Chapter 556 The Playoffs 6
With that, the Minnesota Timberwolves team could continue with the strategy of making fouls to prevent the Los Angeles Lakers team from making many points, but with that, the attack of the Minnesota Timberwolves team that also had to make many points was harmed.
The coach of the Los Angeles Lakers team had also realized this Minnesota Timberwolves strategy and so he replaced Shaq who was the biggest target of fouls for the Minnesota Timberwolves team and placed Robert Horry who was better at free throws and could still help in defense.
So in the last quarter, the two teams remained balanced and the fans of the Minnesota Timberwolves team were excited at the Target Center because either team could win.
Jake also realized this and realized that he had to try harder in the attack if he wanted the Los Angeles Lakers team to win that game, so Jake, who was the team"s PG, started trying three-point shots without pa.s.sing the ball to prevent the opponent fouls.
Jake tried 4 shots from outside and hit 3 of them, so the Minnesota Timberwolves team realized this and double-teamed Jake to prevent him from trying three-point shots, with that Jake pa.s.sed the ball and the Minnesota Timberwolves team stopped making so many faults.
With the Minnesota Timberwolves team having to double-team Jake, his teammates had a much easier time making the attacking moves and making the points and so the Los Angeles Lakers team increased the points advantage.
Soon the Minnesota Timberwolves team managed to make another strategy causing Garnett to defend against Jake and press on defense as soon as Jake caught the ball, even before Jake arrived on the attack.
This prevented Jake from attacking easily, in addition, the Minnesota Timberwolves team no longer needed to double-team Jake, but when the Minnesota Timberwolves team did that, the Los Angeles Lakers team had already opened up an advantage in points that would be difficult for the team Minnesota Timberwolves recover and achieve victory.
So the game continued with the Minnesota Timberwolves team still trying to make the foul strategy and the Los Angeles Lakers team pressing more in defense, Jake who was not able to play well in the attack, started to try more steals and blocks to help the Los Angeles team Lakers to win.
At the end of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team got the win with a good point advantage, which Jake did at the beginning of the last quarter helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to win and go to the next stage of the playoffs.
The Los Angeles Lakers team achieved the victory making 103 points against 95 points of the Minnesota Timberwolves team, in that game Jake played for 48 minutes and made 37 points, 10 a.s.sists, 8 rebounds, 11 steals, and 3 blocks.
"The game is over, the Los Angeles Lakers team got one more win and so they advance to the next phase of the playoffs and eliminate the Minnesota Timberwolves team, it was a great start to the playoffs for the Los Angeles Lakers team."
"This was the first game of that phase of the playoffs at the home of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Los Angeles Lakers team won, but the game was much more difficult than expected and the Minnesota Timberwolves team almost won."
"Kobe and Rick weren"t playing that well and the Minnesota Timberwolves team"s strategy of making many fouls towards the end of the game almost brought victory for them."
"Unfortunately, some players from the Minnesota Timberwolves team were also playing poorly and so it was more difficult for the Minnesota Timberwolves team to win the game."
"Jake was again the highlight of the game and made a triple-double with 37 points, 10 a.s.sists, and 11 steals and even made 3 blocks, at the beginning of the last quarter Jake hit 3 shots from outside and made 9 points and made the Minnesota team Timberwolves change the team"s way of defending and brought victory to the Los Angeles Lakers team."
"With the Los Angeles Lakers team advancing to the next round with 3 wins, it will give greater confidence to the players and the fans in the next games."
The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were very happy with the victory, in that game Jake and Shaq was more important for the victory and cla.s.sification of the Lakers team and Kobe and Rick knew that.
The Minnesota Timberwolves" players were saddened to be eliminated from the playoffs, but they hoped they would lose those games against the Los Angeles Lakers team that was the favorite team to win the NBA t.i.tle this season.
Jake talked to his mother for a while after the game and Eva said she would return to Jake"s home in Los Angeles, after all, there was a helicopter waiting for her whenever Eva needed, Jake said he understood why after this game the Lakers team would return to Los Angeles waiting for the next game.
After a few hours, Jake was at his house in Los Angeles and Eva had already arrived and was waiting for him, Jake took a grape juice he liked to drink and toasted his mother to celebrate the victory and celebrate that the team Los Angeles Lakers had qualified for the next phase of the playoffs.
Jake didn"t like drinking alcoholic beverages very much, but he wanted to be able to drink wine and champagne with his mother at times of celebration like this, soon Jake would be 21 and be of legal age to drink again.
Fortunately, Jake never really liked alcoholic beverages, so he can take all these years without drinking on his second chance, even Eva, who didn"t like drinking a lot, was still drinking wine with Anna at the restaurant.
The other day Jake woke up early to eat the breakfast with his mother, Jake still didn"t know who the next opponent would be because the Los Angeles Lakers team had won in just 3 games, but he would probably know on the 15th or 16th of May.
Either way, the Los Angeles Lakers team would probably play on the 17th or 18th of May, the Portland Trail Blazers team was playing against the Houston Rockets team and had won the first 2 games and lost the third game that happened yesterday, if the Portland team Trail Blazers won the next one they would qualify.
The San Antonio Spurs team won the 3 games against the Phoenix Suns team and had already qualified for the next phase of the playoffs too, the Utah Jazz team won the first game and lost the second and third games against the Sacramento Kings team.
Jake remembered that the same had happened in his past life and that the Utah Jazz team won the last 2 games and qualified for the next phase of the playoffs, if they qualified, the Utah Jazz team will play against the San Antonio Spurs team.
Anyway, the Los Angeles Lakers team would not have training that day because Coach Rambis gave the players a rest day, only the next day they would train and could train and rest until the 17th or until the 18th of May.
So the players would have at least 3 days of rest without games because they won the 3 games and qualified for the next phase, Jake thought that the San Antonio Spurs team would be their opponent in the next phase, and the San Antonio Spurs team had already ranked with 3 games too.
Of course, Jake knew well that the Los Angeles Lakers team had to win against the Portland Trail Blazers team to move on to the next stage, Jake had hopes that the Los Angeles Lakers team could win because he had him on the team and because Dennis Rodman was very important for the Lakers team to win the 3 games against the Minnesota Timberwolves team.
Dennis had more than 10 rebounds in all three games and was also important in defense, Jake knew that Dennis would be important in the playoffs, so he expected Dennis to remain on the Los Angeles Lakers team at least until the end of the season.
If the Los Angeles Lakers team got another skillful Power Forward to replace Dennis, Jake wouldn"t mind that and he was sure that Dennis would leave the Lakers team more satisfied having won an NBA t.i.tle.
After Jake ate the breakfast with Eva he asked for a break and went to his office to talk to Kate, Jake can"t call after the game is over because he knew Kate was at a show that day, but in the morning he could call talk to Kate.
"Hi, Kate, how are you?"
"Hi, Jake, everything is fine with me, congratulations on the victory in the last games and for your team to qualify for the next phase of the playoffs."
"Thanks, I didn"t call you yesterday because you were busy with your show."
"I was at the show, I asked Lily to let me know about the outcome of your game, even though I knew you were going to win, I was still worried."
Hearing Kate says that Jake just laughed, she and Eva were too used to the teams Jake played winning most games, but he knew it was possible that the team he played would be eliminated in those playoffs and in the next playoffs as well.
Jake wondered if Eva and Kate would be disappointed if they saw Jake"s team being eliminated, after all they always expected him to win every game, Jake hoped that it wouldn"t happen.
So in the next few days, Jake took the opportunity to relax and show his mother the city of Los Angeles, Jake had to train almost every day and hope that the next game would surely be in Los Angeles after all the Los Angeles Lakers team qualified in first.
Just as Jake expected on May 15, the Portland Trail Blazers won the third game against the Houston Rockets team and qualified for the next phase of the playoffs and would face the Los Angeles Lakers.
For Jake the Portland Trail Blazers team was the toughest opponent he faced this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team lost just one game and had other difficult games, but in his past life, the Los Angeles Lakers team had lost 2 games against the team Portland Trail Blazers in season.