On 108-116, the Lakers lost to the Pelicans again, dropping to tenth in the West (31-43), only one game ahead of the eleventh Spurs (30-43).
The play-offs are all in jeopardy.
It is still a familiar plot, but the Lakers are taking the sensational route of high and low this time.
The opening 12-0, the Lakers are ok again!
Then habitually slackened, the Pelicans chased back little by little, and the first quarter ended with 31-23.
In the second quarter, LeBron took over, with 14 points and 3 assists in the single quarter, and also used a three-pointer to become the youngest Mr. 37,000 points in history, and the Lakers once widened the point difference to 65-42.
The Lakers who are serious are just different.
Then in the third quarter LeBron's physical strength declined, and the whole team was sleepwalking defensively. Was played by the Pelicans in a single quarter to make a 41-25. Ended the third quarter with only a 94-90 lead.
The same lake three collapses, quick-acting heart-saving pills to tidy up.
In the fourth quarter, there was still no improvement, and the old Ingram scored frequently. LeBron was not only physically exhausted, but also had a weak foot in the second quarter and was difficult to take over. With 5:40 left, McCollum made a mid-range shot to help the Pelicans take the first 102-100 lead.
The Lakers never set off a limited counterattack, eventually losing to the Pelicans in this crucial playoff spot battle.
The Lakers' problem, this season has been written badly, today to talk about their head coach Vogel:
First, the most humble champion coach in history
The reason why he is humble. Not because he has LeBron under his hands, it can even be said that he is the most appropriate manager in LeBron's career and has won the most new appointments.
For 19 seasons in his career, Mike Brown and Director Lou are well known for leBron's advice. Blatter coached for a year and a half before he left the class, and even Spollstra, one of the current "top fifteen coaches", had a "bump in the shoulder" with him.
A similar situation, Vogel had never encountered.
He is humble because in his third season of coaching the Lakers and the second season after winning the championship, the championship team he painstakingly built was almost traded by the team's management.
Then, with only Zhan Mei retained, he was given a team that was probably the most unsatisfactory in his coaching career and the one who clashed with his personal style the most.
Coupled with Zhan Mei's alternating injuries, the Lakers lost their pants this season, and he also became the biggest back pot man. It is a foregone conclusion that classes will be suspended at the end of the season.
Second, Vogel – from nemesis to head coach
It is said that Vogel is not used to using centers, especially Howard, trapped in the small ball team can not extricate themselves, and even use LeBron + Anthony, a pair of old comrades who are almost 80 years old, to play the inside line.
Unbeknownst to him, Vogel not only liked to use a center, but also almost ended the peak LeBron with this move.
After the 2011 finals upset defeat, the "Big Three" Heat began a series of reforms, the most important of which was the "lightweight" of the lineup in addition to Wade handing over the ball and the whole team with LeBron as the core.
The introduction of "Ace 3D" Battier, while abandoning the previous season's main center-forwards Big Z and Dampier, was replaced by the more mobile Joel Anthony and Haslem in the fifth position.
At the crucial moment, Bosh was put on the center, LeBron and Battier stood on the front line, and Wade and Chalmers were paired at the back.
Isn't it the small ball formation it is now?
This lineup maximizes the advantage of space and maximizes LeBron's power, while the team can launch a quick attack while completing high-quality area pinch shots on the defensive end, causing opponents to make mistakes.
It was also the tactical basis for countless "Jianway Connections" at that time.
However, this system of strong oppression and no tall interior line, the biggest problem is the defense of the inside line.
In 2011-12, they averaged 41.6 rebounds per game, the 21st in the league.
12-14 for two consecutive seasons, the rebounding league bottom.
As a result, an opponent in the east gave them a great headache.
Indiana Walkers.
By then Paul George had grown into one of the league's most versatile forwards, one of the best outside defenders.
In 2011, they exchanged Kawaii Leonard's draft pick for Popovich's beloved, smart and robust point guard George Hill from the Spurs.
Coupled with the mentally normal nerve knife that can contribute to the all-star performance, the history of the first Jennifer Stevens,
David West, the "17- Assassin" he worked with Paul,
After the Auburn Hill Palace incident, the walkers return to the Eastern Peak.
And at that time, their head coach was None other than Vogel.
But at the time, his biggest secret weapon against the Heat was center Hibbert.
The 2.18-meter tall, career average of just 10.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game became a Heat nightmare in those years.
They met for the first time in the 2012 Eastern Conference Semifinals, with the Heat winning 4-2, but in the second Game When the Pacers won 78-75, Hibbert, George and Hill rebounded in double figures.
2013 was even more exaggerated, with the Pacers battling the Heat until they lost in a seven-game game, with Hibbert averaging 22.1 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. The Pacers rebounded 43-34, grabbing nine more per game than the Heat.
If it weren't for LeBron and Wade's superstar prowess, the Heat wouldn't have been able to cross the Pacers barrier.
There is also a classic scene of Vogel looking at "No Solution Zhan" meaningfully.
By the 2013-14 season, the Pacers had even beaten the 56-26 to the top of the East, and it took the Eastern Conference Heat six games to take them down.
Although the Heat vs Spurs were the main theme of the Finals in those years, the Pacers were the opponents in the East who gave LeBron and the Heat the most headache.
It was also at that time that Vogel's coaching level was recognized by the whole league: he focused on defense, emphasized confrontation, and had enough charm to appease the thorns in the team and make the whole team aim.
And that includes LeBron.
So when the Lakers officially announced Vogel in the summer of 2019, although they did not get their favorite Lu guidance, the magician hung up the crown again. But LeBron rushed to the scene and gave Vogel support with his actions.
Then Vogel had the man who had made himself grit his teeth countless times in the game.
Second, a solid defense, the lakers' championship base
Imagine the summer of 2019, although LeBron joined, the Lakers at that time can be described as a chicken feather.
The magician fell out with Pelinka and resigned to go home to continue running his business empire.
Originally wanted to pull Leonard into the company, but was released with pigeons, missing the best signing time. The free agent market has only signed Danny Green, Bradley, Howard and other role players whose strengths are as prominent as their shortcomings.
Tyrone Lou, who pursued LeBron's favorite, did not succeed, and chose him second.
Even so, he still built a complete championship team for the Lakers.
Around Zhan Mei are old guns like Rondo and Howard, famous defensive players such as Green, Pop, and Bradley, and even the young Kuzma and Caruso have become defensive champions under his tutelage.
So even if these people have such and such shortcomings, they can provide the most powerful guarantee of victory for the team - defense.
Throughout the 2019-20 regular season, the Lakers defended third, blocked first, fast-attack scored second, and scored first using opponent errors.
Although these people's independent offensive ability is not strong (look at Zhan Mei at the critical moment), the three-point projection is unstable (the Lakers' offensive space is average), but they can rely on a strong defense to maximize the opportunity to create a defensive turn, while allowing Zhan Mei to get the best protection on the defensive end.
This is the seventeenth championship trophy in Lakers history.
In the 20-21 season, Vogel's coaching can even rise to the ranks of competing for the best coach.
At the beginning of the season, when Zhan Mei was healthy, they and the Jazz and Clippers were at the top of the league table and took turns to sit in the top of the league.
And after this, Zhan Mei, took turns to be injured on the basis of injuries. The Lakers' record remains stable at around 50 percent.
Last season, Zhan Mei missed a total of 53 games.
Among them, when LeBron was absent, the Lakers won 12 and lost 15.
When thick eyebrows were absent, the Lakers lost 19-17.
Even in the nearly one month from March 21 to April 19 last year, when the two superstars were absent at the same time, the Lakers still achieved a record of 7 wins and 9 losses.
They rely on the league's number one defense.
Schroeder, who was finally sprayed into a dog last season, although he did not have as many imposing breakthroughs as Young Master Wei, he could really bite his opponents at the defensive end, and the attack and defense were all performances of life.
Kuzma, who has been scolded by Lakers fans in the past two years, is actually the only player in the Lakers' front line who can play a hard battle in terms of ability and size. Looking at the current Lakers forward, they can't shoot (Anthony), they can't defend enough (Bradley), and they can't do it (Gabriel, Stanley).
Today's Lakers fans don't know how much they miss the handsome and can play "Lakers Boy".
There is also Green Pope, known as the "Crouching Dragon Phoenix", who provides unlimited energy for the team in the game and plays smarter and smarter.
And the person who pinched them into a shape, whether Zhan Mei was absent or not, the team could not collapse and rushed, was Vogel.
If it weren't for the sun's thick eyebrows once again injured, the overall strategy of the Lakers last season was actually successful.
And Vogel also proved that he is a defensive master who deserves the title of "championship coach", whether Zhan Mei is in or out.
He subtly changed a lot of things.
He made LeBron change the way he used to win the championship.
Although he may be the most outstanding "super ball carrier" in history, he has always been the team's first ball-carrying choice, and Wade and Irving had to stand on the sidelines that year. But that year he accepted Rondo standing by his side, and thick eyebrows became the first teammate to score higher than LeBron in the playoffs.
Thick Eyebrow didn't want to play center, and he accepted. The regular season had McGee and Howard take turns as his bodyguards. But by the time it came time to fight the bayonets in the playoffs, Davis had been firmly on the fifth spot.
He reactivated Howard, who was almost eliminated by the league at the time, and let the old tree of Rondo spring.
Under Vogel, as long as the defense is good enough, it comes in handy.
What about the Lakers today?
Looking at the whole team, there is hardly a man who can be reassured on the defensive end.
The old Ariza, Ellington, bradley have been abandoned,
Bazemore, who had high hopes at the beginning of the season, has been missing for a long time.
Rivers' attitude and consciousness are first-class, helpless physical condition is always a bottleneck that can not be crossed,
The current Lakers, either on the projection pass, defensive leakage Of anthony, Munch,
Or send Rivers, Gabriel, Stanley, the tough guys who are defensively ok, but the offensive end is all dependent on LeBron to deliver ammunition.
If the offense and defense are balanced and the size is enough, how can the Lakers have the money to sign it?
Vogel, today's encounter, just verifies our old saying:
It is difficult for a woman to cook without rice.
Just the opportunity left for him to dodge and move is not much.
The head coach, who is probably the most depressed head coach in the history of the Lakers, has also come to say goodbye.
It's just this pot, it really shouldn't be his back.