Chapter 163: Game 3 of the state tournament: part-2

Over at the scorers table three familiar faces could be seen talking and smiling as they provided commentary for the game.

Tony was in a solid black suit with a red tie underneath as he smiled to the camera "This has been an intense game so far.

The first minute opened up with Jason Yang creating two early scoring opportunities. The first one was with his incredible patience and feel for the game as he operated the pick and roll like a seasoned veteren."

Cameron nodded his head "You said it Tony. The way that Jason sealed his defender behind him with his hip was a real veteran move.

Some guys don't even pick that up at the college level. So for Jason to be doing that just goes to show how advanced his skill set is for his age."

Randel sat up and straightened his shirt up "The command that Jason has over the pick and roll is impressive.

But how about his passing? I know that everyone loves to talk about his assist numbers but what I'm talkin bout is his pass selection.

He could have turned around to throw that pass to UD after the pick and roll but he knew that doing so would give the play away and give the opposing defense a chance to recover.

So by going for the no look bounce pass he managed to buy his Big some valuable time to make his shot."

Cameron nodded his head in agreement "The pass selection was nice but the execution was even better.

To throw a bounce pass in between the legs of a defender without even looking? The confidence and ability required for that is something that not every ball handler has."

Tony made sure that they were done before moving on to the next point "And with the second scoring opportunity Jason created that through his defense.

How did he manage to get his hands on the ball?" This time it was Randel answering the question first.

"After the screen Jason didn't give up. He kept his head up and kept his attention on Rudy. When he saw Rudy changing directions in order to split the pick and roll he stuck his hand out and ripped the ball away."

Tony was nodding his head as he listened but Cameron interjected "Actually I don't think that that defensive sequence was simply a read and react scenario."

Randel looked over at Cameron questioningly "What you mean Cam?" Cameron coughed to clear his throat.

"During the pick and roll I heard Jason yell out to his big 'Close out on him UD!' And his Big instinctively switched from drop coverage to trying to close out on Rudy.

This change in defensive scheme urged Rudy to change directions and try to split the pick and roll instead of continuing the drive to the left side.

My hunch is that Jason purposefuly yelled that out in order to force Rudy into splitting the pick and roll.

Since it was all a part of his plan he was more than ready to lunge his hand into the path of the ball which lead to the steal."

Randel slammed his hands on to the table "That makes sense! It was all a trap. Man, this kid is chalk full of surprises.

Not only is his skill set advanced for his age but his thinking and the way he sees the game is too."

- - -

Back out on the court. A few minutes had passed since the first few baskets of the game were scored.

Frankly speaking Jefferson's player's were a whole tier below High Bridge's in terms of current skills and abilities.

Jason had used Heart's Eye on the starting five for High Bridge and was surprised by how big the difference between them was.

On average the main offensive skills for their players' positions were of the B grade. The same applied for the main defensive skills for their players' positions.

Thankfully through Jason's directing of the defense Jefferson was able to contain High Bridge's offense to a point.

So far after getting four minutes into the game the score was 14 to 12. Jason's ability to disrupt and call out plays contributed greatly as Jefferson was only down by two points.

At first Jason tried to conserve his energy by having Udonis run the offense through the post.

However after a few possessions it was clear to see that Udonis was actually being overwhelmed in the post by High Bridge's Center.

In terms of height Udonis was severely outclassed. Udonis had grown a bit compared to the start of the year but he was still only about 5'10 (1.77m).

He was giving up a four inch height disadvantage to High Bridge's starting Center who was 6'2 (1.87m).

Udonis had the slight advantage in terms of strength but that didn't help much. Even if he worked his ass off to establish deep post position the Center's height advantage coupled with his long wingspan smothered Udonis.

The offense ended up shifting to a five out motion offense with Jason being the primary ball handler and carrying most of the load.

On offense things were getting hard for Jason as High Bridge was implementing an extremely aggressive trapping scheme.

High Bridge was opting to double team Jason as soon as he got a little past half court. And the worst part was that High Bridge's players were all committed to the new defensive scheme.

Jason had just dribbled the ball up the court and was about to call out a play when Rudy along with his Shooting Guard rushed to double team him.

Jason gritted his teeth in frustration before passing the ball to Nick who was left open because of the double team.

Nick caught the pass and was about to get into his shooting motion but he stopped in a hurry as he soon found himself being guarded by High Bridge's Power Forward.

'Fuck!' Nick looked around and finally saw Trell as he was cutting to the rim. He threw a a high overhead pass to Trell.

The pass was a little out of control as Trell had to slow down a bit in order to catch it properly.

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Just as he had managed to gain full control of the ball he saw that the once open lane he had to the basket was now gone.

The opposing team's Center had moved up and was now approaching Trell in order to contain him and contest his shot.

Trell cursed in his mind 'God damn it!' He had picked up his dribbled already as he had intended to go for a lay up.

He knew that he wouldn't have much success trying to get the shot to go over the Center so he passed the ball to Udonis who was left open.

Udonis caught the ball but he also saw the opposing team's Center turn around in a hurry as he then began to run back toward him.

Udonis hesitated slightly 'Will I make it? Can I get my shot off in time?' But in a split second he decided to shoot the small six foot (1.82m) jumper.

Udonis managed to get the shot off in time but the opposing team's Center had just barely gotten his hand in Udonis' face as the ball left his hand.

The ball flew a short distance before hitting the backboard. The ball then dropped toward the rim and bounced a few times before falling back down to the ground.

Udonis tried to make his way to the ball so that he could grab the rebound but High Bridge's Center had him boxed out.

He held Udonis back with one arm as the other one caught the ball single-handedly. He then passed the ball up to one of the perimeter players who then passed the ball to Rudy.

He tried to go out into a sprint in order to push the fast break but stopped after realizing that Jason was right on him.

He then looked to scan the court and see if their was anyone else he could pass the ball to for the fast break but saw that they were all being covered by a defender.

Rudy decided to play it safe as he passed the ball up in order to avoid getting a violation for not bringing the ball up past half court in time.

After crossing half court he then called for the ball. One of the wing players passed the ball over to him as soon as he called for it.

After Rudy got the ball in to his hands the next few moments would prove to be a real workout for Jason.

High Bridge set double screens and cross screens for Rudy. Jason's defensive iq and tenacity were on full display as he somehow managed to stay on Rudy.

But they continued to do this and even had Rudy dump the ball off to one of his teammates and then run off of off-ball screens.

Despite his best efforts Jason ended getting switched as Matt was now guarding Rudy. He laughed as he stood out on the perimeter with the ball in his hands.

He dribbled to the left before quickly pulling it back and crossing over to the right. Matt did a good job as he didn't fall for the initial fake and maintained contact as Rudy began to drive right.

Matt was shuffling his feet and keeping his hands up as he tried to defend Rudy. All of a sudden Rudy came to a stop.

Rudy had picked up his dribble with his back facing Matt. Rudy then moved his shoulders while jabbing with his left foot.

Matt thought that he was going for a left turn around jumper so he jumped in order to contest the shot.

Unluckily for him it was just a feint. After the fake to the left Rudy turned back around to the right. It was only then that he shot the turn around jumper.

The flat arcing shot flew straight into the hoop before sliding down the net. Rudy high fived his teammates that were close by.

"Damn! I thought 8/24 already passed? But today most be Mamba day cause homeboy feeling like Kobe right now hahaha!"

Jason walked over and patted Matt on the back "Hey, don't let his trash talking get to you. That was some good defense.

The good offense just ended up coming out on top. That's just how things work sometimes. You can't always lock em down."

Matt just nodded his head as he made his way back. Udonis inbounded the ball to Jason who then made his way down the court.

This offensive possession was a bad one for Jefferson as they simply ended up with a replay of last time.

High Bridge doubled Jason as soon as he crossed half court and the rest of their team stayed disciplined as they swarmed and rotated on to the different players.

This was the third time that Jason had called for a reset as he stood out on the perimeter. He finally had enough as he demanded for the ball.

As soon as he got the ball he quickly called for a timeout. The first one so far in the quarter. Jason and the rest of the guys made their way to the bench.

It had only been five minutes and yet everyone was sweating and breathing pretty hard. Jason got all of the guys attention.

"Our offense isn't working anymore. High Bridge made some adjustments and got used to our flow.

We need to change things up. Here is what we're going to do." Jason began to explain their new offensive plan to all of the guys as they huddled around.

Udonis looked at Jason questioningly "You sure about this bro?" Jason nodded his head in response.

Trell looked at Jason with worry written all over his face "I don't know dog. You sure you can handle that?"

Jason looked at all of the guys "I know that this sounds crazy but we don't have any other choice.

Our offense has come to a complete stop. Either we adapt and learn how to win or we stay the same and lose.

I don't know if the new game plan will work but I do know that if we don't change anything then we are sure to lose."

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