bhwS

by Cr0w0019

this is a fanfic of a bhwS book i read with a little bit of things edited to make it better

50. Chapter 50

West Conference Semifinals

Jake went after a few hours to do training with the Los Angeles Lakers team, Jake could see that his teammates were excited about the win, but they were also tired from the last few games.

Of course, the players wanted to play all the playoff games as long as they could, after all, besides being important for the team, it was also important for their career, so the players were trying hard in training even though they were tired.

Jake was not so worried because he thought that with those 2 days without a game the players would be able to rest well before the next game if Shaq and Kobe continued playing well, the Los Angeles Lakers team could win the 4 games and advance to the next phase.

The San Antonio Spurs team was having more difficulty and lost the first game and won the second game against the Utah Jazz team, so regardless of which team progressed in that phase the Los Angeles Lakers team would have more time to rest if they won the 4 games without losing no game.

Jake no longer knew what could happen in the next games because it was different from what happened in his past life, so Jake just hoped that Kobe and Shaq would continue to perform well in the next games.

Not only Shaq and Kobe but also Dennis and Rick were important for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win in the next games, Rick and Dennis were not playing very well in that last game and therefore the game was more difficult for the Lakers team to win.

After training Jake returned to his house and the next day the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team could rest, the next day Jake and Eva left Los Angeles to go to Portland, Oregon.

The directors of the Los Angeles Lakers team decided it was best for the Lakers players to travel to Portland, Oregon the day before the game so they wouldn't get too tired, so Eva also went to Portland, Oregon by helicopter with a hotel room ready for her.

The other day game day came and the Los Angeles Lakers team went to the Rose Garden to play the next game, Jake can see the Portland Trail Blazers fans coming to the Rose Garden waiting for the Portland Trail Blazers to win.

In the last games, the Portland Trail Blazers team played very well and the games were balanced, as were all the games between the two teams throughout the season, just as Jake hoped the Portland Trail Blazers team was a tough opponent.

Even more in this game that the Portland Trail Blazers team would play at home with the confidence of the last game that they almost managed to win, Jake hoped that the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were playing well and so he would try harder for the Lakers team achieve victory.

In that game 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 Portland Trail Blazers team would start the game with Damon Stoudamire playing as PG, Isaiah Rider playing as SG, Brian Grant playing as SF, Rasheed Wallace playing as PF, and Arvydas Sabonis playing as Center.

"Welcome to everyone who came to watch this game this NBA season, this is the third game of this phase of the playoffs and it is the first game here at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon, so the Portland Trail Blazers team is more likely to win that game."

"In the 2 games of the West Conference Semifinal, the Los Angeles Lakers team won the victory playing at home and having a great performance from the players of both teams, in the second game the Portland Trail Blazers team almost won."

"Jake Smith is the main highlight of this Lakers team and also the highlight of this season, Jake performed well in all games in those playoffs, and it was very important for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win at the end of the last game."

"The Los Angeles Lakers team has the best attack of this season, and besides Jake, they have excellent players like Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, and in that, the Lakers team has the advantage because the Portland Trail Blazers team does not have such outstanding players."

"The highlight of the Portland Trail Blazers team is all the players and the coach, without any highlight, the Portland Trail Blazers team arrived in these playoffs as one of the best teams because the players have a good relationship and achieve good performances."

"We will follow in this game if the Portland Trail Blazers team wins the victory playing at home or if the Los Angeles Lakers team will win this game more and get closer to progressing to the next phase."

As commentators said, even with the Los Angeles Lakers team having won 2 games, the advantage in that game was the Portland Trail Blazers team, after all in the last 2 games the Portland Trail Blazers team lost more players played very well.

So playing at home, the Portland Trail Blazers team had a better chance of winning that first game, even with Shaq and Kobe playing very well, if the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team the chances of the Portland Trail Blazers team winning increase.

The game started with Shaquille O'Neal winning the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaq passed the ball to Jake who started organizing the first attack of the game, Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Kobe Bryant on the right.

Kobe received the ball and Isaiah Rider came on to defend, Kobe was one of the best players in the Los Angeles Lakers team in the last game with 32 points and just wasn't the best because Jake was more important at the end of the game and made a triple-double.

So Kobe had more confidence in this game and he would not try so hard because he was more tired, Kobe held the ball for a while and passed it to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Brian Grant came pressing on the defense.

Rick tried a feint and Grant was not deceived and continued in defense, Rick was not playing very well in this phase of the playoffs because Grant was defending well against him, even though Rick knew he was helping the team by making more than 10 points per game and not allowing the Portland Trail Blazers to double-team Jake and Kobe.

Rick gave up on the individual move and passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Damon Stoudamire came in pressing on the defense, Jake advanced with the ball and did a quick crossover and advanced on the left.

Stoudamire was not so close to Jake and managed to react after being duped and continued on defense, Jake change of pace and advanced with the ball on the right and this unbalanced Stoudamire who fell to the ground.

Jake continued to advance with speed after the beautiful play and Arvydas Sabonis arrived to defend, Sabonis went to defend against Jake even though he knew he would pass the ball to Shaq, but different from what Sabonis thought Jake drive to the basket and made the 2 points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team.

Sabonis still tried to defend, but he didn't want to miss and Jake attacked too fast and Jake's play was unexpected for him, and for Shaq also waiting for the pass, the Portland Trail Blazers fans did not like the play, but the fans respected Jake's ability.

Stoudamire was a little embarrassed after the ankle break play on the last move, but he tried to keep defending even though he knew Jake's speed was higher and after 2 dribble he lost his balance and fell.

In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack and Stoudamire was organizing the attack, Stoudamire advanced with the ball and passed to Rider on the left, Rider received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense.

Rider tried to deceive Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not deceived and Rider had to pass the ball to Grant from the right, Grant received the ball and Rick arrived pressing in defense, in the last 2 games Grant was one of the best players on the Portland Trail team Blazers and he was confident in that game too.

Grant advanced with the ball using his strength and Rick couldn't stop Grant, Grant made a feint and Rick retreated, so Grant tried a mid-range shot to score 2 points for the Portland Trail Blazers.

The game started out balanced just like the last games, in that game Kobe and Shaq were playing well and so Jake was hoping to get the win, but Jake realized that Kobe and Shaq were not playing as well as in the last games and if the Portland Trail Blazers team played as well as in the last game they could win.

Jake knew that the biggest weakness of the Los Angeles Lakers team was the coach Rambis, the Los Angeles Lakers team achieved several victories with the players having an excellent performance and achieving the victory for the Lakers team.

When they lost it was when Shaq or Kobe were not playing well and the opponent was playing well, this was because the opponent knew the weaknesses of the Los Angeles Lakers team and Coach Rambis could not change the team's playing style if Shaq and Kobe did not. were playing well.

The Portland Trail Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy managed to do this very well this season and managed to get the Portland Trail Blazers team into the playoffs even though the team had no such prominent player.

In another move, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and held it a little before passing to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Rider came pressing on the defense.

Kobe kept the ball doing the low dribble and Rider continued in defense, Kobe jab stepped and Rider did not react, so Kobe took the opportunity to advance from the right using his speed and Rider was slow to react.

Kobe advanced with the ball and nobody went to defend against him, so Kobe drive to the basket and made the layup and 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.

In that first quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team seemed to be playing better just like in the last games, with the good moves of Jake, Kobe, and Shaq it seemed that the game was balanced because it was the strategy of the Lakers team again.

The Portland Trail Blazers players seemed to be playing just as well as in the last games, but it seemed that even with the Portland Trail Blazers team having one of the best saves of the season it was not enough to stop the Los Angeles Lakers attack.

The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a small points advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 10 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals.

"The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team finished that quarter by winning, it was a balanced game again, but the strategy of the Lakers team is always to make a balanced first quarter to observe the opponent."

"But from what we could see in that first quarter, the players from both teams are playing as well as in the last games, so with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant having a good performance, the Los Angeles Lakers team seems to have the advantage."

"Jake Smith is also playing very well as he did in all the games this season, the beautiful play he did that was an ankle break play and that lifted the spirits of the Los Angeles Lakers team."

"It's true, yet I still think that the Portland Trail Blazers team can win this game, the players on the Portland Trail Blazers team are playing very well and they are playing at home."

"In the last game the Portland Trail Blazers team almost got the win and with the Portland Trail Blazers team playing at home I think they can get the win in that game."

Just as commentators said the Portland Trail Blazers fans still hoped that the Portland Trail Blazers team would win and if they won the next home game both teams would be tied and the Portland Trail Blazers team could advance to the next phase of the playoffs.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team started pressing in attack and defense, in that quarter they had to do their best to understand if the Los Angeles Lakers team had the advantage in that game or if they could win.

Jake slowly advanced the ball and passed it to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Rider came pressing on the defense, Kobe held the ball for a while and passed it to Rick on the left.

Rick received the ball and Grant came pressing on the defense, Rick tried to make a feint and managed to deceive Grant and advanced on the left, Grant managed to recover and tried to continue defending, but Rick was faster and advanced to the inside area.

Rick advanced with speed and Sabonis came to defend against Rick, Rick knew he couldn't go any further and passed the ball to Shaq further on, Shaq received the free ball and advanced to make the dunk and 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.

Rick made a beautiful move and Shaq made the 2 points, but in this game, Rick and Dennis were not performing well, even Kobe and Shaq who were making the points were also missing a lot of attacks and the Portland Trail Blazers team had several defensive rebounds.

So in this second quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team managed to take the small advantage that the Los Angeles Lakers team and tied the game with 8 minutes of the second quarter, so the players of the Portland Trail Blazers realized that they could achieve victory in that game.

In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack, Stoudamire advanced with the ball and passed to Grant on the right, Grant received the ball and Rick came pressing on the defense, Grant made a feint and managed to trick Rick and advanced into the inside area.

Grant advanced with the ball and passed to Sabonis ahead, Sabonis received the ball and Shaq came pressing on defense, Sabonis tried to advance using his strength, but Shaq was strong too and prevented Sabonis from advancing to the painted area.

Sabonis noticed this and stepped back a little and moved away from where Shaq was and tried to hook to make 2 more points for the Portland Trail Blazers team, in that game Sabonis was playing well and seemed to have learned to attack playing against Shaq.

The Portland Trail Blazers team was attacking without passing the ball many times to Stoudamire who was unable to attack with Jake defending against him, with that they managed to finish the second quarter by winning the game with a small point advantage.

The Portland Trail Blazers team finished that second quarter by winning the game and the Los Angeles Lakers team would have to try to turn the tables playing as a visitor, in that second quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals.

"The second quarter ends and the Portland Trail Blazers team managed to finish for the first time in these playoffs a quarter winning, in the last game the Los Angeles Lakers team won, but the Portland Trail Blazers team almost managed to win at the end of the game."

"In this game, the Portland Trail Blazers team playing at home managed to finish the second quarter winning with a great performance from all players, it seems that the Los Angeles Lakers team will lose the first game in these playoffs."

"It's true, the Portland Trail Blazers team looks like they will be able to win this game and this could be the beginning of a historic turn and the Portland Trail Blazers team can win 4 games and advance to the next phase of the playoffs."

"In this game, Shaq and Kobe are playing well which is usually enough for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win, of course, Kobe was not performing as well as he did in the last game, but that could mean the Portland team Trail Blazers are better than the Lakers team."

The commentators were excited to see the Portland Trail Blazers team finishing the second quarter winning the game because in that game the Portland Trail Blazers team could clearly win that game, in addition, the Portland Trail Blazers team was playing better even with Shaq and Kobe having a good time. performance too.

This was exciting for commentators because everyone thought the Los Angeles Lakers team would easily win all 4 games and advance to the next playoff phase, in fact, everyone expected the Lakers team to win the NBA title this season.

So with the Portland Trail Blazers team managing to win the game even with Jake, Shaq, and Kobe playing well, they saw the opportunity for the Portland Trail Blazers team to win the 4 games and eliminate the Los Angeles Lakers team in this phase of the playoffs.

Jake also realized this and was worried, he wanted to play even better and win with his mother watching the game in the stands, but in this game, Stoudamire was playing well in defense and Jake couldn't count on Rick and Dennis.

Jake decided he would play better in the third quarter to try to help the Los Angeles Lakers team to win as they did in the last game, but he knew that the Portland Trail Blazers team could still make the strategy of starting to make fouls and if that happened it would be difficult for the Lakers team to win.

This strategy of making fouls against the Los Angeles Lakers team could only be done by teams that managed to keep the game balanced and where the best teams, in addition, this strategy could only be done in the third quarter and the last quarter for the opposing team not risk having players kicked out.

In this third quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team was pressing in attack and defense and the crowd was supporting the team, it was clear that they wanted the victory in that game, coach Rambis decided to put Robert Horry playing in place of Dennis who was not playing well.

Jake was determined to try even harder in this game to help the Los Angeles Lakers team to win and so he started trying to get more rebounds and more steals, in addition to putting more pressure on the attack.

In another move, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and held it a little before passing to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Rider came pressing on the defense.

Kobe tried to deceive Rider with a feint, but Rider was not deceived and continued in defense, Kobe thought about trying another move, but he saw Jake passing and passed the ball to him in the middle.

Jake advanced to the inside area using his speed and Stoudamire managed to continue in defense, Jake made a feint and made a fake pump that tricked Stoudamire, so Jake advanced to the painted area and drive to the basket and made a dunk to make 2 more points.

In this play neither Sabonis nor Wallace tried to defend against Jake and with that Jake went ahead alone to make the dunk, Jake was attacking more in that third quarter and with that when he made assists the opponent did not expect.

Just as Jake hoped in the middle of the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team got the points advantage again and the Portland Trail Blazers team started making the strategy of making fouls, Coach Rambis could not take Shaq in that game because Shaq was important in the attack. of the Los Angeles Lakers team.

So Shaq became the target of the fouls that the Portland Trail Blazers team did, with that Jake and the other players stopped making passes to Shaq in every play and Jake tried to keep the ball with him so that opponents avoided making fouls on him.

In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack, Stoudamire advanced the ball and passed it to Grant on the right, Grant received the ball and held it a little and passed it to Rider on the left.

Rider received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Rider tried to trick Kobe with a feint and managed to trick Kobe and stepped back to try a shot from the outside, Jake realized this and was quick to try the block.

Rider jump to try the shot from outside and Jake jump right after him to make the block, Jake reacted very fast and got the block, but the ball still went to Rasheed Wallace who caught the rebound and tried the mid-range shot and did more 2 points for the Portland Trail Blazers team.

Jake managed to make this block at an important point in the game when the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning the game, but it was the Portland Trail Blazers team that was playing best in that third quarter.

So if the Los Angeles Lakers team prevented this attack from the Portland Trail Blazers team, they could still maintain the advantage in points, but in this game, the Los Angeles Lakers team was not able to gain as many rebounds as they normally did in games.

So Wallace still managed to catch the rebound and make the 2 points even after Jake made the block, this again gave hope to the fans and players of the Portland Trail Blazers team and did not give the cheer to the Los Angeles Lakers team that Jake expected.

The third quarter ended with the Portland Trail Blazers winning by a few points, the Los Angeles Lakers team could get the comeback in that quarter, but it looked like the Lakers players were out of luck.

With the strategy of making faults in Shaq and other players, the Portland Trail Blazers managed to prevent the Lakers' attack from working well, even Jake was the target of the faults not to make three-point shots.

In the last quarter, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team seemed discouraged with the victory, after all in this game Kobe and Shaq were having a good performance, and even so the Lakers team was losing.

Of course, they knew that if Dennis and Rick were performing well it could be decisive for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win, but in other games, only Shaq, Jake, and Kobe were enough for the Lakers team to win.

On the side of the Portland Trail Blazers team, it was different, the players and the crowd were excited about this game and they wanted the victory to start a possible turn in this phase of the playoffs, coach Mike Dunleavy was also happy that his strategies in this game were working and he saw the hope of the Portland Trail Blazers team moving on to the next stage.

The game ended with the Portland Trail Blazers team achieving the first victory in this phase of the playoffs, with that victory the Los Angeles Lakers team was still 2 victory over 1 victory from the Portland Trail Blazers team, but the next game was at the Portland team home. Trail Blazers and a tie could happen.

The Portland Trail Blazers team won the game with 108 points against 102 points of the Los Angeles Lakers team, in that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 43 points, 11 assists, 9 rebounds, 10 steals, and 2 blocks, it was one of the best games of Jake in those playoffs and Jake managed another triple-double even with the Los Angeles Lakers losing.

"The game ends with the Portland Trail Blazers team achieving the first victory in this phase of the playoffs, it was an important victory in which the players of the Portland Trail Blazers had an excellent performance and will give confidence to the team in the next games."

"The Portland Trail Blazers players have already performed very well in the last game in which the Los Angeles Lakers team still managed to win, but in that game with the Portland Trail Blazers team playing at home they managed to win."

"The Portland Trail Blazers team won that game even though Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant had a good performance and with Jake Smith having his best performance in these playoffs, this will give a lot of confidence to the Portland Trail Blazers team in the next home game."

"It is true, in the first game of this phase of the playoffs all the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team performed well, in addition to Shaq, Kobe and Jake, Rick Fox and Dennis Rodman also performed well and that is why the Lakers team won with the facility."

"But in this game and in the last game Rick and Dennis did not perform well and the Portland Trail Blazers players continued to play well, which is why even though Jake Smith had his best performance in those playoffs with the triple-double making 43 points a Los Angeles Lakers team still lost."

Just as commentators said, this victory for the Portland Trail Blazers team was very important, especially since Jake had his best performance in the playoffs and even that was not enough for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win.

Even Jake, who was always excited, was saddened by this defeat, especially since his mother had come to watch this game, and even with him trying his best it was not enough for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win.

With this Los Angeles Lakers team defeat, a fifth game was confirmed in Los Angeles, of course, the Lakers team still had the advantage for being the best team of the season and playing the fifth game at home, but for that, they needed to win the fourth game playing as a visitor.

After the game the players returned to the hotel upset with the defeat, the worst was that the next game of this phase of the playoffs would be the very next day and the players had no chance to rest being replaced by a few minutes in these difficult games.

Having a game the next day would be bad because the Portland Trail Blazers players were very confident after the victory and would continue to do so for the next game in which the Portland Trail Blazers team would play at home.

Jake couldn't talk to Eva who was at the hotel he rented for her after the game and would only see his mother in the stands for the next game, so Jake had to regain his confidence alone.

Jake decided that in this game the Los Angeles Lakers team had to win and so he worked hard to score more points and to help more in defense, in the last game Jake made 2 blocks and 10 steals being the best player in the defense of the Lakers team too.

Jake was thinking of working hard in the next game as well and taking the opportunity to score more points in the first quarter and the second quarter that the Portland Trail Blazers team could not use the strategy of making fouls.

In addition, Jake was thinking that the players on the Portland Trail Blazers team should also be as tired as the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team were, so he could take advantage of that to make more speed runs and score more points.

The most important thing was that all the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team were performing well, Jake realized in this game that just Shaq and Kobe playing well wasn't enough, in fact, if Dennis was performing well and catching several rebounds he could be even more important than Kobe in that last game.

Jake went to rest, trusting that his teammates who were professional players would know how to motivate themselves even better than he did, after all a team losing a game in the playoffs was common for the most skilled players.

The other day Jake woke up very early in the morning and went to eat breakfast with the other players at the hotel, Jake saw that the other players no longer seemed to be as discouraged and worried as they were after the defeat.

After a few hours Jake was in the hotel room thinking about what the game would be like that day and he got a call on his cell phone, Jake thought it might be his mother calling from her hotel, but it was Kate who was calling him.

"Hi, Jake, I called to see how you are doing, I heard about the result of yesterday's game."

"Hi, Kate, thanks for worrying about me, I'm already more excited now after sleeping well, I know that the Los Angeles Lakers team is still a favorite to win the next games and I'm more confident for the game today."

"Good, I hoped you wouldn't be discouraged after just 1 loss, the Los Angeles Lakers team won 2 games now and you can win today's game too, I want your team to win so I can watch your games in the NBA Finals."

"I also want to see you soon, Kate, I will not be discouraged and I will do my best to get the Los Angeles Lakers team to make it to the NBA Finals, how are your shows doing?"

"They're doing really well, almost all tickets have been sold at the last few shows and, I'm very happy with that, after the Grammy it seems like I got more fans, now I'm getting ready to stop only if your team makes it to the NBA Finals, otherwise I will have to schedule even more shows."

Jake was happy to see that Kate's success in music was increasing after winning a Grammy award, Jake didn't know what Kate's future would be like in the music world because she wasn't alive in his past life, so Jake could only support Kate and hope she was successful.

Kate also supported Jake very well in everything he did, she wanted him to do well in basketball, athletics, and his career as an actor because Kate didn't know much about what Jake did as a manager too, which is why being apart they were still happy dating.

Jake was even more confident after talking to Kate and was more excited for the game that the Los Angeles Lakers team would have that day, after a few hours Jake and the other players went to the Rose Garden Arena and saw that the fans would fill the Arena in that game.

The Los Angeles Lakers team players could see how the fans were more confident that the Portland Trail Blazers team could win this game than in the last game, Jake and the Los Angeles Lakers team players were also confident that they could win this game and could try his fourth win playing in Los Angeles.

The players went to the locker room and then went to the court to wait for the game to start, Jake can see that the Portland Trail Blazers players were also more confident in this game that they would win.

Jake knew he would be a player who would change the outcome of that game and bring victory to the Los Angeles Lakers team, but for that, he had his teammates in that game.

In that game 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 Portland Trail Blazers team would start the game with Damon Stoudamire playing as PG, Isaiah Rider playing as SG, Brian Grant playing as SF, Rasheed Wallace playing as PF, and Arvydas Sabonis playing as Center.

The two teams would start playing with the same players as it was in the last games, Coach Rambis still hoped that Dennis Rodman could help the Los Angeles Lakers team by catching rebounds and helping in defense.

Robert Horry did well in the last few games, but if Dennis managed to catch more than 15 rebounds as he did sometimes he would make a difference in an important game like this, especially since Jake tried a lot of shots from outside in every game.

"Welcome to everyone who came to watch this game this NBA season, this is the fourth game in this phase of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers team won 2 games and the Portland Trail Blazers team won the last game."

"The Los Angeles Lakers team is still a favorite to win that game, but with the Portland Trail Blazers team winning the last game, the Portland Trail Blazers players have more confidence in that game playing at home after an important victory."

"It's true, it's clear that if all the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team play well in that game they have a better chance of winning, in the last game we could see that just Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal performing well is not enough to the Lakers team win."

"Another thing that is important to note is that the Los Angeles Lakers team coach Kurt Rambis does not have as much skill as coach Mike Dunleavy, so the Los Angeles Lakers team depends more on the individual performance of the team players."

"Okay, let's see if the Los Angeles Lakers team gets the third win and gets closer to qualifying for the next round or if the Portland Trail Blazers team gets the second win and ties that playoff stage."

What the commentators said was what everyone in the sports media thought, Coach Rambis didn't have as much skill as Coach Dunleavy on the Portland Trail Blazers, so the Los Angeles Lakers team lost when they didn't have the best players performing well.

The Lakers team players thought so too, but the truth was that everyone knew that Coach Rambis was being the coach because the Lakers team did not have time to sign another coach after 13 games in a reduced season.

Next season it was very likely that the Lakers team board would hire another coach even if the Los Angeles Lakers team won the NBA title this season, after all in a team with Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and now Jake it was natural to expect the team winning the NBA title even with a bad coach.

Coach Rambis certainly knew that the players and the media thought of him, he even knew that he did not have the capacity to coach one of the best teams in the NBA, yet he called the players to talk before the game started.

"I wanted to say what you all already know, this is a very important game for our team if we can win this game we will only need to win the next home game for our team to qualify for the next phase of the playoffs."

"I confess that I was very disappointed with our defeat in the last game, it was a game in which our team could win and we even finished the first quarter by winning the game, but it seems that the Portland Trail Blazers team found a way to defeat us."

"The last two games have not been very good, and the Portland Trail Blazers team almost won these 2 games, what left me most disappointed is that even with you knowing how your opponent plays, you still played the same way."

"At the end of the game you looked like you gave up the victory because of the Portland Trail Blazers team's strategy of making fouls, only Jake played in those two games believing in the victory until the end and that's why he had his two best performances in these playoffs in those last two games."

The players were surprised to hear Coach Rambis saying this, after all with the Lakers team winning most games, Coach Rambis did not have many complaints with the players, but with this defeat in the playoffs, neither Coach Rambis was able to remain without complaint.

"So just as the opposing team changed the strategy, we also have to play differently, in this game I want you to put pressure on the attack from the beginning of the game, in this first quarter we have to get a good point advantage."

"If your opponents start using the foul strategy, use that in your favor and get a lot of fouls, there is no way that the Portland Trail Blazers players will foul all quarters and still have no players kicked out."

The players were more confident having a different strategy for this game and Jake was even more surprised, after all, he thought about doing it even if Coach Rambis didn't say anything, it showed that even if he thought about it it was normal that Coach Rambis would also notice that this was a good strategy.

Of course, Coach Rambis couldn't know that Jake tried harder in these last two games and would try even harder in that game since the beginning of the game, for Coach Rambis and for all members of the media Jake tried his best in every game that's why I always had such a good point average.

The game started with the Los Angeles Lakers team pressing in the attack, Jake talked to his teammates saying that in the first minutes he would try to make several three-point shots to scare the opponent.

Everyone agreed with this because they knew that Jake had a very high hit average and that would certainly help to put more pressure on the Portland Trail Blazers team and open up a good point advantage.

Jake slowly advanced the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick Fox received the ball and held it for a while before passing it to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Isaiah Rider came pressing on the defense.

Kobe and Rick were making the move normally only for players on the Portland Trail Blazers who didn't realize that the Los Angeles Lakers team's strategy was for Jake to attempt the three-point shot in several moves.

Kobe held the ball a little and passed it to Jake in the back, Jake received the ball and Damon Stoudamire was on defense, Stoudamire was a little far from Jake as he did in the last games, Jake took advantage of that distance and tried a shot from outside and got it right by making 3 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.

Even with these 3 points from the Los Angeles Lakers team, the players from the Portland Trail Blazers team were not bothered by this and went on to the next play, it was normal in many plays that Jake started making a three-point play.

Stoudamire advanced with the ball and passed it to Brian Grant on the right, Grant received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, Grant tried to trick Rick with a feint, but Rick was not fooled, so Grant passed the ball to Rider on the left.

Rider received the ball and Kobe came in pressing on the defense, Rider held the ball a little and did a quick step back and tried an outside shot to make 3 points for the Portland Trail Blazers team, Kobe did not expect Rider to try to shoot so he didn't try to put any more pressure on the defense.

The game seemed balanced as the last games were and the Portland Trail Blazers fans were happy with that, in the other 2 plays Jake tried to make 2 more shots from outside and hit with 6 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.

The Portland Trail Blazers players didn't notice anything strange even though Jake made 3 3-point plays in a few minutes of play, the Portland Trail Blazers team also managed to make 4 more points in another 2 attacks and so the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to have 2 points advantage.

Jake moved on to the attack again and he had planned to make another three-point play and if he could get it right he would make 12 points in a few minutes and would further increase the pressure on the Portland Trail Blazers team.

Jake came close to the three-point line and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick held the ball for a while and passed it to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and held it a little and passed it on to Jake again.

That's how the last three moves were and Jake tried the shot from outside afterward, Jake realized that in this move the Portland Trail Blazers players were already more attentive in the play waiting for Jake to try the shot from outside to find out if this was a strategy of the Los Angeles Lakers team.

Jake saw that Shaquille O'Neal was freer and decided to pass the ball to him, Shaq received the ball and already realized that Jake decided to change the play in this attack, Arvydas Sabonis was quick and arrived to press in defense against Shaq.

Shaq took advantage of the time he was free to adjust and when Sabonis approached Shaq did the spin and advanced to the painted area using his strength, Sabonis did not expect this and even tried to press on defense.

Shaq went ahead and tried a layup and made the 2 points and even managed a free throw attempt, Sabonis tried to prevent Shaq from making the points by making a foul and was unable to prevent Shaq from making the 2 points and still made the foul.

Shaq was the player of the Los Angeles Lakers team that suffered the most fouls in the last games, after all, he was the player who had the lowest average of hits in the free throws, this time Shaq tried and hit with 1 more point and so the Lakers team did another three-point play with Shaq.

Jake was smart in that play, and Shaq was also very good, and so the Portland Trail Blazers players still didn't know about the Los Angeles Lakers' strategy in that game, so the Lakers team had the advantage.

Soon after, the Portland Trail Blazers tried to attack to reduce the advantage in points that the Los Angeles Lakers had, but Rider missed the mid-range shot and Dennis Rodman caught the first defensive rebound that was very important for the Lakers team.

In the next play, Jake made another individual play and passed the ball to Shaq again who added 2 more points to the Los Angeles Lakers team, so the Lakers team increased the advantage by 8 points and the Portland Trail Blazers team would have to fight to be able to turn the game.

Coach Dunleavy realized that the Los Angeles Lakers team had changed the strategy to attack more in that first quarter, but Coach Dunleavy knew that the Portland Trail Blazers team could not begin the strategy of making fouls early in the game.

In another move Jake went forward and made another three-point shot and thus managed to make 12 points in 4 attempts and that in less than 8 minutes of play, the Portland Trail Blazers team still did not realize that Jake intended to make several three-point shots because he made 2 assists for Shaq.

Even so, Stoudamire started to put more pressure on the defense so that Jake would not have so much freedom to try the three-point shots, Jake also realized that he had better pass the ball over to Shaq, Kobe, and Rick since he had already scored 12 points.

Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Jake told Kobe that he could start attacking normally now, Kobe received the ball and Rider came pressing on the defense, Kobe started doing low dribble trying to make the individual move.

Kobe tried to deceive Rider with a feint, but Rider was not deceived and continued to press on defense, coach Dunleavy told the Portland Trail Blazers players that the Los Angeles Lakers team had changed their strategy and wanted to press forward and score a lot in that first quarter.

Kobe decided not to try the individual play and passed the ball to Rick from the left, Rick was free when he received the ball and tried the mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.

In that first quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team put a lot of pressure on the attack and the Portland Trail Blazers team was not able to put pressure on the attack to balance the game, it seemed that in this game all the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were performing well.

Soon the first quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning with a good advantage on points as coach Rambis planned, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 20 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals.

This was the best first quarter that Jake has had since debuting in the NBA and it was also the quarter that he scored the most points in, Jake scored more points in that first quarter than many players did in an entire game, it showed how he was trying in that game.

"The first quarter ends with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a big point advantage, the Lakers team changed the strategy in that first quarter to try to win against the Portland Trail Blazers team and got a big advantage for the rest of the game."

"It's true, we can see that the Portland Trail Blazers players are no longer as confident of winning as they were at the beginning of the game, even the Portland Trail Blazers fans that filled the Rose Garden Arena are so confident of victory."

"The highlight of the Los Angeles Lakers team in that first quarter was certainly Jake Smith, making 20 points and hitting 6 shots from three points from 7 attempts, Jake seems to really want the victory in that game and is looking to make his best game in these playoffs this game."

"In addition to Jake, the other players on the Los Angeles Lakers team are also performing well in that game, Shaquille O'Neal had 8 points and 3 rebounds, and Dennis Rodman had 5 rebounds in that first quarter."

"The Portland Trail Blazers team will have to put a lot more effort into defense and attack if they want to try to diminish the advantage in points that the Los Angeles Lakers have."

Jake was happy with the first quarter that the Los Angeles Lakers team had and with his performance in that game, Jake received praise from his teammates and Jake can look more proudly at his mother who was in the stands, Eva was very happy with the compliments she overheard the Portland Trail Blazers fans doing for Jake.

Coach Rambis was the happiest with the Los Angeles Lakers team's start of the game, Jake and Shaq were very good in the game and even Dennis and Rick were performing well in that game, so the Lakers team would be more likely to win this one. I play as a visitor.

The second quarter started with the Los Angeles Lakers team continuing to press on the attack, the players knew that they could not let the Portland Trail Blazers team reduce the advantage in points they had because in the last quarter they could start with the strategy of making fouls.

Coach Mike Dunleavy had realized that Jake was performing very well in that game and so he ordered Stoudamire and Grant to double-team in defense against him as soon as they could.

Even though Rick and the other players on the Los Angeles Lakers team had more freedom to attack, the biggest problem in that game was Jake who had scored 20 points in the first quarter, so Coach Dunleavy thought the Lakers team would attack less if Jake didn't have the freedom to organize the moves.

Jake soon realized that the Portland Trail Blazers team was making a double-team defense on him if Jake wanted he could attack even though he had 2 players defending against him, but Jake knew he could count on his teammates and he didn't want to tire in that game even more and risk being replaced.

After a few minutes, Jake realized that Kobe was not performing well in that game, luckily Shaq was playing very well and Rick was also, in addition, Dennis was having a great performance catching the rebounds and this was better in this game for the Los team Angeles Lakers.

Fortunately, it was the player who was defending against Rick who was defending in the double-team against him, so Jake was passing the ball over to Rick who was performing well, the Los Angeles Lakers team was managing to score fewer points than in the first quarter, but still managed to increase the advantage in points.

Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and held it a little before passing the ball to Rick on the left, Rick received the free ball and stepped forward to try the mid-range shot and make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.

Rick was having a lot of freedom in that second quarter and Grant was more focused on defending against Jake than defending against Rick, certainly, Rick was more likely to miss the attacks than Jake, not to mention that if Rick tried to advance to the painted area, Coach Dunleavy ordered Rasheed Wallace to defend against him.

Rick realized this in other plays and so he tried to make the mid-range shots, after all with the freedom he was more likely to hit than usual, besides, Shaq was also very well and Jake, Rick, and Kobe passed the ball to him.

The Los Angeles Lakers team was very good in the attack and the Portland Trail Blazers team could not press the attack and diminish the advantage that the Lakers team had in the game, so the second quarter ended with the Lakers team winning the game.

In that quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and even though he had 2 players defending against him he still had 8 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1 block, Jake attacked less often and only tried to attack when Grant went to defend against Rick.

In the third quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team could finally start making the foul strategy, so at least they could prevent Shaq who was having a great performance from making more points.

But at the beginning of the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team had a 14 point advantage, so even if they tried to make the strategy of making fouls they still would not be able to turn the result of that game.

Even so, the Portland Trail Blazers team had to try to do this to try to win this game at home, otherwise playing as a visitor they would have even more difficulty winning against the Los Angeles Lakers team.

So the third quarter was more balanced with the two teams attacking and not making many points, even using the strategy of making fouls the Los Angeles Lakers team still managed to make the points in most attacks.

In addition, with Jake playing very well in defense and Dennis and Shaq catching a lot of rebounds, the Portland Trail Blazers team had even more difficulties in attacking, so the third quarter ended with the Portland Trail Blazers team reducing the Los Angeles team's points advantage Lakers.

In the last quarter the Portland Trail Blazers team could not make many fouls because many players could be expelled, Jake started to attack with even more intensity even though he had 2 players defending against him, and Jake also tried some shots from very far.

Thus the Portland Trail Blazers team was unable to diminish the advantage that the Los Angeles Lakers team had and thus the Lakers team won the game making 125 points against 111 points of the Portland Trail Blazers team.

In that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 46 points, 13 assists, 8 rebounds, 11 steals, and 3 blocks, Jake managed another triple-double in those playoffs, this was his fifth triple-double followed in those playoffs.

With this performance of Jake in attack and defense when the Los Angeles Lakers team needed him most, he was being seen by the people who chose the player who would be chosen for the MVP award of the season, and with this performance, Jake was becoming an idol for the fans.

"The game is over and the Los Angeles Lakers team got another victory, even though the Portland Trail Blazers team won the last game and playing at home, the Los Angeles Lakers team played a great game and won the third game of this phase of the playoffs."

"Now the Los Angeles Lakers team has 3 wins and the Portland Trail Blazers team has 1 win, if the Los Angeles Lakers team wins the next game playing in Los Angeles, the Lakers team will advance to the next phase of the playoffs and will reach West Conference Finals."

"In this game, the Los Angeles Lakers team changed the game strategy and started to press the attack with great intensity since the first quarter, Jake led the attack with 20 points only in the first quarter hitting 6 shots from 3 points in 7 attempts and also making 4 assists."

"The Los Angeles Lakers team did this because in the last games the Portland Trail Blazers team was having the advantage by making a strategy of making fouls in the last 2 quarters and thus preventing the Lakers team from making many points."

"It's true, that was a smart strategy because the Portland Trail Blazers team can't try to foul the entire game, so even if they decided to use the foul strategy in the first 2 quarters, the Los Angeles Lakers team would push the attack in the last few quarters and Portland Trail Blazers team players could not make fouls not to be expelled."

"Shaquille O'Neal, Rick Fox, and Dennis Rodman had an excellent performance in that game too, Shaq had 32 points and 11 rebounds, Rick had 19 points and Dennis managed to get 17 rebounds helping the Los Angeles Lakers team a lot in defense."

"Even so the highlight of the Los Angeles Lakers team was Jake who scored 46 points, 13 assists in that game helping a lot in the attack, Jake attracted 2 players from the Portland Trail Blazers team who had to make a double-team defense to prevent Jake from continuing making 3-point plays."

"In defense, Jake was the best player also making 11 steals and 3 blocks, in that game Jake made the fifth triple-double in a row in these playoffs showing how important he was to this victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team playing as a visitor."

"The next game will be in 2 days in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Lakers team will be playing at home and needs just 1 more win to get the 4 wins and advance to the next phase of the playoffs."

The Los Angeles Lakers team managed to win this difficult game against the Portland Trail Blazers team and so they could advance to the next stage if they won the next game in Los Angeles, the players and coach Rambis were very happy with this victory.

Even more, because they managed to find a way to win even with the opponent trying to use the strategy of making faults against them, so they would have more chances of winning even if the opponent tried to use a strategy of making faults in the next stages of the playoff.

The players acknowledged that Jake was currently the best player on the team this season, it was very difficult to find a player who managed to make 5 triple-double in playoff games, even more so as Jake who always scored more than 30 points.

If it weren't for Jake the Los Angeles Lakers team knew they would lose that game and maybe even other games, Jake didn't know what his teammates were thinking, he was just happy that the Lakers team got the win and that his effort was rewarded.

Jake looked at the stands again at the end of the game and saw that his mother was looking proud of him after that victory, Eva was happy that the Los Angeles Lakers team had won and was even happier that she heard the Portland Trail crowd. Blazers praised Jake a lot in that game.

Eva was also happy that she could finally return to Los Angeles, even if Jake chose a 5-star hotel Eva did not like having to stay in hotels for many days, she was much more comfortable at Jake's home in Los Angeles.

Jake returned to Los Angeles shortly after the game with the other players and Jake knew that Eva would also use the helicopter to go to Los Angeles because he had warned her that they could come home after that game.

Jake worked hard in the first quarter for the Los Angeles Lakers team to get a good point advantage, because of that he got very tired at the end of the game, luckily he can rest a little in the other quarters because the Portland Trail Blazers team did double-team defense on it.

Jake could still score a lot even though he had a double-team defense against him, but Jake came to the Los Angeles Lakers team this season because he wanted good teammates who could help the team win even if he couldn't attack much.

Jake didn't want to be known as a player who didn't know how to play as a team even though he could score more than 50 points in all games, that's why he decided to be a PG and with his assists, Jake helped the Lakers team a lot more than doing 50 points alone and giving no assistance.

Jake went to his house after arriving in Los Angeles and his mother had already arrived, Jake was happy with that and gave his mother a hug that he didn't see personally in a few days, Jake also thanked Eva for her support in these games important.

"You don't have to thank me, Jake, I know that many moms of gamers watch most of their children's games in the NBA season, I can't do that because I have to take care of the restaurant, so the least I can do is keep up with all their playoff games."

"I am very happy to see your games and even happier to see you and your team winning, I am also happy to see you being so praised, I know how you tried as a child to become such a good player, that makes me very proud."

"Even so, I appreciate it, Mom, I know you're worried about the restaurant while you're here to watch the Los Angeles Lakers team games, you don't know how seeing you in the stands gives me more confidence in the games."

Jake was being sincere saying this to Eva, since he had his second chance in this life Jake's priority was always that Eva lived a happy life and lived for many years, after all, Jake knew how his mother suffered in his past life before that she would end up dying.

Now Jake could work happily, play basketball and think about Kate because he knew that Eva was living happily and that his mom had made her dream come true, so nothing made Jake as happy as seeing his mom watching his games and cheering for him.

Eva was happy to hear Jake say that, she knew that Jake was being sincere saying that, Eva felt a little sad sometimes after Jake went to university and then with Jake going to Los Angeles to play basketball.

Eva knew that normally after the children grew up they would move away from their parents, she was always close to Jake in his childhood and even after Jake turned 10 they became even closer and Jake was not ashamed to say that he loved her like the others young people normally did.

So Eva was sad after Jake left their home in Miami because she thought they would never be that close again, but in those days she realized that Jake would never change and they would always be that close.

Of course, Eva had no way of knowing that Jake already had the mentality of a 40-year-old person since he was 10 years old and therefore he had not changed and his mentality would not change in the next few years.

Jake can sleep relaxed after such an important victory, the other day Jake woke up happily and knew that Coach Rambis had given that day of rest to him and the other players on the Los Angeles Lakers team.

Coach Rambis knew how tired the players were after the last few games, especially since he can't replace the important players for a long time in the last few games, so Coach Rambis thought that the players needed a day of rest more than one training.

Even Jake had to say that this day of rest would be good for him, who got tired a lot in the last two games that were in two days in a row, the other players should then be much more tired, in the last game Jake was tired in the last minutes of the last quarter, but he did not worry because the opponents were much more tired than him.

After a few hours Jake called Kate to talk to her about the Los Angeles Lakers team win, Kate was waiting for Jake to call and they talked for a long time before Kate had to hang up because she had more work to do.

Jake was very busy with basketball after the playoffs started, but he knew that sometimes he had more free time than Kate who had to work on her new songs, had to go to several meetings, and sometimes even had to do interviews for radio and television stations.

Of course, Jake would be very busy after the playoffs were over, he would have to start looking more closely at the market to make sure he could sell Cisco's stock only in 2000.

After all the future had changed with the change that Jake had in his life, this was even more true for the business world where he invested in 2 large companies and had shares in the companies of Matthew and Clara.

Jake also took care of an investment company that had billions of dollars invested in shares of the company Cisco, so Jake thought it was possible that the future would change and the bubble would burst sooner, and thus he would lose the chance to make more money.

Of course, if Jake sold the billions of dollars his investment firm had in shares of the Cisco company he could be the cause of the bubble burst in this life, so Jake had to start analyzing the stock market better and see the reports that Emily always delivered to him.

In addition, Jake had to continue to monitor whether the lawyers he hired would get all the patents he wanted for the smartphone, and for touchscreen and multi-touch technologies, Jake wanted all patents to be approved by the end of 1999.

That was because Jake knew that next year he would no longer be able to hide the wealth he had, so big tech companies like Apple and Microsoft would definitely investigate the patents Jake wanted to approve at a technology company he had.

After all, everyone would know that Jake was one of the biggest partners of the company Amazon, which was one of the companies that had the most expectations of growth in the market in the coming years, besides, everyone would know that Jake had invested billions of dollars in the company Cisco.

Jake also hoped that by the end of next year Charlie's team, which was now bigger, could finish developing the Android operating system, Jake would ask for many patents for that operating system as well, but it was impossible for Apple and Microsoft to know the importance of this technology and the internet was still starting to become popular and even desktops still had to evolve a lot.

Jake was not concerned with the Android operating system because he intended to share that technology with the Google company that Jake was a partner of and who in his past life created the Android operating system.

In addition, Jake still had the track and field and after the holidays he would return to play basketball next NBA season, so Jake would remain busy for the rest of the year, so Jake knew he had to take advantage of all the rest days he had.

After a few hours Jake drove his car to drive around Los Angeles for a while driving his car, Jake left alone this time because he wanted to enjoy the day driving the McLaren F1 he had.

Whenever Jake left the house to walk with his mother, he had to use his other car because only the McLaren F1 was a car that had passenger seats, it was a sports car that was comfortable only for the driver.

That was why Jake never took his mother and Kate for a ride with him in that car, so Jake wanted to enjoy that he had a day to relax and went to drive this car that was very fast and that's why Jake liked it so much.

The truth was that after being hit twice in his past life, Jake never thought he could continue liking cars, fortunately having the system in Jake's mind was much stronger and those past traumas no longer affected him, unfortunately in this life, he could still have other traumas if he were careless.

After walking his car for a few hours Jake went back to his house and called Eva to watch some movies, so Jake really enjoyed his rest day and went to sleep early to be prepared for the important game he would have the next day.

The other day after a few hours Jake went to the Great Western Forum where the next game would be, Jake remembered that in his past life the Los Angeles Lakers team had played their last game at the Great Western Forum after all the Lakers team was eliminated after 4 games for the San Antonio Spurs team at that stage.

Fortunately in this life the Los Angeles Lakers team was close to qualifying for the next phase playing at home and would still have a few more games at the Great Western Forum, Jake thought this was important since next season the Los Angeles Lakers team would start playing at the Staples Center.

Jake was happy to have the opportunity to play at the Great Western Forum last season that the Los Angeles Lakers team would play, just as Jake was also happy to play a season with coach Dean Smith while playing on the Tar Heels team.

Jake can see that the fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team would fill the Great Western Forum to follow that game in which the Los Angeles Lakers team could advance to the next stage in the playoffs.

The crowd counted on Jake and the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team to win this game and advance to the next stage, of course, what the fans wanted most was for the Lakers team to advance to the NBA Finals this season and win the NBA title.

Jake entered the locker room and after a while, he went out onto the court with the other players on the Los Angeles Lakers team, before that game Coach Rambis did not make a speech again and just told the players to use the same strategy as the last game and win that game.

"Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game this NBA season, this is the fifth game between the Los Angeles Lakers team facing the Portland Trail Blazers and this could be the last game of that phase."

"The Los Angeles Lakers team has 3 wins after winning an important game playing as a visitor, the Portland Trail Blazers team has only 1 victory and has to win that game if they want to have a chance to advance to the next phase of the playoffs."

"That's why the Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win that game at home and advanced to the next phase of the playoffs, in the last game the Lakers team changed their strategy, and Shaquille O'Neal, Rick Fox, and Dennis Rodman had a great performance."

"In addition, Jake Smith has been having an excellent performance in these playoffs and made 5 triple-double in a row and was the best player of the Los Angeles Lakers team in all the games of these playoffs, Jake has been showing that he does not shirk responsibility and continues to lead the team Los Angeles Lakers to achieve more victories."

"We will follow in this game if the Los Angeles Lakers team can win the fourth game and advance to the next stage, or if the Portland Trail Blazers team can win that game to try a historic turnaround."

Just as commentators said the Los Angeles Lakers team was the favorite to win this game, Jake was performing well in all games, and in this game, he wanted to stand out again in the attack to help the Lakers team win.

Jake thought about doing this and the other players also knew that this could be the best for the Los Angeles Lakers team, but it seems that the Portland Trail Blazers players also hoped that Jake would try to do this.

In that game 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 Portland Trail Blazers team would start the game with Damon Stoudamire playing as PG, Isaiah Rider playing as SG, Brian Grant playing as SF, Rasheed Wallace playing as PF, and Arvydas Sabonis playing as Center.

Portland Trail Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy analyzed the last game well and realized that the main part of the Los Angeles Lakers team's strategy for them to win was Jake's 20 points in the first quarter.

As soon as from the beginning of the game he decided to do a double-team defense strategy against Jake again, but different from what happened in the last game, who would be without defense would be Dennis Rodman, who was the player in the Los Angeles Lakers team that scored fewer points. in games.

So Damon Stoudamire and Brian Grant would defend against Jake and Rasheed Wallace would defend against Rick Fox and thus Dennis would normally be free in the attacking plays of the Los Angeles Lakers team, of course, Coach Dunleavy knew that Dennis would also make some points by playing free, but even so, he thought it was better than letting Jake attack.

So Jake cannot do as in the last game and start pressing on the attack and making several three-point shots, moreover, in this game of just having 2 players defending against him, Rick and Kobe were not free to attack and it would be more difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team attack.

So in this game, Jake could only attack normally and had to find some chances to try to shoot three points, for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win Jake had to count on his teammates.

Jake advanced with the ball and when he got close to the three-point line Stoudamire and Grant came to defend against him, so Jake decided to pass the ball to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball and Wallace came pressing on the defense.

Rick performed well in the last game and helped the Los Angeles Lakers team win that important game, but he knew that if he had someone defending against him it wouldn't be so easy for him to score so many points.

So Rick wanted to wait to see in the plays if he could get better opportunities to score, Rick passed the ball to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Isaiah Rider came in to press the defense.

Kobe made the low dribble and protected the ball for Rider not to try the steal, Kobe waited a bit and tried to jab step and Rider didn't react, so he took advantage of that Rider didn't react to advance to the inside area using his speed.

Rider realized he was tricked and tried to keep defending, Kobe used his speed and drive to the basket to try a layup and make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe managed to make a few more points in another individual play.

Kobe had not performed very well in the last game even though he had still helped the Los Angeles Lakers team by making several points, in that game Kobe wanted to be one of the highlights of the Lakers team as Jake was being heavily scored.

After a few minutes of the first quarter has passed, Jake can see that in this game Kobe and Shaq were performing well, so he could be more relaxed and focus on assists and tentative three-point shots in some moves.

Even though the Portland Trail Blazers team was making a double-team defense on Jake, the Los Angeles Lakers team's strategy of pushing forward in the first quarter and second quarter continued.

The Los Angeles Lakers team had the best attack of the season and with Jake drawing the attention of the Portland Trail Blazers defense it was easier for Rick, Kobe, and Shaq to attack, in addition, Dennis seemed to be performing well in that game too and was helping with some offensive and defensive rebounds.

So in this game with all the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team having a good performance, it was difficult for the players of the Portland Trail Blazers team to defend the attack of the Lakers team.

Jake knew this and concentrated on continuing to assist, if the Portland Trail Blazers team continued to do this double-team strategy they would not be able to stop the Los Angeles Lakers team from scoring a lot and opening up a big point advantage.

If the Portland Trail Blazers team stopped making this double-team defense on Jake, he would start attacking as he was supposed to do at the start of the game and would make lots of three-point shots to make as many points as he could.

The Portland Trail Blazers team was also trying to put pressure on the attack so as not to let the Los Angeles Lakers team increase the advantage in points, but the Lakers team was defending well in this game with Dennis taking several defensive rebounds and Jake helping with the steal defense and pressing on defense.

With the support of the fans, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team really looked like they wanted to win this game to advance to the next stage, after all the San Antonio Spurs team and the Utah Jazz team also had to play the fifth game and they would still have to play another game to advance to the next stage.

The Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack in another play, Stoudamire advanced the ball and passed it to Ryder on the left, Ryder received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense, Ryder held the ball and passed it to Wallace ahead.

Wallace received the ball and Dennis came pressing on the defense, Wallace advanced using his strength and Dennis was unable to stop Wallace, so Wallace advanced and tried a hook shot to make 2 more points for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Soon the first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a good point advantage, only Jake being well defended with the Portland Trail Blazers making a double-team defense against him, the Lakers team still managed to do the same as in the last game.

Jake played for 12 minutes and made 6 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 steals, Jake still managed to hit 2 shots from three points and made many more assists in that first quarter, if the Portland Trail Blazers team continued to make this double defense. -team against him the Los Angeles Lakers team would still be able to increase the points advantage in the second quarter.

"The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team is achieving victory with a good advantage in points, with the advantage of being playing at home the Lakers team is dominating this game even with the Portland Trail Blazers making a double- team in Jake Smith who was the best player on the Lakers team in the previous game."

"It's true, coach Mike Dunleavy tried to use this strategy of making a double-team defense against Jake Smith because Jake did very well in the last game and scored 20 points in the first quarter only and was very important in the defense too."

"Furthermore, coach Dunleavy knew that he would have to stop Jake from scoring a lot if he wanted to prevent the Los Angeles Lakers team from making a big point advantage early in the game."

"Unfortunately for the Portland Trail Blazers team, all the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team seem to be performing well in this game, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal seem to be doing really well in attack and Dennis Rodman is getting a lot of offensive and defensive rebounds."

"Even with the Portland Trail Blazers double-team defense, Jake still managed to help a lot with assists and making 6 points and Rick Fox is also very good in attack."

"What it looks like in this game is that the players on the Portland Trail Blazers team are not performing as well as in the last games, so it will be difficult for the Portland Trail Blazers team to win."

Just as commentators said the Portland Trail Blazers team players were not performing well in that game, it seemed that the defeat in the last game, the fatigue, and the pressure of having to win was affecting the Portland Trail Blazers players.

The Los Angeles Lakers team players also realized this and were happy with the advantage of the good points they got in the first quarter, so they knew they had to keep pushing in the attack in the second quarter.

Coach Dunleavy knew this was going to be a difficult game for the Portland Trail Blazers team to win, yet he knew he couldn't change the strategy and would continue to leave Stoudamire and Grant to defend in double-team against Jake, after all even if Wallace returned to defend against Dennis who didn't score in that first quarter would be worse for the Portland Trail Blazers.

The second quarter started with the Los Angeles Lakers team putting a lot of pressure on the attack trying to increase the points advantage, even more, the Portland Trail Blazers team was trying to put even more pressure on the defense and attack to try to diminish the points advantage that the Lakers team had.

Jake advanced with the ball and soon Stoudamire and Grant came to defend against him, Jake did not continue to advance and passed the ball to Kobe on the right, Kobe held the ball a little and passed it to Rick on the left.

Rick received the ball and Wallace continued to press in defense, Rick tried to trick Wallace with a feint, but Wallace was not fooled and continued in defense, so Rick decided to pass the ball to Jake further back.

Jake received the ball and Stoudamire and Grant were in defense, Jake waited for a little and made a high pass to Shaq who jump and took the ball high and made a dunk to complete the alley-oop and make 2 more points for the Los team Angeles Lakers.

The fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team were more excited about this beautiful play by Jake and Shaq, even with the Portland Trail Blazers team making a double-team defense against Jake it was impossible to prevent him from making assists, especially with Shaq and Kobe having a great performance in that game.

In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack, Stoudamire advanced the ball and passed it to Grant on the right, Grant received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Rider on the left.

Rider received the ball and Kobe came pressing in defense, in this game the Portland Trail Blazers players were not performing well in the last games, even so, Rider and Wallace were performing well and even with Kobe and Dennis struggling to defend they still managed to make many points.

Rider made a feint and pretended that he would advance from the left and advanced to the attack from the right, Kobe was deceived, but still managed to continue in defense, so Rider made another feint pretending that he would advance and did a step back.

Rider stepped back and was getting ready to attempt a mid-range shot, but as soon as he stepped back, Jake came in and made a steal by taking his ball and moving forward, Rider didn't see Jake and didn't have time to react.

Stoudamire saw Jake doing the steal and went back to defense to prevent Jake from making the points on the counterattack, Grant also tried to go back to defense, but Jake was faster and Grant was unable to keep up with Jake's speed.

Jake continued to advance and near the three-point line Stoudamire tried to prevent Jake from continuing to advance or Jake would pass him using his speed, Jake realized this and did a quick crossover and advanced on the right.

Stoudamire was tricked, but still managed to recover and continue in defense, Jake jab stepped from the left and Stoudamire did not react so Jake advanced from the left, Stoudamire realized he was tricked and tried to make a foul on Jake to prevent him from making the points.

Jake noticed this and did a step back and Stoudamire ended up unbalanced and fell to the ground, Jake saw this and just advanced and dunk to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.

The crowd was excited by this beautiful move by Jake and Stoudamire was embarrassed by this ankle break play, Jake was also happy because this was the first steal he made that he managed to make the points on the counterattack.

In the second quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team continued to try to press in the attack to decrease the points advantage, but the Los Angeles Lakers team's points advantage increased even more with Shaq and Kobe having a great attack performance.

Even in plays where Kobe and Rick missed some attacks Dennis still managed to catch the offensive rebound and this helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to further increase the points advantage.

So the second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a big advantage in points, this advantage was greater than the advantage that the Lakers team had in the previous game in which Jake scored 20 points in the first quarter, after all in that game the Portland Trail Blazers team players were not performing as well in attack.

Coach Dunleavy realized that it would be almost impossible for the Portland Trail Blazers team to achieve victory in that game by playing as a visitor, even if they did the foul strategy, so Coach Dunleavy told the team members of the Portland Trail Blazers not to make fouls in the past. quarter and try to win by playing the best they could.

So in the third quarter, the game continued with both teams pressing in the attack and soon Coach Rambis and the Los Angeles Lakers team players realized that the Portland Trail Blazers team would not use the strategy of making fouls in that game.

This meant that the Portland Trail Blazers team knew they could not win this game and would try to play normally, it left the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team more relaxed, yet they would continue to perform as best they could to ensure that victory.

The Portland Trail Blazers team continued to make a double-team defense strategy against Jake, even though they realized that it would not help them win the game, at least they would prevent Jake from scoring as many points as in the last games.

The third quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team only maintaining the advantage in points, in the last quarter the game continued with both teams in attack and pressing in defense as well.

This was the kind of game that basketball fans who were watching at the Great Western Forum and also watching on television would most like to see, it was what they expected from a playoff game.

The game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team achieving the victory making 111 points against 82 points of the Portland Trail Blazers team, it was a victory with a great advantage in points of the Lakers team, but those who watched the game knew it was a balanced game.

In that game Jake played for 48 minutes and had 28 points, 17 assists, 8 rebounds, and 10 steals, even with the Portland Trail Blazers team making a double-team defense strategy against Jake, he still managed to score 28 points and do more a triple-double.

Even so Jake managed to make 17 assists in that game that was the game with the most assists since he started playing in the NBA, of course, although Jake was very happy to make 17 assists he knew it was nowhere near the record, John Stockton and Magic Johnson are tied for the most assists in a playoff game, with 24 assists.

"The game is over and the Los Angeles Lakers team wins the game with a big difference in points, the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to win 4 games and now they will advance to the next phase of the playoffs and the Portland Trail Blazers team was eliminated with just 1 victory."

"The Los Angeles Lakers team has managed to advance to the West Conference Semifinals and will face the opponent who wins the first 4 games that can be the San Antonio Spurs team or the Utah Jazz team."

"That's right, in that game the Los Angeles Lakers team won with an excellent performance from all players, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were the most important players in the attack, Shaq had 29 points and Kobe had 27 points."

"Rick Fox also helped a lot in the attack and Dennis Rodman had an excellent performance catching 15 rebounds in that game and helping the Los Angeles Lakers team in attack and defense."

"The Portland Trail Blazers team tried to use a double-team defense strategy against Jake Smith, it worked because Jake scored 28 points and it was the first time in the playoffs that Jake scored less than 32 points."

"Unfortunately in this game, the Portland Trail Blazers players were not so good in attack and Jake still managed to make 17 assists in that game and managed to help in defense by taking 8 rebounds and doing 10 steals thus making another triple-double in those playoffs."

"Now let's see if the Los Angeles Lakers team that is a favorite to win the NBA title this season can advance to the NBA Finals."

All the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team and coach Rambis were very happy with this victory and the crowd was also celebrating the progress to the next phase, Eva who was watching the game was also watching Jake's team winning.

Jake was even happier with this victory because he knew that in his past life the Los Angeles Lakers team had been eliminated at that stage, now it seemed that it was more possible for the Los Angeles Lakers team to advance to the NBA Finals and win the NBA title this season.

After the game ended the reporters wanted to try an interview with the Los Angeles Lakers team players, Rick and Kobe did not want to give the interview, so only Shaq, Dennis, and Jake stayed to be interviewed.

"Shaq, in these last games you have been one of the highlights of your team in the attack, even with the opponent's strategy that made the opponents make more faults on you, you still managed to be one of the highlights with Jake."

"Do you think the Los Angeles Lakers are better this season and are more likely to win the NBA title?"

"Yes, the last games were the most difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team, this strategy of the Portland Trail Blazers team gave me more opportunities to score more points in free throws as well."

"Fortunately, I was still able to make a lot of points even with the Portland Trail Blazers team making this strategy, and Jake attracted the attention of the defense and made a lot of assists for me which helped a lot for our team to win."

"Just like I said before I think that with the entry of Jake and the entry of Dennis our team is more prepared to try to win the NBA title, we have to win the next stage and win in the NBA Finals to show that we have the best team."

Shaq had a lot of difficulties in those last games, especially because when the Portland Trail Blazers team started this strategy of making fouls, Coach Rambis even took him off the team because he knew Shaq would miss more free-throw.

That was why this strategy was known as Hack-Shaq because it was more effective against players like Shaq who had a low hit percentage in free throws, but with the change in the Los Angeles team's strategy Lakers, Shaq was one of the most successful players. important in these last victories.

Reporters asked Shaq a few more questions and after they went to Dennis interviews, Dennis was happy to be again one of the most important players on a team who had a chance of winning the NBA title.

"Dennis, you have been one of the most important players in the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team, and the rebounds you get help both in defense and in the attack, as you feel being on a team that can win the NBA title after leaving a team that is often champion like the Chicago Bulls team?"

"It's good to know that I'm on a good team again, I was lucky to have played on the Detroit Pistons team and won the NBA title twice and also to play on the Chicago Bulls team and win the NBA title 3 times."

"Now I feel that the Los Angeles Lakers team has the opportunity to win the NBA title this season, of course, that is also my merit in helping the teams I play to win the games in the playoffs and have the chance to win so many NBA titles."

What Dennis said was true, it was his merit to have won 5 NBA titles on 2 two different teams, this season, if the Los Angeles Lakers team could win it, would be because Dennis was on the team helping with an average of more than 10 rebounds per game.

Of course, Dennis had no way of knowing that because of his off-court behavior, Coach Rambis and the Los Angeles Lakers team board thought of expelling him from the team, and that's what happened in Jake's past life.

Just because Jake showed up and also missed some training and always said that Dennis was very important to the team that the Los Angeles Lakers team director stopped thinking about expelling Dennis from the team and it seems like that was the right decision.

After the reporters interviewed Dennis and Shaq they went to Jake's interviews, Jake was happy with the victory and was hoping that the interviews would be over soon for him to return home with his mother and talk with Eva.

"Jake, congratulations on qualifying for the next phase of the Los Angeles Lakers team, today was one of the toughest games for you this season because of that double-team defense strategy that the Portland Trail Blazers did against you?"

"This was certainly one of the most difficult games for me this season, the Portland Trail Blazers team use a lot of strategies in these last games to try to win against our team and they won 1 game and the last games were very difficult for our team."

"Fortunately, even though I couldn't score as many points as in the last game, our team still won with the good performance of Kobe, Shaq, and my teammates."

"The next opponent of the Los Angeles Lakers team has not yet been defined, do you have any opponents that you wanted to face in the next round?"

"No, I wanted the opposing team to just advance to the next stage after playing 7 games and that way we would have more advantages, but whatever our next opponent, we will try our best to win the 4 games and advance to the NBA Finals."

Jake answered two questions and left the court, he said goodbye to his teammates and went to meet his mother so they could go home, Eva praised Jake for the good game and she was happy with his victory.

Jake came home with Eva and soon overheard her saying she wanted to go back to Miami to see how the restaurant was doing, Eva had heard from other fans that the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team would be only after a few days and so she decided to go to Miami.

Jake wanted his mother to stay with him for the next few days, but he knew he shouldn't be selfish, after all, Eva was just watching his games and was far from the restaurant that she liked so much to support Jake.

"Okay, mom, you can fly to Miami by helicopter, the next game should be on the 29th, so if you can get back to Los Angeles on the 28th it would be better."

"Okay, Jake, I'm staying in Miami for the next 3 days, and then I'll be back on the 28th."

So Eva went right after arriving home to Miami, Eva wants to sleep in Miami that day and the next day goes to the restaurant very early to see how Anna was doing, so Jake went to sleep to rest after the tiring game.

The other day Jake woke up very early and then called his mother to see if she had arrived well in Miami, Eva said that she had arrived well in Miami and would go to the restaurant as soon as she ended that call.

So Jake relaxed and went to eat his breakfast, that day he and the other players had a day of rest after winning the last game, Coach Rambis was very concerned that the players were very tired and could be injured in these playoff games.

If Jake, Shaq, or Kobe got hurt it would be almost impossible for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win the NBA title this season, that was the goal of Coach Rambis, the team's board, and all the players.

On the next day, they would have a training day and then they could rest on the 28th too, Coach Rambis said that if the game between the San Antonio Spurs team and the Utah Jazz team still had the seventh game the players could rest 2 more days.

Jake did not expect the game between these teams to have a seventh game, in fact he did not even expect these teams to have a sixth game, after all, Jake thought that the San Antonio Spurs team would easily win the 4 games.

Of course Jake knew how the Utah Jazz team was a great team and was a tough opponent for the season, but as the Utah Jazz team had lost to the Portland Trail Blazers team and the Portland Trail Blazers team lost to the San Antonio Spurs team in just 4 games Jake thought the San Antonio Spurs team would advance by winning all 4 games easily.

Of course, it was better for the Los Angeles Lakers team that had to play 5 games that the opposing team in the next phase would play 6 games, so it was expected that the players of the opposing team would be more tired and so the Los Angeles Lakers team that would play the First 2 games in Los Angeles would have even more advantage.

After a few hours Jake got a call from Kate, he didn't call her because he knew she would be busy that day, but it looked like Kate had taken some time off to talk to Jake.

"Hi Jake, congratulations on your team's victory and for advancing to the next stage of the playoffs."

"Thank you, I was very happy with this victory and because our team qualified for the next phase of the playoffs, even though our team has won 4 games and we only had 1 loss, all games were very difficult and the Portland Trail Blazers team it was a tough opponent."

"I think the next opponent will be even more difficult to defeat, but I am confident that our team can win reaching the NBA Finals and win the NBA title."

Jake hoped that the San Antonio Spurs team would be the opponent in the next phase of the playoffs, so the next games would be the most difficult of the season, this season the Los Angeles Lakers team won 2 times against the San Antonio Spurs team and lost only 1 game.

But at the beginning of this season, the San Antonio Spurs team was not performing well and it was at the beginning of the season that the Los Angeles Lakers team won the first 2 games, in the last game that was at the end of the season the San Antonio Spurs team won.

The Sun Antonio Spurs team lost only 3 games in the last 20 games and lost 8 games in the first 20 games, that showed the difference in the team's performance, so Jake was concerned about the next games and was surprised that the Utah Jazz team was able to force a sixth game in the dispute against the San Antonio Spurs team.

"I also think that the Los Angeles Lakers team will win the NBA title, so you have to win against the next opponent so that I can watch your team's games in the NBA Finals."

Jake was also looking forward to seeing Kate again, even though he couldn't speak to her, knowing that she would be watching the games would make him more confident to perform better and help the Los Angeles Lakers team win.

After that Kate told Jake that she would probably be doing shows until September and then taking a few months off until Jake's vacation was over, after that Kate would go to work until June and finally finish the tour that Lily and the record company had booked.

Jake knew that Kate had made this concert schedule to have her vacation together with his vacation, Jake was very happy because it meant that Kate also thought a lot about their relationship and so she did it.

After that Jake talked to Kate for a while and after finishing the call he thought he could rest for the rest of the day, but soon he got an unexpected call, it was William who was calling Jake to let him know that he and his other friends had come to Los Angeles.

William, Zack, and Haruto came from the university to visit Jake in Los Angeles after they went on vacation at the university after finishing their third year, Haruto had just finished his fourth year and had graduated from university.

Of course, Jake knew that his friends were on vacation and he also knew that Haruto had already finished his senior year at university, but he didn't expect them to go to Los Angeles as soon as they went on vacation.

After a while the car Jake rented picked up his friends at the airport and they arrived at Jake's house, the three were very surprised to see Jake's mansion, they knew that Jake had a lot of money, but they didn't know that he had stayed so rich after leaving university for just 1 year.

"What a beautiful house, Jake, if I had known that you had such a nice house, I would have come before to pay you a visit."

"It's nice to see you too, William, I didn't expect you to come and visit me here on your vacation."

"I also didn't know that we would be visiting you anytime soon, but now the Los Angeles Lakers team arrived at the West Conference Finals in its first season, we had to come here and cheer for you."

"Unfortunately Aaron cannot come with us because he has to train for the American Football team games, we know that you are going to be very busy after entering the NBA, so we decided to come here."

"I see, how was this semester at the university for you?"

"It was more difficult to pass the exams without your help, Jake, I didn't know that my grades would drop so much, luckily I still managed to pass after studying more."

"William is right, even though I didn't study in the same classes as you, you still helped me a lot, and this semester it was much more difficult, Jake."

"Hahaha, I said that I helped you a lot, but you still thought you were very smart and that I didn't help you much, now you have seen the truth."

"How's your training going, Zack?"

"It's harder to train now that I don't have you to train with me or Coach Davis who came to Los Angeles, but I still kept training every day, I think I managed to improve this past year and the next marathon we're going to running together I will show you this improvement of mine."

Jake was happy to see that Zack had continued his training even after he and Coach Davis left the university, Jake thought about asking Coach Davis to stay at the university to train Zack.

After all Jake knew he wouldn't do any running training until the end of the NBA season, but soon Jake gave up doing it because he knew that Coach Davis wanted to buy him a house to live with his family in Los Angeles that would be where Jake the next few years would pass.

After all, Coach Davis lived with his family in a hotel for the 2 years that Jake remained at university, so Jake thought it best to let Coach Davis buy his house and stay on vacation in Los Angeles during those months that Jake would be playing in the NBA season.

In addition, Jake wants to see if Zack would still continue to train even after he and Coach Davis left the university, after all in the future Coach Davis could not continue training Zack, so it was better than Zack got used to it.

"I am happy to see that you continued training and that you still want to run in the marathons, this year I think about running again in the Chicago marathon, I cannot guarantee that this will really happen, but I would be happy if you ran with me."

"Of course, Jake, I'm going to run in Chicago again and I'll be able to run in a much shorter time than last year."

"Zack, I think that after this Chicago marathon you should start running some marathons during the year without me, you have to be independent if you want to be an even better athlete, who knows you will become a marathoner in the future too."

"I had thought about it before, I still don't know if I want to be a professional marathoner in the future, but I'm sure that I love running and I want to continue training to stay healthy."

"You don't have to become a professional marathon runner if you don't want to, you can have another profession and just run 1 or 2 marathons during the year if you can continue training and it doesn't hinder your work you can still run the marathons."

"I think you have the talent to be a professional marathon runner, in just 3 years you trained hard to be able to run a marathon in less than 3 hours, so in the future, you may be able to be in the top 10 in several marathons and maybe even win one marathon someday. "