The NBA playoffs officially began, and the Lakers hosted the challenge of the Timberwolves. Before the game, most fans predicted that the Lakers could win the game, after all, in the eyes of most fans, the Lakers are still stronger, and the Lakers still have a home court advantage. However, what fans did not expect was that the Lakers played very hard in this game, and both ends of the offensive and defensive ends were fully suppressed in the first half. In the first half, the Lakers trailed by 11 points. Entering the second half, the Lakers sounded the clarion call to fight back, the offensive end became smoother, and the defensive end could withstand the pressure. In the fourth quarter, the two teams drew 98. Entering overtime, the Lakers slowly took the initiative on the court, and in the end, the Lakers defeated the Timberwolves 108-102 and faced the Grizzlies in the first round.
Objectively speaking, although the Timberwolves lost the game, the performance of two players was remarkable. One is Li Kyle and the other is Conley. First of all, Li Kyle played 44 minutes in this game, shooting 5 of 14, including 2 of 5 three-pointers, and scored 12 points, 4 rebounds and 13 assists. Although Li Kyle's scoring efficiency is not high, Li Kyle helped the team open up the situation with his combing offense. Conley played 43 minutes, shooting 7-of-11, including 6-of-8 three-pointers and 3-of-3 free throws, for 23 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Conley's three-point shooting was very consistent in this game, and he also caused Davis to foul all three free throws in regular time to help the team equalize. Again, the performance of these two Timberwolves players can be described as perfect.
After talking about the Timberwolves, let's talk about the Lakers. To tell you the truth, Davis and James really gave their best in this game. James played 52 minutes, shooting 12-of-21 from the field, including 3-of-6 three-pointers and 3-of-3 free throws, scoring 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists. A 38-year-old played 45 minutes and what else can we ask him to do. Davis played 42 minutes, shooting 10-of-19 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line, for 24 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. Davis is also very hard at this game, impeccable on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. I believe, seeing that there are fans here, they will ask, since Davis and James play so well, why are the Lakers still playing so hard? In fact, the answer to this question is very simple, that is, Russell pulled his crotch too much, and this game made Russell show his original form.
Russell played 23 minutes, shooting 1 of 9, including 0 of 4 three-pointers, and scored 2 points, 3 rebounds and 8 assists. Yes, you read that right, Russell only scored 2 points. Fans who have watched the game will know how much Russell pulled his crotch in this game. The offensive end played hesitantly, broke through to a stop halfway, shot without a chance, and took up a lot of the ball. Even the on-site commentator said, "Hurry up and let Russell down." On the defensive end, Russell often has eye defense scenes, and he can't find his defensive position at all, and he doesn't know where to go when assisting in defense. Overall, Russell was a little confused in this game, which is why the Lakers dropped him directly in the fourth quarter of the decisive moment.
Speaking of which, I can't help but think of a topic that everyone has been talking about before. The topic is to say that "Russell is just the icing on the cake, but he is not a player". I didn't believe this comment too much, but after this game, it turned out that Russell is really not a player. I sincerely hope that Russell will not drag the Lakers back in the following games, and will not drag James.