On January 13, Beijing time, the Lakers were reversed by the Kings after leading by 14 points at one point, and finally lost to the opponent 116-125, and the record slipped to eighth in the West. On the night when LeBron James got 34+7+6, Russell Westbrook became the target of the public with only 8 points from 14.3% shooting in 37 minutes of playing time; however, the Lakers could not only blame Wei Shao for playing iron, and the Lakers scored 28 points less in this game than their opponents, which has been the norm for the Lakers this season.
In this game, James played 38 minutes, and had good personal data, making 29 shots hit 13, hit 3 three-pointers, got 10 free throw opportunities, got 34 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 block, was the only player in the game to score 30+, including james played the whole quarter in the fourth quarter of the game with 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists from 55.6% shooting. Unfortunately, in the end, it did not change the fate of the Lakers being reversed by the Kings with a 14-point lead.
The Lakers were tragically reversed, and many people blamed Wei Shao's crazy iron. Admittedly, Wei Shao's offensive efficiency in this game is indeed not high, he only scored 8 points after playing 37 minutes, and what is even more disappointing is that Wei Shao only hit 2 of his 14 shots, including 5 shots outside the three-point line. On the night that Munch and Rivers teamed up to score 41 points, Wei Shao's poor offensive performance was indeed unsatisfactory.
However, we can't ignore that Wei Shao grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds in this game, including 3 frontcourt rebounds, was the only player in the game to rebound in doubles, and the only Lakers player with more than 7 rebounds, and Wei Shao only made 1 mistake while giving 6 assists. In addition to the poor offensive feel, Wei Shao's performance in other aspects of this game is good. What's more, most of Wei Shao's shots are not the way and position he is good at, how can you have a high offensive efficiency for a player like Wei Shao who needs a lot of ball holding breakthroughs to play without the ball?
James as the Lakers' starting center in this game crazy shot 29 times and only 44.8% shooting rate, if the Lakers can give Wei less opportunities to hold the ball, his offensive efficiency will not be so dismal, not to mention that the Lakers' tragic reversal in this game is more out of the defensive end. It is difficult to win in an NBA game to make opponents shoot 55.1% of the shot, not to mention that the Lakers also let the Kings score 70 points in the restricted area and their own penalty area scored only 42 points, the Lakers lost 28 points in the scoring of the penalty area, and it is not surprising that the team is not good at three-point shooting.
So far this season, the Lakers have averaged 49.7 points per game in the penalty area, the second highest of the 30 teams in the league, the second worst in nearly 25 years of team history since the 1996-97 season, and compared with the worst record in team history, the 2018-19 season, they averaged 55.6 points per game in the restricted area compared with the Lakers' average of 48.0 points per game in the restricted area this season. The inside line was originally the Lakers' advantage, with Howard, Jordan Jr., Davis three All-Star interior linemen, as well as masters like James, but the Lakers' interior line this season has become a disadvantage, no wonder the record is not good.