The speedboat lost again! On March 4, Beijing time, the Clippers lost 127-128 away to the Kings, suffering five consecutive losses. After Wei Shao joined the Clippers, he participated in 5 games and lost all 5 games. The Clippers were hit hard, and the team's record plummeted from fourth in the West to eighth in the West and into the play-offs. The Clippers are experiencing the troubles of the Lakers for a season and a half before, how to use Wei Shao correctly? How to get several giants to exert maximum energy together? The Lakers worked hard to change Wei Shao to a backup, but eventually sent him away. The Clippers brought Wei Shao back after he was cut by the Jazz, but the team suffered a losing streak.
Fatal mistakes and a dismal 5-game losing streak
In the game on March 4, Wei Shao had already played hard, he had 27 points, 2 rebounds and 10 assists, plus or minus +10. George was aggressive in the second half, especially scoring back-to-back points in the final quarter to nearly help the Clippers win. But at the crucial moment, Wei Shao did not catch Gordon's pass, and there was a fatal mistake. This scene, like the situation that the Lakers have seen many times this season, Wei Shao sometimes has a hot head, which causes the team to lose.
The Clippers previously lacked big players such as Junior, Powell, and Zubac, and Wei Shao was in excellent form in the first quarter, shooting 4 of 5, 1 of 2 from the free throw line, and scored 9 points, 5 assists and 1 steal. However, the Kings were strong and had a complete roster, leading the Clippers 35-32 in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Wei Shao scored 6 points and contributed 15 points and 7 assists in the first half, and his performance was very consistent. The Clippers trailed the Kings by five points 63-68 in the first half. In the third quarter, Wei Shao led the Speedboats to fight back, George hit all two free throws, Wei Shao made a three-pointer, assisted Batum to make a three-pointer, and the Clippers once overtook the King. Wei scored 20+ less. However, the Kings were strong, the starters were powerful, and the five starters had scored double-doubles by the end of the third quarter, and they regained the initiative. Fox erupted in the final quarter, and the Kings led by 13 points at one point 113-100. Wei Shao and George did not give up, the two teamed up to continue to fight back, George made a three-pointer, Wei Shao scored a layup, and chased the score to 118-122 with 2:51 left in the game.
It was Fox who stepped up again to score for the Kings, and he made both fouls and made two free throws. Batum of the Clippers received an assist from Gordon and made a three-point shot, trailing by only three points at 121-124, and the suspense of the game returned. Wei Shaozao fouled, two free throws and one shot, Batum steal Sabonis Jr., Wei Shao assisted George to make a three-pointer, and the Clippers struggled to complete the comeback. King Sabonis Jr. scored on a keytime layup.
George stepped up again at the moment of truth, and he scored on a layup to give the Clippers the lead again. King Fox jumper missed, speedboat Gordon passed the ball to Wei Shao, the two cooperated with Wei Shao did not receive the ball, there was a mistake out of bounds, and the King got the last chance to attack. Fox missed a jumper, but Sabonis Jr. was fouled by Covington while rushing for a rebound, and he hit both free throws to complete the free throw, and Clippers George missed a final 3-pointer. The speedboat is difficult to win, and the good game is lost in vain. Gordon and Wei Shao had problems working together, and this key mistake buried the game.
Wei Shao took the initiative to take responsibility after the game, believing that the mistake was his fault. "I thought I could get that pass and go straight to the layup, but unfortunately, I don't mean it's not my fault, it's up to me. Because time was running out, I was already wondering what to do next when I got the ball. Wei Shao said.
Wei Shao is embarrassed now, the speedboat gave him full trust and gave him the opportunity to start, but he failed to return Lu's guidance, and instead let the speedboat fall into the play-off zone. The Clippers now have many problems, because of Wei Shao's sudden joining, the team has lost the rhythm that it had previously run-in. The Clippers originally used Terence Mann as a guest point guard, and the team had good chemistry. With Wei Shao joining and entering the starting lineup, the Clippers' rotation was disrupted and the team's chemistry was disrupted.
Chemical reaction destruction, 3 data union countdown
During the five-game losing streak, the Clippers had three major problems, the first of which was a significant decline in defense. Before Wei Shao joined, the Clippers' defensive efficiency of 112.6 ranked tenth in the league, and objectively speaking, the defensive performance was not bad. With Wei's arrival, the Clippers' defensive efficiency slipped to 120.8, ranking 27th in the league, just ahead of the Nets (1-4), Trail Blazers (1-4) and Rockets (0-4) over the same period.
Wei Shao's attack is strong and weak defensively is an indisputable fact, and in the fourth quarter of his first game for the Clippers, there was a defensive leak, giving Monk the opportunity to score an equalizer, and it can be said that Wei Shao made a mistake. This game played the king again, and Wei Shao made another mistake, although that mistake was credited to Eric Gordon, but it was clear that the main problem was Wei Shao's side.
The second link of the Clippers was that the rebounds went down. Before Wei Shao joined, the Clippers ranked eighth in the league with a rebounding percentage of 50.8%. After Wei Shao joined, the Clippers' 46.2% rebounding percentage dropped to 27th in the league, just better than the Pacers, Nets and Trail Blazers. Wei Shao was originally a rebounding master, but after he came to the Clippers, his rebounding performance became very poor, averaging only 3.8 rebounds per game, and only grabbed a total of 2 rebounds in the last two games.
The Clippers' third problem is that there are too many mistakes, and in the past five games, the Clippers have averaged 17.2 turnovers per game, the second most in the league, and the Jazz ranked first with 21.0 turnovers per game. Before the introduction of Wei Shao, the Clippers averaged 14.0 errors per game, ranking 12th in the league. The speedboat re-grinds the lineup, the cooperation is relatively rusty, and there are many mistakes.
"I mean we have to keep working on it, we have new people here, new rotations, new personnel, so we just have to train. Once we get the chemistry, we'll go back to what we were doing before the break (the Clippers won 10 of the 14 games). Paul George said. Wei Shao also understood that he was not good enough and had to play better.
"I have to get better, you know," Wei Shao said, "I have to get better, start with myself, set the tone, and eventually win." It starts with me, making sure I'm better at these guys, making sure I'm better in everything. Next time I will be better. On how to make adjustments, manager Lu said: "We all have to get better, make sure I get the ball in the right hands at the right moment and then understand how we run and execute, and I take responsibility every night, whether it's my fault or not. I take responsibility because if we didn't play well at the time, the blame was on me. ”
Objectively speaking, the performance of the speedboats in this game has improved to a certain extent. "I think we did a great job and, in general, just wanted to get the ball into [Paul George's] hands." Director Lu said. Wei Shao agreed: "Unfortunately, we didn't win the game, but I do have a lot of confidence in the people in the dressing room, and tonight is a big step in the right direction. ”
The speedboat still needs to continue to explore how to use Wei Shao correctly, and it also needs to go through more training to let Wei Shao and his teammates form a chemical reaction. Coach Lu is going through the troubles of Vogel and Hamm when he was in charge of Wei Junior.