Nearly four months have passed since the NBA's 2021-22 regular season began in mid-October last year, and many teams have played about 40 games, which also means that the schedule is more than halfway through. As of January 11, Beijing time, the Los Angeles Lakers have played a total of 41 games, exactly half of the schedule. However, the Lakers' current record is only 21 wins and 20 losses, and the winning rate is just over 50%, which is completely unacceptable for the Lakers who were full of ambition at the beginning of the season.
The reason why the Lakers have a poor record, on the one hand, is because the team got Wei Shao through a heavy trade in the offseason, and formed a 360 combination with James and Thick Brow, but the arrival of Wei Shao, because the problem of ball style did not integrate well into the team, the Lakers failed to achieve a good chemical reaction. Coupled with the successive injuries of Ariza and Little Tucker at the beginning of the season, the Lakers struggled, and in mid-December, the thick eyebrow brother was plagued by injuries, making the Lakers even worse. In the absence of the thick eyebrow brother, James stepped forward and scored a high score of 30+ in many consecutive games. Under the leadership of James, the Lakers' record has not declined, and they can basically maintain the top eight in the West.
Currently, the Lakers are seventh in the West with a 21-20 record, but they are not many wins ahead of the teams behind them. The Timberwolves trailed the Lakers by 0.5 away games and ranked eighth in the West with a 20-20 record, while the Clippers were ninth in the West with 20 wins and 21 losses, only one win behind the Lakers. This means that the Lakers will be caught up by the Timberwolves and Clippers if they are not careful, squeezing out the top eight in the West. However, Thick Brow Brother can now do shooting training, so Thick Brow Brother is likely to return to the Lakers in the near future, and the team will update his injury report on Thursday. If the thick eyebrow brother can make an early comeback, it is undoubtedly a major positive for the current Lakers team.
Although the return of the thick eyebrow brother soon made the fans happy, it was not long before the American media poured a basin of cold water on the fans. Recently, the US media listed the difficulty table of the next schedule of the 30 teams in the NBA, and the Lakers' next schedule is the third most difficult in the league, second only to the Bucks and Knicks. A large part of the reason why the Lakers were able to maintain a winning percentage of more than 50% in the first half was because the opponents they had encountered before were not very strong. It is reported that the Lakers' opponents in the second half will be more powerful, with an average win rate of 52.1%. In the next schedule, the Lakers will have two games against the Suns, three Games for the Warriors and Jazz, and one game each with the Nets, Heat and Bucks. According to the current state of the Lakers, if they encounter these strong enemies, they will lose more and win less.
Another point is that after entering the second half, each team will sprint for the playoffs, and the intensity of the game will be stronger than the first half. As the oldest team in the league, the Lakers have many core players over the age of 35 and are likely to suffer from injuries in the second half. Therefore, there is a really good chance that the Lakers will fall out of the top eight in the West at the end of the season.