Chapter 509 Change in Los Angeles Lakers Team 7
In another move Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Washington came to press on defense, Fox held the ball a little and passed it to Bryant on the right.
Bryant received the ball and Billups came to press on defense, so Bryant tried a feint, but Billups was not fooled, so Bryant passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and with a feint, he managed to get rid of the opposing defense.
Van Exel was able to react quickly, but Jake was faster and advanced into the area, Jake advanced and the Denver Nuggets team's defense didn't know how they could stop Jake, so Jake took advantage of that opportunity and passed the ball to Shaquille O'Neal.
Raef LaFrentz was not close to O'Neal in that play, so O'Neal advanced and scored another 2 points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team, O'Neal was happy to score his first points in that game.
Even though the Los Angeles Lakers team played so well Shaquille O'Neal thought he could score more points in the last games, in the first games of the season he scored more than 30 points in several games, but in the last games, he failed to score 30 points.
Shaquille O'Neal knew that with the whole team playing well it was more difficult than he had so many opportunities to score more points, but Jake was scoring more than 30 points in every game, and in most games, Jake was trying fewer attacks than he was.
Of course, the biggest reason for that was that Jake scored a lot on three-point shots, so Jake needed less attack than he did to score 30 points, Shaquille O'Neal was happy with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the games and also thought that Jake was doing a great job as a PG.
For Shaquille O'Neal the most important thing was to win the NBA title at the end of the season, so he was more dissatisfied with his performance in the games than with the performance of his teammates.
The Denver Nuggets team soon went on the attack, Van Exel advanced with the ball and went to Washington on the right, Washington received the ball and Fox arrived to press in defense, Washington held the ball a little and passed to Billups on the left.
Billups received the ball and Bryant came to press on defense, Billups did not hold the ball and passed the ball to Antonio McDyess later on, McDyess received the ball and Travis Knight came to press on defense.
McDyess managed to spin and tried the hook to make 2 more points for the Denver Nuggets team, the Denver Nuggets team was pushing in the attack and the game was balanced and this impressed the crowd that did not expect the Denver Nuggets team to play so well.
The first quarter ended with the Denver Nuggets team winning by 2 points, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake started playing well in that game too.
"The first quarter ends and the Denver Nuggets team is surprising everyone and winning the game so far with a 2 point advantage, due to the performance of the two teams in the season so far, everyone hoped that the Los Angeles Lakers team would be winning this game."
"It's true, but we also have to say that the Denver Nuggets team is playing very well in this game, it is a different game than the last one that the players of the Denver Nuggets team did and that is why they are getting this game balanced."
"Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers team is also playing well, even though some players don't seem to be playing as well as in other games, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Jake Smith are playing well as in all games and are keeping the balanced game."
"The players who are playing best on the Denver Nuggets team are Antonio McDyess and Chauncey Billups, on the Los Angeles Lakers team Rick Fox and Travis Knight is not playing as well as in other games."
"It is good news for the Los Angeles Lakers team that Robert Horry may return in the next games, and the Los Angeles Lakers team is negotiating to sign NBA title winner 5-time Dennis Rodman."
"I don't know if hiring Dennis Rodman can be a good thing for the Los Angeles Lakers team because of the personal problems that Dennis Rodman has, but it will definitely be a good PF that the Los Angeles Lakers team needs."
This was a tough game for the Los Angeles Lakers team and Jake knew he had to try harder in that game if he wanted to win, but coach Del Harris thought that in that game Shaquille O'Neal had to rest for a few minutes.
So in this second quarter and in the other quarters, Coach Harris wanted to replace Shaquille O'Neal for a few minutes, which would certainly make things more difficult for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win, luckily Coach Harris did not intend to replace other players.
The Denver Nuggets team started in the attack in the second quarter, Van Exel advanced with the ball and went to Washington on the right, Washington received the ball and Fox came to press on defense, Washington tried a feint and got rid of the defense and tried a shot from mid-range to make 2 more points for the Denver Nuggets team.
In another move the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Washington came to press on defense, so Fox did not attempt a move and passed to Bryant on the right.
Kobe Bryant received the ball and Billups came in to press on defense, Bryant decided to make an individual move and did the between the legs dribble move, so Billups didn't know what Bryant was going to do and he stayed put.
After that move, Kobe Bryant managed to advance to the inside area and Billups was unable to keep up well in defense, Bryant advanced and drive to the basket and made 2 more points with a dunk for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
In this second quarter, the two teams were still balanced and it was being a game in which the two teams attacked well, the Los Angeles Lakers team was playing better and was increasing the advantage a little on the scoreboard.
But when Shaquille O'Neal was replaced, the Denver Nuggets team was able to press again, Jake was playing as smoothly as in other games and was defending well against Van Exel who was not attacking much in that game.
In another move the Los Angeles Lakers team went on the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Washington came to press on defense, Fox decided not to make any moves and passed to Bryant on the right.
Bryant received the ball and Billups came to press on defense, this time Bryant did not try to make an individual play, Van Exel saw the play and moved even closer to Jake to try to prevent Kobe Bryant from passing the ball to him.
Bryant realized this and decided to pass to Fox on the left again, Fox received the ball with a little more freedom this time and tried a mid-range shot, this time Fox did not hit and McDyess managed to catch the defensive rebound for the Denver Nuggets team.
Van Exel called for the ball further and McDyess passed it to him, Van Exel received the ball and quickly tried to advance to get a counterattack, Van Exel and Billups advanced quickly in the attack.
Jake and Kobe Bryant who were further behind managed to get back to defense, the Denver Nuggets team tried to make a quick counterattack, but Jake was even faster and managed to get back to defend quickly.
Seeing this, Van Exel decided to pass the ball to Billups who was on the left, Billups received the ball and had already noticed that Bryant was approaching quickly to defend, Billups, advanced further.
Arriving in the inside area Bryant had arrived to defend against Billups, so Billups decided to pass to Van Exel, Van Exel received the ball and advanced to try the layup, Jake who was in defense did not think that Van Exel would try the layup, so Jake waited the right time and jump to make the block.
Van Exel and Billups did not expect Jake to be able to make the block, Kobe Bryant who already hoped that this could happen managed to catch the rebound, and passed the ball to Jake again, with this counterattack the players of both teams were on the side of the Los Angeles Lakers team court.
Except for Shaquille O'Neal who had stayed on the side of the Denver Nuggets team, Jake realized this and made a high pass to Shaquille O'Neal, it was a long pass that crossed almost the entire court and O'Neal can easily catch the ball.
So Shaquille O'Neal advanced alone to make the dunk and 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, with this move the Los Angeles Lakers team did not lose the advantage they had on the scoreboard and increased the players' spirits.
The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team recovering and ending the second quarter by winning the game with a good lead on the scoreboard, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 8 points, 4 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block.
"What an incredible game we are watching here today, the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to recover and ended the second quarter by winning the game with the points advantage after finishing losing in the first quarter."
"The Los Angeles Lakers team really played well in that second quarter, with a great performance by Jake Smith, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O'Neal who attacked and defended well, that play in which Jake made a block after the counterattack of The Denver Nuggets team shows the dedication that the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team are having in this game."
"It is true, we must also say that the Denver Nuggets team played very well in that second quarter as well, the players put pressure on the attack and defense and so the game remained balanced."
"We cannot say which of the two teams will win this game, so we will continue to follow this good game to know which team will win at the end of the game."