Chapter 490 A Great Deal 4

"The Los Angeles Lakers team doesn't have that problem, even if the star of the team Shaquille O'Neal doesn't have that big a salary, Kobe Bryant and Jake Smith still get low wages, Kobe Bryant will renew his contract this year, but Jake Smith will still receive the rookie salary for a few years."

"With the exchanges made by the Los Angeles Lakers team, they still have a few million dollars to spend on wages if they want to sign more players."

"What worries me is that Shaquille O'Neal is not going to play in that game, he is not even on the bench and did not know if he was injured or would have any problems not being able to play in that game."

"We have no way of knowing that, now let's see how the Los Angeles Lakers team can play without the team's biggest star, after all, Shaquille O'Neal is an important player for the team's attack."

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

Playing at home, the Minnesota Timberwolves team came with the initial players' Bobby Jackson playing as PG, Malik Sealy playing as SG, Sam Mitchell playing as SF, Kevin Garnett playing as PF and Joe Smith playing as Center.

Even without Shaquille O'Neal playing the Los Angeles Lakers team still had the best players, but they had no training playing without Shaquille O'Neal on the team, and with the Los Angeles Lakers team playing as a visitor they didn't have much of an advantage.

The game started with the Minnesota Timberwolves team in the attack, Bobby Jackson started the move for his team passing to Malik Sealy on the left, Kobe Bryant tried to press the defense and Sealy passed the ball to Kevin Garnett later on.

Garnett got rid of Robert Horry easily and went ahead to layup and make the first 2 points of the game for the Minnesota Timberwolves team, the two teams did not have a good defense and without Shaquille O'Neal, in the Los Angeles Lakers team, Kevin Garnett would have it easier to make the attack moves.

The Los Angeles Lakers team had to attack and Jake started to organize the attack, Jake advanced with the ball and passed to Kobe Bryant on the right, Bryant received the ball and Sealy started to press in defense.

Bryant easily passed Sealy and tried the mid-range shot to score 2 points for the Los Angeles Lakers team and tie the game, in that game without Shaquille O'Neal it would be Jake and Kobe Bryant who would have the responsibility to score more points for the team.

Both teams had good attacks and did not have good defenses, Jake helped with the steals in some games and some players defended well, but the NBA players were almost all very skilled in attack so the defense of these players looked bad.

In another move by the Minnesota Timberwolves team, Jackson passed the ball to Sealy on the left, Bryant pressed the defense and Sealy had to pass it back to Jackson again.

Jackson received the ball and paid attention to the movements of Jake who was defending against him, Jackson knew that Jake was skilled in defense and was good at steals so he didn't try to make any bold moves.

Jackson passed the ball to Sam Mitchell on the right, Mitchell received the ball and Rick Fox was defending against him, Mitchell managed to trick Fox with a feint and advanced into the inside area to try the layup and make 2 more points for the Minnesota Timberwolves team.

In another attacking move by the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake advanced the ball and passed it to Fox from the left, Fox received the ball and Mitchell soon pressed in defense, Fox passed the ball to Robert Horry later on.

Horry soon passed the ball to Jake later because Garnett was already pushing in defense, Jake received the ball with freedom and tried the shot from outside and hit to make 3 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.

Jackson who was defending against Jake was careless and Jake tried the three-point shot before he could react, so Jackson understood how difficult it was to defend against someone who was good at three-point shots.

At the beginning of the game the two teams were balanced hitting most of the attacks, so the first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team with a small advantage on the scoreboard because of Jake's three-point shots.

In that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and had 11 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal, Jake was having to focus more on defense and did not find as many opportunities to do the steal and as Kobe Bryant made many individual plays Jake I didn't have as many assists as in other games.

"The first quarter ended with the two teams surprisingly balanced, the Los Angeles Lakers team is clearly feeling the absence of Shaquille O'Neal in that game, the attack is focused on Jake Smith who made a great first quarter with 11 points."

"The Minnesota Timberwolves team managed to organize a good team considering the problems they had this season, with Kevin Garnett leading this team they can make it to the playoffs."

"But for sure the Los Angeles Lakers team has a better team and if Shaquille O'Neal was playing in that game it would be difficult for them to lose that game, but as the game is I don't know what can happen."

As commentators said the team was not playing as well without Shaquille O'Neal on the team, Jake was playing well, but if the Minnesota Timberwolves team increased their defense against him and Kobe Bryant they would have more difficulty in that game.

The Minnesota Timberwolves team returned to the second quarter thinking about winning this game, the Minnesota Timberwolves team coach realized that they should defend against Jake and Kobe Bryant and that is what the team started to do in the second quarter.

Jake and Bryant had skills to get rid of the opposing defense, but with two players defending against them it was more difficult for them to make the moves, after all the players of the Minnesota Timberwolves team had a good defensive ability.

It looked like the Minnesota Timberwolves team coach had trained this move because when Jake and Kobe Bryant were not with the ball they had only one player defending against them, only when they received the ball that another player approached them.

In one of the attacking moves of the Los Angeles Lakers team Jake moved forward and passed the ball to Bryant, two players came to defend against him and pressed in defense, Bryant had to pass the ball to Horry who also had difficulty with Garnett defending against him.

Horry tried a feint and failed to trick Garnett and had to pass the ball to Travis Knight, Knight received the ball and Joe Smith pressed the defense against him and Knight had no ability to try to make the move and had to pass the ball to Jake more behind.

As soon as Jake received the ball two players came to defend against him, Jake could not get rid of the two players and had not trained with Knight to do a Pick and roll, of course, if Shaquille O'Neal was on the team it might not be necessary.

So Jake passed the ball to Rick Fox on the left, the ball possession time was running out and Fox tried a mid-range shot and hit the Los Angeles Lakers team with 2 more points, with the Minnesota Timberwolves defense so Jake could rely only on Rick Fox to make the attacks.

Jake and Kobe Bryant would have to push hard to make the attack with two players defending against them, but with the Minnesota Timberwolves' defense so Fox was always free to try the move, but he made far more attacks than Jake and Bryant did.

With the Minnesota Timberwolves team playing so they managed to tie the game at the end of the second quarter, Jake played for 12 minutes and made 5 points, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals, at least with the steals Jake helped the Los Angeles Lakers team not to end up losing that second quarter.

"With the end of the second quarter, the Minnesota Timberwolves team managed to draw with their good defensive strategy and the pressure in the attack they made throughout the game, so the Minnesota Timberwolves team can see the chance of winning that game."

"Certainly, with this defensive pressure from the Minnesota Timberwolves team Kobe Bryant and Jake Smith do not have much freedom to attack and make the plays, moreover, in this game only Jake Smith can count only Rick Fox to make the attacks."

"After all, it looks like Jake Smith and Kobe Bryant always have to face two players in defense when they have the ball, Robert Horry doesn't have that problem, but with Kevin Garnett defending against him, Robert Horry also can't attack."

"And Travis Knight also misses a lot of attacks, so Rick Fox has more freedom to attack, but he doesn't hit as many attacks as Jake Smith and Kobe Bryant normally do."

"Yes, and the Minnesota Timberwolves attack is working well in that game too, if Shaquille O'Neal was playing, the Minnesota Timberwolves team couldn't do that, but now the Los Angeles Lakers team has to do something about it."

Just as commentators said the Los Angeles Lakers team would have to find some way to win that game, Coach Harris thought of replacing Jake Smith and Kobe Bryant, but this would make it even easier for the Minnesota Timberwolves to defend.

The biggest problem was not the Los Angeles Lakers team playing without Shaquille O'Neal on the team, but that they had not done training without Shaquille O'Neal on the team, so they were not prepared for the opponent's defensive moves.

Jake couldn't just try multiple three-point shots because he knew that against two opponents he would definitely suffer a lot of blocks if he didn't end up missing more three-point shots in that game.