Beijing time on January 20, today's NBA regular season, the Lakers at home to face the poor record of the Pacers, in the first half of the Lakers' maximum lead once reached 15 points, but in the last quarter of the sudden change, in the case of wild rebounding Vogel still insisted on using a small lineup, Le Vere scored 22 points in the last quarter, leading the team to play 35:24 to take away the game, and finally reversed the Lakers 111-104.
After the victory over the Lakers, the Pacers ended a four-game losing streak, and the last time they won on the road was back on November 23, 2021, almost two months ago! The Lakers' record came to 22 wins and 23 losses, ranking eighth in the West, and the winning percentage fell below 50% again.
In the last 3 minutes and 52 seconds of the game, Westbrook was pressed on the cold bench by Vogel, causing a lot of controversy! After all, The state of Westbrook in this game is still very good, playing 27 minutes in the whole game, shooting 5 of 17, with 14 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds, including 4 of 6 three-pointers.
Vogel gave the reason for this after the game, "I want to play some players that I think can win the game. But the opponent suddenly parted three in the fourth quarter, we didn't defend, we really had a problem, I'll go back and see where the problem is. "The defeat was very frustrating, but it's been a long season and we believe in the team. We have to coach better and the players have to play better. ”
In response to a reporter's question about Westbrook's failure to play in the tiebreaker stage, James said: "Have you been staring at his whole career? In addition, according to the reporter Mark Medina's report, Westbrook did not accept an interview after the game and left the stadium directly, which is also the first time that Westbrook refused to be interviewed this season, it can be seen that the last quarter was buried by snow, and Westbrook was very angry!
At present, the Lakers are evaluating Vogel game by game, and the last Time the Lakers were able to beat the Jazz, but only delayed Vogel's class time. After losing to the Pacers today, I am afraid that Vogel will be less fierce again, and according to this situation, at most before The All-Star Weekend, Vogel will definitely leave the Lakers' coaching bench.
The Lakers are also trying to trade Westbrook, but no team wants him. Westbrook has two seasons left on his contract with the Lakers: $44.21 million this season and $47.06 million next season, and he also has player options. It can be said that the current contradictions of the Lakers are far more complicated than imagined!