Chapter 562 - West Conference Semifinals 2 (1/2)
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.”