In the early morning of April 17, Beijing time, the Lakers defeated the Grizzlies 128-112 in the first round of the playoffs, winning the opener and achieving a series home court advantage. In this game, the Lakers' performance in all aspects was almost perfect, and it can be concluded through high-level data that rookie coach Ham has grown gratifyingly, Vanderbilt and Anthony Davis locked up the Grizzlies dual-core, and Russell broke the demons.
Progress of rookie managers
During the regular season, Hamm was criticized for his messy formation, and fans jokingly called him "cephalosporin". Hamm had abandoned the Hachimura base before, but the Hachimura base performed well after returning to the rotation, and even Hamm himself reflected today that his previous abandonment of the Hachimura base was a "random formation".
In the series against the Grizzlies, it can be seen that Hamm has done a lot of preparation behind the scenes, is very targeted, and his game plan fully learns from previous lessons.
Let's recall the game between the Lakers and Grizzlies after the trade deadline when Morant came on and slashed 30+ points, when Ham obviously had a better choice, but sent Schroder and Malik Beasley to face Morant, and Morant tortured Schroder and Beasley to the point of suffering, and Davis frantically filled holes on the inside, but could not fill the loopholes of the two of them at all, and paid several fouls.
From the previous data, Vanderbilt is the most suitable player to use against Morant, he has suppressed Morant's points per round to 0.5 points in the past two seasons, and various versions of the preview before the game are wondering whether Ham will let Vanderbilt directly against Morant. As a result, from the first round of the match, Vanderbilt stood by Morant's side, and he was the leader of the whole court, almost to the extent of inseparable.
In this game, when Vanderbilt faced Morant, Morant broke through to shoot 1 of 3 and made 3 turnovers, and Vanderbilt's defensive effect was achieved.
Another point of criticism of Hamm this season is that he is too superstitious about the three defenders, even though the three-back lineup of Russell, Reeves and Schroder performed well in the regular season, but G1, Hamm still decisively cut the time of the three defenders, Russell, Reeves, Schroeder only 3 minutes at the same time. Hamm shortened the rotation, abandoned Gabriel and created a nine-man rotation, but during the rotation, Hamm only kept two defenders on the floor most of the time to maintain his size.
The Lakers' starting five are a two-guard + three-forward configuration (Davis prefers to play power forward), this lineup is on the floor for 16 minutes, and then the Lakers use the second longest lineup of James, Schroder, Brown, Beasley and Hachimura, or maintain a three-forward. When Vanderbilt was replaced by Hachimura, the lineup worked well, winning by 14 points in four minutes.
Considering that Adams and Clark can't play inside, the Lakers' internal pressure is reduced, and more three-forward lineups are conducive to protecting rebounds and competing for offensive rebounds, and today the Lakers have 4 more offensive rebounds than their opponents in 10 offensive rebounds, and 11 of their 45 total rebounds have won.
Hamm's rare flaw in this game was the Grizzlies' point chasing moment in the fourth quarter, when Morant was not on the floor, and Hamm could have won Vanderbilt, but he chose to use Vanderbilt against Jaren Jackson Jr., and Jackson Jr. scored consecutive strong shots to lead the team to narrow the point gap. However, Ham's adjustment was timely, and it took only two rounds to call a timeout substitution, and then the Lakers sent the finishing lineup to close the game, without giving the opponent another chance.
Davis became Jackson Jr. nemesis
After today's opening, Hamm used James against Jackson Jr., James did well in a few rounds, but overall he was still afraid of punching, Jackson Jr.'s impact hurt James a lot, James faced Jackson Jr. was shot 6 of 7 by his opponent.
In order to protect Davis, Hamm put James and other players against Jackson Jr., which is understandable, but the others can't get the job done. Hachimura defended Jackson Jr. 4-of-5 from the field, while Vanderbilt was shot 3-of-3 from Jackson Jr., either because they weren't fighting enough or weren't as fast as Jackson Jr.
In the end, Hamm also had to give the task to Davis, and under Davis' defense, Jackson Jr. shot 1 of 6 and ate 3 big hats.
Not only did Davis shine on the defensive end, but Davis also ate Jackson Jr. on the offensive end, scoring 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
Russell breaks the demons
The Grizzlies were Russell's nemesis, averaging 12 points per game and shooting 33.3 percent from the field throughout the playoffs last year. In Game 6, Russell was dropped at a crucial moment in the fourth quarter, and he publicly expressed his dissatisfaction after the game. Playing Morant, Russell's speed in the rhythm genre has no advantage, only 2 of 9 shots, and Morant is already the weakest link in the Grizzlies' backcourt defense. Against the ferocious Dillon, Russell shot 4 of 12. Against the "Little Steel Cannon" Bane defense, Russell shot 5 of 17. When Russell misplaced Jalen Jackson Jr., he shot 4-of-10 with three turnovers.
This time, Russell apparently studied the video and found a way to break the demons.
Whether facing Bane or Dillon, Russell's principle is to play the second point of the ball, find gaps to break in or pass the ball to Davis. Push back, speed up. No strong attack, no sticking ball, waiting for the opportunity to catch the ball and throw. Block and dismantle more to find teammates and create three-point chances.
Such Russell is impossible to prevent Bane and Dillon, Bane was taken 11 points by Russell on 4-of-7 shooting, Dillon was taken 3 points by Russell on 1-of-1 shooting, and 14 of Russell's 19 points were scored on their heads. In addition, Russell faced Morant on 1-of-2 shooting.