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Hamm half-court trial and error + half-court error correction What "gram gold" techniques have been practiced

Hamm half-court trial and error + half-court error correction What "gram gold" techniques have been practiced

In Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers lost 126-132 to the Nuggets on the road, trailing 1-0. The Lakers trailed by up to 21 points, but in the second half, the Lakers made adjustments to catch up with the score and saw hope of a turnaround.

Hamm half-court trial and error + half-court error correction What "gram gold" techniques have been practiced

In this game, the Lakers in the first and second halves were completely different, and coach Hamm tried and made crazy mistakes in the first half, but the second half was crazy correction. The Lakers lost, but given the Lakers' short break and away games, losing on the road is nothing. At least, the Lakers drew a few conclusions through trial and error in the first half and correction in the second half, which has some guiding significance for their next turnover.

The back three can be used but not the opening

In the preview before the series, my view of the Lakers' starting five is to let Hachimura replace Vanderbilt to start, let James and Hachimura take over the single defense against Jokic from the beginning, and let Davis take over the defense against Aaron Gordon. The essence of this idea is to maximize Davis' defensive power at the risk of James falling into a physical crisis and the Lakers' two major forwards being swallowed alive by Jokic.

Hamm half-court trial and error + half-court error correction What "gram gold" techniques have been practiced

However, Hamm apparently took this move as a back-up and did not intend to take it out in the opening game, and he also said before the game that the opening game would let Davis defend Jokic, which proved not to be a smoke bomb. It was nothing to let Davis defend Jokic, the point is that Hamm chose to continue the starting five of Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, and Schroeder replaced Vanderbilt with a back three.

When the Lakers insist on the original three forwards + two guards to start, Porter Jr.'s alignment is difficult to do, and his height has a huge advantage. The Lakers removed one forward to sacrifice two forwards + three guards, and now the Lakers have another disadvantageous position.

I can understand Hamm's intentions, Vanderbilt's problem dragging space is too obvious, he wants to have one more ball point to target the Nuggets' defensive weaknesses, he wants to speed up and fight back. However, the opening trend did not advance towards Hamm's vision at all, but in the opposite direction -

The Lakers' offense couldn't open the situation, and it was exploded by the Nuggets' counterattack. Many people take it for granted that the Nuggets can't play a lot of counterattack because of Jokic's presence, but in fact, the Nuggets average only 0.4 points less than the Lakers in fast-break points per game. The Lakers picked up speed on the three guards, but the speed did not fight the Nuggets, and Jokic was extremely fast with the ball.

The Lakers' rebound was exploded, visible to the naked eye, some balls are not grabbed by the Lakers, some balls are probability problems, the ball falls into the hands of Nuggets players, which is no way. But at the end of the day, it's because, after Davis defended out, the people in the Lakers were too short.

The Lakers were ravaged by Porter Jr.'s dry pull, and Porter Jr. entered the offensive rhythm in the opening game.

After this game, Hamm should understand that the back three are not unusable, but as in the past, when it comes to scoring. Playing Warriors, three guards are very useful. But playing the Nuggets, the opening stage is certainly not available, and the rotation time can be used selectively when Braun, Jeff Green, Pope, and Brown are on the floor at the same time. In the second half, Hamm basically abandoned Russell and put more three-forwards, and the Lakers' rebounding control improved.

James has become the key to the series

Before the series, the key to this round of the series was Davis vs. Jokic, from the first game, Davis vs. Jokic fell down, if the Lakers want to turn the tide, then James has to suppress the Nuggets second-in-command Murray in performance.

In Game 1, Murray scored 31 points, and his offensive efficiency was extremely high. Murray has a height advantage against Schroder's defense, and Russell's one-man defense ability is completely unable to prevent Murray. Many people will wonder, Reeves can keep up with Curry and Thompson, why can't he stick Murray? The root cause lies in the difference in the quality of cover between the Nuggets cover man and the Warriors cover man, to be precise, Jokic's cover, the huge body sets up a natural barrier for the guard, and we have seen too many times the Lakers responsible for the pursuit of the player is firmly blocked, helpless to give up the picture.

Hamm half-court trial and error + half-court error correction What "gram gold" techniques have been practiced

If they can't stop Murray, the Lakers have to find a way to play back, Russell is not in good shape today, Ham's strategy is to let James try to name Murray, and Hachimura has also been ordered a few times but not frequently. Many of James' 26 points came on Murray's head, and Murray received five fouls. The Nuggets switched defenses too easily, which exposed Murray to James. Reeves' consecutive three-point shoots in the fourth quarter were essentially the Nuggets' other players to shrink to help Murray defend James.

In the next game, Malone will definitely do everything he can to protect Murray, and James will need to deal with it at this time. From the effect of Gordon against James, Gordon's height, reach and athleticism have caused him some trouble, James will inevitably bypass Gordon, name Pope and Murray as much as possible, the blocking between him and the Lakers guard will be more changeable, how will Malone adjust his strategy?

Davis' counterpoint selection

As mentioned earlier, in theory, the best way to suppress Jokic and the Nuggets is to have other players against Jokic, with Davis in charge of assisting the defense, but Hamm is clearly worried about Jokic blowing up the opposition. The problem is that Davis also defended Jokic in the opening game, and the effect was also not good, and the two of them were shot more than 60% by Jokic in the regular season. Since Davis can't prevent it from single defense, and is also pinned down to the mid-range resulting in the Lakers losing various rebounds under the basket, it is better to directly let others take over the task of opposing Jokic, let Davis assist in defense, and let Davis defend alone if necessary.

Hamm half-court trial and error + half-court error correction What "gram gold" techniques have been practiced

Hachimura was against Jokic, who shot 0 of 2 and had two turnovers. Why did the eight village bases limit Jokic in the fourth quarter? It's not how strong the Hachimura defense is, it's Jokic who is afraid of Davis behind him. Of course, there is also a problem that Jokic himself thinks too much, in fact, with his height and projection, he can completely ignore the defense of Hachimura.

Hamm will certainly continue this defensive line of thought in the next game, which means that Hachimura may start and start more by going around the front defense and improving the confrontation to entangle Jokic, with Davis sitting behind him. Gordon is shooting 38 percent from three-point range this season, but he's averaging less than one three-point shot per game, which can be put on the ground, and the Lakers should be steadfast in their conviction.

brief summary

In the first game, the key points were height, rebounding, counterattack, defensive alignment and mismatching. Through trial and error in the first half and correction in the second half, the Lakers found some weapons to defeat the enemy, and these weapons can be used in the next game.

Hamm didn't wait until the second game to make adjustments, which also gave Malone the opportunity to find a change based on the Lakers' second-half adjustments between games, but anyway, after the Lakers did the elimination method, the next game can be played with more targeting.

One point of confusion for Hamm was the trade-off between Russell and Schroder, Russell languished in the first game and was dropped later, and the Nuggets did a good job defending him. However, Russell still has room to bounce back, after all, he is still one of the few players in the Lakers' backcourt who can use mid-range shots and three-point shots to intimidate Jokic. Will Russell play as a substitute in the next game, or will he continue to give him a chance? Ham had to make a decision.

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