novelA Different Team 3
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"From what I saw in that game, the Los Angeles Lakers team has an even stronger team with the return of Robert Horry and the entrance of Dennis Rodman, with the team even stronger the chance of this team winning the NBA title as well and bigger."
"It's true, we will continue to follow the Lakers team this season and see if they can win the NBA title again after so many years."
After the game the reporters asked again to interview some players, they went this time to interview Kobe Bryant and Jake, Kobe didn't give interviews at all games, but it was Dennis Rodman's debut so he knew what the questions would be.
"Hi Kobe, you performed poorly in the last game against the Los Angeles Clippers team, but in that game, your performance was much better, why do you think it happened?"
"In the previous game I had less time playing, it happens in some games of a player to perform poorly, so in this game, I focused more and managed to make a better game."
"What did you think of signing Dennis Rodman on the Los Angeles Lakers team this season?"
"I think he can help the team a lot this season, we need a player to help more in defense and rebounds, and Dennis is an excellent player and has won some NBA titles and he can certainly help us."
After the interview with Kobe, the reporters tried an interview with Jake who was also a difficult player to interview, Jake also knew he had to speak to the reporters at Dennis's debut.
"Jake, what did you think of signing Dennis Rodman on the Los Angeles Lakers team and what did you think of his debut in that game?"
"I am a big fan of Dennis, I think he is an excellent player who proved this by winning 5 NBA titles, he is also a great defensive player and the rebounds he picks up can help our team win more games this season."
"With Robert's recovery and Dennis joining the team, we have a stronger team now that can handle this difficult game sequence."
"In this game, Dennis showed that he can help the team a lot by catching the rebounds, with him on the team, I and the other players will have more confidence to make mid-range shots and shots from outside."
Jake said what he thought about Dennis, he didn't talk about his concerns, but that was something he just needed to worry about if it really happened, Jake thought that with the Los Angeles Lakers team beating Dennis he could stay on the team in the playoffs and help team trying to win an NBA title.
The fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team were very happy with the team after this great sequence of victories at the beginning of the season, the players were also happy with that and the hope of winning the NBA title at the end of the season only increased.
After that game the players returned home to rest, the next day the Lakers team would have no game and the players would just have to do a light training and that would give the players more rest.
The coach Kurt Rambis was concerned with this sequence of games without rest for the players, the medical team was also concerned with injuries of the players, after all any simple injury that would take the player for 1 week would leave him out for 4 games.
So coach Rambis had to replace players in most games, so coach Rambis was even more satisfied with Jake who could play the full 48 minutes in every game.
Of course, the Los Angeles Lakers medical team was running tests on Jake to make sure he could handle this long streak of games by playing 48 minutes in every game, but the doctors said Jake had almost no muscle tension.
It was very good for Jake that he could use his training for the marathons as an excuse to say why he had so much resistance, after all the real reason was the system that left his body improved because of the statistics.
The next day the players had time to rest before the next game and their training was light, the biggest concern of the medical team was still Robert who had just returned from an injury.
The players rested that day and soon the day of the next game came, the next game would be against the Houston Rockets team again, in the first game Jake of this season between these teams Jake was playing as SF.
So this game would be different for Jake too, the Houston Rockets team was one of the favorite teams this season, the biggest problem was the advanced age of the main players, but these players were more skilled than most NBA players as well.
Jake did not expect this to be a very difficult game, but he would have to try his best to help the Lakers team win another victory, Jake went to the Great Western Forum and saw that the crowd was excited about the game.
"Welcome everyone to another game this season in the NBA, in this game we have two teams that are performing well this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team that won 13 games in 14 games this season."
"Against the Houston Rockets team that had 8 wins in 13 games this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team is doing better, but it has changed coaches twice and coach Kurt Rambis plays his second game as head coach of the Lakers team."
"It's true, what makes the Los Angeles Lakers team win all these games is the great performance of rookie Jake Smith, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant, these three players have been performing well since the beginning of the season and so the Los Angeles Lakers team has the best attack today."
"On the Houston Rockets side, Scottie Pippen has been the highlight of the team with good performances in all games, he helps the team both in attack and defense, Hakeem Olajuwon is also another highlight in this team, even though in some games he did not perform well, he is one of the most important players."
"Charles Barkley had an injury this season and will return to play in that game, maybe his absence could be the reason for these losses at the beginning of the season, now let's see if the Houston Rockets team starts to win more games."
Just as commentators said the two teams had problems earlier in the season, in Jake's past life the two teams had a similar start to the season, so Jake was the one who helped the Lakers team win more games they would have lost.
Coach Rambis did not intend to let any main player rest for a long time, but he would still have to replace the players for at least 12 minutes in the game so that they would not get too tired.
The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O'Neal playing as Center.
The Houston Rockets team would start the game with Brent Price playing as PG, Michael Dickerson playing as SG, Scottie Pippen playing as SF, Othella Harrington playing as PF, and Hakeem Olajuwon playing as Center.
The Los Angeles Lakers team would start with Dennis playing because coach Rambis still worried about Robert playing for a long time after returning from injury, Othella Harrington would start playing for the same reason, but Charles Barkley would still play in that game as a substitute.
The game started with Hakeem Olajuwon won the first possession for the Houston Rockets team, Brent Price received the ball and advanced into the attack until he passed the ball to Scottie Pippen on the right.
In the first game between these two teams, Jake was playing as SF and managed to defend well against Scottie Pippen and still scored a lot, in that game Rick Fox would suffer to defend against Pippen and still attack.
But Jake knew it wouldn't be like that, what would happen was that Scottie Pippen would defend against Kobe Bryant who was one of the best players in the Los Angeles Lakers team in the attack, Rick would still defend against Pippen and thus Pippen would have more opportunities to make the points.
Pippen received the ball and Rick came in to press on defense, Pippen held the ball and moved away from Rick to try a mid-range shot to make the first 2 points for the Houston Rockets team.
The advantage that the Houston Rockets team had was that more experienced players like Pippen knew how to make the right moves to score points, so the Houston Rockets team's attacks were often quick and the opponent didn't have time to defend.
Jake received the ball and went on the attack to start another play, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Scottie Pippen arrived to press on defense just as Jake thought.
Rick was playing very well this season, but surely the Houston Rockets coach would send the best player to defend against Kobe who was one of the best players in the Lakers' attack.
Kobe held the ball and did not attempt an individual move and passed the ball to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball and Michael Dickerson came to press on defense, Rick made a feint and tricked Dickerson and got space to try the mid-range shot for make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Both teams had a strong attack and started pressing on the attack, the coaches would not try to take away the main players for a long time in this game in which victory was important for both teams.
In another move the Houston Rockets team went on the attack, Jake advanced the ball to organize the attack and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and tried another individual move, but this time Dickerson was not fooled and Rick had to pass the ball to Kobe from the right.
| ← Ch. 514 | Ch. 516 → |