Text/Water clearing
On March 31, Beijing time, the No. 1 Nuggets in the West 88-107 upset the 9th Pelicans, the reason for the loss? The three details confirm Coach Malone's deliberate actions, in addition to the subjective factors to protect the team's health, it is not ruled out against the Lakers.
Ingram led the team 31+11+10 to win over the Nuggets
Before this game, the current situation of the Nuggets and Pelicans is as follows:
Before this game, the current situation of the Nuggets and Pelicans
The Nuggets, 51-24 and 3.5 wins ahead of the Grizzlies, are expected to finish the regular season first in the West if there are no major surprises, guaranteeing playoff home-court advantage against all teams in the West without ranking worries.
The Pelicans, 38-38 with the same record as the Lakers, only ranked 9th in the West after the Lakers in a win-loss relationship, are currently fighting for a playoff spot, and today, if they beat the Nuggets, they will overtake the Lakers to 8th in the West with one more game, and the Lakers are reduced to 9th; On the contrary, it is the same as the Thunder to open the gap between 0.5 games and the Lakers, which can be called the team's key card battle, so, after entering this game:
1. Make a truce with the teacher.
It stands to reason that the Nuggets can go all out to win in the face of the relatively weak Pelicans and lock up the first spot in the West as soon as possible, as a result, Coach Malone let Mr. Joe suspend in this game, pay attention, for the following reasons: the right calf muscles are tense!
About the teacher suit and leather truce
It is true that Mr. Yo has an injury, but only the "muscle tension" is not serious, but Coach Zhuge Malone let him rest, showing that there is no desire to win the game, you know, without Mr. Yo, the team's attack is equivalent to collapsing half of the offensive system.
Second, the state of the players.
Of course, the Nuggets' record without Joser Nuggets is not good, but it is not without resistance, before this game, Jossia missed the team 3-5, among which the opponents defeated were the Mavericks, Pacers and Clippers, but today against the Pelicans, the players' state is obviously very problematic.
Porter hit the iron with three points
Porter is the team's most consistent three-point sniper, shooting 42.2 percent from the field and contributing three three-pointers per game every game, but in this game, he scored just 10 points on 0-of-7 shooting from beyond the three-point line.
Murray three points
Note that it is understandable if only Porter is a three-point inaccuracy, but the fact is that except for Murray's three-point line, all the rest of his teammates have no three-point account, and the problem illustrated by 0 of 18 three-point shooting, from the inside of the player, does not regard this direction as a winning battle, and the pre-game preparation is obviously insufficient, which is reflected in the defensive end:
Ingram has no solution for medium range
Ingram hit 31 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and a triple-double on 13-of-22 shooting, and the Nuggets didn't give him defensive intensity at all.
CJ three points
CJ McCollum contributed 23 points on 6-of-8 three-point shooting, and the reason why he shot so high, as shown in the figure, Murray's retreat is to go through the motions, and there is no intention of strict defense.
Therefore, from the perspective of the commitment of the teams at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, Coach Malone did not give the players a sense of pressure to win, another key factor in the team's defeat.
Third, Coach Malone's on-the-spot fine-tuning.
With the nickname of Zhuge , Coach Ma Long's on-the-spot fine-tuning is obvious to all, but his performance in this game?
1. With 3 minutes and 20 seconds left in the second quarter, Nance Jr.'s layup caused Gordon to foul, and Coach Malone directly challenged, is this kind of picture rare? What's even more incredible:
Brown is strong
2. Brown was the most aggressive and efficient player in the game, contributing 19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks on 7-of-13 shooting, but Coach Malone let him play 28 minutes.
Well, judging from the on-the-spot adjustments, Malone did not give the players a tight defensive nerve, and even as mentioned above, he was very casual in terms of challenges and personnel, and also showed that he did not strive to win.
With the victory in this game, the Pelicans overtook the Lakers 39-38 to advance to 7th in the West, and the Lakers dropped to 9th, and the purpose of coach Malone 's move? If you don't say that the Lakers are expected to upset the Nuggets in the playoffs, then try to keep them out of the playoffs.
Note that the rules of the play-offs: the 7th and 8th teams in the West play one game first, and the winner locks the 7th and directly advances; The 9th and 10th teams must win two games in a row to qualify for the playoffs at 8th place.