I thought that with the advantages of the "Zhan Weimei" big three, coupled with the assistance of Anthony, Howard, Ellington and others, the Lakers in the new season can easily squeeze into the top four in the West even if they are no longer bad. Especially in the case of Leonard's recent season reimbursement and Thompson's failure to return in time, it is not too difficult for the Lakers to become the number one in the West.
However, after the start of the new season, the Lakers not only cannot play the dominance of the big three, but also have no style of championship teams. And also lost to the Warriors, Suns, Thunder, Timberwolves and other teams in the season, once reduced to the play-off area...
The record continues to decline: after the thick eyebrow injury retreated, the Lakers only achieved a record of 1 win and 6 losses
The combined power of the Lakers' big three in the new season is only enough for them to barely rank sixth in the West, which no one could have imagined before the start of the season. Even when the Lakers management formed the Big Three, it could not imagine that the record of having the Big Three would fall to this extent.
And to make the Lakers even worse, Thick Brow is expected to miss at least 4 weeks in the future due to a strained medial collateral ligament in his left knee in the recent game against the Timberwolves. After the thick eyebrow injury, the Lakers, led by James + Westbrook, have lost to the Timberwolves, Bulls, Suns, Spurs, Nets, and Grizzlies, only defeating the Rockets, who are in the process of rebuilding, and only achieved a record of 1 win and 6 losses.
The record of 1 win and 6 losses after the absence of thick eyebrows has also caused the Lakers to fall out of the top eight in the West at one point, and there is almost no hope of future championship competition. Because the current Lakers have less James and less Westbrook, they may not have much impact. But without the thick eyebrows that can defend and attack, the Lakers seem to be unable to keep even the playoff spot...
James scored 43 points + Westbrook's triple-double, leading the Lakers to a victory over the Trail Blazers
During the time James and Westbrook joined forces, the team achieved a bad record of only 1 win and 6 losses. So they need to use a big win to boost the confidence of the team and break the doubts of the outside world. After all, the Lakers themselves are a big three championship team, and they should not lose consecutively with a double core...
Therefore, in the recent Lakers vs Trail Blazers game, as the absolute core of the team, James opened with full fire as soon as he opened the game, trying to still have personal ability to kill the game. In this game, James shot 6 of 10 in the first quarter, bombed 15 points, 7 boards and 2 assists, and 4 of 8 shots in the second quarter, bombing 12 points and 3 boards; at the end of the half, he had already obtained a comprehensive data of 27 points, 10 boards, 2 assists and 1 break.
If this had been put before, it might have been James' full-game stats. But after the thick eyebrow injury retreated, James knew that if he was still the same as before, if he did not exert his power in advance, he might wait until the end of the quarter, and the game would already be powerless...
In the end, James bombarded the superstar data of 43 points, 14 boards and 4 assists, coupled with the assistance of Westbrook's 15 points, 13 boards and 12 assists in the three-double performance, the Lakers washed away the decadence of the past 1 win and 6 losses, and won 139-106 against the Blazers by 33 points...
Just after the Lakers beat the Blazers, in the eyes of many people: between James, who has 43 points in a single game, and the three doubles, it seems that they have found a way to maximize their personal ability; even Munch, Reeves, Anthony and others have played well, so some people think that the current Lakers team, led by James and Westbrook, has found the winning code.
But don't be too happy too soon, although James blasted 43 points + Westbrook triple-double, leading the Lakers to a 33-point win over the Blazers, does not mean that they have found the winning code. Because since the new season, the Lakers have disappointed too many times under the leadership of the big three.
So, James 43 points + Westbrook three-double led the team to win, did the Lakers really find the winning code?
Although James teamed up with Westbrook, he beat the Blazers by 33 points in the absence of thick eyebrows. However, from the lakers' ups and downs in the new season and the overall state of the recent past, in fact, the Lakers still have not found the correct winning code, mainly for the following two reasons.
1, big win over the Blazers by 33 points - the Blazers are no longer a playoff team. So far in the new season, due to the impact of injuries + new rules + playing style, Lillard can no longer play the superstar performance of "30 points + 46% shooting rate" and "28 points + 45% shooting rate" in the past two seasons.
So far in the season, there has only been a personal performance of "24.0 points + 40.2% shooting rate", and it has always been difficult to play a superstar performance. Because of this, the overall strength of the Blazers has declined greatly - currently only 13 wins and 21 losses, ranking twelfth in the West.
In the face of the Blazers whose strength has seriously declined, the Lakers, who are determined to compete for the championship in the new season, need to blast 43 points and 14 boards through James to win the game, which is very unreasonable in itself. After all, Lillard only shot 5-of-15 in this game, 18 points, 4 boards and 7 assists of the individual performance, Nurkic and McCollum are absent from the game, if it were not for the 28 points supported by bench Ben McLemore, the Blazers may have started on their knees.
2, James blasted 43 points and 14 boards, full firepower is not the norm. After the thick eyebrow injury retreated, the overall defensive intensity of the Lakers dropped sharply, and even one less firepower point averaged 20+ per game. This has caused a big decline in the overall strength of the Lakers, but James is eager to help the team stabilize the ranking of the record, so he entered the "full strength" mode in advance.
In the first six games against the Trail Blazers, James averaged 34.8 points, 10.5 boards, 6.5 assists per game, and a personal performance of 57.4% shooting; but in his full-strength mode, it only brought a victory for the Lakers.
This also forced James to continue to exert force, because once he stopped, the Lakers were likely not to even win a victory. This is the performance of the 37-year-old James against the Blazers in a single game with 43 points and 14 boards. Judging from James's personal status and performance today, he does have "super giant" strength.
But the 37-year-old James, due to the influence of age + physical strength, he simply cannot continue to use the "full strength" model to carry a team as he did in 18 years. That is to say, although James can currently bomb around 30+10+7 performance, this is always not his norm, and he will one day be overwhelmed and decline or injured.
Maybe the Lakers, relying on James' outburst in the short term, can indeed get back to the top six in the West. In the long run, once the follow-up James's physical strength and state decline, and the thick eyebrows cannot return in time, the Lakers may fall directly out of the playoff area.
In summary, because "the Blazers' limited strength and full-strength Zhan mode is not the norm", even if James blasted 43 points + Westbrook to get a triple-double, it does not mean that they have found the right way to win. Perhaps only when James is no longer full of firepower, Wei Shao can get about 25 + 7 + 8 data, the team's overall defense is no longer disorganized, and the Lakers can easily win, that means that they have found the right winning code...