On December 26, Beijing time, the Lakers lost the Nets by 7 points at home (115-122), lost the Christmas war under the attention of fans around the world, and also suffered five consecutive losses, although they still rank eighth in the West with a record of 16 wins and 18 losses, but it seems that whether they can enter the playoffs is still a big problem. In this campaign, the Lakers' starting players in addition to James, can be said to be a full line downturn, Westbrook 20 of 4, plus and minus -23, there is no doubt that his performance is sorry for his annual salary of 40 million.
The Lakers' loss in this game exposed a lot of problems, the first is the lack of pitchers on the outside, this game, the Lakers' three-point shooting rate is only 28.6%, which is also a problem so far in the Purple and Gold Army season, this problem has not been solved. James is not good at shooting three-pointers, however, he became the Lakers' shooter in this game, shooting 3,33.3% of the three-pointers; Munch is the Lakers' best three-point shooting player in the game, he shot 3,42.8% of the 7 on the outside. If Munch doesn't play, the Lakers' three-point shooting rate this time may be miserable.
The second is the lack of defensive ability, the Lakers' individual defense, overall defense and conversion of offense defense are not very strong, among the starters, it is Westbrook's defense that is the most garbage, followed by Tucker Jr. In the game, Westbrook has several times even watched the opponent to go to the basket to win, without intervening, in the final moments of the game, the Lakers fell behind by 2 points, at that time, Mills and Harden blocked, Westbrook signaled Munch to change defense to defend Harden, he was in charge of Mills, but Westbrook's attention has always been on the ball, three meters away from Mills, in the end, Mills got a shot in the bottom corner, Westbrook saved the sheep to make up for it, Mills hit three points, extending the lead to 5 points!
Defense is not Westbrook's strength, offense is his strength, but he is lost on the offensive end. The Lakers are comforted that they signed Stanley Johnson, and judging by today's performance, his defense is not bad. The Lakers lost also picked out two major sinners, the first is Wei Shao, when Wei Shao was on the field, the Lakers lost 23 points, and the season has passed the halfway point, really can not find any other reason, can only say that he is not James, can not adapt to the Lakers' system, when Wei Shao does not have the ball in hand, his threat is greatly reduced, for the Lakers, hurry up to trade Wei Shao.
The other is Ellington, who played 13 minutes and 41 seconds, 1 of 4, only 3 points and 3 rebounds, plus-minus -20, and was directly abandoned in the second half. In the last six games, Ellington has not performed very well, shooting 3 of 9, 3 of 10, 2 of 5, 1 of 4, 3 of 9 and 1 of 4, all of which have scored no more than 10 points, including three in two games. It turns out that Munch's strength is above him, Munch has defense, offense, three points, and the overall ability is still very good.
For the Lakers, the first quarter should let Munch play the starting, and then divert the playing time of Wei Shao and James, or let Wei Shao play the bench directly, he and Ellington partner for a longer time, Wei Shao can let go, and he can also pass to Ellington, who has the ability to do three points, although the defense of the two is not good, but can play the Lakers' offensive characteristics to a greater extent. James can't win the game with 30+ Lakers, and Westbrook must stand up, otherwise the best way is to trade it.