NBA regular season ushered in a focus war, the Lakers away to challenge Philadelphia, before this game, James because of knee pain absent from the game, thick eyebrows Wei less double giants against Embiid, the two sides after 4 quarters of hard fighting, in the end, the Lakers on the road to 87-105 tragic defeat to the opponent, no chance of 2 consecutive wins, ranking continue to rank ninth in the West. In this game, the thick eyebrows with injuries showed a fiery state to bring surprises to the team, and Westbrook lost himself in the absence of James.
The Lakers started the game as Westbrook, Bradley, Munch, Stanley Johnson and Thick Eyebrows, Vogel still used a big four-small lineup, Thick Eyebrows played center, and the No. 4 position did not let Anthony in the same position top, Vogel sent a shooter Munch, trying to improve the outside projection and speed up the counterattack. Philadelphia's starters were Maxi, Sebel, Kokmaz, Harris and Embiid, while the main goalscorer Cescuri continued to be absent due to injury!
The course of the game
After the opening, Philadelphia showed a better offensive and defensive strength, leading the Lakers in double digits 32-22 under Embiid's leadership. Almost half of the Lakers' scores came from Thick Brow, others helped little, and at the end of the first quarter, Thick Brow returned to the locker room with an injury, but after checking the treatment and finding that there was not much of a problem, he returned to the bench and wrapped a large ice pack around his right wrist. After a short break, thick eyebrows returned to form still excellent, cutting 13 points and 3 rebounds in a single quarter, leading the Lakers to chase points, and at the end of the half, the Lakers chased the score to 48-54!
Philadelphia blossomed more under Embiid's strategy, and the team's overall offense was outstanding, and Philadelphia played a 34-20 offensive wave in the quarter, rewriting the score to an 88-48 lead of 20 points. In the final quarter of the game, thick eyebrows once helped the Lakers chase the score to 78-90, but then Philadelphia stabilized the situation, using a solid defensive counterattack to open the score again, refusing to give the Lakers the opportunity to turn the game.
The comparison of data exposes the gap between the two teams
In terms of rebounding protection, the two teams are on a par, the Lakers are 42-41, and the frontcourt rebounds are the Lakers with a 9-3 advantage. The inside scorers were tied 48-48 on both sides, and both teams with top interior players played their own characteristics. The number of turnovers Lakers 17-14, only 3 more mistakes are completely acceptable, and the reason why the Lakers lost so many points, even said to be a complete defeat, is that their assists and 3-point shots are completely at a disadvantage.
The Lakers only sent 19 assists this game, while Philadelphia has 30 assists, from the number of assists can reflect that the Lakers' overall offensive cooperation is far less smooth than Philadelphia, and this is also the problem that the Lakers have been facing this season, that is, the overall cooperation of the team has not found tacit understanding, especially James's absence, less of a top passer, but also let the Lakers' offensive combing encounter difficulties.
In terms of 3-point shooting, the Lakers only have a pitiful 29 shots 6, 3 points outside the line only scored 18 points, and Philadelphia in the absence of Sesculi and Milton, 3 points are still 35 of 13, through the 3-point line to get 39 points, the outside line of the offense completely crushed the Lakers, and this outside score difference of 21 points, obviously the Lakers are difficult to use the inside advantage to make up, after all, the Lakers' inner line facing Philadelphia, there is no advantage at all.
The team's offense is not smooth enough, and the 3-point shooting is unstable, which is where the gap between the Lakers and Philadelphia lies, and of course, it is also a problem that the Lakers need to solve if they want to get back on track this season.
Thick eyebrows into a loss comfort
James is absent, the burden of this game is on the thick eyebrows and Wei Shao, and this is the second game after the comeback of the thick eyebrows, no one dares to expect him to play a super performance to lead the team to win, only hope that he can play healthy and stable, step by step, but the thick eyebrows finally played a surprising performance, becoming the biggest comfort for the Lakers to lose.
Facing Embiid, thick eyebrows are in excellent shape, contributing 10 points in the first quarter, almost occupying half of the team, but the wrist injury at the end of the quarter also scared the Lakers out of a cold sweat, fortunately only a false alarm, and finally he shot 14 of 21, 1 of 3 three-pointers, 3 of 3 free throws, bombed down 31 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assists, 2 steals and 4 blocks of the offensive and defensive dominance performance, facing Embiid, thick eyebrows once again proved their healthy self, still one of the top big men in the league.
Thick eyebrows play such a good state, and is facing the hottest big man Embiid, the data of this game is absolutely full of gold, but also proved how good the healthy thick eyebrows are, as long as he can continue to stay healthy, wait until James returns from injury, I believe that the Lakers will soon be able to get rid of the fate of hovering on the edge of the playoffs.
Wei Shao has changed passers-by?
A large part of the Lakers' current problems are here in Westbrook, because he can't reflect the value of super-giant, and the compatibility with James' style of play is also a big question. Judging from his recent performance, Wei Shao seems to be making greater changes, making greater sacrifices in personal performance in order to adapt to the Lakers' system. But in this game James's absence, the outside world is looking forward to Wei Shao to be able to do himself again, after all, the ball will be mostly in his hands, but unfortunately, Wei Shao not only failed to find himself in the end, but also almost became a passerby.
Offensive end, Wei Shao's presence in the first three quarters is very low, 11 shots hit 5 goals, scored 12 points, when the team needs him to stand up and share the pressure of thick eyebrows, he played no different from an ordinary player, more embarrassingly, he once again appeared in the game to throw the ball to the upper edge of the rebound "famous scene", until the fourth quarter The difference between the two teams has been very large, Wei Shao only suddenly shot down 9 points, and raised the score of the game to 21 points. In the end, Westbrook's stats were 21 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, and there were also 6 turnovers, occupying one-third of the team!
Of course, scoring is not the key, in the absence of James, Westbrook became the team's number one ball carrier should be a good way to lead his teammates in organization and passing, but unfortunately, he only gave 3 assists in the end, completely did not play a role in this regard, and assumed his due responsibility.
With a healthy James and thick eyebrows, the Lakers have the strength of the Western Playoffs, but if they want to go further in the playoffs, if there is no major trading change before the trade deadline, then whether Wei Shao can play a tacit understanding with Zhan Mei and play the role of a giant will also determine the Lakers' prospects for the championship.