Chapter 506 Change in Los Angeles Lakers Team 4
Vin Baker was a skilled PF and Olden Polynice played well as Center, but in that game, Shaquille O'Neal could play more smoothly and the defense would not bother him as it did in other previous games.
In that game Coach Harris decided not to take any chances and put Travis Knight on to play again, Jake thought that this would be a difficult game in which the Los Angeles Lakers team lost in his past life.
And the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team played well in that defeat, what happened was that the players of the Seattle SuperSonics team played even better, in this game Jake was confident to change that and bring victory to the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game.
The game started with the Seattle SuperSonics team pressing in the attack, Gary Payton advanced the ball and passed to Hersey Hawkins on the left, Hawkins received the ball and Kobe Bryant came to press on defense.
Hawkins held the ball and passed it to Detlef Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Fox came to press on defense, Schrempf tried a feint and managed to fool Fox and advanced into the area and tried a mid-range shot and made the first 2 points for the Seattle SuperSonics team.
Jake was skilled in defense, but what he was best at was steals and intercepting in defense, if the opponent tried to get past him using the force he would also defend well, but in a game like this if Payton tried to get past him using the skill would be difficult for Jake to defend.
So in this game Jake would not try to make so many steals by intercepting the ball and would concentrate only on defending against Gary Payton, only then would he be able to defend better and hinder Payton in some plays.
Jake picked up the ball and started organizing the Los Angeles Lakers team's first attack in the game, Jake went forward with the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Hawkins came to press on defense.
Bryant held the ball and managed to get rid of the defense and advanced into the area, Bryant advanced and Olden Polynice came to defend against him, Bryant was smart and passed the ball to Shaquille O'Neal who made the first 2 points for the Los team Angeles Lakers with a layup.
Polynice and the other Seattle SuperSonics defense players did not expect Kobe Bryant to pass the ball and his good move ended up making the Los Angeles Lakers tie the game.
After Jake spoke to Kobe Bryant, he started to think things over and agreed to a little with most of the things Jake had said, of course, some of the mistakes Jake said he had Bryant didn't want to admit he had because of pride his as a player.
Kobe Bryant heard some advice from Jake because he realized that Jake had said all that with the intention of helping him to improve as a player, but he wasn't going to change that quickly.
Of course, Jake didn't expect that when he said what he knew, Jake was just trying to get Kobe Bryant to understand what would make him one of the best players in the NBA when he got older and realized these mistakes alone.
Jake was a fan of Kobe Bryant and could only imagine how he could be an excellent player if he had his maturity and experience when he was at his peak while Kobe Bryant was still in peak physical condition.
In another move Payton started another attack for the Seattle SuperSonics team, Payton advanced with the ball, and Jake arrived to press in defense before Payton reached the three-point line.
Jake was determined to defend Payton as he never did before playing with another player, Payton did not want to try the individual move and passed the ball to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Fox came to press.
Schrempf tried another feint, but Fox was attentive and was not fooled, so Schrempf decided to pass the ball to Hawkins on the left, Hawkins received the ball and Kobe Bryant soon arrived to press in defense.
Hawkins held the ball for a while and then passed the ball to Vin Baker ahead, Baker received the ball and Travis Knight soon came to press on the defense, Baker tried a feint and soon after made a spin and managed to get rid of the defense and advanced to layup and 2 more points for the Seattle SuperSonics team.
The Seattle SuperSonics team was managing to press well in attack and playing well in defense leaving the game much more balanced than everyone expected, many hoped that perhaps the Los Angeles Lakers team could lose this game.
The Los Angeles Lakers team went on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and Payton came to defend against him, Jake was concerned with defending against Payton and Payton was also concerned with defending against Jake who had an average of over 30 points per game.
The two had already made some points in that first quarter, but they were careful with each other while attacking, Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Fox from the left, Fox received the ball and Schrempf soon arrived to press in defense.
Fox held the ball and soon passed it to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and wondered if he would make any individual moves, Hawkins also pressed in defense and Bryant decided to pass the ball to Jake further back.
Jake held the ball and Payton soon approached to press in defense, Jake made a quick feint and then did a step back, Payton was distracted by Jake's feint and so Jack managed to try a shot from outside and score 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
The Seattle SuperSonics team ended the first quarter by winning the game with an advantage of just 1 point against the Los Angeles Lakers team, it was a really balanced game in which the two teams were still trying to analyze the opponent.
In that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal, Jake was having to work harder to score and defend, but he still managed to play well in that first quarter against Gary Payton.
"What a great first quarter we had in that game, a game so far balanced and the Seattle SuperSonics team is winning by just 1 point, but this was one of the few times that the Los Angeles Lakers team lost on points in a quarter."
"The Seattle SuperSonics team is really doing well this season, it's a team with great players and they can perform well in games, with Gary Payton leading the team and the other star Vin Baker that team can make it to the playoffs."
"That's right, it's a team with great players, four players who have been NBA all-stars in the past and that shows their quality, and with the Seattle SuperSonics team playing at home I think they can win this game."
"Yes, but the Los Angeles Lakers team also played very well in that first quarter, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Jake Smith, and Rick Fox did well in attack and they are the best attack of this season, so they can still win this game."
"The Los Angeles Lakers team lost just one game this season and I think they can still win that game, the most important thing is that Jake Smith is still managing to play well even with Gary Payton defending against him."
"Yes, Jake Smith was defending well against Gary Payton too, the two players respect each other and I think that in the next quarters of the game this dispute will be even more intense."
"It's still amazing how well Jake Smith still plays with even one of the best defensive players in the NBA Gary Payton, we will continue to follow this game to see what happens."
The second quarter started with the Los Angeles Lakers team putting pressure on the attack, they wanted the victory in this game more and could use the strong attack of the players to try to put pressure on the Seattle SuperSonics team.
Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Schrempf arrived pressing in defense, Fox held the ball and passed to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Payton arrived in defense attentive to prevent Jake from doing any move.
Jake passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Hawkins came to press on defense, Bryant received the ball and made a feint and moved away, Bryant made the between the legs dribble move and Hawkins was unable to get close.
So Bryant made a feint and attempted the mid-range shot and made 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, a compliment that the Los Angeles Lakers team received was that Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal were making fewer mistakes and had an average of Field Goal Percentage higher after Jake joined the team.
Before it was normal for them to have more than 18 Field Goal Attempts per game and to have less than 50 percent correctness, that was normal for many teams, in fact, so Shaquille O'Neal was several times first in the Field Goal Percentage with little more than 50 percent.
That changed after Jake's arrival and he got an average of 80 percent in the Field Goal Percentage himself, so for every 10 attempts, Jake made the points he hit 8 of them even though he averaged more than 30 points per game, so Jake was surprised so much.
The Seattle SuperSonics team went on the attack shortly thereafter, Payton advanced the ball and passed it to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Fox arrived to press on defense, so Schrempf decided to pass the ball to Payton again.
Payton received the ball and Jake arrived to press in defense, Payton tried a feint to deceive Jake, but Jake was not deceived and continued watching Payton, Payton tried to advance using speed, but Jake continued to press in defense and did not let Payton advance.