Lakers 99-104 Grizzlies!
On the eve of his 37th birthday, James' hand felt almost terrible, shooting 13 of 25 from the field, 8 of 14 from three-point range — six of the first eight, and 37 points, 13 rebounds and 7 assists.
It's a shame that the Lakers still lost to the top four Grizzlies in the West by five points.
After the thick eyebrow injury, the Lakers won 1 win and 5 losses, and the only win was that James stood in the starting fifth position yesterday and struggled to win against the Bottom Rockets.
In these 6 games, there are three bright lines and one dark line hidden by the Lakers.
The first bright line: The Lakers are not easy to play against teams that have long people who support the team's defensive system. They lost the Bulls by 5 points, the Nets by 7 points, the Grizzlies by 5 points, and the Suns and spurs were both fiasco, with the Suns having Ayton and the Spurs having Boltel. The situation of playing grizzlies today is more special, as said later.
The second bright line: James has played 6 consecutive games 30+. It is an indisputable fact that James is getting older, but he is after all the former king of the alliance, and the corpses under the throne are all over the field and full of white bones. Before the sun completely set, the king Yu Wei was still there, and he was still doing his best to carry the team on his shoulders.
The third bright line: The Lakers are increasingly using small lineups to push James into the fifth position he once fiercely resisted. Averaging 37.6 minutes in nearly six games and about two-thirds of the time in each game, James' efficiency has not dropped but has risen.
The hidden line behind the three bright lines is that James and Wei Shao slowly found a way to adapt to each other in the small lineup, with Wei Shao playing the ball holding organization, and James was responsible for the end of the ball. When Westbrook came off the court, James regained the ball.
Everyone watched these games carefully, and this trend is becoming more and more obvious. Obviously, the Lakers accepted a fact that had long been in front of them but was unwilling to admit it before, James and Wei Shao should be compatible, and they could only let Wei Shao be themselves, and James would change.
The Lakers' ability to lead in the first three and a half quarters of today's game is also inseparable from this.
After the first three quarters, James scored 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting, while only one or two of the 6-of-8 three-pointers were dribbled and rhythmually shot by themselves, and most of the rest were assisted three-pointers.
Wei Shao's stats are even more obvious, and in the absence of free throws, Wei Shao suppressed his shots to 10 times, about three times per quarter. But 12 assists are only 4 turnovers, and the 3:1 assist is better than that of Westbrook, even in the league is the level of top guards.
After all, Zhan Wei is not Zhan Wei, which is already the optimal solution under the combination of the two. Even Wei Shao scored two three-pointers, and Wei Shao played nothing wrong in the first three quarters.
But the Lakers can lead the Grizzlies, and it's not just one reason, at least two important factors.
The first was Howard's starter, giving the Lakers a big man who could protect the basket.
The reason why the Lakers dare to play the Rockets is because the Rockets' center, one of the outside projections, the other can play the inside line of the young, but also can not get the ball.
The Grizzlies are completely different, with the inside double-captain Adams and Jackson Jr. being able to grab it, and Morant having what could be the strongest impact of the younger generation of guards.
If the Lakers dare to put five small in front of the Grizzlies, it is tantamount to looking for death, so Howard came up and first limited Morant's impact.
Howard won 17 points on the floor today, and morant had a hard time rushing to the basket to score when he was on the floor, so he was forced to shoot some outside lines. Of course, later Morant's three-point feeling was raised, and that was another story.
The second important factor is that the Lakers are very accurate in the outside line today, and the Lakers shot a 40% shooting rate after the first three quarters, which is obviously not the real level of the Lakers.
Why are the Lakers afraid of the long man who can support the inside defense?
Because their outside line is not accurate, they can't mobilize the opposing long man, and the opposing center has been guarding under the basket, and at the same time the whole team has shrunk, they can't attack. If the offense can't be scored, it will be countered by the opponent, and a wave will flow out, and the game will often be spent.
But the Lakers today's three points are very accurate, the Grizzlies can score three points as soon as the Lakers can score, the Grizzlies can not fully shrink the restricted area, and the space for expansion of defense and demolition and breakthrough will come out.
And the Lakers are accurate at the same time just in time to catch up with the Grizzlies are not accurate, you think, need to rely on Morant to support the Grizzlies' outside three points, they have to throw what, so it gives the Lakers a lot of opportunities to fight back.
So to speak, it's still a question of whether you can shoot three points.
By the fourth quarter, the Lakers' three-pointers had clearly begun to fall, and the Grizzlies, with the exception of Morant, began to score three-pointers, and the momentum was quickly reversed.
Everyone watched the end of the third quarter to the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Lakers had a scoring drought of nearly 5 minutes, the root of which was that the Grizzlies did not believe that the Lakers could always be accurate, gritted their teeth and contracted to protect the inside line, and the Lakers really could not throw in.
In turn, their small lineup could not resist the impact of the Grizzlies, and could only watch the advantages being slowly eroded.
Who ultimately broke the Lakers' scoring drought?
It was Wei Shao, the Grizzlies did not score an attack, and Wei Shao hit the counterattack with the ball, so that the Lakers did not completely fall into a thousand miles.
But then the Lakers made a fatal mistake, and Westbrook couldn't get the ball on the court.
In the final 8 minutes of the fourth quarter, the Lakers' ball carrier has been James, and Westbrook is playing without the ball.
What's the use of Westbrook playing no-ball except being let go by the Grizzlies... Why did the Lakers make a mistake in the last attack?
They wanted to play a James and Munch block, attracted by James to create an open three-point opportunity for Munch. After the two blocked, James did attract two people, but Morant, who was originally less defensive in the bottom corner, came to make up for Munch.
Westbrook was in a completely empty state, but Munch didn't pass the ball to him, but returned it to James at the top of the arc. It cannot be said whether this choice is right or wrong, but it is clear that there is no trust in Wei Shao.
James didn't have much time after receiving the ball, he should have wanted to break through the emergency stop to pick up a retreat step, but his foot slipped, and after regaining control of the ball, because there was not much time, he wanted to get up and pull one directly.
But I remembered that it was three points behind, and it was not enough to pull in two points, and I wanted to find someone again, and finally jumped up to pass the ball.
The core problem here is that the Lakers want to put Wei Shao on the court, but they don't trust him, neither give the ball, empty seats nor passes, so what is the point of putting him on the court?
Was it to get Morant to go back and hit him on the defensive end? You can pay attention to how many of Morant's final scores are forced out of Wei Shao with cover to change defenses, and then one-on-one to burst him.
Wei Shao worked very hard to defend, but he was 33, Morant was only 22, and he just couldn't keep up.
So the Lakers only have two paths, either just don't let Westbrook go, give James the best four projections, you want him to get on, you have to give him the ball.
Of course, Westbrook will have some comedian moments, such as the last flat basket dunk of the Nets, or the last counterattack today and the layup also slipped out.
But since you chose to trust him in the first three sections, people have not betrayed your trust, and in the end, you let people work as wooden stakes on the field, and the effect will not be good.
In the end, the Lakers seemed to be very screwed, both wanting to win the game and pretending to put Wei Shao on the court to show their "trust" position, and finally it was two empty.
The game was iconic, with 37 points + eight three-pointers on the eve of James' 37th birthday, and it would have been a perfect night to win.
But there was a guy on the other side who disagreed, Morant 41 points, 10 assists + 6 three-pointers, and the home court took the victory.
The old lion king may still be there, the years are far from completely devouring him, but the young people have rushed to the edge of the throne.
A generation will eventually grow old, but there will always be a new generation for the old.
There are talented people in the jiangshan generation, each leading the way for hundreds of years.
Thanks for reading it all!