NBA regular season, a key matchup, live broadcast in the United States, Lakers vs. Thunder! The Lakers have lost four consecutive games before the game, ranking ninth in the West, which makes them have to change formations, Van der Biao replaces Russell as the starter, the purpose is to improve defense, anyway, the offense is like that, then use defense to defeat the opponent. Strong dialogue, just compete in defense. Regardless of the outcome, being willing to change is a good thing.
The Thunder have been doing well this season, taking their youth by storm and currently sitting second in the West with three straight wins, ending the Clippers' nine-game winning streak in their last game. In this game against Los Angeles, unfortunately Keady was absent due to injury, which must have an impact on the team, plus the opponent changed formations, so it is not so easy to continue the pace of victory. Lakers starters: James, Reddish, Prince, Vanderbilt, Davis!
The Lakers took the lead in attacking, James didn't make a layup, Davis scored a layup, Chet threw an easy shot, Prince hit both free throws, and Alexander scored with a thunderbolt. The Lakers didn't have a three-pointer, and Dort countered and scored. Davis was mid-range, Prince came with a three-pointer, Jalen was open for a three-pointer, and the score was equalized. Davis crashed away from Chet and scored, and Chet threw a throw to get back into the field. Alexander mid-distance, James killed, the score alternately rose, very close.
The Lakers took the lead in substitution adjustment, Hachimura came up and hit a three-point shot, James attacked the basket, and the Thunder continued to hit iron on the outside, and the score fell behind. Reaves misses the chance and Chet counters to score. James dunked one, Alexander broke through, James copied and pasted, Wallace made three points in the corner, Williams continued to fire, and the Thunder bit the score. James made a pass error, Wallace chased down a three-pointer, and Reaves countered to score. Alexander forced Reeves to equalise. Hachimura mid-distance, Wallace still missed the empty three-point shot, Hachimura hit the three-point re-hit, the hand was hot, and the Lakers pulled away again.
Wallace finally hit a three-pointer, Alexander stepped back on a jumper, and Joe's three-pointer responded with an 8-1 lead. Hachimura scored consecutive points to stabilize it, Bertans opened up three times, Jalen hit the whistle, and the Thunder 39-36 Lakers.
In the second quarter, Russell broke out, scoring 8 points in a row at the beginning, helping the team to overtake by himself, and the pressure on the bench was given. The Thunder fell into a scoring drought, were blocked in a row, and were beaten 13-3. Chet turned around and scored a layup, big hat James, and then domineering dunk, the whole court boiled, and the score caught up. Jalen pressed the whistle again, James made three points in the bottom corner, Jalen stepped back for three points, Russell made free throws, and the Lakers kept it pressing.
Alexander and Davis came back at the same time, but the Thunder missed consecutive three-pointers, which was very unstable, and the opportunities came out. The Lakers countered and converted, James' favorite rhythm, and the score opened again. After James went down, the Lakers' offense was no problem, and Hachimura's hand was too good to extend the lead. The Thunder's three-pointer was no, and Alexander's mid-range was inaccurate, and the margin reached double digits.
The Lakers' defense in the second quarter was very good, the shooting was accurate, Russell + Hachimura broke out, Zhan Mei played steadily, a bit of a midseason taste, and defense is still the key.