In the NBA regular season that ended earlier, the Lakers defeated the Clippers 106-103.
One, the current situation of the Lakers is basically unsolvable.
After losing to the Grizzlies at home, the Lakers finished 11th in the West with a 17-19 record and fell out of the play-in zone.
The Lakers, a traffic team, are once again facing almost the same awkward situation as last season.
Last season's Lakers, Pelinka turned the tide with a series of trades, and finally reached the Western Conference Finals.
This season's Lakers, this miracle is actually completely impossible, because the current situation of the Lakers is basically unsolvable.
First, James is 39 years old, and his offensive ability has obviously decreased exponentially, and his defensive willingness and ability have all been greatly reduced.
Second, James occupies a lot of salary space and locker room power, and the Lakers are unlikely to trade James for market reasons.
Third, James Mei is on the team, and the Lakers are unlikely to give other players long big contracts, which will be the case for the next three years, and James is still the team's No. 1 outside attack point.
Fourth, because of the point guard problem, Ham was forced to involve James in possession, which led to James' attrition becoming more and more serious, and a vicious circle was formed again.
There is no doubt that Pelinka still has the option to trade, but James' decline makes it unlikely that the Lakers will replicate last season's miracle of changing their fate, especially in the West this season, everything can no longer be described as wild.
Second, the low scoring in the first half is an even bigger crisis for the Lakers.
In the last game, the Clippers beat the Pelicans lightly, and the main players clocked out in all three quarters, and the Big Three had no excuse to take a rotation.
The Lakers, on the other hand, have suffered their second four-game losing streak after losing to the Grizzlies in the midseason.
The Lakers are all in turmoil.
The starting lineup, the list of the two teams has not changed, and the only good thing for the Lakers is Russell's comeback, and this good thing is destined to not be good in front of the Clippers' full main force.
Because the current Russell has set his sights on the next family, no matter who this next family is, Russell understands very well that no matter how well he plays, he will not stay long in the Lakers.
The game started at a slow pace, but it was a doomed awkward situation for the Lakers, who were all about rebounding, transition, and speed, and they couldn't afford to let Harden control the tempo comfortably.
Because there is no stable three-point output, what the Lakers are most afraid of is joint defense.
In the first half of today, although the Lakers bit the score 49:53, the Clippers simply used the joint defense to deal with the Lakers, and they did not exert any force at all.
Low scoring, in fact, is a bigger crisis for the Lakers, because when the Lakers can't play the switch, and the three-point shot is tested by the joint defense, the Lakers do have a bit of a feeling that the United States plays Germany or Canada in the Men's Basketball World Cup.
Third, the Clippers' loss is what everyone expects.
The biggest bad news for the Lakers in the first half today was Zubac's success.
Obviously, in the face of the Clippers' complete interior combination, the thick eyebrows and hands are difficult to beat the wolves, and the Lakers' strongest point is destined to be over-consumed.
The 10 turnovers in the half made the Lakers' point guard problem magnified again, and Russell's performance strengthened the Lakers' belief in trading.
The protagonists of the third quarter belong to James, the home whistle and Wei Shao, without the combined force of the three, the Lakers cannot overtake the score.
In the fourth quarter of the game, Wei Shao was still undercover, and Russell's three-pointer gave the Lakers a double-digit advantage.
Today's performance of the Clippers Big Four in the first three and a half quarters is that they didn't wake up.
Powell's consecutive three-pointers erased the Lakers' 10-point advantage in an instant.
But the Clippers' successive mistakes from players to coaches have caused them to miss consecutive opportunities to overtake.
Prince's three-pointer pushed the Clippers to the brink, James' basket-rushing score made the Lakers reap the game, and Harden's three-pointer was useless.
James had 25 points and 7 assists, and today was actually so-so.
Thick eyebrows 22 points and 10 rebounds, tired today.
Russell had 13 points and six assists, in the right place at the right time.
Zubac had 22 points and 19 rebounds, the best for the Clippers.
15 points for the small card, failing.
Harden had 15 points and nine assists and was not excited today.
George scored 22 points and was not confident today.
Today's loss of the Clippers is, on the one hand, the poor state of the team's Big Four, especially the small card, and on the other hand, it is true that everyone from top to bottom needs the Lakers to win.
The Lakers' end of the losing streak illustrates what it means to be escorted by professional sports and big-market teams.
The cooperation of the Clippers illustrates that there is a kind of love called letting go.