Chapter 508 Change in Los Angeles Lakers Team 6
"The Los Angeles Lakers team also played an excellent game, all the players performed well, but unlike the Seattle SuperSonics team, the focus on the attack was Shaquille O"Neal, Kobe Bryant, Rick Fox, and Jake Smith."
"Shaquille O"Neal and Kobe Bryant played an excellent game, Rick Fox has also been surprising and making more than 14 points in the last games, and Jake Smith was once again the highlight of the game."
"Jake Smith played very well in that game and managed to score 35 points and 9 a.s.sists even with Gary Payton defending against him, Jake Smith showed all his skill in that game and also defended well against Gary Payton and made him miss many attacks."
"Yes, Jake Smith played that game really well, even though it looks like he got fewer steals and rebounds than in other games, that"s normal thinking that Gary Payton was defending against him."
"Jake Smith had the advantage in that game because of his three-point shots that helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to win and also play better than Gary Payton, but that is also his credit for training for so long to get that average hits on three-point shots."
The game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning once again, Jake was happy because he knew that in the past the Los Angeles Lakers team had lost that game, now he wanted to win as many games as he could this season.
Jake thought that when he entered the NBA he was very good at defense after training for several years in his imagination training and playing at university, but in that game, he realized again that he was still far from being a great player in defense.
Jake had already realized this when he played against Kobe Bryant, even though he could defend well and prevent the opponent from making some points, he couldn"t really prevent the opponent from making points in mid-range shots.
Of course, Jake knew it must be natural, after all, Kobe Bryant and Gary Payton were two of the best players in NBA history and Jake was just a rookie in the NBA, but what made Jake think so was his system and physical statistics that it was what helped him most to get the steals in the games.
But this game was important for Jake to realize that he still had a lot of things that he needed to improve in order to be a great player, Jake still had to improve his skills and statistics and also play better when he got more experience.
After all Jake knew that even when he had all the skills in the SS rank he would just be on a par with the best NBA players, so he still needed to improve a lot to be able to beat them.
After that victory, the Los Angeles Lakers team had a lot of time to rest because they would have to travel to Denver, Colorado where they would have to play the next game.
It would be the second game of the Los Angeles Lakers team in Denver, Colorado to play against the Denver Nuggets team the second game as a visitor, the first game was very difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win and Jake was the main responsible for the good advantage on the scoreboard at the end of the game.
But in that game Jake did not know if things would be like this again, the rumors of the possible dismissal of Coach Del Harris just increased and so Coach Harris did not seem to be very happy with this situation.
The players made the trip on the team plane during the night and when they arrived in Denver they immediately went to the hotel to rest for the game the next day, the players were not so tired because they were able to rest a few minutes in the last games with the subst.i.tutions of Harris coach.
So the next day Jake woke up completely rested and ready for the next game, that day the players heard two rumors that could be good things, but one of that news could be bad for the team.
One news that was certainly good was that Robert Horry was recovering well and maybe in 3 more days he could play again, the Los Angeles Lakers team was missing Horry in the team"s defense and also in the attack.
The other news was that maybe the Los Angeles Lakers team could sign 5-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman in the next few days, Jake knew it could happen, so he naturally also knew what could happen in the future.
Jake naturally respected Dennis Rodman, who was an important player in the 5 NBA t.i.tles he won, but his personal behavior was something Jake did not agree with and even found it difficult to understand.
Jake played professional basketball and still ran marathons because he loved doing it and didn"t mind trying harder to do it, but Dennis Rodman, who also said he loved basketball even with his talent, still did a lot of things wrong.
Jake thought that Dennis Rodman could actually be an important player for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win the NBA t.i.tle this season if he played seriously and worked hard in every game to win he could help a lot.
Dennis Rodman was a type of player who got a lot of rebounds and defended well and didn"t score many points in games, but with Shaquille O"Neal, Kobe Bryant, Rick Fox, and Jake Smith on the team they didn"t need anyone else who could score.
What the Los Angeles Lakers team needed was a good defensive player, and Dennis Rodman was the type of player the Los Angeles Lakers team needed, in addition to Jake, other players were also concerned about having Dennis Rodman on the team.
But in the afternoon, the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the game to try another victory, arriving at the McNichols Sports Arena Jake can see the Denver Nuggets team crowd filling the Arena.
Jake and the players put on their uniforms in the locker rooms and went to the court to get ready for the start of the game, the Denver Nuggets team needed this victory and they were determined to achieve that victory.
"Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game of the NBA this season, the second game this season between the Los Angeles Lakers team and the Denver Nuggets team, in the first game the Los Angeles Lakers team won."
"And the Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win this game too, the Denver Nuggets team that plays at home today had just 1 win this season and they have already had 8 losses, this is certainly irritating their fans."
"The Los Angeles Lakers team already has 9 wins in 10 games and they want to get another victory in that game, if Jake Smith and the other players were playing well it wouldn"t be difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win again."
"Yes, Jake Smith has been playing very well in the last few games, but Shaquille O"Neal has managed to make almost 1 double-double in every game and Kobe Bryant has also been helping to lead the team to victory."
Everyone in the sports media and fans also hoped that the Los Angeles Lakers team could achieve an easy victory in that game, which is why the Denver Nuggets team achieving victory was difficult for everyone to understand.
The Los Angeles Lakers team came 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 Denver Nuggets team came with the starting players Nick Van Exel playing as PG, Chauncey Billups playing as SG, Eric Was.h.i.+ngton also playing as SG and helping to defend against SF, Antonio McDyess playing as PF, Raef LaFrentz playing as Center.
The game started with the Los Angeles Lakers team in the attack, Shaquille O"Neal won the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team and pa.s.sed to Jake, Jake advanced to the attack at a slower pace.
Jake pa.s.sed the ball to Kobe Bryant from the right, Bryant received the ball and Chauncey Billups came in pressing on the defense, so Bryant held the ball just before pa.s.sing it to Rick Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Eric Was.h.i.+ngton came pressing on the defense.
Fox tried to make an individual move, but Was.h.i.+ngton would not let Fox move forward, so Fox pa.s.sed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Nick Van Exel arrived pressing on defense, Van Exel was upset with the Los Angeles Lakers team after leaving.
Nick Van Exel played well in his time on the Los Angeles Lakers team and did not understand why he left the team in an exchange with two players who were not as good as he was, especially in a time when the Los Angeles Lakers team did not have good PG on the team.
So Nick Van Exel was even more upset with Jake who joined the Los Angeles Lakers team playing as PG and was now one of the best players in the NBA, so in that game, Van Exel wanted to show all his skill and help the Denver Nuggets team win the game.
Jake held the ball a little and pa.s.sed it to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and made a feint that tricked the opponent and Bryant tried the mid-range shot and made the first 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Soon the Denver Nuggets team went on the attack and Van Exel advanced the ball, Van Exel pa.s.sed the ball to Billups on the left and Kobe Bryant was on the defense, Billups tried to make a feint, but Bryant was not fooled, so Billups decided to pa.s.s the ball to Was.h.i.+ngton from the right.
Was.h.i.+ngton received the ball and Fox came to press on defense, Was.h.i.+ngton managed to trick Fox with a feint and attempted a mid-range shot to score 2 points for the Denver Nuggets team and tie the game.
The Denver Nuggets team wanted to win this game and pushed in attack and defense from the beginning of the game, Jake was controlling the pace of the game and trying to help the defense so that the Los Angeles Lakers team could gain the advantage in points in the first quarter.