Chapter 559 - The Playoffs 9

Just as commentators said the Los Angeles Lakers team was the big favorite to win the 4 games and advance to the next stage of the playoffs, even with the quality of the Portland Trail Blazers team it was certain that if the players of the Los Angeles Lakers team played well it was difficult for the Portland Trail Blazers team to win a game.

Jake played well in all games and Shaq played well in most games, so only Kobe was the doubt for the next games if Kobe played well as he did in that game then the Los Angeles Lakers team would certainly continue to win.

After the end of the game Jake met his mother and left for his house with her, Eva was happy that Jake's team had won that game and she hoped it would stay that way for Jake to win the NBA title.

Eva had a lot of confidence in Jake and didn't even expect it to be possible for the Los Angeles Lakers team to be eliminated from these playoffs, Jake knew that and didn't want to disappoint his mother even though he needed his teammates to win.

The next day would be in 2 days and the next day the players would have only light training and could rest a little after this difficult game, the Portland Trail Blazers team was a tough opponent and the Los Angeles Lakers team only won more easily because Jake defended well against Damon Stoudamire who was one of the best players on the opposing team.

Jake ate dinner with his mother and then went to rest early, the next day Jake woke up very early to eat the breakfast with his mother, Jake was happy with Eva preparing the breakfast every morning, he remembered the past when only they lived in Miami.

Mary brought the newspaper to Jake just as she did when she found some news that Jake might be interested in, Jake knew that and looked in the sports section and found the news talking about the Los Angeles Lakers team's victory.

The news talked about the great performance of Jake, Kobe, and Shaq in the game, the members of the sports media said that they hoped the Los Angeles Lakers team would win the next game too and be able to advance to the next one without much difficulty.

Jake was also confident that the Los Angeles Lakers team could win even the games as a visitor, but if Kobe or Shaq didn't play well it would be difficult for the Lakers team to beat the Portland Trail Blazers team that was also doing very well.

After a few hours, Jake went to training and even with light training, he could see that the other players were also very focused and that they also wanted the Los Angeles Lakers team to win.

Soon the day of the second playoff game came, Jake was focused on that game and he left the house after some time that Eva had left, Jake arrived at the Great Western Forum and saw the Los Angeles Lakers team fans arriving.

Los Angeles Lakers fans were expected to fill the Great Western Forum to support the Lakers team, after all the Los Angeles Lakers team was a favorite to win with no playoff losses.

Soon Jake and the players entered the court to start the game, the pressure in that game was on the Portland Trail Blazers team that needed the victory to have more chances to get 4 victories and advance to the next phase of the playoffs.

The Portland Trail Blazers team needed to win that game and then win the next 2 games at home to have 3 wins and try to win the fourth game that would be in Los Angeles, if the Los Angeles Lakers team won that game, they would only need 2 more victories to advance to the next phase.

The game started with the Portland Trail Blazers team pushing forward, the Portland Trail Blazers coach wanted to take advantage of the Los Angeles Lakers team playing the first quarter slower to try to finish the first quarter by winning.

Of course, Jake realized that and he increased the pace of the game for the Los Angeles Lakers to attack more so that the Lakers team ended the first quarter by winning, Jake liked to analyze his opponent in the game, but he knew it was more important to have the advantage in points.

Soon Jake realized that the Portland Trail Blazers team was attacking without relying heavily on Damon Stoudamire and the main players were Isaiah Rider and Brian Grant, so Jake knew the game would be more difficult than the last one because he would not help so much in the game defending.

The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a small points advantage, the game was even and only Jake and the Lakers players knew that the first quarter was really tough and the players were playing really well.

In the second quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team started the game by pushing forward, after all the Lakers team was playing at home and needed this victory to advance to the next phase of the playoffs.

Jake was more excited to see that Kobe was playing very well in that game and Shaq was also playing well, but Kobe was the highlight in the attack and Jake passed the ball over to Kobe to make individual plays.

The crowd knew the Los Angeles Lakers team well and seeing Kobe and Shaq playing well they were excited because they knew the victory was more likely, even with the Portland Trail Blazers team playing better than in the last game, the Portland Trail Blazers players they knew that this game would be difficult.

In this difficult game Dennis was not playing very well and Rick was not playing well either, realizing this, coach Rambis put Robert Horry to play and Jake did not make so many passes for Rick.

The second quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers winning and Kobe being the highlight of the team, but they didn't get a big point advantage and the Portland Trail Blazers players realized they still had a chance to win that game.

The third quarter started with the most disputed game with the Los Angeles Lakers pressing in the attack and the Portland Trail Blazers playing well in defense and also trying to press in the attack.

Jake was playing well in defense, but Stoudamire was not getting as many passes, Jake was standing out in that game getting more rebounds as Dennis was not playing after Robert replaced Dennis.

Jake was also playing well in the attack even though most of the passes he gave to Kobe and Shaq, this was making it more difficult for the Portland Trail Blazers to defend, even so, the Portland Trail Blazers team was attacking well and the game was balanced.

Coach Rambis was concerned about this game and was also concerned because he could not replace Kobe and Shaq as he did in a sequence of games, Coach Rambis knew that this was a difficult game and he could not replace the main players, but he was still afraid that Shaq and Kobe would get hurt.

At the end of the third quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team was still winning the game, but the Lakers team had a small advantage in points that had not increased in that third quarter, because of that the Portland Trail Blazers team would return to the last quarter still trying to get the victory.

The fans of the Los Angeles Lakers team were excited about this difficult game and hoped even more for the Lakers team to defend and attack willingly in the last quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers players were also trying hard to win this game and so the team had more chances to advance to the next stage of the playoffs.

In the last quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team started to press further in the attack and started to make fouls in defense, with the Portland Trail Blazers team making fouls the coach Rambis took Shaq and had to put Rodman back in the game and put Horry playing as Center.

So the Portland Trail Blazers team managed to defend much better against Kobe who was playing well and get Shaq out of the game, as Shaq was also playing well, but with the departure of Shaq, the defense of the Los Angeles Lakers team was also better.

With the fouls, the Portland Trail Blazers team was managing to diminish the advantage in points and saw the opportunity to win the game, Jake realized this and understood that he had to try harder to guarantee this victory.

With Eva watching the game Jake was more confident, and the players of both teams were very tired from this difficult game, so Jake, who was not so tired, knew he had the advantage at the end of the game.

In a play Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Kobe received the ball and Isaiah Rider came pressing on defense, Kobe was out of the three-point line and tried a feint to advance it.

Kobe wanted to move forward, but Jake called for the ball back again because he knew Rider would miss if Kobe advanced into the 3-point line, Kobe passed the ball to Jake further back and Stoudamire was on the defense.

Jake was far from the three-point line, but he had confidence and tried a shot from outside 35 feet and hit to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team, with this move the Lakers team got another 3 points advantage and could breathe easier.

In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack trying to diminish that advantage in points again, Stoudamire advanced with the ball and passed to Grant on the right, Grant received the ball and Rick arrived pressing in defense.

Grant tried to advance the ball using his strength, but this time Rick was defending and wanted to prevent Grant from moving forward, the Portland Trail Blazers team did not have much time for Grant to use in the possession and so he passed it to Rider on the left.

Rider received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Rider started to do low dribble preventing Kobe from trying to steal, Rider tried a feint going to the right and Kobe retreated, so Rider did a step back.