On December 26, Beijing time, the curtain opened on the NBA Christmas war, and the Lakers sat at home to meet the Nets. For the Lakers, who have suffered four consecutive losses, this is a game that must be won, and if they can beat the Nets, the first in the East, the team may come out of the decline and regain confidence. In the end, after four quarters of fighting, the Lakers lost to the Nets 115-122, suffered a five-game losing streak, and fell to the 8th place in the West.
This high-profile focus showdown, because Durant and Irving's absence has lost a lot, we can't see the scene of the thunder in the past. However, for the Lakers, this is a good opportunity to end the losing streak, after all, the Nets are out of the game today with 8 people and two less superstars. However, the movement of the game is a completely different version of the story!
At the beginning of the game, the Lakers had a big problem at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, James + Westbrook + Tucker + Ellington + Howard's starting five Tigers are too old, the defensive rotation on the pace is too slow, Howard has the heart to want to save out, but always a slow shot, the offensive end of the Lakers outside the line does not have enough three points threat. The Lakers' 8-of-1 outside line in the first quarter allowed the Nets to shoot down 22 points in the penalty area, 15 points behind the Nets.
In the second quarter of the game, the Lakers began to play the main small lineup, putting James on the top of the fifth position, and the Lakers took advantage of the mobility of the five small lineups to speed up the conversion offense! James took the lead, munch, who just lifted the ban today, became the most trusted knife guard around James, scoring 8 points in a single quarter, and the Lakers relied on a very aggressive style of play, taking 16 free throws in a single quarter, once forcing the point difference to 3 points. At the crucial moment, Mills and Harden hit 3+1 consecutive hits to lead the Nets by four points to end the first half.
Yi Bian fought again, the Lakers won the score 8-2, and the two teams fell into a tug-of-war. However, the second half of the third quarter suddenly changed, especially during James' off-the-field break, The mini five-small lineup of Westbrook + Munch + Collison + Tucker + Anthony collapsed across the board! Mills led the second team to a 17-4 attack wave, stretching the gap to 20 points in one fell swoop.
With a huge disadvantage of 20 points into the final game, I thought the victory and defeat were decided, but put it to death and came back to life, playing a 17-0 offensive frenzy, and with 45 seconds left in the game, James assisted Munch to equalize and stop the Nets. Timeout back, Harden assisted Clarkston, the dunk James played 2+1, the point difference was widened to 3 points, Wei Shao missed the next round dunk, sent Harden to the free throw line, Harden 2 free throws, the game suspense ended.
The double star of the game shone, Mills shot 11 of 17, 8 of 13 from three-point range, bombed down 34 points, 2 rebounds, 7 assists and 1 steal, plus-minus +19 was also the first in the game, Harden had a triple-double of 36 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists on 10-of-25 shooting.
The Lakers side of The Westers only had a triple-double of 13 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists on 4 of 20 shots, Munch contributed 20 points, James scored 39 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 breaks in 25 shots, plus-minus +9 the highest in the game, surpassing Kobe Bryant to become the Christmas War scorer.
After the game, shannon sharpe angrily criticized Wei Shao: "Wei Shao threw 4 of 20, but he will be happy. Because he got the damn triple-double. Tomorrow's sunshine will still be bright. Celebrity Skip also tweeted that Westbrook was more interested in data than in winning.
5 consecutive losses + personnel shortage + the difficulty of the next most difficult schedule, the Lakers' situation is very bad!