Se podría decir que el último cuarto del partido fue una demostración completa de las habilidades de Aaron, que, si bien ya tenían números sorprendentes jugando como ala-pívot, no se pueden comparar con la forma en que juega como pívot.
—¿Estás viendo lo mismo que yo, Logan? —preguntó Jerry con un tono ligeramente aturdido a su compañero, quien, por cierto, tenía la misma expresión que él.
—Te lo diré, Jerry, pero por si acaso, pellízcame para que sepas que no estoy soñando —terminó diciendo Logan con una broma sobre lo absurda que era la situación actual.
—Aaron Reed —dijo Jerry con voz grave, saboreando el nombre mientras pensaba en las siguientes palabras—. Si antes nadie sabía quién era, ahora sí lo saben —fue lo único que se le ocurrió decir tras ver su actuación en este último cuarto.
Aaron Reed (C)
Puntos: 28
Rebotes: 8
Bloques: 7
Robos: 3
Asistencias: 6
Esos eran los números que se proyectaban en todas las pantallas del estadio, dando a conocer las estadísticas de un solo jugador en el partido y la razón por la que Jerry y Logan aún no habían asimilado del todo lo que estaba sucediendo.
"Cuando ves cifras como esas, te das cuenta de que es un jugador veterano listo para ir a la NCAA y luego a la NBA, no un estudiante de primer año", continuó diciendo Jerry, recuperándose ya un poco de la incredulidad anterior.
"No solo eso, Jerry, sino que también te hace preguntarte: ¿cuál es su máximo potencial si ahora tiene actuaciones como esta?", continuó Logan, deseando saber más adelante cuál sería su máximo potencial.
"Siempre hay jugadores así, con un talento enorme, que dominan desde el primer día, y creo que ahora sabemos que Aaron Reed es uno de esos jugadores", continuó Jerry con una diatriba de elogios a favor de Aaron.
"Puedes decirlo otra vez, Jerry; la última vez que vimos a un jugador con tal dominio fue un chico de Akron, Ohio, llamado LeBron James, y creo que todos sabemos lo que es ahora", concluyó Logan con una sonrisa cómplice, refiriéndose a la actual superestrella de la NBA que empezaba a ser conocida como el Rey.
Mientras los dos comentaristas no dejaban de elogiar la actuación de Aaron, una conversación similar tenía lugar entre dos reclutadores de Connecticut.
—¿Estás viendo lo mismo que yo? —le preguntó Phil a Larry, que escribía frenéticamente en su cuaderno, levantando la vista cada pocos segundos por temor a perderse lo que sucedía en el partido.
Al no obtener respuesta de su amigo, quien estaba muy concentrado en tomar notas, Phil puso los ojos en blanco mientras tomaba la cámara que llevaba consigo y grababa lo que sucedía en la cancha.
En ese momento, el equipo de los Royals había avanzado con la posesión del balón, atrapado fuera del perímetro debido a la fuerte marcación de los Vikings, que aún no estaban dispuestos a tirar la toalla.
Aaron pidió inmediatamente el balón dentro de la zona pintada, con Brooks detrás de él con los brazos extendidos, impidiéndole girar fácilmente una vez que tuviera el balón en sus manos.
With the ball in possession and without any passing opportunity, Roland had no other choice but to pass the ball to Aaron, who was inside the paint with Brooks at his back and a teammate of his ready for a double team.
"You won't do it," Brooks said with his teeth clenched in frustration, not letting Aaron score another point in the final minutes of the match.
Without saying a word yet, Aaron simply received the ball and made a feint to turn toward his left, causing Brooks's body to unconsciously turn in the same direction as him.
But quickly Aaron turned in the opposite direction with the ball, freeing himself from the marking and ready to shoot at the hoop if it weren't for the fact that Brooks's teammate was behind him and jumped to block Aaron's mid-range shot.
But what he didn't count on is that that shot was a feint, and Aaron didn't quite jump and simply went past him and jumped to perform a dunk, scoring more points for his team.
Once his feet touched the ground, the shouts of the spectators were immediate, amazed by that last play.
"Woo! That's how you do it, boy!" shouted a bearded man excited by the play he had seen, being grateful to have come to see the tournament.
"Let's go, boy!" shouted another, equally excited, while the audience continued to be thrilled at what they were seeing, considering it the best game so far.
"ROYALS!!" "ROYALS!!" "ROYALS!!"
Those were the shouts of the crowd chanting the name of the team of which they had become fans due to the performance of player number 15.
"I feel like I saw 그 move before," Phil murmured in a low voice, remembering Aaron's play in the paint and how he got rid of 2 players without any problem.
At that, Larry couldn't help but laugh in a low voice seeing how his friend didn't recognize the way Aaron played in the post.
"Seriously, you don't recognize those moves?" Larry asked in an inquisitive tone toward his foolish friend sitting by his side.
At that, Phil simply shrugged in a sign of not knowing, waiting for his friend to give him the answer.
"Number 34 from Houston," was the only thing Larry said as a clue, knowing that despite how clueless his friend could be, he would understand who he was referring to.
At the mere mention of that, Phil's gaze sharpened as if suddenly something clicked in his head, relating the moves he had just seen with the legendary THE DREAM.
"His footwork is crazy," Phil said after relating and comparing the moves of the legendary center with those of the boy on the court.
"Don't even say it," Larry shared, equally impressed by what he was seeing on the court.
"Do you think he learned by watching Olajuwon play?" Phil intuited upon seeing Aaron's moves in the paint.
And that was nothing out of the ordinary; after all, most high school and middle school players try to imitate the plays of their favorite players or legendary superstars in order to improve their game or simply show off on the court.
"Possibly, but you can't manage to play like that just by imitating," Larry added, knowing very well that footwork of that level cannot be achieved solely by imitating a player's style.
While saying that, Larry quickly updated the report he had made about Aaron, adding 2 more stars, knowing that eventually his name would be known in all high school basketball circles.
While that was happening on the court, the Vikings were in a passive situation, unable to cut the lead the Royals had over them and, instead, causing that lead to grow; faced with that situation, the coach had no other choice but to request his last timeout of the match.
Scratching his head in a clear sign of frustration, Coach Wojciechowski had run out of ideas on how to limit player number 15 of the Royals team.
Initially, he had tried a man-to-man marking, cutting the passing lines, but the moment he did that, he began to attempt long-distance shots, causing them to immediately have to change strategy and assign Brooks to take charge of marking him all over the court.
But despite Brooks's best efforts, he couldn't stop him, and Aaron managed to overcome him based on fadeaways and step-backs, causing Brooks to be unable to take the ball from him thanks to the boy's great height and his wider shooting range.
"What to do, what to do," the coach repeated to himself mentally like a mantra, trying to find some way to change the situation even a little bit, as he had resigned himself to losing the game upon seeing that barely a minute remained on the clock.
In his entire career of almost 10 years at the head of the team, he had never had so many difficulties against a player except for him.
In those years against St. Mary, he had felt the same oppression against a young LeBron James who played on that team; of course, time justified it, as now he was a superstar of the league, at which he wondered if he was witnessing a new superstar in the making.
Turning his head, Coach Wojciechowski couldn't help but fix his gaze on the other team's bench, where he could see the boy of his nightmares sitting with a towel and rehydrating as if he weren't the reason for his team's doom.
"Coach!!" a shout made Coach Wojciechowski's gaze return to his players, seeing that it had been Jeff who had brought him back to his situation.
With a tired sigh, the coach quickly drew on his whiteboard again, knowing of the few seconds they had left before the game ended. "Very well, number 15 must not be allowed to shoot," was the first sentence he said, although he had said it so many times that the players didn't know if he was speaking seriously or if there was any way to stop that player.
"This time I want 2 of you to mark him at all times, no matter the others, just don't let him shoot with comfort," he finally said in a grave voice, not wanting the same player to continue bombarding his own basket.
After that, the referee's whistle blew again, indicating it was time for the players to return to the court to finish the match, at which both teams differed from each other.
While the Royals entered relaxed without any concern, the Vikings team entered all tense and some with low morale, already knowing they had lost the game and waiting for all of this to end once and for all.
"We meet again," was the first thing Brooks heard as he approached Aaron, who quickly threw that comment, causing Brooks to let out a huff of annoyance at that.
When his teammate mentioned that Aaron spoke to get inside his head, at first he didn't believe him, but when it was his turn to suffer that, he didn't know what to do.
And it's not that his trash talk insulted you or anything, but that he simply told you what he was going to do, and even if you knew that beforehand, he could still perform the move and score; a few times of that eventually drove even someone as focused as him almost to madness.
"Don't talk to me," Brooks hissed under his breath, not letting him get inside his head again.
"You're no fun," Aaron sighed dramatically while he moved away and positioned himself under his hoop to defend, knowing it was no longer necessary to continue attacking.
Meanwhile, the Vikings team attempted a last and desperate final attack, not wanting to leave without at least scoring one last basket.
They played quickly with a pick and roll, moving the ball among the 5 quickly with none holding the ball for more than 5 seconds, knowing that time was valuable in these cases.
Once inside the paint, Brooks held the ball, already ready to shoot, catching Aaron's attention. But instead of shooting, taking advantage of having Aaron's attention, he passed the ball to Jeff, who was ready for a mid-range shot.
"Ready," Jeff thought, already jumping and ready to release the ball, but Aaron, without wasting time, turned quickly on his heels and jumped to firmly slam the ball Jeff held between his hands, causing the ball to fall loose on the court at Aaron's block.
After that, the buzzer sounded throughout the stadium, giving to understand that the game had ended, provoking two different reactions between both teams: while one celebrated, the other collapsed.
Once Jeff's feet touched the ground, a look of helplessness crossed his face upon looking at the final score of the match.
73-50 final score.
They had lost.
Authors thought's
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It seems there was an error with Webnovel and the chapter wasn't published at the scheduled time, but here is today's chapter! I hope you enjoy it.
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