Bombarded 47+18, ending a 4-game losing streak, James's thick eyebrows ushered in a big explosion, completely crazy, and the famous mouth poured cold water: it is not necessarily a good thing for the Lakers to win, and it is difficult for James to break out into the norm!
Text: Lao Kan Kanqiu
Editor|Lao Kan Kanqiu
The Lakers host the in-form Clippers, and the 39-year-old James is in unbeatable form. He finished with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists on 11-of-19 shooting, and scored a shocking dunk in the game, George was once again in the background, and at the same time, James stepped up again to help the team seal the win at a crucial moment in the final quarter of the game. At the same time, thick eyebrows also performed well, cutting 22 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals, and together with James contributed 47 points and 18 rebounds, leading the Lakers to defeat the Clippers. This victory is significant for the Lakers, who not only completed a double against the Clippers this season, but also ended their four-game losing streak and the Lakers' first win of 2024.
Recently, the situation of these two teams can be described as very different. The Clippers, who were third from bottom in the Western Conference at the start of the season, are on a solid trajectory, winning 19 of their last 24 games and climbing all the way to fourth place in the West, just one step away from the top three. In contrast, the Lakers, after winning the mid-season championship, fell all the way down the rankings and were completely in trouble. The team's tactical system has also been widely questioned, and head coach Ham's coaching ability has been challenged. James, the team's core player, has repeatedly publicly criticized the team's performance, which has made the atmosphere of the team extremely depressing. Before the game, many media and fans believed that there was no suspense in this game and that the Clippers would win comfortably.
However, the process and result of the game was a big surprise. The Lakers showed a strong team spirit as they battled the Clippers until the final minute to win 106-103. This victory is indeed significant for the Lakers, who have finally shaken off the shadow of a losing streak and ushered in a hearty victory that has not been seen for a long time.
However, despite the Lakers' victory in this game, the outside world's perception of them has not changed much. Many media still look down on the Lakers, and even a well-known commentator poured cold water directly after the game, saying: "The Lakers winning is not necessarily a good thing, because the team still hasn't solved some fundamental problems. In addition, head coach Ham's tactics have not changed substantially, and the Lakers only relied on the extraordinary play of James and Bushy Eyebrows to win this game, but this does not mean that they have found a stable form. More importantly, James' explosiveness is hard to become the norm, and the Lakers need to focus on and protect his physical strength in order to perform at his best in the playoffs. ”
Indeed, as O'Neal put it: " The Lakers can't always rely on James and Bushy Eyebrows to play well, and other role players need to step up if they want to win a championship. In this game, in terms of statistics, James scored 25 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, Bushy also had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 3 steals, while Prince and Russell each contributed 13 points. The Lakers can still win the game, or rely on the explosiveness of the Zhan Mei combination, and the role players are still not stable enough, which is indeed a little worrying.
In addition to Zhan Mei's outstanding performance, there is another important factor for the Lakers to win this game, which is the extremely aggressive defense. Especially against Xiaoka and Harden, the Lakers' forward team was able to seamlessly connect and exert defensive pressure, successfully choking the two core players of the Clippers. This seamless defense made it difficult for the Clippers to break through the Lakers' defense, and it was difficult for the Clippers to play hard with Harden, which was a key part of the Lakers' victory.
In fact, the problems that the Lakers are currently facing have not been fundamentally solved, although they won the game, but the team's three-point shooting was only 11 of 29, and the shooting rate was only 37.9%, which is still unqualified, in addition, only 8 of the Lakers' 40 rebounds were frontcourt rebounds, which shows that three-point shooting and rebounding are still the Lakers' most fatal shortcomings, and these problems have continued all season. If the Lakers want to go far this season, they will have to improve on their three-point shooting and rebounding. On top of that, Lakers head coach Darvin Darvin Darvin Ham's coaching ability has been questioned, and his failure to make effective adjustments in the game has made the team very passive at some point. Ham's inaction is also one of the problems the Lakers are currently facing.
A win in this game can indeed mask some problems, but is it really a good thing for the Lakers?