A Great Deal
"Yes, I love to play basketball and I love to run and I like to win too, I am managing to make all my dreams come true, I was able to play in the NBA, I was able to be happy and you are also happy, mom, I know you suffered for many years and I think you're happier now."
"I'm very happy, having a restaurant has always been a dream of mine, I have great friends around me, and you're happy what's most important to me, Jake, I'm sure your dad would be proud if he saw the man you became."
Jake talked to Eva for a while and went to sleep to get the rest he deserved, the next day Jake woke up very early and rested, that day the team would have no game and only have light training.
Even though he was able to rest fully after a good night's sleep, Jake knew his body needed a few days like this to rest, Jake needed to rest his mind also with the pressure of NBA games.
Jake thought about just resting before going to train with the team, but he got a call from Emily saying that Charlie sent word that Larry Page and Sergey Brin had already tried to sell their company to Excite's CEO, George Bell and had failed.
Jake warned Charlie that if Larry Page and Sergey Brin tried to sell the company and couldn't, it was for Charlie to tell him soon afterward, Charlie didn't understand how Jake knew they would try to sell the company, but he kept watching to see what happened and when what Jake wanted happening he asked Emily to let Jake know.
Jake was risking a lot by letting Larry Page and Sergey Brin tried to sell the company because Jake knew he had already changed the future he knew and so it could happen that George Bell decided to buy Google and that would be a disaster.
Even so Jake decided to wait for everything to happen as it should, the only problem was that he didn't know when the two would try to sell Google, he just knew it would be in early 1999 and before June 1999 when they were going to make a round of investments.
So Jake asked Charlie to watch when Larry Page and Sergey Brin would try to sell Google and if they couldn't, it would be an ideal time to make his offer, now it seemed like the right time for that.
Jake was happy to hear that and thanked Emily and asked her to thank Charlie for the information, Jake had been waiting for it since the first time he met them both last year, Jake picked up the phone and called the number he talked to Larry Page.
"Hi, this is Jake Smith speaking."
"Hi, Jake, I didn't expect you to call me so soon, you usually talk to me once in several months."
"Hahaha, I know that, but I heard that you tried to sell the company and I was shocked to hear about it."
"So you already know about that, we thought about selling the company to Excite, but we couldn't, after thinking about it we thought it might be good that we were unable to sell the company."
"Of course it's good, you should have talked to me before trying to sell the company, I said I was interested in investing, I just didn't have the money to invest yet, but seeing that you tried to sell the company for 1 million dollars I decided that I should invest in the company right now."
"I want you to come to Los Angeles on the 12th of this month, bring your lawyer because I am going to make an offer you cannot refuse and we will become partners."
Larry Page was quiet on the phone if it was someone else saying that he certainly wouldn't go to Los Angeles thinking it might be a joke, but Jake had already told them several times about his interest in investing in their company.
They thought that Jake didn't really want to invest after going several months without making a proposal, but now Larry felt that Jake was really prepared to invest, at the very least they could talk to Jake and if they didn't like the proposal they would refuse.
"Okay, Jake, I'm going to talk to Sergey and we'll be there in Los Angeles on the 12th, I hope your proposal is as good as you said."
Jake was happy that Larry agreed to do this meeting in Los Angeles, he couldn't go to California right now because he was at the beginning of the game season with his team and had trained almost every day.
If Larry said he wanted to hear his proposal then it meant that they were interested, after all, they intended to sell the company a few days ago for $ 1 million and Jake would offer much more than that for only part of the company.
But Jake had to focus on the games because the Los Angeles Lakers team would still have 2 games before the day of their negotiation, later on, the team did light training before the next game, and Jake was already in the PG position in training.
Seeing this, everyone understood what was happening because it was expected by everyone, Rick Fox was happy too because he was finally going to play in that game, he was afraid Jake would continue as SF of the team and so he would never have the opportunity to play again.
Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant spoke to Jake after training, they were happy that Jake would finally play as PG in the next game, in PG's position Jake would have much more opportunities to organize plays and assist.
Not to mention that it could disrupt the PG of the opposing team to organize the plays, they knew how a good PG could make an opposing team be much more dangerous than a team with a player who scores a lot of points.
With that day of rest, the players 'physical condition was much better for the next game, so the next day came and that was the day of the Los Angeles Lakers' game against the Denver Nuggets team.
The Denver Nuggets team was the weakest opponent they would face this season, they got Raef LaFrentz who was an excellent player in the 1998 draft, but after a few more games after that LaFrentz would suffer a serious injury that would leave him out for the rest of the season.
Even so, the Denver Nuggets team should not be underestimated, any NBA team could win a game if their opponents underestimated the difficulty of the game, of course, Jake would try his best in this game that would be his first as a PG in the NBA.
After a few hours the Los Angeles Lakers team arrived at the McNichols Sports Arena for the game, basketball fans would fill the McNichols Sports Arena in that game because the opponent was the Los Angeles Lakers team that had Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and the rookie Jake Smith.
The players put on their uniforms and went to the court to warm up a little more before the game, Jake was excited about this game and Rick Fox was also if he played well in this game he could be the starting player on the team throughout the season.
"Welcome to everyone who came to watch this game of the NBA season, today's game is between the Los Angeles Lakers team that won all three games this season and the Denver Nuggets team that lost the first three games of the season."
"So the Los Angeles Lakers team is definitely the favorite to win this game after all this team has players like Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant who are making a great start to the season and the best rookie of this season currently Jake Smith who made 2 triple-double in three games."
"Certainly Jake Smith is the center of attention in this game, mainly because he will play his first game as a PG on the Los Angeles Lakers team and in the NBA, he had played improvised as SF and had made excellent games, let's see how he does on PG position."
"I think he will play the same or worse than he played as SF, after all, PG doesn't normally have as many chances to score points and rebounds as an SF has, only his assists and steals can increase in that game."
"I don't think so, Jake Smith seems to play differently than other PG we know, and we had NBA Magic Johnson to show that a PG can also score a lot and help the team win."
The Los Angeles Lakers team came in this game with the starting players Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Shaquille O'Neal playing as Center, that was the debut of Jake as the team's PG and everyone was excited to see what it would be like.
The Denver Nuggets team that was playing at home came in this game with the initial players' Nick Van Exel playing as PG, Chauncey Billups playing as SG, Bryant Stith playing as SF, Raef LaFrentz playing as PF, and Antonio McDyess playing as Center.
Antonio McDyess was the main player of this Denver Nuggets team and he was really a great player at that time before injuries hindered his performance in games, Nick Van Exel who was a player of the Los Angeles Lakers team was also one of the highlights of this Denver team Nuggets.
The game started with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the first ball possession, Jake received the ball and was thrilled playing the first time as PG, now he could organize the plays and control the pace of the Lakers' game.
Jake advanced with the ball and Van Exel came to press on defense, Jake did not rush and passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and easily got rid of Chauncey Billups defense and made the mid-range shot to make the first 2 points of that game.
Kobe Bryant played well in the first three games of the season, but he thought he was not good enough as in all games Jake Smith and Shaquille O'Neal played better than him, so in this game, he wanted to take the opportunity to score more points.
After the first attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Denver Nuggets team had to react, Nick Van Exel started to organize the attack and advanced to the attack with Jake defending against him.
Van Exel passed the ball to Billups on the left, Billups tried the feint, but Bryant was firm on the defense and was not fooled, so Billups had to pass the ball to Raef LaFrentz later on, LaFrentz received the ball and Robert Horry pressed the defense.
LaFrentz was quick and made a spin and managed to make a mid-range shot to make 2 points for the Denver Nuggets team and tie the game again, LaFrentz really was a great player and unfortunately, his career would be hampered by injuries like many players.
In another move by the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake started to organize the move and passed it to Rick Fox on the left, Fox was not participating as much in the game because the Los Angeles Lakers team did not have so much trouble making points against the Denver Nuggets team.
Fox received the ball and Bryant Stith soon pressed in defense against him, Fox held the ball and soon passed to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and two players from the Denver Nuggets team came to defend against him.
So Bryant passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and soon got rid of the Van Exel defense and went inside, the Denver Nuggets team's defense was open and Jake took the opportunity to advance.
Antonio McDyess realized that Jake was going to make the points and tried to defend against him, Jake realized this and made an assist to Shaquille O'Neal who was free, O'Neal received the ball and made the dunk to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
O'Neal praised Jake for his assistance and Jake was happy with that, Jake thought it best to play as PG because he could defend better and organize his team's plays, moreover, Jake participated in all plays and had more freedom to make assists or make the stitches.
In another play by the Denver Nuggets team, the ball stayed with LaFrentz, LaFrentz held the ball and passed it to Van Exel further back, Van Exel received the ball and made a pass to McDyess further on McDyess protected the ball and O'Neal was defending against him.
McDyess used his ability to position himself to hook to make 2 more points for the Denver Nuggets team, McDyess, LaFrentz was playing very well and were giving problems to the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team in that first quarter.
Jake received the ball and began the attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and felt the pressure of the Denver Nuggets' defense and had to pass to Horry later on.
Horry received the ball and LaFrentz was already defending against him, Horry passed the ball to Jake further back, Van Exel was not pressing in defense and Jake decided to try the shot from outside and hit it with 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
That was another difference that he had playing as a PG and playing as an SF, the three-point shots were easier for Jake to try and he would try less 2 point shots, so the tendency was that he had more chances to make assists and could also make more points.
The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers having a big advantage on the scoreboard, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 9 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake can make assists and points more easily but had less chance of catching rebounds.
"The first quarter ended, the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning with a big advantage on the scoreboard and it seems to be an easy game for them even with the team playing away from home."
"Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers team was the favorite in this game anyway, after all, the Denver Nuggets team hasn't won a game this season yet, even with the good performance of Raef LaFrentz and Antonio McDyess they can't stop the opponent's attack."
"And in the Los Angeles Lakers team we have the whole team performing well in that game, Jake Smith has been playing well and controlling the pace of his debut in his PG position in the NBA."
"Kobe Bryant started trying to make several plays and made some points and realizing that the Denver Nuggets team's defense was focusing on him, Bryant started to pass the ball more."
"Shaquille O'Neal is playing as well as always scoring 8 points in that first quarter in 6 attempts, and even Robert Horry and Rick Fox who are debuting this season are playing well."
Seeing Jake's first quarter as PG, coach Harris can relax, basketball fans might not realize it, but the team played completely differently with Jake playing as PG than it did before with Fisher.
Coach Harris realized that Rick Fox was not making many moves because it was not necessary with Jake, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, and even Robert Horry playing well in the attack, the team's defense was not so good, but even so, the Denver team Nuggets were unable to score points at all attacks.
It didn't make much of a difference in this game that was easier for the Los Angeles Lakers team, but in more played games and against tough opponents the pace and control of the game in Jake's hands would help the team achieve victory.
The second quarter started with the Denver Nuggets team pushing in the attack, with Raef LaFrentz and Antonio McDyess playing so well, the Denver Nuggets team manager decided to try to exploit that to get the win.
In a good attacking move by the Denver Nuggets team the ball was passed to McDyess, O'Neal was pressing and Horry also approached to help in the defense, so McDyess passed the ball to LaFrentz who was free from the left.
LaFrentz received the ball and tried the shot from outside to score 3 points for the Denver Nuggets team and cheer up the crowd at McNichols Sports Arena, even with that play going on Horry was playing well in defense otherwise LaFrentz would make even more points.
In another move by the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake started to organize the attack, he passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and passed it to Fox on the left, Fox tried to get rid of the opposing player on defense, but he couldn't and passed it to Jake in the back.
Jake received the ball and Van Exel pressed in defense, the Denver Nuggets team's defense increased the pressure defending O'Neal and Bryant, so Jake made a long pass to Horry who was free in the attack, Horry went forward and hooked to do more 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
As commentators said all the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team were well on the attack and so Jake had an easier time getting assists in his debut game, even so, Jake passed the ball over to Bryant and O'Neal to make the attacks.
In another play by the Denver Nuggets Van Exel team passed the ball to LaFrentz, LaFrentz failed to deceive Horry in defense and passed it to Bryan Stith on the right, Kobe Bryant soon went to defend against Stith who tried to pass the ball further back to Van Exel.
Jake, who had already noticed the move, anticipated and managed to intercept Stith's pass making the steal, Jake did not run for the attack and held the ball until his teammates had time to go on the attack.
Jake moved slowly forward because the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning and he didn't want his teammates to tire of anything, Jake passed the ball to Fox on the left.
Fox received the pass from Jake and held the ball before passing it to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and with a feint, he got rid of Billups, Bryant advanced to the inside area and after a beautiful play, he made the layup and more 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Jake was happy that the team did not lose the attack and that they increased the advantage on the scoreboard, in this game in which the two defenses were not playing very well, the steals that Jake managed helped to increase the advantage on the scoreboard.
After another good play by the Denver Nuggets team Raef LaFrentz shot outside to make three more points for the Denver Nuggets team, Jake received the ball and started organizing another play for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Fox on the left, Fox held the ball and passed to Bryant on the left, the Denver Nuggets team's defense soon pressed against Bryant who had to pass to Jake further back.
Jake received the ball and made a feint getting rid of the defense of Van Exel and tried the shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake had a large percentage of correct three-point shots, so he had no afraid to try whenever I had the chance.
The second quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team got a good lead on the scoreboard, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 7 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals, Jake had a great second quarter and almost got the double-double before the game break.
"The second quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team increasing the points advantage, even more, it looks like the Los Angeles Lakers team will get another victory and the Denver Nuggets team will lose another game."
"The Denver Nuggets team's attack is fine in that game with a good performance by Raef LaFrentz, and Antonio McDyess, but that didn't seem enough for the Denver Nuggets team to win."
"After all, the Los Angeles Lakers team's attack has been very strong this season and they are doing very well in this game too, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Jake Smith, and Robert Horry have been playing very well and Rick Fox is also doing a good game."
"Yes, today the entire Los Angeles Lakers team seems to be playing well, but in defense, they are making some mistakes that make the Denver Nuggets team still stand a chance of winning that game."
"The highlight of the game so far seems to be rookie Jake Smith again, he was the best player on the Lakers team so far he is playing very well as a PG on the team."
In the third quarter of the game, coach Harris started replacing some players for a few minutes so they wouldn't get tired, but Jake was always on the court because he himself asked not to be replaced.
For some reason the team coach Denver Nuggets also made some substitutions for a few minutes, he even replaced Raef LaFrentz who was making an excellent game and Nick Van Exel too.
When Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were replaced, Jake had a few minutes when he decided to attack alone taking advantage of the weakness of the Denver Nuggets' defense, in a few minutes Jake scored 9 points by hitting 3 shots from 3 points from 4 attempts.
This showed one of the reasons Jake was chosen as the first pick of the 1998 draft, Jake also achieved a steal in those minutes and increased the Los Angeles Lakers' lead by 5 points, so the Denver Nuggets fans realized they wouldn't see the team of them winning that game.
In another attacking move by the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake came at a fast pace for the attack, Kobe Bryant was still off the court and Jake passed the ball to Tyronn Lue from the right, Lue received the ball and the Denver Nuggets team's defense pressed and Lue had to pass the ball to Fox.
Rick Fox had made a good defensive game and helped the team with some points, Stith pressed in the defense and so Fox passed the ball back to Jake, Jake saw that Shaquille O'Neal was asking for the ball and passed it to him.
McDyess pressed O'Neal in defense, but O'Neal did a Power move and passed McDyess and dunk using all his strength and held the hoop making the hoop swing, it was a good move by O'Neal who was annoyed with McDyess's good defense in the game.
The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team being close to winning the game with a big points advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes and had 13 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals.
"What a great third quarter of Jake Smith we could see, he scored 13 points in those 12 minutes and still got 3 assists, this is the fourth game of the season and Jake Smith has played every minute so far and this has been helping the Los Angeles Lakers team a lot."
"It's true, Jake Smith won several marathons and shows that he really has great stamina at the beginning of the season, his first game as PG shows that he has to stay in this position and help the Lakers team to continue winning."
"With the big advantage in points that the Los Angeles Lakers team has in this game, we can say that they have already won this game, they are more than 22 points and the Denver Nuggets team has only 12 minutes to make that difference."
Just as the commentators said in the last quarter of the game the two teams had already accepted the result and were not putting so much pressure on the attack and defense, so the last quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team won the fourth game this season and the Denver team Nuggets lost the fourth game.
The Los Angeles Lakers team won with 118 points against 91 points of the Denver Nuggets team, Jake played for 12 minutes in the four-quarter and had 7 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake made another triple-double, but this time with points, assists and steals.
"And the game ends with yet another victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team in a game that they won from start to finish, a great game from all the players on the Lakers team and the Denver Nuggets team had no chance of winning."
"Jake Smith was once again the star of the game making his third triple-double followed by him and this time making 10 steals and not 10 rebounds, he got 9 rebounds and with one more rebound he would make a historic quadruple-double."
"Yes, if Jake Smith continues to play like that he could be this season's MVP in his debut season, and the Los Angeles Lakers team's attack remains unstoppable, Kobe Bryant had 23 points and Shaquille O'Neal had 31 points."
"With a strong attack like this, the Los Angeles Lakers team is coming as a favorite to win the NBA title this season, we will follow in the next games if Jake Smith continues with these incredible performances."
After another victory, the media started to say that the Los Angeles Lakers had a strong team to win the NBA title, Jake was the most talked about player of the moment because with 3 games in a row doing triple-double and with an average of more 7 steals per game Jake showed himself to be a different player than he was normally seen in the NBA.
Jake was already mentioned together with the big stars of the NBA and the hopes of the fans in him increased a lot after those initial games, only Jake was realistic and knew that things would not always be like that, this triple-double sequence came because his teammates his team were playing very well.
But when his teammates underperformed, the Lakers team would lose and he wouldn't be able to stand out in those games, but it was undeniable for everyone that Jake would be the best rookie of the season if he continued to play well.
The companies that chose to trust Jake and David Falk were very happy with Jake's performance in the first games of the season, they thought it was good that they had not yet made a television commercial with Jake would take advantage of it after the season was over to enjoy the best Jake's moment in the NBA.
David Falk was also happy and he could not even expect Jake to perform as well as he did in his first NBA games, what nobody knew was that since the 1998 draft Jake was training every day with very skilled opponents in training his imagination and the real NBA opponents were usually not as good as the SS rank players in all the skills he faced.
Without Jake knowing Adidas was accelerating the production of the sneakers that were created to be the brand that Jake represented, Adidas planned to wait a few months before thinking about selling that sneaker, but with Jake's great performance in his debut year, they didn't think they needed to wait any longer.
Of course, it would still be a few months before it was possible to start selling these sneakers worldwide, so Adidas representatives decided not to tell Jake and David that, so Jake was just focused on the next game.
For the next game, the Los Angeles Lakers team had to travel again, this time to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the third game as a visiting visitor, the opponent of their fifth game of the season was the Minnesota Timberwolves team.
The Minnesota Timberwolves team was not such a tough opponent, but they had young star Kevin Garnett of whom Jake was also a fan, Kevin Garnett became one of the greatest players of all time and was an excellent defensive player.
Jake remembered that the Los Angeles Lakers team lost that game and one of the reasons for that was that Shaquille O'Neal had not played in that game and this time again coach Harris said O'Neal would not play that game.
Even though he was on the team, Jake didn't know the reason for this decision by Coach Harris, Shaquille O'Neal was not hurt and even though he was tired he could play for at least 20 minutes in that game.
So not even Jake could guarantee that he could change the outcome of that game, it was a certainty that the Los Angeles Lakers team currently depended on Shaquille O'Neal for good results, after all, he was the main player on the team and a reference in the attack.
Kobe Bryant was certainly a genius and would be an idol in the future, but currently, O'Neal was the most important player for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jake was playing well, but without good teammates, he could not guarantee any victory.
The day of the game came and the players were a little tired with so many trips in a row, so the team did not do any training and the players could not prepare well for the game in which Shaquille O'Neal would not be playing.
The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the Target Center which was full of Minnesota Timberwolves fans, Jake was not anxious about it because he would try to make the best of him in this game and if the Los Angeles Lakers team lost he would have more peace of mind knowing that in his past life the Lakers team had also lost that game.
Players put on their uniforms and did warm-up exercises in the locker room and went to the court to start the game, Jake's teammates were also concerned about not having Shaquille O'Neal in that game, but with Jake and Kobe Bryant, they knew that could win.
"Welcome that you came to watch one more game this NBA season, in that game we will have the Los Angeles Lakers team that comes from 4 victories in 4 games this season against the Minnesota Timberwolves team that had 2 victories in 3 games this season."
"The Minnesota Timberwolves team, which is playing at home here at the Target Center, has a lot of problems this season after giving Kevin Garnett a $ 126 million contract for 6 years."
"It is undeniable that Kevin Garnett is an excellent player and a young man who can be the star of the Minnesota Timberwolves team for many years, but with this contract, the team no longer has the money to pay for other good players."
"Yes, the question is not whether Kevin Garnett is worth a contract of that amount, but that the Minnesota Timberwolves team is unable to pay."
"The Los Angeles Lakers team doesn't have that problem, even if the star of the team Shaquille O'Neal doesn't have that big a salary, Kobe Bryant and Jake Smith still get low wages, Kobe Bryant will renew his contract this year, but Jake Smith will still receive the rookie salary for a few years."
"With the exchanges made by the Los Angeles Lakers team, they still have a few million dollars to spend on wages if they want to sign more players."
"What worries me is that Shaquille O'Neal is not going to play in that game, he is not even on the bench and did not know if he was injured or would have any problems not being able to play in that game."
"We have no way of knowing that, now let's see how the Los Angeles Lakers team can play without the team's biggest star, after all, Shaquille O'Neal is an important player for the team's attack."
The Los Angeles Lakers team came with the starting players Jake playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Travis Knight playing as Center in place of Shaquille O'Neal.
Playing at home, the Minnesota Timberwolves team came with the initial players' Bobby Jackson playing as PG, Malik Sealy playing as SG, Sam Mitchell playing as SF, Kevin Garnett playing as PF and Joe Smith playing as Center.
Even without Shaquille O'Neal playing the Los Angeles Lakers team still had the best players, but they had no training playing without Shaquille O'Neal on the team, and with the Los Angeles Lakers team playing as a visitor they didn't have much of an advantage.
The game started with the Minnesota Timberwolves team in the attack, Bobby Jackson started the move for his team passing to Malik Sealy on the left, Kobe Bryant tried to press the defense and Sealy passed the ball to Kevin Garnett later on.
Garnett got rid of Robert Horry easily and went ahead to layup and make the first 2 points of the game for the Minnesota Timberwolves team, the two teams did not have a good defense and without Shaquille O'Neal, in the Los Angeles Lakers team, Kevin Garnett would have it easier to make the attack moves.
The Los Angeles Lakers team had to attack and Jake started to organize the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Sealy started to press in defense.
Bryant easily passed Sealy and tried the mid-range shot to score 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team and tie the game, in that game without Shaquille O'Neal it would be Jake and Kobe Bryant who would have the responsibility to score more points for the team.
Both teams had good attacks and did not have good defenses, Jake helped with the steals in some games and some players defended well, but the NBA players were almost all very skilled in attack so the defense of these players looked bad.
In another move by the Minnesota Timberwolves team, Jackson passed the ball to Sealy on the left, Bryant pressed the defense and Sealy had to pass it back to Jackson again.
Jackson received the ball and paid attention to the movements of Jake who was defending against him, Jackson knew that Jake was skilled in defense and was good at steals so he didn't try to make any bold moves.
Jackson passed the ball to Sam Mitchell on the right, Mitchell received the ball and Rick Fox was defending against him, Mitchell managed to trick Fox with a feint and advanced into the inside area to try the layup and make 2 more points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team.
In another attacking move by the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Fox from the left, Fox received the ball and Mitchell soon pressed in defense, Fox passed the ball to Robert Horry later on.
Horry soon passed the ball to Jake later because Garnett was already pushing in defense, Jake received the ball with freedom and tried the shot from outside and hit to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Jackson who was defending against Jake was careless and Jake tried the three-point shot before he could react, so Jackson understood how difficult it was to defend against someone who was good at three-point shots.
At the beginning of the game the two teams were balanced hitting most of the attacks, so the first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team with a small advantage on the scoreboard because of Jake's three-point shots.
In that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 11 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal, Jake was having to focus more on defense and did not find as many opportunities to do the steal and as Kobe Bryant made many individual plays Jake I didn't have as many assists as in other games.
"The first quarter ended with the two teams surprisingly balanced, the Los Angeles Lakers team is clearly feeling the absence of Shaquille O'Neal in that game, the attack is focused on Jake Smith who made a great first quarter with 11 points."
"The Minnesota Timberwolves team managed to organize a good team considering the problems they had this season, with Kevin Garnett leading this team they can make it to the playoffs."
"But for sure the Los Angeles Lakers team has a better team and if Shaquille O'Neal was playing in that game it would be difficult for them to lose that game, but as the game is I don't know what can happen."
As commentators said the team was not playing as well without Shaquille O'Neal on the team, Jake was playing well, but if the Minnesota Timberwolves team increased their defense against him and Kobe Bryant they would have more difficulty in that game.
The Minnesota Timberwolves team returned to the second quarter thinking about winning this game, the Minnesota Timberwolves team coach realized that they should defend against Jake and Kobe Bryant and that is what the team started to do in the second quarter.
Jake and Bryant had skills to get rid of the opposing defense, but with two players defending against them it was more difficult for them to make the moves, after all the players of the Minnesota Timberwolves team had a good defensive ability.
It looked like the Minnesota Timberwolves team coach had trained this move because when Jake and Kobe Bryant were not with the ball they had only one player defending against them, only when they received the ball that another player approached them.
In one of the attacking moves of the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Bryant, two players came to defend against him and pressed in defense, Bryant had to pass the ball to Horry who also had difficulty with Garnett defending against him.
Horry tried a feint and failed to trick Garnett and had to pass the ball to Travis Knight, Knight received the ball and Joe Smith pressed the defense against him and Knight had no ability to try to make the move and had to pass the ball to Jake more behind.
As soon as Jake received the ball two players came to defend against him, Jake could not get rid of the two players and had not trained with Knight to do a Pick and roll, of course, if Shaquille O'Neal was on the team it might not be necessary.
So Jake passed the ball to Rick Fox on the left, the ball possession time was running out and Fox tried a mid-range shot and hit the Los Angeles Lakers team with 2 more points, with the Minnesota Timberwolves defense so Jake could rely only on Rick Fox to make the attacks.
Jake and Kobe Bryant would have to push hard to make the attack with two players defending against them, but with the Minnesota Timberwolves' defense so Fox was always free to try the move, but he made far more attacks than Jake and Bryant did.
With the Minnesota Timberwolves team playing so they managed to tie the game at the end of the second quarter, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 5 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals, at least with the steals Jake helped the Los Angeles Lakers team not to end up losing that second quarter.
"With the end of the second quarter, the Minnesota Timberwolves team managed to draw with their good defensive strategy and the pressure in the attack they made throughout the game, so the Minnesota Timberwolves team can see the chance of winning that game."
"Certainly, with this defensive pressure from the Minnesota Timberwolves team Kobe Bryant and Jake Smith do not have much freedom to attack and make the plays, moreover, in this game only Jake Smith can count only Rick Fox to make the attacks."
"After all, it looks like Jake Smith and Kobe Bryant always have to face two players in defense when they have the ball, Robert Horry doesn't have that problem, but with Kevin Garnett defending against him, Robert Horry also can't attack."
"And Travis Knight also misses a lot of attacks, so Rick Fox has more freedom to attack, but he doesn't hit as many attacks as Jake Smith and Kobe Bryant normally do."
"Yes, and the Minnesota Timberwolves attack is working well in that game too, if Shaquille O'Neal was playing, the Minnesota Timberwolves team couldn't do that, but now the Los Angeles Lakers team has to do something about it."
Just as commentators said the Los Angeles Lakers team would have to find some way to win that game, Coach Harris thought of replacing Jake Smith and Kobe Bryant, but this would make it even easier for the Minnesota Timberwolves to defend.
The biggest problem was not the Los Angeles Lakers team playing without Shaquille O'Neal on the team, but that they had not done training without Shaquille O'Neal on the team, so they were not prepared for the opponent's defensive moves.
Jake couldn't just try multiple three-point shots because he knew that against two opponents he would definitely suffer a lot of blocks if he didn't end up missing more three-point shots in that game.
The third quarter started with the Minnesota Timberwolves team in the attack trying to get the victory, Jackson advanced with the ball and passed to Mitchell on the right, Mitchell received the ball and passed to Joe Smith ahead.
Smith received the ball and Knight arrived to defend, Smith managed to spin and hooked to make 2 more points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team, the Los Angeles Lakers team's weak defense also helped the Minnesota Timberwolves team to score more points.
Jake advanced with the ball trying to win this game, Jake passed to Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and tried the move and soon two players from the Minnesota Timberwolves team went to defend against him.
Bryant tried to pass the ball to Horry ahead, Garnett came in defense and Horry still tried a feint and failed, Horry had to pass the ball to Fox from the left, Fox tried to advance and Sealy came to defend against him.
So Fox soon passed to Jake behind who was only with Jackson defending against him, so Jake was quick and tried the shot from outside even with Jackson pressing in defense, Jake hit-making 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
When Sealy didn't try to help defend two Minnesota Timberwolves players Jake and Bryant had a chance to make the move and the points, realizing that the Minnesota Timberwolves coach asked Sealy not to defend against Fox anymore.
So Rick Fox was defenseless to try mid-range moves, but when he advanced Joe Smith came to defend against him and left Travis Knight defenseless, but Knight missed more attacks than Fox.
Of course, Travis Knight still managed to score a lot if he got more assists, but Fox hit more attacks than he did, and even Knight didn't expect to be able to play in that game until he was warned by Coach Harris.
So the third quarter ended with the Minnesota Timberwolves getting a small advantage on the scoreboard and playing even better than at the beginning of the game, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 5 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal.
In the last quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team still tried to win the game, but with the good defense of the Minnesota Timberwolves team and the bad defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team they ended up losing that game.
The Minnesota Timberwolves won the game with 92 points against the Los Angeles Lakers' 84 points, Jake had 5 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal and ended that game this time without even a double-double.
"And so the game ends with the Minnesota Timberwolves team winning, this is their fourth win in 4 games and the Minnesota Timberwolves team really got good players to be playing so well this season."
"Yes, Kevin Garnett had a good game today with more than 20 points and Sam Mitchell also managed to make more than 20 points, with the Minnesota Timberwolves team's good defense they managed to win."
"The Los Angeles Lakers team had Kobe Bryant who managed another double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds, and Jake Smith who failed to achieve another triple-double in that game with 26 points, 9 assists, and 9 rebounds."
"Jake Smith played well in that game, but if Shaquille O'Neal the Los Angeles Lakers team failed to attack as well and the Minnesota Timberwolves team's strategy of putting two players to defend Jake Smith and Kobe Bryant when they had the ball did that they lose this game."
"This is the Los Angeles Lakers team's first defeat this season in 5 games, so it's not that bad, we hope Shaquille O'Neal comes back in the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win again."
The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were upset about the first loss of the season, but of course, they already expected that the team would lose a few times in the season, what was worse was that this loss had happened because Shaquille O'Neal did not play in that game.
Luckily after that game the whole team went back to Los Angeles because the next game would be just after 3 days and it would be a home game in Los Angeles, Coach Harris didn't say much about the defeat and just said that they could rest the next day.
The players were happy with that, even though Jake who had great stamina was getting tired after playing 48 minutes in every game, Jake would not be training the next day, but he would not have time to rest because Larry Page and Sergey Brin would come to Los Angeles to talk to him.
Jake can sleep well at his home in Los Angeles and the next day he woke up excited to make a big deal, he had already called Emily asking her to prepare the contracts and come to Los Angeles.
Jake was confident that he could close this deal because his offer was very good and he would invest a lot of money in a company that didn't even have a million dollars invested yet, in addition, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were just rejected to sell the company.
When Larry Page and Sergey Brin arrived in Los Angeles by plane Jake had already sent a driver in a rental car to pick them both up at the hotel where he had made a reservation for both of them, it was a kindness Jake had made for both of them before the conversation.
The driver was waiting for them to get ready to take them to the restaurant where Jake was waiting for them, Larry Page and Sergey Brin knew that Jake was busy and so they accepted his request for them to go to Los Angeles.
Even though the two had accepted Jake's invitation for this negotiation, they still doubted whether this time Jake would really make a good proposal, they knew that Jake had the financial means to make an excellent proposal, but even they knew that this was a risky investment.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin packed their things at the hotel Jake had prepared and changed clothes before going with Jake's driver to the restaurant he had booked for them to talk business.
"It's nice to see you again Larry and Sergey, sorry to ask you to come to Los Angeles, but you know how busy I've been lately."
"It's okay, Jake, if your proposal is as good as you told me on the phone, we don't mind coming to Los Angeles."
"Actually, I wanted to make you a proposal after the end of this NBA season, but as you even tried to sell the company, I was a little anxious to talk to you."
"We really thought about selling the company, but after we couldn't do it, we thought better and decided to invest more time in it to make a great company."
"This is great, if you had asked my opinion, I would also say that it is crazy to try to sell a company like Google that has such great growth potential, that is why I want to invest in that company."
"And what is your proposal, Jake?"
"My proposal is thinking about what the future of the company can be at best, if you do a great job the company can do what I am investing and even more, then I am investing in you too."
"It is such a good proposal that there is no negotiation, you must accept or decline the proposal."
Hearing this Larry Page and Sergey Brin realized that Jake really wanted to make an excellent proposal and they were excited about it, of course, if it was not a good proposal he would not emphasize it so much that there would be no negotiation.
"Given the potential of the Google company, I am going to offer an investment of 25 million dollars and I want 50 percent of the company, but this proposal has some conditions."
"I want 50 percent and you should have more than 45 percent of the company with the current valuation of the company after my investment, I want a contract saying that I will never take less than 35 percent of the company's shares no matter how diluted they are."
"In return, I will not have any decision power in the company with my shares, I sign a contract that I pass full powers that I have with my current 50 percent to you who will have 95 percent of the votes in the company."
"What do you think about this proposal."
Larry Page and Sergey Brin were really shocked by Jake's excellent proposal at their company, even though 50 percent of the company was half of the company's control, Jake said he would sign a contract giving up his voting power at the company and handing it over to them.
And Jake was offering $ 25 million for that 50 percent, they were denied to sell the company for less than $ 1 million and a few days later they received a $ 25 million investment proposal.
Their biggest fear was precisely to get a big investment in the company and thus lose control over how the company would grow, they wanted to keep their ideas and moral values in the company even with investment.
"Jake, Sergey and I have to discuss your offer, can you give us some time alone to discuss?"
"No problem, I'll be out of here for a while and you will call me when you decide."
Jake left the restaurant confident that they would accept his proposal, especially because he said he would not get involved in their decisions for the company, Jake had to trust them because he himself did not know how to make a technology company worth almost 1 trillion of dollars.
Jake said he would not negotiate after making the offer, but if they refused he would ask for 40 percent as they did in their company's first round of investment, the important thing was that Jake never cheated them and said he always thought the company worth what he was investing.
After all, investing $ 25 million at 50 percent, Jake was increasing the company's valuation to more than $ 50 million, and Jake would still accept that his shares be diluted by 15 percent.
Jake had no doubt that Larry Page and Sergey Brin were smart businessmen, even with such a proposal from him, the two were still talking and discussing whether or not to accept Jake's generous offer.
Only after a long time that Larry Page went to call Jake at the entrance to the restaurant so they could give him an answer, Jake was not eager to hear their response, but Larry Page and Sergey Brin were anxious.
"Jake, we decided to accept your proposal, it really is a very good and fair proposal and if you really pass your voting rights on to us, then it will be a great deal for us too."
"This is good, I'm glad you decided to accept my proposal, I asked my assistant who is also my lawyer to prepare the contracts for us, you can ask your lawyer to come to Los Angeles so that he can review the contracts before you sign."
"It's okay, you can fax the contracts to our lawyers for review and if it's okay we'll sign right here."
Emily was still a few hours away from arriving in Los Angeles, so Jake asked if Larry Page and Sergey Brin would like to go back to the hotel to rest, in the meantime, Jake asked Emily to send a fax to Larry and Sergey's lawyers for the contract to be signed more quickly.
Jake was happy to have closed this big deal, even if because of him the company Google did not become a company of almost 1 trillion dollars, it would still be a great company because of the quality of the unique search engine that the site has.
Emily asked her trusted assistants to fax the contracts to Larry Page and Sergey Brin's lawyers and before Emily arrived in Los Angeles their lawyers had already reviewed the contract and said it was all as Jake had said.
Including the contract that Jake would pass the voting rights on his shares to Larry Page and Sergey Brin, seeing that it was all right the two could relax and were already decided that they would sign the contract with Jake.
Emily arrived in Los Angeles and Jake sent the driver to pick her up at the airport and take her to a hotel in the city as well after all these costs were low for Jake to treat his staff and guests well.
As soon as Emily packed her things at the hotel she already called Jake to ask when the contracts would be signed and Jake said it would be dinner, so she could rest for a few hours.
Emily was surprised when she learned how much Jake was going to invest in a company she didn't even know, but she learned to trust Jake's decisions, especially when it came to investment, as she met him before Jake managed to earn more than 1 million dollars.
In fact, Emily has repeatedly regretted not investing the money she had in Jake's investment company, but now she did not have the courage to invest in the Cisco company with all the market analysts saying the bubble would burst and all companies would lose billions of dollars in stock value when that happened.
So the driver brought Emily with the contracts to the restaurant where Jake was, soon after the driver brought Larry Page and Sergey Brin who were excited to sign the contract, they knew they were doing a good deal for Google.
"So? Did your lawyer review the contract Emily sent them?"
"Yes, everything is fine as you said it would be, we are ready to sign the contract."
So Emily took the contracts she had brought and everyone signed the contract very happy, Larry Page and Sergey Brin were happy because they had made an excellent deal and could continue to invest in the company.
And Jake was happy because he knew what it would be like in the future and how these actions could make him one of the richest men in the world having invested only 25 million dollars, with the shares he had invested in Amazon he could already become the richest man of the world in the future.
"Very well, I said that I will not interfere with your decision on how you should take care of the company, but I know that the company needs more investment to start having some revenue without doing anything that is against your moral values."
"So with this investment that I made the company is much more valued and with this investment you can further improve the company Google, even so, I suggest that in the coming months you look for Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield u0026 Buyers."
"Make a round of investment to raise a few million dollars, it maybe 25 million dollars or even more with the current valuation of the company, these are companies that provide initial investment in technology companies that can be very successful in the future."
"How much they don't invest doesn't matter much, but you can negotiate for some of their employees to join Google's board of directors just like they did with other big companies like Amazon and Yahoo."
"This is fundamental to the development of our company, I am also a partner at Amazon and I know how good their work is, another thing that you will have to do is to hire a president for the company."
"I'm not going to say when you should do this, but it is essential for our company to be even better, this is just advice that I am giving and you may not listen to me, but I have a good sense of investment."
Larry and Sergey were surprised because they didn't know that Jake was a partner at Amazon, and since Jake was saying that he was a partner, so he should have more than 5 percent of the company, they didn't know that and was even more impressed with Jake.
As Jake had given these councils they would go and search for these companies that he said Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield u0026 Buyers, if they were really good for the company they would talk to them.
So Jake talked to the two of them for a while and Emily also took part in this millionaires conversation and then Larry Page and Sergey Brin went to their hotel, Jake had booked a plane ticket for them the next day and they wanted to go back to work even more in the company now that they had a big investment.
"Thanks for coming here Emily, this was an important investment for me, after this negotiation, I will be able to focus more on basketball until we have to start selling the shares of the Cisco company."
"No problem, Jake, if you invested in this company they should make a big profit in the future, after all, the Amazon company you invested in has the company valued at billions of dollars, you will soon be a billionaire because of this company."
Jake knew that Emily was right, in 1999 Amazon would appreciate a lot and Jeff Bezos would enter the list of richest men in the world, this time Jake would also enter that list with a few billion dollars.
But Jake wouldn't mind that because Matthew would be on the top of that list in 1999 and in 2000 too, Jake already knew that in the future he would be the richest man in the world so he would start thinking about how he would use some of that money to help others.
Jake didn't want to have more than 100 billion dollars just to be the richest man in the world, he took advantage of those chances to invest in more business and earn more to help people, with the money he would receive in his NBA career would be the enough for Jake to live with his mother his whole life without worrying about money.
Jake waited until the driver came back to take Emily back to the hotel she was at and said goodbye to her, Jake went home because he would have to train with the Los Angeles Lakers team the next day and after completing this great deal he could relax.
In that month yet another important thing would happen in Jake's life, Kate had been nominated for the Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards, she had not been nominated for other awards just for her music to deserve because Kate's producer wanted her to win this award.
Jake remembered that Lauryn Hill had won this award and in that Grammy, she had won a total of 5 awards, so Jake believed that Kate could win this award with her company's strategy.
Currently, Kate was better known than Lauryn Hill, but that was not the most important thing because the Backstreet Boys were also very famous and did not win this award, unfortunately, Lily, who was Kate's manager, prevented him from going to this award with Kate.
After all, that would be the same as publicly assuming that he was dating Kate, Lily thought that this was not the right time to reveal their relationship and so Jake had to root for Kate watching the awards.
The 41st Annual Grammy Awards would take place at the end of February so Jake hoped Kate could win, so Jake had to think only about basketball for the next few weeks, the next day Jake woke up well and went to train with the team.
Arriving at training Jake was happy that Shaquille O'Neal was training with the team normally, but Jake soon realized that the other players didn't look very happy, he soon approached Rick Fox and asked what had happened.
"It looks like Robert has a health problem and is not going to be able to play the next games, he will lose at least the next 6 games, so we are not going to play with the full team in the next games."
"What a pity, he was playing very well in the last games and helping a lot in defense, is his health problem very serious?"
"I don't think so, after all, he will be playing again this season, so there is not much risk to his life."