The Lakers, who are in very poor form and record this season, are currently in trouble again, and after the comeback of Davis, James has missed two games due to a painful left knee injury, and the Lakers have also suffered two consecutive losses in these two games. In this game against the Hawks, James will continue to miss the game, and this campaign will be led by the two giants Davis and Westbrook.
At present, the Record of the Lakers and The Hawks is very close, and in the first quarter of this game, the two teams also played very stiffly, the Eagles led the opponent by one point at the end of the quarter, and with the outbreak of the two giants davis and Westbrook in the second quarter, the Lakers led the opponent 71:62 at the end of the half. In the second half, the Lakers still played steadily in the third quarter, entering the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead. In the final quarter, the Eagles suddenly broke out, playing a wave of 21:9 offensive climax, while the Lakers fell into a slump. With Trae Young's key three-point shot, the Hawks finally completed the reversal, winning 129-121 against the Lakers.
Although the Lakers entered the state earlier and established the lead earlier, they encountered a reversal from their opponents and regrettably lost the game, resulting in three consecutive defeats. In the first half of this game, the Lakers' performance was very good, and they had already scored 71 points in the half. But in the crucial fourth quarter, the Lakers' status was as good as two teams, and eventually lost the game. According to statistics, the Lakers shot 71.4% in the first half, tied with the Spurs for the highest half-time shooting rate of the losing side in the past 9 seasons, which is enough to prove how bad their state of the second half of the game is.
Looking at this game, there are two main reasons why the Lakers eventually lost the game. First of all, the Lakers' defense still has very big problems, in the first half of the game, their problems on the defensive end were covered by excellent offensive form, and the Eagles actually scored a high score of 62 points. In the fourth quarter of the game, because the Lakers' own offense fell into a downturn, so their problems on the defensive end were fully revealed, repeatedly letting players such as Trae Young hit three points on the outside line, and being overturned by the Eagles' inside players on the inside, and the Eagles scored 38 points in the fourth quarter, while the Lakers only had 20 points.
Second, after the lack of James, the Lakers lacked an important offensive core at key moments, and Davis and Westbrook did not take on the responsibilities they should take. According to statistics, in the last 2 minutes of the fourth quarter of the game, the two together only had one shot. The duo repeatedly relied on the team's youngster Munch when the team needed to score the most, although the latter's hand was very hot, but at the critical moment the team still needed two giants to stand up. Eventually, with Munch failing to hit several consecutive outside three-pointers, the Lakers completed a comeback.
After the lack of James, Davis, Westbrook and Munch became the lakers' main offensive core in this game, and all three scored 20+. Among them, Davis had 27 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists on 10-of-20 shooting, but he only scored 5 points in the entire fourth quarter, and almost did not score a single point in the final moments, and did not take on the responsibility he should. Munch hit eight of 12 of 19 shots, scoring a team-high 33 points, but he also lost consecutive shots in the final moments and failed to save the team.
Westbrook was not bad in offensive form, with 8 of 15 shots and 2 of 4 three-pointers, a quasi-triple-double of 20 points, 7 rebounds and 12 assists, but also delivered four turnovers throughout the game, including those caused by very casual passes. In the fourth quarter of the game, Wei Shao only scored 2 points, and he judged two people in the previous game who turned the tide at a critical moment. In the final two minutes of the campaign, Westbrook was also hit by Trae Young's list, watching him hit a key three-pointer. And Wei Shao himself also had an empty basket when the team still had a glimmer of life, which led to the team eventually losing.
During Davis's absence due to injury, the Lakers can still achieve good performances with the insoluble play of the thirty-year-old James, and even won four consecutive wins at one point, and the team's record ranking can be stable in the top eight in the West. But after James was absent due to injury and Davis returned, the Lakers' state was in a slump, and james has lost all three games in the current absence, and after this wave of three consecutive losses, the Lakers' record has fallen to the ninth place in the West. If they still can't win, they'll drift away from the top eight in the West.
In fact, since James joined the Lakers, they have suffered from a very serious "James dependence", and whenever James misses the game, it is difficult for them to win the game, whether it is in the season when James led the youngsters, or in the last two seasons after the arrival of Davis, as well as the season that ushered in Westbrook and Anthony. According to statistics, in the 15 games that James has missed this season, the Lakers have only achieved a bad record of 5 wins and 10 losses.
Judging from James's absence from many games, the Lakers are simply unable to lack James at present. On the offensive end, the Lakers, who are missing James, are missing an important offensive core, and the team has been greatly affected in terms of passing the ball. Moreover, in the current Lakers, almost no player can replace James's role in the key moments, just like in the last two minutes of this game, the lakers' three best players have not been able to stand up and save the team.
On the defensive end, in the Lakers' small lineup, James, who plays an inside player, gives the Lakers a lot of vitality in defense, so that the team will no longer be repeatedly targeted by opponents' outside players because of the slow pace of defense. But after James's absence, the Lakers can only rely on Davis alone in the interior defense, and in this campaign, when Davis is pulled to the outside line, the Lakers' internal defense becomes extremely weak, and the team's overall defense is greatly affected.
In short, the current situation of the Lakers is getting more and more difficult, in the case of a fall in the record ranking, James's physical health has also hidden dangers, and the team can not win more games when James is absent. If they still can't win in the next game, they will become very dangerous this season.