On February 10, Beijing time, the Lakers played their last game before the trade deadline, away to the Portland Trail Blazers. Before the game, Westbrook was rarely absent due to a back injury, and both James and Howard could play. The Lakers also sent a starting lineup of Zhan Mei, Ariza, Munch and Bradley, which is the 28th starting lineup the Lakers have sent this season, and the starting stability is really not enough.
This is also hailed by many fans as a signal that Westbrook is about to leave the team, after the Lakers lost to the Bucks, the Lakers rumors about The Westbrook's trade are increasing, but his big contract, in the current Lakers talent shortage, is very difficult to shoot. With more than a dozen hours to go, the market gates will close, and whether Pelinka can turn decay into magic depends on the final operation.
The Lakers, who did not have Westbrook, sent a more balanced starting lineup, including Zhan Mei, front line Ariza, guard Munch, Bradley, all of whom had a projection threat and were not bad defensively. At the same time, it is worth seeing whether the already fragmented Blazers can play the performance that the Lakers want.
In the first quarter of the game, the Lakers did not play very smoothly because of the lack of Wei Shao, on the contrary, the offensive end was still very stagnant. First rely on James' consecutive strong kill scores, followed by Ariza and Johnson's three-pointers, but the Blazers side relies on Simmons and Winslow to continuously break through the score, and the Lakers' Tucker constantly makes mistakes, so that the Blazers have consecutive counter-attack points in the account. The most incomprehensible thing is that the Lakers got 8 free throws in the first quarter, only scored 8, and the sports battle did not score, so that the penalties without confrontation should always not be thrown, which really can't blame others, that is, they are not trained enough, it may be an attitude problem.
In the second quarter, the Blazers side of the bench lineup almost did not have a player who was well known to the fans, as it should be, their game was suppressed by the Lakers, James broke through 2+1, Tucker, Rivers contributed three points in succession, helping the Lakers lead by 7 points into the half-time break.
In the third quarter, the thick eyebrows began with a throw. Subsequently, the Lakers' offensive weakness in the third quarter was shown again, and the Blazers seized the opportunity to hit a three-pointer by Simmons Jr. and McLemo, and a wave of 9-0 climax directly countered the score. After that, the point difference between the two teams has been maintained at about one goal, and James has also scored seven consecutive points to stabilize the advantage of the Lakers, and the Lakers can lead by two points to end the third quarter.
In the final quarter, the Blazers a number of unknown young players, played very actively, while the Lakers, Munch, Tucker today in a key moment in a row to send mistakes, Munch passing mistakes, Tucker is a string of consecutive offensive fouls, so that the Blazers' Bravins, Smith and others quickly attacked with great success. The Blazers have maintained a slight lead until the key moment, when Simmons hit consecutive three-point shots, even though the old Jan broke through the layup, long passed the basket and hit the whistle three-pointer, but the Lakers have not caught up with the gap between the two balls. In the end, facing the remnants of the Blazers, it was surprising that they actually lost.
In this game, the Lakers lost at two key points. The first is that there are too many mistakes, and the first quarter, including the last quarter, successive mistakes, allow the Blazers to get a lot of opportunities to attack directly to the basket. And the penalties are so bad that if you can score two or three more goals, you won't end up losing 3 points.
Second, interior defense and rebounding protection. Today there is no Westbrook, Vogel is still experimenting with the five small, Howard has returned, and he has not played. This trick made thick eyebrows face the impact of the blazer Nurkic and the outside force alone, appearing weak. In the end, the rebounds in the key rounds did not go smoothly to protect.
A game is won or lost, and a lot of times it's in those crucial rounds, and in some humble details, and the fewer mistakes you make, the more you may win the next game. Today's Lakers, without the inefficient Wei Shao, completely rely on zhan mei's play, the two of them are indeed very strong. But it ignores a lot of details, makes too many mistakes, and has a loose attitude, and will definitely be punished in the end.
Finally, we also need to praise the Blazers' defensive ability to cultivate, former Lillard, CJ McCollum, and now there is a training of Little Simmons, very confident, technical ability is also good, really powerful.
The trading deadline is coming soon, can the Lakers instantly return to courage through personnel changes? It doesn't feel very realistic.