After Davis was injured, the Lakers insisted on playing a small lineup, and even put James in the center position, which was very unstable, especially the inside line was easy to be exploded. In the game against the Timberwolves, the Lakers' interior line was broken, although the Timberwolves' Towns did not play, but the losing draft Reid performed eye-catching. Facing the Lakers' small lineup, Reed got 23 points, 11 boards and 2 assists, although the Lakers finally won, but still scolded, many fans are not satisfied with the Performance of the Lakers. You know, in this game, the Timberwolves got 56 rebounds, the Lakers only had 28 rebounds, and the Timberwolves got 20 frontcourt rebounds, and the Lakers only had 4.
In previous encounters, Towns had tried to blow up the Lakers' interior line. This time it was replaced by Reid to start, and I didn't expect to be able to still break the Lakers' interior line. Edwards didn't play well, and instead Reid got plenty of opportunities, and after blocking, Reed was often able to easily dunk on the inside. Like in the second quarter, Reed scored like this many times, and the Lakers' rebounds were not well protected, Reed and others grabbed rebounds in the front court many times, and at the end of the second quarter, Reed even played 2+1, James was also very helpless, and even had some quarrels with the assistant coach. Reed had 11 points and six boards in 7 minutes, and Vogel let Howard play for a while, and Reed didn't play so well.
It is precisely because of Reed's outburst, coupled with Westbrook's frequent mistakes, the Lakers can not pull apart the point difference. The Lakers' problems are already obvious, Vogel is still stubborn, and he still didn't let Howard play in the second half. There was no manner, continuing to score on the inside, scoring 20 points early, and the Timberwolves also tried to grab rebounds in the front court frequently, fortunately Edwards was not in good shape, otherwise the Timberwolves could have pulled the point difference. However, even if the Timberwolves can't pull the score difference, they can still surpass the Lakers. The Lakers have so fewer rebounds! Fortunately, the Timberwolves are not very efficient.
Seeing this, Vogel didn't have much to do, only to use James. James does have a way! Came up early in the final quarter to lead the team to reverse the score. And the Timberwolves are indeed a dish, Reid can't get the ball on the inside, the Lakers' offense opens, so as to finally get some lead. Edwards also grabbed the key rebounds, but the Timberwolves really couldn't, and the Lakers finally escaped and won a thrilling victory. If you change a stronger team, the Lakers will be blown up this time. The Lakers can win this time, not how strong they are, but the opponent is too good.
The number of rebounds turned out to be 56 to 28, and the difference in rebounds was too big! Vogel is really stubborn, why do you insist on abandoning Howard? Howard can play for about 20 minutes, and it's going to be much better, but he doesn't have to. The Lakers' interior line this time was blown up by the losing draft Reed, who is an unknown man with a $1.52 million contract. If you encounter a stronger interior line, the Lakers' interior line will definitely be exploded, such as Jazz's Gobert, the Suns' Ayton, the Nuggets' Jokic and others, can easily break the Lakers' inside line.
Now the Lakers have two consecutive wins, but people can't see the chance to win the championship, Vogel played like this, and he was absolutely blown up in the playoffs. Of course! Now the Lakers don't have to think about the playoffs, and in their state, it's not bad to be able to make the playoffs. In addition to Vogel's inability to employ people, Tucker and Wei Shao are also Wolong Phoenix Chicks, both of them are constantly making mistakes, and the offense is often unstable, and the Lakers now have too many problems.