On March 14, Beijing time, the NBA regular season Suns defeated the Lakers 140-111 at home, continuing to rank first in the league with a record of 54 wins and 14 losses. In the whole game, Suns center Ayton slashed 23 points and 16 rebounds on 11 of 14 shooting in just 27 minutes at home, almost single-handedly breaking the Lakers' interior defense.
In the last Lakers home game 122-109 to beat the Wizards, James played the role of starting center, slashed 50 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, is the biggest contributor to the Lakers' victory, after the game Vogel said in an interview: "After so many years, maybe playing center is the best way to use James." Perhaps because of James's explosive performance, this gave Vogel the confidence to choose to play against a small lineup when facing a center like Ayton on the Suns.
The results can be imagined: Ayton cut 10 points and 6 rebounds on 5 of 7 in the first quarter of the game, helping the Suns slash 48 points in a single quarter, 26 points ahead of the Lakers, and almost destroyed the Lakers' psychological defense line in just one game. In the final game, the Suns' rebounds led 51-37, the frontcourt rebounds led 14-7, and the inside scorers of the Suns led by as many as 40 points at 76-36, and the Lakers' inner line was really sieve.
After the game, Lakers coach Vogel said in an interview: "The small lineup allows us to get the best offensive combination, but when facing a team with Ayton, it is really difficult to use a small lineup." And Ayton also has no scruples about the Lakers, he said: "When there is a team using a small lineup, I will feel that I am not respected, this is what I will do, I will punish such a team." ”
Indeed, as Vogel and James said, because of the team's injury problems, the small lineup has become an important rotation of the Lakers, and it is also a relatively effective set of lineups that the Lakers have discharged on the court so far, of course, I am mainly talking about the offensive end, the defensive end is almost a situation of ten thousand stabbing, but when there is an all-star center like Ayton on the other side, the Lakers can only be slaughtered.