Chapter 483 NBA Season Begins 7
The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team with the advantage on the scoreboard, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake played this first quarter much better than the past game.
Still, Jake was not scoring as many points as he still had to pass the ball to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, but Jake realized that he had a lot more confidence from his teammates in that game.
"What a great first quarter for the Los Angeles Lakers in that game too, in defense they are not doing very well, but the Los Angeles Lakers' attack misses very little and that's why they manage to finish the first quarter with a good advantage."
"Jake is not intimidating himself because it is just his second game in the NBA and he is making all the moves correctly, he is doing dribbling and feints and Bryon Russell is having a hard time in that game."
"It's true, we can see that Jake is getting more passes from his teammates, that's because he is showing that he knows how to play well as a team and that is making things more difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team."
"The Utah Jazz team is also not defending well, but John Stockton and Karl Malone are playing very well in this game and we cannot say yet which team will win."
The second quarter of the game started with the Los Angeles Lakers pressing on the attack, after all, as the defenses did not work well, the attacks had to score more points than the opposing team.
Fisher advanced the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant, Bryant passed the ball further to O'Neal and the defense pressed and Malone came to press it too, O'Neal passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake saw that Bryant was free and passed the ball.
Kobe Bryant tried the shot and ended up missing, Shaquille O'Neal was quick and managed to catch the rebound and made the layup to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Los Angeles Lakers team had the advantage in rebounds in that game and it helped them to keep winning the game.
In another move, the Utah Jazz team was pushing forward, after a good move Stockton passed the ball to Russell, Russel was quick and passed the ball back to Stockton near the free-throw line.
Fisher arrived to defend, but Stockton was quick and soon passed the ball to Malone who received the ball and made a dunk to make 2 more points for the Utah Jazz team, the game was played and both teams were strong in the attack which left the most animated game for fans to watch.
The Los Angeles Lakers team attempted another attack with a few minutes left to finish the second quarter, Fisher held the ball and Stockton was defending well against him, so Fisher passed the ball to Bryant again.
Bryant was not playing as well in that game and even though Hornacek's defense was not as good Bryant did not play as well as in the first game of the season, so Bryant passed the ball to Jake who was on the left.
Jake was playing very well in that game and was defending well against Russell who had only scored 8 points in that game and in other games he helped the Utah Jazz team to win, and Jake was also good in attack and assists.
Jake made a feint and failed to fool Russell this time, Jake tried another feint pretending he was going to the back of the court and Russell stopped waiting for Jake to make the move, Jake realized this and stepped away from Russell and tried the shot. out to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Russell was tricked by Jake and didn't even have time to react when Jake attempted the three-point shot, it was difficult to defend against a player who made good assists, was quick in individual shots and knew how to shoot with great skill.
The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a good advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes in that second quarter and had 9 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake was very well and hoped to get the first double-double in that game.
"What a good game we have been following so far, a game in which the attacks of the two teams are very strong and the defenses are also very good, the Los Angeles Lakers team has the advantage because there are three players playing very well in that game."
"Shaquille O'Neal is playing very well and got 8 rebounds and scored 20 points in the first half of the game, Kobe Bryant is also playing very well and has 5 rebounds, and 9 points, both of whom have been the main players of this Los team Angeles Lakers."
"And we also have Jake Smith who has been playing another excellent game in his second game in the NBA, Jake had 17 points and managed to get 6 rebounds in addition to making 6 assists, and that with Jake playing improvised as SF."
"It's true, Jake Smith has been showing that it was the right time for him to leave university because he is ready to play in the NBA, in this game he is receiving more passes from his teammates and is playing better rewarding the confidence of his teammates."
"Did Jake's performances in the last few games make us wonder if he played as SF on this team would not be the best option for him in the Los Angeles Lakers?"
"I don't think so, playing as SF Jake Smith doesn't have as much freedom in the moves and he can't help that much in defense either, with Jake creating the moves the other players like Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal would receive more assists in a position to make the points and would receive less pressure from the opposing defense."
Jake knew that playing as well as SF would put many people in doubt whether he should even play as PG, Jake really wanted to play as PG and he thought that with Rick Fox as SF and him as PG the Los Angeles Lakers team would be much better.
Jack was very fond of Derek Fisher, but he thought that Rick Fox in the SF position helped the team much more than Derek Fisher playing as PG, after all, Jake was much better than him playing as PG.
But it was not because he wanted to play as a PG that he would show a poor performance playing as SF on the team, he wanted to help the Los Angeles Lakers team to win, and thought that if it was necessary he would demand that he play as a PG on another team that he would play in the future in the NBA and play as SF on the Los Angeles Lakers team.
What Jake didn't know was that Jerry West and the Los Angeles Lakers team directors also wanted to see Jake playing as PG which was the position he was hired to play in, so they pressured coach Del Harris to put Rick Fox to play like that that was possible.
Jake wanted to win as many games as he could to help the team and thought that would change something, but the truth was that Del Harris would leave the team even if they won all of the first 12 games.
After all, the team's stars didn't like him very much and Coach Harris challenged the Los Angeles Lakers team's board a lot, not to mention that Jake knew that the Lakers team's board wanted Phil Jackson as coach next season.
In the third quarter, the Utah Jazz team began to put more pressure on the attack and defense, the Los Angeles Lakers team's advantage was more than 15 points in the game and therefore the Utah Jazz team's attacks were intense.
In an attack by the Utah Jazz Stockton team he came at a faster pace and passed the ball to Russel, Russel quickly passed the ball to Malone before Jake pressed the defense, Malone held the ball and then passed it to Stockton again.
Stockton was on the free-throw line and had gotten rid of Fisher, so Stockton drive to the basket and scored 2 points for the Utah Jazz team, Stockton was very good in that game and Fisher was unable to defend against him.
Jake was doing the best he could to defend against Russell, and that was forcing Russell to try the mid-range shot and he had a low hit rate in that game, and Malone was having a hard time playing because O'Neal was helping Horry in defense, Robert Horry came on for Corie Blount and Malone was having a harder time attacking.
So Stockton was the best player on the Utah Jazz team and in addition to making assists he was still trying to score, Jake couldn't help but think that if he were in that game he could disturb more Stockton in that game and so the Los Angeles Lakers team would have easier to win the game.
In another attacking move by the Utah Jazz Stockton team, Russell passed to Russell again, Russell had to pass to Stockton again who tried to shoot out, but he missed and Jake was quick to catch the rebound.
Jake took the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant and went on the attack, Bryant passed the ball to Fisher who went to organize the play for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Fisher passed the ball to Kobe Bryant who soon passed the ball to Jake on the left.
Russell pressed the defense and Jake saw O'Neal getting free in Ostertag's defense and passed the ball to him, O'Neal went up to hook to try to score, but Malone came to try the block and ended up missing O'Neal.
Shaquille O'Neal was the most missed player in the Los Angeles Lakers team because he didn't have such a high hit rate on his free throws, O'Neal hit the first free throw attempt, he tried the second and missed.
The ball hit the backboard rim and went away from the inside area and close to where Jake was, Jake took the rebound from O'Neal's second attempt and was close to the three-point line, but Jake did not attempt the shot from outside and made a high pass to O'Neal who noticed the move and caught the ball high to make the dunk completing the alley-oop plus making 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.