On February 28, Beijing time, the Lakers played at home against the Pelicans, originally thought that they could easily take this soft persimmon that did not even enter the top ten in the West, but they did not want to dig a 11-point behind pit in the first half of the Lakers, and the most behind the opponent came to 32 points, and finally sat at home The Lakers, 95-123, were washed by pelicans blood for 28 points, following the last game to defeat the Clippers with 3 points, they also recently suffered a wave of two consecutive defeats.
The Whole game the Lakers have been firmly suppressed by the Pelicans, even if James cut 32 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, but also powerless to return to the sky, failed to help the Lakers to save the decline. This season, the purple and gold army that gathered the big three did not play the chemical reaction it should have, "strong is not strong, weak is not strong" Regardless of whether the opponent's strength is strong or weak, the Lakers can't easily win, swallowing defeats one after another, not surprisingly, the Lakers are afraid that this season will fall to the playoffs to compete for the last train ticket of the playoffs.
It is worth mentioning that because of the Lakers' poor performance, James once apologized to fans on his twitter on January 17, when he wrote: "I apologize, I promise we will get better." And now more than a month later, James in the apology, or failed to help the team to save the decline, according to relevant statistics, after James apologized, the Lakers have played 17 games, but the record is only 6 wins and 11 losses, the last 6 games are only 1 win. After today's loss to the Pelicans, the Lakers are currently in the ninth place in the West with a record of 27 wins and 33 losses, and the tenth place is just to win their Pelicans today, which is only 2.5 wins behind the Lakers, if the Purple and Gold Army continues to maintain such a decline, it is not excluded that they will be overtaken by the Pelicans later.
It is true that James can still average 29 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.3 assists, 1.6 steals and 1 block this season, but for the dominance of the game, the old Zhan is still a visible decline a lot, this season his plus-minus is only -1.2, this data ranks 185th in the league, basically at the bottom level of the league, want to see the 37-year-old James like the previous Cavaliers, become a well-deserved "savior", basically unrealistic.
So what is it that makes James unable to help the team win despite playing the top numbers? One of the most critical factors is that James's influence on the defensive end has fallen off a cliff, this season's old Zhan's defensive efficiency has fallen to 111.3 of the 252nd place in the league, "attacking strong and defending weak" is his most realistic portrayal of this season, although on the offensive end can still be continued, but on the defensive end, the 37-year-old Old Zhan is really powerless, this season he has appeared more than once by the other side of the picture, the past kind of blood-boiling nail board big hat picture, Nowadays, it is basically difficult to stage again, which makes people have to sigh, as strong as LeBron, and finally failed to resist the erosion of time.
And one of the main reasons why the Lakers' record this season is not as expected is because of their sharp decline in the defensive end, and their defensive efficiency has been able to maintain the top five level of the league in the past two seasons. However, this season, their defensive efficiency has slipped to 110.1 of the 14th in the league, coupled with the fact that the offensive end has also become a dilemma for James to support alone, the offensive efficiency is only 108.7 of the 24th in the league, the offensive and defensive ends are basically out of balance, and James can only silently bear the cruel reality of his inability to return to heaven.