Chapter 520 A Different Team 8
"Yes, it"s important to say that Jake had averages similar to these in the two seasons he played on the Tar Heels team at the university and was twice an MVP at the university before entering the NBA."
"It shows that he played well for two seasons at the university before entering the NBA, with that regularity Jake shows that he will continue with this great performance throughout this season."
The commentators didn"t even talk about the dispute between Jake and Gary because everyone thought the Los Angeles Lakers team would win that game, Gary Payton was certainly an excellent player, but the Seattle SuperSonics team didn"t have a very good team and the Lakers team had the best players.
The Los Angeles Lakers team would start that game with 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 Seattle SuperSonics team would start this game with Gary Payton playing with PG, Dale Ellis playing as SG, Detlef Schrempf playing as SF, Vin Baker playing as PF, and Olden Polynice playing as Center.
Robert Horry was not going to play in that game because the doctors thought it was better for him to rest and stay a game without playing so that his illness wouldn"t come back, with Dennis Rodman playing longer in the games that were possible.
The game started and Shaquille O"Neal won the first possession of the ball for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jake advanced with the ball and pa.s.sed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Dale Ellis came in to press the defense.
Kobe held the ball and pa.s.sed it to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Detlef Schrempf arrived pressing on the defense, Rick held the ball and pa.s.sed it to Jake further on, Jake received the ball and Gary Payton arrived to defend.
Jake held the ball and pa.s.sed it to Shaquille O"Neal further down the left, Shaq received the ball and Olden Polynice came in pressing on defense, Shaq managed to spin and scored 2 points with a layup for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
In another move the Seattle SuperSonics team was on the attack, Gary Payton advanced with the ball and pa.s.sed it to Ellis on the left, Ellis received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense.
Ellis held the ball and pa.s.sed it to Vin Baker further on, Baker received the ball and Travis Knight came in pressing on the defense, Baker managed to advance to the painted area using his strength and tried the hook shot and made 2 points for the Seattle SuperSonics team.
Both teams started the game by pus.h.i.+ng forward and trying to defend too, even though the Los Angeles Lakers team had the strongest attack the game was balanced and the Seattle SuperSonics team players were playing well in the attack as well.
In another move, the Los Angeles Lakers team was in the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and pa.s.sed it to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball and Schrempf arrived pressing in defense, Rick held the ball a little and pa.s.sed it to Jake further back.
Jake received the ball and quickly pa.s.sed it to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and made a feint that tricked Ellis and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
In another move, the Seattle SuperSonics team was on the attack, Payton advanced with the ball and pa.s.sed it to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Rick came pressing on the defense, Schrempf tried to make a feint, but was unable to deceive Rick.
So Schrempf decided to pa.s.s the ball to Payton further back, Payton received the ball and Jake arrived to defend, Payton stepped back and tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Seattle SuperSonics team.
In that first quarter, Jake realized that Gary Payton was trying to attack a few more times, in that quarter Payton tried some three-point shots and Jake just tried to hinder the shot from outside Payton.
Kobe Bryant was well on the attack and Shaquille O"Neal was also playing well, so Jake was attacking as he did in other games just trying to defend well, at the end of the first quarter the Lakers team was winning, and Gary Payton approached Jake to say something to him.
"In this game, I will show that you are not the only PG who can score more than 30 points in a game and still do a.s.sists."
Jake was really surprised to see Payton saying this to him, in the first game they didn"t even talk during the game and the two respected each other, it seemed that it was true that Payton got more excited in this game now that Jake had been chosen as the player of the month.
Jake was not bothered by what Payton said and would continue to play the same way he had thought before, in this game where Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O"Neal were playing well he wanted to take the opportunity to make more a.s.sists.
But Jake could do a lot more defense and try to do some steals and some blocks to show the strength of his defense, Jake knew how to play 48 minutes in every game was tiring, so he just tried to do the steals and press the defense, but I didn"t try to press too hard or make blocks.
Because if Jake tried to put a lot of pressure on the defense and make several blocks he might not be able to play for 48 minutes, so he also didn"t try his best in attack and preferred to make a.s.sists when he could.
The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning and getting a small point advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 4 a.s.sists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal.
"The first quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game so far with a small point advantage, the game was much more balanced than I thought and the Seattle SuperSonics players are playing very well."
"Yes, Gary Payton is playing really well in this game, it looks like he"s really more excited to play against Jake after he was chosen as the player of the month, he"s not putting much pressure on defending against Jake, but Payton is attacking very well and he"s even hitting some three-point shots."
"On the side of the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake is playing as well as ever, Kobe Bryant is also playing well and Shaquille O"Neal is playing very well, with the strength of the Lakers team"s attack they are winning the game."
"Let"s see if the Seattle SuperSonics team can beat the Los Angeles Lakers team that lost just one game this season."
The second quarter started with the two teams pressing in the attack, in another play the Seattle SuperSonics team was in the attack, Payton advanced with the ball and pa.s.sed to Schrempf on the right.
Schrempf received the ball and Rick arrived pressing in defense, Schrempf held the ball a little and pa.s.sed it to Ellis on the left, Ellis received the ball and Kobe arrived pressing in defense.
Ellis tried a feint and managed to outwit Kobe, so Ellis did a quick crossover and got s.p.a.ce to try a mid-range shot and make 2 more points for the Seattle SuperSonics team, Ellis was also playing well in that game and Kobe was not defending well against him.
In this game coach, Rambis decided that he would not replace the main players, after all, he knew that this could be a difficult game and did not want to risk losing, in addition, the players did not get tired much in the last days having a day to rest between games.
The Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack and Jake was organizing the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and pa.s.sed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and tried a feint to deceive Ellis, but Ellis was not deceived.
Kobe held the ball and pa.s.sed it to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and made a feint and then stepped back and attempted a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Payton was tricked by Jake"s feint and failed to do anything in this play.
In another move the Seattle SuperSonics team was on the attack, the second quarter had started a few minutes ago and Payton realized that Jake continued to play normally and was no longer pressing on defense or trying to attack anymore.
Payton spoke to Jake to see if it made him more agitated and so he could try to attack more often so that he could defend better against Jake, but Jake looked like he didn"t care what he said.
Payton advanced the ball and pa.s.sed it to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Rick arrived to defend, Schrempf held the ball for a while and pa.s.sed it to Ellis on the left, Ellis received the ball and then pa.s.sed it to Payton further back.
Payton received the ball and tried to deceive Jake with a feint, Jake was not deceived and started to put more pressure on the defense, Payton saw that he was unable to deceive Jake and tried to make a quick crossover and advance from the left.
Jake managed to react quickly and continued to press on defense without letting Payton advance, with Jake doing this Payton realized that Jake was defending differently from the first quarter, it looked like Jake would not let him make the points easily.
Payton tried another feint and did a step back, Jake realized that Payton would try to do that and was faster and managed to do the steals and catch Payton"s ball, Jake held the ball and pa.s.sed it to Kobe on the right.
Payton was surprised because even he didn"t realize he had left an opening for Jake to do the steal, Payton knew that Jake was good at stealing, but he thought Jake was better at just intercepting pa.s.ses.
After that move Payton became more careful in making the attack moves, his attacks continued, but Jake pressed on defense in every attack he tried to make, because of that Payton felt he was missing more attacks.
Payton wanted to press on defense as well and prevent Jake from attacking many times, but Jake didn"t attack often and when he attacked he couldn"t react quickly enough to disrupt the three-point shots and mid-range shots that Jake tried.