On March 30, Beijing time, the Lakers defeated the Bulls 121-110 on the road, and their revenge was successful, once again pulling the winning percentage back to 50%. In the sprint stage, the Lakers got a victory that must be won, and the quasi-complete Lakers trio fought to complete the revenge with strong pertinence. Such a Laker, I am afraid that no team is willing to meet.
After the trade deadline, Hamm was handed over a deep-surging roster. While the Lakers have been plagued by some injuries, Hamm has plenty of cards to play. It's a pity that in some games, Hamm always can't understand. For example, in the last game against the Bulls, Hamm used both Malik Beasley and Lonnie Walker, abandoning the eight village bases, and the Lakers' already undominant height was even worse.
But today, Hamm made early comments to correct his mistakes, adjusting the starting lineup to allow the returning Russell to continue as the starting lineup, James to replace Troy Brown to return to the starting lineup, and Austin Reeves, Anthony Davis and Vanderbilt to continue to start.
This starting five-man duo combines height, projection, athleticism, defense, and ball handling. Meanwhile, Hamm put Hachimura back into the rotation for 16 minutes, Gabriel and Brown played a combined 30 minutes, and Schroeder and Beasley were compressed. Playing in this way, the Lakers can ensure that the height does not fall behind as much as possible. Coupled with Drummond's absence today for psychological reasons, the Bulls have one less commanding height, and the Lakers have an overwhelming advantage inside. The Lakers grabbed 45 rebounds, 13 more than their opponents, including offensive rebounds 13-6.
This is Hamm's homework in terms of lineup matching, and it has achieved great results. In terms of tactical play, from the beginning of the game, the Lakers made one thing clear - let James fall low.
In the opening first offense, James fell low. Pay attention to the position of the Bulls, LaVine and Caruso have consciously contracted, DeRozan also stepped up to help Beverley with the bag, and when the Bulls were pinned down by James, Vanderbilt cut the empty hand. You can see Caruso's tangle in this round, and he is in a dilemma while worrying about Russell receiving and shooting, and Vanderbilt on the bottom line.
Positional battles, James teased the Bulls' nerves again and again with a low offense. If the Bulls clip James, either James delivers a direct assist, or James transfers the ball to the open position, the Lakers move the ball smoothly to the bottom corner, and Reeves breaks through for a layup.
If the Bulls gave up the bag to James, James would have laughed off, and in the third quarter he used back-to-back jumpers to force LaVine.
Such a James seems to dream back to when he played the Thunder in the Finals that year.
The Lakers' positional offense is not rigid to hand the ball low to James, because this cannot play Russell's ability to block the ball. Many times, the Lakers will use blocking as an offensive starting style, if there is no chance to block and dismantle, at this time James falls low, and he takes the ball to carry out tactical execution, creating opportunities for teammates to cut for layups and shoot three-pointers.
James raised several times today to cover Russell, and the Bulls were afraid of Russell's strong shots while also fearing James blocking and falling low to catch the ball. When the Bulls focused their defensive attention on Russell and James, the bottom corner shooter got a chance, a derivative of the Lakers.
James just came back, let him hold the ball outside to block and take a strong mode is not friendly to his injured foot, today James also tried to make a strong attack from the outside, but obviously could not break in, received an offensive foul. At this stage, letting James fall low to catch the ball and play the cover man in the block is the best way to use James in positional warfare, and Hamm's change today has obvious results.
You know, the Bulls are the second-best defensive team after the All-Star break, and today the Lakers scored 121 points with a super high shooting percentage of 52.3%, and their offensive firepower was tested by the touchstone.
At present, only Bamba has not returned to the Lakers, and they are already in quasi-complete form. Although the Lakers' bench scoring has been affected after the Lakers put Reeves in the starting lineup, Schroder and Beasley both have room to pick up and adjust. I'm afraid that no team wants to meet the full Lakers, whether it is the playoffs or the playoffs.