Free throws are on target, the Kings avoid losing streaks; Reed storms the Lakers interior, James beats the Timberwolves; a genius showdown, and the rising generations make history.
Butler returned to heaven and lost the King
The game against the Kings was the heat's second game in a seven-game game. Judging by the strength of the players they have, the Heat clearly have the absolute upper hand. However, injuries and the pandemic have had a huge impact on the East Coast team. The entire team is currently in a state of complete dependence on Hiro, Lowry and Butler.
9,21 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists on 22-of-22, plus-minus -12..... These figures don't fully reflect Butler's value to this team. The Heat relied on Butler to develop offense for a large part of the game. Hiro is very good, he scored more than Butler in this game, but Hiro's offensive composition is mainly concentrated in the middle and long distance, and the opponent's lethality is indeed limited.
The tacit cooperation between Butler and Lowry has the feeling of two "agreeable" forward guards in Chicago. Even with the newly signed center, Butler can play a huge role in blocking him. When Butler is going to single, almost all of the Kings players' attention will be on him, and as soon as he breaks through, there will be a huge gap in the Kings' defense line, and opportunities will appear on the three-point line.
The Biggest advantage of the Heat is that they have a master of offensive development at Butler's level. The Kings' biggest advantage is that they have enough interior players. Damian Jones, Ryan, these are the centers who have come to the edge of the NBA to make a living. In the game against the Heat, they were all rejuvenated, not only with the Kings' three major outside players making cakes, but also their height advantage, but also giving them the capital to score independently on the inside. In the whole game, the highest plus-minus between the two teams was Ryan, who played 17 minutes, and the time he played, the team won by as many as 12 points.
Both sides have their own advantages, neither can completely kill the other, and in the end, the game is in a scorching situation. Jimmy Butler failed to make a final hit to help the team equalize, and the Heat lost 113-115.
New Year's Greetings! Lake Manke Timberwolves won two straight
The last game of 2021 and the first game of 2022, the Los Angeles Lakers have not disappointed the fans, they have more players coming back from injuries, the small-ball lineup is playing more and more comfortable, this team is really starting from the bottom and slowly climbing up.
Opposite Anthony Downs has not been unbanned from the health and safety agreement, which greatly reduces the difficulty of the game for the Lakers, the Los Angeles giants in order to make the attack and defense as balanced as possible, forced to choose a small lineup, this lineup has almost no ability to fight against the super big center, replacing Downs' starting mediocre generation - Naz Reed, almost broke the Lakers' inner line, if Towns can play, then how should the Lakers top it?
Natz Reed, who averaged 8.8 points per game, made 16 shots on the Lakers' interior and had 23 points and 11 rebounds, including 5 rebounds in the frontcourt, making him the best player to grab the front board in the whole game. In fact, not only him, the entire Timberwolves are very good at grabbing, their athleticism, and sense of competition are far stronger than the opposite, the whole team 20 frontcourt rebounds, almost five times the opposite.
The Lakers can only try their best to play to their strengths, they let the three-point outstanding players play more with James, creating good offensive opportunities. Maintain your defensive discipline and don't give the opposite side a chance to shoot in the open position. Although they are no longer a team that relies on defense as a team, in such a downturn, it is still defense that makes them less gloomy. In the end, the Lakers narrowly defeated the Timberwolves 108-103 to win back-to-backs.
Doncic is finally back, and Gidy makes history
The health and safety agreement gave Doncic some respite, and at the beginning of the season, his performance was very bad, and Fafu's posture became a hot spot for fans around the world to ridicule, and even the local newspaper in Dallas could not read it, and wrote an article to let him seize the time of new crown isolation to lose weight.
The little black fat man in Brooklyn was recuperated from a few days in isolation, and when he came back, the whole person showed a completely different competitive state, and Doncic seemed to be the same, in the whole game, he made a total of 14 shots, hit 6 of them, and got a quasi-triple-double with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists.
For most of the game, both sides were in a scorched position, and neither side had the ability to punch the other to death. At the end of the game, none of the players on both sides scored more than 20 points, which is indeed very rare in today's NBA.
This year's no. 6 show , Josh Gidey is a player that the Thunder really want to develop, and in this game, he is one of the most important players for the Thunder, and it is he who scores again and again to help the Thunder and the other side bite the score. What's more, Gidey's triple-double of 17 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists helped him overtake the little fat guy opposite and become the youngest player in history to have a triple-double. The NBA always has talent, and Gidy's record may be broken in the near future, but the significance of such a record itself is huge for Gidy himself, thunder management and Thunder fans.