Originally compiled from: The Ringer
Originally written by Rob Mahoney
原文标题：The Lakers Broke the Nuggets Offense, but They Can’t Count on Doing It Again
On the morning of May 19, Beijing time, the second game of the Western Conference Finals will be played, and the Lakers will continue to challenge the Nuggets on the road. Although the Lakers lost the first game, they allowed Hachimura to recover a lot of points by changing the alignment to allow Hachimura to defend Jokic, which was also regarded as the Lakers' next turnaround. However, can the Lakers really turn over with this trick, which is not new? Not necessarily, because Jokic and the Nuggets have a lot of tricks to break the game.
Lakers' tactical adjustments
Less than 6 minutes before the end of Game One, the Lakers were suspended and Hamm had to reconsider one of the most important decisions of the series: Who would defend Jokic?
For most of this game, Jokic was defended by Anthony Davis, probably the best defender in the world. But the data shows that when Davis defended Jokic, the Nuggets scored a whopping 1.45 points per round in 55 rounds, shooting 66 percent from the field.
The Lakers needed to make adjustments, and Hamm knew that guarding Jokic was an impossible task, and he gave that task to Hachimura. Hamm made the adjustment: "I want Davis to leave the front line of defense [to assist in the back], and I want Hachimura to be able to align Jokic and dispatch him more left and right." ”
The Nuggets scored just six points in 10 rounds against Jokic in eight villages, their previously unbridled offense collapsed, Hachimura against Jokic, Davis can let Aaron Gordon assist defense, and the playoff block king can remain in a very threatening position to track every attack of the Nuggets.
In the first game, the Lakers' tactical adjustments worked, although not enough for them to win the game, although LeBron James helped the Lakers chase only 3 points by naming Jamal Murray.
It seemed like the Nuggets had good reason to worry that they would get into trouble next, and Mike Malone said after the first game: "They just freed Davis and let him guard the box, make the box look very crowded, and we executed better." ”
What's the Nuggets problem?
Today, the Nuggets arranged a video analysis meeting to study how to crack the Lakers' tactics. Malone said: "A lot of focus is on the Lakers taking eight bases against Jokic, as if we haven't seen this kind of trick before. ”
The Nuggets have long seen this type of defensive tactic, playing the Warriors last year, and the Warriors pitted others against Jokic and Draymond Green in charge of the sweep. In the regular season Nuggets and 76ers this season, the 76ers changed positions in the second half, with Tucker versus Jokic and Embiid in charge of the sweep. Including playing the Timberwolves in the first round, the Timberwolves also used a similar strategy, freeing Gobert to assist in defense.
In the playoffs, there were tactical changes that could change the entire course of the series, but some tactical changes seemed devastating at the time, but they were not unsolvable, and the Lakers' tactical adjustments were closer to the latter.
After the Lakers made a change in the first game, the risk was that the Hachimura base was overexposed in front of Jokic, the Nuggets' offense stalled, sometimes overthinking, Jokic missed several scoring opportunities, and some rounds were reluctant, and Davis squatted in the box to disrupt the Nuggets' offensive rhythm.
The Lakers studied the footage today, the Nuggets also studied the video, and they'll find a way to open up space further.
For example, this round, Gordon's placement in the "dunk zone" did nothing to help the Nuggets, and Davis could let him go to help defend Jokic. Murray knew Jokic could face a pocket, but he was so close to Jokic that he couldn't help Jokic create singles opportunities. When Jokic plays against Hachimura, if the other Nuggets players stand still, at least they have to help Jokic open up space. If they move, they have to know where they should go.
In this round, Murray did not complete the connection with Jokic when blocking, he should have slowed down to play and dribbled to find opportunities, but he chose to appear first to shoot after the shot.
Hachimura is not only likely to be blasted by Jokic on low defense, don't forget that he's also a bad defensive defender.
In the first game, the Nuggets kept Jokic on the high bench and the hitter gave the shooter an open shot. Like this round, Jokic did not choose to create a three-point opportunity for Pope and Porter Jr., but chose to break through by himself, and was covered by Davis, who assisted in the defense. These are offensive options that the Nuggets can optimize later.
The Nuggets are ready to fight back
When Davis plays more of a co-defender, his defensive deterrence is on full display. However, the Nuggets don't think this defensive strategy is rare.
Jokic said after the first game: "We've seen it before, we've seen it against the Timberwolves, we've seen it in the middle of the season. It's just that I had a couple of misses today, and I missed a shot. I don't think this defensive routine surprises me, I think we can crack it, we cracked it last time, I forget when, anyway, it was when they sacrificed this defensive routine to us. ”
The Lakers may start Hachimura in the next game, especially after their small lineup is blown up in the first game. However, for the Lakers, counting on Hachimura to defend Jokic is not a viable option. Hachimura is often distracted, he often loses focus, he gets into foul trouble, can't find the right person when switching defenses, and forgets the card position.
In the first game, Jokic only took a few minutes to figure out how to attack Davis, and he got into the attacking rhythm and almost bounced out. The same thing could happen in Game 2 against the Hachimura Base, except that he would attack differently than he did against Davis.
In the first game, Hachimura passed the first test against Jokic, he showed extraordinary composure, and his contribution cannot be ignored. But, after Game One, the Nuggets got everything they needed — video, familiarity and urgency, and they made adjustments to make sure those poor performances against Jokic didn't happen again.