Chapter 498 The NBA Season Continues 6
To partic.i.p.ate in this 1999 World Champions.h.i.+ps in Athletics Jake still had to partic.i.p.ate and win the compet.i.tions in the 5,000 meters and in the 10,000 meters and in the marathon in the 1999 USA Outdoor Track and Field Champions.h.i.+ps to qualify for the 1999 World Champions.h.i.+ps in Athletics.
Of course, Jake didn"t need to partic.i.p.ate in the marathon because as he had won the 1997 World Champions.h.i.+ps in Athletics he had a guaranteed spot, but he would still partic.i.p.ate in the marathon too because he would have to run in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters anyway.
Jake had not yet told his mother that he intended to partic.i.p.ate, because he could give up if there was something else he was interested in doing on his vacation, but Jake would probably be running at the 1999 World Champions.h.i.+ps in Athletics.
And that was because he loved running and it would be important for him to reveal what he was capable of in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters for the next Olympics, Jake knew that Adidas would no longer pressure him to run in marathons because he already had started playing in the NBA and his contract was more because of the NBA.
Certainly, Adidas and the other companies that sponsored them were very happy to see how skillful Jake was and was having an excellent performance in the NBA in those first games of this season.
After a good night"s rest, the day of the next Los Angeles Lakers team game in the NBA came, Jake went to the Great Western Forum and can see that the Los Angeles Lakers fans were coming to watch another team game.
The Los Angeles Lakers team was making an excellent start to the season and unlike what happened in Jake"s past life, they won 6 games and lost only 1 in 7 games this season, it was two more victories than in Jake"s past life.
This intense sequence of games was only better for Jake, who had much more stamina than the other players, even though his teammates were also affected by fatigue, Jake could play better against opponents more tired than him.
Jake and the other players went to the locker room and put on their uniforms and went to the court, this time the names of Shaquille O"Neal, Kobe Bryant, and now Jake"s name were called by the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team.
"Welcome everyone to another game this season in the NBA, this is the game between the Los Angeles Lakers team and the Dallas Mavericks team."
"The Los Angeles Lakers team plays at home today and comes from a great start to the season with 6 wins in 7 games, with stars Shaquille O"Neal and Kobe Bryant and rookie star Jake Smith the team Los Angeles Lakers is definitely a favorite to win that game."
"The Dallas Mavericks team has been having a bad start to the season, they are 6 losses in 7 games and their only victory was in a game that went overtime, it is a situation opposite to that of the Los Angeles Lakers team."
"Yes, unlike this season"s star rookie Jake Smith, rookie Dirk Nowitzki has been disappointing for the Dallas Mavericks team, Dirk Nowitzki has been criticized for being a terrible defensive player in the last games of the Dallas Mavericks team."
"This is a game that coach Harris will want to replace the main players of the Los Angeles Lakers team if they have the points advantage in the game."
Jake remembered that at the beginning of Dirk Nowitzki"s career in the NBA he was very criticized for not adapting well to the NBA and not being able to defend or attack well against NBA players who had greater physical strength, especially those who played as PF.
Of course, Jake knew that in the future Dirk Nowitzki would be one of the biggest supporters of the Dallas Mavericks team and an idol for European fans and NBA fans as one of the greatest players in history.
The Los Angeles Lakers team came to this game with the starting players Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O"Neal playing as Center.
The Dallas Mavericks team came to this game with the initial players" Steve Nash playing as PG, Michael Finley playing as SF even defending as SG, Cedric Ceballos playing as SF, Gary Trent playing as PF, and Dirk Nowitzki also playing as PF, but defending as Center.
It seemed that the Dallas Mavericks team wanted to make a similar strategy like the one used by the last opponent of the Los Angeles Lakers team, but last time it didn"t work very well and this time it wouldn"t work very well either.
Jake found it interesting how two of his NBA idols were playing on this Dallas Mavericks team and even though they were playing so badly this season, Steve Nash was one of Jake"s idols, especially since he was one of the best PG in NBA history.
And Dirk Nowitzki was also one of Jake"s idols in the NBA, it was interesting to see how these great players also had moments when they were criticized and even called bad players even though they became NBA geniuses.
Jake also knew that it would be a shame that he had to compete with Steve Nash to find out who would be the best PG in several seasons, with the points and a.s.sists that Jake normally had on average he thought he would win most seasons in the NBA in the future.
The game started and the Los Angeles Lakers team won the first ball possession, Jake advanced with the ball and soon pa.s.sed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Michael Finley was defending against him.
Bryant managed to get rid of Finley"s defense easily and tried a mid-range shot to score the Los Angeles Lakers team"s first 2 points in the game, Kobe Bryant knew he would have less time to play in that game, so he wanted to score more points while he was on the court.
The Dallas Mavericks team"s defense was one of the worst this season in the NBA and the attack was also not that good and because they were losing so many games, the Dallas Mavericks team soon went on the attack trying to tie the game.
Steve Nash had the ball and advanced for the attack, Jake was defending against him and he wouldn"t underestimate Nash because he wasn"t playing so well this season, Steve Nash was also only in his third season in the NBA and he knew it had to be careful playing against Jake.
Nash pa.s.sed the ball to Finley on the left, Finley received the ball and Bryant soon pressed in defense against him, Finley did not want to try the individual play and pa.s.sed to Gary Trent, Trent received the ball and Travis Knight soon pressed in defense.
Trent used his strength to force his advance and tried a hook to make 2 points for the Dallas Mavericks team and tie the game, the Dallas Mavericks team"s strategy was to attack from the side where Knight defended that was the weakest part of the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team.
In another move by the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake charged forward and pa.s.sed the ball to Rick Fox on the left, Fox was excited in that game because he had played so well in the last game and tried to trick Cedric Ceballos with a feint.
Ceballos was not fooled and so Fox had to pa.s.s the ball farther back to Jake, Jake received the ball and then made a high pa.s.s and Shaquille O"Neal took the ball high and made the dunk to complete the alley-oop and do more 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team and cheer on the fans.
With the time of training, Jake had trained many plays with Shaquille O"Neal and Kobe Bryant that served to cheer the crowd, but also served to break the opposing defense in more difficult games.
In another play the Dallas Mavericks team was attacking, Steve Nash advanced the ball and pa.s.sed to Ceballos on the right, Ceballos received the ball and Fox came to press on defense, so Ceballos pa.s.sed to Finley on the left.
Finley received the ball and Bryant came to press on defense, even so, Finley tried the individual play and after a feint, he tried the mid-range shot to miss, Jake managed to catch the rebound and waited for a little before advancing slowly for the attack.
The Los Angeles Lakers team"s defense was not currently one of the best in the NBA, but Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O"Neal could be excellent defensive players and would improve a lot in defense in the coming seasons and Jake were already playing very well in defense.
But the attack by the Dallas Mavericks team was also not so well this season and the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team could defend well against them, of course, their goal was to attack more to increase the advantage in points.
Jake moved forward after catching the rebound and pa.s.sed the ball to Fox from the left, Fox received the ball and Ceballos was pus.h.i.+ng in defense, so Fox had to pa.s.s to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and pa.s.sed to Bryant from the right who was asking for the ball.
Bryant received the ball and managed to get rid of Finley"s defense by fooling him with a feint and moving forward using his speed, so Kobe Bryant drive to the basket and after going through the Dallas Mavericks team"s defense tried the layup to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
The Los Angeles Lakers team cheered up with Kobe Bryant"s play and celebrated, in the rest of the first quarter Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O"Neal tried to attack more, and Jake attacked less to help his teammates.
So the first quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team had the points advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 5 points, 4 a.s.sists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake played well again, but Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O"Neal played better.