Chapter 537 Sequence of Difficult Games 7
So it was normal for Jake to become one of the crowd"s favorite players, the people who criticized the Los Angeles Lakers team for swapping Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell and Derek Harper had disappeared and everyone praised Jerry West for yet another good choice for the Lakers team.
Soon Jake and the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the court for the game to start, the opponent in that game was the New York Knicks team, this was the first game of the Los Angeles Lakers team facing the New York Knicks team this season.
The New York Knicks team got off to a good start this season with 16 wins and 13 losses in 29 games, even if they didn"t win many games Jake was very careful with the New York Knicks team that would surprise in this year"s playoffs reaching the final.
So if the Los Angeles Lakers team reached the playoffs final this NBA season it was very likely that the opponent was the New York Knicks team, in the New York Knicks team there was one of Jake"s great NBA idols who was Patrick Ewing who was also one of David Falk"s best customers.
Patrick Ewing was always an excellent player and stood out in the current team of the New York Knicks, this team New York Knicks had one of the worst attacks of this season, but also had one of the best defenses which would make this game more balanced if the team defense New York Knicks managed to stop the Los Angeles Lakers team"s attack.
"Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game this NBA season, this is a game between the Los Angeles Lakers against the New York Knicks, they are two great teams that will face each other today."
"The New York Knicks team is doing well this NBA season and has one of the best defenses this season, with 16 victories and 13 defeats, the New York Knicks team wants to win this game more, the highlights of the New York Knicks team are the many times All-star Patrick Ewing and Allan Houston who have been playing very well this season."
"The Los Angeles Lakers team is currently the best team with the best attack and a good defense too, with 28 wins and just 2 losses this season, the Lakers team is a favorite to win this home game."
"With highlights from Shaquille O"Neal, Kobe Bryant and Jake Smith, the Los Angeles Lakers team can win this game if the best attack overcomes the New York Knicks team"s strong defense in this game that promises to be balanced."
The Los Angeles Lakers team would start that game with Jake playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O"Neal playing as Center.
The New York Knicks team would start the game with Chris Childs playing as PG, Allan Houston playing as SG, Latrell Sprewell playing as SF, Larry Johnson playing as PF, and Patrick Ewing playing as Center.
The game started and Shaquille O"Neal got the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaq pa.s.sed the ball to Jake who started organizing the first attack for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Jake advanced with the ball and pa.s.sed it to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Allan Houston arrived pressing on defense, Kobe held the ball for a while and pa.s.sed it to Rick Fox on the left.
Rick played well in the last game and was more confident to help the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game, Rick received the ball and Latrell Sprewell came pressing on defense, Rick tried to trick Sprewell with a feint, but Sprewell was not fooled.
Rick held the ball a little and pa.s.sed it to Jake in the back, Jake received the ball and Chris Childs came pressing on the defense, Jake held the ball a little and pa.s.sed it to Shaq further on the left.
Shaq received the ball and Patrick Ewing came pressing on the defense, Shaq used his strength to advance closer to the painted area, but Ewing was very strong too and did not let Shaq go too far.
Shaq managed to make the spin and tried the hook shot to make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake knew that in this game Shaq would have a lot of difficulty playing against Patrick Ewing and he would have fewer points even playing normally and not being replaced.
In this game Jake and the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team would have to think better about how to make the attack moves to overcome the strong defense of the New York Knicks team, achieving victory in that game was important for the Lakers team.
In another move, the New York Knicks team was in the attack, Childs advanced with the ball and pa.s.sed to Houston on the left, Houston received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Houston held the ball a little and pa.s.sed it to Sprewell on the right.
Sprewell received the ball and Rick came in to press the defense, Sprewell managed to trick Rick with a feint and advanced into the area, Sprewell advanced and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 points for the New York Knicks team.
The two teams started pressing in the attack at the beginning of the game, the strong defense of the New York Knicks team prevented the attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team to attack normally and with the weak attack of the New York Knicks team, even the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team not being very good I could still defend.
So the game was balanced in the first quarter as many expected it would happen, they would be the best players of both teams who would decide the outcome of the game if they played well.
Jake advanced with the ball and pa.s.sed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and Sprewell arrived pressing on the defense, Rick held the ball for a while and pa.s.sed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Houston arrived pressing on the defense.
Kobe returned to play well in the last games and he was helping the Los Angeles Lakers team to win in the last games with Shaq not playing very well, Jake also realized this and started to pa.s.s the ball over to Kobe.
Kobe tricked Houston with a feint and used his speed to make a crossover and move left, Houston managed to recover and tried to defend against Kobe, but Kobe did not try to advance to the painted area and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
In another move the New York Knicks team was on the attack, Childs advanced the ball and pa.s.sed it to Sprewell on the right, Sprewell received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, Sprewell held the ball for a while and pa.s.sed to Houston on the left.
Houston received the ball and Kobe came on to defend, Houston tried to trick Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not fooled, so Houston decided to pa.s.s the ball to Ewing later on.
Ewing received the ball and Shaq arrived pressing in defense, Ewing made a feint and managed to spin and advance to the painted area, Shaq was deceived and tried to return to defend, Ewing advanced made 2 more points with a dunk for the New team York Knicks.
Ewing and Shaq were excellent players in attack, but nowadays Ewing was much better defending than Shaq and that made Ewing have the advantage in that game, in the dispute between these two players n.o.body could help much.
The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a small points advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 3 a.s.sists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals.
"The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning the game with a small advantage in points, yet the game was well balanced between the two teams in that first quarter."
"The Los Angeles Lakers team played better in that first quarter because their defense managed to stop the attack by the New York Knicks team, and the defense by the New York Knicks team failed to stop the attack by the Los Angeles Lakers team which is the best attack of the season."
"It"s true, in the second quarter the New York Knicks team has to put more pressure on the attack and try to stop the Los Angeles Lakers team from making the points, I think this is difficult because Jake is playing very well and Kobe too."
"Yes, Rick also seems to be playing well in this game and Shaq is managing to attack even with Ewing"s strong defense in the game, we will continue to follow up to see if the New York Knicks team defeats the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game."
In the second quarter just as the commentators spoke, the New York Knicks team tried to put more pressure on the attack and defense, luckily as the commentators said the Los Angeles Lakers team players were playing very well.
Jake advanced with the ball and pa.s.sed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Houston arrived pressing on the defense, Kobe held the ball a little and pa.s.sed to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and Sprewell arrived pressing on the defense.
Rick tried to deceive the opponent with a feint, but Sprewell was not deceived and continued to defend, so Rick decided to pa.s.s the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Childs came pressing on the defense.
Jake made a feint and deceived the opponent, Jake stepped back and tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers, Childs still tried to defend, but he was unable to hinder Jake in a move that Jake made several times in the game.
In this game as the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were playing well, Jake was not trying as hard as he did in the last games that were difficult for the Lakers team to win, Jake was beginning to feel tired after the last games.
In another move the New York Knicks team was on the attack, Childs advanced with the ball and went to Houston on the left, Houston held the ball and tried to deceive the opponent with a feint, but Kobe was not deceived and kept pressing in defense.