【Highlights】Pacers 111-104 Lakers
"Riding a roller coaster to open a blind box", this is the real feeling that the Lakers have brought to fans this season. Watching the Lakers game, you never know whether what you see is a surprise or a shock, and you never know what kind of moths will be reversed after the Lakers take the lead.
On January 20, Beijing time, the Lakers lost 104-111 at home to the Pacers who were preparing to rebuild. In this game, the Lakers interpreted the "roller coaster to open the blind box" to the extreme. They were morale boosting their last game against the Jazz, and the defense looked like it was improving, but today they were blown up by the Pacers. The Lakers built up a 15-point advantage, but were reversed by the Pacers, losing 35 points in the fourth quarter and Le Vere alone scored 22 points.
Vogel was already consciously controlling Russell Westbrook's playing time in this way to reduce his "toxicity," but in the end, the Lakers found that the problem they faced was pressing the gourd to float up the scoop. Is it useful to fire Vogel? It doesn't make much sense. For the Lakers, trading is an inevitable choice.
Reducing Westbrook's playing time, new problems arise
When the Lakers lose, the focus of public opinion will always be on Russell Westbrook. It's no wonder that, as a player with a high salary of $40 million, Westbrook has performed dismal this season. In today's game with the Pacers, Westbrook handed over only 14 points and 3 assists on 5-of-17 shooting, a dismal performance of -18 points on the field.
Wei Shao is certainly one of the core problems facing the Lakers. After all, the Lakers dismantled the defensive system that Vogel had painstakingly built for two years. After all, the Lakers have introduced so many strong and weak shooters because of his arrival, and frantically play small ball tactics.
Many of the problems the Lakers face are rooted in Wei Shao. If the Lakers want to solve the problem, they must also start with Wei Shao. The problem is that the Lakers have been unable to transform Wei Shao, the sacrifices they can make have all been done, but Wei Shao's performance has not improved, today Wei Shao's three-point line within 11 shots 1, a free throw did not arrive. Don't say that Vogel has the courage to abandon Wei Shao and let him play as a substitute, even if Vogel has this courage, the Lakers management will agree?
So Vogel can only choose a compromise. Playing the Jazz, Vogel only gave Westbrook 28 minutes to play, and did not let Westbrook play until the last 3 minutes of the fourth quarter. Today Vogel only let Wei Shao play for 27 minutes, and in the fourth quarter, he replaced Wei Shao in the decisive moment. If you have an impression, you should remember that on October 30, 2021, when the Lakers reversed and defeated the Cavaliers, Vogel also replaced Wei Shao at a critical moment, and finally basically locked in the victory before sending Wei Shao.
However, this compromise solution is only occasionally useful, and the Lakers, who are eager to solve the problem, find that even if Wei Shao's time is shortened, 25+ minutes can still produce extremely toxicity, and the problem facing the Lakers is to press the gourd to float up.
When the Lakers reduce Westbrook's playing time, they have to add more shooters on the court, and Cameron Anthony, who has returned from injury, must play more time. But Anthony's playing time has increased, which means that the better defensive Stanley Johnson playing time has been cut. In addition, the offensive and inefficient defense did not meet expectations, Ariza occupied more than 15 minutes of playing time, which also affected Johnson's contribution to the court.
Due to the Lakers' lack of role players who are both offensive and defensive, the Lakers can only choose between offense and defense. Playing the Pacers today, the Lakers chose more offense, and the result was that the fourth quarter was broken.
Old Zhan chicken soup fails, what the Lakers do?
After the Lakers' crushing defeat to the Nuggets, celebrity magician Johnson tweeted about his old club, forcing James to publicly apologize to Lakers fans. James boiled a pot of chicken soup, and the Lakers then really increased the intensity of the game in the game against the Jazz, and also got a valuable victory. However, willpower can indeed affect the outcome of a game, but competitive sports ultimately compete with hard power. Relying only on James to boil chicken soup, the Lakers are obviously not far away.
How exactly should the Lakers solve the problem at hand? Vogel can only make a fuss from the lineup adjustment. Vogel is a defensive coach, and to solve the problem, the Lakers have to find a way from the defense. The Lakers can win the championship in 2020 by relying on the league's top defense. Before Anthony Davis returns, Vogel needs to adjust the rotation a bit.
Today, Ariza doesn't have the ability to start, especially when his three-pointer feels cold. In January, Ariza played eight games, with only four three-pointers on the line, shooting just 31.6 percent from three-point range. As a so-called space-type number four, Ariza's three-point dud, and the defense is long gone, Vogel can completely replace Ariza with Johnson, especially considering that Johnson's previous starters were very effective.
Among the Lakers' group of role players, Austin Reeves and Johnson are players who can be used more. In addition, since Vogel has decided to reduce Westbrook's playing time, when Westbrook is not present, Vogel can completely increase Howard's playing time, better protect the basket, and recover rebounds.
Previously, Vogel's reluctance to give Howard more than 20 minutes of playing time is understandable, after all, the Lakers have to serve Westbrook and help him make room. Can see the rotation of the Lakers in the past two games, the first quarter and the last 5 minutes of the third quarter, the Lakers will often remove Wei Shao, the second and fourth quarters of the first half, the Lakers will rarely let Wei Shao lead alone. At these times, Vogel can let Howard play, put James, Reeves and Johnson who can defend on the court, and first base themselves on defense.
Of course, the premise of all this adjustment is that Vogel will not leave class after today.
Fire up Vogel? Trading is the inevitable choice of the Lakers
"I'm just sending players to the field who I think can help us win," Vogel said after the game when he mentioned why he abandoned Westbrook at key moments, a phrase that indirectly pointed the finger at Lakers management.
In the past two seasons, Vogel's careful development has turned role players such as Kuzma, Pop and Caruso into "players who can help the Lakers win", but now they have left the team. The Lakers are now a group of players, either attacking strong and defending weakly, or defending strong and attacking weakly, Nunn has not completed his debut so far, Davis is still in a state of recuperation for a long time, and Vogel is also a clever woman who is difficult to cook without rice.
For the Lakers, firing Vogel will not solve the problem, because whoever takes over the Lakers will face a series of problems that Vogel has faced before. This mess is basically in a state of no solution without personnel changes.
The Lakers eventually had to start with personnel adjustments, the problem is that the value of the Weishao transaction is zero, and the Lakers management has no chips to send Wei Shao away. In the Lakers' current lineup, only Tucker Jr. and Nunn have some transaction value, and can be matched with a salary to help the Lakers introduce a reliable starter with an annual salary of about $15 million. But with this chip, not to mention Ben Simmons, Miles Turner, Harrison Barnes can not be exchanged, even Covington's regressive 3D player may not be able to exchange. Moreover, the Lakers can only complete a transaction with this chip, but the Lakers' problem is not a transaction or a player joining can solve it.
The Lakers are in front of a fog, and they don't know how to break through the fog, and whether the back of the fog is a smooth road or an abyss. To know the answer, the Lakers have to take the first step. Probably, the Lakers' first deal of the season is coming soon.