Chapter 537 - Sequence of Difficult Games 7 (2/2)
The two teams started pressing in the attack at the beginning of the game, the strong defense of the New York Knicks team prevented the attack of the Los Angeles Lakers team to attack normally and with the weak attack of the New York Knicks team, even the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team not being very good I could still defend.
So the game was balanced in the first quarter as many expected it would happen, they would be the best players of both teams who would decide the outcome of the game if they played well.
Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and Sprewell arrived pressing on the defense, Rick held the ball for a while and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Houston arrived pressing on the defense.
Kobe returned to play well in the last games and he was helping the Los Angeles Lakers team to win in the last games with Shaq not playing very well, Jake also realized this and started to pass the ball over to Kobe.
Kobe tricked Houston with a feint and used his speed to make a crossover and move left, Houston managed to recover and tried to defend against Kobe, but Kobe did not try to advance to the painted area and tried a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
In another move the New York Knicks team was on the attack, Childs advanced the ball and passed it to Sprewell on the right, Sprewell received the ball and Rick arrived pressing on defense, Sprewell held the ball for a while and passed to Houston on the left.
Houston received the ball and Kobe came on to defend, Houston tried to trick Kobe with a feint, but Kobe was not fooled, so Houston decided to pass the ball to Ewing later on.
Ewing received the ball and Shaq arrived pressing in defense, Ewing made a feint and managed to spin and advance to the painted area, Shaq was deceived and tried to return to defend, Ewing advanced made 2 more points with a dunk for the New team York Knicks.
Ewing and Shaq were excellent players in attack, but nowadays Ewing was much better defending than Shaq and that made Ewing have the advantage in that game, in the dispute between these two players nobody could help much.
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 had 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals.
”The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning the game with a small advantage in points, yet the game was well balanced between the two teams in that first quarter.”
”The Los Angeles Lakers team played better in that first quarter because their defense managed to stop the attack by the New York Knicks team, and the defense by the New York Knicks team failed to stop the attack by the Los Angeles Lakers team which is the best attack of the season.”
”It's true, in the second quarter the New York Knicks team has to put more pressure on the attack and try to stop the Los Angeles Lakers team from making the points, I think this is difficult because Jake is playing very well and Kobe too.”
”Yes, Rick also seems to be playing well in this game and Shaq is managing to attack even with Ewing's strong defense in the game, we will continue to follow up to see if the New York Knicks team defeats the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game.”
In the second quarter just as the commentators spoke, the New York Knicks team tried to put more pressure on the attack and defense, luckily as the commentators said the Los Angeles Lakers team players were playing very well.
Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Houston arrived pressing on the defense, Kobe held the ball a little and passed to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and Sprewell arrived pressing on the defense.
Rick tried to deceive the opponent with a feint, but Sprewell was not deceived and continued to defend, so Rick decided to pass the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Childs came pressing on the defense.
Jake made a feint and deceived the opponent, Jake stepped back and tried a shot from outside to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers, Childs still tried to defend, but he was unable to hinder Jake in a move that Jake made several times in the game.
In this game as the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were playing well, Jake was not trying as hard as he did in the last games that were difficult for the Lakers team to win, Jake was beginning to feel tired after the last games.
In another move the New York Knicks team was on the attack, Childs advanced with the ball and went to Houston on the left, Houston held the ball and tried to deceive the opponent with a feint, but Kobe was not deceived and kept pressing in defense.