Chapter 306 1997 ACC Mens Basketball Tournament 2 (2/2)

”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.