Chapter 555 The Playoffs 5
Just as commentators said and as fans of both teams knew, if the Los Angeles Lakers team played well and Jake played well it was certain that they would win that game, and Jake was determined to bring victory to the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game.
Soon the game started and Shaquille O'Neal won the first ball possession for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Shaq passed the ball to Jake who held the ball and started to organize the first play of that game.
Jake charged forward and passed the ball to Rick Fox on the left, Rick received the ball and Sam Mitchell came in to press on defense, Rick held the ball for a while and passed it on to Kobe Bryant on the right.
Kobe received the ball and Anthony Peeler pressed in defense, Kobe made the low dribble and Peeler could not try to steal, Kobe made a feint and stepped back to try the mid-range shot and make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
The Los Angeles Lakers team started slowly as in all games, yet the players of the Minnesota Timberwolves team felt the pressure of the Los Angeles Lakers' attack, after all, if they lost that game they would be eliminated.
In that first quarter, the Minnesota Timberwolves team started to put a lot of pressure on defense and attack because they knew they needed the victory, with that pressure Kobe and Rick started to miss some attacks and Jake realized that they were not playing as well as in other games.
With this pressure from the Minnesota Timberwolves team in the attack, Jake also realized that Sam Mitchell and Anthony Peeler were not playing as well in the attack, so the Los Angeles Lakers team would not be so disadvantaged in defense with Rick and Kobe playing badly.
The Minnesota Timberwolves team went on the attack, Terrell Brandon advanced the ball and passed it to Mitchell on the right, Mitchell received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Peeler on the left.
Peeler received the ball and Kobe arrived pressing in defense, Peeler decided not to try the individual play and passed to Kevin Garnett later, Garnett received the ball and Shaquille O'Neal arrived pressing in defense.
Shaq was playing very well in that game and that made Jake happy because with Shaq playing well and with some players from the Minnesota Timberwolves team playing poorly, it was more possible for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win the game.
Garnett had already played two games against Shaq and knew that Shaq defended well and that it was useless to use force to try to advance to the painted area, Garnett made a feint and managed to deceive Shaq and advance from the right using his speed.
Shaq still managed to keep defending even after being tricked, but Garnett was faster and so Garnett tried a hook shot and made 2 points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team, Garnett was also playing well in all games of that playoff.
This showed how a team with an excellent player had more difficulty in winning if they did not have other good players, the Minnesota Timberwolves team had good players, but that was not enough to win several games in the playoffs.
In another move Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Peeler came up to press in defense, Kobe had also realized that he was not playing so well in the attack, so he did not want to make many individual plays so as not to risk miss many attacks.
Kobe passed the ball to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Jake further back, Jake received the ball and Brandon came to defend, after the first 2 games Brandon understood that it was not very smart to press too much on defense playing close to Jake.
So Brandon was playing a little bit away from Jake, and if Jake tried the shot from outside he would have to try to get in the way and wait for Jake to miss, Jake took advantage of Brandon being further away and tried an outside shot to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Jake really got fewer shots when trying to shoot three points, but even so, his average hit was 77 percent, so it was enough to guarantee Jake more than 30 points in most games and it helped the Los Angeles Lakers team a lot.
The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning with a small points advantage, the game looked very balanced and had fewer points than the last games, the Los Angeles Lakers team always did that in games, but only Jake knew that this game was different.
Jake was unable to hold much and analyze his opponent and the Los Angeles Lakers team had to work hard to finish the first quarter by winning, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 11 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals.
"The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team is winning the game, in that first quarter Jake Smith seems to have played better and Kobe Bryant and Rick Fox didn't seem to be playing so well."
"On the Minnesota Timberwolves side we could also see that Kevin Garnett was playing well, but Sam Mitchell and Anthony Peeler were not playing that well."
"The Minnesota Timberwolves team will have to work harder if they want to win and take that decision to a fourth game and then try the fifth game."
The Minnesota Timberwolves fans also became more discouraged after that first quarter, the fans realized that some players from the Minnesota Timberwolves team were not playing well and that perhaps the team would really be eliminated, especially because Jake and Shaq were playing well.
Soon the second quarter started with the Minnesota Timberwolves pressing on the attack, the Los Angeles Lakers team coach realized that Kobe and Rick were not playing as well and he decided he would not replace them in that game.
After all, if the Los Angeles Lakers team managed to win that game they would qualify and could rest even more without having to play another game, that was even worse for the Minnesota Timberwolves team.
Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and held it for a while before passing it to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Peeler came pressing on the defense.
Kobe saw Jake advancing through the middle and passed the ball to him, Jake received the ball and continued to advance with speed, Brandon who did not expect Jake to do this was unable to continue defending.
Jake moved forward and Garnett had no choice but to try to defend against Jake even though he knew Jake had already planned this move, just as Garnett hoped Jake passed the ball, but Jake was smart and made a pass over the top.
Shaq took the ball high and made a dunk to complete the alley-oop and make 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Garnett who was thinking about intercepting Jake's pass can just look at Jake and Shaq's beautiful move.
In another move the Minnesota Timberwolves team was on the attack, Brandon advanced with the ball and passed it to Peeler on the left, Peeler received the ball and held it a little before passing it to Mitchell on the right.
Mitchell received the ball and Rick came in to press on defense, Mitchell tried to trick Rick with a feint, but Rick was not fooled and continued on defense, so Mitchell decided to pass the ball to Brandon further back.
In this game, only Garnett and Brandon were playing well in the attack, but Brandon was afraid to make the moves because in the last game Jake made 2 blocks when he tried to attack, Brandon still tried some attacks in the first quarter, but he always worried when he had to attack.
But in this play Brandon did not have much choice because the time of possession of the ball was running out, Jake also knew that, and even being a little far from Brandon he was attentive in the play.
Brandon stepped back for even more freedom and tried a shot from the outside, Jake moved quickly as he realized Brandon was going to try the three-point shot, Jake was very fast and jumped right after Brandon and made the block.
Dennis managed to catch the rebound after Jake made the block and the Los Angeles Lakers team got the ball, in a balanced game this play meant a lot, with this play Brandon would be even more afraid to attack.
The second quarter ended and the Los Angeles Lakers team was winning with a slightly greater advantage in points, in that second quarter, Jake played for 12 minutes and had 8 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block.
In the third quarter, the Minnesota Timberwolves team continued to put pressure on the attack, after all the advantage that the Los Angeles Lakers team had was not so great and the players of the Minnesota Timberwolves team knew that if they lost that game they would be eliminated.
So in that third quarter in addition to the Minnesota Timberwolves team pressing in attack and defense, they started making more fouls until they made more than 6 fouls and the Los Angeles Lakers team started having to make a free throw.
The Minnesota Timberwolves team's idea was that they would not let the Los Angeles Lakers team take too long to attack and also because players like Shaq could miss more free throws.
The strategy worked and the players of the Minnesota Timberwolves team did a lot of fouls mainly in Shaq, even in Jake who had an average of 100 percent of hits in free throws was also a target in the opponents' fouls, after all, they didn't want Jake to attempt shots from 3 points.
With that, the Minnesota Timberwolves team ended the third quarter reducing the advantage that the Los Angeles Lakers team had, that cheered the fans because in the last quarter the difference in points between the two teams was much smaller.
The only problem was that because the Minnesota Timberwolves team made a lot of fouls in that third quarter, the players had a lot of fouls and couldn't continue making the fouls because they could be expelled.
So the only option for the Minnesota Timberwolves coach was to replace some players from the Minnesota Timberwolves team so that those players who entered could make more fouls.