Chapter 574 - West Conference Finals 4 (1/2)

If Jake wasn't playing for the Los Angeles Lakers this season, the San Antonio Spurs team would be the favorite to win this game as it did in Jake's past life, but with Jake on the team, it would be different.

The Los Angeles Lakers team had a hard time winning against opponents if Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant were playing poorly when the opponents also had a good attack and even then the opponents had to have 1 great player or 2 players to defend against Jake.

But in the San Antonio Spurs team's strategy to defend they would have to focus on defending against Shaquille O'Neal and preventing opposing players from attacking in the painted area of ​​their defense, so they planned to prevent Kobe and Shaq from making many points.

With this strategy from the San Antonio Spurs team, they could not put more than one player to defend against Jake, so Jake would have more freedom to attack and was confident of making as many points as he could with three-point plays.

The San Antonio Spurs team did not have one of the best attacks this season and so if Jake managed to score a lot in that game it could be important to guarantee victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team even if Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant could not make many points.

Furthermore, Jake was confident that Shaq could still score many points even with David Robinson and Tim Duncan defending against him and Kobe could score many points even just trying mid-range shots without attacking in the opposing painted area.

At the beginning of the game, the San Antonio Spurs team started well in the attack and pressed in defense as if they wanted to show that they were not afraid to attack at the opposing team's home, this was what Coach Rambis expected and trained the Los Angeles Lakers to defend well from the beginning of the game.

In one of the plays, Avery Johnson advanced the ball and passed it to Mario Elie on the left, Elie received the ball and Kobe Bryant arrived pressing the defense, Elie held the ball a little and passed it to Sean Elliott on the right.

Elliott received the ball and Rick Fox came pressing on defense, Elliott tried to deceive the opponent with a feint, but Fox was not deceived and kept defending, so Elliott decided to pass the ball to David Robinson upfront.

Robinson received the ball and Shaquille O'Neal arrived pressing in defense, Robinson received the ball with his back to the basket and turned away making a mid-range shot to make 2 more points for the San Antonio Spurs team.

From the start of the game as in most games, the San Antonio Spurs team relied on Robinson and Duncan to do most of the San Antonio Spurs team attacks, Shaq and Dennis Rodman were trying to defend, but Duncan and Robinson were performing very well in that game.

Fortunately, even though the San Antonio Spurs team managed to score a lot, the Los Angeles Lakers' attack was also very good and the Lakers team had the advantage since the beginning of the game.

In another play Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Elie came pressing on the defense, Kobe tried to advance on the right with a feint, but Elie remained firm in defense.

Kobe held the ball for a while and passed it to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Johnson came to defend, Jake was quick and tried a shot from outside and made 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.

It was the second three-point ball that Jake hit in that game and so he already had 6 points, just as Jake hoped the Lakers team was still fine in the attack with Kobe and Rick making some mid-range shots and so the Los Angeles Lakers team had the advantage in points even without trying to make layups and dunks.

Coach Rambis of the Los Angeles Lakers team had already prepared the players for a difficult game like this and if Jake, Kobe, and Rick were performing well, the Los Angeles Lakers team had great chances of winning the game.

The first quarter continued with both teams attacking and defending well and the Los Angeles Lakers team continued with the points advantage thanks to the three-point attacks that Jake was able to make.

Soon the first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team with a good advantage in points, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 12 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal, Jake made a good performance in the attack and was having difficulty in defense because the San Antonio Spurs team attacked more with Duncan and Robinson who attacked far from where Jake defended.

”The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning with a good point advantage, the Lakers team seems to be taking advantage of the support of the fans playing at home and Jake Smith, Kobe Bryant, and Rick Fox had a good performance in that first quarter.”