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.