My good friend, Mr. Pan Zhili, an unknown Spurs fan leader, has suddenly become worried recently. He just updated his public account a few days ago, in which he promoted his "moderate reconstruction" (that is, secretly messed up) theory, and was heartbroken by the Spurs' recent winning streak. He often incarnated as Fan Zhiyi and secretly questioned the teams behind the Spurs in the West: "Why are you not willing to win a game?" Don't even have a face! ”
It looks a lot like Versailles, but I know he's serious about wanting spurs not to make the playoffs. He's not alone, either, because half of the Spurs fans around me don't want the team to make the playoffs. In their eyes, the young team needs every high pick to boost their talent more than to play games that don't seem like they can win — although in the end they may use those high picks to jump for Joshua Primo, who has averaged 5.3 points per game this season, and it's better to choose the wrong one than not to choose.
What contrasts with Mr. Pan's concern is that half a month ago, when our company was live broadcasting on station B, a netizen spent 30 yuan to ask Lao Yang a question: If James leads the team to win the championship this season, can he surpass Michael Jordan and become the first person in NBA history? Lao Yang, who has always answered the netizens' questions like a stream, was silent for a while in the face of this question.
You see, that's the power of idols, and even if the Lakers sucked, at least two weeks ago, fans were still convinced that James would single-handedly take a team with obvious flaws out of the mire — because he did it 4 years ago. But maybe this season, Lakers fans should still lower their expectations. This season's Lakers have fallen faster than free fall, so much so that the contrast between what fans expect from them and their performances is too glaring.
Yesterday the Lakers lost again, without James, they and the Nuggets fought for three quarters, in the fourth quarter suffered a collapse; the last game to play the Pelicans, thick eyebrows returned, Westbrook broke out, the Lakers three military life, played the intensity of the playoffs, but at the last moment of the game once again dropped the chain; away to Salt Lake City, the Jazz led from the first minute of the game to the last minute of the game; before playing the Pelicans, the Lakers once led by 23 points in the third quarter of the game, and finally the Pelicans overturned.
James, who shot seven three-pointers and scored 39 points, broke the defense at one point: Squandering such a lead, we played like. Excuse me for swearing, but that's how I really feel. Understand how important this game is for us, I treated this game the way I played the playoffs, but I lost my explosiveness after spraining my ankle. Once again, my team and I wasted a great opportunity, we've been like this all year, and tonight is just a microcosm of this season. ”
Lakers fans are having a terrible viewing experience right now. When the team is ahead, it is difficult for them to enjoy the game, because the team may suddenly lose power at any time, giving away the great advantage; when the team is behind, the team looks stagnant, there is no possibility of overturning, Vogel adjusts the lineup more and more chaotic, and the fans can directly fast-forward to find the few highlights and reflect on the pain in the loss. In the coming week, such stories may repeat themselves, and enthusiastic fans will find one thing to do from scolding the boss, scolding the general manager, scolding the manager, scolding the players, scolding the environment and counting small points, but they will eventually move from rhetoric to gibberish, and eventually to silence. Maybe in the end, Lakers fans will be like our employees, watching a game at 2 a.m. that the home team has no sense of winning, 0-2 behind, but still in the midfield, the coconut chicken food in the mouth is tasteless, and can only shout "RNM refund".
In my more than two decades of watching football, I never thought that there would be such a moment when Lakers fans and Chinese male football fans could reach a consensus.
There are also some of the most loyal Lakers fans who can expect the team to bottom out, but the fall again and again seems to indicate that the team's performance this season may be bottomless. This is a team with 5 regular season MVPs, 4 NBA 75 superstars, three NBA champions, and the whole team has been named to the NBA's Best Team of the Season 43 times, but then they repeatedly lowered expectations for them with their bad performances in the long season. It started out of the title race, then the playoffs, and now the team with just 31 wins probably won't even play the playoffs. How did the Lakers get to this point? It's too complicated a question to say in a sentence or two, Pelinka, Vogel, James and Westbrook can all go their separate ways, injuries, COVID-19, trade and coaching may be the main reasons, but that's not what we should be talking about now.
James said last year: "Whoever comes up with the play-offs should be fired." Now, the play-off system has changed and become the lakers' last straw this season. It seems a bit ironic, as the Lakers fans expect Stanley Johnson and Vinyne Gabriel, picked up from the buyout market, to save the team.
Still, reaching the playoffs seems likely to be out of reach for the Lakers now: the Lakers' record after the All-Star Game is 4-16, just better than the free-fall Trailblazers, ranking 29th in the league. James said in an interview last month that he would never give up early, "unless you destroy me, cut off my head, and bury it under 12 feet," but as the two pelican games showed, it was difficult for him to save the Lakers with his bravery and faltering. This is the world of the NBA, and the personal struggles of a 37-year-old veteran can change something that is limited after all, even if you are James, the leading scorer this season, at the end of the season, you have to look at the faces of teammates, opponents and Spurs.
Last week, the Spurs just nearly reversed the 18-point gap, losing by one point to the team with the highest winning percentage in the NBA, "No Mo Bears." Popovich drew a perfect tactic at the end of the game, and Kelden Johnson missed a close-up layup — if that ball went up, the Lakers' playoff situation could be described as "nine deaths."
But after the game, in popovich's interview, he did not regret it, but expressed satisfaction with the state of the team: "We completed the rebound in the second half, reduced mistakes and executed tactics more efficiently. I'm proud of the performance of the players. The goal just didn't go in the end, and we had to hurry out of the loss of not being able to do it and get ready for the next game. If we can make the playoffs and then the playoffs, we'll have a chance to play against the best teams in the league in the series, and that sounds great. ”
Obviously, Popovich and many Spurs fans don't think the same way. He believes playing against the best team in the league — rather than pulling a higher pick — will help the Spurs get better. In recent interviews, you can hear the Spurs' young players eager to try out the playoffs and playoffs, which helped them play their best performances at the end of the season. Yesterday, Kelden Johnson, who had previously missed a dead end, scored a game-high 28 points to help the Spurs, who were missing Murray and Peltel, beat the Blazers and extend the lead over the Lakers to two games. In an interview after the game, he said: "I know we are short of major generals, so I have to devote myself to the game. The Lakers will try their best to catch up with us, but I also understand that as long as we do our own work, it will be us who will finally make the playoffs. ”
The Lakers, whose odds of winning the championship before the start of the season are second only to the Brooklyn Net, ranked second in the league, currently have a record of 31 wins and 47 losses, ranking eleventh in the West. Their play-off prospects are only "theoretically possible": from the same record comparison, the Lakers and Spurs have played two wins and two losses this season, and the record is the same as that of the Western rivals, the Spurs are 23 wins and 25 losses, the Lakers only have a tragic 16 wins and 32 losses; from the schedule, the Lakers have only one soft persimmon in the remaining 4 games of the Season, they want to win 3 of them, and pray that the Spurs will not win; from the recent state, the Spurs have won 6 wins and 1 loss in the last 7 games. The Lakers have just ushered in a wave of 6 consecutive losses. They have lost their "key battle", every future game may be their "battle of life and death", and the fate is no longer in their own hands, it is likely that the last two games of the regular season will directly become their "battle of dignity".
The Lakers' promotion has only theoretical opportunities left.
There is really not much time left for them.
Wait, these two sentences are familiar...