Chapter 564 - West Conference Semifinals 4 (1/2)
In that game the Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Dennis Rodman playing as PF, and Shaquille O'Neal playing as Center.
The Portland Trail Blazers team would start the game with Damon Stoudamire playing as PG, Isaiah Rider playing as SG, Brian Grant playing as SF, Rasheed Wallace playing as PF, and Arvydas Sabonis playing as Center.
The two teams would start playing with the same players as it was in the last games, Coach Rambis still hoped that Dennis Rodman could help the Los Angeles Lakers team by catching rebounds and helping in defense.
Robert Horry did well in the last few games, but if Dennis managed to catch more than 15 rebounds as he did sometimes he would make a difference in an important game like this, especially since Jake tried a lot of shots from outside in every game.
”Welcome to everyone who came to watch this game this NBA season, this is the fourth game in this phase of the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers team won 2 games and the Portland Trail Blazers team won the last game.”
”The Los Angeles Lakers team is still a favorite to win that game, but with the Portland Trail Blazers team winning the last game, the Portland Trail Blazers players have more confidence in that game playing at home after an important victory.”
”It's true, it's clear that if all the players on the Los Angeles Lakers team play well in that game they have a better chance of winning, in the last game we could see that just Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal performing well is not enough to the Lakers team win.”
”Another thing that is important to note is that the Los Angeles Lakers team coach Kurt Rambis does not have as much skill as coach Mike Dunleavy, so the Los Angeles Lakers team depends more on the individual performance of the team players.”
”Okay, let's see if the Los Angeles Lakers team gets the third win and gets closer to qualifying for the next round or if the Portland Trail Blazers team gets the second win and ties that playoff stage.”
What the commentators said was what everyone in the sports media thought, Coach Rambis didn't have as much skill as Coach Dunleavy on the Portland Trail Blazers, so the Los Angeles Lakers team lost when they didn't have the best players performing well.
The Lakers team players thought so too, but the truth was that everyone knew that Coach Rambis was being the coach because the Lakers team did not have time to sign another coach after 13 games in a reduced season.
Next season it was very likely that the Lakers team board would hire another coach even if the Los Angeles Lakers team won the NBA title this season, after all in a team with Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and now Jake it was natural to expect the team winning the NBA title even with a bad coach.
Coach Rambis certainly knew that the players and the media thought of him, he even knew that he did not have the capacity to coach one of the best teams in the NBA, yet he called the players to talk before the game started.
”I wanted to say what you all already know, this is a very important game for our team if we can win this game we will only need to win the next home game for our team to qualify for the next phase of the playoffs.”
”I confess that I was very disappointed with our defeat in the last game, it was a game in which our team could win and we even finished the first quarter by winning the game, but it seems that the Portland Trail Blazers team found a way to defeat us.”
”The last two games have not been very good, and the Portland Trail Blazers team almost won these 2 games, what left me most disappointed is that even with you knowing how your opponent plays, you still played the same way.”
”At the end of the game you looked like you gave up the victory because of the Portland Trail Blazers team's strategy of making fouls, only Jake played in those two games believing in the victory until the end and that's why he had his two best performances in these playoffs in those last two games.”
The players were surprised to hear Coach Rambis saying this, after all with the Lakers team winning most games, Coach Rambis did not have many complaints with the players, but with this defeat in the playoffs, neither Coach Rambis was able to remain without complaint.
”So just as the opposing team changed the strategy, we also have to play differently, in this game I want you to put pressure on the attack from the beginning of the game, in this first quarter we have to get a good point advantage.”
”If your opponents start using the foul strategy, use that in your favor and get a lot of fouls, there is no way that the Portland Trail Blazers players will foul all quarters and still have no players kicked out.”