Chapter 532 - Sequence of Difficult Games 2

As the Dallas Mavericks team was not doing very well this season, the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team were more relaxed in this next game, everyone wanted to win this game and end this sequence of games as a visitor.

Dennis Rodman would be playing that game again and Coach Rambis decided to let Robert Horry rest in that game and Travis Knight would start playing, in the first quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team started pressing in the attack.

The Dallas Mavericks team also started to put pressure on the attack and to the surprise of the Los Angeles Lakers team, the Dallas Mavericks team started the game very well, so they started to focus more on the game.

At the end of the first quarter, the Dallas Mavericks team was winning the game with a small points advantage, coach Rambis intended to let Shaq and Kobe rest for many minutes in that game, but seeing the first quarter of the team he changed his mind because he didn't want another one defeat.

In the second quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team played much better and started to put a lot of pressure on the attack, Dennis Rodman was also playing well, getting a lot of rebounds in that game and helping in defense.

So the Los Angeles Lakers team ended the second quarter by winning, in the third quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team pressed again in the attack and Coach Rambis even started to replace Shaq and Kobe.

The game ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with 109 points against 89 points for the Dallas Mavericks team, in that game Jake played very well again and had 31 points and 12 assists.

Shaq had a good game even playing for less time and had 25 points and Kobe Bryant had 21 points, Dennis Rodman returned to make a good game with 17 rebounds which helped the Los Angeles Lakers team to achieve this victory.

After this victory, the players, the medical team, and the coach Rambis were very happy because of the victory, but also because the Los Angeles Lakers' game sequence as a visitor had ended.

The players were in better physical condition than the medical team expected and Jake surprised again by being able to play for 48 minutes in those 6 games after Jake played those 6 games they were sure he could play the rest of the season.

After the game the players returned to Los Angeles and could sleep at their house for the next few days, now the Los Angeles Lakers team would have a sequence of 4 games at home and so the players would not tire so much.

The next day the Lakers team would also have no game and so the players could rest and do just a quick training, Jake returned to his house after leaving for almost two weeks and was happy to be back.

Jake had a lot of fun living in the dormitories at the university with his friends, but it was different when he lived in a house that was his, Jake just missed living with his mother in Miami.

But Jake knew it wasn't going to happen because he always needed to travel to the games and needed to live in the places where his team was, and Eva had her restaurant and Jake knew that his mother was happy making her dream come true.

The other day Jake woke up rested and happy to be home, as soon as he woke up he got a call from David that he was waiting for, Jake just thought David would call later.

"Hi, David, how are you?"

"I'm fine, Jake, congratulations on the Los Angeles Lakers team's victories, you've only lost two games this season and everyone in the sports media is saying that your team can win the NBA title."

"I hope that happens, but we still have a lot of games this season and then we have the playoffs where anything can happen."

"You are right, keep training and playing well so your team will be in the playoffs and can win the games in the playoffs."

"I'm going to speak because I called you, I know you said you didn't want to participate in this, but the directors the Wachowskis asked you to participate in an interview program to talk about the film."

"I said I didn't want to participate in this, David, I'm very busy with training and games, besides, I said that I think it is better that only the main actors participate in the promotion of the film, my character is not that important."

"I know," said Jake, but it was actually a request for an interview program, the main actors already promoted the film that month, but one of the stations called the Wachowskis to say they wanted to interview you. "

"Your story is very interesting, Jake, you are only 20 years old and you are already one of the highlights of the Los Angeles Lakers team, you have won a gold medal in the Olympics and won several marathons."

"The talk shows are interested in players who participate in films, especially if you have an interesting story like that and are participating in a really big film."

"Also, the film you participated in will soon open, so this is a good time to make people watching the interview program curious to watch the film in which you participate."

Jake did not expect an interview program to invite him to participate, he knew that the best basketball players participated in these programs, but they were players like Dennis Rodman who always pleased the audience and Michael Jordan who was the best player in the NBA.

Hearing what David said, Jake understood that it was true that his story was interesting, but Jake thought it was more normal for sports programs to ask him to participate in the programs, so he was called because of the film he was going to participate in.

"What was the interview program that invited me to participate?"

"It was NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the program is recorded in Burbank, California, so you won't have to travel far to record the program."

Jake was surprised that the production of Jay Leno's show had invited him, it was one of the biggest talk shows in the world and was watched by a lot of people, Jake hoped maybe it was another show that needed more audience.

"Okay, I'm going to be on The Tonight Show, but what day am I going to have to go to record the show?"

"They know you're going to be busy, so they left to be recorded today after 5 pm, your training should be in the early afternoon and you will have time to go to Burbank after that."

"Then I will be there."

Jake didn't know what the regular time the show was on, but he knew the show usually had two guests and a musical attraction, so it was very considerate of the broadcaster to change the recording time because of him.

After a few hours, Jake went for the light training of the Los Angeles Lakers team, after training he had to go back to his house to prepare his suit and after that, he went to Burbank.

Jake managed to arrive at The Burbank Studios with a few minutes to go before the appointment, Jake took an ID card at the entrance to the Studio and was soon called by the makeup artists to prepare for the recording.

The makeup artists didn't have much work with Jake because his face was naturally beautiful and his hair was cut every week, Jake was wearing one of his best suits and he didn't have to put on one of the suits they had prepared for the guests.

Soon Jake knew that the other guest who would be interviewed and the musical attraction was singer Fiona Apple, Fiona Apple was a singer that Jake remembered and was well known in the 90s, Jake didn't know Fiona and was never a big fan of her so he just he would talk to her if Fiona came to talk to him.

Jake was tidy and saw that the recordings would soon begin, Jay Leno came over to talk to him a little before the recording of the program started and said he was happy that Jake had accepted the invitation.

After that, the recording of the program started and Jay Leno recorded the beginning of the program with his jokes that Jake remembered that he liked to watch on television, Jake accepted this invitation because in his past life he already thought about participating in the program with Jay Leno.

The recording took a while because they had to re-record some things and they had a break for a few minutes when they moved to start another part of the program, Jake was listening to everything while he waited and soon he was asked to go on stage.

When Jay Leno introduced Jake the audience started to applaud him a lot, Jake didn't expect it because he just saw the audience applauding the most famous artists like great basketball players, actors, and singers.

Jay Leno stood up to greet Jake with a handshake and the two sat down to start the interview while the audience still applauded Jake, after a while everyone stopped and Jake felt lucky that he could control his emotions otherwise he would be too embarrassed.

"Welcome Jake, this is the first time that you're here on my show and I'm happy to have you here."

"Thanks for the invitation, Jay, I watch your programs so it's really cool to be here participating in your program."

"Let's talk a little bit about sports, which is where you stand out the most, you've already participated in 14 big marathons in your 4 years of competition as a runner, and you won 13 of those 14 marathons and came in second in the only marathon you didn't win."

"What do you feel about having achieved this brilliant career and having even won a gold medal at an Olympics in a few years?"

"I always loved running, I started to enjoy sports running and it was always something that made me happy, but I never really thought that I would compete in marathons, so I started playing basketball which was always something I always loved."

"I liked basketball and I knew I had a chance to make a better life for myself and my family if I played basketball well, and when I was younger I found out I was skilled at playing basketball."