Chapter 493 The NBA Season Continues 1
With this bad news from Robert Horry the Los Angeles Lakers team did not train as well, not even Jake remembered that Robert had been sick at that time, he just thought Robert Horry did not play because coach Del Harris chose another player.
Without Horry on the team, coach Harris decided to put Travis Knight on the team, this time the team still had one day to train before the next game so Horry"s absence would not be so bad for the team.
After the first 5 games of the season, Jake had won the respect of his teammates, now the other players on the team treated him like a professional player and as Jake talked to everyone politely, all the players liked him.
The team managed to find a way to play even without Horry on the team, but the team"s defense would be weaker without Robert Horry, the attack would not be a problem because the Los Angeles Lakers team"s attack was the strongest this season.
The next day came the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team in the NBA, this would be a team game in Los Angeles at home at the Great Western Forum, with the team"s good start to the season everyone hoped the Los Angeles Lakers team would win that game easily.
Of course, the Indiana Pacers team was a strong and difficult opponent, but after beating other tough opponents the fans had confidence in the Los Angeles Lakers team, the fans started to like Jake Smith even more, who seemed to help the Los Angeles Lakers team. winning the NBA t.i.tle again.
Jake and the other players arrived at the Great Western Forum and went to the locker rooms to put on their uniform and do warm-up exercises for the game, Jake could see that Shaquille O"Neal was very excited about that game after not playing in the last game.
So the two teams soon went to the court and Jake could see the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers much happier than in the first two games of the team this season, after all the team Los Angeles Lakers managed to win 4 games of the 5 games that they played in that one season.
"Welcome to everyone who will watch another game this season in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers team that has 4 wins in 5 games this season will face the Indiana Pacers team that won 3 of the 5 games this season."
"The Los Angeles Lakers team lost the last game playing as a visitor, but in that game, Shaquille O"Neal was not playing and today he is back, but in this game who will not be playing is Robert Horry, it seems that in the next games he will not partic.i.p.ate due to health problems."
"Certainly without Robert Horry who performed well in the Los Angeles Lakers team in those early games, the team will be left with the weakest defense, but with Shaquille O"Neal, back on the team I think they will win this game."
"Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers team is the favorite to win this game, Jake Smith so far is the best rookie of the season, if he keeps playing well he can even be chosen for the All-NBA First Team like Tim Duncan did the previous year."
Normally the media and fans would not be so excited about 5 good games by a rookie player because it was always good to wait and see how a rookie player would end the season, but with Jake it was different.
In this season of just 50 games, Jake had already played very well in a tenth of them, moreover, after that lockout and the retirement of Michael Jordan, the sports media and basketball fans wanted to find another NBA idol.
Jake had a big difference, which was that Jake was also an athlete who ran marathons and won more than 10 marathons and had a gold medal in the Olympics, so even if Jake Smith didn"t become a maximum idol in basketball, he would be a maximum idol in American sport.
In the games of the Los Angeles Lakers team, there were many posters calling Jake by the nickname that was given to him in the races that were Captain America, this showed the great affection that basketball fans, in general, had for Jake Smith.
The Los Angeles Lakers team came in this game with the starting players Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing improvised as PF, and Shaquille O"Neal playing as Center back for the team.
The Indiana Pacers team came with early players Mark Jackson playing as PG, Reggie Miller playing as SG, Jalen Rose playing as SF, Dale Davis playing as PF, and Rik Smits playing as Center.
Jake knew that the players on the Indiana Pacers team were good and this season they would be first in the Central Division, it showed how strong their team was this season, Jake also knew Reggie Miller well and even though Miller was not an idol for Jake, it was someone he respected a lot.
The game started and the Los Angeles Lakers team won the first possession of the ball, Jake received the ball and started to organize the first attack of the game for the Lakers team, Jake advanced and pa.s.sed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right.
In the previous game, Kobe Bryant and Jake suffered a lot from the opposing team"s defense strategy, so in that game, Bryant wanted to make more moves, Reggie Miller soon arrived to defend against Bryant who soon felt the pressure of the defense.
Bryant thought about trying the individual play to make the points, but decided it was better to pa.s.s the ball and pa.s.sed it to Rick Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Jalen Rose soon pressed in defense, so Fox decided to pa.s.s the ball to Jake further back.
Jake received the ball and decided to try the shot from outside and made the first 3 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake thought it was good that the Lakers team started the game with the advantage on the scoreboard to pressure the Indiana Pacers team.
The Indiana Pacers team tried to react and Mark Jackson advanced with the ball, Jake was a little far from Jackson in defense, but Jackson did not want to try the individual play and pa.s.sed the ball to Rose on the right.
Rose received the ball and advanced with the ball and Fox pressed the defense, rose pa.s.sed the ball to Rik Smits further on, Smits received the ball and O"Neal soon pressed the defense, Smits tried to position himself to try the play and was unable.
So Smits pa.s.sed the ball to Miller further back, Miller received the ball and Kobe Bryant was defending against him, Miller got a good individual play by making a feint and cheating Bryant and then he tried the mid-range shot to make 2 points for the team Indiana Pacers.
The two teams looked the same in the game, but the players on the court soon realized that the Los Angeles Lakers team had the advantage with Jake on the team, Mark Jackson was an excellent PG and had good game attendance statistics.
But in this game, he had to be more careful when making pa.s.ses because he knew that Jake was very skillful in making steals, so he could not make pa.s.ses in the right moves at times thinking that Jake could intercept his pa.s.ses.
Jake didn"t have to worry about that and as he showed in the last few games, any opponent had a hard time defending against him, especially when Jake used his speed, so the Los Angeles Lakers team had a greater advantage in controlling the game.
The Los Angeles Lakers team attacked again and Jake moved forward and pa.s.sed the ball to Fox from the left, Fox received and ball and held on a little and Rose soon pressed in defense, so Fox decided to pa.s.s the ball to Bryant on the right.
Bryant received the ball and Miller soon pressed in defense against him, Bryant was having trouble making the move in that game and pa.s.sed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and saw Shaquille O"Neal"s good movement and pa.s.sed the ball for him.
Shaquille O"Neal received the ball and protected the Smits ball that was in defense, O"Neal protected the ball and can advance to make the layup and 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake had realized that O"Neal wanted to make the points in that game so he would pa.s.s the ball over to him.
The Indiana Pacers team went on the attack and Jackson was organizing the play, Jackson advanced with the ball and Jake was on defense waiting for Jackson"s move, so Jackson pa.s.sed the ball to Miller on the left.
Miller received the ball and Bryant soon pressed in defense against him, Miller tried an individual play and Bryant defended well against him, so Miller pa.s.sed the ball to Rose from the left, Fox was pressing in defense against him, and in front O"Neal was defending well against Smits.
So Rose had to try the pa.s.s to Jackson further back, but Jake was watching the move and was antic.i.p.ating to intercept the pa.s.s and make the steal, Jake intended to hold the ball in defense until the team prepared to make the attack.
But Kobe Bryant quickly advanced to the attack and in the defense of the Indiana Pacers team he had only 3 players, so Jake also ran for the attack and the defense of the Indiana Pacers team had to return.
In the attack there was Kobe Bryant and Jake and in defense, there was Jackson, Rose, and Miller, Kobe Bryant was more ahead and Jackson was defending against him, with Jake"s speed in the race, Miller was unable to keep up and so was Jake and Bryant against the defense of the Indiana Pacers team.
Jake advanced on the left and Bryant was on the right, near the three-point line Rose tried to hinder Jake in the play or even try to make the steal, Jake was quick and made a crossover that tricked Rose.
Soon after Jake made his special move that was the Ghost Move, Jake made the Ghost Move and Rose could no longer see where the ball was and looked at where Kobe Bryant was thinking that Jake had made the pa.s.s and Jake easily pa.s.sed Rose with the ball.