On December 24, Beijing time, the last game of staples center, the Lakers ushered in the challenge of the Spurs at home, although James and Wei Shao played very well, have got 30+, but the Lakers bench scored 20-69 by the opponent, facing the Spurs team, the Lakers finally lost to the Spurs 110-138.
After this game, the Lakers have suffered four consecutive losses, the record has come to 16 wins and 17 losses, the winning rate has fallen below 50% again, although it is still in the sixth position in the West, but it is only 0.5 wins away from the ninth Timberwolves.
After the game, James also talked about the reasons for the Lakers' loss, "The Spurs players have executed the tactics very well, they have maintained positive execution throughout the game, they have paid for our mistakes, which is why they have been able to play well in the past period of time." "We're missing too many defensive players. ”
It is also the last sentence that directly points out the reason why the Lakers have been losing, today's small-ball era is the era of the need for a strong front, and in the current Lakers lineup, in addition to James and Ariza, there are no qualified front-liners, in the last two games, the Lakers even once put out a four-small guard lineup of Westbrook + Rondo + Thomas Jr. + Tucker Jr. + James, and the defense is useless.
In addition, in yesterday's interview, Lakers interim head coach Fitzdale also performed that in terms of taking care of the ball and card slots, everyone (should) be a role player, the implication is that in the current Lakers lineup, there are no players who are willing to do dirty work, lack of defensive enthusiasm on the court. Lakers celebrity Magic Johnson has also shown that the Lakers need to start defensively.
Most of the Lakers' current lineup is veterans, limited by slow movement, so if they want to improve their defensive efficiency in a short period of time, the Lakers can only trade, which has to remind people of Simmons. According to the previous reporter Chalania broke the news, the Lakers have always been interested in trading Simmons, although Simmons and Westbrook do not have the ability to shoot from a distance, but Simmons is the closest defensive lineup player last season, can play the role of organization and defensive forward in the Lakers, but the Lakers want to trade Simmons, it is not as simple as believed.