Chapter 495 - The NBA Season Continues 3

"The third quarter ends now, those were 12 minutes in which the two teams were very balanced, but the Indiana Pacers team was unable to diminish the points advantage that the Los Angeles Lakers team had."

"So for the last quarter of the game, the Los Angeles Lakers team has the advantage and just have to defend well and keep the game balanced in order to get the win, in the meantime the Indiana Pacers team will have to put more pressure on the attack."

"Yes, even with the effort of the Indiana Pacers team in that third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team is playing very well and it will be difficult for them to lose this game."

In the last quarter, the Indiana Pacers team tried to put even more pressure in the attack, but this made their defense more open, besides, the players of the Indiana Pacers team got more tired even with the team coach making several substitutions.

So the Los Angeles Lakers team won the game making 112 points against 98 points of the Indiana Pacers team, in that last quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 7 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals, Jake got a double-double in that game with 9 steals too.

"And so the game ends, the Los Angeles Lakers team won their fifth game of the season, with just one defeat the team shows that it is really favorite to win the NBA title this season."

"The Indiana Pacers team played well in that game and the players did a good second half of the game, but the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were very good in that game, Shaquille O'Neal played very well with 38 points and 17 rebounds making one double-double."

"But for me, the best player in that game was once again Jake Smith with 32 points, 14 assists, 9 steals and 8 rebounds, even though Jake Smith didn't score more than Shaquille O'Neal, he helped the team a lot more in that game."

"I think Shaquille O'Neal was the best player in that game with those 38 points and 17 rebounds, but it's amazing how Jake Smith, who is a rookie, can play at the same level as NBA All-Star Shaquille O'Neal."

"For sure, Jake Smith has been very important for the Los Angeles Lakers team to achieve these victories in the first games of this season, and it has already been 6 games out of the 50 games that we will have this season."

Jake was happy with his performance in that game and was happy with the victories that the Los Angeles Lakers team was achieved in those first games, of the three defeats that the Los Angeles Lakers team would have this season, Jake managed to avoid two of them.

Even though Jake could see how Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant still didn't like Coach Del Harris, Jake didn't know if it was Coach Harris who had prevented Shaquille O'Neal from playing in the game that the Los Angeles Lakers team lost.

Jake had nothing against Coach Harris, Jake didn't like the coach very much, but he also didn't want him to be fired, but Jake wanted Coach Phil Jackson to be hired next season and for that, Coach Del Harris would have to be fired.

Jake admired Coach Phil Jackson who was one of his NBA idols, Jake also couldn't help but wonder if Coach Phil Jackson could help him be an even better player as he did with Shaquille O'Neal, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant.

Los Angeles Lakers team fans and the media talked a lot now about Jake and as he was the team's new star, older fans couldn't help but remember the times when Magic Johnson played as PG and team leader Los Angeles Lakers.

Before Michael Jordan's time, it was the Los Angeles Lakers team that dominated the NBA along with the Boston Celtics team, of course, they couldn't expect Jake to help the Los Angeles Lakers team win another 5 NBA title as Magic Johnson did, but if Jake could help the Lakers team win an NBA title they would be happy.

The sports media commented on the story of Jake Smith who was doing an excellent season as a rookie and also talked about how he was also currently the best marathon athlete in the world.

What the media said and the fans agreed was that if this season he had an all-star game, Jake would certainly be one of the chosen ones because American fans liked him a lot, it was a pity that this season the game had been canceled.

The Los Angeles Lakers team players were happy that they would have a day of rest before the next game, that day they would only have the training, in addition, the next three games of the Los Angeles Lakers team would be at home, so the players would get tired any less.

The next day Jake woke up very early excited, he was very happy with the games he had this season, the training he did in his imagination training helped him a lot to adapt more quickly to the NBA level.

Of course, Jake knew he still had a lot of things he could improve on to play even better, for sure when he was more used to playing with his teammates the next games would be easier.

Jake rested at his house, he took the opportunity to see some films he hadn't seen in a long time in the cinema that was at his house, Jake always wanted to have something like that and at that time it was much cheaper to build a cinema when he was already if you had a room big enough.

In the future, Jake would only need to change the projector for something more modern when the films started shooting in better image quality, of course, Jake could still watch the movies at the cinema when he wanted to leave.

After all, what Jake liked most to do at his house was sports, he used the pool, the gym, the basketball court, the athletics track, so the movie theater and library were the places that Jake would only go to when he had more time.

Jake's dream was that when the films he participated in were released he could receive a copy to watch in his cinema room, Jake had already obtained a copy of the film Jerry Maguire, and he would order a copy of the film The Matrix as soon as it was launched.

The premiere of the film The Matrix was close, Jake was sure it would be a success after all the film was similar to what he remembered and the essence that made the film a success continued, he had to see if with him participating in the film could get better and maybe earn even more profit.

When Jake was invited to participate in the film he was a famous person even though he had not yet made his NBA debut, so Jake could have asked for a higher salary than Warner Bros would still pay.

But Jake was offered to receive a small percentage of the profits from the film and Jake naturally accepted that and had not received a salary, he would receive 2 percent of the profits from the film, it was little close to the salary of the great actors, but it was very good for his first salary since he did not receive for his participation in the film Jerry Maguire.

Later on, Jake went to do training with his teammates, it was lighter training to correct positioning problems and to train players who were making mistakes in the games.

So the day after the game came, that game was against the Charlotte Hornets team, the Los Angeles Lakers team would play at home and as Glen Rice would not be playing in that game, it was expected that the Los Angeles Lakers team could win with more facility.

Jake went to the Great Western Forum and saw that it was packed because fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team came to support the team that was having a great start to the season, Jake went to the locker room and soon all the players arrived.

Soon the players went to the court and could see the fans cheering for another victory for the Los Angeles Lakers team in that game, this made the players even more excited to win this game that would soon begin.

"Welcome to everyone who came to watch another game this NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers team will play against the Charlotte Hornets team to try to get another victory."

"The Los Angeles Lakers team is playing at home and has 5 wins in 6 games this season, a very good start to the season and with the debut of Jake Smith who has been playing well and the great players Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant they have won several games."

"With the Charlotte Hornets team it's the other way around, they have 4 losses in 5 games this season, with injuries from Anthony Mason and Glen Rice the team is struggling to win games earlier this season."

"Yes, in this game the Los Angeles Lakers team is a favorite to win, even with the absence of Robert Horry, the Los Angeles Lakers team still managed to win in the previous game and they can win that game too."

The Los Angeles Lakers team came with the starting players Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O'Neal playing as Center.

The Charlotte Hornets team came with the initial players' BJ Armstrong playing as PG, Bobby Phills playing as SG, and they were playing with two PF on the team, JR Reid and Derrick Coleman, Coleman could play as Center also in the game to help Charles Shackleford who was playing as Center.

Team coach Charlotte Hornets decided to do this to improve the defense against Shaquille O'Neal and also take the opportunity to attack more because it was Travis Knight who was defending, even if Rick Fox helped in the defense they could attack with more intensity.

The game started with the Los Angeles Lakers team pressing in the attack, Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Bryant from the right, Bryant received the ball and Bobby Phills soon pressed in defense.

Bryant soon passed the ball to Rick Fox on the left, Fox received the ball and Reid was defending against him, so Fox passed the ball to Jake further back, Jake realized that Reid was not defending against Fox and passed the ball to him again.

So Fox took the opportunity and tried a mid-range shot to make the first 2 points of the game for the Los Angeles Lakers team, Reid did not expect Fox to receive the ball again, and so the Los Angeles team started with the advantage in the game.