Chapter 497 - The NBA Season Continues 5 (1/2)
Fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team who were at the Great Western Forum celebrated Jake's beautiful move and points, with coach Harris replacing the starting players Jake had to make more attacking moves.
The second quarter ended the Los Angeles Lakers team slightly increasing the lead, Jake played for 12 minutes in that second quarter and had 13 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals.
”The second quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team goes to the break with a big advantage in points, even though Coach Harris decided to replace the main players for the Los Angeles Lakers team for a few minutes.”
”Yes, Coach Harris seems to be trying to spare the main players so they don't get so tired in a game in which they have a big advantage, but the Charlotte Hornets team also didn't know how to take advantage of that because Coach Cowens also replaced the players from his team.”
”The Charlotte Hornets team has been doing this a few times in the last few games because Coach Cowens seems to be looking for an ideal team to play even with some players that he counted injured.”
”It's true, and the Los Angeles Lakers team only managed to increase the advantage even more because Jake Smith had an excellent second quarter and scored 13 points, Jake Smith has been showing that he is an excellent player even in this strong Los Angeles Lakers team.”
The third quarter started and the Charlotte Hornets team started to press further in the attack to try to win, Coach Harris continued making substitutions because he saw that Jake could help the Los Angeles Lakers team to win.
The Charlotte Hornets team went on the attack with Armstrong organizing the play, Armstrong was perhaps the only player who wanted to be replaced on the Charlotte Hornets team, he could not attack well with Jake defending against him.
Jake had already managed to make 3 of the steals he got in that game by intercepting passes from Armstrong, all players knew that Jake was very different from other players with an average of more than 7 steals per game.
So Armstrong soon passed the ball to Reid on the right, Reid was playing well in that game pressing in the attack on Fox, and Fox was also playing well in the attack in that game, so the two were defending badly in that game.
Reid managed to trick Fox with a feint and advanced to the inside area, Knight realized that Reid wanted to make the layup and went to defend against Reid, Reid did not expect Knight to do that and passed the ball to Phills on the left.
Phills who saw the play better than Reid tried to pass it to Coleman who was free, but Knight had already returned to defend against Coleman, and Fox managed to recover and was defending against Reid.
Phills also failed to make the move with Bryant on defense and passed to Shackleford later, Shackleford received the ball and this time Shaquille O'Neal had been replaced and it was Corie Blount in defense.
Shackleford managed to spin and tried the hook to make 2 more points for the Charlotte Hornets team, the two teams managed to attack well against the weak defense of the teams, only Jake was helping in the defense, and Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal defended well when they were on the court.
In another move by the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake charged forward and passed the ball to Kobe Bryant, Bryant received the ball and tried to make a feint to get rid of Phills, but Phills was not fooled and so Bryant passed the ball to O'Neal later in the attack.
Shaquille O'Neal received the ball and soon Shackleford and Coleman pressed in defense against him, O'Neal was unable to make the move with two Charlotte Hornets players defending against him.
So O'Neal passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and saw that Fox was free from the left and passed the ball to him, Fox received the ball and took advantage that Reid was not defending against him and tried the mid-shot range to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Coach Harris also did not take Fox out for many minutes in that game and so Jake and he was playing well in attack, Jake continued to attack more when O'Neal or Bryant was replaced and Armstrong was unable to defend against him.
In another move the Charlotte Hornets team was on the attack again, the players were trying to attack to diminish the advantage on the scoreboard that the Los Angeles Lakers had, but even if the Los Angeles Lakers' defense was not so good, they still managed to defend in some plays.
After a good attacking move, the ball was left for Phills on the left, Bryant was defending against him and Phills could not get rid of Bryant's defense, so he passed the ball to Reid on the right.
Reid received the ball and Fox came to press on defense, Reid saw he could not make the move and passed the ball to Armstrong further back, possession was running out and Armstrong had to try the shot from outside.