On December 24, Beijing time, the NBA regular season Lakers sat at home to meet the Spurs. For the Lakers, this game is of great significance, not only because they have suffered 3 consecutive losses and urgently need a victory to stop the decline, but also because this is the curtain battle of the Staples Center, which bears too many important moments in the Lakers country, and the best way to say goodbye is to win. However, although the Lakers had a lot of reasons to win the game, they finally lost to the Spurs 110-138 in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers are currently facing a double attack of the epidemic and injury, the Lakers are missing 7 in this game, Ariza, Bazemore, Bradley, Munch, Reeves triggered the health and safety agreement, and Nunn and Thick Brow are absent due to injury, and the rotation of personnel is stretched. Perhaps hearing the fans' voices, acting coach Fitzdale took the initiative to change the team and replaced Jordan Jr. with Howard, hoping to improve the team's basket and rebound protection capabilities.
As we all know, the Spurs are not a team that is good at shooting three-pointers, and they are not willing to shoot too many three-pointers, averaging 29.8 three-point shots per game this season, ranking first in the league, and the Spurs prefer the offensive method to convert offense and impact the inside line. Therefore, Fitzdale did not come up to put up a five-small lineup, but let Howard, who has a stronger ability to guard the basket, act as the starting center, which can be described as very targeted.
However, facing the Lakers today, who are missing major generals, the Spurs are unusual, and three points have become a very important offensive weapon for them, and the team's first score was a three-pointer from McDermott. The Spurs scored five three-pointers in the first quarter, bearing in mind that they averaged 10.4 three-pointers per game this season, ranking second-to-last in the league. The Spurs' sudden attack outside the three-point line caught the Lakers off guard, Howard was embarrassed, changing defenses out of the inside line without anyone to protect the basket, shrinking in the inside line, the Spurs three-point shot decisive, and accurate.
The Spurs' crazy output from outside the three-point line completely disrupted the Lakers' game plan, the Purple and Gold Were in a situation of being behind and beaten early, and Howard's confidence was a bit lost.
In the second half, the Spurs still maintained extremely high offensive efficiency, and Fitzdale had to abandon Howard and focus on James playing the five small lineups in the fifth position. James's personal offense has nothing to say, but the problem is that the Lakers' defensive end is too bad, the height on the court is too short, it is simply not enough to form an effective infection on the Spurs' shooting, and Thomas Jr. is chased by the Spurs.
When James came off, Fitzdale once again posed a five-point shooting team of Westbrook + Rondo + Thomas Jr. + Tucker + Anthony (the last game was Ariza). The Spurs frantically blasted down 39 points in the third quarter, and the Lakers relied on Westbrook's 17-point performance in the single quarter to not let the point difference be completely widened.
In the final quarter, Fitzdale used Jordan Jr., who had been hidden in the snow for 3 quarters, but Jordan Jr. had already been proven to be useless on the defensive end. The Spurs scored 5 three-pointers again in the final quarter, shooting lake life loveless, no morale, at one point there was James to launch an attack, to the front court to face the Spurs 5-man defense, and the Lakers' other 4 players are still in the second half of the spectacle, you can hardly believe that this is a team that aims to win the championship!
The Lakers are now not only a problem of uneven personnel, 4 consecutive losses have made the team's mentality somewhat collapsed, the manager's platoon is disorderly, the player's self-confidence is lost, self-doubt, lack of morale, and then affect the team's performance at both ends of the attack and defense.
James scored 36 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists on 16-of-25 shooting in the game, and Westbrook had 30 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists on 12-of-20 shooting. The performance of the two stars has been impeccable, but the other lakers' participation in the game is too low!
James said in an interview after the game, talking about the chemistry of the team: "We don't have any lineup with sufficient chemistry right now, we don't have time to cultivate, how should the starting lineup be arranged outside of me, Westbrook and Thick Brow? I do not know. ”
This is the current situation of the Lakers, I hope that James and Westbrook can actively speak out in the locker room, play a leadership role, mobilize the enthusiasm of the participating players, and regain the lost energy and confidence.