The Lakers eliminated the Grizzlies today and won by 40 points — after the seventh seed in the playoffs won the second seed, and won a single game by 24 points.
Not only defeated the grizzly bear, but also defeated the grizzly bear.
Davis' series can be called a battle of fame - Jordan killed regular season MVP Barkley in the 1993 Finals, Postman in the regular season MVP in 1997, Big Dream killed the regular season MVP general in the 1995 Western Conference Finals, and LeBron killed the regular season MVP Ross in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, all of which can be regarded as "since you are so good in the regular season, why don't we play the bar".
This series, Davis had 64 defensive rebounds and 26 blocks in six games, outpowering Defensive Player of the Year JJJ.
This is especially true today.
Coach Hamm did two things today.
- No room for space, short rotation: That's it, no seventh game.
- Usually short rotations to fight for physical strength, many teams prefer small lineups (Coach Dantony, for example); Today the Lakers have a big lineup from start to finish: no Beasley, no Brown Jr. Davis played the full first quarter; When he rested in the second quarter, the Lakers were a three-swing striker of LeBron + Gabriel + Hachimura.
It was obviously a big lineup, but the Lakers only had 3 frontcourt rebounds in the first half. The meaning is very clear:
Prioritize retreat, settle the half, and limit everyone in the Grizzlies with an early change of defense and then a follow-up positional battle without the ball, in short, do not let the Grizzlies rush in.
The last murderous thing: positional warfare chose to empty Dillon Brooks and make up for it when he was about to attack.
——Can you endure, you have a poisonous mouth, so how many deadly balls do you throw to try?
Positional battle, Reeves helped to orchestrate - in addition to the team-high 8 assists, there was also a LeBron-style cross transfer, but unfortunately it was a mistake...
Russell took advantage of the space to chase Morant.
LeBron is very leisurely: without him holding the ball to play strongly, with Reeves to help give the ball, he runs and runs counterattack, plays chase, throws fixed points, blocks Reeves, counterattacks like Worthy, positional battles like postmen.
And: When Davis made a save — Davis had 18 blocks and five blocks today — he read routines, rotated, bridged, and made the Grizzlies' no-ball block cut unsuccessful, leaving JJJ unable to find a chance to copy the back door.
In the first half, the Lakers scored 36 inside and the Grizzlies 16.
The Grizzlies shot 8 of 29 from the box and the Lakers shot 18 of 22.
Glance.
So the first half sealed the game, won smoothly and advanced. Not only defeated the grizzly bear, but also defeated the grizzly bear.
Odd to say, this is the worst offensive series Davis has ever played (not counting against the Suns in 2021, when he had an injury).
But it's also the best defensive and dominant series he's ever played: sweeping the Blazers in 2018 and surpassing the 2020 Finals.
LeBron's ball intelligence, Reeves' explosive presence, but this series, it was Davis' Russell-level presence that stalked the Grizzlies and set the tone.
Today the Grizzlies are afraid that he has reached this point: constantly trying to find cover when defending the attack, avoiding Davis directly meeting the ball carrier, "Don't come here!" ”
But Davis chased after him.
That said, at the moment, both Giannis and López were eliminated, and JJJ was defeated head-on by Davis.
Davis is arguably the best defensive player on the existing team.
On the other side, the Kings, facing the abyss of being eliminated by the Warriors, stood at home and forced out the seventh game.
How to say it? People grow – slowly and quickly.
Coach Mike Brown changed his tactics.
Coach Cole didn't.
Coach Brown was quite conservative in his early years, when everyone laughed at him: offensive changes were not as good as glasses.
The Cavaliers' loss to the Celtics in 2010 indirectly led to the "decision" of the summer, although it was the strange sluggish performance of LeBron's battle on King Mountain, and because - everyone who watched that series will remember - faced with the Celtics' speed lineup combination punch, Coach Brown still went big in the lineup; Vallejo, the fake wrestling king who can best keep up with the rhythm, is obviously easy to use, he just doesn't make much.
Two years later, he led the Lakers to a loss to the Thunder, an aging roster on the one hand, and because he didn't manage team space all season — to be exact, the coexistence of the Twin Towers and Ci Shiping — only allowed Bryant to shoot the third-highest 23 baskets per game of his career at the age of 34. When the playoffs were crushed by the speed of the Thunder, he chose to squeeze the team's large lineup for 40 minutes per game - now think back, let the lineup of Bynum + Gasol + Ci Shiping, running 40 minutes smaller per game, opposite Durant in fifth grade, Wilson in fourth year and Harden in third year? Can you still want this leg?
At that time, Coach Brown was good at putting a group of people into a lineup that could be played, but with a lot of chess pieces in the playoffs, he was dazzled and undecided.
Think of it this way: In 2010, he lost to Lao Li in his on-the-spot command...
Then, eleven years passed.
Coach Mike Brown made a decisive move today.
The Kings led the Warriors 8-0 in the first quarter, with Curry chasing Sa Jr. and Barnes. Coach Brown first pressed Barnes down and tried Lyles + Monk + Mitchell + Sabonis + Hult; And then put down the little sa:
The Kings ended the first quarter with Fox + Monk + Davis + Murray + Lyles.
191 cm + 191 cm + 193 cm + 203 cm + 206 cm. All-space array.
This burst lasted 9 minutes in one breath, and no one was suspicious.
At the start of the second quarter, Lyles broke through with a three-pointer, a three-point line catch feint, giving the Kings a three-point lead.
- Since then, the Warriors No. 5 position has been passive.
Sasa was beaten by Looney throughout the series, but he couldn't fight at the basket, and his long-range shot was unsteady from the perimeter, and the Warriors just had to lock him up.
Coach Brown went to Lyles, the space elder, and he couldn't go down as soon as he got up.
Halfway through the third quarter, Sam made 5 quick fouls, and Coach Brown hurriedly called Lyles; At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Lyles blocked an outside three-pointer, 93-83, reminding the Warriors "Don't empty me, I can really shoot"; In the next round, Lyles pulled the air on the line, and Monk burst into the Warriors' empty box for a layup.
Sa had 23 minutes today — and of course because he fouled too often, but Lyles played nine minutes in the first and second quarters, showing Coach Brown's boldness.
Another point: Keegan Murray, newcomer, 45 minutes today.
Only 15 points on 17 shots, in addition to the three-point shooting, the stealing counterattack in the third quarter stopped the Warriors, but 12 rebounds: more than once with Sabonis, to protect the basket for Lyles to make up for the backcourt rebound, two of the 5 frontcourt rebounds were forcibly stolen while Cray was shaking.
Fox and Monk's two-gun assault was the King's prominent spark, but the ammunition delivery and the maintenance of the front were Lyles and Murray - including Terence Davis, who was fouled: Coach Brown really dared to use the teenager to carry Curry.
That's what Coach Brown meant: I played my cards, just to fight for young speed and physical strength. What about you?
On the Warriors' side, it's much more bland.
The elder training plan was unsuccessful, so since the second half of the regular season, the Warriors tried to open up space for the guard group, increase Clay's ball-carrying attack, let him and Puldo take over with the ball, probably to reduce the pressure on Curry - in fact, it's a bit like the Rockets used Paul + Harden + Gordon + Tucker + Long Man to mean...
But Wiggins is basically outside of the pass, and the team's offense also depends on the rhythm and mood of Poole and Clay - one of them is easy to overshoot, the other is easy to overshoot, and embarrassingly, they are not good at defense, and the offensive task is heavy, let alone defense.
Clay scored 22 points today, but the defensive end was often unobservant — Murray's frontcourt rebounds and fast downs ate his shaking.
Originally, Clay's peak defense was good, relying on rigorous no-ball + accurate single defensive position to make up for the not excellent lateral movement - in terms of biting steps, Iguodala was far above him - but now there are many dispositions, and the movement can't keep up.
Poole's defense then don't talk about it... As said the other day, Poole's center of gravity habit is very strange, and when attacking, the center of gravity does not go down, and he relies on bending over, and many mistakes come from this stooping habit; The center of gravity on the defensive end floated high as a walk, "Why don't you bend your knees when defending?" ”
In the second quarter today, when he retreated, he stood on a stake, was swung over, and his offensive throws were smashed into the lower edge of the basket.
In the fourth quarter, Curry scored 5 consecutive points to chase the gap by 8 points, Monk also made a layup, and Poole dribbled half-court by Fox; Then he lost another free throw.
Curry chased another three-pointer to 10 points, and the next round, Fox called Murray to cover:
Wiggins was carried by Murray, Poole did not change defense, just stuck to Murray, Wiggins could not cover and was shot by Fox from distance: 102-89.
After Curry chased the difference to 8 points, Fox made a breakthrough, Poole looked at Murray on the edge of the box, straightened up and stretched out, there was no defense, Fox scored 24th point, and the Kings led by another 10 points.
So Poole is not scary on 2-of-11 shooting — Murray is 5-of-17 — but something has to be done when you miss.
Murray interfered with 7 shots with 12 rebounds and kept helping Lyles and Sam fill in the box.
Poole was the only 0 rebound in the Warriors, interfering with 3 shots in 26 minutes — Payton Jr. interfered with 3 shots in 10 minutes.
So that's it: Coach Brown fights for life and death, All-Star centers don't play well and let the backup center support more, rookies can play 45 minutes in a life and death battle, no basket, enough to fight.
Coach Kerr didn't make any adjustments to the end: The Kings were desperately speeding, and the Warriors' side of Moody and Kuminga — especially since Moody had proven that he could keep up with the Kings — were still not going well.
In the end, the side that asked to change the bloody nature won it.
And:
Poole received his sixth block in six playoff games today, first on the team.
Of course, Jimmy Butler in the East has been hit by 8 caps in five games - but what kind of bloodiness Jimmy is, what defense he faces, he played 9 2+1 in five games;
As mentioned earlier, Poole is fourth in the league in total turnovers this season.
And: He was the Warriors' cover during the regular season.
Of the 16 playoff teams in the East and West, the player with the most regular-season covers, I screened manually, and Poole should be seventh — ahead of Giannis, Embiid, Jaylen, Barrett, Morant and Trae Young.
Think about what frequency those few raiders attacked, what defenses they faced...
Failure to throw may be a matter of level, and young people are in pain. Murray also shot 5 of 17 today, and it's okay: young people are slowly growing up, and they are willing to fight.
Being covered may be because of recklessness, or it may be because of fighting bravely; Most mistakes may be due to recklessness, or they may be due to the weight of the ball; There are many covers + mistakes, it may be that the ball quotient is not high enough and the vision is not wide enough, then at least you can try to fight on the defensive end: the center of gravity is lower, and the complement is more positive.
If the regular season shooting is unstable, the pass is unstable, the cover + mistakes are at the top, and the defense is still standing as a stake, relying on scratching to make up for the foot, then at least fight in the playoffs, right?
And now........................