NBA regular season ushered in a focus war, the Lakers home to meet the Utah Jazz, before this battle the Lakers suffered 3 consecutive losses, fell to the ninth place in the West, and the Jazz is high in the West third, outstanding performance, if according to the state of the past few games, the Lakers' prospects are worrying, but after the last tragic loss to the Nuggets, the Lakers will have a completely different mental outlook, the performance after the opening of this game is refreshing, the defensive end is very tenacious, and the offensive end is Jianway's double giants at the same time. The two led the team to a 52-46 lead in the first half. Wei Shao also staged a shocking gap gobert in the second quarter to send the Lakers into a frenzy.
In this game, Vogel adjusted the lineup again, Westbrook, Bradley, Ariza, James and Howard joined forces to start, and the veteran Ariza returned to the starting lineup, the intention is obvious, is to further improve the team's defense, after all, compared to Munch, Ariza, although the attack is not as good as the opponent, but the defense is one notch higher than him. Ariza and Bradley formed the Lakers' outer line blockade wall, and Howard sat on the inside line to form the last copper wall.
The Lakers performed well defensively in the first half, giving the Jazz 46 points. In the first quarter of the game, although the Lakers' own offense was not fully opened, but the defensive end also bit the Jazz well, and after the quarter, the Lakers fell behind by 1 point 24-25. In the second quarter, the Lakers continued their excellent defensive performance, limiting the Jazz's scoring to only 21 points in a single quarter, and playing a 28-21 offensive wave throughout the second quarter, and at one point widened the point difference to 11 points. It is worth mentioning that so far this season, the Jazz have averaged 115.3 points per game and ranked first in the league, and the offensive efficiency of 116.5 is also ranked first in the league, but the Halftime is limited by the Lakers to only 46 points, which is enough to reflect how well the Lakers' defense in the first half is.
The reason why the Lakers were able to take the lead in the half-time sweep was first of all the overall defensive improvement, which well limited the opponent's offense, and secondly, James and Wei Shao both made threats at the same time, and led their teammates to blossom more, playing a rare team cooperation in the past few games.
James shot 4-of-7 in the half, 2-of-3 from three-point range, 0-of-3 from the free throw line, contributed 10 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block, and the offense wasn't as hot as before, but he played more easily and didn't have to carry the offense entirely on himself. After the slump of the past few games, Westbrook also recovered from the game, shooting 4 of 8 in the half, 1 of 2 from three points, 1 of 1 from the free throw line, and finally contributed 10 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, and also staged a violent dunk in the second quarter, almost booking the top ten goals of the year.
With more than 2 minutes left in the second quarter, Wei Shao used James' cover to break through the left side, he held the ball straight to the basket, facing the penalty area where FMVP Gobert sat, he directly faced Gobert and completed a powerful one-handed violent dunk, and the Lakers' home field instantly fell into madness. After completing this interval, Major Wei completely released his previously suppressed emotions, but because he was too excited, he was directly blown by the referee for a technical foul. But obviously, such a partition, such a celebration, is very necessary for Westbrook, and he needs some of these passionate pictures to motivate himself and motivate his teammates.
After half-time, the Lakers took the lead, allowing the outside world to see the tough side of the team on the defensive end, because in the past few games, the Lakers' defense was simply a mess and full of holes. But throughout the first half, the Lakers were reborn, as if they had changed a team, especially against the Jazz, who were the first in the offensive league, which was more convincing. Of course, if they want to ensure that they win the game, the Lakers also need to maintain the same intensity in the second half, continue to stabilize the defense, and improve on the offensive end to avoid being overturned by a strong opponent. Otherwise, they would be in a very dangerous situation in the second half.