Lead:
On the morning of January 10, Beijing time, the Lakers finished halftime, and the current score is 51-53, temporarily behind the Raptors. The Lakers' James and Anthony Davis team-up didn't quite offset the team's weakness on the outside. While the two superstars played well in the game and Anthony Davis had 19 points, five rebounds and four assists in the half, the rest of the Lakers were far from providing them with enough support at halftime. Let's take a closer look at the performance of the Lakers players in this game.
Subject:
In the first half, LeBron James played mediocre, scoring a total of five points, grabbing three rebounds and dishing out seven assists. Anthony Davis, on the other hand, showed great individual quality, contributing 19 points, five rebounds and four assists. Originally, James created offensive opportunities for Anthony Davis with frequent passes, setting a good record of leading the first quarter, but unfortunately it could not be maintained until the end.
However, the rest of the Lakers' players were worrisome, hitting just one of 10 shots from beyond the three-point line in the half, making it difficult for the Lakers to create effective scoring opportunities on the three-point road. Rivers, the Lakers' starting point guard, scored just four points on 0-of-4 three-pointers and 2-of-7 shooting in the half, Ryddle scored 1-of-4 three-pointers and 5-of-5 from 2-of-5 shooting, and Prince, the team's most reliable three-pointer, scored 0-of-2 three-pointers and just three points on 1-of-3 shooting.
In this situation, the Raptors began to defend with all their might, shrinking the interior and adopting a tight joint defense strategy to try to stop James and Anthony Davis from killing on the inside, which forced the Lakers to rely on accurate shooting from the outside, but the Lakers' shooters did not respond. James also tried to bring the game to a climax with his own breakaways. He assisted Anthony Davis in the second quarter to break through the Raptors' defense, and then scored on a strong driving layup. He then threw an extremely rare long-range three-pointer that not only created a new advantage for the team, but also reinvigorated the team's morale. But in the end, the wonderful performances of James and Davis could not stop the decline of the Lakers, and the Raptors successfully achieved a comeback. The poor performance of these three shooters in the first half was undoubtedly a big reason for the Lakers' reversal.
Looking ahead, the Lakers will have to catch up in the second half. If they can't improve on the poor performance of their three shooters from beyond the three-point line, then they will struggle to win in the end and win this tense and intense game.