Chapter 480 - NBA Season Begins 4 (1/2)
Jake arrived at the arena and went straight to the locker room to put on his uniform for the first time, Jake's uniform on the Los Angeles Lakers team was his favorite number that was number 7, Jake asked for that number while David Falk was still dealing with the team.
After a few minutes the other players arrived and put on their uniforms and so they started doing warm-up exercises before going to the court, Jake saw that there were a lot of fans at the Great Western Forum to watch that first Lakers game after the lockout.
Jake didn't know that well, but the Lakers team fans had high expectations for him because they said the team needed a good Point Guard for the team to win the NBA title, after all with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant on the team they should make many points.
The opponent of that debut game was the Houston Rockets team, they had great players that Jake was also a fan of, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, and Hakeem Olajuwon, in addition, they had two players that he played in the game he organized between the newbies who were Bryce Drew and Michael D.i.c.kerson.
But even though it was a team full of skilled players, there were a lot of players who were old now and didn't have as much agility as in their main years, so the Houston Rockets team was not a favorite despite having so many good players.
The players from both teams were eager to play after several months of not playing because of this lockout, the Lakers team players were surprised when they learned that Jake would play as SF, but as they saw that Jake didn't care about it they decided to trust in the coach's decision.
”Welcome everyone who came to see the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets team's first game after the NBA lockout, the team owners won a good deal and the NBA fans were the ones hurt.”
”It's true, fans of many teams were furious about this lockout and after Michael Jordan's retirement even more fans gave up basketball, at least temporarily, but what we see here are the fans of the Lakers team that almost filled the Great Western Forum to support the team.”
”Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers team made it to the playoffs in the past two seasons with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant on the team, last season they made it to the West Conference Finals, and in the last two seasons they were eliminated by the Utah Jazz team.”
”This season, fans have even more expectations of perhaps the Lakers team winning the NBA title again with the arrival of the first draft pick of the 1998 draft Jake Smith which is a great PG that the Lakers team needs.”
”That's right, but maybe the Los Angeles Lakers Del Harris team coach doesn't think so after all this will be Jake Smith's debut game on the Lakers' team and he will play from SF and not from PG.”
”Maybe it was a coach decision because of the need for a player in that position, after all, Eddie Jones who could play in that position was switched with the Los Angeles Clippers team so that Jake Smith would come to the team.”
The Los Angeles Lakers' starting team for that game was Derek Fisher playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Jake Smith playing as SF, Corie Blount playing as PF, and Shaquille O'Neal playing as Center.
In the Houston Rockets team, the initial players were Matt Maloney playing as PG, Michael D.i.c.kerson playing as SG, Scottie Pippen playing as SF, Charles Barkley playing as PF, and Hakeem Olajuwon playing as Center.
Even though Hakeem Olajuwon was 36, he was still a great player and Jake realized that Shaquille O'Neal was excited to play against him, after all, O'Neal had already praised Hakeem Olajuwon several times.
The game started with the Houston Rockets team gaining possession of the ball, Maloney advanced with the ball to make the Houston Rockets team's first attack in the game, Jake was anxious because he was defending against Scottie Pippen in the game, Jake was a fan of him, but I would defend with all his skill to have a good debut game.
Maloney passed the ball to D.i.c.kerson who was being defended by Kobe Bryant and soon felt the pressure on the defense and had to pass the ball to Charles Barkley, Barkley used his ability to easily pass through Blount and make the first 2 points of the game for the Houston Rockets team.
Shaquille O'Neal passed the ball to Derek Fisher who started the play, Fisher advanced the ball and passed it to Bryant from the right who was behind the three-point line, Bryant passed the ball to Jake who touched the ball for the first time in an official NBA game.
Jake received the ball and noticed O'Neal's movement and passed the ball to him in-depth, Shaquille O'Neal received the ball and advanced to make the dunk and the first 2 points of the Los Angeles Lakers team.