Chapter 540 Sequence of Difficult Games 10
The players had to rest and the medical team was concerned that someone would get hurt by the end of the season after the season was over they expected players to try harder for the playoffs.
After all, in the playoffs the intention was that the team played each game as if it were the last one because it could even be if they lost, the players knew that the Los Angeles Lakers fans expected them to win the NBA t.i.tle and so the pressure was greater.
Of course, this could be bad for players because if they won all games and advanced to the final they could play up to 26 games if they didn"t win all games, and at least they would play 15 games if they won all games.
If they played as many games as they would have to play more than half of the game season to win the playoffs and win the NBA t.i.tle, that also worried the team doctors and coach Kurt Rambis, after all, it was common for some player to get hurt in playoff games because of the intensity of the games.
Jake was not worried about getting hurt during the playoffs and even if another player got hurt he could work even harder to get the Los Angeles Lakers team to the final.
Jake didn"t mind eating the stamina bars to be able to play intensively in every game, his only concern was that his teammates were playing badly at the games.
If that happened even if he tried, it was likely that the Los Angeles Lakers team would lose the game in the same way, the other players also thought about it and that is why they tried this training to play even better and for the Lakers team to have easier victories in the upcoming games.
Shaquille O"Neal, Kobe Bryant, Rick Fox, and Dennis Rodman were working hard on training just like Jake so the Los Angeles Lakers team could continue winning, Jake no longer saw Dennis Rodman missing from training as he remembered his past life.
Jake thought it was because this time Dennis Rodman could see that the Los Angeles Lakers team really had the ability to win the NBA t.i.tle, as a professional basketball player Dennis also wanted to win an NBA t.i.tle even though he had already won 5 NBA t.i.tle in his career.
From what Jake remembered in his past life, the situation of the Los Angeles Lakers team was not so good and even though many thought that the Los Angeles Lakers team was one of the favorites to win the NBA t.i.tle, it was not at all certain.
At that time Jake remembered that the Los Angeles Lakers team had 21 wins and 11 losses in 32 games this season, this time with Jake playing the Los Angeles Lakers team had 30 wins and only 2 losses in the season, that was a very big difference between the past and the present.
With Jake on the team, everyone said that the Los Angeles Lakers team was the favorite to win the NBA t.i.tle, Dennis also realized that and decided to work as he did on the Chicago Bulls team to try to win another NBA t.i.tle.
In addition, another important thing changed in the Los Angeles Lakers team that was that the players did not argue and fight anymore, Jake thought that in the next seasons that would not change either.
After all, some of the reasons for the fights were because Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O"Neal wanted to be the main player on the team, Shaq was the main player on the team at that time and Kobe didn"t like that very much.
But this time it didn"t happen and it wouldn"t happen because the player who stood out the most on the team was Jake, Jake was a PG who helped the team with a.s.sists and steals, also helped in defense and that"s why Kobe and Shaq were not jealous of him and they recognized that he deserved to be the best player on the team.
Rarely did some players on a team fight or decide to change teams because PG was the best player on the team, this only happened when PG was too arrogant or his teammates were arrogant.
This is because for a PG to play well he has to help the team to win by making a.s.sists and helping in defense if even with PG doing that he was still the player who scored the most it was because PG was excellent.
So Jake was confident that Dennis could stay on the team at least until the end of the playoffs, next year with the signing of coach Phil Jackson it would be even more possible for Dennis to remain on the team and not cause any more problems.
After the training was over the players were tired and were getting ready to go to their house when Jake called them to talk, Jake was a good team leader on the court like Shaq and Kobe were and he was praised for it.
But outside the court Jake didn"t talk much with the other players, he talked a lot with Rick who was his best friend on the team, and also talked with Kobe and Shaq when they were training.
Players did not know that Jake knew the future and knew of the achievements they would have, Shaq and Kobe would be remembered as one of the best players in NBA history on a list of the top 100.
Even though Jake wanted to talk to them it was difficult for him who was always a fan of them to talk normally, so when Jake called them, Jake only called Shaq, Kobe, Rick, Dennis, Robert, and Derek who were the players he knew best and talked sometimes.
When Jake was invited by Warner Bros to partic.i.p.ate in the premiere of the film The Matrix, they prepared for Jake 10 tickets in the same movie theater that he would be watching the movie, these tickets were for him to invite friends and his family to watch the movie.
Unfortunately, his mother and most of his friends were in Miami or at university, Kate wouldn"t be in Los Angeles either, so Jake didn"t know many people to invite to watch the movie with him.
If Jake didn"t take anyone, they would return tickets to the box office and tickets would be sold for the public to watch, so Jake thought about inviting his teammates to go with him to this Premiere.
Jake knew it was very likely that no one would want to go with him because some players had their family at home waiting for them, but he thought it was best that he at least tried to invite them.
The players were not so surprised to hear Jake calling them, some had already seen Jake"s interview on television and others had seen advertis.e.m.e.nts for the film that were shown several times on television.
Normally they wouldn"t think about going to see a movie like that on such a sudden invitation, but they knew this was Jake"s debut as an actor in a big movie and they were friends with him.
Rick and Dennis agreed to go to the cinema to watch the movie with Jake, Robert and Derek refused because they had to go and stay with their family, so there was only Kobe and Shaq left to answer, the two were friends of Jake as well as Rick who had agreed to go to the movies.
With that, the two also agreed to go to the Premiere with Jake to watch his movie, so the players from the initial team of the Los Angeles Lakers would go together to the Premiere of the movie The Matrix to watch the movie that Jake would partic.i.p.ate in.
Jake was sure that Warner Bros did not expect this when he asked Jake to be the Premiere of the film, that Premiere could be even more impressive than the Premiere that the main actors and directors were.
So Jake and the other players went to their house to get ready to go to the Premiere, Jake arrived at his house and Mary had already prepared a dinner for him and his bath too, so Jake went straight to shower and then went to dinner.
Jake was going to eat because there was no party after the Premiere and he just wanted to go back to his house after the movie, Jake was sure that his friends thought the same too.
After Jake ate dinner he went to put on his suit that Mary had prepared, Jake tried it on and was happy that the suit was perfectly fitted even though he hadn"t been to the store many times to make adjustments.
After putting on the suit Jake called the car he had rented and went to the Cinerama Dome which was where the film premiere would take place, the Cinerama Dome was a cinema known for many years and Warner Bros decided it would be a good place for Jake partic.i.p.ate in the Premiere.
Jake did not use the cars he had because they were both very flashy and Jake would only use them when he had private matters, it was better that he rented a more luxurious and simple car that would not attract so much attention in Los Angeles.
Soon Jake arrived at the Cinerama Dome and was surprised to see a red carpet and several reporters, Jake had heard that no interview would take place and it would just be a simpler Premiere, he did not expect a red carpet and so many reporters.
Of course, he knew that some reporters and film critics were invited to this Premiere to watch the movie, but Jake didn"t expect the red carpet, so Jake arrived at the security guards that Warner Bros prepared were there to protect Jake and accompany him into the movie theater.
Jake was not used to it and was also surprised to see that there was a large audience that was shouting his name in front of the cinema, this was a film open to the public and they should want to watch the film and not act like fans.
Of course, what happened was that in fact, Jake could not understand yet that he was as famous today as many famous actors and artists, Jake did not attend many Premiere and party parties and that was why he hadn"t seen so many fans besides when he was on the court.