On March 4, Beijing time, the Lakers challenged the Clippers in the same city on the road, although the Clippers lacked Leonard and Paul George, but the same city derby, caused a high degree of attention, and finally the Lakers lost to the Clippers 111-132, especially in the third quarter of the game, the Lakers did not score a point in the 5-minute game, directly by the Clippers 23-0, it can be said that it is unbearable.
After the Lakers lost the game today, the Lakers' record came to 27 wins and 35 losses, ranking 9th in the West, if this continues, the Lakers even lost the qualification for the playoffs.
Then many fans do not understand that when James led such a Cavaliers team to enter the Finals, and today's Lakers, even entering the playoffs is a luxury idea, just because James's age is not enough to drive this Lakers team? Today we will analyze it from these aspects.
1. Age and injury issues
In the 17-18 season, although the Cavaliers gathered All-Star players such as Rose, Wade, Thomas Jr. and Love, the Cavaliers at the beginning of the season did not play the record expected by the fans, and finally on the trade deadline, the Cavaliers management changed the team, sending away Rose, Thomas Jr. and Wade jr., welcoming role players such as Nance Jr., Clarkson and George Hill, and even so, James has led the team to the Finals.
James was 34 years old that season, but still at the peak of the game, averaging 36.9 minutes per game, contributing 27.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and 9.1 assists, shooting 54.2% from the field and 34.8% from three-point range. He averaged 10.5 shots from 19.3 shots per game. So far this season, James has averaged 36.8 minutes per game, contributed 28.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists, shot 52.0% from the field, shot 35.1% from three-point range, averaged 21.1 shots per game, and hit 11.0 times.
From this set of data, James has not changed much, and even the average score per game is 1 point higher than the 17-18 season, but there is indeed a decline in shooting percentage and offensive efficiency, somewhat affected by age, and James in the 17-18 season is very healthy, 82 games full attendance, only in the last game symbolically rested in the second half. So far this season, James has missed 18 games, missing James' Lakers, although it has affected the Lakers' record. But the proportion of this factor is not very large.
2. Extremely unstable lineup
Before the trade deadline of the 17-18 season, the Cavaliers also faced such a problem at that time, the Cavaliers owned Wade, James, Rose and Thomas Jr., at that time, the four people's playing style required a certain amount of ball rights, which eventually led to a bad start for the Cavaliers, and the Cavaliers simply traded Wade, Thomas and Rose before the trade deadline, thus stabilizing James's absolute core position and possession.
And this season, the Lakers' lineup is very uneven, the front line is only James, Anthony, thick eyebrows and later comeback Ariza, but Vogel let thick eyebrows serve as the team's center, abandoning the original center Howard and Jordan Jr., the guard line is even more overcrowded, such an unhealthy collocation makes Vogel's platoon deployment disorderly, according to statistics, so far this season, Vogel has put out 31 sets of starting lineups, second only to the Eastern Nets.
At that time, the Cavaliers, although occasionally changed the lineup, but the change was not very large, even after the trade, the starting lineup did not change much, in the face of a stable lineup, the player's play must be more stable, which is also one of the reasons why James can lead the remnant Cavaliers to continue to move forward.
3. The uniqueness of the ball and the stability of the three points
Fans who have watched the 17-18 Cavaliers game should have a profound impact, this Cavaliers team, as long as James plays abnormally, big score losses are also the norm, but once James can maintain the state, the combat effectiveness of this Cavaliers team is very strong, the reason is that this Cavaliers team only has a core of James, as long as James is present, almost all the ball rights are concentrated on James alone, the team wins and loses, James occupies an absolute leading role.
Today's Lakers, because of the possession of Westbrook, James is to score the ball on Westbrook, and even at the beginning of the season, part of the ball is still occupied by Rondo, and even James is often pushed to the team's No. 5 position to play without the ball. In this way, the team does not have an absolute core, and the factor of losing is not only the state of James alone.
Finally, there is the stability of the three-point shooting, in this season's Lakers, although they have the projection of Anthony and Munch, the Lakers' three-point shooting rate is only 34.6%, only 19th in the league. Averaging 11.9 three-pointers per game, he ranks 16th in the league. The Cavaliers in the 17-18 season, with players such as Korver and Jr Smith, the Cavaliers shot 37.2% from three-point range, ranking 6th in the league, while averaging 12.0 three-pointers per game, ranking third in the league, second only to the Rockets and Nets at the time, higher than the Warriors' three-point shooting.
Even ignoring the problem of age and decline in status, it is almost impossible for James to play the full-strength Zhan model and lead this Lakers team to kill all sides.