On March 20, Beijing time, the Lakers continued their 4-game road trip in the NBA regular season, challenging the Wizards away. Both teams are back-to-back, physically facing tests, the Lakers also played overtime yesterday, but for the side of the Purple and Gold Army, the Wizards are only remnants, no Bill and Kuzma, and have suffered 6 consecutive losses, the state is very bad! However, the final result was unexpected, the Lakers 119-127 lost to the Wizards.
This game is of great significance to James and his Lakers, with only 12 games left in the regular season, the Lakers' record is only 9th in the West, and the position in the playoffs is not solid enough to accumulate wins. James is expected to reach a new milestone today, just 19 points away from surpassing Karl Malone and rising to the second place in the all-time scoring list! Therefore, compared with the Wizards who have basically missed the play-offs and have no desire for records, the Lakers should be the more motivated side of the game.
In order to strive for a good start, Lakers coach Vogel changed the lineup again, posing for the death of Westbrook + Munch + Reeves + Stanley Johnson + James, that is, to pull the offense full and avoid the situation of digging a big hole at the beginning.
The game began when the Lakers took the lead, playing a good 10-3 start, with three points, counterattacks, and Westbrook continued yesterday's excellent form. In the first quarter, the Lakers took a 10-point lead before James could exert their strength! In the second quarter, James turned on offensive mode, hitting three three-pointers in a row to open the score, while the career total score was equal to Carl Malone, but after James was replaced, the Wizards quickly returned a wave of 9-0 small climaxes, approaching the score.
James re-emerged at the end of the quarter and officially completed the overtaking of Karl Malone with an empty cut layup, and the audience cheered and paid tribute to the old Zhan. Finally, at the end of the first half, the Lakers scored a 9-point lead with James' 23 points in the half.
Yi Bian fought again, the two teams entered the confrontation mode, James and Wei Shao were in a hot state, and they scored points continuously. The Wizards side is more flowering, combined inside and outside, and the Lakers are invincible. At the end of the third quarter, the Wizards ate the Lakers' lead to 6 points!
Final showdown, the game into Porzingis's performance time, Bo Shen dream back to the peak, let us see the figure of the unicorn of the past, in the face of the Lakers' small lineup, Bo Shen to give and seek, the height advantage to play to the fullest, both can eat the cake partition James, can also use the height of the insoluble jump shot, the last quarter 8 shots 7 in the only 18 points, it can be said that they defeated the Lakers.
In the face of Bo Shen's inexplicable performance in the last quarter, Vogel may have been blocked by the big man Howard on the bench, failing to see the situation on the field, allowing Bo Shen to explode the five small lineups. On the offensive end, James, who was in a fiery state in the first three quarters, was magically absent, and in the face of the Wizards' crazy pinch, James could not get a comfortable shot, and finally could only swallow the bitter fruit of defeat on his own milestone night.
Porzingis scored 27 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists on 9-of-17 shooting to destroy James' milestone night. James shot 16-of-28, 4-of-9 from three-point range, slashed 38 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists, and Westbrook contributed 22 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal and 1 block on 10-of-15 shooting!
On the night when Westbrook and James were hot, he was reversed by the opponent by 16 points, which made tonight's loss more difficult to swallow, Vogel must be responsible for the loss, and his bad decision in the last quarter was the main reason for the Lakers to be reversed.