novelNBA Season Begins 8
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The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a big advantage and practically guaranteeing victory in the game, Jake played for 12 minutes in that third quarter and had 6 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal.
"The third quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team with the lead, the Utah Jazz team is playing very well in that game with John Stockton being the highlight of the team and Karl Malone playing as well as ever."
"But they can't defend the attack from the Los Angeles Lakers team that has Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Jake Smith, with Jake on that team the attack from the Los Angeles Lakers team is very difficult to stop, just another team with a strong defense you can manage to win against them."
"Yes, it seems that the decision of the Los Angeles Lakers team to hire the rookie Jake Smith was correct, with Jake in the team the defense of the team improves a lot he also manages to catch the rebounds and helps in the attack making the defense not focus on O'Neal and Bryant just like they did in other games."
In the last quarter of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team remained strong, but Coach Harris decided to let Bryant and O'Neal rest for the next games that would be difficult and so the Utah Jazz team had to defend only against Jake and that made it difficult for he makes the points.
The attack of the Utah Jazz team, which had not yet given up winning, pushed and the advantage diminished, Coach Harris knew it would happen and put O'Neal and Bryant in the game again, Jake had to try 3 shots from three points in that four-quarter and hit just two by missing his first three-point shot in the NBA.
At the end of the last quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 109 points against 92 points of the Utah Jazz team, Jake played for 12 minutes in that four-quarter and had 8 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal.
Jake managed to make his first triple-double on the Los Angeles Lakers team and in the NBA too, Jake went to celebrate and Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and the other Lakers team hugged him and praised him for the great game.
"The second game of the season ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team won their second game at home, a game in which Jake Smith was certainly the best player on the team achieving his first triple-double in the NBA."
"Jake Smith had 31 points, 11 assists, and 11 rebounds as well as making 6 steals, Kobe Bryant also played very well with 19 points and 12 rebounds and Shaquille O'Neal with 39 points and 14 rebounds."
"O'Neal could be the best player in that game with his second double-double of the season and almost 40 points, but with the triple-double Jake deserves to be the best player in that game."
"Sure, O'Neal, Stockton, and Malone have a lot of double-doubles in their career, but even for them it's hard to get a lot of triple-doubles and Jake a 20-year-old man did in that game, he could be a big star in the future the NBA as these players are."
"The Utah Jazz team lost that game, but the players played very well in that game and we will definitely see the Utah Jazz team in the playoffs this season, let's see if the Los Angeles Lakers team continues to play well."
Jake was happy with the praise from his teammates and the praise from the fans too, it was only his second game in the NBA and even though he performed well he knew that nothing would mean if the team didn't win.
Jake realized in that game that if Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant performed poorly in any game he alone would not have the ability to lead the team to victory, Jake realized better the importance of teamwork and teammates had for the victory.
Of course, Jake already knew this and that is why he did not want to join the starting teams in the NBA draft, he had to have good teammates even if he received a lower salary or even if he was not the main player on his team.
Jake was thinking about going home when he was called by Coach Del Harris to talk, Jake was excited because the last time he spoke to Coach Harris he knew he would play in the starting team in the SF position, so this time it could be that he would play like PG.
"Good job in these last two games, Jake, I could see why the board of directors likes you so much, I know I left you in a difficult situation putting you to play as SF, but I wanted the team to have quality while Rick Fox I still couldn't play."
"You impressed me in those two games and played better than I thought possible, in the next game against the San Antonio Spurs team you still have to play as SF because Rick Fox is still not in ideal condition after all the first game was just 3 days ago."
"But in the fourth game of the season against the Denver Nuggets team, Rick Fox will be able to play and you will have your opportunity to play as PG if you play as well in the PG position as you play in the SF position you will have your place on the team."
"Thanks for the opportunity, coach, I will do my best in the next games."
Jake was happy to know that he would have the opportunity to play as a PG in the fourth game of the season, with that promise from the coach he was even more excited to play the next day against the San Antonio Spurs team.
This time the players would not have a day to rest before the next game and would not even have training because of that, luckily Jake was able to rest completely after a good night's sleep.
He did not know if at the end of the season he would have any accumulated fatigue, but for now, he saw no need to eat a stamina bar, he played for 48 minutes in the first two games and did not feel too tired after the game was over.
This didn't surprise Jake very much after all he had 45 points of resistance, he got tired at the university because he was still training with the basketball team and had training for the races that he had to do.
So came the day of the third game of the season and the first game playing away from home, the Los Angeles Lakers team would have to play against the San Antonio Spurs team at Alamodome Stadium, they would have to travel to San Antonio in Texas to play that game.
It would be Jake's first trip with the Los Angeles Lakers team, he naturally knew about the difficulties that the players had to go through to play, the team had to catch a plane that had already been booked well in advance and then the players would take a bus to the hotel and then from the hotel to the Alamodome.
This only increased the players' fatigue when they had to play several games in a week as was the case with the teams now at the beginning of the season, Jake did not suffer so much after traveling a few times to Japan and Australia which were very long trips.
His teammates also didn't suffer so much because they had several seasons to get used to this routine, Coach Harris observed Jake during the trip because some rookie players had difficulty with the trips in their debut season, but seeing that Jake was fine he got calmer.
Jake could feel when the team arrived at Alamodome that it was really different than playing at home, the fans were not rooting for them and it was the opposing team that had the most support from the crowd.
Jake had experienced it at the university and so he hoped for it, but in the NBA the proportion of things was much higher, the other players were used to it and so the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the locker room to put on the uniform and make some warm-up exercises.
The opposing team of the San Antonio Spurs didn't have the best players, only Tim Duncan and David Robinson stood out in this team, Steve Kerr had a standout for having a good hit rate on his three-point shots, but he didn't score many points in a game.
But they were a very strong team that with Duncan and Robinson managed to win the NBA title this season, the San Antonio Spurs team only managed to win the NBA title again when Tony Parker and Manu Ginóbili were on the team.
Even so, Jake had a lot of respect for this San Antonio Spurs team and knew that it would be difficult to win that game, in that game he and Kobe Bryant would have to perform better because Shaquille O'Neal could not score as many points as in other games.
"Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game of the NBA this season, the third game of those teams this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team facing the San Antonio Spurs team."
"The San Antonio Spurs team that never won an NBA title or any Conference title, but with the arrival of the 1998 rookie of the Year Tim Duncan last season, the San Antonio Spurs team got stronger with the Twin Towers Tim Duncan and David Robinson and this year they can try to win the NBA title for the first time."
"Of course, the Los Angeles Lakers team also wants the NBA title this season with Superstars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant and rookie Jake Smith who made two excellent games this season."
"I certainly think the Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win the NBA title this season, it is very difficult to imagine that the San Antonio Spurs team can beat the great teams this season and win the NBA title for the first time."
"In this game, the Los Angeles Lakers team has the advantage even playing as a visitor, if the main players of the team Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and Jake Smith play well the team Los Angeles Lakers will get the victory."
| ← Ch. 483 | Ch. 485 → |