A Different Team
With Dennis Rodman joining the team and Robert Horry's return the Los Angeles Lakers team was complete again, Rick Fox was playing very well this season and the only concern for Jake and the coaches was the position of PF.
But now they had Robert Horry and Dennis Rodman to complete that missing position, Dennis Rodman could help the team more defensively and with rebounds, but because of the problems he might have, maybe it would be Robert Horry the main player in that position.
From what Jake remembered the most difficult phase of the team at the beginning of the season had passed, then the Los Angeles Lakers team won 10 games in a row and went back to being one of the main teams in the NBA, with Jake in the team they had lost only one game, so these 10 victories would make the Los Angeles Lakers team even stronger for the playoff.
After training Jake could see that Dennis Rodman was still in the good physical condition and could actually play in the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team, while Jake was getting ready to leave, Dennis Rodman came over to talk to him.
"Hi Jake, I already talked to all the players and I wanted to talk to you too."
"Hi Dennis, I'm a big fan of yours, I think it's incredible the NBA title you managed to win and I think you're an incredible player because of the rebounds you get"
"I think you're a good player too, I saw you at the Grammy yesterday, I thought I'd ask you to come to the party after the awards, but you left very quickly."
"I didn't know that I went to the Grammy with a ticket that I got from a friend, so I didn't think it would be good to go to any party after the awards."
"So you thought wrong, I'm sure you just weren't invited because they didn't know that you liked to participate in awards, but now that they know you're going to receive several invitations to attend the Grammy, Oscar and other awards."
Jake thought about it and thought Dennis was right, he hadn't received any tickets because the people at the Grammy organization didn't know he liked to attend these events, but now he would probably receive several invitations.
Jake and Dennis talked a little more before Jake left, later in the afternoon, the players got together again at the Anaheim Arena which was where the game would take place, the Los Angeles Clippers team was one of the teams most affected by Jake's coming to the NBA.
In Jake's past life the Los Angeles Lakers team would lose all 9 games earlier this season, but the Los Angeles Lakers team switched Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, and Derek Harper to have Jake on the team.
So the Los Angeles Clippers team was unable to sign Michael Olowokandi and chose Jake, because of this change the Los Angeles Clippers team had won 3 of the 9 games they had this season.
It was not a good result yet, but they did not lose all the games as they normally would have, with the experience of Derek Harper and Eddie Jones leading the team they achieved three victories and played well in most of the 9 games.
The three players that were switched to Jake to go on the team were very talented, but because of the excellent season that Jake was making the crowd happy, he no longer cared about the players who left the Lakers team.
"Welcome to everyone who came to watch one more game this NBA season, in that game the Los Angeles Clippers team will play against their biggest rival in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers team."
"This is the fourth game in a row for the Los Angeles Lakers team playing as a visitor, the last three games that could have been easier have become very difficult games in which players have had to work hard for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win."
"The Los Angeles Lakers team also has a lot of changes in the last few days, Dennis Rodman signed a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers team and will be able to play in the next game, Robert Horry has recovered from his illness and will play in that game."
"The biggest news is that coach Del Harris was fired even after this excellent start to the season with 11 wins in 12 games, so assistant coach Bill Bertka will head the team today as head coach."
"This is also the first game that Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, and Derek Harper play against the Los Angeles Lakers team that was their team, it is also the first game between the rookie Jake Smith plays against the team that selected him in this draft season."
"So we expect an exciting game today between these two teams."
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, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O'Neal playing as Center.
The Los Angeles Clippers team would start the game with Derek Harper playing as PG, Eddie Jones playing as SG, Rodney Rogers playing as SF, Elden Campbell playing as PF, and Lorenzen Wright playing as Center.
Coach Bertka decided to leave Travis Knight playing that game because Robert Horry was still not very well, but after the third quarter, coach Bertka would put Horry in the game, in the first quarter and in the second quarter Horry could still be substituted.
In the next game when Dennis Rodman could play, he could put Robert Horry in for a few minutes and Dennis Rodman in the game and thus he would have qualified in the position of PF in every game, the truth was that coach Bertka did not think that the Los Angeles Clippers team could win that game and so he intended to replace the starting players for many minutes in the game.
At the start of the game Shaquille O'Neal won the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jake calmly advanced the ball and Derek Harper gave Jake space to move forward, Jake advanced further and passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right.
Bryant received the ball and Eddie Jones came to defend, they were friends, but in the games, Jones and Bryant would still face each other as they did in any game, Bryant tried a feint, but Jones was not fooled, so Bryant passed the ball to Rick Fox through left.
Fox received the ball and Rodney Rogers came to press on defense, Fox held the ball for a while and passed it to Jake further behind, Jake received the ball and quickly passed it to Shaquille O'Neal ahead.
O'Neal received the ball and Lorenzen Wright came to press on defense, O'Neal made a strong move and managed to spin and tried the hook to make the first 2 points of the Los Angeles Lakers team.
In another move, the Los Angeles Clippers team went on the attack and Derek Harper came forward and passed the ball to Jones from the left, Jones received the ball and Bryant pressed the defense, Jones tried a feint, but Bryant was not fooled.
Then Jones passed the ball to Rogers on the right, Rogers received the ball and Fox arrived to press, Rogers quickly passed the ball to Jones again, this time Eddie Jones received the ball and tried a mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Los Angeles Clippers team.
Eddie Jones and Derek Harper were the players who stood out the most on this new Los Angeles Clippers team, perhaps with a few more new players on the Clippers team they could try a spot in the playoffs of the coming seasons.
The Los Angeles Lakers team ended the first quarter by winning with a good point advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake realized that in this game Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal did not were performing well.
Bryant was still replaced in the first quarter for a few minutes and had even less time on the court, it seemed that coach Bertka did not expect this game to be very difficult and so he decided to let Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal rest.
In the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers continued to press forward and even with the Los Angeles Clippers team doing better they were unable to defend against the best NBA attack.
At the end of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team won with 129 points against 95 points of the Los Angeles Clippers team, Jake played for 48 minutes in that game and had 43 points, 11 assists, 8 rebounds, and 7 steals.
"The game ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team achieving another victory this season, the Los Angeles Clippers team played well, but could not handle the strong attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team."
"Even with coach Bill Bertka replacing Kobe and Shaq for many minutes, the Los Angeles Lakers team still managed to win with Jake's good performance that made 43 points and 11 assists."
"Yes, Jake was once again the highlight of the Los Angeles Lakers team and those 43 points were the maximum points he made in a game this NBA season, with the top players on the Los Angeles Lakers team being replaced Jake had to try even harder to take the team to victory."
"Rick Fox played very well in that game too and Robert Horry also performed well even though he played less time in that game, it shows that he can help the team even more in the next games."
In this game Jake played very well and had a good performance, he did not let Derek Harper manage to attack a lot and still got many steals, in addition to the points he made in that game, Robert Horry also played well despite playing for only 20 minutes.
Robert was certainly concerned about Dennis Rodman joining the team, everyone knew that Dennis was an excellent player and if he worked hard at the games Dennis could certainly be a starting player on that Los Angeles Lakers team.
Even more, that the coach had changed, so Robert knew he had to prove that he was the best player to be one of the starting players on that Los Angeles Lakers team.
The other day after the players were able to rest, it was announced that Bill Bertka would no longer be the main coach of the team in the next game and would return to be the assistant coach, who is the main coach was Kurt Rambis who was also an assistant coach of the team.
What was announced was that this time Kurt Rambis would be the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers team until the end of the season, this calmed the players who would be unsure if the team changed the main coach several times in a season.
The next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team would be again in Los Angeles, with the Lakers team being the team that would play at home this time, it would be again against the Los Angeles Clippers team and the players would not underestimate the opponent in that game.
That game would be the debut of Dennis Rodman and coach Kurt Rambis too, Coach Rambis said in his first training that he intended to replace the starting players again to save them for the next games.
The Los Angeles Lakers team already had 13 games in the month of February and would have 2 more games before the month ended, so they would have an average of 1 game every 2 days, this month had fewer days and they had the first game on February 5th.
So it was natural for players to get tired after so many games and even to risk injury, that's why Jake was so impressive for being able to play every 48 minutes in every game.
After a few hours, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the Great Western Forum, with the Lakers team playing at home the crowd was all around them in this game and that made the players more excited.
"Welcome everyone to another game this NBA season, we will once again have the game between the Los Angeles Lakers team and the Los Angeles Clippers team, in yesterday's game the Lakers team achieved a great victory with a good performance of Jake Smith and Robert Horry. "
"So in this game, the Los Angeles Lakers team is the big favorite, especially with this performance of 12 victories in 13 games, this game also has the debut of Dennis Rodman who won 5 NBA title playing in two different teams and hopes to win one more NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers team."
"In addition to Rodman's debut, we also have the debut of coach Kurt Rambis, the Lakers team changed coaches again after the victory in yesterday's game, now we hope that coach Rambis will stay until the end of the season."
The Los Angeles Clippers team would start the game with the same starting players as the previous game, Derek Harper playing as PG, Eddie Jones playing as SG, Rodney Rogers playing as SF, Elden Campbell playing as PF, and Lorenzen Wright playing as Center.
The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with only one chance in the starting team, 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.
Robert Horry showed that he had recovered from his health problem in the previous game and would start playing, Dennis Rodman would come in to play as a substitute, so Robert could rest for a few minutes and Rodman would make his debut.
Shaquille O'Neal won the first possession of the ball for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jake received the ball and advanced to organize the first attack of the game, Jake passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right.
Kobe received the ball and tried a feint to outwit Eddie Jones, Jones was not deceived so Kobe passed the ball to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Rodney Rogers arrived to press on defense.
Rick managed to trick Rogers with a feint and advanced to the corner of the court on the left side, Rogers still tried to recover and come back to defend, but Rick tried a mid-range shot to make the first 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
The Los Angeles Clippers team soon went on the attack and Derek Harper was arranging the play, Harper moved forward and passed the ball to Eddie Jones on the left, Jones received the ball and Kobe came to defend.
Jones tried to trick Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not fooled, so Jones passed the ball to Rogers on the right, Rodney managed to get away from Rick and tried a mid-range shot to score 2 points for the Los Angeles Clippers team.
In this second game, the attack by the Los Angeles Clippers team was not as strong as in the previous game, but the attack by the Los Angeles Lakers team was fine, in this game Kobe Bryant wanted to play much better even though he had to play for fewer minutes.
In the last game, Kobe did not perform well in attack or defense, in this game, he was much better in attack and defense, Robert and Rick were not playing so well in attack because the defense of the Los Angeles Clippers team was defending better against them.
In another attacking move Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball and Rogers came to press on defense, Rick held the ball for a while and passed it to Jake further back.
Jake received the ball and Harper came to press on defense, Jake made a quick feint and managed to trick Harper and move forward using his agility, Jake advanced into the inside area and the Los Angeles Clippers team's defense tried to stop him.
Jake was quick and passed the ball to Kobe on the right while the defense was paying attention to him, Kobe received the ball and drive to the basket and scored two more points for the Lakers team with a layup.
The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a good point advantage, Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, in that first quarter only Shaquille O'Neal was replaced by more time, so the Lakers team still managed to attack well.
In the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to put pressure on the attack, coach Rambis started to replace the players seeing that the Lakers team had the advantage on the scoreboard.
So in the second quarter Dennis Rodman made his debut on the Los Angeles Lakers team replacing Robert Horry, everyone knew that Dennis Rodman came to the Los Angeles Lakers team to help defend and also help catch rebounds.
Jake knew that too, so he wouldn't make as many assists for Rodman in the games, in another move the Los Angeles Lakers team went for the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right.
Kobe received the ball and Jones came to press on defense, Kobe tried to trick the opponent with a feint, but Jones was not fooled, so Kobe had to pass the ball to Rick from the left.
Rick received the ball and Rogers came in to press the defense, Rick held the ball a little and passed it to Jake in the back, Jake received the ball and Derek Harris was pressing in the defense, Jake stepped back and tried the shot from outside to do more three points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Jake learned in his imagination training that against opponents who were good at defense, he had to be quick to try the three-point shot to avoid the block, so he was able to hit the three-point shots in his imagination training against opponents of rank SS and also managed in the NBA.
The Los Angeles Clippers team wanted to win that game and had to start putting pressure on the attack too, the players were not doing so well in the game and were missing many attacks, so Coach Rambis decided to put Dennis Rodman in the game.
Harper advanced with the ball and passed to Jones on the left, Jones received the ball and Kobe was pressing in defense, Jones tried a feint, but Kobe was not fooled and pressed further in defense.
Jones realized this and passed the ball to Rogers on the right, Rogers received the ball and Rick also came pressing on the defense, Rogers tried to use his speed to get rid of the defense, but Rick continued to follow and was firm in defense.
So Rogers had to pass the ball to Harper in the back, Harper tried a feint and managed to get away from Jake, so Harper had to try a shot from outside because the time of possession was running out.
Harper missed the shot from outside and Dennis Rodman arrived to catch the defensive rebound, with Shaquille O'Neal being replaced only Jake and Kobe could catch the rebounds, and with Rodman coming in it helped the team.
The Los Angeles Lakers team continued to play well throughout the game and ended the game with another victory, the Los Angeles Lakers team scored 114 points against 95 points of the Los Angeles Clippers team.
In that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 32 points, 15 assists, 7 rebounds, and 9 steals, it was another double-double for Jake and a good game for the Lakers team, Kobe returned to play well even though he was still replaced by a few minutes, and Shaq also played well with the little time he had in the game.
"The game is over, the Los Angeles Lakers team managed another victory this season, Dennis Rodman also had a great debut catching 12 rebounds and making 6 assists, everyone knows that the Los Angeles Lakers team wants him to catch the rebounds and he worked hard to do this even while playing for less time in that game."
"Kobe Bryant played well in this different from the previous game and helped the Lakers team, Shaq also performed well even playing for less than 25 minutes in that game, and Jake led the team to victory again with a great performance with 32 points and 15 assists."
"The Los Angeles Clippers team did not play as well in that game, Eddie Jones still performed well and Rodney Rogers also played well, but they missed a lot in attack and were unable to stop the Lakers' attack."
"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.
Kobe received the ball and Pippen came pressing on defense, Kobe tried a feint to outwit Pippen, but Pippen was not deceived and Kobe had to pass the ball to Jake who came in the middle.
Jake received the ball inside the three-point line and advanced quickly for the attack, Brent Price and the Houston Rockets defense did not wait for this move and Jake managed to advance until Othella Harrington went to try to stop Jake's advance.
Jake continued advancing to the painted area and tried the tear drop even though Harrington tried to block and managed to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, it was a beautiful move that the Lakers fans at the Great Western Forum liked.
In fact, Jake hoped that Hakeem Olajuwon would try to stop him from going forward and he would pass the ball to Shaq who would make the points, but as it was Harrington who tried to stop him from going forward, Jake decided to end the play with the points.
In another move, the Houston Rockets team was on the attack, Price advanced with the ball and passed it to Pippen on the right, Pippen received the ball and Rick arrived to press on defense, Pippen did not attempt an individual move and passed to Olajuwon later.
Olajuwon received the ball and Shaquille O'Neal arrived to press on defense, Olajuwon managed to make a spin and tried the layup to make 2 more points for the Houston Rockets team, in the dispute between Olajuwon and O'Neal the two could not defend well opponent and for that the two made many points.
The two teams attacked a lot in the first quarter, but it was the Los Angeles Lakers that ended the quarter winning, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, it was a good start to his game and that of the Lakers team.
"The first quarter ends, the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning as expected, but it was a balanced game in which the Houston Rockets team is also strong in attack."
"Kobe is having a hard time making plays with Scottie's strong defense, yet Kobe still made a good first quarter and Scottie also did well in attack."
"Jake got off to a good start in that game by making some infiltrations and good plays which is confusing the Houston Rockets team defense."
In the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers continued to press in the attack, the Houston Rockets also continued to press in the attack and the game was very balanced between the two teams.
In another move the Houston Rockets team was on the attack, Price advanced with the ball and passed to Pippen on the right, Pippen received the ball and Rick arrived to press on defense, Pippen made a feint and managed to trick Rick and go to the painted area.
Pippen came forward and Rodman arrived to try to stop him from going forward, so Pippen passed the ball to Othella Harrington who was free in the painted area, Harrington went to make the layup, but Shaq was waiting for it and made the block.
Shaq made the block and Dickerson managed to catch the ball soon after and tried the mid-range shot and ended up missing with Kobe pressing in defense, Rodman got the rebound and the Lakers team managed to stop the Houston Rockets attack.
The two teams continued to put pressure on the attack, in this game the Houston Rockets team coach was replacing the players to let Olajuwon rest and to put Charles Barkley to play, so the Lakers team had a bigger advantage.
Coach Rambis also made substitutions, but he only took the main players for a few minutes and put Dennis Rodman on the team, which only helped the Lakers team to get more rebounds and have a good defense.
Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and Dickerson arrived pressing on the defense, Rick held the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and managed to deceive Pippen with a feint and advanced to the area painted.
Pippen still tried to defend against Kobe, but Kobe was faster and advanced to make 2 more points with a layup for the Los Angeles Lakers team, even with difficulty Kobe still managed to make the plays with Pippen pressing in defense.
The game continued with the Los Angeles Lakers team with the advantage on the scoreboard, until the third quarter the Houston Rockets team still managed to keep the game balanced even with the Lakers team winning the game.
But in the last quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team started to dominate the game and the Houston Rockets team seemed to have given up on winning the game, so the Los Angeles Lakers team won the game with 118 points against Houston Rockets' 86 points.
In that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 32 points, 13 assists, 7 rebounds, and 8 steals, Jake managed another double-double in that game and helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to win another victory.
"Another game ends this season, the Los Angeles Lakers team get another victory and won against the strong Houston Rockets team."
"The Houston Rockets team managed to keep the game balanced until the last quarter when the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to guarantee victory with a big point advantage."
"That's right, the Houston Rockets team managed to maintain a balanced game, but with Charles Barkley still not being able to play many minutes and the Houston Rockets coach also replaced Hakeem Olajuwon and that made it more difficult for the Houston Rockets team to win."
"In that game, Jake played very well again and led the team to victory, Kobe performed well, but it seems that with strong pressure on the defense that Scottie Pippen made Kobe did not play as well as he could have played."
"Shaq played well in that game and was replaced for a few minutes in that game and Rick played very well again with 25 points and hitting all three-point shots he tried in the game."
Another game ended and the players were able to return home tired, this was the last game in February and the season of the Los Angeles Lakers team could not have been better, Robert Horry's illness and the change of coaches was not a good thing, but the team's performance was great.
With the end of February, which was the first month of this NBA season, sports media journalists were talking in more detail about Jake's NBA debut, especially since he was chosen as the rookie of the month and player of the month of February in the 1998-99 NBA season.
Jake was expected to be chosen as February's rookie of the month, but many did not expect him to be chosen as February's player of the month either, but that was normal because Jake made the top 20 in the NBA in 4 different statistics.
Jake was the player with the most points this season with an average of 33.4 points per game, in one of the players with the most assists with an average of 11.6 assists per game, and he was also one of the players that most steals with an average of 7.5 per game.
In addition, Jake was also good at catching rebounds and certainly had the highest average of minutes played per game, with these excellent averages it was only natural that Jake was chosen as the player of the month.
With almost a third of the games of this season has already taken place, Jake could already be considered one of the best players in the NBA, after all with an average of these points and assists playing in 15 games it was difficult to be just coincidence and showed the quality of Jake.
Certainly, the 5 triple-double that Jake had and the 6 double-doubles also helped Jake to be the player of the month, many good players took years to make 5 triple-double, and Jake managed in less than 10 games in his debut season.
The very next day the players had to travel to Phoenix, Arizona which was where they would play the next game, even though the month of February had ended and the month of March had started, the teams still had many games in a row to do.
The players traveled to Phoenix and had a few hours of rest at the hotel before having to go to the America West Arena where the next game would take place, the opponent for that next game was the Phoenix Suns team.
Earlier Jake received congratulations from his teammates, Shaq, Kobe, Rick, Dennis, Robert, and the other players spoke to him and they were also happy that Jake was chosen as the player of the month and rookie of the month.
Jake can see that at the America West Arena, the Phoenix Suns fans came to cheer for the team and watch a great game, the Los Angeles Lakers team was the visiting team and would have some disadvantage in that game.
The Phoenix Suns team had a good team that had a good attack and a good defense, it was a well-balanced team that brought difficulties to the opponents, but this season they won only 7 games and lost 6 games of the 13 games that they had this season.
This was not a good thing for the Phoenix Suns team, the Phoenix Suns team did not expect to win the NBA title and if they managed to make it to the playoffs they would already be satisfied, of course in this game they would try to get the victory for playing in home.
Jake was also excited about this game because he would face one of his great NBA idols, in the Phoenix Suns team he had the great PG Jason Kidd, Jason Kidd was an excellent PG who attacked very well and also defended very well.
He was the second-best in NBA history in assists and steals, and Jason Kidd was also ninth in 3-point field goals made, it showed how Kidd was an excellent player, in addition, he was always known for being an excellent leader of the team on the court.
Of course, in the current Phoenix Suns team, he didn't have many opportunities to win the games and the NBA title, even so, Jake respected him a lot and would try his best to win that game.
The players of the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the locker room and after some time they went to the court to prepare for the start of the game, the players of the Phoenix Suns team already looked at Jake in a different way after he was chosen as player of the month.
"Welcome everyone who came to watch one more game this NBA season, today's game is between the Phoenix Suns team that plays at home and the Los Angeles Lakers team."
"The Phoenix Suns team had a bad start to the season winning 7 games and losing 6 games, in most games the players of the Phoenix Suns played well, what it seems is that the Phoenix Suns team needs some great players to have a team winner."
"The highlight of the Phoenix Suns team is Jason Kidd who is one of the best PG in the NBA today, Jason Kidd has been playing good games with a lot of assists at the beginning of the season, Tom Gugliotta is also another good player on this team."
"The Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win this game with a season with 14 wins and only 1 loss in 15 games, the Los Angeles Lakers team has a team with excellent players and has a chance of winning the NBA title this season."
"There's all-star Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Dennis Rodman who joined the team recently and Jake Smith who was chosen as the player of the month and rookie of the month."
"Certainly, the Los Angeles Lakers team is the favorite to win this game, and Jake being chosen as the player of the month was well deserved and a correct decision for the great performance he had at the beginning of the season."
"We will see in this game two great PG playing in different teams, Jason Kidd who is one of the best PG in the NBA and has the experience, and Jake Smith who is a rookie who has made one of the best seasons starts in NBA history."
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, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Shaquille O'Neal playing as Center.
The Phoenix Suns team would start this game with Jason Kidd playing as PG, Rex Chapman playing as SG, George McCloud playing as SF, Tom Gugliotta playing as PF, and Luc Longley playing as Center.
As commentators said, the Los Angeles Lakers team was a favorite to win that game, but that could change because coach Kurt Rambis intended to replace the top players for a long time so they could rest.
The game started and Shaquille O'Neal won the first ball for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake received the ball and went on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Rick Fox on the left.
Rick received the ball and George McCloud arrived to press on defense, Rick held the ball for a while and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Rex Chapman arrived pressing on defense.
Kobe tried to make a feint, but Chapman was not fooled, so Kobe passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Jason Kidd came in to press on the defense, Jake made a feint and step back and tried an outside shot to make 3 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Kidd did not expect Jake to attempt a three-point shot early in the game and was not prepared to defend, Kidd received the ball and began to organize the attack for the Phoenix Suns team, Kidd advanced with the ball and passed to Chapman through the left.
Chapman received the ball and Kobe came to press on defense, Chapman held the ball and passed it to McCloud on the right, McCloud received the ball and Rick arrived to press on defense.
McCloud tried a feint, but Rick was not deceived, so he decided to pass the ball to Luc Longley later on, Longley received the ball and Shaquille O'Neal came pressing on the defense, Longley tried to advance using his strength, but Shaq pushed Longley away close to the painted area.
Longley made a spin away from Shaq and tried a hook shot to score 2 points for the Phoenix Suns team, at the beginning of the game the two teams were balanced, Kobe was not playing well in that game and the Phoenix Suns team defense did not let the Lakers team attack make many points.
In another play Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Chapman arrived to press in defense, Kobe did not attempt an individual play and passed to Rick on the left.
Rick received the ball and McCloud came pressing on the defense, Rick managed to trick McCloud with a feint and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Rick was playing very well in the last games and was helping the team Lakers winning games.
Coach Rambis started to replace players for a few minutes since the first quarter, this would leave the Phoenix Suns team with more opportunity to try to win the game, in another move Kidd started to organize another attack for the Phoenix Suns team.
Jake was having an easy time defending against Kidd because Kidd was not a player who scored many points in games, but it was difficult for Jake to get the steals by intercepting Kidd's passes who, knowing Jake's skill, were more careful.
Kidd advanced with the ball and passed to McCloud on the right, McCloud received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, McCloud decided not to try the individual play and passed to Chapman on the left.
Chapman received the ball and Derek Fisher arrived on defense, Kobe had been replaced and in the last games, the coaches started to put Fisher playing as SG when Kobe had to be replaced.
Chapman passed the ball to Tom Gugliotta later on, Gugliotta received the ball and Robert Horry came up to press the defense, Gugliotta managed to spin and advance to make 2 more points with a layup for the Phoenix Suns team.
With the substitutions of coach Rambis and Kobe not playing very well in that game, the Los Angeles Lakers team still managed to finish the first quarter by winning, Jake played for 12 minutes and had 11 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal.
"The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to finish that quarter by winning with a small lead on the scoreboard, the Phoenix Suns team performed well, but only Jason Kidd, Luc Longley, and Tom Gugliotta played better."
"Jake was again the best player on the Los Angeles Lakers team, Kobe was not playing well in that game and was replaced for a few minutes by coach Rambis, Rick is playing well in that game and Shaq is also performing well when he was on the court."
"Jake is playing very well even with Jason Kidd defending against him, and Kidd is also managing to perform well with Jake defending, the two have not tried many infiltration moves, so we don't know how it will be in the rest of the game."
Just as the commentators said Jake and Kidd were playing very well, they respected each other a lot and didn't try to infiltrate plays, yet both were playing very well in that game.
In the second quarter the Phoenix Suns team started to put more pressure on defense and attack because they saw that they could have a chance to win the game, Kidd advanced with the ball and passed to Chapman on the left.
Chapman received the ball and Kobe came in pressing on defense, Chapman passed the ball to McCloud from the right, McCloud received the ball and Rick came in pressing in defense, McCloud tried an individual play, but Rick continued to press in defense.
So Chapman passed the ball to Kidd further back, Kidd received the ball and took advantage that Jake was not so close and tried the mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Phoenix Suns team, Kidd did not try many mid-range shots, but when he tried it was because he thought he had a chance to get it right.
In another move the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack and Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and tried a feint and managed to trick Chapman, Kobe tried the mid-range shot and ended up missing.
Rodman managed to catch the rebound and passed the ball to Shaq, Shaq received the ball and scored 2 more points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Rodman was playing his best game for the Lakers team since his debut.
The game continued with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning and with a good lead on the scoreboard even with the substitutions of coach Rambis and Kobe not playing very well, Jake was the highlight of the Lakers team and it was the game in which he scored the most points.
At the end of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team ended up winning 119 points against 86 points for the Phoenix Suns team, Jake played in that game for 48 minutes and had 46 points, 9 assists, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals.
In this game, because Jason Kidd, Jake was unable to make many steals, and because his teammates were not playing very well he only managed 9 assists in that game.
So even though this was the game where Jake scored the most points he was not happy with his performance, Jake broke the record that was his own this season of hitting 12 shots from three points in one game.
"The game is over, another Los Angeles Lakers team win with Jake Smith making the most points of him this season and in the NBA, Jake scored 46 points and broke his own record of more shots of 3 points hit in one game."
"Jake hit 14 3-point shots and made 42 points in that game with just three-point shots, and he only tried 19 3-point shots in that game, so in Jake Smith's first game against Jason Kidd, Jake managed to score more points."
"In that game, we also saw Jake making fewer assists and less steals too, with coach Rambis replacements the main players were replaced, Kobe Bryant did not play well and played for only 25 minutes in that game."
"Shaquille O'Neal played for only 34 minutes and performed well in that game, so the highlights of the Lakers team were Jake, Shaq, and Rick Fox again who performed well in that game."
"Dennis Rodman also managed to stand out in this game with 16 rebounds which helped the Lakers team to get such a big advantage in points, Dennis has been performing well in the last games showing that he can help the Lakers team to get more wins."
"The Phoenix Suns team started the game well, but then they could no longer handle the Los Angeles Lakers team's attack, the highlights being Jason Kidd who had 12 points and 11 assists, and Tom Gugliotta who had 20 points."
The game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team achieving another victory, the players were very tired after the game and still had to travel back to Los Angeles where the next game would take place.
Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were not happy to be replaced in the last games and to have less playing time, but they understood that this was to prevent them from having injuries, Kobe was even more upset with the poor performance he had in the last game.
They were even more upset seeing how Jake played each game better and always played the 48 minutes if Jake was just a PG they would understand that he could get tired less, but Jake scored a lot, a lot of assists, and still got rebounds and steals us games.
So Jake got tired even more than they did in the games and was able to play 48 minutes every game, for sure if they could play 48 minutes every game they could score more points in the games.
Fortunately, they would have a day of rest before having to play the next game, this reduced season with fewer games was tiring the players a lot more than the normal season they had in other years.
The players arrived in Los Angeles and were able to go to their home to rest until the next day, Jake was also happy that he would have a day to rest, but the next day when he woke up very early he got a call from David Falk.
"Hi, Jake, congratulations on the victories of your team and also for the excellent performance you had this season, making an average of 33 points and 11 assists per game is really incredible, and you were still chosen as the player of the month and rookie of the month."
"I confess I didn't expect you to be able to do that in your NBA debut season, especially when you said you wanted to play on the Los Angeles Lakers team, I thought that if you played on a team that wasn't that good you would be the team star and could score more points and perform better."
"Thanks for the compliments, Davis, I know that you are used to working with excellent players, after working with Michael Jordan you will not be surprised by any player."
"I have to thank you too for getting me to play on the Los Angeles Lakers team and getting the great sponsors I have."
"Hahaha, you deserved it, but let's stop compliments, I called you because I wanted to know if you are not tired or busy today?"
"No, I'm fine after sleeping well, what do you want?"
"With the success, you are having in your debut season in the NBA, Adidas called me saying that they wanted to anticipate the launch and sales of the products that you will represent for them."
"The project for both sneakers was already ready and they even started producing, they wanted to wait until the end of this season, but as you are playing so well they want to take advantage of your popularity to start selling the sneakers."
"I have to say that they created two beautiful sneakers for you, you will be proud of your first brand as an NBA player and as a runner too."
Jake did not expect the two sneakers to be ready anytime soon, of course, this was possible since he had already agreed on this contract for almost 1 year and had already signed the contract for more than 6 months.
Jake recalled that Adidas representative Mike Morris said he had a lot more fans in Europe and Asia than in the United States, Adidas was a very strong brand in Europe and they could sell a lot of sneakers there.
Jake naturally agreed to go to record the commercials for Adidas, after all, they had paid 52 million dollars for 5 years of contract and 1 year of the contract was almost lost because of NBA lockout.
After a few hours Jake arrived at the advertising studio where the commercials would be recorded, it was several times bigger than the commercials Jake had recorded in Miami, of course, Adidas would not save on advertising if it had paid a 52 million contract. dollars with Jake.
Jake arrived at the advertising studio and saw David and Mike talking to the director of the commercial that he was going to record and other people at the advertising company, as it was a commercial for Adidas Jake couldn't say how he thought the commercial could be better.
What Jake did as soon as he arrived at the filming location was where some Adidas sneakers were, he knew that some of those sneakers must be the brand that would be his, so Jake can see the two sneakers he would represent.
The two sneakers had similar colors but were clearly different, the running shoes looked more comfortable and were black in color with some blue and purple details, the blue and purple details were metallic and stood out a lot.
On the shoe, it said JKS Velocity 1 and it had the Adidas brand too, Jake had really liked the shoe and used it quickly and I find it comfortable, it was a shoe that he could use for his marathons, it looked like he had the best technology for tennis race that Adidas had developed.
The other shoe was also black and had some blue and purple details, but the details were different from running shoes and also had no metallic color, moreover, it was similar to other Adidas basketball shoes.
This other shoe called JKS 1 and had the Adidas brand, it seemed that Adidas already intended to make other shoes for Jake in the coming years, Jake had no way of knowing if the shoe would sell well because it would depend on the fame he had in the NBA.
But he liked the two sneakers and wanted many so he could use them in his training, while Jake was looking at his brand shoes David and Mark had already finished talking and went to where he was.
"I saw that you liked the shoes that our company made for you, Jake, everyone at the company went to great lengths to make this design and to get the shoes ready more quickly to be launched in the coming months."
"I really liked the sneakers, I liked the colors and found them comfortable too, even if I had given my opinion I couldn't suggest anything better."
"Glad you liked it, we are sure that your fans will also like the two shoes, the ideal is that basketball fans also wanted to buy running shoes, that would be the best for the company."
"We will talk about this later, Jake, you will have to record for a few hours here, we want to take this day to create at least 3 commercials, the 3 of which will be the same commercial that tells the same story told in three parts."
Jake asked what would be the story of the commercials and Mike explained to him, in the commercial Jake would be in a block of a community center, he would be in the stands, and inside the court, some young people who were more popular were winning all the games.
In the commercial there would be some women in the stands who were more interested in Jake who was in the stands than in the young people who were winning the games, so the young people in the stands who would be jealous would challenge Jake who was in the stands to impress women.
Jake who was challenged would accept playing a game with the youth on the court, so he gets up and the youth on the court realizes that Jake is taller than he looked while sitting, only one of the players on the court was taller than him.
Jake found it interesting and they went to the place where the commercial recordings would be made, it would not be at the advertising company, it would be elsewhere when Jake arrived everything was prepared for the commercial recording and the actors were prepared as well.
The recordings started and everything was done as Mike said it would be, Jake had to record the first scenes a few times because the actors hired them to miss their lines when Jake was challenged by the young people who were on the court, he opened the sports bag he had at his side and his new JKS 1 sneaker was shown on camera.
Jake put on his tennis shoes for the first time and the recording continued with Jake entering the court, the young men realized that Jake might know how to play basketball, so they chose the two best players in the group and challenged Jake to a one-on-one.
In the history of the commercial the best player challenged Jake first for the one-on-one, Jake did what he knew and naturally, he easily won the actor in the recording, even though the author was also a skilled basketball player to bring more realism for the commercial, Jake was an NBA player so he naturally won easily.
The youth on the court was annoyed that they lost and realized that Jake was much more skilled than they were, so they started challenging Jake to challenges that could be unfair to Jake.
The first challenge was the one-on-one game that Jake won, the second challenge was that Jake could only try the three-point shots when he was on the attack and the youngest man who was the tallest could do the shots just inside the line three points, so Jake would naturally be at a disadvantage.
Jake accepted this challenge and he hit all three-point shots and when the tallest opponent attacked Jake got some steals and some blocks and also won the second challenge, so the young people realized they couldn't beat Jake in basketball.
Then one of the young men challenged Jake to a 10,000-meter long-distance run, the others understood that they couldn't win in basketball and even forgot that they wanted to win the attention of women in the stands, now they just wanted to defeat Jake.
Jake accepted this third challenge and took his sports bag and put on his running shoe that was the JKS Velocity 1, so the young people realized before the race that they were going to lose, and the commercial ended.
Recording the commercial took a few hours because the other actors made a lot of mistakes, Jake made no mistake and the directors knew that Jake was an actor too, yet they were impressed by his talent.
This commercial would be divided into three smaller commercials after the edition, the first commercial was with Jake winning the first challenge, the other commercial was with Jake winning the second challenge was with the young people giving up on challenging Jake in basketball and challenging him to the running of long-distance and with them realizing that they could not win.
Jake thought the commercial was very simple, but it was interesting for someone to see, Jake remembered that the Adidas commercials at that time were that simple and they just wanted to get the public's attention and show off the sneakers they were selling.
Then Jake had to go back to the advertising company to take some more pictures that would be used as advertising by the company, Jake had never done such a big advertising campaign and he didn't know it took that long.
Mark seemed to understand what Jake thought and said that this recording for the commercial would only last a few hours because the company knew that basketball players were very busy and had a few days off to do the recording.
That's because sometimes some commercials they did could last a few days or even a few weeks, Jake returned to his house when it was dark, and David told Jake that maybe in the next few weeks the other companies he endorsed could ask him to record a commercial too.
After all, the other companies also wanted to take advantage of this high popularity that Jake currently had in the NBA, Jake was happy because he knew that this recording of this commercial would also be good for increasing his fame in the world of sports.
NBA fans knew that the biggest stars normally had big NBA sponsorship deals, if Adidas managed to finish this commercial quickly and start selling the sneakers, it could coincide and even help the popularity of the movie The Matrix that Jake would participate in.
Jake asked Wachowski directors that he did not need to participate in talk shows to talk about the film, Jake thought it best that only the main actors worked to promote the film.
Certainly just because he participated in the film, NBA fans and especially fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team might want to watch the film he participated in, Jake was sure of the success of the film because the film had become similar to what he remembered in the past and just his character who was different in the film.
Now Jake already knew that he should expect several things in the coming weeks and the premiere of his film at the end of the month, the next day Jake woke up very early to prepare for the game that the Los Angeles Lakers team would have that day.
It was the second game in a row that the Los Angeles Lakers team would have against the Phoenix Suns team, in the last game the Phoenix Suns team played at home and in that game it would be in Los Angeles, so again the sports media expected the Los Angeles Lakers team to have the advantage.
When the game time was coming Jake arrived at the Great Western Forum which was packed again, he was one of the first to arrive and knew he had missed the training the team had the previous day to go and record the commercials.
Of course, Jake asked Coach Kurt Rambis first, but Jake didn't like to miss training, Coach Rambis and the other players didn't care because Jake played 48 minutes in every game and was being the team's main player in the last few games.
After a few minutes, the two teams were ready for the game to begin. 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, Robert Horry playing as PF, and Shaquille O'Neal playing as Center.
The Phoenix Suns team would start this game with Jason Kidd playing as PG, Rex Chapman playing as SG, George McCloud playing as SF, Tom Gugliotta playing as PF, and Luc Longley playing as Center.
They were the same players from the last game, the Phoenix Suns team started pressing in the attack and they were also pressing in defense, it seemed that they wanted the victory in that game even though the Los Angeles Lakers team was playing at home.
Because of that, the Phoenix Suns team ended the first quarter with a small advantage on the scoreboard, but in the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team started to press much more in the attack and managed to reverse the score and finish the second quarter by winning.
In that game, Coach Rambis did not replace Kobe Bryant and did not replace Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe played very well in that game and with that, the Phoenix Suns team could not handle the attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team.
In the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team continued to put pressure on the attack and further increased the lead on the scoreboard, and the game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with 114 points against 91 points for the Phoenix Suns team.
Jake played for 48 minutes in that game and had 28 points, 15 assists, 8 rebounds, and 11 steals, Jake managed to make another triple-double in that game and played a really good game even though he didn't score more than 28 points in that game.
In this game, Kobe Bryant also stood out a lot and played his best game this season, Kobe had 32 points, 5 assists, and 5 rebounds, this was the game where Kobe scored the most points, Shaq also made another excellent game with 27 points and 9 rebounds.
Dennis Rodman had another excellent game and managed to get 17 rebounds, this was the game in which Dennis got the most rebounds and in the last game he had already managed to get 16 rebounds, Dennis was showing that it could be important for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win more games.
After that victory, the Los Angeles Lakers team had managed to win 16 games in 17 games that happened in the season, this season was being really excellent for the Los Angeles Lakers team and the fans and the sports media talked more and more about how the Lakers team was favorite to win the NBA title.
The next day the Los Angeles Lakers team would not play and the players could have another day to rest, the team would only have a light training as it always did and the players did not care.
Los Angeles Lakers team fans were happy with the team's victories before they were worried about these coach changes that the Lakers team had, but coach Kurt Rambis seemed to be doing very well and since he started coaching the Los Angeles team Lakers didn't lose any games.
Of course, the fans of the Lakers team knew that the greatest merit was of the players who continued to play well throughout the season, but as long as the team continued to win, they did not care who the team coach was.
The other day the players did just a light training and were able to rest even more before the next game, the day of the game came and it would be again in Los Angeles that made the players even happier.
Jake went to the Great Western Forum again and saw that the Los Angeles Lakers fans had come to support the Lakers team again with many fans, Jake entered the locker room and in a short time, the players were out on the court ready for the game to begin.
The opponent in that game was the Seattle SuperSonics team again, the last game this season between these teams was well balanced and the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to win with a good performance by Jake, Shaq, and Kobe.
This was a highly anticipated game by the sports media because of the dispute between Jake Smith and Gary Payton, in the last game the two achieved good performance and Jake got some steals in the game, but the two respected each other and managed to play well.
In this game, the dispute was again awaited because this time Jake had been chosen as player of the month and was not just a rookie, the sports media even said that Jake could be chosen as MVP of this season.
This could encourage Gary Payton to try to defend even more against Jake so that fans could see an intense dispute between the two players, of course, the most likely was that something like that would not happen.
"Welcome everyone who came to watch one more game this NBA season, today's game is between the Los Angeles Lakers team against the Seattle SuperSonics team."
"The Seattle SuperSonics team has 9 wins and 5 losses this season and is one of the best teams this season, with Gary Payton and Van Baker this team has been performing well in most games."
"The Los Angeles Lakers team has 16 victories and only 1 loss this season, one of the best starts of the season in the history of the Lakers team, with Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and rookie Jake Smith the Lakers team is having an excellent performance this season."
"Shaq and Kobe are playing well this season again, but Jake is a big surprise for everyone in the NBA, now he is one of the players who can win the MVP this season."
"Yes, it's important to say that Jake had averages similar to these in the two seasons he played on the Tar Heels team at the university and was twice an MVP at the university before entering the NBA."
"It shows that he played well for two seasons at the university before entering the NBA, with that regularity Jake shows that he will continue with this great performance throughout this season."
The commentators didn't even talk about the dispute between Jake and Gary because everyone thought the Los Angeles Lakers team would win that game, Gary Payton was certainly an excellent player, but the Seattle SuperSonics team didn't have a very good team and the Lakers team had the best players.
The Los Angeles Lakers team would start that game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O'Neal playing as Center.
The Seattle SuperSonics team would start this game with Gary Payton playing with PG, Dale Ellis playing as SG, Detlef Schrempf playing as SF, Vin Baker playing as PF, and Olden Polynice playing as Center.
Robert Horry was not going to play in that game because the doctors thought it was better for him to rest and stay a game without playing so that his illness wouldn't come back, with Dennis Rodman playing longer in the games that were possible.
The game started and Shaquille O'Neal won the first possession of the ball for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Dale Ellis came in to press the defense.
Kobe held the ball and passed it to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Detlef Schrempf arrived pressing on the defense, Rick held the ball and passed it to Jake further on, Jake received the ball and Gary Payton arrived to defend.
Jake held the ball and passed it to Shaquille O'Neal further down the left, Shaq received the ball and Olden Polynice came in pressing on defense, Shaq managed to spin and scored 2 points with a layup for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
In another move the Seattle SuperSonics team was on the attack, Gary Payton advanced with the ball and passed it to Ellis on the left, Ellis received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense.
Ellis held the ball and passed it to Vin Baker further on, Baker received the ball and Travis Knight came in pressing on the defense, Baker managed to advance to the painted area using his strength and tried the hook shot and made 2 points for the Seattle SuperSonics team.
Both teams started the game by pushing forward and trying to defend too, even though the Los Angeles Lakers team had the strongest attack the game was balanced and the Seattle SuperSonics team players were playing well in the attack as well.
In another move, the Los Angeles Lakers team was in the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball and Schrempf arrived pressing in defense, Rick held the ball a little and passed it to Jake further back.
Jake received the ball and quickly passed it to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and made a feint that tricked Ellis and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
In another move, the Seattle SuperSonics team was on the attack, Payton advanced with the ball and passed it to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Rick came pressing on the defense, Schrempf tried to make a feint, but was unable to deceive Rick.
So Schrempf decided to pass the ball to Payton further back, Payton received the ball and Jake arrived to defend, Payton stepped back and tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Seattle SuperSonics team.
In that first quarter, Jake realized that Gary Payton was trying to attack a few more times, in that quarter Payton tried some three-point shots and Jake just tried to hinder the shot from outside Payton.
Kobe Bryant was well on the attack and Shaquille O'Neal was also playing well, so Jake was attacking as he did in other games just trying to defend well, at the end of the first quarter the Lakers team was winning, and Gary Payton approached Jake to say something to him.
"In this game, I will show that you are not the only PG who can score more than 30 points in a game and still do assists."
Jake was really surprised to see Payton saying this to him, in the first game they didn't even talk during the game and the two respected each other, it seemed that it was true that Payton got more excited in this game now that Jake had been chosen as the player of the month.
Jake was not bothered by what Payton said and would continue to play the same way he had thought before, in this game where Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal were playing well he wanted to take the opportunity to make more assists.
But Jake could do a lot more defense and try to do some steals and some blocks to show the strength of his defense, Jake knew how to play 48 minutes in every game was tiring, so he just tried to do the steals and press the defense, but I didn't try to press too hard or make blocks.
Because if Jake tried to put a lot of pressure on the defense and make several blocks he might not be able to play for 48 minutes, so he also didn't try his best in attack and preferred to make assists when he could.
The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning and getting a small point advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal.
"The first quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game so far with a small point advantage, the game was much more balanced than I thought and the Seattle SuperSonics players are playing very well."
"Yes, Gary Payton is playing really well in this game, it looks like he's really more excited to play against Jake after he was chosen as the player of the month, he's not putting much pressure on defending against Jake, but Payton is attacking very well and he's even hitting some three-point shots."
"On the side of the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake is playing as well as ever, Kobe Bryant is also playing well and Shaquille O'Neal is playing very well, with the strength of the Lakers team's attack they are winning the game."
"Let's see if the Seattle SuperSonics team can beat the Los Angeles Lakers team that lost just one game this season."
The second quarter started with the two teams pressing in the attack, in another play the Seattle SuperSonics team was in the attack, Payton advanced with the ball and passed to Schrempf on the right.
Schrempf received the ball and Rick arrived pressing in defense, Schrempf held the ball a little and passed it to Ellis on the left, Ellis received the ball and Kobe arrived pressing in defense.
Ellis tried a feint and managed to outwit Kobe, so Ellis did a quick crossover and got space to try a mid-range shot and make 2 more points for the Seattle SuperSonics team, Ellis was also playing well in that game and Kobe was not defending well against him.
In this game coach, Rambis decided that he would not replace the main players, after all, he knew that this could be a difficult game and did not want to risk losing, in addition, the players did not get tired much in the last days having a day to rest between games.
The Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack and Jake was organizing the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and tried a feint to deceive Ellis, but Ellis was not deceived.
Kobe held the ball and passed it to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and made a feint and then stepped back and attempted a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Payton was tricked by Jake's feint and failed to do anything in this play.
In another move the Seattle SuperSonics team was on the attack, the second quarter had started a few minutes ago and Payton realized that Jake continued to play normally and was no longer pressing on defense or trying to attack anymore.
Payton spoke to Jake to see if it made him more agitated and so he could try to attack more often so that he could defend better against Jake, but Jake looked like he didn't care what he said.
Payton advanced the ball and passed it to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Rick arrived to defend, Schrempf held the ball for a while and passed it to Ellis on the left, Ellis received the ball and then passed it to Payton further back.
Payton received the ball and tried to deceive Jake with a feint, Jake was not deceived and started to put more pressure on the defense, Payton saw that he was unable to deceive Jake and tried to make a quick crossover and advance from the left.
Jake managed to react quickly and continued to press on defense without letting Payton advance, with Jake doing this Payton realized that Jake was defending differently from the first quarter, it looked like Jake would not let him make the points easily.
Payton tried another feint and did a step back, Jake realized that Payton would try to do that and was faster and managed to do the steals and catch Payton's ball, Jake held the ball and passed it to Kobe on the right.
Payton was surprised because even he didn't realize he had left an opening for Jake to do the steal, Payton knew that Jake was good at stealing, but he thought Jake was better at just intercepting passes.
After that move Payton became more careful in making the attack moves, his attacks continued, but Jake pressed on defense in every attack he tried to make, because of that Payton felt he was missing more attacks.
Payton wanted to press on defense as well and prevent Jake from attacking many times, but Jake didn't attack often and when he attacked he couldn't react quickly enough to disrupt the three-point shots and mid-range shots that Jake tried.