Chapter 482 - NBA Season Begins 6

Jake called his mom and Kate to tell him about his first NBA game and they were happy that he won, the other day the media and fans were excited about Jake's performance at the premiere and everyone was saying that he deserved to be the first draft of 1998.

Coach Harris had to do an interview to talk about Jake, he praised Jake's debut game and said he would have to play some games like SF until Rick Fox could play, and he also said he believed Jake had the quality to do that.

That was not the initial intention of Coach Harris, but as Jake had played so well he started to have greater respect for Jake and the team management was happy with that, the players had a light training because the next day they would have another game.

All teams would have to play more than 14 games that February and many games would be on straight days without rest for the players, so Jake had stopped training for the Olympics and was even thinking about eating a stamina bar if necessary.

So the day came for the second game of the Los Angeles Lakers team and Jake's second game in the NBA, the opponent was the strong Utah Jazz team, and in that game, the Los Angeles Lakers team would lose so Jake could try to change the result of that game with his skills.

The Utah Jazz team had great players that Jake admired a lot too, that player was John Stockton who was one of the best Point Guard ever in the NBA, John Stockton ended his career with an average of more than 10 assists per game and he was also sometimes leader in steal and assist in the seasons.

In addition to Stockton the Utah Jazz team still had Karl Malone who was one of the best Power Forward of all time, Karl Malone would enter the NBA Hall of Fame along with Stockton and be the second player with the most points scored in his career in the NBA.

This season even Karl Malone would be the MVP of the season doing one of the best seasons of his career even at the age of 35, so it was not strange that the Los Angeles Lakers team ended up losing to them.

Jake really wanted to play defending against Stockton in this game, but he would have to play as SF in that game again, even so, Jake was happy to play his second game in the NBA, this was the second game of the Los Angeles Lakers team at home playing at Great Western Forum.

It was another opportunity for fans to watch Jake play and so Jake wanted to help the Los Angeles Lakers team win that game, Jake again arrived at the Great Western Forum before the other players and Kobe Bryant arrived right after him and came over to talk to Jake.

"Jake, congratulations on your great debut game, I confess I didn't expect you to play so well playing in the SF position."

"Thanks, Kobe, it was thanks to your good performance and the team that I had the opportunity to score so many points and get assists."

"It's good to be humble, but you don't need to be underestimated because of that, you showed that you are a great player, I will pass the ball over to you and I hope this debut game is not the only good game of yours this season."

Jake was happy to receive recognition from Kobe Bryant who was an idol for him, so he was even more determined that he would play well and help the team to win the game even if it was difficult.

The opposing team had Stockton and Malone, but they both played as PG and PF, and on the Los Angeles Lakers team there was Kobe Bryant who played as SG, Shaquille O'Neal who was the Center and Jake who played as SF and they wouldn't have one quality opponent to defend against them and could make several points.

"Welcome to everyone who came to watch this great game from this reduced NBA season, this season we will see more games this month and maybe the players will not be able to play all the games or the reserves will have more opportunities to play."

"This is not such a problem for the Los Angeles Lakers team that has young players, Jake himself said he could play every 48 minutes in every game, we saw him doing it in last Friday's game."

"That's right, Jake Smith made a great debut scoring 26 points and almost triple-doubling his debut game which would be historic, and that's because Pippen was pushing in defense against Jake the entire game."

"Yes, we can see in the next games Jake playing as SF which is not the position where he plays best, but seeing this debut game I think he can play more games in that position and that would perhaps help the Los Angeles Lakers team more."

"It's true, but due to his different playing style, we can see that Jake can play in various positions, like PG, as SG, and as SF that he's been playing, of course in this Lakers team I think he could help the team more as PG, after all, he still had more than 30 points and 10 assists per game as a PG at the university."

"The Los Angeles Lakers team needs a good PG to organize the plays for this team, we can see how John Stockton and Karl Malone make a good team, Jake could help Shaquille O'Neal to score his points without having to work so hard and I would still be able to assist Kobe Bryant."

"I liked this comparison of Jake Smith with John Stockton, Jake also does a lot of steals and assistance and can score a lot which can help the Los Angeles Lakers team to win the NBA title."

The Los Angeles Lakers team came with the same starting team as the last game, Derek Fisher playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Jake Smith playing as SF, Corie Blount playing as PF, and Shaquille O'Neal playing as Center, the only difference is that Robert Horry was on reserve and could come in to replace Blount in that game.

The Utah Jazz team came with the initial team formed by John Stockton playing as PG, Jeff Hornacek playing as SG, Bryon Russell playing as SF, Karl Malone playing as PF, and Greg Ostertag playing as Center.

The game started and Ostertag won the ball for the Utah Jazz team to start attacking, Stockton got the ball and went to organize the attack calmly waiting for the other players on his team to go on the attack.

Fisher and Blount were feeling the pressure of having to defend against Malone and Stockton, Stockton passed the ball to Hornacek and Bryant soon pressed in defense, Hornacek passed the ball back to Stockton who passed the ball to Malone.

Karl Malone received the ball and then made a Power move and went towards the inside area to hook and the first 2 points of the game for the Utah Jazz team, Corie Blount didn't even have the opportunity to defend and Malone made the first points of the game.

The Los Angeles Lakers team players remained calm after that and Derek Fisher started to organize the first attack for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Fisher passed the ball to Jake from the left, Jake held the ball a little and passed it on to Kobe Bryant.

Bryant received the ball and soon passed it to Shaquille O'Neal, O'Neal received the ball and Spin and drive against the defender and hooked to make 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team and tie the game, Blount knew he would receive few assists in that game because he had Karl Malone defending against him.

Coach Harris also asked Fisher not to try to make individual plays and just pass the ball so as not to risk that John Stockton could make the steal, Stockton moved forward and passed the ball to Russell.

Russell received the ball and Jake was already pushing in defense, Russell tried to use force to get inside, but he couldn't push Jake back using his strength and had to pass the ball to Stockton further back.

Stockton received the ball and passed Fisher and tried the mid-range shot to score 2 more points for the Utah Jazz team, Stockton and Malone had already shown that they were playing well in that game, so the Los Angeles Lakers team would have to try harder.

In another move, the Los Angeles Lakers team was on the attack, and Fisher passed the ball to Bryant, so Bryant passed the ball to Jake on the left, and as he had said Jake was getting more passes in that game.

Jake caught the ball on the left side and Bryon Russell was defending against him, Jake made a feint and tricked Russell, soon after Jake crossed quickly and got rid of Russell's defense, Jake drive from the basket and made the layup to do more 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.

This move cheered the Los Angeles Lakers fans at the Great Western Forum, Kobe Bryant praised Jake for the move, and Jake saw that it was better for him to try harder to make the moves and stand out.

In another move the Utah Jazz team went on the attack and Stockton passed the ball to Russell and went inside the area, Jake who was defending against Russell realized that Russell was thinking of returning the ball to Stockton so he anticipated and managed to intercept pass it by doing the steal.

Stockton realized that Jake had anticipated the move and therefore made the steal, Jake did not advance for the attack and passed the ball to Fisher and Fisher waited for the Los Angeles Lakers team to organize in the attack before starting the play.

Fisher went on the attack and passed the ball to Jake on the left, Jake got rid of Russell easily and advanced into the area, the Utah Jazz team's defense realized the move and tried to stop Jake from moving forward.

Jake did not attempt the individual play and passed the ball to Kobe Bryant who was free from the right, Bryant received the ball and shot from outside to make 3 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, the fans were excited about the Lakers team with so much advantage on the scoreboard.