Chapter 520 - A Different Team 8 (1/2)
”Yes, it's important to say that Jake had averages similar to these in the two seasons he played on the Tar Heels team at the university and was twice an MVP at the university before entering the NBA.”
”It shows that he played well for two seasons at the university before entering the NBA, with that regularity Jake shows that he will continue with this great performance throughout this season.”
The commentators didn't even talk about the dispute between Jake and Gary because everyone thought the Los Angeles Lakers team would win that game, Gary Payton was certainly an excellent player, but the Seattle SuperSonics team didn't have a very good team and the Lakers team had the best players.
The Los Angeles Lakers team would start that game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O'Neal playing as Center.
The Seattle SuperSonics team would start this game with Gary Payton playing with PG, Dale Ellis playing as SG, Detlef Schrempf playing as SF, Vin Baker playing as PF, and Olden Polynice playing as Center.
Robert Horry was not going to play in that game because the doctors thought it was better for him to rest and stay a game without playing so that his illness wouldn't come back, with Dennis Rodman playing longer in the games that were possible.
The game started and Shaquille O'Neal won the first possession of the ball for the Los Angeles Lakers, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Dale Ellis came in to press the defense.
Kobe held the ball and passed it to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Detlef Schrempf arrived pressing on the defense, Rick held the ball and passed it to Jake further on, Jake received the ball and Gary Payton arrived to defend.
Jake held the ball and passed it to Shaquille O'Neal further down the left, Shaq received the ball and Olden Polynice came in pressing on defense, Shaq managed to spin and scored 2 points with a layup for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
In another move the Seattle SuperSonics team was on the attack, Gary Payton advanced with the ball and passed it to Ellis on the left, Ellis received the ball and Kobe came pressing on the defense.
Ellis held the ball and passed it to Vin Baker further on, Baker received the ball and Travis Knight came in pressing on the defense, Baker managed to advance to the painted area using his strength and tried the hook shot and made 2 points for the Seattle SuperSonics team.
Both teams started the game by pushing forward and trying to defend too, even though the Los Angeles Lakers team had the strongest attack the game was balanced and the Seattle SuperSonics team players were playing well in the attack as well.
In another move, the Los Angeles Lakers team was in the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick from the left, Rick received the ball and Schrempf arrived pressing in defense, Rick held the ball a little and passed it to Jake further back.
Jake received the ball and quickly passed it to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and made a feint that tricked Ellis and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
In another move, the Seattle SuperSonics team was on the attack, Payton advanced with the ball and passed it to Schrempf on the right, Schrempf received the ball and Rick came pressing on the defense, Schrempf tried to make a feint, but was unable to deceive Rick.
So Schrempf decided to pass the ball to Payton further back, Payton received the ball and Jake arrived to defend, Payton stepped back and tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Seattle SuperSonics team.
In that first quarter, Jake realized that Gary Payton was trying to attack a few more times, in that quarter Payton tried some three-point shots and Jake just tried to hinder the shot from outside Payton.
Kobe Bryant was well on the attack and Shaquille O'Neal was also playing well, so Jake was attacking as he did in other games just trying to defend well, at the end of the first quarter the Lakers team was winning, and Gary Payton approached Jake to say something to him.
”In this game, I will show that you are not the only PG who can score more than 30 points in a game and still do assists.”
Jake was really surprised to see Payton saying this to him, in the first game they didn't even talk during the game and the two respected each other, it seemed that it was true that Payton got more excited in this game now that Jake had been chosen as the player of the month.
Jake was not bothered by what Payton said and would continue to play the same way he had thought before, in this game where Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal were playing well he wanted to take the opportunity to make more assists.
But Jake could do a lot more defense and try to do some steals and some blocks to show the strength of his defense, Jake knew how to play 48 minutes in every game was tiring, so he just tried to do the steals and press the defense, but I didn't try to press too hard or make blocks.