Chapter 562 West Conference Semifinals 2
Chapter 562 West Conference Semifinals 2
In that first quarter the Los Angeles Lakers team seemed to be playing better just like in the last games, with the good moves of Jake, Kobe, and Shaq it seemed that the game was balanced because it was the strategy of the Lakers team again.
The Portland Trail Blazers players seemed to be playing just as well as in the last games, but it seemed that even with the Portland Trail Blazers team having one of the best saves of the season it was not enough to stop the Los Angeles Lakers attack.
The first quarter ended with the Los Angeles Lakers team winning the game with a small points advantage, in that first quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 10 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals.
"The first quarter ends and the Los Angeles Lakers team finished that quarter by winning, it was a balanced game again, but the strategy of the Lakers team is always to make a balanced first quarter to observe the opponent."
"But from what we could see in that first quarter, the players from both teams are playing as well as in the last games, so with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant having a good performance, the Los Angeles Lakers team seems to have the advantage."
"Jake Smith is also playing very well as he did in all the games this season, the beautiful play he did that was an ankle break play and that lifted the spirits of the Los Angeles Lakers team."
"It's true, yet I still think that the Portland Trail Blazers team can win this game, the players on the Portland Trail Blazers team are playing very well and they are playing at home."
"In the last game the Portland Trail Blazers team almost got the win and with the Portland Trail Blazers team playing at home I think they can get the win in that game."
Just as commentators said the Portland Trail Blazers fans still hoped that the Portland Trail Blazers team would win and if they won the next home game both teams would be tied and the Portland Trail Blazers team could advance to the next phase of the playoffs.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team started pressing in attack and defense, in that quarter they had to do their best to understand if the Los Angeles Lakers team had the advantage in that game or if they could win.
Jake slowly advanced the ball and passed it to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Rider came pressing on the defense, Kobe held the ball for a while and passed it to Rick on the left.
Rick received the ball and Grant came pressing on the defense, Rick tried to make a feint and managed to deceive Grant and advanced on the left, Grant managed to recover and tried to continue defending, but Rick was faster and advanced to the inside area.
Rick advanced with speed and Sabonis came to defend against Rick, Rick knew he couldn't go any further and passed the ball to Shaq further on, Shaq received the free ball and advanced to make the dunk and 2 more points for the Los Angeles Lakers team.
Rick made a beautiful move and Shaq made the 2 points, but in this game, Rick and Dennis were not performing well, even Kobe and Shaq who were making the points were also missing a lot of attacks and the Portland Trail Blazers team had several defensive rebounds.
So in this second quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team managed to take the small advantage that the Los Angeles Lakers team and tied the game with 8 minutes of the second quarter, so the players of the Portland Trail Blazers realized that they could achieve victory in that game.
In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on
Grant advanced with the ball and passed to Sabonis ahead, Sabonis received the ball and Shaq came pressing on defense, Sabonis tried to advance using his strength, but Shaq was strong too and prevented Sabonis from advancing to the painted area.
Sabonis noticed this and stepped back a little and moved away from where Shaq was and tried to hook to make 2 more points for the Portland Trail Blazers team, in that game Sabonis was playing well and seemed to have learned to attack playing against Shaq.
The Portland Trail Blazers team was attacking without passing the ball many times to Stoudamire who was unable to attack with Jake defending against him, with that they managed to finish the second quarter by winning the game with a small point advantage.
The Portland Trail Blazers team finished that second quarter by winning the game and the Los Angeles Lakers team would have to try to turn the tables playing as a visitor, in that second quarter Jake played for 12 minutes and made 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 2 steals.
"The second quarter ends and the Portland Trail Blazers team managed to finish for the first time in these playoffs a quarter winning, in the last game the Los Angeles Lakers team won, but the Portland Trail Blazers team almost managed to win at the end of the game."
"In this game, the Portland Trail Blazers team playing at home managed to finish the second quarter winning with a great performance from all players, it seems that the Los Angeles Lakers team will lose the first game in these playoffs."
"It's true, the Portland Trail Blazers team looks like they will be able to win this game and this could be the beginning of a historic turn and the Portland Trail Blazers team can win 4 games and advance to the next phase of the playoffs."
"In this game, Shaq and Kobe are playing well which is usually enough for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win, of course, Kobe was not performing as well as he did in the last game, but that could mean the Portland team Trail Blazers are better than the Lakers team."
The commentators were excited to see the Portland Trail Blazers team finishing the second quarter winning the game because in that game the Portland Trail Blazers team could clearly win that game, in addition, the Portland Trail Blazers team was playing better even with Shaq and Kobe having a good time. performance too.
This was exciting for commentators because everyone thought the Los Angeles Lakers team would easily win all 4 games and advance to the next playoff phase, in fact, everyone expected the Lakers team to win the NBA title this season.
So with the Portland Trail Blazers team managing to win the game even with Jake, Shaq, and Kobe playing well, they saw the opportunity for the Portland Trail Blazers team to win the 4 games and eliminate the Los Angeles Lakers team in this phase of the playoffs.
Jake also realized this and was worried, he wanted to play even better and win with his mother watching the game in the stands, but in this game, Stoudamire was playing well in defense and Jake couldn't count on Rick and Dennis.
Jake decided he would play better in the third quarter to try to help the Los Angeles Lakers team to win as they did in the last game, but he knew that the Portland Trail Blazers team could still make the strategy of starting to make fouls and if that happened it would be difficult for the Lakers team to win.
This strategy of making fouls against the Los Angeles Lakers team could only be done by teams that managed to keep the game balanced and where the best teams, in addition, this strategy could only be done in the third quarter and the last quarter for the opposing team not risk having players kicked out.
In this third quarter, the Portland Trail Blazers team was pressing in attack and defense and the crowd was supporting the team, it was clear that they wanted the victory in that game, coach Rambis decided to put Robert Horry playing in place of Dennis who was not playing well.
Jake was determined to try even harder in this game to help the Los Angeles Lakers team to win and so he started trying to get more rebounds and more steals, in addition to putting more pressure on the attack.
In another move, Jake advanced with the ball and passed it to Rick on the left, Rick received the ball and held it a little before passing to Kobe on the right, Kobe received the ball and Rider came pressing on the defense.
Kobe tried to deceive Rider with a feint, but Rider was not deceived and continued in defense, Kobe thought about trying another move, but he saw Jake passing and passed the ball to him in the middle.
Jake advanced to the inside area using his speed and Stoudamire managed to continue in defense, Jake made a feint and made a fake pump that tricked Stoudamire, so Jake advanced to the painted area and drive to the basket and made a dunk to make 2 more points.
In this play neither Sabonis nor Wallace tried to defend against Jake and with that Jake went ahead alone to make the dunk, Jake was attacking more in that third quarter and with that when he made assists the opponent did not expect.
Just as Jake hoped in the middle of the third quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers team got the points advantage again and the Portland Trail Blazers team started making the strategy of making fouls, Coach Rambis could not take Shaq in that game because Shaq was important in the attack. of the Los Angeles Lakers team.
So Shaq became the target of the fouls that the Portland Trail Blazers team did, with that Jake and the other players stopped making passes to Shaq in every play and Jake tried to keep the ball with him so that opponents avoided making fouls on him.
In another move the Portland Trail Blazers team was on the attack, Stoudamire advanced the ball and passed it to Grant on the right, Grant received the ball and held it a little and passed it to Rider on the left.
Rider received the ball and Kobe came pressing on defense, Rider tried to trick Kobe with a feint and managed to trick Kobe and stepped back to try a shot from the outside, Jake realized this and was quick to try the block.
Rider jump to try the shot from outside and Jake jump right after him to make the block, Jake reacted very fast and got the block, but the ball still went to Rasheed Wallace who caught the rebound and tried the mid-range shot and did more 2 points for the Portland Trail Blazers team.