From being swept from the Western Conference finals to the midseason championship, the question marks left by the Nuggets are being straightened one by one
On May 23 this year, the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets 111-113 at home, losing 0-4 in the Western finals.
201 days later, they beat the Indiana Pacers 123-109 in Las Vegas to win the first mid-season Cup title in NBA history.
The 4-0, overly glaring score made many people ignore the rollercoaster changes that the Lakers made last season.
From the opening 2-10 and the 0.3% probability of making the playoffs, to the final seventh place in the West to enter the playoffs, all the way out of the Grizzlies and the defending champion Warriors, who were second in the West, and finally only lost to the Nuggets who were successful last season.
In four games, the Lakers lost by just 24 points in total.
In response, the Suns were chopped by 25 points in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals.
That Lakers team wasn't that far away from the Nuggets, but they were one step away from winning four games in a row.
Some people say that it was about the teacher's divine power from heaven, and in one fell swoop he took revenge on his thick eyebrows that killed him three years ago.
But looking at the four-round series in which Mr. Yoo won the championship, facing the Lakers was precisely the round in which he was most seriously committed and had the least oppositional advantage.
In the entire four games, Jokic averaged 27.8 points, 14.5 rebounds, 11.8 assists and 1.3 blocks per game, but in fact, the thick eyebrows on the opposite side also had 26.8 points, 14.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.8 blocks.
G1 thick eyebrows 40 points 10 boards, about the teacher 34 points, 21 boards and 14 assists,
G3 thick eyebrows 28 points and 18 boards, about the teacher 24 points, 6 boards and 8 assists.
Mr. Yoo is the core axis of the Nuggets, but the thick eyebrows are also the pillar of optimus for the Lakers.
It can be said that the winner takes all, Mr. Yoo defeated Thick Eyebrow, but the Lakers did not lose to Thick Eyebrow in that round of the series.
He averaged 32.3 points per game, shooting 52.7 percent from the field and 40.3 percent from three-point range.
31 points in the first game, 37 points in the second game, including 23 points in the fourth quarter,
The third game was again 37 points, including 30 points in the first half and 25 points in the fourth.
That's Jamal Murray's stats for the Western Conference.
Although it's a bit disappointing to say this now, the reason why the Lakers were swept by the Suns,
The core reason is precisely that the Lakers outside line led by LeBron can't withstand Jamal Murray's surging firepower at all.
Not only can't it be prevented, but it can't even explode each other.
This is also the first question mark left by the winner Nuggets to the loser Lakers:
If the playoffs run into each other again, who will deal with Jamal Murray?
As the Lakers get better this season, the only thing that frustrates fans is that Gabe Vincent, who spent a full midseason clause in the offseason, is still recovering from an injury, playing in just four games this season, contributing six points and three assists.
The Lakers spent 3 years and 33 million to sign him, so they let Schroder go to the Raptors, and Xiao Hei, who worked hard and was an iron man last season, only had a contract of 2 years and 25 million.
If the Lakers give Schroder for the same price, wouldn't it be better to keep him!
But Jamal Murray has told the Lakers how easy and enjoyable he will play against a Schroder-Russell-Reaves guard line. When he feels hot, even if the Lakers use the 2020 Western Conference Finals to let James defend him, they still can't suppress his surging firepower.
And at this year's finals,
When the Heat used Vincent, who has a more tonnage and more stable chassis, to play against Murray, the Mamba who killed all sides in the Western Conference fell back to averaging 21.4 points per game, shooting 45.1% from the field and 38.7% from three-point range.
Vincent may not have Schroeder's physical, solo team qualities.
But when facing a big guard with weight like Murray, he won't be beaten hard like Schroder, holding Murray's footsteps in his tracks, and the rest will be left to thick eyebrows and teammates.
What's more, the injury wave at the beginning of the season gave the Lakers a surprise harvest of Reddish, a perimeter defensive stalwart who has performed at the top of the season this season.
Last season, Mike Malone finally "scrapped" Vanderbilt with a misalignment + corner clearance, and Coach Ham ended up preferring to rotate six players rather than see Vanderbilt on the floor, and the Nuggets could defend four unscrupulously.
With the retention of Van der Biao this season, the Lakers have another Cam Reddish who can defend as well, while producing more three-point shots in the bottom corner, is more efficient, and is more daring to shoot.
When facing the Nuggets again, Coach Malone will have to think twice about adopting this aggressive defensive strategy.
And the Nuggets gave the Lakers the second big question mark:
What should you do when faced with a huge forward group?
Jokic at 2.11 meters, Porter Jr. at 2.08 meters, Gordon at 2.03 meters, plus Jeff Green Sr. at 2.03 meters, and Bruce Brown at 1.93 meters but 94 kilograms, this is the forward group that the Nuggets spent three years tailoring for Mr. Yoo.
Two beast forwards with outstanding size, excellent strength, and can fly away, plus the slick and spicy Green and the "bomb man" Brown with the size of a guard and a forward's style of play.
Not only can these four cooperate well with Teacher Yoo, but more importantly, they can all play against LeBron.
Throughout the series, James had to face the harassment of these four in turn, and it was difficult to use his size advantage to complete the mutual explosion of the position, but instead accelerated the consumption of his already small physical strength.
The 31 points in the first half and the nine points in the second half of the fourth game are the best epitome, and the last minute against Jamal Murray could not hit a single shot, precisely because LeBron had been exhausted in the previous game.
On the other hand, the size advantage of the Nuggets' core lineup is more obvious in front of the Lakers' "Zhan Mei + three guards".
Under the single-point explosion of Mr. Yoo's rebuke Fang Xuan and Murray, whether it is Porter, Gordon, Pope or Green and Brown on the bench, there have been highlight moments.
The Lakers' once extremely proud size difference in front of the Grizzlies and Warriors led to their own defeat in the end.
This is also the main reason why Coach Ham has reused his "old department" Prince this season.
Prince, who is 29 years old this year and is 1.98 meters tall, is the "old fritter 3D" who has been in the league for nine years, averaging 10.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 0.8 steals per game in his career, with a three-point shooting rate of 37.1%.
The best year of stats ('17-18) was 14.1 points and 38.5 percent three-point shooting.
He doesn't have the offensive touch of Russell and Reaves when they were in hot form, but it's also difficult to be eaten hard by a defender like Murray with his size advantage.
He doesn't have the domineering all-around defensive coverage of Vanderbilt, but he doesn't let opponents leave him in the corner to smoke and even break through with a ball.
He is a more balanced and stable being in every wayAfter the fiasco in the Western Conference finals, Coach Hamm needs to thank the presence of the team who can make up for the team, not seek merit, but not hold back.
With the Lakers gradually coming together, we can often see in recent games that Ham has only kept Reaves and Russell on the court, along with James, Prince and Reddish.
Compared to last season, the team lacks a ball-carrying point in the offense, but is more balanced on the defensive end and has more secure space projection.
In the case of Zhan Mei being a year older, the Lakers' ability to support the bottom is at ease in the face of the Pelicans and Pacers.
But in the playoffs, they may not have an advantage when facing the defending champion Nuggets, the Suns who have returned to the three-star position, and the Celtics, 76ers, and Bucks in the East.
At this time, tightening the fence and doing a good job of defense is the key to being invincible.
At the beginning of the season, when the injury wave and trade rumors were flying, the Lakers remained calm, and with the stable play of the two cores, Reddish, Christie, Wood and other newcomers stepped up to survive the most difficult stage.
Now, as the injured players return and try to win the mid-season cup, they also have to be rational. The Nuggets, Suns, and Timberwolves in the West, the Celtics, Bucks, and 76ers in the East are also likely to be reborn like the Lakers after surviving their own transformation pains.
Until they regain that title, they are the challengers after all.
For LeBron, who has won four championships and reached the finals ten times, he knows better than anyone:
The championship trophy is far from comparable to a mid-season winner.