Chapter 164: Game 3 of the state tournament: part-3

Jason spent the remainder of the timeout explaining the new offensive game plan to all of the guys as they huddled up.

When the clock buzzed indicating the end of the timeout Jason looked to all of the guys "Got it UD? This new game plan is going to depend a lot on you."

Udonis thumped his chest with his head held high "I heard you loud and clear bro. Just leave it to me. I'm putting my pride as team captain on the line."

Jason nodded his head as they all began to make their way back to the court. Udonis accepted the ball from the referee and inbounded it to Jason.

Jason caught the ball and started to dribble his way up the court. Right after crossing half court he passed the ball to Matt who was standing on the wing.

Jason had passed the ball before High Bridge could double team him. The confusion was clear on their faces as the players from High Bridge didn't know how to react.

Rudy continued to follow Jason as he began to move to the left corner. Jason then set a screen as Trell ran out from the corner to the top of the perimeter.

Trell's defender got caught in the screen which force Rudy to switch on to him in order to not leave him open.

While that was happening Matt had passed the ball to Udonis who had moved to the top of the perimeter.

After passing the ball to Udonis Matt then ran toward him. It looked like they were going for a hand off play.

The opposing team's Center saw this and immediately left Udonis to catch up to Matt. During their film session they saw that Matt was the second most dangerous shooter on Jefferson right behind Jason.

Their film session also showed that Udonis didn't have much range. Throughout the season Udonis had only taken short and mid range jumpers.

Right now Udonis was at the top of the perimeter so the opposing team's starting Center thought that it would be more dangerous to let Matt get open than to leave Udonis open.

Udonis held the ball up high with his right hand as he scanned the court. Finally he saw what he had been waiting for.

Trell had been running out to the top of the perimeter but just as he reached halfway he suddenly changed direction and began to cut toward the rim.

Udonis only had Matt's defender on him so he had an easy time looking over him and seeing the court.

Udonis saw Trell as he was cutting toward the basket and threw a overhead pass to him. Trell caught the ball mid stride.

His defender was still guarding Jason in the corner while Udonis' defender was guarding Matt out on the wing.

This meant that all the Bigs were currently out of the paint leaving Trell with a wide open lane to the basket.

Trell adjusted his handle on the ball. Then he planted both of his feet into the ground before exploding into the air a split second later.

With the ball in his right hand he cocked it back a bit before slamming it down toward the rim.

Trell's wrist hit the rim as he slammed the ball ball down and through. As he landed on the floor he bent his knees to absorb the impact.

As he got up he pointed to Udonis before looking out toward the audience and motioning with his arms for them to get hyped up.

The crowd got even louder and started to cheer even harder after seeing Trell do that. As Trell was making his way back on defense all of the guys were slapping him on the back and hyping him up.

With that dunk the score was now 17 to 14. It was High Bridge's turn on offense once again as Rudy brought the ball up the court.

Just like last time they spent a majority of their possession trying to get a different match up. The had Rudy run through screens and move off ball until he finally got Jason off of him.

Udonis had a hard time moving his feet quickly enough to stay in front of Rudy but luckily his longer wingspan gave him a bit of cushion as he gave Rudy a step and a half of space.

Rudy finally found himself with some space after snatching the ball back off of a inside out dribble. He stepped back and shot the three pointer.

Udonis had given up some more space off of Rudy's move but he quickly tried to move up and contest the shot.

Although he wasn't able to contest the shot heavily his presence was still there. After the ball left Rudy's hand Udonis turned to see if it would go in.

The ball looked like it would go in because of the straight trajectory. But it ended up missing as it bounced out after hitting the back of the rim.

Trell was fighting against his opponent as he boxed him out. As the ball was making its way down the two of them jumped toward it.

Trell's explosive jump combined with his long arms allowed him to get to the ball a lot sooner than his opponent.

He turned around in a hurry and immediately passed the ball to Jason who began to run out for the fast break.

There were two defenders ahead of him as Jason continued to run down the court. One of them planted themselves down in the paint while the other one stayed within arms reach of Jason.

Jason was at the top of the perimeter as he jumped up with the ball in his hand. Rudy thought that Jason was going for a three pointer and jumped to contest the shot.

But as Jason got to the top of his jump instead of shooting the ball he threw a pass to Udonis who was running down the middle of the court.

Udonis caught the ball as he was at the top of the free throw line. He took one dribble before preparing himself for the shot.

The defender that had planted himself in the paint saw Udonis coming and knew that he had to foul him hard.

The defender was giving up a lot of size to Udonis so he had to foul him hard. He wrapped his arms around Udonis and tried his best to keep him from jumping.

Udonis took the contact and heard the referee blow his whistle. With his arms wrapped up there wasn't much he could do but he still tried to flip the ball up and toward the rim using just his wrist.

Unfortunately there just wasn't enough power in his shot as the ball barely managed to hit the side of the rim before falling back down to the ground.

Luckily for Jefferson Udonis still earned a trip to the free throw line. After getting both teams into position for the free throws the referee then handed the ball to Udonis.

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Udonis showed the confidence of a team captain as he easily made both of his free throws. With a score of 17 to 16 Jefferson was now down by just one point.

- - -

The rest of the quarter passed by as none of the teams could get a clear cut advantage over the other.

With Jefferson's new game plan on offense they were able to score at the same rate as they were before.

But the same thing could be said for High Bridge. Their strategy of forcing Jason off of Rudy was working as they were able to get him the match ups that they wanted. 

Back at the scorers table Tony was smiling at the camera "Well this just might be one of the best games we have seen so far in the state tournament.

After two possessions in which Jefferson struggled to get their offense up and going Jason called for a timeout.

And they must have done something right because after that timeout their offense was back to the same level as it was before. What do you think Cam?"

Cameron smiled as he shook his head "Man, this kid never ceases to surprise me. We've seen Jason play off ball a few times.

Normally they do this whenever he needs a short rest to catch his breathe. They feed Udonis down in the post and have Nick and Matt run around until they're open.

But this is the first time where we have seen Jason really play off ball. He's not just standing around on the perimeter and waiting for a catch and shoot three.

This kid is running routes, running off of screens, and juking his defenders. I am completely amazed with his sense of play.

Normally when a player is used to being the primary ball handler and you ask them to play off ball they tend to become inactive and uninvolved.

That's why some guys just aren't meant to be off ball players. Playing off the ball requires a different skill set than being a ball handler.

And the way that Jason has been playing in his new role is just amazing. He looks like he was born to be in this role.

If I had never seen him play before this I wouldn't believe you if you tried to tell me that he was their primary ball handler.

It's just unfair for him to have such an advanced skill set at such a young age. This kid can do so much. What do you think Randel?"

Randel took a second to think before answering "Honestly I feel the same way as you Cam. Jason pulled another one on us.

This might be their secret weapon. Jefferson never showed this section of their playbook but it might be because no team has been able to force them to use it so far.

Jason's off ball movement shows some veteran savvy that you never see in a player his age. He has the feel for when to cut, when to curl, when to come off the screen, I can't believe that I'm watching a twelve year old play.

Looking at how he moves on the court without the ball in his hands reminds me a lot of the Duke legend JJ Redick.

And this kid just started playing organized ball this year? I guess that just tells you how crazy his feel for the game is.

The change that they made on offense is the main reason why they been able to keep the score so dang close. 28 to 26 in the first quarter? Somethins tellin me that today is going to be a high scorin game."

- - -

Over at High Bridge's bench all of the players were huddled together as they listened to their head coach talk.

The head coach had a head of brown hair that was beginning to show some gray here and there and a healthy tanned complexion.

He finished talking as he showed his players the play drawn on his clipboard "Rudy, you need to explode when you run off a screen.

I saw you take it easy and jog on at least three different screens. If you don't explode with everything you got then you won't be able to get that much space.

You're giving your defender a chance to catch up. And you Ben. You need to play Jefferson's Center tighter.

Don't switch so early. I know that he's not a threat from out on the perimeter but you can't let one of our wing players switch on to him.

With a smaller defender on him he can see the whole floor and make any pass he wants. We need a big body on him to try and take his passing lanes away."

Their starting Center nodded his head "Yes Coach Kaminsky." Coach Kaminsky gave a nod after hearing Ben's reply.

He then looked out at all of his players "Our first adjustments were able to hold Jefferson down for two possessions.

That coach must be something else. She hid a whole section of her playbook away just so that she could pull it out at a moment like this.

Her game state recognition and ability to adjust mid game is something else. I can't believe I've never heard of her before.

Well it looks like tonight is gonna be one hell of a chess match because she ain't the only one that can coach."

Coach Kaminsky looked to one of his players that was standing at the back "I want you in the game guarding Jason at the start of the second quarter Nate."

After hearing him say that all of the other players began to protest against him "You can't do that coach!"

"It's already crazy enough that you let a 6th grader join the varsity team. But now you want to play him in a game as important as this?" "This ain't right coach."

Despite all of his players' protest Coach Kaminsky stuck to his order. He waved them off "I don't want to hear it.

Nate is what we need going into the 2nd quarter." He looked over at Jefferson's bench and focused on Jason.

Coach Kaminsky then gave a slight chuckle "I hope you like my present Jason. Let's see if the star shines as bright as they all say it does."

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