Allen Iverson, and many players could also have been chosen as the player of the month, so only at the end of the season can we know, but it would be a dream come true if I won this award." "Jake, the Los Angeles Lakers team had 30 wins and just 2 losses this season, do you think you can win the NBA title this season?" "I think so, of course, there are several teams that also have the opportunity to win, but I believe that our team has the ability to win and we will strive to achieve that." After answering that question, Jake decided to go to the cinema entrance to avoid having to answer several questions, he thought that reporters would only ask about the film, but it is not strange that there were also sports reporters waiting to interview him. After a few minutes Rick had arrived and the reporters who were paying attention to Jake didn''t realize that Rick had arrived until some fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team who were at the entrance to the theater to see Jake recognized him and started calling his name. Rick did not want to talk to the reporters and was quick to go over to where Jake was with the security guards, Jake noticed this and told the security guards to go help the other players who would come for them to enter the cinema. The security guards understood that this was important and understood that they had to help Jake''s other guests get into the cinema, especially if they were as famous as Jake was in basketball. Soon Kobe arrived and Jake ordered the security guards to come and help him, reporters and fans realized it was Kobe and security guards had a hard time again looking for Kobe who also did not want to speak to the reporters. Soon Dennis arrived too and the security guards had to work again, Dennis still stopped to sign some autographs for the fans, the gossip magazine reporters were very happy to see so many famous players like that, soon everyone realized that Jake was waiting for the other players from Los Angeles Lakers team arrive at the cinema. Shaq arrived a little later and he attracted more attention from fans and reporters, Shaq also went to sign some autographs for fans and he also didn''t want to speak to reporters, so Shaq arrived at the cinema entrance Jake entered the cinema with his friends. Jake realized that the time for the film was coming for reporters and the normal audience still had to enter the cinema before the film could start, the film administration people were anxious about it, but they couldn''t complain to Jake about it. Fortunately after Jake entered the theater with the other players in selected places that would be isolated, reporters and film critics were able to enter the theater and the audience could also enter filling the theater. After a few minutes the film finally started, some people were not so interested in the film and most wanted very much to see what this film would be like, the critics heard good things about the film in the preview, but they were expecting a bad performance from Jake as with other basketball players who tried to act. Of course, they were also curious because they heard other critics praising Jake''s performance so much, it made critics think they were paid to praise Jake''s performance, as a budding actor who never even did theater as much as Jake could get in the opinion theirs was an acceptable performance. Jake was also very anxious to see this film, he knew this film better than anyone, but he wanted to see what had changed in the film with his entry in the film, at the beginning of the film Jake was relieved to realize that everything was the same as what he remembered. After all, in the first scenes only Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, and the agents appeared, Jake was thrilled again seeing Trinity''s fight scenes at the beginning of the film and showing her superhuman abilities. Jake was even more moved because he understood how the scenes had been done and the difficulty of making these scenes, Jake can also see that the audience was enjoying the beginning of the film very much and his teammates were also enjoying it. After Neo took the red pill and he woke up in that impressive scene with several people in liquid-filled pod among countless others attached to an elaborate electrical system, the audience was shocked by this scene and then Neo entered Morpheus''s hovercraft, the Nebuchadnezzar. It was at Nebuchadnezzar that Jake''s character called Jev, it was strange to see Jev being taller than the other characters and even stranger because everyone knew Jake. Soon Neo learned about the new reality of humanity and discovered that he spent his entire life dreaming of the Matrix and in fact never really lived, so everyone understood why Trinity had superhuman abilities and that defied the laws of physics. It was because she and everyone in Nebuchadnezzar were part of a group of rebels who wanted to protect the humans who lived in Zion, so Morpheus also talks about the agents and how very powerful they are and that death in the Matrix means death in the real world. Morpheus also finally talks about Jake''s character, he says how only Jev managed to fight the agents several times and still survive and that is how they all survived for many years. After that Neo begins his training that impresses the entire Nebuchadnezzar crew, some conversations are also shown between Neo and all the people who live in Nebuchadnezzar, several conversations between Neo and Jev happen and Jake''s character says that he believes Neo is "the One". Soon it is also shown that Cypher is actually a traitor who wants to return to the Matrix and he was willing to hand over Morpheus and kill all Nebuchadnezzar crew in order to get back to the Matrix. Neo and the rebel group enters Matrix to meet with Oracle who can give Neo the answer if he really is "the One", Cypher also started planning the betrayal, Neo hears from Oracle that he is not "the One" as he thought. Soon everyone tries to return to the real world and this is the moment that Cypher planned to betray everyone, soon one of the characters dies because of Cypher''s betrayal and they realize they are surrounded, in another scene Neo is almost captured by the agents and Morpheus tries to fight to save Neo and is captured. Soon the group tries to escape, but the agents and the police surround their group and Jev stays behind to protect them and fight with the agents and the police, this was a scene that was not in the film that Jake saw in the past because it was a scene of his character. In this scene it shows Jev fighting several policemen and agents in an emotional fight scene, even with Jev being strong he was hit by several blows and ends up getting very hurt by the agents. When he receives the information that the group has finally managed to escape, he also flees very badly and finds a phone before everyone else and returns to Nebuchadnezzar and will receive treatment. Chapter 542 - The New NBA Star 2 While Neo''s group flees, they talk about how Jev always manages to fight the agents and always manages to escape alive as he did this time, and often Jev isn''t even hurt as he was this time. So the group argues that they think they may have been betrayed by Jev and that is why he always manages to escape, while they talk about it Jev is passed out in his room at Nebuchadnezzar and Cypher finds a phone and manages to get back to Nebuchadnezzar too. Cypher didn''t realize that Jev managed to get back to Nebuchadnezzar before him and starts planning on how he would kill everyone and complete his betrayal, so Neo and his group find a phone and are prepared to return to Nebuchadnezzar and leave the Matrix. At this point, Cypher betrays everyone and uses a gun to try to kill the two crew members who help everyone when they are in the Matrix, after which Cypher talked to Trinity on the phone about how he thought Morpheus had tricked them. While Cypher talks to Trinity he kills the other Nebuchadnezzar crewmen until only Neo and Trinity are left, when Cypher tries to kill Neo, Jev who was passed out woke up to the screams and picked up the gun that Cypher left on the ground killing him and saving Neo and Trinity. Jev saves them both and goes to see the two crew members Cypher tried to kill and realizes that Tank is still alive and Jev manages to wake up Tank who was just badly injured, Tank sees Cypher dead on the floor and thanks Jev for saving him and takes the microphone to talk with Trinity and tell what happened. So Tank brings Neo and Trinity back from the Matrix to the real world and Trinity apologizes to Jev for thinking he was the traitor and thanks to him for saving them, after which it is shown how Morpheus is being interrogated by the agents. Neo, Trinity, Jev hear what''s going on from Tank who can analyze the Matrix codes and was "seeing" Morpheus being tortured, Tank talks about the importance of Zion''s codes and says he would have to kill Morpheus to stop the agents from finding out this information. So Neo says he is going back to the Matrix to rescue Morpheus and Trinity says he is going with him, Jev couldn''t go because he was still very hurt and he couldn''t stand to enter the Matrix, so the other scenes happen to like the movie that Jake remembered. There is the scene of Neo and Trinity entering the building where Morpheus is being interrogated and they use various weapons to kill the security guards and agents who are defending the building after they kill them all they go to the roof. On the roof, Neo and Trinity meet an agent and the famous scene of Neo dodging bullets takes place, in this scene the famous special effect bullet time is used, then Trinity pilots the helicopter and they manage to save Morpheus. Meanwhile, Neo does several things that only the agents can do and he starts to believe that he is "the One", Neo saves Trinity after the helicopter leaves and Morpheus and Trinity manage to leave the Matrix and only Neo is trapped in the Matrix. After that happens the scene of Neo fighting Agent Smith as only Jev could do, Neo wins the fight and starts looking for the phone to leave the Matrix and return to the real world. When Neo finds the room where the phone for him to leave the Matrix is, Agent Smith is waiting for him inside the room and kills Neo with multiple shots, Trinity, Jev, and Morpheus who are watching everything that is happening at Nebuchadnezzar are shocked to see Neo dying. The sentries are also attacking Nebuchadnezzar and with Neo''s death, Tank thinks about using the electromagnetic pulse to disable the Sentinels and saving Nebuchadnezzar, Trinity talks to Neo and his heartbeats again and he starts fighting the agents and it even kills Agent Smith showing that he is "the One". The film ended with everyone in the theater having liked the film, Shaq and the other players praised Jake for his good performance and said that they liked the film very much, Jake also liked this film more because with the Wachowskis adding his fight scene and other scenes he appears in, the film was less monotonous and with more fight scenes. People who didn''t like this first film so much originally would like this film because of the fight scenes, the critics also liked the film very much and had to admit that Jake had an excellent performance. They heard that Jake had never done theater and never studied to be an actor, but with critics seeing Jake''s acting they were able to see many things that an actor normally learns in acting classes and many techniques that they didn''t know. But since Jake''s life had been known since the age of 10 for which reporters investigated, it was impossible for Jake to have time to study several years of acting techniques without anyone knowing it, that was most impressive. Of course, they could not imagine that Jake studied acting for several years in his past life and with techniques that would only be known a few years in the future when Jake studied, because of that Jake would be known as a genius. After the end of the film, Jake thanked his teammates for agreeing to come and watch the film he participated in, Shaq and the others said that they liked the film very much and after that, they ignored the reporters and took their car to leave for their house. Jake was in the car he had rented for his house and as he had already talked to reporters he knew that no one could be upset that he left, Warner Bros would definitely like Jake to bring famous NBA players to this Premiere and with the success of the film. Jake arrived at his house and after changing his clothes he remembered the fight scene he had in the film, naturally, after the film was edited and with the special effects it was completely different from when he recorded this scene with the cables lifting him up and with the choreographed fights. Jake was also happy to know that he had been chosen as the player of the month for the second time this season, Jake imagined that he had also been chosen as the rookie of the month and with that, he was closer to being the MVP of this season and making his dream. After some time Jake called his mother to ask what she thought of the movie, Jake waited a few hours because he didn''t know if Eva would be home for a while after seeing the movie, she could have stayed talking to Anna. "Hi, mom, did you watch the movie?" "Of course, I watched it, Jake, I thought the movie was great and you did really well, I heard in the cinema a lot of people saying your name and how well you acted, especially in the fight scenes, I was very proud of you listening to that." "Anna also thought you did really well in the movie and she was happy to hear other people talking about you." Jake was happy to know that his mother had watched the film and liked the film and his performance, Jake liked this film that he appeared in more than The Matrix that he watched in his past life. "I am happy to know that you liked it, mom, in the room where I watched the movie I also heard a lot of people praising the movie and my performance, but in that room, there were a lot of people who knew I was there and were my fans." "I also heard today that I was chosen as the player of the month again this month, so it may be that I will be chosen as an MVP at the end of the season." "What good news, Jake, I know how difficult it must have been to achieve that with so many skilled players in the NBA, I am proud that your talent and effort are being recognized." Jake was very happy after talking to his mother, when Eva praised him it was different than when others praised him, Jake wanted to give pride to his mother and see her happy in this second chance that he had and that Eva also had to live a long and happy life. After Jake spoke to his mother, he decided to call Kate too, he didn''t know if she had been able to watch the movie because she was normally very busy, but as she said she was going to watch his movie, Jake decided to call to find out that she found from the movie. "Hi, Kate, did I call to ask if you were able to watch the movie?" "Yes, Jake, I managed to watch the movie and I took Lily with me to the cinema as you suggested, congratulations on the great movie, I thought your performance was incredible, I got tense watching your fight scenes." "Thank you, Kate, I am very happy to hear that you liked my performance and the movie, I just spoke to my mom and she said she liked it too, your opinion matters a lot more to me." "So you can be happy because I liked it so much, Lily who went to watch it because I insisted that you liked the movie as much as I did and praised you, was it difficult to do the fight scenes in the film?" "It was not so difficult, the months of training I had with Master Yuen Woo-ping was difficult, but I had an easier time than the other actors because I am an athlete and I have a better physical condition for the martial arts." "It must be difficult to train for several months to record some scenes in the film, did you get hurt while training?" "No, I was very lucky and as I said because I was an athlete it made things easier for me, but the other actors got hurt many times while training, even while they shot the scenes after training they got hurt." Chapter 543 - The New NBA Star 3 "It must be difficult, I always liked cinema and when I was a child I dreamed of being a singer and an actress, but now I don''t think about acting anymore, I prefer to just continue singing my songs." "If you are interested in this I think you should try it, Kate, you have to follow your dreams, you are very beautiful and with the fame that you have as a singer it would not be difficult for you to get a chance to act in a film." "No, as I said, I dreamed of two things and when I grew up I realized that I loved music so much that I became a singer, I really admire you who can be very good at doing many things, but I can''t." "Okay, I''m not going to insist, I wanted to maybe act in a movie with you someday." "I wanted to, too, but if I became an actress I might have to make other films where I kissed other men, you wouldn''t want that." "I certainly wouldn''t like it, but I would understand that it''s your job, I respect and trust you, Kate, so I know I shouldn''t be too jealous and let you be independent and happy." Jake was being sincere saying that he would respect Kate''s decisions, it was impossible for him not to be jealous watching her kiss another man, but if she did that as an actress he would try to understand, just as Kate would also have to understand if he made a film like this someday. "I am happy to know that you trust me, I would also be jealous of seeing you kissing another woman, but I also trust you and would understand if you did that in a movie." After that the two talked for much longer, Kate said she would be busy in the next few months with the shows and that she would be lucky if she had a few days off until the end of the year, Jake knew Kate was thinking of working until the end of his next NBA season. Only at the end of the season did she want to take a few months of vacation so that she could spend those months with Jake who would also be on vacation, of course at the end of the year she would have 1 month to rest because Lily thought it was necessary. After Jake talked to Kate he can sleep soundly, the next day Jake woke up very early on the first day of April, that day the players would have a light training and would travel to the next game. There were less than 20 games left for the reduced season to end and thus the great sequence of games that the teams had this season would end, players would still tire a lot in the playoffs, but with the chance of winning the NBA title the players would be more excited. Jake left home early because training would be in the morning, Jake greet his teammates and thanked them again for going with him to the Premiere of the film he participated in. Before going to training, Jake had seen several magazines and newspapers talking about this Premiere and about the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team going to support Jake at his cinema debut, Jake also saw many compliments he received for his first film. The players did a light training and Jake felt coach Rambis worried because even with these 3 days of rest Shaq was not fully recovered, luckily they would only have 1 game as a visitor and then they would play at home and thus the players would tire less. The afternoon after training the players traveled to Phoenix, Arizona which was where the Los Angeles Lakers team''s next game would be, they arrived in Phoenix and went to the hotel that the team had prepared so they could rest. They would have the rest of the day to rest because the next day they would play the next game, those 3 days were excellent for Jake who managed to fully recover from the fatigue of the entire season and was just as well as at the beginning of the season. Jake could play every game until the end of the playoffs without feeling as tired as he did this season, the reason for that was that in the playoffs they would not play 3 games or more a week as they did now. Soon came the day of the next game that would be against the Phoenix Suns team, in this part of the season the Phoenix Suns team was already much better with 15 victories and 17 defeats, if they continued like this they would reach the playoffs. This was the fourth game between the two teams and it was more of a confrontation between Jason Kidd and Jake Smith, this time Jake had been chosen twice as a player of the month and it was undeniable that he had the ability to be compared to Jason Kidd and currently was better than him as PG. The Los Angeles Lakers team went to the America West Arena and saw the Phoenix Suns fans excited about this game and waiting for the Phoenix Suns team to win, so the players got ready and went to the court to start the game. The Los Angeles Lakers team won that game with 111 points against 86 points for the Phoenix Suns team, Jake double-double with 32 points and 11 assists, the Los Angeles Lakers team was doing very well this season and the crowd was more excited. Soon another week went by and the Los Angeles Lakers team played 5 more games, there were 4 victories and just 1 defeat against the Utah Jazz team, it was the third defeat of the season which did not concern fans and players. This was one of the weeks with the most games of the season with 5 games and only 2 days of rest for players who were exhausted if Jake didn''t help the team they would have lost more games just as Jake remembered what happened in his past life. The Los Angeles Lakers team had 38 games with 35 wins and only 3 losses in the season, Dennis Rodman was also playing well in the last games and Jake did not think he would leave the team before the end of the season. After that game against the Minnesota Timberwolves team, the Los Angeles Lakers team would have another day of rest before the next game, Jake knew the next games would be difficult, so he called Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Rick Fox to go. to his house. Jake decided to do this so that his team''s players could relax at his house, of course, Jake knew that other players could have better houses than his, but with them together they could enjoy the cinema or the basketball court at the house his. As it was Jake who had invited them they accepted his invitation, only Rick told Jake that this time he could not because he would be busy that day, Jake understood and so only Shaq and Kobe would go to his house. The other day the Los Angeles Lakers team had no training and so Kobe and Shaq went to Jake''s house in the morning, this was the first time that they went to his house and were very surprised when they saw the beauty of Jake''s house. Contrary to what Jake thought Kobe had not yet bought a house that big even though he had received several million dollars in sponsorship, that was because he still received a small salary in the NBA before the renovation he would do this season. So Kobe wouldn''t think like Jake to spend more than 15 million dollars on a house, Shaq had a house as good as the one Jake had, but he was still surprised because Jake had a house like this, after all, Shaq had been playing for many years in the NBA before I could buy a house like this. Even more that they knew how a Mansion in Bel Air was much more expensive than a mansion in various places in Los Angeles, Kobe arrived at Jake''s house before and after some time Shaq also arrived. Jake spent some time showing Shaq and Kobe his home, Jake was proud of the home he owned and also wanted to show some options that they could make that day to relax from the stress of the games. Jake showed the cinema, the basketball court, the athletics track, and other things and so Shaq realized that Jake should have spent a lot more to add these things at his house, after some time they stopped for lunch and Shaq decided to say what he thought for Jake. "Jake, I thought your house was very beautiful and I thank you for inviting me, but I think that as your friend I have to say a few things to you." "You can tell, Shaq." "As I said, I thought your house was very beautiful, but I also know that it must have cost you millions of dollars to buy and put more things in your house, this is your first season in the NBA and even though you have won millions of sponsored dollars I don''t think you should spend that much money." "I understand that having a big house is something you''ve always wanted and I support that you buy a house like this, but I think you should wait a few years before you have any money before spending so much on a house." "I have a house like this and spend a lot of money doing what I want and buying cars too, but I do it because I know I have money saved in case something happens, you should do that too." Shaq gave this advice because he was more experienced than Jake and he wanted Jake to be very successful for many years in basketball and to be able to live well after he retired. Kobe also agreed with what Shaq had said, he was waiting a few years to buy a house like the one Jake had, Jake realized that Kobe also agreed and was happy to see that his friends cared about him. "Thanks for giving me this council, Shaq, just like you said, I also realized that with the salary I receive and even with the sponsorship I could not buy a house like this without any problems." Chapter 544 - The New NBA Star 4 "What happens is that I don''t have to worry about the money I get from sponsors and the salary the Los Angeles Lakers team pays me." "I will tell you one of my secrets because I trust you, the truth is that I have already won with investments at least 3 times than I have already won playing basketball." "So when I received the sponsorship money and the money I already had, I decided to buy this house and I also bought a car, after all, I knew I had the financial means to do this and I was happy doing it." Shaq and Kobe were very surprised to hear Jake saying this, Shaq did not expect this when he tried to help Jake saying about the money, he could imagine that Jake had decided to spend everything because he would earn more or because he made a lot of money as an actor and as an athlete. But he didn''t expect Jake to say that he had already made a lot more money by investing than playing basketball, of course, that could be normal because this was Jake''s first year of NBA, but Shaq knew Jake had already won a few million dollars in sponsorship even before entering the NBA. "I confess I didn''t expect you to say that Jake, I didn''t know you were a big investor as well as being a good basketball player, but as an investor, you know the importance of not spending money and investing to earn more." "I know that, but as I said I already made a lot more money by investing, and I have more than 1 billion dollars invested in shares for the next year, in the future my investments can give me a few billion dollars." "I told you that I make investments because I think I can help you invest to make a lot of money next year, I offered this to all my friends and few took the opportunity." Kobe and Shaq were very surprised to hear Jake saying that he already had more than 1 billion dollars after investing, they knew that it was impossible for Jake to make so much money with sponsorship in the last few years, so he must have made investments and earned several times what he invested. Even an NBA player wouldn''t make $ 1 billion even if he made $ 30 million every year for a 20-year career, and it was almost impossible for even the best players to make that much money. They tried to believe Jake because they thought he would have no reason to lie to them, after all, that would be something that would be revealed to the media in a few years anyway, as to the investment opportunity they both thought differently. Kobe heard this and didn''t believe Jake, he could believe that Jake was really telling the truth about the investment opportunity, but Kobe didn''t believe it could be a really good opportunity. Shaq didn''t believe it either, but unlike Kobe, he also made investments, and even though he had lost money by trusting some investment companies he knew that the opportunity to win was great. Shaq knew a little about the stock market and had already seen some people who earned several times the amount they invested and few people really lost everything, but like Kobe, he wasn''t sure if Jake really knew such a good opportunity. "I believe you can be really lucky in some of the investments you made, Jake, but I know how risky the stock market is if you managed to make billions of dollars this is really good enough for you to be confident." "Say what you invested in or if a friend of yours really gained by investing in what you suggested." "I know that you also understand investments and also invest, Shaq, so I will say that I invested in the last 7 years in the company Cisco, you should know how the shares of this company have appreciated." As soon as Jake said that, Shaq was really surprised, whenever he saw the investment reports that his accountant and the investment company that handled his investments had a report on the Cisco company. After all, this was one of the companies that shares have appreciated more than 500 percent in recent years, Shaq did not remember the exact values, he also remembered that many investors said that this company was too risky because the values ??of the shares were much more valued than the real value of the company. Even so, if Jake really invested in this company in the last 7 years, then his investments appreciated several times, it showed that Jake really understood investments and was not lying. "The only friend of mine who accepted my advice and decided to invest was Matthew Jackson, you must know his company Focus and Flash that currently makes the best digital cameras in the world." "I am also a partner at Focus and Flash and helped him develop some products, he trusted me and invested 300 million dollars a few years ago and has already earned 8 times that amount and already has 2 billion and 200 million dollars in profit because of that investment." "Another company that I also invested in was Amazon before the company did the IPO, so you should know how much I earned." With Jake saying that Shaq and Kobe were impressed again, even Kobe, who had no investments, knew the company Amazon and Matthew''s Focus and Flash which was the largest digital camera company in the world. They both had digital cameras from Matthew''s company because they wanted to take quality photos and videos of the family moments they had, thanks to Matthew''s company the other big camera companies on the market were also developing products faster. Shaq, who knew about investments, knew how the company Amazon valued several times after the company did the IPO, after hearing this it was difficult for Shaq not to believe that Jake understood well how to make the investments. "I believe in you, Jake, what companies do you suggest I invest in now, Amazon?" "Amazon is a company that is certainly worth it for you to invest, but only if you want to wait at least 15 years until your investment is worth it and you earn several times what you invested." "We have to wait many years for computers and the internet to become more popular until a company like Amazon can show all its potential in online sales." "That''s why I said that I made investments to earn a few billion dollars in the future, I invested in other companies that will also show greater potential after 5 years at least." Shaq heard this and trusted Jake much more than he seemed to have thought about it before giving this advice, Shaq also imagined that if the internet and computers became popular companies like Amazon would really be more valuable. "I suggest that you invest in the Cisco company as I have been doing for the past few years, but this is very risky because I think that next year this company and many other companies will devalue a lot." "You should know that companies like Cisco are a great investment opportunity because they are valuing very quickly, but the value of these companies is already several times the natural value that these companies should have." Shaq and Kobe were confused to hear this, Jake was recommending a company so they could invest, but he was also saying that they could lose a lot of money if they didn''t sell their shares on time. "I will continue to invest in the Cisco company until next year and my friend Matthew also, I have an investment company that takes care of my investments and Matthew''s investments." "If you want, you can invest with my company and my company will sell the shares at the right time and you can earn at least 4 times the amount you invest and my company will keep 10% of the profit you get." With Jake saying that the two finally understood what Jake was saying, he said that the Cisco company was a risky company so they could invest and they could gain a lot from it. But only if they invest with Jake''s company can they safely invest and have to give 10 percent of the profits to Jake''s company and earn 4 times what they invest. Kobe thought that Jake talked about the investment just so they could invest with his company and thus earn more money, so Kobe lost interest in the investment that Jake was talking about even though he now believed in him. Shaq thought differently, even if they were friends it was normal for a quality investment firm to charge a fee to take care of client investments, and Jake said they would only charge 10 percent of the profits, which meant that Jake was confident that Shaq would have many profits. When Jake said that he owned a company and that his company was charging for the investments, Shaq was even more confident that Jake''s investment offer was really real that he could really gain from it. "Are you really confident that I can earn 4 times the money I invested in your company until next year?" "Yes, Shaq, I said that I only offer this to my closest friends and that is why in my company only Matthew and I have investments, if you want I will guarantee that you can win next year." "Okay, I will trust you and I will invest 10 million dollars with your investment company, if I win 4 times that investment I will be happy." Jake was happy to see that he would help another friend of his and that Shaq had trusted him, in fact, Jake was confident that Shaq could earn more than 4 times the amount he invested by 2000, so Shaq would earn more than 40 million dollars. Chapter 545 - The New NBA Star 5 Of the more than 40 million dollars that Shaq would earn, Jake would earn only 4 million dollars for making that investment, compared to the billions of dollars that he would earn from his investments and the billions of dollars that he would earn from making the investments. Matthew''s 4 million was not much. Jake was really doing this just to try to help his friends as much as possible, Jake was sad that Clara and Tiffany missed the opportunity to invest with him and so they could earn much more than Shaq would. Kobe, who was listening to the conversation between Shaq and Jake, found it hard to believe that Shaq was really willing to risk $ 10 million on a company he didn''t know, he trusted Jake, but wouldn''t invest that much money in a company that Jake himself said it was too risky. Kobe had to admit that he was also interested in investing and thought it would be strange if only Shaq invested and he didn''t, but he wouldn''t risk investing that much money, besides if he saw after 1 year Shaq earning more than 40 million dollars and he won''t regret anything. "Jake, I trust you too and I also want to invest, but I can''t invest 10 million dollars, so I''m going to invest 1 million dollars and if I win 4 times that amount I will also be happy." "Okay, Kobe, I''m going to make you a lot of money, tomorrow I''m going to send someone to send my company''s reports showing how the Cisco company has appreciated and you can make this investment after talking to your financial representatives." Jake was happy to see that Kobe also trusted him and hoped to help Shaq and Kobe make a lot of money, after this business conversation they decided that they would start enjoying the rest day with a tennis game. Jake told them that maybe it was not a good idea for them to play basketball because they were in three people and they had to stop thinking about basketball on that day off, Jake knew well that having a good team was important to winning the games, but he thought that if Kobe and Shaq played well, the Lakers team could win. They played tennis and Jake lost both times because he had never learned to play tennis, but in his last loss, Jake had almost won the game after learning by playing both games. After all, Kobe and Shaq didn''t play tennis that well and Jake didn''t get much of an advantage because the two were also high-level athletes even though they didn''t have the system as he had, especially since they were playing just for fun. After that they had lunch and enjoyed time by the pool and then ended the day watching a movie at the cinema that was at Jake''s house, Shaq and Kobe left Jake''s house more relaxed and Jake was also happy to spend the day with two of his idols. As soon as Shaq and Kobe left Jake called Emily and asked her to prepare the reports and contracts for Shaq and Kobe, soon they would also invest and Emily was happy to see that the company would receive more money and she would also receive more money. Emily also told Jake that the lawyers who were working to approve the patents Jake applied for had good news, Jake was hoping that he would soon get those patents and so he would guarantee billions of dollars in the future. "Jake, the lawyers said they expect the patents you applied for will be approved by the end of the year, just as you suggested patents for using touchscreen technology and multi-touch technology for the smartphone model were approved." "The other patents for how the smartphone will be used have also been approved, only the patents on the touchscreen and multi-touch technology they hope will take until the end of the year." Jake was very happy to hear that, he knew that these patents on the touchscreen and multi-touch technology would take longer and so he asked lawyers to do more to approve these patents. But in fact, it was the other patents that seemed less important that mattered more to Jake, with those patents other smartphone companies would have to ask Jake for authorization if they wanted to use the smartphone as it will be known in the future with touchscreen and glass screen. Jake hoped that Charlie''s team would be able to finish the initial prototype of the Android operating system technology and if they did, Jake could get several more patents that would make him richer. Emily had already won contracts with ram companies, microprocessors, storage memory, and other important components, so Charlie''s team already knew what operating system limitations they could create. In fact, the operating system was already ready with the tips that Jake had given, but it currently only worked on larger computers with stronger components, now they had to optimize and weaken the Android operating system. Charlie even told Jake that their operating system was better than that of Microsoft and Apple, so they could sell this version that they had for current computers, but Jake was against it and didn''t want to face these big companies. What Jake really wanted to do was just create the operating system and get the patents, then he would create a partnership with Google in the future and let them develop Android as long as he gained a lot from it too. So Jake thought that if he didn''t try to sell this operating system, companies like Microsoft and Apple wouldn''t care about his small tech company when smartphones started being manufactured it would be different. Jake would have the first operating system and as he already knew the future and already had the contracts with the companies that made the components he could maintain the leadership in the market for many years if he wanted to. Jake was not afraid of big companies because he had a lot of support with Amazon and Google who would have to support him, after all, Jake was a partner in these companies and it would be bad for their image if companies like Microsoft and Apple put pressure on him. The other day the Los Angeles Lakers team would play again and Jake would focus again on the games, the next 12 games would be the most difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team and Jake remembered that they lost 6 of those 12 games in Jake''s past life. Jake would try to help the Los Angeles Lakers team not to lose any of those 6 games that they would normally lose, but he knew it wouldn''t be easy, at least he knew that Dennis Rodman would not leave the team until the end of this season as it did in the past. Soon almost 3 weeks passed and the Los Angeles Lakers team had played 11 games and only 1 game was left for the end of Jake''s first NBA season, just as Jake hoped those 11 games were the most difficult of the season. Even with Jake trying hard in those 11 games, the Los Angeles Lakers team still lost 3 games, it wasn''t as bad as losing 6 games as the Los Angeles Lakers team would lose, but they had only lost 3 games before those 11 games and now they had 6 losses in the season. The Los Angeles Lakers team lost to Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs, and Houston Rockets, yet fans and media people praised the Los Angeles Lakers team who had 43 wins and 6 losses in 49 games this season. Even with these 3 losses, Dennis Rodman remained on the team and Jake had not heard anything about him leaving the team, Jake was chosen again as the player of the month for the third time this season. Of course, Jake was also chosen as the rookie of the month for the third time in a row and many said he would be chosen as the rookie of the year and had a good chance of winning the MVP of the season. If Jake won he would be the third player in NBA history to win the MVP award in his debut season and also be the youngest player to be chosen as an MVP, Jake couldn''t deny that he was excited about it. Jake remembered that Karl Malone had won the MVP award this season and many said that he did not deserve this award and that it was the weakest MVP award in history, so Jake thought he very much deserved to win this award with the average of 34 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds, and 8 steals per game. Jake still had an average of 48 minutes per game and he certainly helped the Los Angeles Lakers team a lot to win many games, if he didn''t win this season it would be because he was a rookie. In the last game the Los Angeles Lakers team had won by making 131 points against 98 points by the Dallas Mavericks team, so fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team hoped that the Lakers team would win that last game at home. Soon Jake went to the Great Western Forum where the game would take place and saw the crowd of the Los Angeles Lakers team that was very happy with the team and the fans would fill the Great Western Forum, many had the shirt with the number 7 of Jake and the fans they shouted Jake''s name and his nickname, Captain America, too. Jake had become one of the idols of fans of the Lakers team and of basketball fans in general, Jake had arrived shortly after Michael Jordan retired again and was a player with a different style who won the affection of fans with his talent. Jake went to the locker room and soon went to the court with the other players of the Los Angeles Lakers team, everyone was excited about the team''s last game of the season, coach Rambis had already said he would replace the main players for a long time, even so, the players wanted the victory. Chapter 546 - The New NBA Star 6 The opponent in that game was the Portland Trail Blazers team, who were a tough opponent in two games this season and beat the Los Angeles Lakers team once, the Portland Trail Blazers team was one of the best this season. The Portland Trail Blazers team had 34 victories and 15 defeats this season, the Portland Trail Blazers team had one of the best attacks and one of the best defenses of the season and that''s why they got those good results. Jake was not concerned about that because the Portland Trail Blazers team had also qualified for the playoffs as well as the Los Angeles Lakers team and would therefore also replace the top players for many minutes. Jake would play the 48 minutes in that game and he would have an easier time attacking and defending in that game, Jake knew that in the past the Los Angeles Lakers team won that game and so he was confident that the Lakers team would win with him on the team too. "Welcome to everyone who came to accompany what will be the last game of these two teams this season, in this game the Los Angeles Lakers team faces the Portland Trail Blazers team, the Portland Trail Blazers team was one of the few teams this season that managed to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers team." "The Portland Trail Blazers team had 34 wins and 15 losses this season, even in this season that had fewer games it was an impressive result, so the Portland Trail Blazers team qualified for the playoffs." "The Portland Trail Blazers team finished second in the Pacific Division and 3 in the Western Conference, it was a great result and that made the Portland Trail Blazers team more confident to win the playoff games and win the NBA title this season." "The Los Angeles Lakers team playing at home today had one of the best seasons in the team''s history that unfortunately cannot be compared to other seasons for having only 50 games." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has had 43 wins and only 6 losses in 49 games so far, with that result the Los Angeles Lakers team ranked first in the Pacific Division and first in the Western Conference." "With excellent players like Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, Dennis Rodman, Rick Fox, Robert Horry the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to be the team with the best attack, with a good defense, one of the teams that gets more rebounds per game, and also that he makes more steals per game." "In addition to these excellent players we also have Jake Smith who debuted this season as a rookie and became one of the biggest NBA stars, Jake was chosen 3 times as the rookie of the month and was chosen 3 times as the player of the month." "The other rookies like Vince Carter who also played very well had no chance of competing with a player who was also chosen as the player of the month every month of this season." "Jake will definitely be chosen for the NBA All-Rookie First Team and also for the All-NBA Second Team because he is a rookie, otherwise he would be chosen for the first team, and Jake deserved everything he achieved." "After that game, the Los Angeles Lakers go into the playoffs as the best team and as the favorite team to win the NBA title this season." Just as commentators said Jake debuted in the NBA this season and was now certainly one of the best NBA players today, Jake helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to be the favorite team to win the NBA title. If the Los Angeles Lakers team manages to win the NBA title this season it will surely be because of Jake''s entry and he will become one of the greatest idols in the history of the Los Angeles Lakers team. The Los Angeles Lakers team will start this game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Portland Trail Blazers team will start this game with Damon Stoudamire playing as PG, Isaiah Rider playing as SG, Walt Williams playing as SF, Rasheed Wallace playing as PF, and Kelvin Cato playing as Center. The game started with Shaquille O''Neal winning the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake received the ball and started organizing the first attack for the Lakers team, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick Fox on the left. Rick received the ball and Walt Williams came pressing on defense, Rick held the ball a little and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Isaiah Rider came pressing on defense. Kobe made a feint and tricked Rider, Rider still kept defending and Kobe made a crossover to advance to the inside area, Kobe drive to the basket and scored 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Kobe and Shaq knew they would play for a few minutes and so they started the game trying to score, of course, they understood that the playoffs would soon start and these would be the most important games. Even the Portland Trail Blazers coach would replace the top players in that game because he wanted to advance in the playoffs, so Jake would be more important in that game where he would not be replaced and would play many minutes against substitute players. In another move, the Portland Trail Blazers team went on the attack, Damon Stoudamire advanced the ball and passed it to Rider on the right, Rider received the ball and Rick arrived pressing the defense, Rider held the ball a little and passed it to Williams on the right. Williams tried to deceive Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not deceived, so Williams passed the ball to Rasheed Wallace later on, Wallace received the ball and Dennis Rodman came in to press the defense. Wallace managed to outwit Rodman with a feint and stepped away to try a hook shot to score 2 points for the Portland Trail Blazers team, the Portland Trail Blazers team was a tough opponent with players who were good at attacking and defending. Coach Rambis knew this and also knew that the Los Angeles Lakers team had to rely on the strong attack to try to win by scoring more points than the opponent, that was something that the Los Angeles Lakers team had to resolve next season. Coach Rambis did not know if he would continue as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers team next season, he thought he would not continue as head coach even if the Los Angeles Lakers team won the NBA title this season. In the sports media, there were already rumors that the Los Angeles Lakers team board was talking to Phil Jackson, with the Los Angeles Lakers team having excellent players could get Coach Jackson''s attention. Even so, coach Rambis was already thinking of hiring other players to improve the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team, of course, Shaq, Kobe and Jake had guaranteed places in the main team next season. In another move Jake was organizing another attack for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Williams arrived pressing on defense. Kobe tried to deceive Williams with a feint, but Williams was not deceived, so Kobe passed the ball to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and Stoudamire came pressing on the defense, Jake held the ball and waited to see how his teammates moved before making the pass, after a while, Jake saw the move he would make. Jake made a high pass to Shaq who took the ball high and made the dunk to complete the alley-oop and make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team were excited about this attack. In that first quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team was dominating the game and putting a lot of pressure on the attack, Jake was playing very well and when the main players of the two teams were replaced he played even better in the attack. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a good point advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. "The first quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team is playing very well in that game and the Portland Trail Blazers are not playing well in attack and are not able to defend well." "Jake is being the highlight of the Los Angeles Lakers team in that first quarter, Shaq, Kobe, and Rick are playing well, but they are playing for a few minutes and so they are not going to play as well as in the last games." "Dennis is also helping a lot with rebounds in that game as well and it can help the Los Angeles Lakers team get the win more easily." "We will continue to follow up to see if the Los Angeles Lakers team this season, so they can start the playoffs with more confidence." Just as commentators said the Los Angeles Lakers team players were playing well in that game, the Portland Trail Blazers team coach knew this, but he needed to spare his team''s top players for the playoffs. The biggest difference between the two teams was that Jake who was the best player on the Los Angeles Lakers team could play the full 48 minutes in the game and the best player on the Portland Trail Blazers team had to rest half that time. Even so, the Portland Trail Blazers tried to start the second quarter by pressing in the attack, Stoudamire advanced with the ball and passed to Williams from the right, Williams received the ball and Kobe arrived pressing in defense. Williams held the ball a little and passed it to Rider on the right, Rider received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, Rider tried to trick Rick with a feint, but Rick was not fooled and continued to press on defense. Rider decided to pass the ball to Stoudamire further back, Stoudamire received the ball and Jake was on defense, Stoudamire saw that Jake was away from him and attempted a mid-range shot and scored 2 more points for the Portland Trail Blazers. Chapter 547 - The New NBA Star 7 Even with the Portland Trail Blazers team replacing the main players, they were still able to put pressure on the attack because the replacement players they had were better than the replacement players on the Los Angeles Lakers team. Of course, Derek Fisher and Robert Horry, who were substitute players, were very good, but substitute players in other positions were not so good, luckily Jake was always on the court to make the plays. In another move Jake was organizing another attack for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake passed the ball to Fisher from the right, Fisher received the ball and Jim Jackson came up to press the defense. Fisher held the ball for a while and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick was not replaced in that game because he had already rested a few minutes in the previous games, this season Rick was happy to play as a starting player for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Rick had an average of more than 14 points per game and in many games, he helped the Los Angeles Lakers team by making more than 22 points, he could not be compared with Jake, Shaq, and Kobe, but he helped the opponent''s defense not to focus a lot on Kobe. Rick received the ball and Bonzi Wells came in pressing on defense, Rick tried to advance to the inside area, but Wells was firm in defense, so Rick decided to pass the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Stoudamire arrived pressing in defense. Jake made a feint and outwitted Stoudamire and advanced on the right, Stoudamire tried to keep defending, Jake did a quick crossover and advanced on the left and left Stoudamire behind. Jake continued to advance and the opponents were unable to defend against him, Jake advanced and scored another 2 points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake was very good at three-point play, but when he advanced to make the individual play it was difficult for opponents to stop him. With the two teams replacing the main players, the Portland Trail Blazers team was able to put more pressure on the attack and defense, luckily with Horry, Fisher, and Jake on the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Portland Trail Blazers team only managed to score a little more points. Coach Rambis realized this and let Shaq play longer on the court, Jake had realized that Shaq was not playing very well in that game, but with him, on the court, the Los Angeles Lakers team was stronger. In another move, the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack, Stoudamire advanced the ball and passed it to Rider on the right, Rider received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Williams on the left. Williams received the ball and Fisher came up on the defense, Williams tried to trick Fisher with a feint, but Fisher was not fooled, so Williams waited for a little and tried to advance from the right using his speed. Williams managed to move forward and Fisher was trying to keep defending against him, Williams managed to move forward and did not notice Jake getting close to him, Jake was quick and steal and caught the ball and Williams was unable to react. Jake took the ball and advanced using his speed for the attack, Williams and Stoudamire managed to follow Jake and came back to defend, Jake was very fast and left Williams behind and only Stoudamire left to defend. Jake didn''t think much and as soon as he approached Stoudamire he tried the Ghost move dribble, Jake made his move very fast and Stoudamire didn''t see the ball like the other opponents that Jake did this dribble. Jake passed by Stoudamire who did not see the ball until he heard the ball hitting the ground and Jake moving forward to make 2 more points with a dunk, Jake did this dribble several times and many still didn''t realize that this was a dribble move by Jake. For fans at the Great Western Forum and commentators Stoudamire just let Jake pass him with the ball and then Jake did the dunk, Jake also wouldn''t say this was his special dribble because opponents could learn how to defend. The second quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to win the game and managed to further increase the points advantage, in that second quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 12 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. "The second quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team continues to win the game, it is difficult for the Portland Trail Blazers to recover and win this game, especially since this is not the priority for the Portland Trail Blazers coach." "That''s right, Jake is playing very well and the other main players are also playing well even if they are playing for less time, even with the Portland Trail Blazers players playing well, it is difficult for the Portland Trail Blazers team to win this game." "The Portland Trail Blazers team is playing very well this season and defeated the Los Angeles Lakers team in one game and even losing the other games they still played well." "But these two teams can still face each other in the playoff conference final, so the game would be completely different." The Los Angeles Lakers team already had a big advantage in points in the game and it would be difficult for the Portland Trail Blazers to try to win, even so in the third quarter the Portland Trail Blazers continued to press in attack and defense. With Shaq playing longer and with fewer substitute players, the Los Angeles Lakers team played even better, in the last quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team continued with the points advantage with a great performance by Jake. The game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with 131 points against 86 points from the Portland Trail Blazers team, Jake played for 48 minutes in that game and had 51 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds, and 8 steals. This was the game that Jake made the most games in all season and it was the first game that Jake scored more than 50 points in his NBA career, Jake was very happy with his performance and even more for having achieved a double-double. "The last game for these two teams ends this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to finish this regular season with one more victory and so they managed 44 victories and only 6 losses in 50 games." "The Portland Trail Blazers team played well in that game, but with the substitutions, the Portland Trail Blazers team''s defense failed to stop the strongest attack of the season, especially with this being one of Jake''s best games of the season." "Jake Smith showed today because even though he is a rookie he is one of the best players currently in the NBA, Jake made a double-double in this game with 11 assists and an incredible 51 points, this was the first game in Jake''s career in which he did more 50 points." "Jake broke the record by currently being the youngest player to score 50 points in a game, Jake is currently 20 years and 4 months old, unfortunately, he debuted this season with reduced games, otherwise he could score much more in the season. his debut." "Jake was chosen three times as the player of the month and after that game scoring 51 points and with 11 assists Jake is a strong candidate to win the MVP award of the season, in fact, I think that this season nobody can compete with him." "With this victory the Los Angeles Lakers team will go with more confidence to play the next game against the Minnesota Timberwolves team in the first game of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers team will be playing at home which makes them even more favorites to win this game." "The Portland Trail Blazers team will play against the Sacramento Kings team and will also try to win the victory to advance to the next playoff phase and perhaps win this season''s NBA title." The players were very happy with this victory of the Los Angeles Lakers team, many players congratulated Jake for having managed to make more than 50 games in the last game, everyone knew that Jake would help the team a lot in the playoffs of this season. Jake was also very happy to have managed to score more than 50 points in that game and he was also excited to play the playoffs, after the end of the playoffs Jake knew he might have a chance to win the MVP award in his debut season. Jake knew he could play the playoffs this season because he knew the Los Angeles Lakers team did it in his past life, but with Jake joining the team, things were different, the games were no longer the same and the Los Angeles Lakers team started to depend on Jake to win. Certainly, in the playoff games the Los Angeles Lakers team would depend on Jake to win, Jake was anxious about it and also a little afraid, after all these games in the playoffs would be different from what Jake remembered in his past life. In addition to the Los Angeles Lakers team having different players, the opponent would also be different, even so, Jake was confident that the Los Angeles Lakers team could win, coach Rambis and the other players were also confident of that. After the end of the game, the reporters went to interview the players, some players were happy for the victory, but they refused to speak to the reporters, Shaq and Kobe were stopped first by the reporters and spoke little to them. "Kobe, this is your third year in the NBA and the third time that you will play in the playoffs, last season the Los Angeles Lakers team reached the West Conference Finals before losing, do you think that this season you can reach the NBA Finals this season or even winning the NBA title?" "For sure, this season the Los Angeles Lakers team had one of the best seasons in the team''s history, I was able to play longer and my teammates also played well this season." "With the arrival of Jake, who is an excellent player, our team has improved a lot and I think we can win the games in the playoffs and win this NBA title if we continue to play well." Chapter 548 - The New NBA Star 8 "What did you think of Jake''s debut season and how are the players'' relationship with so many stars on the team?" "As I said, I think Jake is an excellent player and he showed that by averaging 34 points and 11 assists in the season, Jake can play 48 minutes in every game and is an excellent PG that helps me and the other players." "I think Jake deserved to be chosen as the player of the month in 3 months this season, I think that I and the other players know that we are lucky to have a team with excellent players." "Even with great players on the team, we don''t compete directly for positions in the starting team, and the focus this season is on winning the NBA title, so we are very united and this is shown in the Lakers team games." Kobe answered some questions because he was happy with the victory, Kobe got used to the reporters always talking about Jake in the interviews, he was being sincere saying that he thought Jake deserved to be called the best player on the team and that he was happy about it. Of course, Kobe still wanted to be the best player on the Los Angeles Lakers team and the NBA and so he thought about playing even better in the coming seasons and overcoming Jake, nobody knew how he would feel if he couldn''t overcome Jake after a few seasons. After interviewing Kobe, the reporters went to Shaq to talk to him, Shaq was also excited about the team''s victory and the playoffs that would soon begin, so Shaq also agreed to talk to the reporters. "Shaq, what do you think of this Los Angeles Lakers team ranking for the playoffs and with the team finishing first at the Western Conference and being the team with the best attack of the season?" "I am very happy with this, my teammates and I have struggled a lot and have worked hard to achieve this even with this short season and this difficult sequence with many games." "I can say myself that I tried my best and I''m happy with the result that our team has achieved, now we have the playoffs to play and times that we continue to play well to win the NBA title." Shaq was really happy with the team''s result this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team having the best winning campaign and being the best offense was proof of how well he and the other players played. "Shaq, in addition to your rookie season, you managed to qualify with the team that you played in all the years for the playoffs, you think that this is perhaps the best team with the best teammates that you are going to playoffs?" "This is difficult to say, I have played with excellent players in other seasons, especially in the 1994-95 season when we reached the NBA Finals, but I can say that if we win the NBA title this season, then I can say that this is the best team with the best players I''ve ever played." "Shaq, what do you think of Jake''s debut season?" "Sometimes it''s hard to remember that Jake is a rookie, he''s one of the best players I''ve ever played with, in this game today where he scored 51 points and even made 11 assists show his NBA season well" "Jake is the player in the entire NBA today and has the most points per game and has the most assists as well, Jake has an average of 8 rebounds and 8 steals per game also showing how he is also a great defensive player." "If Jake is not the MVP of this season I think that nobody should be chosen as MVP, Jake certainly deserves it and it is very good to know that he is on my team." The reporters were impressed with Shaq''s praise when he spoke of Jake, it was difficult to see Shaq praising other players so much, it showed that Shaq had really been impressed with Jake''s skill this season. After talking to the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team, the reporters went to look for Jake to talk to him, Jake didn''t want to talk to the reporters, but he knew it was better to talk to the reporters after that game. "Jake, congratulations on your great performance in that game, and for the first time in the NBA that you scored more than 50 points." "Thank you." "Jake, now that the regular season is over and the Los Angeles Lakers team have won 44 games out of 50 games that season, what did you think of your debut season?" "I think it couldn''t be better, I had the confidence of the team coaches throughout the season and I also had the confidence of my teammates." "I was able to help the Los Angeles Lakers team by playing 48 minutes in every game, and I got that point and assist average which was very good, the average steals and rebounds were also what I expected." "The most important thing was the result of the Los Angeles Lakers team, I''m happy that the Lakers team has won so many games and qualified for the playoffs, now we have to continue playing well in the playoffs." "Do you think you deserve to win the MVP award after being chosen as the player of the month in the 3 months of this season?" "This is hard to say, I certainly played the best I was able to play and the Los Angeles Lakers team was the best team this season, I was also lucky to lead several statistics this season like average points, assists, and steals in every game." "So I''m not going to deny that I think I am one of the players who deserve to win the MVP award as well as other players who have also had an excellent performance this season, I hope the fact that this is my rookie season does not affect my chances of winning the MVP award. " Jake didn''t want to do the interview because he knew reporters would ask that question, he didn''t want to be arrogant saying he deserved to win the prize, but it would be false if he said he didn''t think he deserved to win the MVP award. So Jake said what he thought, that he was one of the players most likely to win this prize and if he didn''t win it would be because this was his rookie season, Jake tried not to be arrogant, but he had to say he deserved to win that award because it was the truth. "Jake, do you think the Los Angeles Lakers team can win the NBA title this season?" "I think so, I am confident that the Los Angeles Lakers team can win this season and if the team remains with the same players we may be able to win the NBA title in the coming seasons as well." The reporters were surprised by Jake''s statement, they expected him to try to deviate from the question and would not answer, but contrary to what they expected Jake clearly answered their question. In addition, Jake said that he thought the Los Angeles Lakers team could win the NBA title in the coming seasons beyond this season, that was something the team''s fans would definitely like to hear, but the other teams would not like to hear that. In recent times only the team that had Michael Jordan can win the NBA title for several years, they knew that Jake was an excellent player, but they didn''t think he was like Michael Jordan, but if they thought well with Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant the Los Angeles Lakers team was very strong. After the interviews, the players returned to their home, the Los Angeles Lakers team would play only after 4 days and so the players would have 3 days to rest before the start of the playoffs. In those 4 days the players would have to train in the first 2 days they could rest on the third day and on the fourth day they would play, of course, this was expected by the players, after all, they would have decisive games in the playoffs, Jake thought that if the players wanted to rest they had to win the 3 games and they would already qualify and could rest. Jake went back to his house and called his mother to talk to her, Eva already knew that that day Jake would play the last game of the regular season and then the playoffs would start, Eva had already decided that she would close the restaurant on game days Jake''s and would travel to watch. "Hi, mom, I called to say we won today''s game, after 4 days the playoffs will start and our team will play against the Minnesota Timberwolves team." "How nice to hear that, Jake, I''m going to watch every playoff game that your team plays, I''m going to hope that the Los Angeles Lakers team wins and that you''re the highlight in every game." "You don''t need to watch all the games, mom, it will be very tiring for you to travel so many times in May to watch the games, besides, you have to take care of the restaurant." "I''m not going to discuss this with you again, Jake, I already decided that and since I can''t watch all of your games, I at least want to watch the decisive games." Jake would lie if he said that he was not happy to hear that his mother would watch all his games, Jake knew that Eva could not go to watch the regular games of the season, even so, he sometimes looked at the stands thinking about how good it would be for him to find his mother watching his games. So knowing that Eva would watch all his games in the playoffs would make Jake want to play even better to show his best performance to his mother, Jake had already prepared some things to give more comfort to his mother. "Okay, well, if you''ve decided you want to watch the games, I understand that, but I''ve prepared some things for you and you''ll have to do it if you want to watch my games in the playoffs." "Okay, what did you prepare." "When you have two games in one city you cannot travel back to Miami before the games are over, you will have to stay in the city of games until the games are over." Chapter 549 - The New NBA Star 9 "I know that if I don''t do this you will want to go back to Miami between the days of the games to open the restaurant, but if you travel every day you will not be able to stand it and your health will get much worse, so you have to leave the restaurant in these next 2 months with Anna." "When there is a gap of more than 3 days between games I will let you go back to Miami until the next game happens, so at most you will be 2 weeks without going back to Miami." Eva didn''t expect Jake to say that to her, she really thought about traveling to Miami every day to help Anna with the restaurant on days when Jake didn''t have games, she knew she would tire more, but it was something she thought she could take. Jake knew his mother well and knew that Eva would try to do this and so he said this to Eva, after all, he knew that this was the best for her health, that was the only restriction he had for his mother to watch the games his. "Okay, I accept that, after all, it''s only 2 months and I know that Anna will understand if I have to stay away from the restaurant to watch her decisive games." "Very well, in the games where the Los Angeles Lakers team plays here in Los Angeles, you will stay at my house, in the games that will be in other cities I have already booked a hotel in all cities for you." "The hotel managers were really nice to me and so if the Los Angeles Lakers team is eliminated or plays with another team the reservation will be canceled automatically and I won''t have to pay anything, so the hotels are already reserved for you, mom." This was something that Eva was very happy that Jake did, she would try to book the hotels after going to the cities where the games would take place, but what Eva didn''t know was that the best hotels would be crowded on the days of the playoff games of NBA. That way she would be lucky if she found a 3-star hotel to rest on game days, even if Eva wasn''t too picky Jake didn''t want his mother to be uncomfortable because of him. Jake said the simplest things first and Eva accepted everything calmly because the biggest extravagance Jake left to speak last so that Eva could not refuse, of course, that extravagance would not even cost Jake much. "The third thing I prepared for you, mom, is a little different, but everything is already prepared." "What is?" "I rented a helicopter to take you to the cities where my team will play, that helicopter is rented to go in any state and in any city, in addition, there will be a rental car waiting for you in all the cities that will take you to the hotel." Eva didn''t know what to say when Jake said he rented a helicopter and a private car for her for 2 months, the rental car for two months was expensive and she could understand roughly how much it cost Jake. But renting a helicopter was something Eva couldn''t even imagine and she had no idea how much it cost Jake, Eva knew that Jake had won a few million dollars from basketball and his investments, but she didn''t even know how close Jake had really won. What Eva knew was that Jake was someone very responsible and she never heard Matthew or Emily criticizing Jake for spending too much money irresponsibly, so Eva didn''t know what to say and had to accept it because Jake had said he had already rented the helicopter and not that would rent in the future. "Don''t worry, mom, it''s not as expensive as it looks and you would spend a lot more time and tire a lot more if you had to use a plane every week to go to my team''s games." Jake thought about buying a helicopter for him to use in the future, but he didn''t have time to do that, Jake didn''t just have to buy the helicopter, he had to find a place to keep the helicopter safe and well looked after, hire a pilot and take care of the fuel. Jake had to take care of the helicopter maintenance which was essential because he could risk his life on each flight, so if he had to buy a helicopter he would spend $ 1 million, but he would spend that amount in a few years to hire a pilot and to take care of the helicopter and its maintenance. Jake would definitely have to buy a helicopter in the future, but he would do it only after receiving the money from the sale of the shares of the company Cisco after that Jake would receive several billion dollars that would give him to live peacefully until the shares of Amazon and Google give more profit. Not to mention that this year Jake would still receive more money from his sponsors and the Los Angeles Lakers team, it would be more than 12 million dollars and even if Jake didn''t decide to invest he would still have a lot of money. Jake talked to his mother for a while and then hung up the phone, Jake didn''t call Kate because he knew she was doing a show at that time and after the show, she would be very tired. The next day the media was still talking about the interview of Jake and the other players on the Los Angeles Lakers team, meanwhile, the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team went to train for the playoff games. In the next games, there would be no easy opponents and any mistake that the players made could mean the elimination of the Los Angeles Lakers team, each game was important, and if they could they should win the first 3 games to advance to the next stage and to get less tired. Coach Rambis and the players knew that, so they weren''t distracted by anything and just thought about training to win the playoff games, and it would continue until the Los Angeles Lakers team won the NBA title or were eliminated. The players had 2 days of intense training without the players getting too tired and on the third day, they were able to rest, on that day of rest Jake called Kate and told her that the Los Angeles Lakers team had made it to the playoffs. "Hi Kate, I called to say that the Los Angeles Lakers team qualified for the playoffs and won the last game, tomorrow we are going to play the first game of the playoffs." "I heard about it, congratulations Jake, I know you guys put in a lot of effort and it must be a dream come true for you to make it to the playoffs." Kate followed the newspapers and watched the results of the Los Angeles Lakers team''s games on television and also looked for Jake''s news, when she could Kate watched the games, so she knew everything that happened to Jake in the NBA. "It''s really a dream come true, I hope I can make more dreams come true this season, I can win the MVP award and maybe even win the NBA title, even if I don''t make it this was a great season." "I''m glad you''re enjoying your debut season Jake, I heard some reporters saying it was a shame that you made your NBA debut this season with 50 games if it was another season you and your team would break a lot more records." "I don''t know if it would really be like that, what happened this season was inevitable to happen, and if it was another season I might not have had that much time playing games on the Los Angeles Lakers team." Jake said that because that was what he thought when he decided to debut in the NBA this season, next season the Los Angeles Lakers team would have coach Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal would be even bigger stars and the Los Angeles Lakers team would have others players. Jake knew it would be even more difficult for him to play on another NBA team that needed a PG and was able to win the NBA title, facing the Los Angeles Lakers team would be more difficult in other seasons. Of course, Jake couldn''t tell Kate or anyone else these things, but he himself had asked David to get him to join the Los Angeles Lakers team this season even though he knew everything that would happen. Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Michael Jordan were some of the best players in NBA history and yet they didn''t break many records in their early years playing in the NBA, of course, some of them broke some records, but it was their career over the years that made them the best players. "I see, I was worried that you would feel bad about debuting this reduced season, I also think that your debut season was incredible, I will not be able to watch all your games in the playoffs, but if you make it to the NBA Finals I will watch all the games." Jake knew that Kate really wanted to watch all of his important games just as Eva would, but Jake understood that this was impossible in her career, maybe when they announced they were dating and her reputation was greater she could do that. So Kate said that if Jake made it to the NBA Finals she could convince Lily to let her go to the games to support Jake, surely Lily couldn''t deny it if Jake made it to the NBA Finals. In addition, Kate thought it was a motivation for Jake to work even harder at the games to ensure that the Los Angeles Lakers team reached the NBA Finals, Jake realized that and was happy with Kate''s concern. After that Jake talked for a while with Kate and hung up the phone, Jake rested well for the rest of the day and at night the rental car brought Eva to his house, the next day the playoff games of the Los Angeles Lakers and Eva team would begin waited until the last day before the game to arrive in Los Angeles. That was because Jake had said she couldn''t go back to Miami until the first playoff games ended, so Eva took advantage of Jake''s rented a helicopter and a car and left for Los Angeles just after leaving the restaurant. Chapter 550 - The New NBA Star 10 Jake knew his mother well and hoped that Eva would do something like that, Jake didn''t care that Eva came only at the end of the day because he was already happy that she was away from the restaurant to watch his games. It was the first time that Eva saw the new house that Jake bought and she was very surprised, she already thought that the house they had in Miami was a big mansion, but Jake''s house in Los Angeles was much bigger and had much more things. Unlike their home in Miami, Eva noticed the various security guards and employees that Jake''s house had, it was something that Eva had only seen at Matthew''s house, so Mary who knew Eva was coming was to meet her at the door. "Good evening, ma''am, it is a pleasure to meet you, my name is Mary and I am the governess of Sir Smith''s house." "Good night, Mary, my son talked about you, thanks for looking after him for the past few months." "It''s my job, ma''am." Soon Mary took Eva to where Jake was and he was happy to see that his mother had finally arrived, unfortunately, it was too late and Jake knew that Eva must be tired after working at the restaurant all day. "Mom, I''m happy to see you again after so long, I thought I could only see you after the games ended this season." "Of course, I would come as soon as your team made it to the playoffs, you should know that." "It is a pity that it is too late, otherwise I would show you the house, but tomorrow we will have time before the game, dinner is ready, I was just waiting for you." Eva was happy to see Jake well and happy after the great games she knew the Los Angeles Lakers team was having, Eva was even more proud of Jake for being one of the best NBA players in his debut year. Jake and Eva had dinner and then talked for a while before Jake took Eva to the room he had prepared for her as soon as he bought the house, Jake chose one of the best beds and let Mary help with the decorating later. This was his house so naturally, it was also his mother''s, so Jake chose a room for Eva right after choosing his room and already asked the painters to put a feminine color in the room. Eva was surprised and thrilled to hear that Jake prepared this room for her shortly after buying the house, all the furniture and decor were better than the ones in her room in Miami that she herself had chosen from the best she found at the time. Of course, Eva did not think like Jake who had some furniture imported from other states and countries with the help of a decorator, even Mary who decorated the room did not know where Jake would buy the furniture from and she just chose the best one as Jake asked. Soon the day of the first playoff game came, the first 2 games would take place in Los Angeles because the Los Angeles Lakers team had ranked first and would always have the advantage of playing the first games at home. So the media and fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team hoped that the Lakers team would win these first two games and perhaps win the third game by also qualifying more easily. Jake woke up happy and relaxed even though it was his first playoff game, Jake ate his breakfast with his mother and then showed her the whole house, Jake showed the cinema, the gym and the other things he adapted at his house. Eva really liked the cinema and the pool and also liked the library she had at Jake''s house, the only things they didn''t have in Miami were the library and the cinema, that was normal after all it was Jake who prepared their house in Miami too. Jake didn''t want to make a movie in Miami because he didn''t know if Eva would like it, the only thing the Miami home had was the kitchen space that Jake prepared for Eva in case she wanted to try some dishes she wanted to make in the restaurant. "Mom, if you want I can ask you to make a cinema and a library in Miami too, it''s not difficult to do, I just didn''t think you would like it." "I don''t want to, I thought it was cool at your place and when I come here I can watch some movies with you and use your library to read a little, having it in Miami wouldn''t be good because I wouldn''t do it alone." Eva knew she liked to spend most of her time at the restaurant, so she thought it was useless to have it at the Miami home, Jake had bought several books and left it in the Miami office and Eva didn''t have time to read even a part their. The two talked for a while Jake showed the house to his mother, but in the afternoon Jake was totally focused when he went to the playoff game site, Jake knew how important that game was and he would not underestimate the opponent. The first opponent was the Minnesota Timberwolves team, the Los Angeles Lakers team played 3 times this season against the Minnesota Timberwolves team, there were 3 victories, but Jake remembered that in his past life the Los Angeles Lakers team would have lost one of those games. The Minnesota Timberwolves team made a great start to the season with 7 wins and 3 losses, until afterward, the Minnesota Timberwolves team started losing several games, even so, the Minnesota Timberwolves team managed to qualify for the playoffs. Certainly, Kevin Garnett, who was the best player of the team this season, was mainly responsible for this, the fans couldn''t say that Kevin''s performance this season was worth the renewal of the millionaire contract he had, but at least it didn''t irritate the fans. At least this was Kevin''s best season on the Minnesota Timberwolves team, this season he averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds per game, of course, the Minnesota Timberwolves team had other good players to qualify for the playoffs. Jake arrived and saw the fans coming to fill the Great Western Forum, Jake hoped that the Los Angeles Lakers team could win the NBA title this season, which was the last season that the Lakers team would play at the Great Western Forum. Jake arrived in the locker room and waited some time until the players and coach Kurt Rambis arrived, all the players were fine for that game and Dennis Rodman was still on the team. The captain of the Los Angeles Lakers team was Shaquille O''Neal who was the most important player on the team and had more experience in playoffs and playing in the Los Angeles Lakers team, Dennis Rodman and Rick Fox had more experience than him, but Shaq was still the captain. Shaq was not a player who made many speeches on the Los Angeles Lakers team, so everyone expected Coach Rambis to say a few words before that first playoff game if the Los Angeles Lakers team won the NBA title that moment would be important. "This is your first playoff game this season, even though this season has been reduced and there have been fewer games, no one can deny that you had a great campaign winning 44 games and losing only 6 games." "Your great performance this season has shown the media and the fans of our team your willingness to qualify for the playoffs, I am sure that now the will of everyone here and that our team qualifies for the NBA Finals and that we can win the NBA title." "This is my desire too, before the start of this season I could never hope that I would become the head coach of this team, this is a dream for me and for any coach." "I don''t know if I''m going to continue as the head coach of this team for the next season, so if possible I would like you to fight for our team to win the NBA title this season and so I will be proud of that for my entire life." Rambis'' motivational speech was with honest words and it touched the feelings of all the players who were most excited to play better, Kobe Bryant and Jake were young players and knew they would have other chances to win the NBA title. Shaquille O''Neal was not that young, but he also knew he would have other opportunities to win the NBA title, Rick Fox was excited to try to win the NBA title this season and Dennis Rodman had already won 5 NBA title in his career. But hearing coach Rambis say that made them all want to win the NBA title this season, of course, they needed to win that game and the next games against the Minnesota Timberwolves team. Soon the players of both teams went to the court, the players of the Minnesota Timberwolves team were called to the court and were not very applauded for being the opponents, soon the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were called. All the players that entered were very celebrated by the fans who shouted the names of the players, Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant and in the end, Jake were the players that made the crowd more excited when they entered the court. The Los Angeles Lakers team would start that game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Minnesota Timberwolves team would start this game with Terrell Brandon playing as PG, Anthony Peeler playing as SG, Sam Mitchell playing as SF, Joe Smith, and Kevin Garnett playing as PF and Kevin defending against Shaq in that game. Both teams were with the initial players that they had in most games and this was probably the team that they would start all the games of this playoff, they would change if they wanted to try to play with a different formation. Chapter 551 - The Playoffs 1 "Welcome to everyone who came to watch the first game between these two teams in this first phase of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers team plays at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves." "The Minnesota Timberwolves team had the worst performance of the Western Conference teams that qualified for the playoffs, yet in the first round games where a team needs 3 wins to qualify we can expect a lot of games between the two teams." "At the very least we will have 3 games between these two teams and thus the Minnesota Timberwolves team is much more likely to advance to the next phase of the playoffs with so many games." "Kevin Garnett has been doing the best season of his career and is making the fan better accept the millionaire contract that is being paid to him, even if the team''s budget was compromised because of Garnett''s contract, the Minnesota Timberwolves team has a team strong." "Even so, the Los Angeles Lakers team is definitely a favorite to win this game and qualify for the next phase of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win this season''s NBA title." "Even with this reduced season with 50 games, the Los Angeles Lakers team had one of the best seasons in the team''s history with 44 victories and just 6 losses ending the season in first place at the Western Conference." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has the best attack of this season with excellent players like 5-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman, Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Rick Fox on the starting team." "The Los Angeles Lakers team still has Jake Smith who debuted this season and was chosen in the three months of this season as the player of the month and is a favorite to be chosen as this season''s MVP." "Jake averaged 34.9 points, 11 assists and still has an average of 8 rebounds and 8 steals per game, Jake also plays the 48 minutes in every game, Jake plays every minute of the game which helped the team Los Angeles Lakers taking advantage in many important games." "With this team, it is normal for the Los Angeles Lakers team to be the favorite team to win the NBA title, we will follow this game to see which team starts these playoffs with a victory." Just as the commentators said what was expected in this game was for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win the game, the players of both teams also knew this, and the fans who were at the Great Western Forum expected it. The game started and Shaquille O''Neal won the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaq passed the ball to Jake who started organizing the first attack for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick Fox on the left, this season Rick was having one of the best seasons of his career as a player, Rick played more than 44 games in this reduced season and won the affection of the fans with his good performances in the season. Rick played well in most games and with the Los Angeles Lakers team playing well and winning many games it was natural for Rick to be praised as well as the other players, Rick received the ball and Sam Mitchell arrived pressing in defense. Rick held the ball for a while and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Anthony Peeler came pressing on the defense, Kobe held the ball and tried to make a feint and deceive Peeler, Kobe tried to make a body feint and could not deceive Peeler. Kobe kept trying and dribbled pretending he was going to go left and going right, Peeler was tricked in that move and Kobe advanced to the inside area, Joe Smith tried to hinder the advance of Kobe who accelerated and drive to the basket to make the 2 first points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The fans were excited by Kobe''s beautiful play to make those first points, Jake hoped that in this game Shaq and Kobe would stand out as they always did in the important playoff games, if they played well it was certain that the Los Angeles Lakers team would win. In another move the Minnesota Timberwolves team went on the attack, Terrell Brandon advanced with the ball and passed to Peeler on the left, Peeler received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense. Peeler held the ball for a while and passed it to Mitchell on the right, Mitchell received the ball and Rick came in pressing on the defense, Mitchell tricked Rick with a feint and tried to advance from the right. Rick was not fooled and pressed in defense, Mitchell passed the ball to Peeler and Peeler went to the middle and the Minnesota Timberwolves team players changed positions in the play, Peeler passed the ball to Brandon on the right and Jake was on the defense. Brandon received the ball with the possession time running out and he attempted the mid-range shot and scored 2 points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team, at the beginning of the game the Minnesota Timberwolves team was playing well in attack and trying to press on defense. So, in the beginning, the game was balanced, this was expected for the Minnesota Timberwolves team to reach the playoffs meant that they had a good team with good players, but those who knew the Los Angeles Lakers team knew that the Los Angeles Lakers team started it was usually slower. This was not a recommendation from Coach Rambis, it was Jake''s style of play as PG, the Los Angeles Lakers team did not start slowly and just kept pace with the opponent''s game so that Jake could understand the opposing players. Coach Rambis and the other players didn''t complain because it was difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team to end the first quarter by losing the game, and with the team having just 4 losses in the season the confidence that the other players had in Jake was much greater. In another move Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and Mitchell came pressing on the defense, Rick tried to make a feint, but Mitchell was not fooled and Rick passed the ball to Kobe on the right. Kobe received the ball and Peeler came in to press in defense, Kobe made no attempt to make any individual moves and passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Brandon came in to press in defense. Brandon knew that Jake was very good at making three-point shots and usually the opposing players just tried to hinder Jake, but this was a playoff game and Brandon thought he had to try to put more pressure on the defense to make Jake miss or even try block. Jake didn''t know what Brandon was thinking and made a feint pretending that he was going to the left and advancing on the right, Brandon, who was pressing on defense, couldn''t react when Jake advanced on the right and was tricked. What Brandon didn''t know was that the players who defended against Jake had a lot of difficulties, Jake was very good at three-point shots and if they tried the block in every move they could make several fouls and make some 4 point moves for Jake do. In addition, if the players who played against Jake tried to defend by pressing and were very close to him when Jake tried to advance to the inside area using his speed, the opponents would not be able to keep up and Jake would pass every time. Jake moved forward and Brandon was unable to keep up with him, Jake moved forward and this time Kevin Garnett tried to defend against Jake by preventing him from advancing into the painted area, Jake was quick and realized that Garnett came to defend against him and so Jake passed the ball to Shaq who was free. Shaq received the ball from Jake and advanced to score 2 more points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Los Angeles Lakers fans celebrated this beautiful play by Jake, Jake thought very fast in the plays and was never a selfish player who he just wanted to score a lot, so it was difficult for opponents to guess what he was going to do. If Garnett didn''t try to defend against Jake, he would definitely continue to advance and score 2 points, so it was very difficult for opponents to defend against Jake when he decided to make a 2 point play. Even though Jake was very good at three-point shots, he was more likely to make a mistake trying to make a three-point shot than making a two-point shot, so opponents had to defend away from Jake to prevent him from moving forward. internal area. In another move the Minnesota Timberwolves team was on the attack and Brandon advanced with the ball and passed it to Peeler on the left, Peeler received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Mitchell on the right. Mitchell received the ball and Rick came on to defend, Mitchell received the ball and managed to trick Rick with a feint and stepped back to try a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team. The game remained balanced with the Los Angeles Lakers team always winning the game, that did not make the Minnesota Timberwolves players happy because they knew that the Los Angeles Lakers team was controlling the game. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a small points advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal. "The first quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game, the game looked balanced, but everyone could see that the Los Angeles Lakers team was dominating the game in that first quarter." "Garnett and Mitchell played well in that first quarter and we could see the Minnesota Timberwolves team struggling to score, and even so the Los Angeles Lakers still ended up winning that first quarter." "Yes, this is the Los Angeles Lakers team''s playing style this season that has only changed in the toughest games, Jake is an excellent PG and if he led the Lakers team to achieve so many victories this season playing like that, then this is the right way for the Lakers team to play." Chapter 552 - The Playoffs 2 "The Minnesota Timberwolves team is also very strong and can still find an opportunity to win that game, moreover, this is only the first game of the 3 games between the two teams and the Minnesota Timberwolves team can find a way to win and move on to the next phase." In that game, Jake was much more relaxed and he knew he could save himself a little for the next games, with Shaq and Kobe playing very well it was easier for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win. Jake realized that this game was easier, but he did not underestimate his opponent and he knew that the Minnesota Timberwolves team might surprise, but his biggest fear was that in the next games Shaq and Kobe would play badly and he would have to do the best performance that he could to ensure victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The second quarter started with the Los Angeles Lakers team putting more pressure on the attack, Jake had already seen how the opposing players were doing and so he started to better control the pace of the game. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Peeler arrived pressing in defense, Kobe was doing the low dribble keep the ball bouncing low nearest to the floor, so Kobe prevented Peeler from trying to do the steal. Kobe had the ball and Peeler kept pressing in defense, Kobe jab stepped and Peeler retreated, so Kobe was free to try a mid-range shot and score 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers. Kobe was playing very well in that game and Peeler was unable to defend well against Kobe, so Jake tried to make more plays with Kobe on the right and with Shaq ahead too, so the Minnesota Timberwolves team was having trouble defending. The Los Angeles Lakers team started the second quarter pressing in the attack and the Minnesota Timberwolves team was having a hard time staying on defense, as this was not the only game between the two teams in the playoffs the Minnesota Timberwolves team players were calmer to try to achieve victory. In another move the Minnesota Timberwolves team was on the attack, Brandon advanced the ball and passed Mitchell on the right, Mitchell received the ball and held it for a bit and then passed the ball to Peeler on the left. Peeler received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Peeler tried to trick Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not fooled, so Peeler decided to pass the ball to Garnett later on. Garnett got the ball and Shaq came up to press in defense, Garnett was playing well in that game, but Shaq was also playing well in defense and so Garnett couldn''t score as many points as in other games. Garnett protected the ball with his body and made a forceful move trying to advance to the painted area, Shaq was heavier and stronger than Garnett and was not pushed around and kept Garnett away from the painted area. Garnett pretended that he would advance from the right and did a spin and advanced from the left, Shaq still managed to stay in defense, Garnett advanced anyway and tried the layup and made 2 more points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team. After a few minutes in the second quarter, the game was not so balanced and the Los Angeles Lakers team started to increase the points advantage, Jake continued playing very well and made more steals in the second quarter defending better too. The Los Angeles Lakers team really wanted this victory playing at home and all the players seemed motivated to achieve that, Dennis Rodman was defending well and managed to catch several defensive rebounds preventing the Minnesota Timberwolves team from having a chance to score more points. Rick was also well on the attack and even though he was unable to score many points, he still helped by not letting the players from the Minnesota Timberwolves team try to double-team Jake and Kobe. In another play Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Peeler arrived pressing on defense, Kobe held the ball and passed to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and went to the middle and Jake went to to the left. The players had to change positions to try to hinder the defense of the opposing team, in many plays the Los Angeles Lakers team did not need to do that, but in these playoffs, coach Rambis insisted that they make this move more. Rick passed the ball to Jake on the left, Jake received the ball and Brandon was again next to him pressing in defense, Jake remained calm even with Brandon pressing in defense. Jake made a feint doing the jab step and Brandon who let Jake pass him a few times stepped back, this gave more freedom to Jake who tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. With this 3-point move from Jake the crowd was excited again, Jake was currently the best player on the Los Angeles Lakers team and he was for fans the most important player for playing every minute in every game and being the player who most he made points. In another move the Minnesota Timberwolves team was on the attack, Brandon advanced with the ball and passed Mitchell on the right, Mitchell received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Peeler on the left. Peeler received the ball and Kobe came pressing in defense, Peeler was not playing so well in this game and that was because Kobe was defending very well in that game, so Peeler just tried to make the jump shot a few times and most of the times he tried to pass the ball. Peeler tried to trick Kobe with a feint and Kobe was not fooled, so Peeler tried to pass the ball to Garnett later on, but Jake had realized that Peeler was going to try that move and intercepted his pass and made the steal. After the steal Jake calmed his teammates and started the play slowly, the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning with a good point advantage with Jake''s steals and the Minnesota Timberwolves'' mistakes and they had no reason to rush. The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a good point advantage, in that second quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. "The second quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team continues to win the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team is much better in that game and the Minnesota Timberwolves defense cannot stop Jake, Kobe, and Shaq in that game." "The attack by the Los Angeles Lakers team is doing very well in this game with all the players on the Lakers team playing well, even though the Minnesota Timberwolves attack is playing well too, it is not enough for them to win the game." "In the last games of this season we see Kobe and Shaq playing much better in defense and that is why the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team is stronger, with the steals and Jake''s good defense the Lakers team has the advantage in this game." In the third quarter, the Minnesota Timberwolves team, which had little choice, kept trying to press in the attack and press in the defense too, but they knew that if the Los Angeles Lakers team kept pressing in the attack it would be difficult for them to win that game. Fortunately, as expected by the Los Angeles Lakers team coach Kurt Rambis, he realized that the Los Angeles Lakers team had a good advantage in this game and decided to replace the main players of the team so that they could rest and play better in the next games. This was normal for playoff team coaches to do and even Shaq and Kobe expected it, the Minnesota Timberwolves team could not replace the top players losing and they saw it as an opportunity for them to try to win the game. Even so, it was the Los Angeles Lakers team that started pressing in the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Derek Fisher on the right, Fisher took over from Kobe as he did several times this season and he could help Jake organize some plays. Fisher received the ball and Peeler came in to press on defense, Fisher held the ball for a while and passed it to Rodman ahead, Rodman received the ball and Joe Smith came in to press on defense. Rodman held the ball a little and passed it to Jake in the back, Jake received the ball and passed it to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball freely and pretended he tried a mid-range shot, but it was actually a fake pump that tricked Mitchell, so Rick got free and tried a mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. At the end of the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to further increase their points advantage and it was almost impossible for the Minnesota Timberwolves to win that game, so the Minnesota Timberwolves coach decided to replace the main players for a few minutes in the last quarter. So in the last quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team had no more difficulty maintaining their points advantage and coach Rambis replaced Rick, Kobe, Shaq for even longer and only Jake remained on the court. The game ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team got the victory by making 112 points against 89 points of the Minnesota Timberwolves team, it was a great victory that was expected by the media and the fans of the two teams. In this game, the Los Angeles Lakers team played very well and even then Jake was the highlight of the game, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 37 points, 13 assists, 8 rebounds, and 8 steals, Jake managed to a double-double and won more confidence for the next games. "The game ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game as expected before the game, in this game all the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team played well and it was natural that they would end up with the victory." Chapter 553 - The Playoffs 3 "It''s true, the players from the Minnesota Timberwolves team still played well in that game, but with all the players from the Los Angeles Lakers team playing well it was expected that the Lakers team would win that first playoff game." "If the Los Angeles Lakers team continues to play well like that, the Minnesota Timberwolves team will not have a chance to win any of the next games, but this is difficult to happen and the Minnesota Timberwolves team still have 2 more opportunities to get the victory so that we have more games in that first phase of the playoffs." "On the Minnesota Timberwolves side, the highlight was again Kevin Garnett who played very well in attack and defense even playing against Shaquille O''Neal, when Shaq started to be replaced he started to make even more points making the Minnesota Timberwolves team don''t lose by such a big difference in points." "Terrell Brandon and Sam Mitchell also played very well in the attack and made an effort in defense, but that was not enough for the Minnesota Timberwolves to stop the best attack this season." "In this game, Rick Fox played very well scoring several points and attracting the attention of the Minnesota Timberwolves defense so that Jake and Kobe could attack more freely, Dennis Rodman helped the team by defending well and catching several important defensive rebounds." "Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant did not play for that long, but they still played very well at the beginning of the game and were important for the Los Angeles Lakers team to ensure victory." "Jake Smith was the main player of the Los Angeles Lakers team again playing every minute of the game and making a double-double with 37 points and 13 assists." After that game, the Los Angeles Lakers team was even more favorite to be on to the next stage and Jake was closer to winning the MVP award of the season, the Lakers team fans were excited about the team''s chance to win the NBA title later so many years. The players celebrated this victory a lot and the coach Rambis was also excited, after all the Los Angeles Lakers team got the victory and he managed to spare some players who were not so tired in this game. After the game Jake returned to his house with his mother who watched Jake''s first game in the playoffs, this was Jake''s first NBA game that Eva could watch and she realized it was different than when Jake played in college. Jake was happy to have Eva watching the game and can relax more and be more confident, Jake got one of the best places near the court for his mother and in many plays, he made the points he looked at Eva to see her celebrating. Jake managed to secure the best seats for his mother because he was the player on the Los Angeles Lakers team and also because he paid for tickets at every game, Jake could get tickets without having to pay for being a player, but he wanted to get the best places for his mother. Because of that Jake got the best seats even in the game in which the Los Angeles Lakers team would play as a visitor, Eva was still not as well known by the fans of the Lakers team and by some media people, but even so, she was very well received. Arriving home Jake talked to his mother for a while about the game and then he went to rest, the next morning Jake woke up and went to eat the breakfast that Eva had insisted on making. On that day the players had a rest before the second game the next day, coach Rambis told the players that they would have to do a lighter training that day, but they would not have the day to rest. The players already hoped they would not have so many days to rest when the playoffs started, after all, if the Los Angeles Lakers team had a few straight losses they could be eliminated. "Mom, did you like yesterday''s game?" "I enjoyed seeing your team winning, I don''t know much about basketball and I''m just happy to know that your team is winning and hearing the fans shouting your name." Eva did not like basketball very much and Jake knew that the truth was that Eva did not like sports very much, but Jake knew that his mother had started to enjoy watching basketball games after he became a professional player. Jake knew that this could happen because, in his past life, Eva watched NBA games several times with him after he started to love basketball after the accident, so in this life that Jake was a professional player it was normal for Eva to like even more watch basketball games. "Thanks, Mom, I was much more relaxed during the game knowing that you were watching, the next games are significant, and I am more confident knowing that you will be watching the games." "You don''t have to say that, Jake, I''m always going to support you, I''m going to take advantage of these games you''re going to have to take a vacation from the restaurant, I''ve never taken a vacation in all these years since the restaurant opened." ???This is a great idea, mom, when you go back to Miami you can give Anna a vacation too, I know she loves to stay at the restaurant, but she needs to rest too, if she doesn''t want to take a vacation you can say she can stay at the restaurant all her vacation time, but she''s not going to work." "That''s an excellent idea, Jake, Anna and I love staying at the restaurant, and I wouldn''t be taking my vacation if it weren''t for her playoff games, Anna also needs time for her to rest." Jake knew that Anna loved staying at the restaurant because she loved to cook and also because Anna had no contact with her family, so her new family was Eva and Jake, at the restaurant Anna could cook and could see Eva and her other friends if Anna took a vacation she thought she would have to stay at her house alone. Jake had never thought about it even though he knew that Anna was already 63 years old and was not too young to work at the restaurant every day without rest, luckily Anna''s health was as good as Eva''s and that''s why Jake forgot about it sometimes. After a few hours, Jake went to train with the other players on the Los Angeles Lakers team, everyone was happy with the easy win in the first game, Shaq and Kobe were not so happy because they played for less time, but they knew it was important for the team to win the games in the playoffs. Certainly, when the NBA Finals games arrived, players could not rest even if they wanted to, for professional players the injuries were the worst that could happen and nobody wanted that to happen. Soon the day of the next game came, the Great Western Forum was packed again with fans from the Los Angeles Lakers team, the last game was an easy win and fans and sports media expected it to happen again. The two teams started the game with the same players from the last game and the Minnesota Timberwolves team hoped to win in that game and then play the next 2 games at their home and it would be easier for them to win. The game started with the Minnesota Timberwolves team pressing in the attack, the Minnesota Timberwolves team''s idea was to press in defense and try to score more points than the opponent, but they knew it wouldn''t be easy. In that first quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team started slowly as they did in all games, yet they continued to lead the scoreboard throughout the first quarter and ended up winning the first quarter. Jake noticed in that first quarter that all the players on the Minnesota Timberwolves team were playing well and only Sam Mitchell was not doing so well, on the side of the Los Angeles Lakers team Kobe was not playing so well. Fortunately, Shaq and Rick were playing well in the attack and that gave the Los Angeles Lakers team more chances to win, in the second quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team started to put more pressure on the attack and play better. As in the past game, the Minnesota Timberwolves team could not defend against the strong attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team, and the Lakers team began to increase the advantage in points. So in the third quarter, coach Rambis felt that he could replace the main players again and still achieve that victory, the Minnesota Timberwolves team could not replace the main players and they had to bet on getting the victory in that game. Unfortunately for the Minnesota Timberwolves team in that game, Jake was playing well in defense again and even made a few blocks, Dennis Rodman and Robert Horry who replaces Dennis for a few minutes also played well in defense and this hindered the Minnesota Timberwolves team. The game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team securing their second win in two playoff games, the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with 117 points against 86 points for the Minnesota Timberwolves. "The game is over and the Los Angeles Lakers team gets another victory playing at home, the Minnesota Timberwolves team struggled to get the win, but the Los Angeles Lakers team was very good in that game and got the victory." "In that Shaq game, Rick and Jake played very well in the attack and secured the victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team, in defense Jake, Dennis and Robert played well and prevented the Minnesota Timberwolves from making important points." "The third game in this playoff phase is going to be at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, so the Minnesota Timberwolves team will have to win the next game playing at home to still get another game." "If the Los Angeles Lakers team wins the next game, the Minnesota Timberwolves team will be eliminated and the Los Angeles Lakers team will advance to the next playoff phase." After the end of the game, the reporters went to talk to the players, the players of both teams did not want to speak to the media, but Jake was more excited to have Eva watching the game and to have won the second playoff game and decided to talk one little with the media. Chapter 554 - The Playoffs 4 "Jake, the Los Angeles Lakers team won the first 2 games and if they win the next game they will advance to the next phase of the playoffs, are you confident of being able to advance to the next phase?" "We are certainly confident, the Minnesota Timberwolves team is an excellent opponent and they are certainly a good team for advancing into the playoffs, but we are confident in being able to win and advance to the next phase of the playoffs." "Jake, do you think that if you win the NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers team you will win the MVP award?" "I don''t know, a lot of the players who were chosen as the MVP of the season didn''t win the NBA title and some didn''t even make it to the NBA Finals, but I think I have a chance of winning that award this season." "The truth is that my teammates and I are going to strive to win this NBA title regardless of any prize, that is our priority." "Jake, do you think the Los Angeles Lakers team is the favorite to win the NBA title this season after those two victories in the first two playoff games?" "I think our team has been the favorite to win the NBA title since before the playoffs, we have the best attack this season and we are the team with the most victories this season, but we will still have to strive like all the other teams to win the NBA title." The reporters were happy with Jake''s responses in that interview, Jake did not deviate from the questions and the reporters realized that Jake had learned to talk better with the media to prevent his words from being misunderstood by others. After the end of that game, Jake returned to his house with his mother, the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team was in 2 days, so Coach Rambis decided to let the players rest the next day and only the next day the players would go travel to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The players who were already a little tired after those first 2 games were very happy about it and Jake was also happy as he played every minute in every game, Jake had prepared a reservation at a hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota for Eva and had to warn that she would be late one day. Jake also called to tell the driver of the car he had rented and the pilot of the helicopter, Eva was anxious because it was her first time riding a helicopter and she didn''t mind delaying that trip by another day. Jake came home and had his dinner with Eva and after that, he went to his room, Jake didn''t go to sleep and called Kate to talk to her about the 2 games he had in the NBA playoffs, Kate couldn''t watch to the games and for the past few days, she was busy with her concerts. That day Jake knew Kate wasn''t too busy and called her, Jake talked for a few hours with Kate who was happy with the Los Angeles Lakers team''s victories and was also happy to know that Eva was watching Jake''s playoff games. Jake can rest well after talking to Kate and the other day he woke up very early to eat the breakfast with his mother, Jake took advantage of that rest day to take Eva to visit some places in Los Angeles. Jake himself did not know many places, but the main tourist spots he knew and Jake also knew many famous restaurants with typical foods from various countries, this was currently the thing that most interested Eva. Eva now had a restaurant that served typical dishes from all countries and to do that Eva had to know the dish she would make well, but after the restaurant opened Eva no longer had to travel with Jake and did not know any new dishes in countries many different. So Jake used his experience with cooking and looked for places that had dishes that Eva had not yet made in her restaurant, Eva liked that a lot and was very happy with this tour with Jake. After that Jake went to a movie theater to watch his movie with his mother, that was a request from Eva even though she can''t watch the movie premiere with Jake, Jake naturally accepted it because he wanted to see the movie he participated in again. Jake watched the premiere of the film, but he paid more attention to what had changed from the film he had seen in his past life than to the performance he had in the film, so this time Jake paid attention to the history of the film and his performance too. Watching the scenes Jake realized that the scenes he had done with the doubles who knew how to fight seemed more real than the scenes he did with other actors who did not have much training, that was because in the scenes of Jake with other doubles it was not much editing was required and the fight scenes were almost real. Of course, in the blows that hurt the most and when Jake attacked opponents, and they hit the wall afterward, it was all done with editing, but the normal fight scenes were much more ''real'' even so, Jake thought his performance in the debut film it was very good. Jake heard from the directors that if there was a next film, the character Jev that Jake would make would be much more important in the film and Jake would see how it would affect the films in The Matrix trilogy that he always liked a lot. Eva also enjoyed watching this movie a lot with Jake, so Jake said that in the future he would receive a copy of this film to watch at the cinema he had at his house, for the time being, he had not received it because the film was still in theaters. Jake remembered that for some reason this film would continue in theaters around the world until September 1999 even though in the past few weeks the film has hardly raised more than $ 100,000 worldwide. An interesting thing that Jake learned the other day talking with Keanu Reeves was that the film The Matrix had already raised 210 million dollars only in the domestic box office, that impressed Jake who remembered that the film The Matrix had until the end of September less of 172 million dollars in the domestic box office in his past life. This meant that in just over a month the box office of the film The Matrix was already bigger than what the film collected in all the time in Jake''s past life, this made Jake happier because it showed that the film was a bigger success than it was in the past. Jake also knew that he had more fans in Europe and Asia than in the United States, so the collection of the worldwide film could also be much higher with Jake''s participation in this film, even more, because Jake''s performance was highly praised by critics. Of course, Jake couldn''t know if the reason for this was that he acted well in the film or if it was just because of his fame as a basketball player, but Jake was very happy to have done more good for the film he always liked. Even more because Jake would receive 2 percent of the final income from the film as payment for acting in the film, so he would receive $ 2 million for recording this film which was much more than most actors received in their first film and Jake knew that that number would only increase. After doing all these things Jake went on a trip with the Los Angeles Lakers team to Minneapolis, Minnesota, Eva also went to Minneapolis, Minnesota by helicopter and Jake would just meet his mother at the Target Center. Jake arrived in Minneapolis, Minnesota and went to the hotel with the players and slept well waiting for the game the other day, soon the game day arrived and Jake saw that the players were very excited for this game. Soon it was game time and the players went to the Target Center, the players were excited after the two victories in the first 2 games and they hoped the Los Angeles Lakers team could win again and so they would qualify for the next playoff phase. and I could rest more. Jake knew it wouldn''t be that easy and the Minnesota Timberwolves team would try very hard not to lose this game, after all, they knew that if they lost they would be eliminated and it would be the end of this season for them. The Los Angeles Lakers team would start that game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Minnesota Timberwolves team would start this game with Terrell Brandon playing as PG, Anthony Peeler playing as SG, Sam Mitchell playing as SF, Joe Smith, and Kevin Garnett playing as PF and Kevin defending against Shaq in that game. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch this game this season, this is the third game between the Los Angeles Lakers team and the Minnesota Timberwolves team, the Lakers team won the first 2 games." "If the Los Angeles Lakers team wins this game more they qualify for the next round and eliminate the Minnesota Timberwolves team, but this victory will not be easy because the Minnesota Timberwolves team plays at home in that game." "The highlight of the Minnesota Timberwolves team is Kevin Garnett who played very well in the first two games, but failed to bring victory to the Minnesota Timberwolves team." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has several players that can be called highlights, such as Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, but the biggest highlight of the team this season has been the rookie, Jake Smith." "Jake has been playing so well that he won this season''s rookie of the year award and is competing for the season''s MVP award, Jake will definitely work hard to bring victory to the Los Angeles Lakers team and ensure that the team moves forward third playoff game. " Chapter 555 - The Playoffs 5 Just as commentators said and as fans of both teams knew, if the Los Angeles Lakers team played well and Jake played well it was certain that they would win that game, and Jake was determined to bring victory to the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game. Soon the game started and Shaquille O''Neal won the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaq passed the ball to Jake who held the ball and started to organize the first play of that game. Jake charged forward and passed the ball to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Sam Mitchell came in to press on defense, Rick held the ball for a while and passed it on to Kobe Bryant on the right. Kobe received the ball and Anthony Peeler pressed in defense, Kobe made the low dribble and Peeler could not try to steal, Kobe made a feint and stepped back to try the mid-range shot and make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The Los Angeles Lakers team started slowly as in all games, yet the players of the Minnesota Timberwolves team felt the pressure of the Los Angeles Lakers'' attack, after all, if they lost that game they would be eliminated. In that first quarter, the Minnesota Timberwolves team started to put a lot of pressure on defense and attack because they knew they needed the victory, with that pressure Kobe and Rick started to miss some attacks and Jake realized that they were not playing as well as in other games. With this pressure from the Minnesota Timberwolves team in the attack, Jake also realized that Sam Mitchell and Anthony Peeler were not playing as well in the attack, so the Los Angeles Lakers team would not be so disadvantaged in defense with Rick and Kobe playing badly. The Minnesota Timberwolves team went on the attack, Terrell Brandon advanced the ball and passed it to Mitchell on the right, Mitchell received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Peeler on the left. Peeler received the ball and Kobe arrived pressing in defense, Peeler decided not to try the individual play and passed to Kevin Garnett later, Garnett received the ball and Shaquille O''Neal arrived pressing in defense. Shaq was playing very well in that game and that made Jake happy because with Shaq playing well and with some players from the Minnesota Timberwolves team playing poorly, it was more possible for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win the game. Garnett had already played two games against Shaq and knew that Shaq defended well and that it was useless to use force to try to advance to the painted area, Garnett made a feint and managed to deceive Shaq and advance from the right using his speed. Shaq still managed to keep defending even after being tricked, but Garnett was faster and so Garnett tried a hook shot and made 2 points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team, Garnett was also playing well in all games of that playoff. This showed how a team with an excellent player had more difficulty in winning if they did not have other good players, the Minnesota Timberwolves team had good players, but that was not enough to win several games in the playoffs. In another move Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Peeler came up to press in defense, Kobe had also realized that he was not playing so well in the attack, so he did not want to make many individual plays so as not to risk miss many attacks. Kobe passed the ball to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Brandon came to defend, after the first 2 games Brandon understood that it was not very smart to press too much on defense playing close to Jake. So Brandon was playing a little bit away from Jake, and if Jake tried the shot from outside he would have to try to get in the way and wait for Jake to miss, Jake took advantage of Brandon being further away and tried an outside shot to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Jake really got fewer shots when trying to shoot three points, but even so, his average hit was 77 percent, so it was enough to guarantee Jake more than 30 points in most games and it helped the Los Angeles Lakers team a lot. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a small points advantage, the game looked very balanced and had fewer points than the last games, the Los Angeles Lakers team always did that in games, but only Jake knew that this game was different. Jake was unable to hold much and analyze his opponent and the Los Angeles Lakers team had to work hard to finish the first quarter by winning, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. "The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning the game, in that first quarter Jake Smith seems to have played better and Kobe Bryant and Rick Fox didn''t seem to be playing so well." "On the Minnesota Timberwolves side we could also see that Kevin Garnett was playing well, but Sam Mitchell and Anthony Peeler were not playing that well." "The Minnesota Timberwolves team will have to work harder if they want to win and take that decision to a fourth game and then try the fifth game." The Minnesota Timberwolves fans also became more discouraged after that first quarter, the fans realized that some players from the Minnesota Timberwolves team were not playing well and that perhaps the team would really be eliminated, especially because Jake and Shaq were playing well. Soon the second quarter started with the Minnesota Timberwolves pressing on the attack, the Los Angeles Lakers team coach realized that Kobe and Rick were not playing as well and he decided he would not replace them in that game. After all, if the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to win that game they would qualify and could rest even more without having to play another game, that was even worse for the Minnesota Timberwolves team. Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and held it for a while before passing it to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Peeler came pressing on the defense. Kobe saw Jake advancing through the middle and passed the ball to him, Jake received the ball and continued to advance with speed, Brandon who did not expect Jake to do this was unable to continue defending. Jake moved forward and Garnett had no choice but to try to defend against Jake even though he knew Jake had already planned this move, just as Garnett hoped Jake passed the ball, but Jake was smart and made a pass over the top. Shaq took the ball high and made a dunk to complete the alley-oop and make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Garnett who was thinking about intercepting Jake''s pass can just look at Jake and Shaq''s beautiful move. In another move the Minnesota Timberwolves team was on the attack, Brandon advanced with the ball and passed it to Peeler on the left, Peeler received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Mitchell on the right. Mitchell received the ball and Rick came in to press on defense, Mitchell tried to trick Rick with a feint, but Rick was not fooled and continued on defense, so Mitchell decided to pass the ball to Brandon further back. In this game, only Garnett and Brandon were playing well in the attack, but Brandon was afraid to make the moves because in the last game Jake made 2 blocks when he tried to attack, Brandon still tried some attacks in the first quarter, but he always worried when he had to attack. But in this play Brandon did not have much choice because the time of possession of the ball was running out, Jake also knew that, and even being a little far from Brandon he was attentive in the play. Brandon stepped back for even more freedom and tried a shot from the outside, Jake moved quickly as he realized Brandon was going to try the three-point shot, Jake was very fast and jumped right after Brandon and made the block. Dennis managed to catch the rebound after Jake made the block and the Los Angeles Lakers team got the ball, in a balanced game this play meant a lot, with this play Brandon would be even more afraid to attack. The second quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning with a slightly greater advantage in points, in that second quarter, Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block. In the third quarter, the Minnesota Timberwolves team continued to put pressure on the attack, after all the advantage that the Los Angeles Lakers team had was not so great and the players of the Minnesota Timberwolves team knew that if they lost that game they would be eliminated. So in that third quarter in addition to the Minnesota Timberwolves team pressing in attack and defense, they started making more fouls until they made more than 6 fouls and the Los Angeles Lakers team started having to make a free throw. The Minnesota Timberwolves team''s idea was that they would not let the Los Angeles Lakers team take too long to attack and also because players like Shaq could miss more free throws. The strategy worked and the players of the Minnesota Timberwolves team did a lot of fouls mainly in Shaq, even in Jake who had an average of 100 percent of hits in free throws was also a target in the opponents'' fouls, after all, they didn''t want Jake to attempt shots from 3 points. With that, the Minnesota Timberwolves team ended the third quarter reducing the advantage that the Los Angeles Lakers team had, that cheered the fans because in the last quarter the difference in points between the two teams was much smaller. The only problem was that because the Minnesota Timberwolves team made a lot of fouls in that third quarter, the players had a lot of fouls and couldn''t continue making the fouls because they could be expelled. So the only option for the Minnesota Timberwolves coach was to replace some players from the Minnesota Timberwolves team so that those players who entered could make more fouls. Chapter 556 - The Playoffs 6 With that, the Minnesota Timberwolves team could continue with the strategy of making fouls to prevent the Los Angeles Lakers team from making many points, but with that, the attack of the Minnesota Timberwolves team that also had to make many points was harmed. The coach of the Los Angeles Lakers team had also realized this Minnesota Timberwolves strategy and so he replaced Shaq who was the biggest target of fouls for the Minnesota Timberwolves team and placed Robert Horry who was better at free throws and could still help in defense. So in the last quarter, the two teams remained balanced and the fans of the Minnesota Timberwolves team were excited at the Target Center because either team could win. Jake also realized this and realized that he had to try harder in the attack if he wanted the Los Angeles Lakers team to win that game, so Jake, who was the team''s PG, started trying three-point shots without passing the ball to prevent the opponent fouls. Jake tried 4 shots from outside and hit 3 of them, so the Minnesota Timberwolves team realized this and double-teamed Jake to prevent him from trying three-point shots, with that Jake passed the ball and the Minnesota Timberwolves team stopped making so many faults. With the Minnesota Timberwolves team having to double-team Jake, his teammates had a much easier time making the attacking moves and making the points and so the Los Angeles Lakers team increased the points advantage. Soon the Minnesota Timberwolves team managed to make another strategy causing Garnett to defend against Jake and press on defense as soon as Jake caught the ball, even before Jake arrived on the attack. This prevented Jake from attacking easily, in addition, the Minnesota Timberwolves team no longer needed to double-team Jake, but when the Minnesota Timberwolves team did that, the Los Angeles Lakers team had already opened up an advantage in points that would be difficult for the team Minnesota Timberwolves recover and achieve victory. So the game continued with the Minnesota Timberwolves team still trying to make the foul strategy and the Los Angeles Lakers team pressing more in defense, Jake who was not able to play well in the attack, started to try more steals and blocks to help the Los Angeles team Lakers to win. At the end of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team got the win with a good point advantage, which Jake did at the beginning of the last quarter helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to win and go to the next stage of the playoffs. The Los Angeles Lakers team achieved the victory making 103 points against 95 points of the Minnesota Timberwolves team, in that game Jake played for 48 minutes and made 37 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, 11 steals, and 3 blocks. "The game is over, the Los Angeles Lakers team got one more win and so they advance to the next phase of the playoffs and eliminate the Minnesota Timberwolves team, it was a great start to the playoffs for the Los Angeles Lakers team." "This was the first game of that phase of the playoffs at the home of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Los Angeles Lakers team won, but the game was much more difficult than expected and the Minnesota Timberwolves team almost won." "Kobe and Rick weren''t playing that well and the Minnesota Timberwolves team''s strategy of making many fouls towards the end of the game almost brought victory for them." "Unfortunately, some players from the Minnesota Timberwolves team were also playing poorly and so it was more difficult for the Minnesota Timberwolves team to win the game." "Jake was again the highlight of the game and made a triple-double with 37 points, 10 assists, and 11 steals and even made 3 blocks, at the beginning of the last quarter Jake hit 3 shots from outside and made 9 points and made the Minnesota team Timberwolves change the team''s way of defending and brought victory to the Los Angeles Lakers team." "With the Los Angeles Lakers team advancing to the next round with 3 wins, it will give greater confidence to the players and the fans in the next games." The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were very happy with the victory, in that game Jake and Shaq was more important for the victory and classification of the Lakers team and Kobe and Rick knew that. The Minnesota Timberwolves'' players were saddened to be eliminated from the playoffs, but they hoped they would lose those games against the Los Angeles Lakers team that was the favorite team to win the NBA title this season. Jake talked to his mother for a while after the game and Eva said she would return to Jake''s home in Los Angeles, after all, there was a helicopter waiting for her whenever Eva needed, Jake said he understood why after this game the Lakers team would return to Los Angeles waiting for the next game. After a few hours, Jake was at his house in Los Angeles and Eva had already arrived and was waiting for him, Jake took a gr.a.p.e juice he liked to drink and toasted his mother to celebrate the victory and celebrate that the team Los Angeles Lakers had qualified for the next phase of the playoffs. Jake didn''t like drinking alcoholic beverages very much, but he wanted to be able to drink wine and champagne with his mother at times of celebration like this, soon Jake would be 21 and be of legal age to drink again. Fortunately, Jake never really liked alcoholic beverages, so he can take all these years without drinking on his second chance, even Eva, who didn''t like drinking a lot, was still drinking wine with Anna at the restaurant. The other day Jake woke up early to eat the breakfast with his mother, Jake still didn''t know who the next opponent would be because the Los Angeles Lakers team had won in just 3 games, but he would probably know on the 15th or 16th of May. Either way, the Los Angeles Lakers team would probably play on the 17th or 18th of May, the Portland Trail Blazers team was playing against the Houston Rockets team and had won the first 2 games and lost the third game that happened yesterday, if the Portland team Trail Blazers won the next one they would qualify. The San Antonio Spurs team won the 3 games against the Phoenix Suns team and had already qualified for the next phase of the playoffs too, the Utah Jazz team won the first game and lost the second and third games against the Sacramento Kings team. Jake remembered that the same had happened in his past life and that the Utah Jazz team won the last 2 games and qualified for the next phase of the playoffs, if they qualified, the Utah Jazz team will play against the San Antonio Spurs team. Anyway, the Los Angeles Lakers team would not have training that day because Coach Rambis gave the players a rest day, only the next day they would train and could train and rest until the 17th or until the 18th of May. So the players would have at least 3 days of rest without games because they won the 3 games and qualified for the next phase, Jake thought that the San Antonio Spurs team would be their opponent in the next phase, and the San Antonio Spurs team had already ranked with 3 games too. Of course, Jake knew well that the Los Angeles Lakers team had to win against the Portland Trail Blazers team to move on to the next stage, Jake had hopes that the Los Angeles Lakers team could win because he had him on the team and because Dennis Rodman was very important for the Lakers team to win the 3 games against the Minnesota Timberwolves team. Dennis had more than 10 rebounds in all three games and was also important in defense, Jake knew that Dennis would be important in the playoffs, so he expected Dennis to remain on the Los Angeles Lakers team at least until the end of the season. If the Los Angeles Lakers team got another skillful Power Forward to replace Dennis, Jake wouldn''t mind that and he was sure that Dennis would leave the Lakers team more satisfied having won an NBA title. After Jake ate the breakfast with Eva he asked for a break and went to his office to talk to Kate, Jake can''t call after the game is over because he knew Kate was at a show that day, but in the morning he could call talk to Kate. "Hi, Kate, how are you?" "Hi, Jake, everything is fine with me, congratulations on the victory in the last games and for your team to qualify for the next phase of the playoffs." "Thanks, I didn''t call you yesterday because you were busy with your show." "I was at the show, I asked Lily to let me know about the outcome of your game, even though I knew you were going to win, I was still worried." Hearing Kate says that Jake just laughed, she and Eva were too used to the teams Jake played winning most games, but he knew it was possible that the team he played would be eliminated in those playoffs and in the next playoffs as well. Jake wondered if Eva and Kate would be disappointed if they saw Jake''s team being eliminated, after all they always expected him to win every game, Jake hoped that it wouldn''t happen. So in the next few days, Jake took the opportunity to relax and show his mother the city of Los Angeles, Jake had to train almost every day and hope that the next game would surely be in Los Angeles after all the Los Angeles Lakers team qualified in first. Just as Jake expected on May 15, the Portland Trail Blazers won the third game against the Houston Rockets team and qualified for the next phase of the playoffs and would face the Los Angeles Lakers. For Jake the Portland Trail Blazers team was the toughest opponent he faced this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team lost just one game and had other difficult games, but in his past life, the Los Angeles Lakers team had lost 2 games against the team Portland Trail Blazers in season. Chapter 557 - The Playoffs 7 Jake remembered that the Portland Trail Blazers team reached the West Conference Finals in his past life, the Portland Trail Blazers team won the 3 games against the Phoenix Suns team and easily qualified for the next playoff phase. Then he had a tough game against the Utah Jazz team in which he lost 2 games and won the game with 4 wins after 6 games, then the Portland Trail Blazers team lost to the San Antonio Spurs team that won the NBA title 4-0. So Jake didn''t expect it to be easy to win all 4 games against the Portland Trail Blazers team to qualify for the next round, but Jake was confident that the Los Angeles Lakers team would win and qualify for the next round. Jake also hoped that the San Antonio Spurs team would win the games against the Utah Jazz team and qualify for the West Conference Finals and face the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake thought that only in this way could he try to win the NBA title with pride that he won the stronger teams. Soon more 2 days passed and soon the day of the first game came, it was on May 17 and the Los Angeles Lakers team was the favorite for playing better all season and also for not having lost 2 games against the same opponent throughout the season. In addition, the Los Angeles Lakers team would play the first 2 games at home, so if they won those games as expected they would put all the pressure on the Portland Trail Blazers. If the Portland Trail Blazers team won just one of the 2 games they would have at home, the fifth game would be decided in Los Angeles, so it was normal for the Los Angeles Lakers team to be the favorite to win those games. Jake left the house and Eva had left a few minutes earlier to go to watch the game, Eva left before Jake and always arrived at the Great Western Forum, Jake arrived at the Great Western Forum and the crowd was arriving and it was expected that the Great Western Forum was full of fans. Soon Jake arrived in the locker room and after a while, the players entered the court to see the Great Western Forum full of fans, Jake thought that the Portland Trail Blazers team would certainly feel pressure from the fans. The names of the players of the two teams were called and when the names of the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were called the crowd got very excited and started to scream even more. In that game the Los Angeles Lakers team would start with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Portland Trail Blazers team would start the game with Damon Stoudamire playing as PG, Isaiah Rider playing as SG, the Portland Trail Blazers team would have Brian Grant and Rasheed Wallace playing as PF, and Brian Grant would defend against Rick Fox, and Arvydas Sabonis playing as Center. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game this season, this is the first game of the West Conference Semifinals of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers team will face the Portland Trail Blazers." "The two teams will compete to see which team will make it to the West Conference Finals and try to make it to the NBA Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers team is the favorite to be playing at home and to have the best performance this season." "But in this phase, teams need 4 wins to advance to the next playoff phase, so the Portland Trail Blazers team has a chance of winning 4 games and advancing to the next phase." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has another advantage, which is having the best attack with Jake Smith, Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant playing, if the three of them play this and the next games, the Los Angeles Lakers team can certainly advance to the next one phase." "The Portland Trail Blazers team also has one of the best offenses and one of the best defenses this season, even though they are not stronger in the attack, they are a balanced team and managed to advance to the playoffs with the fourth-best campaign playing like this." The game started and Shaquille O''Neal won the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaq passed the ball to Jake who started to organize the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick Fox on the left. Rick received the ball and Brian Grant came to press on defense, Rick held the ball a little and passed it to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Damon Stoudamire arrived to press on defense. Stoudamire was one of the best players on the Portland Trail Blazers team and he always had a hard time playing against the Los Angeles Lakers because he couldn''t defend well against Jake and Jake managed to defend well against him. In the only game, this season that the Portland Trail Blazers team managed to beat the Los Angeles Lakers team was in a game that the Portland Trail Blazers attack was very good and they didn''t need Stoudamire to win. Jake had the ball and thought a little about what play he would do, Jake decided to pass the ball to Kobe Bryant from the right, Kobe received the ball and Isaiah Rider came pressing on the defense, Kobe tried a feint and managed to trick Rider and advanced on the right. Rider was deceived, but managed to recover and came back to defend, Kobe continued to advance and did a fast crossover and advanced through the middle, this time Rider was unable to follow and Kobe advanced to make 2 points with a layup. The crowd cheered up with this move by Kobe, in the last game Kobe played very badly and in the last games he was not able to play as well as he should in playoff games, the fans and the media did not charge so much for Kobe because he was a player who was in the NBA a few years ago. But Jake charged Kobe because he knew that in the future Kobe would be one of the best players in the NBA and right now he already had the ability to help the Los Angeles Lakers team more easily win the playoff games. In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack, Stoudamire advanced with the ball and passed to Grant on the right, the Portland Trail Blazers team played several games using 2 PF and that seemed to have worked well after all the Portland Trail Blazers team stayed in fourth among West Conference teams. Grant received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, Grant held the ball a little and passed it to Rider on the left, Rider received the ball and Kobe arrived pressing on defense, Rider started doing a Hockey Dribble so as not to lose the ball. Rider made a feint and pretending he was going to move forward and Kobe retreated, so Rider took this chance to shoot a mid-range shot and score 2 points for the Portland Trail Blazers, the Portland Trail Blazers was also attacking well and the Los Angeles team Lakers had a hard time defending. With the Portland Trail Blazers team also attacking well and having a good defense the game seemed balanced, but nobody knew if the game was evenly balanced or if the Los Angeles Lakers team was just analyzing the opponent. Jake knew that the game was really difficult, but with Kobe and Shaq playing well the Los Angeles Lakers team had no difficulty in making the points, so the game was just balanced because he was analyzing the opponent. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and Grant came pressing on the defense, Rick tried to trick Grant with a feint, but failed. Rick passed the ball to Jake in the back, Jake received the ball and Stoudamire came pressing on the defense, Stoudamire learned by watching Jake''s games and was not defending close to Jake, Jake realized this and stepped back and tried an outside shot to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Stoudamire already expected Jake to make a move like that, but the Portland Trail Blazers team coach talked to him and told him not to try to stay close to Jake and if Jake tried the shots from outside it was for him to leave and just try to hinder Jake. Jake didn''t know that and was just playing normally, he was prepared for the Portland Trail Blazers to start making fouls just like the Minnesota Timberwolves did. If that happened, Coach Rambis would replace Shaq who was the target for opponents to make fouls, and Jake would have to try to hit even more shots from outside, if the Portland Trail Blazers team tried to send a player to defend against him in one on one, Jake would continue to attack. After all, the Minnesota Timberwolves team only managed to find one player to defend against Jake because they had Kevin Garnett on the team, the Portland Trail Blazers team had no such player and Jake would not be intimidated and would continue to attack. Jake hadn''t played a game in which he just tried to make as many points as he could after he joined the Los Angeles Lakers team, this was because he had great teammates and also because Jake knew if he did that the opponent would double-team and he would no longer be able to attack in the game in which he only tried to attack. Jake didn''t think it was necessary after all, even though he played the way he played normally, he managed to make more than 11 assists per game, Jake still managed to score 51 points in one of the games. In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack, Stoudamire advanced the ball and passed it to Rider on the left, Rider received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Grant on the right. Grant received the ball and Rick came in to press the defense, Grant advanced with the ball using his strength and Rick could not defend well against Grant, Grant advanced a little and tried to make a hook shot to make 2 points for the Portland Trail Blazers. Chapter 558 - The Playoffs 8 Grant had the advantage of being able to use his strength in plays against Rick, but Grant also knew that he couldn''t try to move too close to the painted area, after all, Dennis Rodman and Shaquille O''Neal were always looking at him and they would stop him. The game remained balanced and at the end of the first quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning with a small advantage in points, in that first quarter, Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. "The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning the game, this start of the game seemed balanced, but it seems that the Los Angeles Lakers team can play better than that and is using the strategy we know." "It''s true, we could see that Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant are playing well in that game and when they are playing well the Los Angeles Lakers team get the win." "Jake Smith is playing as well as in every game, so in this game, the Los Angeles Lakers team will win if the Portland Trail Blazers team are unable to defend better and not press forward." "Damon Stoudamire, Isaiah Rider, and Rasheed Wallace are playing better in this game and Stoudamire will have a hard time attacking and defending against Jake, but if the Portland Trail Blazers win this game at the Lakers home they can win this playoff phase. and move forward." Before the start of the second quarter, Jake looked at the stands and you can see his mother watching the game in the place he had chosen for her, with Eva in the stands Jake was calmer to play and could play better that way. From what Jake realized in that game the Los Angeles Lakers team could easily win with Shaq and Kobe playing well, the Portland Trail Blazers team could not defend well against the Los Angeles Lakers attack in that first quarter and would have even more difficulty when Jake took the lead. Lakers team to press on the attack. The second quarter started with the Portland Trail Blazers pressing in attack and defense, they knew they had to work hard if they wanted to win that first game at the home of the Los Angeles Lakers. But the Los Angeles Lakers team also started to press on the attack and soon everyone realized that in the first quarter the Lakers team was just analyzing the opponent, with the Lakers team''s attack pressing on the Portland Trail Blazers'' defense barely managed to hold the opponent''s attack. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Rider came pressing on the defense, Kobe held the ball a little and passed the ball to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and already passed to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and Stoudamire came in the defense, Jake advanced with the ball and Stoudamire got closer to keep Jake from moving forward, Jake made a feint and a quick crossover to advance from the right. Stoudamire was deceived and when he realized he tried to continue the defense, but Jake was faster and advanced into the area, Rasheed Wallace saw that Jake was advancing with the ball and came to defend. Jake did a fast Speed ??Dribble and advanced closer to the inside area, Wallace still continued in defense and Jake did the unstoppable Spin Move which was LeBron James'' move, so Jake did the spin and advanced to do the dunk hard and do 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The fans at the Great Western Forum were excited about this beautiful play by Jake, Shaq, Dennis and Kobe greet Jake for the beautiful play and this increased the spirits of the Los Angeles Lakers team in the game and left the Portland Trail Blazers players discouraged. Jake started this move thinking of passing the ball to Shaq, but as it was Wallace who came to defend Jake decided to score the 2 points, that was the problem that the defense of the opposing teams had when playing against the Los Angeles Lakers team. In another move, the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack, Stoudamire advanced the ball and passed it to Grant on the right, Grant received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, Grant was one of the best players on the Portland Trail Blazers team and so Rick was pushing hard on defense. Grant held the ball a little and passed it to Rider on the left, Rider received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense, Rider managed to trick Kobe with a feint and advanced to the left, Kobe still managed to react and continued on defense. Rider made another feint and stepped back and tried a mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Portland Trail Blazers team, the Portland Trail Blazers players were playing well in that game and were pushing forward. Even so, the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack was stronger, and the Portland Trail Blazers team could not defend as well as it did in other games, with Shaq, Kobe and Jake playing well it was difficult for the Portland Trail Blazers team to reduce the team advantage Lakers in points. In another play Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and held it a little before passing to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Rider came pressing on the defense. Kobe made the low dribble and tried to keep the ball away from Rider, in that play Rider was putting too much pressure on the defense and Kobe could not move forward, Kobe saw Shaq getting rid of the defense and passed the ball to him. Shaq received the ball and advanced to the painted area, Arvydas Sabonis still managed to recover and tried to continue defending, but Shaq was already advancing and used his strength to keep going and made the dunk and 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. In this game in which Shaq and Kobe were playing well, the Portland Trail Blazers players realized that it would be difficult for them to achieve victory, even so, they had to try because they knew that a victory as a visitor would be important in these playoff games. If the Portland Trail Blazers team could win 1 game as a visitor and 2 games at home, it would be easier for them to achieve their fourth victory and advance to the next stage of the playoffs. The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team managing to further increase the points advantage, in that second quarter Jake played very well and had 11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals. "The second quarter ends, and the Los Angeles Lakers team continues to win and manages to further increase the advantage in points, the balanced game at the beginning of the game was the strategy that the Lakers team played in almost every game." "In this second quarter we could see the strength of the attack by the Los Angeles Lakers team that is playing very well, the Portland Trail Blazers team is still trying to defend, but with Shaq, Kobe, and Jake playing well, it will be difficult to stop this attack." "The Los Angeles Lakers team further increased their points advantage and in this game Coach Rambis does not seem to have the intention of replacing the main players, so the Portland Trail Blazers team will have little opportunity to win." What the commentators said was what the Portland Trail Blazers players thought, they went into the third quarter knowing that it would be difficult for the Portland Trail Blazers to achieve victory in that game. Even so, the Portland Trail Blazers team started the third quarter by pressing in attack and defense, they would not give up even though it would be difficult to win the game, coach Rambis realized this and decided not to replace the main players. With all the main players, the Los Angeles Lakers team remained under pressure in attack, Jake knew that the Lakers team had the advantage and started to slow down the game and take longer in attacking plays. The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team still winning the game with an even greater advantage in points, so the Portland Trail Blazers team has already given up on winning the game and the Portland Trail Blazers team coach has decided to replace the main players so that they don''t get so tired. Seeing this, Coach Rambis also replaced Shaq and Kobe for a few minutes to save them for the next games, with these replacements the Los Angeles Lakers team dominated the game even more with Jake controlling the game. At the end of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 104 points against 77 points of the Portland Trail Blazers team, in that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 32 points, 12 assists, 8 rebounds, and 10 steals. "The game is over and the Los Angeles Lakers team get another victory, winning this first game of this phase of the playoffs, the Lakers team has more confidence to play the next game at home." "The Portland Trail Blazers team played very well in that game and all the players played well, but the Portland Trail Blazers defense was not enough to stop the Los Angeles Lakers'' strong attack." "Brian Grant and Isiah Rider played very well in that game, Damon Stoudamire also played very well, but with Jake Smith playing in defense he was unable to score many points and neither did he make good plays as in other games." "In the Los Angeles Lakers team Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant played very well in the attack and also helped in defense, Dennis Rodman played well in that game also taking 14 rebounds and helping in defense." "Jake Smith was once again the highlight of the Los Angeles Lakers team in that victory with another triple-double making 32 points, 12 assists, and 10 steals, Jake was very good in attack and defense and it was essential for the Lakers team to win this I play so easily." "Let''s see if the Portland Trail Blazers team can continue playing well to try to win if the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team continue to play well as in that game then the Portland Trail Blazers team has no chance of winning." Chapter 559 - The Playoffs 9 Just as commentators said the Los Angeles Lakers team was the big favorite to win the 4 games and advance to the next stage of the playoffs, even with the quality of the Portland Trail Blazers team it was certain that if the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team played well it was difficult for the Portland Trail Blazers team to win a game. Jake played well in all games and Shaq played well in most games, so only Kobe was the doubt for the next games if Kobe played well as he did in that game then the Los Angeles Lakers team would certainly continue to win. After the end of the game Jake met his mother and left for his house with her, Eva was happy that Jake''s team had won that game and she hoped it would stay that way for Jake to win the NBA title. Eva had a lot of confidence in Jake and didn''t even expect it to be possible for the Los Angeles Lakers team to be eliminated from these playoffs, Jake knew that and didn''t want to disappoint his mother even though he needed his teammates to win. The next day would be in 2 days and the next day the players would have only light training and could rest a little after this difficult game, the Portland Trail Blazers team was a tough opponent and the Los Angeles Lakers team only won more easily because Jake defended well against Damon Stoudamire who was one of the best players on the opposing team. Jake ate dinner with his mother and then went to rest early, the next day Jake woke up very early to eat the breakfast with his mother, Jake was happy with Eva preparing the breakfast every morning, he remembered the past when only they lived in Miami. Mary brought the newspaper to Jake just as she did when she found some news that Jake might be interested in, Jake knew that and looked in the sports section and found the news talking about the Los Angeles Lakers team''s victory. The news talked about the great performance of Jake, Kobe, and Shaq in the game, the members of the sports media said that they hoped the Los Angeles Lakers team would win the next game too and be able to advance to the next one without much difficulty. Jake was also confident that the Los Angeles Lakers team could win even the games as a visitor, but if Kobe or Shaq didn''t play well it would be difficult for the Lakers team to beat the Portland Trail Blazers team that was also doing very well. After a few hours, Jake went to training and even with light training, he could see that the other players were also very focused and that they also wanted the Los Angeles Lakers team to win. Soon the day of the second playoff game came, Jake was focused on that game and he left the house after some time that Eva had left, Jake arrived at the Great Western Forum and saw the Los Angeles Lakers team fans arriving. Los Angeles Lakers fans were expected to fill the Great Western Forum to support the Lakers team, after all the Los Angeles Lakers team was a favorite to win with no playoff losses. Soon Jake and the players entered the court to start the game, the pressure in that game was on the Portland Trail Blazers team that needed the victory to have more chances to get 4 victories and advance to the next phase of the playoffs. The Portland Trail Blazers team needed to win that game and then win the next 2 games at home to have 3 wins and try to win the fourth game that would be in Los Angeles, if the Los Angeles Lakers team won that game, they would only need 2 more victories to advance to the next phase. The game started with the Portland Trail Blazers team pushing forward, the Portland Trail Blazers coach wanted to take advantage of the Los Angeles Lakers team playing the first quarter slower to try to finish the first quarter by winning. Of course, Jake realized that and he increased the pace of the game for the Los Angeles Lakers to attack more so that the Lakers team ended the first quarter by winning, Jake liked to analyze his opponent in the game, but he knew it was more important to have the advantage in points. Soon Jake realized that the Portland Trail Blazers team was attacking without relying heavily on Damon Stoudamire and the main players were Isaiah Rider and Brian Grant, so Jake knew the game would be more difficult than the last one because he would not help so much in the game defending. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a small points advantage, the game was even and only Jake and the Lakers players knew that the first quarter was really tough and the players were playing really well. In the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team started the game by pushing forward, after all the Lakers team was playing at home and needed this victory to advance to the next phase of the playoffs. Jake was more excited to see that Kobe was playing very well in that game and Shaq was also playing well, but Kobe was the highlight in the attack and Jake passed the ball over to Kobe to make individual plays. The crowd knew the Los Angeles Lakers team well and seeing Kobe and Shaq playing well they were excited because they knew the victory was more likely, even with the Portland Trail Blazers team playing better than in the last game, the Portland Trail Blazers players they knew that this game would be difficult. In this difficult game Dennis was not playing very well and Rick was not playing well either, realizing this, coach Rambis put Robert Horry to play and Jake did not make so many passes for Rick. The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning and Kobe being the highlight of the team, but they didn''t get a big point advantage and the Portland Trail Blazers players realized they still had a chance to win that game. The third quarter started with the most disputed game with the Los Angeles Lakers pressing in the attack and the Portland Trail Blazers playing well in defense and also trying to press in the attack. Jake was playing well in defense, but Stoudamire was not getting as many passes, Jake was standing out in that game getting more rebounds as Dennis was not playing after Robert replaced Dennis. Jake was also playing well in the attack even though most of the passes he gave to Kobe and Shaq, this was making it more difficult for the Portland Trail Blazers to defend, even so, the Portland Trail Blazers team was attacking well and the game was balanced. Coach Rambis was concerned about this game and was also concerned because he could not replace Kobe and Shaq as he did in a sequence of games, Coach Rambis knew that this was a difficult game and he could not replace the main players, but he was still afraid that Shaq and Kobe would get hurt. At the end of the third quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team was still winning the game, but the Lakers team had a small advantage in points that had not increased in that third quarter, because of that the Portland Trail Blazers team would return to the last quarter still trying to get the victory. The fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team were excited about this difficult game and hoped even more for the Lakers team to defend and attack willingly in the last quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers players were also trying hard to win this game and so the team had more chances to advance to the next stage of the playoffs. In the last quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team started to press further in the attack and started to make fouls in defense, with the Portland Trail Blazers team making fouls the coach Rambis took Shaq and had to put Rodman back in the game and put Horry playing as Center. So the Portland Trail Blazers team managed to defend much better against Kobe who was playing well and get Shaq out of the game, as Shaq was also playing well, but with the departure of Shaq, the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team was also better. With the fouls, the Portland Trail Blazers team was managing to diminish the advantage in points and saw the opportunity to win the game, Jake realized this and understood that he had to try harder to guarantee this victory. With Eva watching the game Jake was more confident, and the players of both teams were very tired from this difficult game, so Jake, who was not so tired, knew he had the advantage at the end of the game. In a play Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Isaiah Rider came pressing on defense, Kobe was out of the three-point line and tried a feint to advance it. Kobe wanted to move forward, but Jake called for the ball back again because he knew Rider would miss if Kobe advanced into the 3-point line, Kobe passed the ball to Jake further back and Stoudamire was on the defense. Jake was far from the three-point line, but he had confidence and tried a shot from outside 35 feet and hit to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, with this move the Lakers team got another 3 points advantage and could breathe easier. In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack trying to diminish that advantage in points again, Stoudamire advanced with the ball and passed to Grant on the right, Grant received the ball and Rick arrived pressing in defense. Grant tried to advance the ball using his strength, but this time Rick was defending and wanted to prevent Grant from moving forward, the Portland Trail Blazers team did not have much time for Grant to use in the possession and so he passed it to Rider on the left. Rider received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Rider started to do low dribble preventing Kobe from trying to steal, Rider tried a feint going to the right and Kobe retreated, so Rider did a step back. Chapter 560 - The Playoffs 10 Rider tricked Kobe and went outside the three-point line, in that game Rider was hitting a lot of 3-point shots just like Jake, after Jake''s move, he wanted to make 3 points to decrease the advantage in points. Rider stepped back and tried the shot from outside, but he didn''t know that Jake expected Rider to do that and stop defending against Stoudamire and try to stop this attack, Rider jump to try the shot outside and Jake came right after and did the block. Rider didn''t expect Jake to make that block at the end of the game in a quick move like that, besides, Rider didn''t even notice that Jake was approaching to try the block, Jake made the block and the ball went out. The crowd was excited at the Great Western Forum with this block by Jake and realizing that the victory was close, the Portland Trail Blazers team still had possession of the ball, but it was only 6 seconds away and the pressure was even greater after this block by Jake. Rider passed the ball to Stoudamire further back and the Portland Trail Blazers team had to decide to play before the end of possession, Shaq was playing again in that end game and Robert was playing as a PF. Jake was defending against Stoudamire and the players of the Portland Trail Blazers team were attentive with Jake in this play, Stoudamire passed the ball to Grant who was on the right, Grant received the ball and has already advanced to the inside area. Rick tried to defend and hinder Grant who was advancing, Grant advanced using force being careful not to make a mistake and passed the ball to Arvydas Sabonis later on, Sabonis received the ball and Shaq was pressing in defense. The ball possession time was ending and Sabonis made the spin and tried the layup, Shaq who was defending jump and made the block rejecting Sabonis'' attack, after this Shaq block the ball was still left for Jake who took the rebound and advanced with the ball to attack using his speed. The defense of the Portland Trail Blazers team was unable to keep up with Jake''s speed, who advanced for the attack alone, Jake advanced and scored 2 more points with a reverse dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team cheering up the crowd. With this sequence of 2 blocks made by Shaq and Jake, the Portland Trail Blazers players became discouraged, the game continued with the Lakers team attacking and ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the second game of this phase of the playoffs. The Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 108 points against 98 points for the Portland Trail Blazers, in that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 35 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds, 7 steals, and 1 block. "The game is over and the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to win that game and this is the Lakers team''s second victory in 2 games of this playoff phase, with 2 more victories the Los Angeles Lakers team advances to the West Conference Finals." "This game was much more balanced and the Los Angeles Lakers team only guaranteed victory at the end of the last quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team was playing very well in this game with the great performance of Brian Grant and Isaiah Rider and without relying heavily on Damon Stoudamire." "Throughout the season Stoudamire was the main player on the team and who has the most points, but with Jake Smith defending against him, Stoudamire did not play well in this game or in the last game, the Portland Trail Blazers team coach realized this and that game the attack was much better." "Jake still defended well with a lot of steals, but it didn''t help as much as in the last game and so the Portland Trail Blazers team almost managed to win differently from the last game in which the Los Angeles Lakers team won by almost 30 points." "In the last quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team tried to use the strategy of making fouls to disrupt the attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team and not give the opponent much time in possession of the ball." "With this strategy, Shaquille O''Neal, who was doing well in the game, was replaced so as not to be the target of the opponent''s fouls, so the Portland Trail Blazers team almost managed to win the game." "But the Los Angeles Lakers team was also playing very well in that game, Kobe Bryant was the highlight of the team in the attack with 32 points until the last quarter, at the end of the game Jake made a beautiful shot of 3 points from 35 feet and then managed a block." "Shaq made another block in the same play and Jake scored 2 more points with a reverse dunk, those 3 plays increased the Los Angeles Lakers team''s advantage by 5 points and it was the final blow against the Portland Trail Blazers team that was tired." "With the third triple-double in 3 games Jake Smith was again the best player on the Los Angeles Lakers team despite the excellent performance of Kobe Bryant, Jake is being instrumental in these Los Angeles Lakers team victories." This difficult game ended with another victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team that the fans celebrated even more than the last victory, the fans were even more confident that this season the Los Angeles Lakers team could win the NBA title. The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team and coach Rambis were happy with this victory and knew that they had fulfilled their role in the 2 home games of this playoff phase, now the mission was to win 2 more games against the strong Portland Trail Blazers team. The next 2 games would be with the Portland Trail Blazers team playing at home and would be even more difficult, but if the Los Angeles Lakers team managed only 1 victory in those 2 games as a visitor they would play the fifth game of that phase at home and could have it easier winning the 4 games. Jake was excited about this victory and was excited because everything that was happening was different from what he remembered in his past life, the Los Angeles Lakers team had won both home games and needed only 2 more victories to advance to the next phase. At that end of the game, Jake had to try harder and only managed to play calmly because he knew that his mother was watching the game in the stands, in the next games Jake would also play with more confidence for what he did at the end of the game. Jake left for his house with his mother after the game, the next game would be only after 3 days and the players would have 2 days to rest before the next game, that was good because the Los Angeles Lakers team didn''t have to travel afterward of the game and could travel after 2 days. The other day Jake woke up very early and soon saw the news in the newspapers about the last game, the sports media was commenting on how the Portland Trail Blazers team played much better in this second game than in the first game. Even with Kobe Bryant doing his best in those playoffs and with Shaquille O''Neal playing well the Los Angeles Lakers team still struggled to win playing at home, Jake was important at the end of the game for the Lakers team to win. This showed that the Portland Trail Blazers team was able to beat the Los Angeles Lakers team even though all the players were playing very well, so in these next games if Kobe or Shaq are not playing well the Lakers team can lose. After seeing the news Jake called Kate to talk to her about the latest games, Jake didn''t call after the game because Kate was doing a show and he had to wait another day to talk to her. Jake was eager to be able to win the next games and advance to the NBA Finals so that Kate could watch his games together with his mother, so Jake would have even more confidence to have the best performance and be able to bring the NBA title to the Los team Angeles Lakers and for his career. After the start of the playoffs, all the companies that had a contract with Jake had published the commercials that Jake recorded a few months ago, even Adidas did not wait and launched the 2 sneakers with the Jake brand. Adidas'' sales and marketing team realized that this was Jake''s most popular moment in the NBA, so this would be a great time to launch the two sneakers he represented. Just as it was expected when the JKS Velocity 1 and JKS 1 sneakers were released they were sold quickly, the Los Angeles Lakers fans who became Jake fans this season wanted to buy some product that Jake represented and could not find. So with the launch of the JKS 1 sneaker, fans were finally able to buy a sneaker that Jake represented, many Tar Heels fans and NBA fans also bought these new sneakers that Jake represented. Even those who didn''t like basketball bought the JKS Velocity 1 because they were Jake fans, so Adidas was very happy with the investment of having a 52 million dollar contract with Jake, after all, the sales of these sneakers were just the beginning of the company''s profit. Because of Jake and Kobe Bryant, many fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team started to like Adidas more than Nike, this was significant for a big company like Nike to lose as many fans as the Los Angeles Lakers team had in the world. In Europe and Asia, sales were higher than Adidas expected even though the NBA was not so popular on these continents when Nike realized that they would regret even more for not having signed with Jake and Kobe in the past. Jake was happy that he had no commitment at the time of the playoffs when he needed to focus on the games, the deals he did were also settled and Jake didn''t have to worry until the end of the year. Even with the Los Angeles Lakers team not having to play in the next 2 days they would still have one day of training and another day of rest, Coach Rambis was concerned that Shaq and Kobe could be injured with this intense sequence of games. Chapter 561 - West Conference Semifinals 1 Jake went after a few hours to do training with the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake could see that his teammates were excited about the win, but they were also tired from the last few games. Of course, the players wanted to play all the playoff games as long as they could, after all, besides being important for the team, it was also important for their career, so the players were trying hard in training even though they were tired. Jake was not so worried because he thought that with those 2 days without a game the players would be able to rest well before the next game if Shaq and Kobe continued playing well, the Los Angeles Lakers team could win the 4 games and advance to the next phase. The San Antonio Spurs team was having more difficulty and lost the first game and won the second game against the Utah Jazz team, so regardless of which team progressed in that phase the Los Angeles Lakers team would have more time to rest if they won the 4 games without losing no game. Jake no longer knew what could happen in the next games because it was different from what happened in his past life, so Jake just hoped that Kobe and Shaq would continue to perform well in the next games. Not only Shaq and Kobe but also Dennis and Rick were important for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win in the next games, Rick and Dennis were not playing very well in that last game and therefore the game was more difficult for the Lakers team to win. After training Jake returned to his house and the next day the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team could rest, the next day Jake and Eva left Los Angeles to go to Portland, Oregon. The directors of the Los Angeles Lakers team decided it was best for the Lakers players to travel to Portland, Oregon the day before the game so they wouldn''t get too tired, so Eva also went to Portland, Oregon by helicopter with a hotel room ready for her. The other day game day came and the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the Rose Garden to play the next game, Jake can see the Portland Trail Blazers fans coming to the Rose Garden waiting for the Portland Trail Blazers to win. In the last games, the Portland Trail Blazers team played very well and the games were balanced, as were all the games between the two teams throughout the season, just as Jake hoped the Portland Trail Blazers team was a tough opponent. Even more in this game that the Portland Trail Blazers team would play at home with the confidence of the last game that they almost managed to win, Jake hoped that the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were playing well and so he would try harder for the Lakers team achieve victory. In that game the Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Portland Trail Blazers team would start the game with Damon Stoudamire playing as PG, Isaiah Rider playing as SG, Brian Grant playing as SF, Rasheed Wallace playing as PF, and Arvydas Sabonis playing as Center. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch this game this NBA season, this is the third game of this phase of the playoffs and it is the first game here at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon, so the Portland Trail Blazers team is more likely to win that game." "In the 2 games of the West Conference Semifinal, the Los Angeles Lakers team won the victory playing at home and having a great performance from the players of both teams, in the second game the Portland Trail Blazers team almost won." "Jake Smith is the main highlight of this Lakers team and also the highlight of this season, Jake performed well in all games in those playoffs, and it was very important for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win at the end of the last game." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has the best attack of this season, and besides Jake, they have excellent players like Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant, and in that, the Lakers team has the advantage because the Portland Trail Blazers team does not have such outstanding players." "The highlight of the Portland Trail Blazers team is all the players and the coach, without any highlight, the Portland Trail Blazers team arrived in these playoffs as one of the best teams because the players have a good relationship and achieve good performances." "We will follow in this game if the Portland Trail Blazers team wins the victory playing at home or if the Los Angeles Lakers team will win this game more and get closer to progressing to the next phase." As commentators said, even with the Los Angeles Lakers team having won 2 games, the advantage in that game was the Portland Trail Blazers team, after all in the last 2 games the Portland Trail Blazers team lost more players played very well. So playing at home, the Portland Trail Blazers team had a better chance of winning that first game, even with Shaq and Kobe playing very well, if the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team the chances of the Portland Trail Blazers team winning increase. The game started with Shaquille O''Neal winning the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaq passed the ball to Jake who started organizing the first attack of the game, Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right. Kobe received the ball and Isaiah Rider came on to defend, Kobe was one of the best players in the Los Angeles Lakers team in the last game with 32 points and just wasn''t the best because Jake was more important at the end of the game and made a triple-double. So Kobe had more confidence in this game and he would not try so hard because he was more tired, Kobe held the ball for a while and passed it to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Brian Grant came pressing on the defense. Rick tried a feint and Grant was not deceived and continued in defense, Rick was not playing very well in this phase of the playoffs because Grant was defending well against him, even though Rick knew he was helping the team by making more than 10 points per game and not allowing the Portland Trail Blazers to double-team Jake and Kobe. Rick gave up on the individual move and passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Damon Stoudamire came in pressing on the defense, Jake advanced with the ball and did a quick crossover and advanced on the left. Stoudamire was not so close to Jake and managed to react after being duped and continued on defense, Jake change of pace and advanced with the ball on the right and this unbalanced Stoudamire who fell to the ground. Jake continued to advance with speed after the beautiful play and Arvydas Sabonis arrived to defend, Sabonis went to defend against Jake even though he knew he would pass the ball to Shaq, but different from what Sabonis thought Jake drive to the basket and made the 2 points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Sabonis still tried to defend, but he didn''t want to miss and Jake attacked too fast and Jake''s play was unexpected for him, and for Shaq also waiting for the pass, the Portland Trail Blazers fans did not like the play, but the fans respected Jake''s ability. Stoudamire was a little embarrassed after the ankle break play on the last move, but he tried to keep defending even though he knew Jake''s speed was higher and after 2 dribble he lost his balance and fell. In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack and Stoudamire was organizing the attack, Stoudamire advanced with the ball and passed to Rider on the left, Rider received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense. Rider tried to deceive Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not deceived and Rider had to pass the ball to Grant from the right, Grant received the ball and Rick arrived pressing in defense, in the last 2 games Grant was one of the best players on the Portland Trail team Blazers and he was confident in that game too. Grant advanced with the ball using his strength and Rick couldn''t stop Grant, Grant made a feint and Rick retreated, so Grant tried a mid-range shot to score 2 points for the Portland Trail Blazers. The game started out balanced just like the last games, in that game Kobe and Shaq were playing well and so Jake was hoping to get the win, but Jake realized that Kobe and Shaq were not playing as well as in the last games and if the Portland Trail Blazers team played as well as in the last game they could win. Jake knew that the biggest weakness of the Los Angeles Lakers team was the coach Rambis, the Los Angeles Lakers team achieved several victories with the players having an excellent performance and achieving the victory for the Lakers team. When they lost it was when Shaq or Kobe were not playing well and the opponent was playing well, this was because the opponent knew the weaknesses of the Los Angeles Lakers team and Coach Rambis could not change the team''s playing style if Shaq and Kobe did not. were playing well. The Portland Trail Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy managed to do this very well this season and managed to get the Portland Trail Blazers team into the playoffs even though the team had no such prominent player. In another move, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and held it a little before passing to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Rider came pressing on the defense. Kobe kept the ball doing the low dribble and Rider continued in defense, Kobe jab stepped and Rider did not react, so Kobe took the opportunity to advance from the right using his speed and Rider was slow to react. Kobe advanced with the ball and nobody went to defend against him, so Kobe drive to the basket and made the layup and 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Chapter 562 - West Conference Semifinals 2 In that first quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team seemed to be playing better just like in the last games, with the good moves of Jake, Kobe, and Shaq it seemed that the game was balanced because it was the strategy of the Lakers team again. The Portland Trail Blazers players seemed to be playing just as well as in the last games, but it seemed that even with the Portland Trail Blazers team having one of the best saves of the season it was not enough to stop the Los Angeles Lakers attack. The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a small points advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 10 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. "The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team finished that quarter by winning, it was a balanced game again, but the strategy of the Lakers team is always to make a balanced first quarter to observe the opponent." "But from what we could see in that first quarter, the players from both teams are playing as well as in the last games, so with Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant having a good performance, the Los Angeles Lakers team seems to have the advantage." "Jake Smith is also playing very well as he did in all the games this season, the beautiful play he did that was an ankle break play and that lifted the spirits of the Los Angeles Lakers team." "It''s true, yet I still think that the Portland Trail Blazers team can win this game, the players on the Portland Trail Blazers team are playing very well and they are playing at home." "In the last game the Portland Trail Blazers team almost got the win and with the Portland Trail Blazers team playing at home I think they can get the win in that game." Just as commentators said the Portland Trail Blazers fans still hoped that the Portland Trail Blazers team would win and if they won the next home game both teams would be tied and the Portland Trail Blazers team could advance to the next phase of the playoffs. At the beginning of the second quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team started pressing in attack and defense, in that quarter they had to do their best to understand if the Los Angeles Lakers team had the advantage in that game or if they could win. Jake slowly advanced the ball and passed it to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Rider came pressing on the defense, Kobe held the ball for a while and passed it to Rick on the left. Rick received the ball and Grant came pressing on the defense, Rick tried to make a feint and managed to deceive Grant and advanced on the left, Grant managed to recover and tried to continue defending, but Rick was faster and advanced to the inside area. Rick advanced with speed and Sabonis came to defend against Rick, Rick knew he couldn''t go any further and passed the ball to Shaq further on, Shaq received the free ball and advanced to make the dunk and 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Rick made a beautiful move and Shaq made the 2 points, but in this game, Rick and Dennis were not performing well, even Kobe and Shaq who were making the points were also missing a lot of attacks and the Portland Trail Blazers team had several defensive rebounds. So in this second quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team managed to take the small advantage that the Los Angeles Lakers team and tied the game with 8 minutes of the second quarter, so the players of the Portland Trail Blazers realized that they could achieve victory in that game. In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack, Stoudamire advanced with the ball and passed to Grant on the right, Grant received the ball and Rick came pressing on the defense, Grant made a feint and managed to trick Rick and advanced into the inside area. Grant advanced with the ball and passed to Sabonis ahead, Sabonis received the ball and Shaq came pressing on defense, Sabonis tried to advance using his strength, but Shaq was strong too and prevented Sabonis from advancing to the painted area. Sabonis noticed this and stepped back a little and moved away from where Shaq was and tried to hook to make 2 more points for the Portland Trail Blazers team, in that game Sabonis was playing well and seemed to have learned to attack playing against Shaq. The Portland Trail Blazers team was attacking without passing the ball many times to Stoudamire who was unable to attack with Jake defending against him, with that they managed to finish the second quarter by winning the game with a small point advantage. The Portland Trail Blazers team finished that second quarter by winning the game and the Los Angeles Lakers team would have to try to turn the tables playing as a visitor, in that second quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. "The second quarter ends and the Portland Trail Blazers team managed to finish for the first time in these playoffs a quarter winning, in the last game the Los Angeles Lakers team won, but the Portland Trail Blazers team almost managed to win at the end of the game." "In this game, the Portland Trail Blazers team playing at home managed to finish the second quarter winning with a great performance from all players, it seems that the Los Angeles Lakers team will lose the first game in these playoffs." "It''s true, the Portland Trail Blazers team looks like they will be able to win this game and this could be the beginning of a historic turn and the Portland Trail Blazers team can win 4 games and advance to the next phase of the playoffs." "In this game, Shaq and Kobe are playing well which is usually enough for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win, of course, Kobe was not performing as well as he did in the last game, but that could mean the Portland team Trail Blazers are better than the Lakers team." The commentators were excited to see the Portland Trail Blazers team finishing the second quarter winning the game because in that game the Portland Trail Blazers team could clearly win that game, in addition, the Portland Trail Blazers team was playing better even with Shaq and Kobe having a good time. performance too. This was exciting for commentators because everyone thought the Los Angeles Lakers team would easily win all 4 games and advance to the next playoff phase, in fact, everyone expected the Lakers team to win the NBA title this season. So with the Portland Trail Blazers team managing to win the game even with Jake, Shaq, and Kobe playing well, they saw the opportunity for the Portland Trail Blazers team to win the 4 games and eliminate the Los Angeles Lakers team in this phase of the playoffs. Jake also realized this and was worried, he wanted to play even better and win with his mother watching the game in the stands, but in this game, Stoudamire was playing well in defense and Jake couldn''t count on Rick and Dennis. Jake decided he would play better in the third quarter to try to help the Los Angeles Lakers team to win as they did in the last game, but he knew that the Portland Trail Blazers team could still make the strategy of starting to make fouls and if that happened it would be difficult for the Lakers team to win. This strategy of making fouls against the Los Angeles Lakers team could only be done by teams that managed to keep the game balanced and where the best teams, in addition, this strategy could only be done in the third quarter and the last quarter for the opposing team not risk having players kicked out. In this third quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team was pressing in attack and defense and the crowd was supporting the team, it was clear that they wanted the victory in that game, coach Rambis decided to put Robert Horry playing in place of Dennis who was not playing well. Jake was determined to try even harder in this game to help the Los Angeles Lakers team to win and so he started trying to get more rebounds and more steals, in addition to putting more pressure on the attack. In another move, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and held it a little before passing to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Rider came pressing on the defense. Kobe tried to deceive Rider with a feint, but Rider was not deceived and continued in defense, Kobe thought about trying another move, but he saw Jake passing and passed the ball to him in the middle. Jake advanced to the inside area using his speed and Stoudamire managed to continue in defense, Jake made a feint and made a fake pump that tricked Stoudamire, so Jake advanced to the painted area and drive to the basket and made a dunk to make 2 more points. In this play neither Sabonis nor Wallace tried to defend against Jake and with that Jake went ahead alone to make the dunk, Jake was attacking more in that third quarter and with that when he made assists the opponent did not expect. Just as Jake hoped in the middle of the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team got the points advantage again and the Portland Trail Blazers team started making the strategy of making fouls, Coach Rambis could not take Shaq in that game because Shaq was important in the attack. of the Los Angeles Lakers team. So Shaq became the target of the fouls that the Portland Trail Blazers team did, with that Jake and the other players stopped making passes to Shaq in every play and Jake tried to keep the ball with him so that opponents avoided making fouls on him. In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack, Stoudamire advanced the ball and passed it to Grant on the right, Grant received the ball and held it a little and passed it to Rider on the left. Rider received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Rider tried to trick Kobe with a feint and managed to trick Kobe and stepped back to try a shot from the outside, Jake realized this and was quick to try the block. Rider jump to try the shot from outside and Jake jump right after him to make the block, Jake reacted very fast and got the block, but the ball still went to Rasheed Wallace who caught the rebound and tried the mid-range shot and did more 2 points for the Portland Trail Blazers team. Chapter 563 - West Conference Semifinals 3 Jake managed to make this block at an important point in the game when the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning the game, but it was the Portland Trail Blazers team that was playing best in that third quarter. So if the Los Angeles Lakers team prevented this attack from the Portland Trail Blazers team, they could still maintain the advantage in points, but in this game, the Los Angeles Lakers team was not able to gain as many rebounds as they normally did in games. So Wallace still managed to catch the rebound and make the 2 points even after Jake made the block, this again gave hope to the fans and players of the Portland Trail Blazers team and did not give the cheer to the Los Angeles Lakers team that Jake expected. The third quarter ended with the Portland Trail Blazers winning by a few points, the Los Angeles Lakers team could get the comeback in that quarter, but it looked like the Lakers players were out of luck. With the strategy of making faults in Shaq and other players, the Portland Trail Blazers managed to prevent the Lakers'' attack from working well, even Jake was the target of the faults not to make three-point shots. In the last quarter, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team seemed discouraged with the victory, after all in this game Kobe and Shaq were having a good performance, and even so the Lakers team was losing. Of course, they knew that if Dennis and Rick were performing well it could be decisive for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win, but in other games, only Shaq, Jake, and Kobe were enough for the Lakers team to win. On the side of the Portland Trail Blazers team, it was different, the players and the crowd were excited about this game and they wanted the victory to start a possible turn in this phase of the playoffs, coach Mike Dunleavy was also happy that his strategies in this game were working and he saw the hope of the Portland Trail Blazers team moving on to the next stage. The game ended with the Portland Trail Blazers team achieving the first victory in this phase of the playoffs, with that victory the Los Angeles Lakers team was still 2 victory over 1 victory from the Portland Trail Blazers team, but the next game was at the Portland team home. Trail Blazers and a tie could happen. The Portland Trail Blazers team won the game with 108 points against 102 points of the Los Angeles Lakers team, in that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 43 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds, 10 steals, and 2 blocks, it was one of the best games of Jake in those playoffs and Jake managed another triple-double even with the Los Angeles Lakers losing. "The game ends with the Portland Trail Blazers team achieving the first victory in this phase of the playoffs, it was an important victory in which the players of the Portland Trail Blazers had an excellent performance and will give confidence to the team in the next games." "The Portland Trail Blazers players have already performed very well in the last game in which the Los Angeles Lakers team still managed to win, but in that game with the Portland Trail Blazers team playing at home they managed to win." "The Portland Trail Blazers team won that game even though Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant had a good performance and with Jake Smith having his best performance in these playoffs, this will give a lot of confidence to the Portland Trail Blazers team in the next home game." "It is true, in the first game of this phase of the playoffs all the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team performed well, in addition to Shaq, Kobe and Jake, Rick Fox and Dennis Rodman also performed well and that is why the Lakers team won with the facility." "But in this game and in the last game Rick and Dennis did not perform well and the Portland Trail Blazers players continued to play well, which is why even though Jake Smith had his best performance in those playoffs with the triple-double making 43 points a Los Angeles Lakers team still lost." Just as commentators said, this victory for the Portland Trail Blazers team was very important, especially since Jake had his best performance in the playoffs and even that was not enough for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win. Even Jake, who was always excited, was saddened by this defeat, especially since his mother had come to watch this game, and even with him trying his best it was not enough for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win. With this Los Angeles Lakers team defeat, a fifth game was confirmed in Los Angeles, of course, the Lakers team still had the advantage for being the best team of the season and playing the fifth game at home, but for that, they needed to win the fourth game playing as a visitor. After the game the players returned to the hotel upset with the defeat, the worst was that the next game of this phase of the playoffs would be the very next day and the players had no chance to rest being replaced by a few minutes in these difficult games. Having a game the next day would be bad because the Portland Trail Blazers players were very confident after the victory and would continue to do so for the next game in which the Portland Trail Blazers team would play at home. Jake couldn''t talk to Eva who was at the hotel he rented for her after the game and would only see his mother in the stands for the next game, so Jake had to regain his confidence alone. Jake decided that in this game the Los Angeles Lakers team had to win and so he worked hard to score more points and to help more in defense, in the last game Jake made 2 blocks and 10 steals being the best player in the defense of the Lakers team too. Jake was thinking of working hard in the next game as well and taking the opportunity to score more points in the first quarter and the second quarter that the Portland Trail Blazers team could not use the strategy of making fouls. In addition, Jake was thinking that the players on the Portland Trail Blazers team should also be as tired as the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team were, so he could take advantage of that to make more speed runs and score more points. The most important thing was that all the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team were performing well, Jake realized in this game that just Shaq and Kobe playing well wasn''t enough, in fact, if Dennis was performing well and catching several rebounds he could be even more important than Kobe in that last game. Jake went to rest, trusting that his teammates who were professional players would know how to motivate themselves even better than he did, after all a team losing a game in the playoffs was common for the most skilled players. The other day Jake woke up very early in the morning and went to eat breakfast with the other players at the hotel, Jake saw that the other players no longer seemed to be as discouraged and worried as they were after the defeat. After a few hours Jake was in the hotel room thinking about what the game would be like that day and he got a call on his cell phone, Jake thought it might be his mother calling from her hotel, but it was Kate who was calling him. "Hi, Jake, I called to see how you are doing, I heard about the result of yesterday''s game." "Hi, Kate, thanks for worrying about me, I''m already more excited now after sleeping well, I know that the Los Angeles Lakers team is still a favorite to win the next games and I''m more confident for the game today." "Good, I hoped you wouldn''t be discouraged after just 1 loss, the Los Angeles Lakers team won 2 games now and you can win today''s game too, I want your team to win so I can watch your games in the NBA Finals." "I also want to see you soon, Kate, I will not be discouraged and I will do my best to get the Los Angeles Lakers team to make it to the NBA Finals, how are your shows doing?" "They''re doing really well, almost all tickets have been sold at the last few shows and, I''m very happy with that, after the Grammy it seems like I got more fans, now I''m getting ready to stop only if your team makes it to the NBA Finals, otherwise I will have to schedule even more shows." Jake was happy to see that Kate''s success in music was increasing after winning a Grammy award, Jake didn''t know what Kate''s future would be like in the music world because she wasn''t alive in his past life, so Jake could only support Kate and hope she was successful. Kate also supported Jake very well in everything he did, she wanted him to do well in basketball, athletics, and his career as an actor because Kate didn''t know much about what Jake did as a manager too, which is why being apart they were still happy dating. Jake was even more confident after talking to Kate and was more excited for the game that the Los Angeles Lakers team would have that day, after a few hours Jake and the other players went to the Rose Garden Arena and saw that the fans would fill the Arena in that game. The Los Angeles Lakers team players could see how the fans were more confident that the Portland Trail Blazers team could win this game than in the last game, Jake and the Los Angeles Lakers team players were also confident that they could win this game and could try his fourth win playing in Los Angeles. The players went to the locker room and then went to the court to wait for the game to start, Jake can see that the Portland Trail Blazers players were also more confident in this game that they would win. Jake knew he would be a player who would change the outcome of that game and bring victory to the Los Angeles Lakers team, but for that, he had his teammates in that game. Chapter 564 - West Conference Semifinals 4 In that game the Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Portland Trail Blazers team would start the game with Damon Stoudamire playing as PG, Isaiah Rider playing as SG, Brian Grant playing as SF, Rasheed Wallace playing as PF, and Arvydas Sabonis playing as Center. The two teams would start playing with the same players as it was in the last games, Coach Rambis still hoped that Dennis Rodman could help the Los Angeles Lakers team by catching rebounds and helping in defense. Robert Horry did well in the last few games, but if Dennis managed to catch more than 15 rebounds as he did sometimes he would make a difference in an important game like this, especially since Jake tried a lot of shots from outside in every game. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch this game this NBA season, this is the fourth game in this phase of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers team won 2 games and the Portland Trail Blazers team won the last game." "The Los Angeles Lakers team is still a favorite to win that game, but with the Portland Trail Blazers team winning the last game, the Portland Trail Blazers players have more confidence in that game playing at home after an important victory." "It''s true, it''s clear that if all the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team play well in that game they have a better chance of winning, in the last game we could see that just Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal performing well is not enough to the Lakers team win." "Another thing that is important to note is that the Los Angeles Lakers team coach Kurt Rambis does not have as much skill as coach Mike Dunleavy, so the Los Angeles Lakers team depends more on the individual performance of the team players." "Okay, let''s see if the Los Angeles Lakers team gets the third win and gets closer to qualifying for the next round or if the Portland Trail Blazers team gets the second win and ties that playoff stage." What the commentators said was what everyone in the sports media thought, Coach Rambis didn''t have as much skill as Coach Dunleavy on the Portland Trail Blazers, so the Los Angeles Lakers team lost when they didn''t have the best players performing well. The Lakers team players thought so too, but the truth was that everyone knew that Coach Rambis was being the coach because the Lakers team did not have time to sign another coach after 13 games in a reduced season. Next season it was very likely that the Lakers team board would hire another coach even if the Los Angeles Lakers team won the NBA title this season, after all in a team with Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant and now Jake it was natural to expect the team winning the NBA title even with a bad coach. Coach Rambis certainly knew that the players and the media thought of him, he even knew that he did not have the capacity to coach one of the best teams in the NBA, yet he called the players to talk before the game started. "I wanted to say what you all already know, this is a very important game for our team if we can win this game we will only need to win the next home game for our team to qualify for the next phase of the playoffs." "I confess that I was very disappointed with our defeat in the last game, it was a game in which our team could win and we even finished the first quarter by winning the game, but it seems that the Portland Trail Blazers team found a way to defeat us." "The last two games have not been very good, and the Portland Trail Blazers team almost won these 2 games, what left me most disappointed is that even with you knowing how your opponent plays, you still played the same way." "At the end of the game you looked like you gave up the victory because of the Portland Trail Blazers team''s strategy of making fouls, only Jake played in those two games believing in the victory until the end and that''s why he had his two best performances in these playoffs in those last two games." The players were surprised to hear Coach Rambis saying this, after all with the Lakers team winning most games, Coach Rambis did not have many complaints with the players, but with this defeat in the playoffs, neither Coach Rambis was able to remain without complaint. "So just as the opposing team changed the strategy, we also have to play differently, in this game I want you to put pressure on the attack from the beginning of the game, in this first quarter we have to get a good point advantage." "If your opponents start using the foul strategy, use that in your favor and get a lot of fouls, there is no way that the Portland Trail Blazers players will foul all quarters and still have no players kicked out." The players were more confident having a different strategy for this game and Jake was even more surprised, after all, he thought about doing it even if Coach Rambis didn''t say anything, it showed that even if he thought about it it was normal that Coach Rambis would also notice that this was a good strategy. Of course, Coach Rambis couldn''t know that Jake tried harder in these last two games and would try even harder in that game since the beginning of the game, for Coach Rambis and for all members of the media Jake tried his best in every game that''s why I always had such a good point average. The game started with the Los Angeles Lakers team pressing in the attack, Jake talked to his teammates saying that in the first minutes he would try to make several three-point shots to scare the opponent. Everyone agreed with this because they knew that Jake had a very high hit average and that would certainly help to put more pressure on the Portland Trail Blazers team and open up a good point advantage. Jake slowly advanced the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick Fox received the ball and held it for a while before passing it to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Isaiah Rider came pressing on the defense. Kobe and Rick were making the move normally only for players on the Portland Trail Blazers who didn''t realize that the Los Angeles Lakers team''s strategy was for Jake to attempt the three-point shot in several moves. Kobe held the ball a little and passed it to Jake in the back, Jake received the ball and Damon Stoudamire was on defense, Stoudamire was a little far from Jake as he did in the last games, Jake took advantage of that distance and tried a shot from outside and got it right by making 3 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Even with these 3 points from the Los Angeles Lakers team, the players from the Portland Trail Blazers team were not bothered by this and went on to the next play, it was normal in many plays that Jake started making a three-point play. Stoudamire advanced with the ball and passed it to Brian Grant on the right, Grant received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, Grant tried to trick Rick with a feint, but Rick was not fooled, so Grant passed the ball to Rider on the left. Rider received the ball and Kobe came in pressing on the defense, Rider held the ball a little and did a quick step back and tried an outside shot to make 3 points for the Portland Trail Blazers team, Kobe did not expect Rider to try to shoot so he didn''t try to put any more pressure on the defense. The game seemed balanced as the last games were and the Portland Trail Blazers fans were happy with that, in the other 2 plays Jake tried to make 2 more shots from outside and hit with 6 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The Portland Trail Blazers players didn''t notice anything strange even though Jake made 3 3-point plays in a few minutes of play, the Portland Trail Blazers team also managed to make 4 more points in another 2 attacks and so the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to have 2 points advantage. Jake moved on to the attack again and he had planned to make another three-point play and if he could get it right he would make 12 points in a few minutes and would further increase the pressure on the Portland Trail Blazers team. Jake came close to the three-point line and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick held the ball for a while and passed it to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and held it a little and passed it on to Jake again. That''s how the last three moves were and Jake tried the shot from outside afterward, Jake realized that in this move the Portland Trail Blazers players were already more attentive in the play waiting for Jake to try the shot from outside to find out if this was a strategy of the Los Angeles Lakers team. Jake saw that Shaquille O''Neal was freer and decided to pass the ball to him, Shaq received the ball and already realized that Jake decided to change the play in this attack, Arvydas Sabonis was quick and arrived to press in defense against Shaq. Shaq took advantage of the time he was free to adjust and when Sabonis approached Shaq did the spin and advanced to the painted area using his strength, Sabonis did not expect this and even tried to press on defense. Shaq went ahead and tried a layup and made the 2 points and even managed a free throw attempt, Sabonis tried to prevent Shaq from making the points by making a foul and was unable to prevent Shaq from making the 2 points and still made the foul. Shaq was the player of the Los Angeles Lakers team that suffered the most fouls in the last games, after all, he was the player who had the lowest average of hits in the free throws, this time Shaq tried and hit with 1 more point and so the Lakers team did another three-point play with Shaq. Chapter 565 - West Conference Semifinals 5 Jake was smart in that play, and Shaq was also very good, and so the Portland Trail Blazers players still didn''t know about the Los Angeles Lakers'' strategy in that game, so the Lakers team had the advantage. Soon after, the Portland Trail Blazers tried to attack to reduce the advantage in points that the Los Angeles Lakers had, but Rider missed the mid-range shot and Dennis Rodman caught the first defensive rebound that was very important for the Lakers team. In the next play, Jake made another individual play and passed the ball to Shaq again who added 2 more points to the Los Angeles Lakers team, so the Lakers team increased the advantage by 8 points and the Portland Trail Blazers team would have to fight to be able to turn the game. Coach Dunleavy realized that the Los Angeles Lakers team had changed the strategy to attack more in that first quarter, but Coach Dunleavy knew that the Portland Trail Blazers team could not begin the strategy of making fouls early in the game. In another move Jake went forward and made another three-point shot and thus managed to make 12 points in 4 attempts and that in less than 8 minutes of play, the Portland Trail Blazers team still did not realize that Jake intended to make several three-point shots because he made 2 assists for Shaq. Even so, Stoudamire started to put more pressure on the defense so that Jake would not have so much freedom to try the three-point shots, Jake also realized that he had better pass the ball over to Shaq, Kobe, and Rick since he had already scored 12 points. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Jake told Kobe that he could start attacking normally now, Kobe received the ball and Rider came pressing on the defense, Kobe started doing low dribble trying to make the individual move. Kobe tried to deceive Rider with a feint, but Rider was not deceived and continued to press on defense, coach Dunleavy told the Portland Trail Blazers players that the Los Angeles Lakers team had changed their strategy and wanted to press forward and score a lot in that first quarter. Kobe decided not to try the individual play and passed the ball to Rick from the left, Rick was free when he received the ball and tried the mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. In that first quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team put a lot of pressure on the attack and the Portland Trail Blazers team was not able to put pressure on the attack to balance the game, it seemed that in this game all the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were performing well. Soon the first quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning with a good advantage on points as coach Rambis planned, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 20 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals. This was the best first quarter that Jake has had since debuting in the NBA and it was also the quarter that he scored the most points in, Jake scored more points in that first quarter than many players did in an entire game, it showed how he was trying in that game. "The first quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a big point advantage, the Lakers team changed the strategy in that first quarter to try to win against the Portland Trail Blazers team and got a big advantage for the rest of the game." "It''s true, we can see that the Portland Trail Blazers players are no longer as confident of winning as they were at the beginning of the game, even the Portland Trail Blazers fans that filled the Rose Garden Arena are so confident of victory." "The highlight of the Los Angeles Lakers team in that first quarter was certainly Jake Smith, making 20 points and hitting 6 shots from three points from 7 attempts, Jake seems to really want the victory in that game and is looking to make his best game in these playoffs this game." "In addition to Jake, the other players on the Los Angeles Lakers team are also performing well in that game, Shaquille O''Neal had 8 points and 3 rebounds, and Dennis Rodman had 5 rebounds in that first quarter." "The Portland Trail Blazers team will have to put a lot more effort into defense and attack if they want to try to diminish the advantage in points that the Los Angeles Lakers have." Jake was happy with the first quarter that the Los Angeles Lakers team had and with his performance in that game, Jake received praise from his teammates and Jake can look more proudly at his mother who was in the stands, Eva was very happy with the compliments she overheard the Portland Trail Blazers fans doing for Jake. Coach Rambis was the happiest with the Los Angeles Lakers team''s start of the game, Jake and Shaq were very good in the game and even Dennis and Rick were performing well in that game, so the Lakers team would be more likely to win this one. I play as a visitor. The second quarter started with the Los Angeles Lakers team continuing to press on the attack, the players knew that they could not let the Portland Trail Blazers team reduce the advantage in points they had because in the last quarter they could start with the strategy of making fouls. Coach Mike Dunleavy had realized that Jake was performing very well in that game and so he ordered Stoudamire and Grant to double-team in defense against him as soon as they could. Even though Rick and the other players on the Los Angeles Lakers team had more freedom to attack, the biggest problem in that game was Jake who had scored 20 points in the first quarter, so Coach Dunleavy thought the Lakers team would attack less if Jake didn''t have the freedom to organize the moves. Jake soon realized that the Portland Trail Blazers team was making a double-team defense on him if Jake wanted he could attack even though he had 2 players defending against him, but Jake knew he could count on his teammates and he didn''t want to tire in that game even more and risk being replaced. After a few minutes, Jake realized that Kobe was not performing well in that game, luckily Shaq was playing very well and Rick was also, in addition, Dennis was having a great performance catching the rebounds and this was better in this game for the Los team Angeles Lakers. Fortunately, it was the player who was defending against Rick who was defending in the double-team against him, so Jake was passing the ball over to Rick who was performing well, the Los Angeles Lakers team was managing to score fewer points than in the first quarter, but still managed to increase the advantage in points. Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and held it a little before passing the ball to Rick on the left, Rick received the free ball and stepped forward to try the mid-range shot and make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Rick was having a lot of freedom in that second quarter and Grant was more focused on defending against Jake than defending against Rick, certainly, Rick was more likely to miss the attacks than Jake, not to mention that if Rick tried to advance to the painted area, Coach Dunleavy ordered Rasheed Wallace to defend against him. Rick realized this in other plays and so he tried to make the mid-range shots, after all with the freedom he was more likely to hit than usual, besides, Shaq was also very well and Jake, Rick, and Kobe passed the ball to him. The Los Angeles Lakers team was very good in the attack and the Portland Trail Blazers team could not press the attack and diminish the advantage that the Lakers team had in the game, so the second quarter ended with the Lakers team winning the game. In that quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and even though he had 2 players defending against him he still had 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1 block, Jake attacked less often and only tried to attack when Grant went to defend against Rick. In the third quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team could finally start making the foul strategy, so at least they could prevent Shaq who was having a great performance from making more points. But at the beginning of the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team had a 14 point advantage, so even if they tried to make the strategy of making fouls they still would not be able to turn the result of that game. Even so, the Portland Trail Blazers team had to try to do this to try to win this game at home, otherwise playing as a visitor they would have even more difficulty winning against the Los Angeles Lakers team. So the third quarter was more balanced with the two teams attacking and not making many points, even using the strategy of making fouls the Los Angeles Lakers team still managed to make the points in most attacks. In addition, with Jake playing very well in defense and Dennis and Shaq catching a lot of rebounds, the Portland Trail Blazers team had even more difficulties in attacking, so the third quarter ended with the Portland Trail Blazers team reducing the Los Angeles team''s points advantage Lakers. In the last quarter the Portland Trail Blazers team could not make many fouls because many players could be expelled, Jake started to attack with even more intensity even though he had 2 players defending against him, and Jake also tried some shots from very far. Thus the Portland Trail Blazers team was unable to diminish the advantage that the Los Angeles Lakers team had and thus the Lakers team won the game making 125 points against 111 points of the Portland Trail Blazers team. In that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 46 points, 13 assists, 8 rebounds, 11 steals, and 3 blocks, Jake managed another triple-double in those playoffs, this was his fifth triple-double followed in those playoffs. With this performance of Jake in attack and defense when the Los Angeles Lakers team needed him most, he was being seen by the people who chose the player who would be chosen for the MVP award of the season, and with this performance, Jake was becoming an idol for the fans. Chapter 566 - West Conference Semifinals 6 "The game is over and the Los Angeles Lakers team got another victory, even though the Portland Trail Blazers team won the last game and playing at home, the Los Angeles Lakers team played a great game and won the third game of this phase of the playoffs." "Now the Los Angeles Lakers team has 3 wins and the Portland Trail Blazers team has 1 win, if the Los Angeles Lakers team wins the next game playing in Los Angeles, the Lakers team will advance to the next phase of the playoffs and will reach West Conference Finals." "In this game, the Los Angeles Lakers team changed the game strategy and started to press the attack with great intensity since the first quarter, Jake led the attack with 20 points only in the first quarter hitting 6 shots from 3 points in 7 attempts and also making 4 assists." "The Los Angeles Lakers team did this because in the last games the Portland Trail Blazers team was having the advantage by making a strategy of making fouls in the last 2 quarters and thus preventing the Lakers team from making many points." "It''s true, that was a smart strategy because the Portland Trail Blazers team can''t try to foul the entire game, so even if they decided to use the foul strategy in the first 2 quarters, the Los Angeles Lakers team would push the attack in the last few quarters and Portland Trail Blazers team players could not make fouls not to be expelled." "Shaquille O''Neal, Rick Fox, and Dennis Rodman had an excellent performance in that game too, Shaq had 32 points and 11 rebounds, Rick had 19 points and Dennis managed to get 17 rebounds helping the Los Angeles Lakers team a lot in defense." "Even so the highlight of the Los Angeles Lakers team was Jake who scored 46 points, 13 assists in that game helping a lot in the attack, Jake attracted 2 players from the Portland Trail Blazers team who had to make a double-team defense to prevent Jake from continuing making 3-point plays." "In defense, Jake was the best player also making 11 steals and 3 blocks, in that game Jake made the fifth triple-double in a row in these playoffs showing how important he was to this victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team playing as a visitor." "The next game will be in 2 days in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Lakers team will be playing at home and needs just 1 more win to get the 4 wins and advance to the next phase of the playoffs." The Los Angeles Lakers team managed to win this difficult game against the Portland Trail Blazers team and so they could advance to the next stage if they won the next game in Los Angeles, the players and coach Rambis were very happy with this victory. Even more, because they managed to find a way to win even with the opponent trying to use the strategy of making faults against them, so they would have more chances of winning even if the opponent tried to use a strategy of making faults in the next stages of the playoff. The players acknowledged that Jake was currently the best player on the team this season, it was very difficult to find a player who managed to make 5 triple-double in playoff games, even more so as Jake who always scored more than 30 points. If it weren''t for Jake the Los Angeles Lakers team knew they would lose that game and maybe even other games, Jake didn''t know what his teammates were thinking, he was just happy that the Lakers team got the win and that his effort was rewarded. Jake looked at the stands again at the end of the game and saw that his mother was looking proud of him after that victory, Eva was happy that the Los Angeles Lakers team had won and was even happier that she heard the Portland Trail crowd. Blazers praised Jake a lot in that game. Eva was also happy that she could finally return to Los Angeles, even if Jake chose a 5-star hotel Eva did not like having to stay in hotels for many days, she was much more comfortable at Jake''s home in Los Angeles. Jake returned to Los Angeles shortly after the game with the other players and Jake knew that Eva would also use the helicopter to go to Los Angeles because he had warned her that they could come home after that game. Jake worked hard in the first quarter for the Los Angeles Lakers team to get a good point advantage, because of that he got very tired at the end of the game, luckily he can rest a little in the other quarters because the Portland Trail Blazers team did double-team defense on it. Jake could still score a lot even though he had a double-team defense against him, but Jake came to the Los Angeles Lakers team this season because he wanted good teammates who could help the team win even if he couldn''t attack much. Jake didn''t want to be known as a player who didn''t know how to play as a team even though he could score more than 50 points in all games, that''s why he decided to be a PG and with his assists, Jake helped the Lakers team a lot more than doing 50 points alone and giving no assistance. Jake went to his house after arriving in Los Angeles and his mother had already arrived, Jake was happy with that and gave his mother a hug that he didn''t see personally in a few days, Jake also thanked Eva for her support in these games important. "You don''t have to thank me, Jake, I know that many moms of gamers watch most of their children''s games in the NBA season, I can''t do that because I have to take care of the restaurant, so the least I can do is keep up with all their playoff games." "I am very happy to see your games and even happier to see you and your team winning, I am also happy to see you being so praised, I know how you tried as a child to become such a good player, that makes me very proud." "Even so, I appreciate it, Mom, I know you''re worried about the restaurant while you''re here to watch the Los Angeles Lakers team games, you don''t know how seeing you in the stands gives me more confidence in the games." Jake was being sincere saying this to Eva, since he had his second chance in this life Jake''s priority was always that Eva lived a happy life and lived for many years, after all, Jake knew how his mother suffered in his past life before that she would end up dying. Now Jake could work happily, play basketball and think about Kate because he knew that Eva was living happily and that his mom had made her dream come true, so nothing made Jake as happy as seeing his mom watching his games and cheering for him. Eva was happy to hear Jake say that, she knew that Jake was being sincere saying that, Eva felt a little sad sometimes after Jake went to university and then with Jake going to Los Angeles to play basketball. Eva knew that normally after the children grew up they would move away from their parents, she was always close to Jake in his childhood and even after Jake turned 10 they became even closer and Jake was not ashamed to say that he loved her like the others young people normally did. So Eva was sad after Jake left their home in Miami because she thought they would never be that close again, but in those days she realized that Jake would never change and they would always be that close. Of course, Eva had no way of knowing that Jake already had the mentality of a 40-year-old person since he was 10 years old and therefore he had not changed and his mentality would not change in the next few years. Jake can sleep relaxed after such an important victory, the other day Jake woke up happily and knew that Coach Rambis had given that day of rest to him and the other players on the Los Angeles Lakers team. Coach Rambis knew how tired the players were after the last few games, especially since he can''t replace the important players for a long time in the last few games, so Coach Rambis thought that the players needed a day of rest more than one training. Even Jake had to say that this day of rest would be good for him, who got tired a lot in the last two games that were in two days in a row, the other players should then be much more tired, in the last game Jake was tired in the last minutes of the last quarter, but he did not worry because the opponents were much more tired than him. After a few hours Jake called Kate to talk to her about the Los Angeles Lakers team win, Kate was waiting for Jake to call and they talked for a long time before Kate had to hang up because she had more work to do. Jake was very busy with basketball after the playoffs started, but he knew that sometimes he had more free time than Kate who had to work on her new songs, had to go to several meetings, and sometimes even had to do interviews for radio and television stations. Of course, Jake would be very busy after the playoffs were over, he would have to start looking more closely at the market to make sure he could sell Cisco''s stock only in 2000. After all the future had changed with the change that Jake had in his life, this was even more true for the business world where he invested in 2 large companies and had shares in the companies of Matthew and Clara. Jake also took care of an investment company that had billions of dollars invested in shares of the company Cisco, so Jake thought it was possible that the future would change and the bubble would burst sooner, and thus he would lose the chance to make more money. Chapter 567 - West Conference Semifinals 7 Of course, if Jake sold the billions of dollars his investment firm had in shares of the Cisco company he could be the cause of the bubble burst in this life, so Jake had to start analyzing the stock market better and see the reports that Emily always delivered to him. In addition, Jake had to continue to monitor whether the lawyers he hired would get all the patents he wanted for the smartphone, and for touchscreen and multi-touch technologies, Jake wanted all patents to be approved by the end of 1999. That was because Jake knew that next year he would no longer be able to hide the wealth he had, so big tech companies like Apple and Microsoft would definitely investigate the patents Jake wanted to approve at a technology company he had. After all, everyone would know that Jake was one of the biggest partners of the company Amazon, which was one of the companies that had the most expectations of growth in the market in the coming years, besides, everyone would know that Jake had invested billions of dollars in the company Cisco. Jake also hoped that by the end of next year Charlie''s team, which was now bigger, could finish developing the Android operating system, Jake would ask for many patents for that operating system as well, but it was impossible for Apple and Microsoft to know the importance of this technology and the internet was still starting to become popular and even desktops still had to evolve a lot. Jake was not concerned with the Android operating system because he intended to share that technology with the Google company that Jake was a partner of and who in his past life created the Android operating system. In addition, Jake still had the track and field and after the holidays he would return to play basketball next NBA season, so Jake would remain busy for the rest of the year, so Jake knew he had to take advantage of all the rest days he had. After a few hours Jake drove his car to drive around Los Angeles for a while driving his car, Jake left alone this time because he wanted to enjoy the day driving the McLaren F1 he had. Whenever Jake left the house to walk with his mother, he had to use his other car because only the McLaren F1 was a car that had passenger seats, it was a sports car that was comfortable only for the driver. That was why Jake never took his mother and Kate for a ride with him in that car, so Jake wanted to enjoy that he had a day to relax and went to drive this car that was very fast and that''s why Jake liked it so much. The truth was that after being hit twice in his past life, Jake never thought he could continue liking cars, fortunately having the system in Jake''s mind was much stronger and those past traumas no longer affected him, unfortunately in this life, he could still have other traumas if he were careless. After walking his car for a few hours Jake went back to his house and called Eva to watch some movies, so Jake really enjoyed his rest day and went to sleep early to be prepared for the important game he would have the next day. The other day after a few hours Jake went to the Great Western Forum where the next game would be, Jake remembered that in his past life the Los Angeles Lakers team had played their last game at the Great Western Forum after all the Lakers team was eliminated after 4 games for the San Antonio Spurs team at that stage. Fortunately in this life the Los Angeles Lakers team was close to qualifying for the next phase playing at home and would still have a few more games at the Great Western Forum, Jake thought this was important since next season the Los Angeles Lakers team would start playing at the Staples Center. Jake was happy to have the opportunity to play at the Great Western Forum last season that the Los Angeles Lakers team would play, just as Jake was also happy to play a season with coach Dean Smith while playing on the Tar Heels team. Jake can see that the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team would fill the Great Western Forum to follow that game in which the Los Angeles Lakers team could advance to the next stage in the playoffs. The crowd counted on Jake and the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team to win this game and advance to the next stage, of course, what the fans wanted most was for the Lakers team to advance to the NBA Finals this season and win the NBA title. Jake entered the locker room and after a while, he went out onto the court with the other players on the Los Angeles Lakers team, before that game Coach Rambis did not make a speech again and just told the players to use the same strategy as the last game and win that game. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game this NBA season, this is the fifth game between the Los Angeles Lakers team facing the Portland Trail Blazers and this could be the last game of that phase." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has 3 wins after winning an important game playing as a visitor, the Portland Trail Blazers team has only 1 victory and has to win that game if they want to have a chance to advance to the next phase of the playoffs." "That''s why the Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win that game at home and advanced to the next phase of the playoffs, in the last game the Lakers team changed their strategy, and Shaquille O''Neal, Rick Fox, and Dennis Rodman had a great performance." "In addition, Jake Smith has been having an excellent performance in these playoffs and made 5 triple-double in a row and was the best player of the Los Angeles Lakers team in all the games of these playoffs, Jake has been showing that he does not shirk responsibility and continues to lead the team Los Angeles Lakers to achieve more victories." "We will follow in this game if the Los Angeles Lakers team can win the fourth game and advance to the next stage, or if the Portland Trail Blazers team can win that game to try a historic turnaround." Just as commentators said the Los Angeles Lakers team was the favorite to win this game, Jake was performing well in all games, and in this game, he wanted to stand out again in the attack to help the Lakers team win. Jake thought about doing this and the other players also knew that this could be the best for the Los Angeles Lakers team, but it seems that the Portland Trail Blazers players also hoped that Jake would try to do this. In that game the Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The Portland Trail Blazers team would start the game with Damon Stoudamire playing as PG, Isaiah Rider playing as SG, Brian Grant playing as SF, Rasheed Wallace playing as PF, and Arvydas Sabonis playing as Center. Portland Trail Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy analyzed the last game well and realized that the main part of the Los Angeles Lakers team''s strategy for them to win was Jake''s 20 points in the first quarter. As soon as from the beginning of the game he decided to do a double-team defense strategy against Jake again, but different from what happened in the last game, who would be without defense would be Dennis Rodman, who was the player in the Los Angeles Lakers team that scored fewer points. in games. So Damon Stoudamire and Brian Grant would defend against Jake and Rasheed Wallace would defend against Rick Fox and thus Dennis would normally be free in the attacking plays of the Los Angeles Lakers team, of course, Coach Dunleavy knew that Dennis would also make some points by playing free, but even so, he thought it was better than letting Jake attack. So Jake cannot do as in the last game and start pressing on the attack and making several three-point shots, moreover, in this game of just having 2 players defending against him, Rick and Kobe were not free to attack and it would be more difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team attack. So in this game, Jake could only attack normally and had to find some chances to try to shoot three points, for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win Jake had to count on his teammates. Jake advanced with the ball and when he got close to the three-point line Stoudamire and Grant came to defend against him, so Jake decided to pass the ball to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball and Wallace came pressing on the defense. Rick performed well in the last game and helped the Los Angeles Lakers team win that important game, but he knew that if he had someone defending against him it wouldn''t be so easy for him to score so many points. So Rick wanted to wait to see in the plays if he could get better opportunities to score, Rick passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Isaiah Rider came in to press the defense. Kobe made the low dribble and protected the ball for Rider not to try the steal, Kobe waited a bit and tried to jab step and Rider didn''t react, so he took advantage of that Rider didn''t react to advance to the inside area using his speed. Rider realized he was tricked and tried to keep defending, Kobe used his speed and drive to the basket to try a layup and make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe managed to make a few more points in another individual play. Kobe had not performed very well in the last game even though he had still helped the Los Angeles Lakers team by making several points, in that game Kobe wanted to be one of the highlights of the Lakers team as Jake was being heavily scored. Chapter 568 - West Conference Semifinals 8 After a few minutes of the first quarter has passed, Jake can see that in this game Kobe and Shaq were performing well, so he could be more relaxed and focus on assists and tentative three-point shots in some moves. Even though the Portland Trail Blazers team was making a double-team defense on Jake, the Los Angeles Lakers team''s strategy of pushing forward in the first quarter and second quarter continued. The Los Angeles Lakers team had the best attack of the season and with Jake drawing the attention of the Portland Trail Blazers defense it was easier for Rick, Kobe, and Shaq to attack, in addition, Dennis seemed to be performing well in that game too and was helping with some offensive and defensive rebounds. So in this game with all the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team having a good performance, it was difficult for the players of the Portland Trail Blazers team to defend the attack of the Lakers team. Jake knew this and concentrated on continuing to assist, if the Portland Trail Blazers team continued to do this double-team strategy they would not be able to stop the Los Angeles Lakers team from scoring a lot and opening up a big point advantage. If the Portland Trail Blazers team stopped making this double-team defense on Jake, he would start attacking as he was supposed to do at the start of the game and would make lots of three-point shots to make as many points as he could. The Portland Trail Blazers team was also trying to put pressure on the attack so as not to let the Los Angeles Lakers team increase the advantage in points, but the Lakers team was defending well in this game with Dennis taking several defensive rebounds and Jake helping with the steal defense and pressing on defense. With the support of the fans, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team really looked like they wanted to win this game to advance to the next stage, after all the San Antonio Spurs team and the Utah Jazz team also had to play the fifth game and they would still have to play another game to advance to the next stage. The Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack in another play, Stoudamire advanced the ball and passed it to Ryder on the left, Ryder received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense, Ryder held the ball and passed it to Wallace ahead. Wallace received the ball and Dennis came pressing on the defense, Wallace advanced using his strength and Dennis was unable to stop Wallace, so Wallace advanced and tried a hook shot to make 2 more points for the Portland Trail Blazers. Soon the first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a good point advantage, only Jake being well defended with the Portland Trail Blazers making a double-team defense against him, the Lakers team still managed to do the same as in the last game. Jake played for 12 minutes and made 6 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals, Jake still managed to hit 2 shots from three points and made many more assists in that first quarter, if the Portland Trail Blazers team continued to make this double defense. -team against him the Los Angeles Lakers team would still be able to increase the points advantage in the second quarter. "The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team is achieving victory with a good advantage in points, with the advantage of being playing at home the Lakers team is dominating this game even with the Portland Trail Blazers making a double- team in Jake Smith who was the best player on the Lakers team in the previous game." "It''s true, coach Mike Dunleavy tried to use this strategy of making a double-team defense against Jake Smith because Jake did very well in the last game and scored 20 points in the first quarter only and was very important in the defense too." "Furthermore, coach Dunleavy knew that he would have to stop Jake from scoring a lot if he wanted to prevent the Los Angeles Lakers team from making a big point advantage early in the game." "Unfortunately for the Portland Trail Blazers team, all the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team seem to be performing well in this game, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal seem to be doing really well in attack and Dennis Rodman is getting a lot of offensive and defensive rebounds." "Even with the Portland Trail Blazers double-team defense, Jake still managed to help a lot with assists and making 6 points and Rick Fox is also very good in attack." "What it looks like in this game is that the players on the Portland Trail Blazers team are not performing as well as in the last games, so it will be difficult for the Portland Trail Blazers team to win." Just as commentators said the Portland Trail Blazers team players were not performing well in that game, it seemed that the defeat in the last game, the fatigue, and the pressure of having to win was affecting the Portland Trail Blazers players. The Los Angeles Lakers team players also realized this and were happy with the advantage of the good points they got in the first quarter, so they knew they had to keep pushing in the attack in the second quarter. Coach Dunleavy knew this was going to be a difficult game for the Portland Trail Blazers team to win, yet he knew he couldn''t change the strategy and would continue to leave Stoudamire and Grant to defend in double-team against Jake, after all even if Wallace returned to defend against Dennis who didn''t score in that first quarter would be worse for the Portland Trail Blazers. The second quarter started with the Los Angeles Lakers team putting a lot of pressure on the attack trying to increase the points advantage, even more, the Portland Trail Blazers team was trying to put even more pressure on the defense and attack to try to diminish the points advantage that the Lakers team had. Jake advanced with the ball and soon Stoudamire and Grant came to defend against him, Jake did not continue to advance and passed the ball to Kobe on the right, Kobe held the ball a little and passed it to Rick on the left. Rick received the ball and Wallace continued to press in defense, Rick tried to trick Wallace with a feint, but Wallace was not fooled and continued in defense, so Rick decided to pass the ball to Jake further back. Jake received the ball and Stoudamire and Grant were in defense, Jake waited for a little and made a high pass to Shaq who jump and took the ball high and made a dunk to complete the alley-oop and make 2 more points for the Los team Angeles Lakers. The fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team were more excited about this beautiful play by Jake and Shaq, even with the Portland Trail Blazers team making a double-team defense against Jake it was impossible to prevent him from making assists, especially with Shaq and Kobe having a great performance in that game. In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack, Stoudamire advanced the ball and passed it to Grant on the right, Grant received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Rider on the left. Rider received the ball and Kobe came pressing in defense, in this game the Portland Trail Blazers players were not performing well in the last games, even so, Rider and Wallace were performing well and even with Kobe and Dennis struggling to defend they still managed to make many points. Rider made a feint and pretended that he would advance from the left and advanced to the attack from the right, Kobe was deceived, but still managed to continue in defense, so Rider made another feint pretending that he would advance and did a step back. Rider stepped back and was getting ready to attempt a mid-range shot, but as soon as he stepped back, Jake came in and made a steal by taking his ball and moving forward, Rider didn''t see Jake and didn''t have time to react. Stoudamire saw Jake doing the steal and went back to defense to prevent Jake from making the points on the counterattack, Grant also tried to go back to defense, but Jake was faster and Grant was unable to keep up with Jake''s speed. Jake continued to advance and near the three-point line Stoudamire tried to prevent Jake from continuing to advance or Jake would pass him using his speed, Jake realized this and did a quick crossover and advanced on the right. Stoudamire was tricked, but still managed to recover and continue in defense, Jake jab stepped from the left and Stoudamire did not react so Jake advanced from the left, Stoudamire realized he was tricked and tried to make a foul on Jake to prevent him from making the points. Jake noticed this and did a step back and Stoudamire ended up unbalanced and fell to the ground, Jake saw this and just advanced and dunk to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. The crowd was excited by this beautiful move by Jake and Stoudamire was embarrassed by this ankle break play, Jake was also happy because this was the first steal he made that he managed to make the points on the counterattack. In the second quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team continued to try to press in the attack to decrease the points advantage, but the Los Angeles Lakers team''s points advantage increased even more with Shaq and Kobe having a great attack performance. Even in plays where Kobe and Rick missed some attacks Dennis still managed to catch the offensive rebound and this helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to further increase the points advantage. So the second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a big advantage in points, this advantage was greater than the advantage that the Lakers team had in the previous game in which Jake scored 20 points in the first quarter, after all in that game the Portland Trail Blazers team players were not performing as well in attack. Coach Dunleavy realized that it would be almost impossible for the Portland Trail Blazers team to achieve victory in that game by playing as a visitor, even if they did the foul strategy, so Coach Dunleavy told the team members of the Portland Trail Blazers not to make fouls in the past. quarter and try to win by playing the best they could. Chapter 569 - West Conference Semifinals 9 So in the third quarter, the game continued with both teams pressing in the attack and soon Coach Rambis and the Los Angeles Lakers team players realized that the Portland Trail Blazers team would not use the strategy of making fouls in that game. This meant that the Portland Trail Blazers team knew they could not win this game and would try to play normally, it left the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team more relaxed, yet they would continue to perform as best they could to ensure that victory. The Portland Trail Blazers team continued to make a double-team defense strategy against Jake, even though they realized that it would not help them win the game, at least they would prevent Jake from scoring as many points as in the last games. The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team only maintaining the advantage in points, in the last quarter the game continued with both teams in attack and pressing in defense as well. This was the kind of game that basketball fans who were watching at the Great Western Forum and also watching on television would most like to see, it was what they expected from a playoff game. The game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team achieving the victory making 111 points against 82 points of the Portland Trail Blazers team, it was a victory with a great advantage in points of the Lakers team, but those who watched the game knew it was a balanced game. In that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 28 points, 17 assists, 8 rebounds, and 10 steals, even with the Portland Trail Blazers team making a double-team defense strategy against Jake, he still managed to score 28 points and do more a triple-double. Even so Jake managed to make 17 assists in that game that was the game with the most assists since he started playing in the NBA, of course, although Jake was very happy to make 17 assists he knew it was nowhere near the record, John Stockton and Magic Johnson are tied for the most assists in a playoff game, with 24 assists. "The game is over and the Los Angeles Lakers team wins the game with a big difference in points, the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to win 4 games and now they will advance to the next phase of the playoffs and the Portland Trail Blazers team was eliminated with just 1 victory." "The Los Angeles Lakers team has managed to advance to the West Conference Semifinals and will face the opponent who wins the first 4 games that can be the San Antonio Spurs team or the Utah Jazz team." "That''s right, in that game the Los Angeles Lakers team won with an excellent performance from all players, Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant were the most important players in the attack, Shaq had 29 points and Kobe had 27 points." "Rick Fox also helped a lot in the attack and Dennis Rodman had an excellent performance catching 15 rebounds in that game and helping the Los Angeles Lakers team in attack and defense." "The Portland Trail Blazers team tried to use a double-team defense strategy against Jake Smith, it worked because Jake scored 28 points and it was the first time in the playoffs that Jake scored less than 32 points." "Unfortunately in this game, the Portland Trail Blazers players were not so good in attack and Jake still managed to make 17 assists in that game and managed to help in defense by taking 8 rebounds and doing 10 steals thus making another triple-double in those playoffs." "Now let''s see if the Los Angeles Lakers team that is a favorite to win the NBA title this season can advance to the NBA Finals." All the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team and coach Rambis were very happy with this victory and the crowd was also celebrating the progress to the next phase, Eva who was watching the game was also watching Jake''s team winning. Jake was even happier with this victory because he knew that in his past life the Los Angeles Lakers team had been eliminated at that stage, now it seemed that it was more possible for the Los Angeles Lakers team to advance to the NBA Finals and win the NBA title this season. After the game ended the reporters wanted to try an interview with the Los Angeles Lakers team players, Rick and Kobe did not want to give the interview, so only Shaq, Dennis, and Jake stayed to be interviewed. "Shaq, in these last games you have been one of the highlights of your team in the attack, even with the opponent''s strategy that made the opponents make more faults on you, you still managed to be one of the highlights with Jake." "Do you think the Los Angeles Lakers are better this season and are more likely to win the NBA title?" "Yes, the last games were the most difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team, this strategy of the Portland Trail Blazers team gave me more opportunities to score more points in free throws as well." "Fortunately, I was still able to make a lot of points even with the Portland Trail Blazers team making this strategy, and Jake attracted the attention of the defense and made a lot of assists for me which helped a lot for our team to win." "Just like I said before I think that with the entry of Jake and the entry of Dennis our team is more prepared to try to win the NBA title, we have to win the next stage and win in the NBA Finals to show that we have the best team." Shaq had a lot of difficulties in those last games, especially because when the Portland Trail Blazers team started this strategy of making fouls, Coach Rambis even took him off the team because he knew Shaq would miss more free-throw. That was why this strategy was known as Hack-a-Shaq because it was more effective against players like Shaq who had a low hit percentage in free throws, but with the change in the Los Angeles team''s strategy Lakers, Shaq was one of the most successful players. important in these last victories. Reporters asked Shaq a few more questions and after they went to Dennis interviews, Dennis was happy to be again one of the most important players on a team who had a chance of winning the NBA title. "Dennis, you have been one of the most important players in the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team, and the rebounds you get help both in defense and in the attack, as you feel being on a team that can win the NBA title after leaving a team that is often champion like the Chicago Bulls team?" "It''s good to know that I''m on a good team again, I was lucky to have played on the Detroit Pistons team and won the NBA title twice and also to play on the Chicago Bulls team and win the NBA title 3 times." "Now I feel that the Los Angeles Lakers team has the opportunity to win the NBA title this season, of course, that is also my merit in helping the teams I play to win the games in the playoffs and have the chance to win so many NBA titles." What Dennis said was true, it was his merit to have won 5 NBA titles on 2 two different teams, this season, if the Los Angeles Lakers team could win it, would be because Dennis was on the team helping with an average of more than 10 rebounds per game. Of course, Dennis had no way of knowing that because of his off-court behavior, Coach Rambis and the Los Angeles Lakers team board thought of expelling him from the team, and that''s what happened in Jake''s past life. Just because Jake showed up and also missed some training and always said that Dennis was very important to the team that the Los Angeles Lakers team director stopped thinking about expelling Dennis from the team and it seems like that was the right decision. After the reporters interviewed Dennis and Shaq they went to Jake''s interviews, Jake was happy with the victory and was hoping that the interviews would be over soon for him to return home with his mother and talk with Eva. "Jake, congratulations on qualifying for the next phase of the Los Angeles Lakers team, today was one of the toughest games for you this season because of that double-team defense strategy that the Portland Trail Blazers did against you?" "This was certainly one of the most difficult games for me this season, the Portland Trail Blazers team use a lot of strategies in these last games to try to win against our team and they won 1 game and the last games were very difficult for our team." "Fortunately, even though I couldn''t score as many points as in the last game, our team still won with the good performance of Kobe, Shaq, and my teammates." "The next opponent of the Los Angeles Lakers team has not yet been defined, do you have any opponents that you wanted to face in the next round?" "No, I wanted the opposing team to just advance to the next stage after playing 7 games and that way we would have more advantages, but whatever our next opponent, we will try our best to win the 4 games and advance to the NBA Finals." Jake answered two questions and left the court, he said goodbye to his teammates and went to meet his mother so they could go home, Eva praised Jake for the good game and she was happy with his victory. Jake came home with Eva and soon overheard her saying she wanted to go back to Miami to see how the restaurant was doing, Eva had heard from other fans that the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team would be only after a few days and so she decided to go to Miami. Jake wanted his mother to stay with him for the next few days, but he knew he shouldn''t be selfish, after all, Eva was just watching his games and was far from the restaurant that she liked so much to support Jake. "Okay, mom, you can fly to Miami by helicopter, the next game should be on the 29th, so if you can get back to Los Angeles on the 28th it would be better." "Okay, Jake, I''m staying in Miami for the next 3 days, and then I''ll be back on the 28th." Chapter 570 - West Conference Semifinals 10 So Eva went right after arriving home to Miami, Eva wants to sleep in Miami that day and the next day goes to the restaurant very early to see how Anna was doing, so Jake went to sleep to rest after the tiring game. The other day Jake woke up very early and then called his mother to see if she had arrived well in Miami, Eva said that she had arrived well in Miami and would go to the restaurant as soon as she ended that call. So Jake relaxed and went to eat his breakfast, that day he and the other players had a day of rest after winning the last game, Coach Rambis was very concerned that the players were very tired and could be injured in these playoff games. If Jake, Shaq, or Kobe got hurt it would be almost impossible for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win the NBA title this season, that was the goal of Coach Rambis, the team''s board, and all the players. On the next day, they would have a training day and then they could rest on the 28th too, Coach Rambis said that if the game between the San Antonio Spurs team and the Utah Jazz team still had the seventh game the players could rest 2 more days. Jake did not expect the game between these teams to have a seventh game, in fact he did not even expect these teams to have a sixth game, after all, Jake thought that the San Antonio Spurs team would easily win the 4 games. Of course Jake knew how the Utah Jazz team was a great team and was a tough opponent for the season, but as the Utah Jazz team had lost to the Portland Trail Blazers team and the Portland Trail Blazers team lost to the San Antonio Spurs team in just 4 games Jake thought the San Antonio Spurs team would advance by winning all 4 games easily. Of course, it was better for the Los Angeles Lakers team that had to play 5 games that the opposing team in the next phase would play 6 games, so it was expected that the players of the opposing team would be more tired and so the Los Angeles Lakers team that would play the First 2 games in Los Angeles would have even more advantage. After a few hours Jake got a call from Kate, he didn''t call her because he knew she would be busy that day, but it looked like Kate had taken some time off to talk to Jake. "Hi Jake, congratulations on your team''s victory and for advancing to the next stage of the playoffs." "Thank you, I was very happy with this victory and because our team qualified for the next phase of the playoffs, even though our team has won 4 games and we only had 1 loss, all games were very difficult and the Portland Trail Blazers team it was a tough opponent." "I think the next opponent will be even more difficult to defeat, but I am confident that our team can win reaching the NBA Finals and win the NBA title." Jake hoped that the San Antonio Spurs team would be the opponent in the next phase of the playoffs, so the next games would be the most difficult of the season, this season the Los Angeles Lakers team won 2 times against the San Antonio Spurs team and lost only 1 game. But at the beginning of this season, the San Antonio Spurs team was not performing well and it was at the beginning of the season that the Los Angeles Lakers team won the first 2 games, in the last game that was at the end of the season the San Antonio Spurs team won. The Sun Antonio Spurs team lost only 3 games in the last 20 games and lost 8 games in the first 20 games, that showed the difference in the team''s performance, so Jake was concerned about the next games and was surprised that the Utah Jazz team was able to force a sixth game in the dispute against the San Antonio Spurs team. "I also think that the Los Angeles Lakers team will win the NBA title, so you have to win against the next opponent so that I can watch your team''s games in the NBA Finals." Jake was also looking forward to seeing Kate again, even though he couldn''t speak to her, knowing that she would be watching the games would make him more confident to perform better and help the Los Angeles Lakers team win. After that Kate told Jake that she would probably be doing shows until September and then taking a few months off until Jake''s vacation was over, after that Kate would go to work until June and finally finish the tour that Lily and the record company had booked. Jake knew that Kate had made this concert schedule to have her vacation together with his vacation, Jake was very happy because it meant that Kate also thought a lot about their relationship and so she did it. After that Jake talked to Kate for a while and after finishing the call he thought he could rest for the rest of the day, but soon he got an unexpected call, it was William who was calling Jake to let him know that he and his other friends had come to Los Angeles. William, Zack, and Haruto came from the university to visit Jake in Los Angeles after they went on vacation at the university after finishing their third year, Haruto had just finished his fourth year and had graduated from university. Of course, Jake knew that his friends were on vacation and he also knew that Haruto had already finished his senior year at university, but he didn''t expect them to go to Los Angeles as soon as they went on vacation. After a while the car Jake rented picked up his friends at the airport and they arrived at Jake''s house, the three were very surprised to see Jake''s mansion, they knew that Jake had a lot of money, but they didn''t know that he had stayed so rich after leaving university for just 1 year. "What a beautiful house, Jake, if I had known that you had such a nice house, I would have come before to pay you a visit." "It''s nice to see you too, William, I didn''t expect you to come and visit me here on your vacation." "I also didn''t know that we would be visiting you anytime soon, but now the Los Angeles Lakers team arrived at the West Conference Finals in its first season, we had to come here and cheer for you." "Unfortunately Aaron cannot come with us because he has to train for the American Football team games, we know that you are going to be very busy after entering the NBA, so we decided to come here." "I see, how was this semester at the university for you?" "It was more difficult to pass the exams without your help, Jake, I didn''t know that my grades would drop so much, luckily I still managed to pass after studying more." "William is right, even though I didn''t study in the same classes as you, you still helped me a lot, and this semester it was much more difficult, Jake." "Hahaha, I said that I helped you a lot, but you still thought you were very smart and that I didn''t help you much, now you have seen the truth." "How''s your training going, Zack?" "It''s harder to train now that I don''t have you to train with me or Coach Davis who came to Los Angeles, but I still kept training every day, I think I managed to improve this past year and the next marathon we''re going to running together I will show you this improvement of mine." Jake was happy to see that Zack had continued his training even after he and Coach Davis left the university, Jake thought about asking Coach Davis to stay at the university to train Zack. After all Jake knew he wouldn''t do any running training until the end of the NBA season, but soon Jake gave up doing it because he knew that Coach Davis wanted to buy him a house to live with his family in Los Angeles that would be where Jake the next few years would pass. After all, Coach Davis lived with his family in a hotel for the 2 years that Jake remained at university, so Jake thought it best to let Coach Davis buy his house and stay on vacation in Los Angeles during those months that Jake would be playing in the NBA season. In addition, Jake wants to see if Zack would still continue to train even after he and Coach Davis left the university, after all in the future Coach Davis could not continue training Zack, so it was better than Zack got used to it. "I am happy to see that you continued training and that you still want to run in the marathons, this year I think about running again in the Chicago marathon, I cannot guarantee that this will really happen, but I would be happy if you ran with me." "Of course, Jake, I''m going to run in Chicago again and I''ll be able to run in a much shorter time than last year." "Zack, I think that after this Chicago marathon you should start running some marathons during the year without me, you have to be independent if you want to be an even better athlete, who knows you will become a marathoner in the future too." "I had thought about it before, I still don''t know if I want to be a professional marathoner in the future, but I''m sure that I love running and I want to continue training to stay healthy." "You don''t have to become a professional marathon runner if you don''t want to, you can have another profession and just run 1 or 2 marathons during the year if you can continue training and it doesn''t hinder your work you can still run the marathons." "I think you have the talent to be a professional marathon runner, in just 3 years you trained hard to be able to run a marathon in less than 3 hours, so in the future, you may be able to be in the top 10 in several marathons and maybe even win one marathon someday. " Chapter 571 - West Conference Finals 1 Jake really thought that Zack could be a professional athlete and maybe even win marathons someday, so Jake thought that Jake had to run other marathons to gain more experience on different marathons and on different routes. Of course, Jake thought that Zack knew that he could only win a marathon one day if Jake was not competing in the same marathon, otherwise it would be impossible for Zack to win him in a marathon. Jake''s goal in the marathons was no longer to win but to try to run in less than 2 hours, and Jake was very close to achieving that, of course, Jake still had to go back to training and he needed to gain more resistance stats and agility to be able to run the marathon in less than 2 hours. "How was your last semester at the university, Haruto?" "It was very good, I was looking forward to finally graduating from university and being able to start my life, now that I finished university I will be able to leave the house and I will be able to work with what I want." "This is good, as I already told you, I want you to come to work with me now that you have graduated from university, when your vacation is over I will ask Emily to talk to you, Emily is the person responsible for all my business and she will find something for you to do to gain experience." "Yes, as soon as my vacation is over I will talk to Emily, I will see with her what I will have to do at work, and then I will talk to my family before saying if I can accept the job, but I really want to work with you." When Jake became friends with Haruto he already thought about hiring him after Haruto graduated from university, after all, Jake needed more people to trust him to help him take care of his business. Jake was very lucky to have Emily to help him, Emily was nominated by Matthew and so Jake knew he could trust her, but after so many years Jake had a lot of business and had invested in many companies and Emily was no longer able to take care of everything on her own. So Jake thought Emily had to teach Haruto some things she knew and then she could share her responsibilities with Haruto, Emily still didn''t know about it, but Jake always thought about doing it. Jake didn''t know that Emily was already training some people she trusted, Emily thought about introducing these people to Jake in the future so that she would have people she trusted to help with her work. Even though Jake trusted Emily he wouldn''t trust anyone just because Emily recommended that person and Jake didn''t have time to look for talented people, so he was lucky to meet Haruto while he was at university. In fact, Jake also wanted to hire William to work with him, William wanted to work with the stock market, and Jake thought he could leave William working with Emily to take care of the stocks he invested. But William wanted to try to find a company in New York to work after he graduated from university and then William wanted to use the money he would earn to invest in stocks and in the future open his investment company. Jake didn''t know if William could make his dream come true, Jake knew that William only had that dream after seeing how the shares of many technology companies have risen many in the past few years and so many new millionaires have emerged, but Jake knew it would last only until 2000. After the bubble burst it would be much more difficult to find companies that would appreciate more than 100 percent in a few years, it was also difficult to find the right time to invest in these companies and some companies would also devalue and shareholders had to know the right time to sell. Jake himself would not risk himself in the stock market if he did not know what the future would be like, of course, Jake hoped that William would succeed as an investor and could fulfill his dream of opening his own investment company. But if William was unsuccessful for a few years, Jake thought about offering William a job again, so William could take care of Jake''s actions and Emily would have even more tranquility to work. William didn''t know that Jake had ever thought of that and in fact, neither he nor Jake''s other friends knew about the companies that Jake had and the investments he had and how much money Jake really had. Jake had worked hard to keep the media from discovering his true wealth, of course, all of this was possible because of Jake''s good fortune, but next year Jake knew that not even his luck would help him hide his wealth. Jake knew well that the people at Forbes magazine had tried to find out some information about him in recent years, but with Jake''s strategies of putting some companies on Emily''s and his mother''s behalf, they helped him not to stand out too much. The next year when Jake was going to sell the shares of the Cisco company, he would pass all of his investments and companies to his name so that everyone would know what his real financial assets were. Jake knew that Haruto wanted to work with him, but the truth was that Jake hadn''t told Haruto much about the investments and companies he had, so Haruto would have to find out when he went to talk to Emily. Furthermore, even though Haruto had no chance of taking the job that his father had, Haruto still had to talk to his father before saying that he did not want to work at the factory and that he wanted to work with Jake. "Okay, I''m sure you will enjoy the job and that your father will allow you to work with me, next year you will have to learn as much as you can from Emily, and only after that will you start working hard." After that, Jake talked to his university friends about various things that had happened at the university after Jake left, and Jake also told us a few things about the NBA and talked about some players he met. Jake spent the whole afternoon talking with his friends and he convinced them to stay at his house while they were in Los Angeles, after all, Jake had a very large house with many rooms that was not used by anyone. "Are you guys interested in watching every game on the Los Angeles Lakers team that I''m going to play?" "Yes, but we decided that we are just going to watch the games here in Los Angeles, we want to take the opportunity to visit the city and we don''t want to worry about getting plane tickets and booking rooms at various hotels to follow their games in other cities." "This is not a problem, my mom is staying here at home while the playoffs continue, so I rented a helicopter for her and booked a hotel room in all the cities that I will play when the Los Angeles Lakers team is visiting." "So you can go with her on the helicopter to keep her company and I can book more hotel rooms for you." William and the others were surprised to learn that Jake had rented a helicopter so that his mother could watch the Los Angeles Lakers team games in other cities, yet they still didn''t want to go because they thought they were taking advantage of Jake''s friendship if they did that. "Even so, we won''t be going, like I said, we''re going to stay here in Los Angeles and enjoy the city for a bit in the coming weeks. If you want us to stay here in Los Angeles for longer, you should make it to the NBA Finals so we can watch more. games of the Los Angeles Lakers team." Jake no longer insisted on inviting his friends and was happy because his friends had come to Los Angeles to support him, Joseph had also called Jake saying that if the Los Angeles Lakers team made it to the NBA Finals he would go to Los Angeles to watch to the games and cheer for Jake. Jake didn''t know if his other friends would have time to go to Los Angeles just like Joseph, but he understood if they couldn''t, after all, it would be at least 4 games and could even be 7 games if the opponent was too difficult. Jake talked to Matthew who was very busy and Matthew said that neither he nor Oliver could go to watch his games in those playoffs, Matthew also said that he talked to Clara and Tiffany and the two were busy with their companies. Even after the two companies stopped sponsoring Jake, customers who tried their products at the time their companies sponsored Jake still bought the products, so Clara and Tiffany earned more money to improve the companies'' products and production capacity. From what Jake talked to Clara, she intended after investing more in the company and improving the production line the company would start investing more in advertising to get more customers, of course, the amount that Clara and Tiffany''s companies could invest was much more than it was in the past. Jake can have a lot of fun with his friends and then he can sleep well, the next day Jake left his friends alone so they could visit more Los Angeles and Jake went to train with the Los Angeles Lakers team. The players were still tired after those 5 games against the Portland Trail Blazers team, yet they knew they still had another 2 days to rest before the next game, Coach Rambis also knew that and did an intense training even though the players were tired. Today the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team would know who the next opponent would be or would have to wait until the next game if the Utah Jazz team won, so Coach Rambis knew that the players had to train more intensively. Jake thought the next opponent would be the San Antonio Spurs team, fortunately, Jake knew that no player on the Los Angeles Lakers team underestimated the San Antonio Spurs team because they knew how the San Antonio Spurs team improved and was the second-best team of the season. Chapter 572 - West Conference Finals 2 Coach Rambis was concerned that if the San Antonio Spurs team were the opponent team in the next game it would be a tough opponent, after all, Tim Duncan and David Robinson were excellent players and were having a great performance this season and in those playoffs. So coach Rambis was concerned that Shaq and Dennis would have a hard time defending against the best-attacking players on the San Antonio Spurs team, in addition, Shaq would have a harder time attacking in the next games. Coach Rambis was also concerned that the San Antonio Spurs team would also make the Hack-a-Shaq strategy of making many fouls to prevent the Los Angeles Lakers team from scoring more points with Shaq and Jake. So, coach Rambis decided to do more intense training for the players, in the next games the Los Angeles Lakers team would continue with the strategy of attacking intensely in the first two quarters to prevent the opponent from using the Hack-a-Shaq strategy. Of course, that would only work if the Los Angeles Lakers team could score a lot and open up a big point advantage, but luckily with Jake, Kobe, and Shaq in the attack, this was not difficult to do even playing against the San Antonio Spurs team that was a strong team in defense. The training ended with the tired players, the next day Coach Rambis had given the Los Angeles Lakers team another day of rest so they could rest for the next game. Jake came home and talked with his friends until later, Jake stayed awake because he had to know if the San Antonio Spurs team would win the sixth game against the Utah Jazz team and advance to the next stage. Just as Jake hoped the San Antonio Spurs team was playing better in that sixth game, in the other games that the San Antonio Spurs team lost it was because some players did not perform well and also because of John Stockton and Karl Malone who had a great time performing. Karl Malone was not performing as well as was expected in those playoffs, if he played so well maybe the Utah Jazz team would have already won all 4 games and advanced to the next stage. In that game Tim Duncan and David Robinson were the highlights of the San Antonio Spurs team, both were well offensive and on defense and defended well against Karl Malone and thus prevented the Utah Jazz team from attacking. The game ended with the San Antonio Spurs team achieving victory and advancing to the next stage with 4 victories, so the next game would be between the San Antonio Spurs team against the Los Angeles Lakers team on May 29th. So Jake knew that the next game would be in 2 days, he and the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team could rest the next day to be ready for the game that would be on the 29th and they had to get the victory in the first game in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Lakers team was the favorite to win because the players would be more rested and because the Los Angeles Lakers team played better all season, Jake hoped that the Lakers team would win that game and advance to the NBA Finals and so they would have the opportunity to win the NBA title. William and the others watched the San Antonio Spurs team play with Jake and then said everyone went to sleep, the other day Jake woke up early and he left with William and the others because Jake was going to show some things from Los Angeles to his friends. It had been a long time since Jake had gone out to have fun with his friends and so he took the opportunity to go to some places he couldn''t go with his mother and other things that William and the others wanted to do. Jake took William and his friends first to do a go-kart race, when Jake asked if William and the others wanted to, everyone agreed that it would be cool to do a go to a kart race. Jake was very fond of watching races and always wanted to go to a kart racing with his friends, but in his past life, he didn''t have the opportunity to do that when he was younger, much less after the accident. Fortunately, all his friends also liked to watch races and they liked cars, so they also wanted to know what a kart race was like, Jake knew a place he could go with William and the others even without booking anything before. As it was the first time for Jake and his friends, a kart instructor taught them how they could run, so they went running together with other people who went several times to go-karting, they did a race with several laps and Jake stayed among the first 3 even competing with several people who had a lot of experience. William and the others were in the last positions and they were happy to see that Jake had done well in the race, Jake was not so surprised because he had more dexterity and thought faster than the others because of his agility statistics. Even so, they had a lot of fun in the kart race, and afterward Jake took his friends to visit the Warner Bros. studios, this was something that not even Jake had done and so he had fun too. Jake preferred to visit Warner Studios after the Harry Potter films were released, but he still enjoyed the tour and knew he could return to visit London in the future, after which Jake took his friends to visit the stars on the walk of fame. Walking the walk of fame was not as fun as many imagined, but doing things together with friends always made things more fun, after they walked the walk of fame William started talking to Jake about his career as an actor. "Jake, we saw the movie The Matrix that you acted in, we were really surprised because you looked like someone else playing that Jev character." "It''s true, I also thought that you performed as well as the other actors, we didn''t know that you knew how to fight so well." "I''m happy to know that you liked it, I was very nervous because I thought I wouldn''t be able to play the character Jev as well, I don''t fight as well as you think, it was just choreographed fight scenes, the merit was Yuen Woo-ping who taught me and the other actors and also choreographed the fight scenes." Jake was being sincere saying that he didn''t fight as well as he looked in the movies, but the truth was that he learned how to fight really to be able to do those choreographed fight scenes, so he could with his strength and agility fight very well even with people trained. William and the others also thought that Jake was just being modest in saying that, they also knew that several film critics praised Jake''s performance in this film and they expected him to continue acting. "Jake, are you going to make more films in the next few years?" "I don''t know, I want to make more films, but with the NBA games and the other things I have to do, it''s hard to find a film that I can participate in because I have little free time to participate in the filming." Jake was only sure that he would be invited to participate in the sequences of the film The Matrix, his character had gained importance in the story and the audience very much liked to see Jake playing this character. The Matrix had been a huge success and raised a lot of money, the film was still going to be in the cinema for a few more months and the film was very popular, Jake thought that the Wachowskis brothers thought he was responsible for the success of the film. That was easy to understand, after all, one of the things the audience liked the most in the film was the fight scenes and Jake was the best in the fight scenes and in the next films he would be even more important, so Jake thought that maybe the Wachowskis brothers would try to schedule filming for the next movie when Jake could participate. Of course, Jake knew that it was possible for the Wachowskis brothers to decide to invite another actor to play the character of Jev because they knew that Jake would be busy, but neither Warner Bros nor the public would like this change. After visiting the city Jake went to a restaurant with his friends and they were able to eat a good meal before returning to Jake''s house, Jake took advantage of that day to go out with his friends because he wouldn''t have much time to do it in future with William, Haruto, and Zack. Even though his friends would be staying in Los Angeles at his place until the end of this season, Jake would be busy training and playing and would not have much time to hang out with his friends, after a few hours Eva arrived in Los Angeles too. Eva had gone to Miami to stay at the restaurant for the past few days to help Anna and Jake knew she would be back on the 28th which was the day before the next game, Eva would do that because Jake had already warned her that by the end of the playoffs she would have no way back to Miami. If the Los Angeles Lakers team won 4 games against the San Antonio Spurs team and advanced to the NBA Finals then Eva would not have time to return to Miami, and if the Los Angeles Lakers team lost in that playoff phase then Eva would return to Miami and Jake I could go back with her. "Hi mom, how''s Anna and the restaurant?" "It''s okay, Anna has a lot more experience than me and all I learned was she who taught me, luckily the restaurant is already full of reservations for the next month." "Anna is also fine and just more tired because of the restaurant, Anna said to tell you that she is rooting for you and is following the results of the Los Angeles Lakers team games." Chapter 573 - West Conference Finals 3 Jake was happy to know that he was not disturbing his mother and Anna too much, he had the idea of ??calling Anna to help Eva with the restaurant, so Anna was no longer alone and Eva had gotten a great friend and a trusted advisor. "I''m happy to know that Anna is rooting for me, I know how tiring looking after the restaurant can be, it''s a shame that she can''t watch my games in the playoffs, but I know how she wanted to be here." "Yes, Anna wanted to be here too to watch your games, Jake, who are your friends that I saw when I arrived?" "These are the friends I was lucky enough to make while I was at university, William and Zack were my roommates in the university dormitory, and Haruto is a friend I met at the university and he will be working with me next year." "William studied at the same course as me at the university and Zack also likes to run and trained with me and ran some marathons with me, you met them at the university, mom." Eva didn''t remember Jake''s friends because she only saw them a few times, that was normal because she didn''t have as good a memory as Jake''s memory, besides, Jake didn''t remember, but at the university, there were always a lot of people around him when he played on the Tar Heels team. Even though Jake had told her who his friends were, Eva met hundreds of people every month at her restaurant, so she couldn''t remember Jake''s friends, especially since she didn''t see them often. Eva chatted for a while with Jake''s friends and she was happy listening to William and the others just praising Jake, Eva was also happy that Jake had more friends with him than Joseph who was the only friend Jake talked to after finishing school. Jake was smart and even more after he became famous he had many people who approached him, but it was only after a few years that Eva would know who Jake''s real friends would be who would continue talking to him after they were away. Jake was more relaxed after going out with his friends and seeing his mom coming home, he felt good and went to sleep early to be ready for the important game the Los Angeles Lakers team would have the next day. The other day Jake woke up early and when he went to the kitchen he saw that Eva had prepared breakfast for him, Eva had to cook for Jake knowing that he would have an important game that day, so William and the others also woke up and ate breakfast together with Jake. "You''re really lucky, Jake, you told us that your mom owns a restaurant, but I didn''t know that she cooked so well even though she made breakfast." "I told you that my mother is also a chef, in the beginning, her restaurant gained fame by making breakfast for customers, there are many hotels near her restaurant and so the people who stayed in the hotels went to my mother''s restaurant to eat." William and the others were curious and Eva told them what breakfast was like in her restaurant and how it still is, after all, they kept making breakfast every day, of course, Eva said that there was also Anna and Julius who made the desserts and was responsible for the loaves. "Jake, are you ready for today''s game?" "Yes, I have to be, after all, the game is in a few hours." "I know that, what I wanted to know is whether you think the opponent is going to be easy or difficult to win?" "It will be a tough opponent, you also saw the sixth game of the San Antonio Spurs team against the Utah Jazz team, with the Twin Towers Tim Duncan and David Robinson the San Antonio Spurs team has a very strong defense and attack." "They had the third-best defense of the season and that is because in the first 20 games of the season they were not performing well and lost 8 games." Zack could understand what Jake was saying, he also thought that this would be an easier game because the Los Angeles Lakers team won 2 games out of the 3 games that the two teams faced, but hearing Jake says that he understood that it was more complicated than he thought. William and Haruto also understood more about basketball after becoming friends with Jake and could understand what Jake was saying, even so, they thought the Los Angeles Lakers team would win that game and that Jake would be the best in the game again. Eva thought the same thing as Jake''s friends, Jake couldn''t even understand how the teams he played won the most games, of course, that was because he always chose teams with great players to participate, but he became a starting player in these strong teams showed how skillful he was. Jake was prepared for the game and he was confident that the Los Angeles Lakers team would win, if the Lakers'' team performed well Jake was confident that they would win because they had the strongest team. Although the San Antonio Spurs team won the NBA title this season, they didn''t have the strongest team this season, what happened was that the other teams didn''t seem to try very hard in this reduced season and so the San Antonio Spurs team that had everyone the players having a good performance managed to win the NBA title. Jake thought that the Utah Jazz team and the Los Angeles Lakers team were stronger than the San Antonio Spurs team in his past life, now that he was also on the Los Angeles Lakers team the team was even stronger. Eva and Jake''s friends went before him to the Great Western Forum and Jake left shortly thereafter, Jake many fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team arriving and thought they would fill the Great Western Forum that day again. Jake went to the locker room and after a while, the players went to the court to start the game, Jake saw that his teammates were also excited about this game and if they were well the Los Angeles Lakers team would win. The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The San Antonio Spurs team would start the game with Avery Johnson playing as PG, Mario Elie playing as SG, Sean Elliott playing as SF, Tim Duncan playing as PF, and David Robinson playing as Center. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch another NBA playoff game, today is the first game between the Los Angeles Lakers team and the San Antonio Spurs team in this playoff phase, whoever wins 4 games in this phase will be the Western champions and will advance to the NBA Finals." "It is true, the next games will be the most important games of the season for both teams and I am sure we will see great games." "The Los Angeles Lakers team was the best team in the regular NBA season and so they will play the first 2 games at home and have the advantage in that game, the Los Angeles Lakers team has the best attack with Shaquille O''Neal, Kobe Bryant, and rookie Jake Smith." "The San Antonio Spurs team has been having a great game sequence and was one of the best teams in the second half of the regular season, with the Twin Towers Tim Duncan and David Robinson the San Antonio Spurs team has great chances of achieving victory in this game." "We will have to follow this game to know who will be the best team in that game and who will have the best chance of winning the 4 games in this West Conference Finals." Just as commentators said the two teams had a chance of winning that game, even so, Jake felt that the Los Angeles Lakers team had a better chance of winning because the players were more rested and because they had the best attack. The game started with the San Antonio Spurs team winning the first ball possession and going on the attack, the San Antonio Spurs players were excited and thought they had a great chance of winning this and the next games and advancing to the NBA Finals. After all, even though the San Antonio Spurs team had a hard time advancing to that stage and had to play 6 games against the Utah Jazz team, they thought they only had difficulty because they had games in which Karl Malone, John Stockton, and the other team players Utah Jazz had excellent performances when they won. But the players of the San Antonio Spurs team thought that if the opponent were the Portland Trail Blazers they would win much more easily, coach Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs team thought that if they could defend well against Shaquille O''Neal and not let the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team made plays in the painted area of ??the defense so that they could stop the attack of the opposing team. What coach Gregg Popovich realized was that the Los Angeles Lakers team depended on Shaq, Kobe and catching the rebounds to have a better chance of winning, and the San Antonio Spurs team had the ability to stop the Los Angeles Lakers team from achieving this. Of course, coach Gregg Popovich knew that the San Antonio Spurs team couldn''t do much to defend against Jake who was the best player on the Los Angeles Lakers team, but from what he realized Jake couldn''t bring victory to the Los Angeles Lakers team if Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant did not perform well either. Jake also knew that this was the weakness of the Los Angeles Lakers team, in fact, Jake knew that this season the San Antonio Spurs team would be the worst opponent that the Lakers team could face. Chapter 574 - West Conference Finals 4 If Jake wasn''t playing for the Los Angeles Lakers this season, the San Antonio Spurs team would be the favorite to win this game as it did in Jake''s past life, but with Jake on the team, it would be different. The Los Angeles Lakers team had a hard time winning against opponents if Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant were playing poorly when the opponents also had a good attack and even then the opponents had to have 1 great player or 2 players to defend against Jake. But in the San Antonio Spurs team''s strategy to defend they would have to focus on defending against Shaquille O''Neal and preventing opposing players from attacking in the painted area of ??their defense, so they planned to prevent Kobe and Shaq from making many points. With this strategy from the San Antonio Spurs team, they could not put more than one player to defend against Jake, so Jake would have more freedom to attack and was confident of making as many points as he could with three-point plays. The San Antonio Spurs team did not have one of the best attacks this season and so if Jake managed to score a lot in that game it could be important to guarantee victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team even if Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant could not make many points. Furthermore, Jake was confident that Shaq could still score many points even with David Robinson and Tim Duncan defending against him and Kobe could score many points even just trying mid-range shots without attacking in the opposing painted area. At the beginning of the game, the San Antonio Spurs team started well in the attack and pressed in defense as if they wanted to show that they were not afraid to attack at the opposing team''s home, this was what Coach Rambis expected and trained the Los Angeles Lakers to defend well from the beginning of the game. In one of the plays, Avery Johnson advanced the ball and passed it to Mario Elie on the left, Elie received the ball and Kobe Bryant arrived pressing the defense, Elie held the ball a little and passed it to Sean Elliott on the right. Elliott received the ball and Rick Fox came pressing on defense, Elliott tried to deceive the opponent with a feint, but Fox was not deceived and kept defending, so Elliott decided to pass the ball to David Robinson upfront. Robinson received the ball and Shaquille O''Neal arrived pressing in defense, Robinson received the ball with his back to the basket and turned away making a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the San Antonio Spurs team. From the start of the game as in most games, the San Antonio Spurs team relied on Robinson and Duncan to do most of the San Antonio Spurs team attacks, Shaq and Dennis Rodman were trying to defend, but Duncan and Robinson were performing very well in that game. Fortunately, even though the San Antonio Spurs team managed to score a lot, the Los Angeles Lakers'' attack was also very good and the Lakers team had the advantage since the beginning of the game. In another play Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Elie came pressing on the defense, Kobe tried to advance on the right with a feint, but Elie remained firm in defense. Kobe held the ball for a while and passed it to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Johnson came to defend, Jake was quick and tried a shot from outside and made 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. It was the second three-point ball that Jake hit in that game and so he already had 6 points, just as Jake hoped the Lakers team was still fine in the attack with Kobe and Rick making some mid-range shots and so the Los Angeles Lakers team had the advantage in points even without trying to make layups and dunks. Coach Rambis of the Los Angeles Lakers team had already prepared the players for a difficult game like this and if Jake, Kobe, and Rick were performing well, the Los Angeles Lakers team had great chances of winning the game. The first quarter continued with both teams attacking and defending well and the Los Angeles Lakers team continued with the points advantage thanks to the three-point attacks that Jake was able to make. Soon the first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team with a good advantage in points, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 12 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal, Jake made a good performance in the attack and was having difficulty in defense because the San Antonio Spurs team attacked more with Duncan and Robinson who attacked far from where Jake defended. "The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning with a good point advantage, the Lakers team seems to be taking advantage of the support of the fans playing at home and Jake Smith, Kobe Bryant, and Rick Fox had a good performance in that first quarter." "The San Antonio Spurs team also tried to press in attack and defense, but they scored fewer points than the Lakers team and made more mistakes in attack, in defense they managed to prevent the Lakers team from attacking with Shaquille O''Neal and Dennis Rodman." "It''s true, even though Tim Duncan and David Robinson are performing well, the San Antonio Spurs team did not get the advantage in the first quarter because of Jake Smith''s 3-point play in the first quarter." "If the game continues like this, the Los Angeles Lakers team''s point advantage will only increase, but I don''t think the San Antonio Spurs team can do anything to change that, they are doing very well to prevent the Lakers team''s attack from to count on Shaq who has been the second-best player in the Lakers team and who scores a lot of points in every game." Just as commentators said the San Antonio Spurs team was doing a good job of defending in that game, they managed to prevent Shaq from scoring too many points and also managed to prevent the Los Angeles Lakers team from getting too many rebounds in that game. The San Antonio Spurs team couldn''t change their defense just to defend against Jake, Kobe, and Rick and prevent them from trying outside shots and mid-range shots, so they could just keep playing like that and hope that Jake, Kobe and Rick miss more attacks in the rest of the game. The second quarter continued in the same manner as the first quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to attack with mid-range shots and Jake''s three-point shots and they continued to increase their points advantage. Even with the San Antonio Spurs team''s good defense Jake still managed to make some assists for Shaq who also scored some points, the Los Angeles Lakers team also sometimes managed to prevent Duncan and Robinson from making the points and thus the Lakers team''s point advantage it just increased. Jake knew that the Los Angeles Lakers team was getting a good lead on points because Kobe and Rick were performing very well in that game and were hitting a lot of mid-range shots, but it would be difficult to expect that to happen in every game. Even so Jake knew that the San Antonio Spurs team would not change the way of defending just because of this game, after all, if they gave Shaq more freedom to attack it would also be even more difficult for them to win the next games. Soon the second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with an even greater advantage in points, Jake and the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were more relaxed with this advantage in points and knew that they were more likely to win this game. The crowd that filled the Great Western Forum was also more excited to see the Los Angeles Lakers team winning, in the interval Jake could see where his mother and his friends were sitting and saw that they were happy to see the Lakers team winning the game. Jake was also happy to be performing well in that game and he was more confident knowing that Eva was watching the game, and Jake was more excited knowing that his friends could also see the Los Angeles Lakers team winning that game. The game continued and the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to win the game until the end of the last quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 106 points against 82 points for the San Antonio Spurs team. In this game, Jake played for 48 minutes and had 52 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds, and 6 steals, Jake double-double in that game and this was the game where Jake scored the most points in the NBA, this was also the game that Jake tried more three-point shots, Jake tried 21 three-point shots and that''s why he made so many points just missing 5 of the 21 three-point shots he tried. It was coach Kurt Rambis who told Jake that he would be very important in that game too and that he try as many three-point shots as possible whenever he got the chance, and the result was the best possible for the Los Angeles Lakers team. "The game ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team got the victory in that game with an advantage of more than 20 points, that was a great result for the Lakers team that won the first game at home and thus got the first victory and is closer to advance to the NBA Finals." "The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team had a great performance in that game and with Jake Smith having one of his best performances this season making 52 points, this was the second game of the season in which Jake scored more than 50 points and was the new record of Jake''s points in the NBA." "Kobe Bryant and Rick Fox also had a great performance in that game, Kobe had 22 points and Rick had 16 points, Shaquille O''Neal and Dennis Rodman who was well defended didn''t get many points in that game, but they also helped in defense and attract the attention of the San Antonio Spurs team''s defense." Chapter 575 - West Conference Finals 5 "In this game, the San Antonio Spurs team did well the strategy that coach Gregg Popovich prepared for the players, the San Antonio Spurs team lost because of the great performances of Jake, Kobe, and Rick from the Los Angeles Lakers team." "That''s right, I think Coach Gregg Popovich''s strategy may be the best strategy that the San Antonio Spurs team can use against the Los Angeles Lakers team, after all, they prevented Shaquille O''Neal who is one of the best players in the Lakers team score more than 10 points in that game." "If in the next games Kobe and Rick do not perform as well as in this game, I think the San Antonio Spurs team can win, but even this great strategy has a big flaw." "This failure is the best player of the Los Angeles Lakers team this season Jake Smith, in this game Jake had a lot of freedom to attack what he didn''t have in the last games, so in this game, he tried 21 shots from three points and hit 16 shots from three points and scored 52 points." "I think that no team can face the Los Angeles Lakers team without first trying to prevent Jake from being free to try to do so many three-point shots, the San Antonio Spurs team cannot expect Jake to perform poorly in the next games, if they keep doing it they can lose." Just as commentators have said, coach Gregg Popovich tried the best strategy the San Antonio Spurs team could do in this game which was to take advantage of the strong defense with Tim Duncan and David Robinson to prevent Shaquille O''Neal from scoring too many points. But that strategy would not work against the current Los Angeles Lakers team, coach Gregg Popovich had to find a way to prevent Jake from playing freely, otherwise, he could not prevent the Los Angeles Lakers team from having the advantage. Perhaps in games that Kobe and Rick were playing badly, the San Antonio Spurs team could still win the victory even if they didn''t defend against Jake, but that was something very difficult to happen and the San Antonio Spurs team could not depend on luck in this phase of the playoffs. After the game was over the reporters came to interview the Los Angeles Lakers team players and the San Antonio Spurs team players, the first person the reporters were able to interview was the San Antonio Spurs team coach Gregg Popovich. "Coach Popovich, in that first game between the San Antonio Spurs team and the Los Angeles Lakers team, their strategy of defending more against Shaquille O''Neal and in the paint area to prevent the Lakers team from making points for layups and dunks and catching rebounds. it didn''t work out well, do you think about changing your strategy for the next game?" "I do not agree that our strategy in this game did not work, I think we were successful in preventing the opposing team from attacking in our painted area, the Lakers team also did not have many rebounds in that game." "What happened was what we already knew, Jake Smith has a lot of freedom to attack with our team defending like that, in this game he did as well as always and also Kobe Bryant and Rick Fox played very well and that''s why we lost that game." "A player like Jake who has more than 70% accuracy of three-point shots and is also fast and knows how to advance to the inside area needs at least two players defending against him, but unfortunately against the Los Angeles Lakers team that has Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant, I can''t put two players to defend against Jake." "So I have to continue with this strategy and hope that in the next games the San Antonio Spurs team will be able to score more points and that the opponents will not play as well as they did today." Coach Popovich looked sad after doing this interview, with the players that the San Antonio Spurs team had he knew he had no players who could prevent Jake from attacking by putting only one player to defend against him, but with Shaquille O''Neal and Kobe Bryant made it impossible for him to put two players to defend against Jake. The reporters also went to interview Jake who had scored more than 50 points in a game for the second time, in addition, it was in a playoff game and this was also the game in which Jake scored the most points since entering the NBA. "Jake, congratulations on your victory today and congratulations on scoring more than 50 points once again in the NBA and even more in a playoff game, what do you think about that?" "I think it''s a great honor to be one of the few players who have scored more than 50 points in a playoff game, I''m even happier because I did it in a victory, if the Lakers team can win I don''t mind not doing it no point in a game. " "In addition to making more than 50 points, which is rare, you also managed to a double-double with 10 assists, but speaking of the game, you are confident that the Los Angeles Lakers team will be able to continue winning and advance to the next stage?" "Yes, I am confident that we will be able to advance to the NBA Finals, I know that the next games will be even more difficult, but our team is prepared for those next games and I think we can win." Soon the interviews ended up showing that after that game the Los Angeles Lakers team was more confident and the San Antonio Spurs team was more concerned with the next games, so Jake went where the players were so they could leave. After the end of the interviews, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team celebrated this important victory at home, Jake went to where his mother and friends were, all praising Jake''s good game and talking about how they expected the Los Angeles Lakers team to continue winning. Jake was much more relaxed after the Los Angeles Lakers team won the first game, of course, he still felt that the Lakers team had an obligation to win the next game at home too if they wanted to have any chance of making it to the NBA Finals. The other day the Los Angeles Lakers team did light training for the players to be more prepared for the next game, but the coach Rambis did not give heavy training for fear that some players could be injured. Jake realized that the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team were focused on the next game knowing that they had an obligation to win that game at home, but Jake could also see that his teammates were more relaxed after the first victory. The other day, Jake went to the Great Western Forum after his mother and his friends had already arrived, Jake went to the locker room after seeing that the fans were filling the Great Western Forum again. The Los Angeles Lakers team had not won an NBA title for many years and fans were very excited that year because they knew that the Los Angeles Lakers team was the favorite this season with Jake joining the team. Some fans who knew the NBA well also knew that it was impossible for Jake, Shaquille, and Kobe to play together for many seasons because of the quality they had and the high salary that Jake and Kobe would receive in the years to come. So they wanted the Los Angeles Lakers team to win the NBA title this season and maybe win it in the coming seasons as well because they didn''t know how many years the Los Angeles Lakers team would stay that way. The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing as Center. The San Antonio Spurs team would start the game with Avery Johnson playing as PG, Mario Elie playing as SG, Sean Elliott playing as SF, Tim Duncan playing as PF, and David Robinson playing as Center. The two teams would play with the same players from the last game, after all, they were the best players that the two teams had that were not hurt, so the fans were more excited waiting for another victory. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch the second game at this stage of the playoffs between the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs here at the Great Western Forum." "In the first game between these two teams, the Los Angeles Lakers team won the victory with a memorable performance by Jake Smith who doubled up with 52 points and 10 assists." "The San Antonio Spurs team tried a strategy trying to prevent the Los Angeles Lakers team from catching rebounds and being able to make layups and dunks and that strategy worked because Shaquille O''Neal didn''t score much in that game." "But that strategy was not enough to bring victory for the San Antonio Spurs team, coach Gregg Popovich said in an interview after the game that he would not change the Spurs team''s strategy for this game, let''s see if in this game they can achieve victory." Just like the commentators said, the doubt in this game was whether Jake, Kobe, and Rick would play as well in this game as they did in the first one when the Los Angeles Lakers team won if they can''t play as well the San Antonio Spurs team can be more likely to advance to the next stage if you win a game as a visitor. Jake looked at his teammates and the San Antonio Spurs team players, Jake looked to see where Eva and his friends were watching the game at the Great Western Forum, so Jake concentrated again because he knew that victory in that game depended on him too. Chapter 576 - West Conference Finals 6 Soon the game started and the San Antonio Spurs team won the ball to make the first attack of the game, soon everyone could see that the San Antonio Spurs team decided to start the game under pressure in the attack. Just as coach Gregg Popovich said the San Antonio Spurs team had to do the defense team well and also score more points than the Los Angeles Lakers team if they wanted to win, so the more points the Spurs team managed to make, the easier it was for they get the victory. As soon as the Los Angeles Lakers team started to focus more on defense to try to prevent the San Antonio Spurs team from starting to dominate the game, Shaq and Dennis Rodman had to focus more on defense to defend against Tim Duncan and David Robinson. Jake also wanted to help in defense, but the San Antonio Spurs team knew that he was one of the best players in defending the Los Angeles Lakers team and so Avery Johnson was not participating in attacking plays much more than giving passes. So Jake could not approach Duncan and Robinson to attempt a robbery, it is clear that even so in the first game Jake managed a lot of thefts by intercepting Johnson''s passes and stealing balls. The San Antonio Spurs team continued on the attack and managed for a moment to open a small advantage on the scoreboard, but the Los Angeles Lakers'' team also attacked even if they concentrated more on defense. Just as coach Gregg Popovich said that the San Antonio Spurs team would continue with the same strategy as the first game, just as Shaquille O''Neal was not able to score many points and Kobe Bryant also did not make points in the painted area of ??the Spurs team. Coach Kurt Rambis seeing this decided to send the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team to attack only to do mid-range and with shots from outside, after all, it was Coach Rambis who asked the players to test whether a San Antonio Spurs team would continue with the same strategy as the first game. So Jake started trying more individual shots in the first quarter and realized that in that game only Avery Johnson was defending against him again, so Jake confidently started making individual shots and trying three-point shots. To the sadness of the San Antonio Spurs team players, it seemed that Jake was doing very well in that game too and he hit the first four shots from three points in the first quarter and thus caused the Los Angeles Lakers team to tie the game. Seeing this, Coach Popovich decided to take a chance and asked Sean Elliott to defend against Jake as well, so Rick Fox would be left with no one to defend against him, after all, Coach Popovich could not leave Kobe Bryant without anyone to defend against him and he could not change the strategy the painted area too. So Jake started passing the ball over to Rick Fox and Kobe Bryant too, luckily for the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game the two were very well too and managed to hit some mid-range shots, and thus the Lakers team''s lead on the scoreboard increased. "The first quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a good lead on the scoreboard, the San Antonio Spurs team put a lot of pressure on the attack, but unfortunately for them, the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team was very good in that first quarter." "It is true, the players of the San Antonio Spurs team also missed many attacks and this cannot happen in a game like this, coach Gregg Popovich decided to try the same strategy as the first game, and again they were unable to maintain the advantage on the scoreboard." "Jake Smith is playing very well in that game and managed to hit four shots from three points in a row in that first quarter, then coach Popovich decided to ask Sean Elliott to also defend against Jake, but with Rick Fox and Kobe Bryant having good performances the Los Angeles team Lakers still got the advantage. " "It seems that the Los Angeles Lakers team has a better chance of winning this game at home, the San Antonio Spurs team has to hit most of the attacks and hope that Kobe and Rick start making more mistakes." In the second quarter, the San Antonio Spurs team continued to press in the attack and trying to press in the defense using the same strategy as the first quarter, but Kobe and Rick continued to hit the attacks and so the Los Angeles Lakers team kept the advantage on the scoreboard. When Sean Elliott tried to go out to defend against Rick, Jake took advantage and tried more shots from three points and further increased the advantage of the Los Angeles Lakers team, so Elliott tried only when Rick was close to attempting the mid-range shot. In fact, Jake managed to keep attacking even with Elliott and Johnson defending against him, but Jake realized that it was easier for the Lakers team to score more points if he passed the ball, after all, Jake knew he was more likely to miss three shots points if two players were defending against him. The game continued like this and ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning, the Lakers team had 112 points, against San Antonio Spurs'' 95 points, with this victory the Los Angeles Lakers team will arrive with confidence for both games as a visitor. In that game Jake played for all 48 minutes and had 45 points, 14 assists, 6 rebounds, and 6 steals, it was another good game in which Jake was very important for the Los Angeles Lakers team''s victory, unfortunately, because of the team''s strategy, San Antonio Spurs Jake failed to steal and rebound. "The game is over and the Los Angeles Lakers team gets a second very important home win to advance to the NBA Finals, if the Lakers team gets a victory as a visitor they have to win just one more home game to advance to the next stage." "In this game, the San Antonio Spurs team tried the same strategy as the first game to prevent Shaquille O''Neal from scoring too many points and the Los Angeles Lakers team from getting too many rebounds, in addition, coach Gregg Popovich had two players defend against Jake in that game." "Unfortunately for the San Antonio Spurs team, Rick Fox and Kobe Bryant had another good performance and that is why the Los Angeles Lakers team got the advantage from the first quarter and the game remained the same in all quarters." "Now the Los Angeles Lakers team has two victories and needs only two more victories to go to the final, the next two games will be in the home of the San Antonio Spurs team, if the Lakers team gets one more victory in those two games they will be favorites to advance to the NBA Finals." After that game the players of both teams did not want to speak to the reporters, the players of the San Antonio Spurs team were disappointed with the defeat and the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were very happy, but as they knew that the next games would be at home from the Spurs team, they thought it was best not to say anything. So right after the game was over, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team left, Jake met his mother and his friends and they left for his house together, the next game would be in 4 days and so Jake knew that I had time to rest and stay with Eva and his friends before traveling to San Antonio. "Congratulations on your victory, Jake, I am very happy to see that you are very close to playing the NBA Finals in your first year in the NBA." "Thank you, William, I am very happy with this victory too, but it only happened because I was lucky to have great teammates, it was to play with Shaq, Kobe, and the others that I wanted to come to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. "It''s true, Jake, but without you, I don''t think your team had a chance to win the NBA title this season, I see how long the Los Angeles Lakers team hasn''t had a PG as good as you do." "That''s why I wanted to come to the Los Angeles Lakers team, I knew they needed a good PG this season, and I know I can be one of the best PG this season." It was hard for Jake to talk to his friends about what the NBA would be like if he weren''t playing, after all, he knew exactly what things would be like if he wasn''t on the Los Angeles Lakers team, but if he spoke up he seemed to be sure people could find him very arrogant. Eva didn''t know what Jake was thinking and was happy to see how humble Jake looked talking to his friends, even though she rarely saw Jake talking like he was the best even with many people in the media saying he could be this season''s MVP. After Eva, Jake, and his friends got home they were able to relax and Jake asked Mary to make a sandwich for all of them and so they talked for some more time before everyone went to sleep. The other day in the morning, Jake woke up and saw that Eva had already prepared pancakes for him and his friends, Jake went to read the newspaper while waiting for his friends and saw the news about yesterday''s game and also about the economy. Many economists already talked every day in the newspaper and on television programs about the stock market bubble, everyone who studied the stock market knew it was strange that the bubble had not yet burst, so they could just speculate what day the bubble burst. Of course, some also tried to warn ordinary people that they began to invest money in stocks even though they mortgaged their homes that it was not the time to invest and that it was better for everyone who had invested in stocks to sell the shares. Some economists only cared about fame and some feared the repercussions of what would happen after the market crashed, after all, dozens of companies could go bankrupt and this would greatly weaken the world economy. Chapter 577 - West Conference Finals 7 Jake wasn''t too worried about that because everyone who was close to him was out of the stock market and he himself knew pretty well when the bubble would burst, even Matthew who had billions of dollars invested gave up talking to Jake about selling the stock and just trusted him. Furthermore, Jake knew that even after the bubble burst if people understood the stock market well they would have time to sell the stock before it went bankrupt, only those who hoped the stock could rise again would get in trouble. Fortunately Jake knew that at that time when the internet was not so present in people''s lives it was difficult to find many ordinary people who would take risks in the stock market, so few people who didn''t understand the stock market would do something like mortgage their house to invest. Soon Jake''s friends arrived and everyone ate together and praised a lot the pancakes that were delicious, after eating, Jake went to his room to call Kate, Jake would call Kate after two games so he wouldn''t bother her and also so Kate wouldn''t be mad at him for not calling. "Hello Kate, how are you?" "Jake, I was waiting for you to call me, I saw that your team won again yesterday, it looks like you''re closer to playing the NBA Finals, with two more wins your team goes to the final." "Yeah, I''m glad the Lakers team managed to win those two games at home and we''re going to try to win at least one away game to advance to the NBA Finals." "And you Kate? How are you? Are the shows going as good as you expected?" "Yes, it''s ok with me, the shows are going better than I expected, the tickets are selling really well and many shows are sold out, my last musical album is selling really well too and the record company is satisfied with that." "I''m glad to hear that, I know how hard you work to get these great results and how hard you rehearse singing and dancing for shows, you deserve all the good that''s happening in your music career." Jake was really happy to see how Kate''s music career was going really well, he saw in the newspapers sometimes some news about how Kate''s fans were increasing, and that was one of the few things Jake didn''t know would happen in the future. Of course Jake already expected Kate to become more and more famous after she won an award at the Grammy Awards, but he was worried about Kate because he also knew a lot of female singers who had a great start in their careers and then ended up failing. Jake always thought about how he could help Kate if her music career started to deteriorate, Kate was known for writing a lot of the songs she was successful with, so if that didn''t work out well Jake would hire some composers who would be famous in the future to write some songs for Kate. Jake even knew some songs that would be successful in the future and he had no remorse about giving these songs to improve Kate''s success if that was necessary, he wouldn''t do it to make more money, but for the success that someone he loved, he would. "I believe you will become even more famous Kate, when more people listen to your songs, you will have even more fans." "I hope so, I want a lot of people to know me through my music, that I want to feel that my parents are proud of me in heaven and that they know they were right to support me." "I''m sure they''re already proud of you." Jake knew that Kate still missed her parents who died a few years ago, Jake could understand what Kate felt because he himself had already felt how bad it was to see his mother dying in his past life, and it must have been even worse for Kate who lost both her parents. Jake and Kate talked for a longer time and talked about how they expected to meet soon when the Los Angeles Lakers team made it to the NBA Finals, Kate hoped the Lakers team made it to the NBA Finals and Jake also thought that would happen. Jake spent the rest of his day talking to his friends and without Eva who was resting in her room, William, Zack, and Haruto told Jake what had happened at the university after he left. They joked with Jake saying that their love life had improved a lot in college after he left, after starting the third year at college, it was easier for men to get girlfriends who were younger in college, especially since they were known for be friends with Jake. Even though William and Zack were serious in class, they still found it hard to resist the sudden popularity, yet they still continued to respect women, but the 2 had changed girlfriends a few times over the past year. Haruto was more serious and continued with the same girlfriend after Jake left college, William and Zack told Jake that Aaron was the most popular of the group, after all, Aaron was also Jake''s friend and was in the third year of college and was still a player football player in college. But as with Jake, Aaron was the least interested in getting a girlfriend in college because he was too busy worrying about studying and training for college football games. Zack also told Jake that Aaron was already the longest-playing player on the football team as WR, but he was still worried because he lost too much time because of his injury, so Aaron still didn''t know if he would have a chance to go to the draft after college. Jake also worried because he didn''t know Aaron''s future and that could mean he failed to become a football player in Jake''s past life, but Jake still had hope because if Kate and Zack''s life changed, so did the life of Aaron, too, could change because of him. After they talked for a few hours, Jake decided he would take advantage of having plenty of time to rest and called Zack to do running training with him, after all, Jake had a place like he used to train at the university right at his house. Also, Jake wanted to know how Zack had gotten better after not seeing him run for so long, Zack was happy to see that Jake had asked him to train and William said he would just watch their training. Jack and Zack did some warm-up exercises and soon they started training, Zack knew well how insane Jake''s training was and so he decided to start running a little before Jake, Jake also knew that and hoped that Zack would start before. As Jake didn''t want to overdo it too much he decided to start training at a fast pace, but not that fast, Jake''s training for marathons was 50 km, and Zack didn''t run more than 30 km normally, so their training time had to be different too. Jake ran at a fast pace of 2 minutes and 54 seconds per km, so after 30 minutes of training he had already passed Zack who started training way before him, Jake ran the 50 km he would do in 2 hours and 25 minutes, after just over 10 minutes Zack also finished his training. William didn''t understand their training, after all, he couldn''t expect Jake to train to do a world record pace, William also didn''t know that Jake ran for 50 km and Zack ran for 30 km, so he just said he found the training of the two very good. Jake who knew very well what had happened praised Zack who had done training that before would have been difficult for him calmly, running 30 km at a good pace like Zack ran was very difficult for amateur athletes. Of course, who was most surprised was Zack who knew that Jake hadn''t trained for a few months because of the NBA and still trained the same way they trained at university and still wasn''t even tired. Jake just said that it was because training for NBA players was usually pretty intense and so he even improved his fitness, so Zack accepted because that would normally be true. Of course, it wasn''t true for Jake that he had the system to strengthen his body, and even if that was true, training an NBA player was completely different from training a marathon runner. Jake took advantage of the rest of his rest days with Zack, Haruto, William, and Eva also that after resting he spent more time with them, Jake also had to go train in two days with the Lakers team. Coach Rambis decided to do light training to let the players rest as much as possible before the next streak of games that could be tough, of course, the coach didn''t know that Jake had run a marathon in training on his rest day. So the day before the game the Lakers team players had to go to San Antonio, Texas to stay in town and rest before the game, just as they had arranged Jake''s friends stayed in Los Angeles at Jake''s house and Eva said that would go on helicopter game day. Chapter 578 - West Conference Finals 8 Jake was calm knowing that his mother would come on game day to watch, Jake had already ordered a hotel prepared for Eva who would have to stay a few days in San Antonio because the Lakers team would play 2 games in the city. Jake was very excited for the game that would happen the next day, he saw in the last training before the team game that his teammates were much more rested after these almost 4 days of rest. Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal looked confident after so many comfortable wins they had, they knew that if the Los Angeles Lakers team won one more of those two away games they would have a great chance to advance to the next round. After all, players had finished dinner Coach Rambis asked all players to gather in the hotel''s meeting hall because he wanted to talk to everyone before the next game. "Conference Finals, very important for you to remember that we are in the Conference Finals, after this phase of the playoffs are champions, and if we are Conference Champions, we can go to the NBA Finals and we will try to become NBA Champions." "Of the 29 teams in the NBA, we are one of the top four, out of all the players, you are in the top 100, that''s something for our team to be proud of, but you shouldn''t be satisfied with just that." "You are playing for the Los Angeles Lakers team, one of the best teams in NBA history, the Los Angeles Lakers team was 11 times NBA Champion, it''s been 11 years since the last time, don''t you think it''s time for the Los Angeles team Lakers to be champion again?" "I look at this team and I honestly see the best team this season in the NBA, I see here some players who could be MVP this season, so I don''t see why we couldn''t be champions this season in the NBA." "The next 2 games will be the most important of this Conference Finals, if we win one game as a visitor we will have almost guaranteed our place in the NBA Finals." "So try to win tomorrow''s game so the pressure will all go on the San Antonio Spurs team, maybe if we win tomorrow we can win the next game too and we''ll go back to Los Angeles just to wait for the NBA Finals." Coach Rambis'' speech served to further cheer the players up and show how important the next game would be, if the Los Angeles Lakers team won the next game, they would only need one win to advance to the NBA Finals. If the San Antonio Spurs team lost the next game, they would need a miracle to win the next 4 games in a row to advance to the NBA Finals, so the pressure would all go on the San Antonio Spurs team if the Los Angeles Lakers team made it. Soon the game day arrived, Jake ate a reinforced breakfast along with Rick and Kobe, after a few hours Jake got a call from Eva that she had already arrived in San Antonio and was resting at the hotel before heading to the game. After a few more hours the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the Alamodome, the San Antonio Spurs fans came to support the team and fill the Alamodome, fans knew that if the San Antonio team lost it would be difficult to advance to the NBA Finals. Jake put on his uniform and then went with the Los Angeles Lakers team to the court to warm up, so soon it was time for the game to start, the Los Angeles Lakers team was calmer and the San Antonio Spurs players felt more pressured. The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake playing PG, Kobe Bryant playing SG, Rick Fox playing SF, Dennis Rodman playing PF, and Shaquille O''Neal playing Center. The San Antonio Spurs team would start the game with Avery Johnson playing PG, Mario Elie playing SG, Sean Elliott playing SF, Tim Duncan playing PF, and David Robinson playing Center. The two teams were equal, after all these were the best players the two coaches had for this game, coach Gregg Popovich would have to keep the same strategy from the last game as well and hope that Kobe Bryant and Rick Fox had a poor performance in the game. After all, coach Gregg Popovich knew he couldn''t just defend against Shaquille O''Neal and the Lakers attacking plays near the painted area, the San Antonio Spurs team also needed 2 players to prevent Jake from having the freedom to try to make multiple attacks of three points. "Welcome to everyone who came to watch this third game of the Conference Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers team won the first 2 games playing at home, so if the Los Angeles Lakers team gets the third win today, it will be very difficult for the San team. Antonio Spurs advance to the NBA Finals." "It''s true, the Los Angeles Lakers team did what they were supposed to do and won the two home games, now with one win as a visitor, the Los Angeles Lakers team practically guarantees a spot in the NBA Finals this season and they can try to win again after 11 years old." "The Los Angeles Lakers team is favorite to advance to the NBA Finals and if they advance to the NBA Finals the Los Angeles Lakers team will be favorite to win the NBA title this season." "That''s right, the San Antonio Spurs team has an obligation to win at least this home game, if they lose the next game the pressure wouldn''t be as great as losing this first home game." "The San Antonio Spurs team couldn''t find a way to stop the Los Angeles Lakers team''s attack, and in this game, they must try to find a way to stop Jake Smith from scoring too many points and also stop the Los Angeles Lakers team from trying to make plays in the painted area." "So they have to count that Rick Fox and Kobe Bryant aren''t performing well in this game, just so they can try to get the win." Just as commentators told the San Antonio Spurs team knew it would be difficult to win this game, they would try to do the same strategy as in the last game and would have to hope that Kobe and Rick didn''t perform well. Soon the game started and the San Antonio Spurs team started pressing forward, coach Kurt Rambis already knew that the San Antonio Spurs team would do that and trained more the Los Angeles Lakers team players to defend better. With the pressure on the defense from the Los Angeles Lakers team, the San Antonio Spurs team had more difficulty attacking, but they still managed a good play and Tim Duncan scored the first 2 points with a layup for the San Antonio Spurs team. The Los Angeles Lakers team soon went to the attack to try for a draw and after a good play, Jake passed the ball to Shaquille O''Neal who made the hook and made the first 2 points of the Los Angeles Lakers team tying the game. Both teams were pressing on offense and defense and even so the attacks were managing to score points, so the start of the first quarter was well balanced with the game tied most of the time. Jake who saw this knew that if this kept happening it could be better for the San Antonio Spurs team, so Jake decided to start making more individual plays and trying more three-point shots. Jake started to use his speed and technique to move quickly outside the three-point line and when he got open a space he tried a shot from outside and scored three points, Jake managed to make 3 plays of three points and thus made 9 points and so the Los Angeles Lakers team was ahead on the scoreboard with a slight advantage. Jake''s good plays cheered his teammates up and left San Antonio Spurs fans at the Alamodome worried, soon after the first quarter ended, the Los Angeles Lakers team won with a slight points advantage. "The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning thanks to some good plays from Jake Smith, it really impresses the hit percentage Jake has on the three-point line." "It''s true, the game was balanced until Jake decided to try some three-point shots, even with two players defending against him, Jake still managed open space using his speed, and even so he didn''t miss any attempt and scored 12 points in this first quarter." "The San Antonio Spurs team will have to try to score more points and miss fewer attacks to try to regain the advantage in points, after all, they already have two players defending against Jake, the San Antonio Spurs team can''t defend even better against Jake." What the commentators were saying was true, Jake started trying to run harder to try to find open space to try the three-point shots, and with that, Rick Fox had even more freedom to attack without anyone defending against him. Also, Jake was still able to hit three-point shots from far away from the three-point line, so the 2 players who were defending against him couldn''t relax in defense even for a moment. The Los Angeles Lakers team still tried to put pressure on the defense, but Tim Duncan, David Robinson, and Jaren Jackson who came in during the game were very good in attack and the Los Angeles Lakers team''s defense, which was not so good, could not stop the attacks. of the San Antonio Spurs team. Chapter 579 - West Conference Finals 9 With the San Antonio Spurs team attacking so well they managed to lead the score again with a small points lead, Jake couldn''t do anything as he had to defend against Avery Johnson who only managed to get 2 points into the second quarter. The Los Angeles Lakers team continued to attack well, but Jake couldn''t make a lot of three-point plays using his speed, it was difficult to get rid of two opposing players and still have the precision to hit three-point shots. Rick Fox wasn''t performing as well as the first two games and even though he was free he still missed some mid-range shots, luckily for Jake, the other players were doing well and Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O''Neal were making a lot of points. Even with Tim Duncan and David Robinson defending against Shaq, he was one of the best players on the Los Angeles Lakers team and still managed to find opportunities to score points with Jake''s good plays, after all, Shaq adapted to playing with two players defending against him after two games. Soon the second quarter ended with the San Antonio Spurs team winning the game by just one point ahead, Jake tried again to score several points on three-point shots, but with the good defense of Avery Johnson and Sean Elliott, Jake ended up missing 2 attempts and scored 9 points in that second quarter. In addition to several plays where Jake tried to shoot from the outside and failed and had to pass the ball before the possession time expired, with Jake''s ability to make three-point shots he knew when he had a chance to hit and if he didn''t have confidence he would pass the ball. "The second quarter ends with the San Antonio Spurs team managing to recover and now they are winning the game, the San Antonio Spurs team''s good defense is paying off and Jake is not having the freedom to try so many three-point shots in this quarter." "It''s true, the San Antonio Spurs team is defending very well and besides, it''s attacking very well and making fewer mistakes in attack than in other games, if they continue like this, the San Antonio Spurs team can win this game." "But it won''t be so easy for the San Antonio Spurs team to get the win, even if Rick Fox isn''t performing well in this game, Shaquille O''Neal is making a lot of points even with Tim Duncan and David Robinson defending against him." As commentators said, the game wasn''t that hard for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win again, even though Rick Fox was performing poorly, Shaquille O''Neal was performing well even with Duncan and Robinson defending against him. What really changed in this game is that the San Antonio Spurs players were doing great, it felt like the crowd was helping the players to play even better. In the third quarter, the game continued the same, but just as in every game there was a moment when Jake had more opportunities to attack, Jake played every 48 minutes in every game, but the other players couldn''t do it. So at least 9 minutes per game Jake was playing while Johnson and Elliott were resting, normally Jake also didn''t have many opportunities because when the reserves came in he became the main target of the opposing defense. But in this game, Jake was determined to win, so he took advantage of Duncan and Robinson resting and started making plays near the painted area using his speed. So in 3 minutes in the third quarter, Jake managed to get 8 points with layups in 4 attacks, plus, because the San Antonio Spurs team players tried to stop Jake from scoring they fouled 2 plays, so Jake got the 2 points with the layup and still got one more opportunity to make 2 more points in a free throw. In another play, Jake managed to get 2 more points with a dunk before Duncan and Robinson returned to the game, so the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to get back the advantage in points and was winning the game again. In that third quarter, Jake scored an incredible 18 points and the Los Angeles Lakers team finished the third quarter with 3 points ahead, even with Jake''s great performance in that quarter, the San Antonio Spurs team still had a way to win this game in the last quarter. In the last quarter, the San Antonio Spurs team continued to try to regain the advantage in the game, moreover, after what happened in the third quarter the San Antonio Spurs team players were taking turns when the reserves entered the court so Jake wouldn''t have as much freedom. As a result, the game was not decided until the last 30 seconds of the last quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team was still leading the game by 2 points and still had 20 seconds of possession, so Jake kept the ball trying to spend possession. and the San Antonio Spurs players didn''t try to foul because they knew Jake would hit the two free throws. With a few seconds of possession Jake asked Shaq to do the screen, Shaq understood what Jake wanted and went to do the screen, when Shaq came closer to where Jake was, Duncan realized what Jake wanted to do and followed Shaq to stop letting him do the screen. When Shaq and Duncan got close to Jake, he understood he couldn''t make the move he wanted and motioned for Kobe to make a move they had rehearsed, Kobe understood and walked over to where Shaq and Duncan were to get out of the opponent. So Kobe managed to advance to the inside area and Jake made an alley-oop passing the ball over the top to Kobe who received the ball and made a layup to score 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team. Unfortunately soon after Jaren Jackson missed the three-point attempt and Kobe caught the rebound and was fouled so that time would not continue, Kobe hit the two free throws and thus the advantage increased to 6 points with 2 seconds left to finish the last quarter and it was already decided that the Los Angeles Lakers team won that game. The Los Angeles Lakers team got the victory with 107 points against 101 points of the San Antonio Spurs team, the players of the San Antonio Spurs team left the court discouraged after this defeat at home. In that game Jake double-doubled with 51 points, 11 assists, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals, Jake once again managed to score over 50 points in one game and then another game in the playoffs, which was amazing considering that Jake was playing in his first season in the NBA. "The game ends, the Los Angeles Lakers team got their third win in this Conference Finals and needs one more win to advance to the NBA Finals, with the Los Angeles Lakers team getting that win even playing as a visiting team, they''re favorites to get the NBA Finals." "This was an amazing game and it was decided only at the end of the last quarter as it doesn''t usually happen when the Los Angeles Lakers team plays, it shows how the game was more favorable for the San Antonio Spurs team to win and the Lakers team sought the victory." "It''s true, the San Antonio Spurs players were having an excellent attacking performance in that game, the San Antonio team missed a lot fewer attacks than in the last few games and also defended well." "Also, in that game, Rick Fox didn''t perform well and that was what the San Antonio Spurs team hoped to win, but what caused the Los Angeles Lakers team to win was the good performance of Shaquille O''Neal even though he was good marked." "In addition to the good performance of Shaquille O''Neal, there was also the great performance again of Jake Smith who had 51 points in that game and a double-double, and a good performance by Kobe Bryant also which was fundamental especially in the last quarter." "It''s true, Jake this season broke the record for the player who scored the most points in three-point plays in a game with 16 hits, even though in that game he didn''t hit as many 3-point shots he still managed to get 12 points out of just 8 minutes showing why he''s favorite to win this season''s MVP award." On the other hand, the San Antonio Spurs players were feeling pretty bad after all they knew the Los Angeles Lakers team would have three games of chance to advance to the NBA Finals and the San Antonio team needed to win all the next 4 games to advance for the NBA Finals. After Jake arrived at the hotel where the Los Angeles Lakers team players were staying, Jake called his mother to celebrate with her one more victory, Eva was also happy because she knew Jake needed just one more victory to advance to the NBA Finals and get a chance to win the NBA title. Jake also called William and talked to his friends who had stayed in Los Angeles, and Jake also decided to call Kate to let them know that they would soon meet when the Los Angeles Lakers team made it to the NBA Finals. Kate was glad that Jake called her right after the game and she told him that Jake could always call after his games so if she was doing a show her manager Lily could answer the call saying that Kate was busy. After finishing the calls Jake could sleep more relaxed, the next game would be after 2 days and Jake knew he had to rest to help the Los Angeles Lakers team get their fourth win and advance to the NBA Finals.