Lakers double happiness: 51 points in a single quarter to beat the Pelicans, Dinwiddie is about to join

When the Lakers were mired in a transfer vortex and injury spree in January, the author once said:

"Regardless of whether there is a change in the final personnel, the Lakers will be significantly stronger after the trade deadline (February 9). ”

For no other reason, the team that Pelinka saved for the Lakers last offseason has good strength in itself, coupled with Zhan Mei's unexpected health this season, the strength on paper is still at the top level of the West.

However, since winning the mid-season title in early December, trade doubts have haunted most players.

With the exception of James and Vanderbilt, who couldn't be traded this season, everyone has actually lived a life of fear for the past two months.

Among them, Russell and Hachimura are representatives, and many times the ups and downs of form have little to do with the opponent and the schedule.

One day, the transaction rumors fabricated by the self-media themselves may make them, the "senior workers", suddenly lose their hearts and have no intention of fighting.

So when February 9 passed, the Lakers unexpectedly did not move, and after all the players stayed on the team, the stones in everyone's hearts fell, and they could finally focus on the game.

Yesterday's game against the Nuggets is the best example of this, as the Lakers, who are missing Vanderbilt, Reddish and Vincent, face their old enemies who swept them last season and are missing only Pope. It fought until the last two minutes, although he was once again taken away by Jamal Murray. But the reuse of big-sized players in the same position, such as Christie and Hayes, has had good results.

And Hachimura, who finally unloaded the burden, although he only scored 2 points and 4 boards, he still continued the good effect of the Western Conference Finals when he was the official Jokic, and also strengthened the Lakers' determination to keep him, playing 37 minutes in the game.

In the second game of this back-to-back game against the Pelicans, who are direct competitors in the West and are now ranked seventh, the Los Angeles Lakers finally showed their long-lost toughness.

The Lakers have played back-to-back six times before this season, including a 2-4 record in Game 2, winning the Orlando Magic and the Spurs at the bottom of the West at the beginning of the season.

The aging of the core and the inadequacy of the lineup are destined to cause this "old team" to decline seriously in terms of combat effectiveness when fighting continuously.

But today's Lakers don't seem to be affected by the 48-minute battle with the Nuggets yesterday, facing the Pelicans, who are young and strong, Zion, and Yingge, two young stars, and played a rare smooth offense.

The starting point of this game is still Zhan Mei Lila + Hachimura, this lineup is the limit of the Lakers' offensive level, all five people on the court have the ability to dominate the ball and shoot from a distance, and the size and height of the front three are not at a loss.

The problem is still the defense of Reaves and Russell in the backcourt, especially against the Pelicans, who are also superior in size and have enough depth at the front, which is destined to be a game where the Lakers need to use offense to solve problems.

And after the start, the two teams did find their own support on the offensive end.

The Pelicans are constantly looking for outside misalignments, and Zion and Ingram are constantly running over Reaves and Russell's defenses to storm the basket.

And the Lakers' multi-person puncture on the outside combined with the end of the thick eyebrows also embarrassed the Pelicans' big Walan on the inside.

Both quickly accumulated two fouls, with Ham letting Thick Eyebrows stay on the court, and having to leave the court for blocking Yingge's long throw in the first quarter for three fouls.

Compared with the close hand-to-hand combat in the midseason, the two teams played extremely unrestrained in this game, and the end of the thick eyebrows did not affect the firepower of the Lakers, and the Lakers were still able to find the weakness of the Pelicans on the defensive end under the leadership of James, although Yingge and Zion scored 14 and 16 points respectively in the first quarter, but the Lakers' firepower was also surging, and they only fell behind 36-39 in the first quarter.

And in the second quarter, the protagonist of the game, D'Angelo Russell, stepped up.

As the trade deadline passed, the trade rumors that had been hovering over him for nearly three months finally dispelled. Coupled with the last game against the Nuggets, Russell is fully prepared both physically and mentally today.

The 5 points and 2 assists in the first quarter were just a small test, and in the second quarter, when he and James took Prince, Hachimura, and Hayes on the court, he finally showed terrifying firepower.

Just one minute into the second quarter, he opened the long-range shot with a step-back three-pointer, then went on to hit two more three-pointers, though the Pelicans responded on the offensive end.

But Russell made McCollum foul McCollum and hit both free throws, and then played Zion to complete the extreme drift three-pointer to stop the Pelicans 52-47.

In 1 minute and 44 seconds, he scored 14 points in a row, and made four of the three points, completely turning the tide of the battle.

After the timeout, the Pelicans began to wrap up Russell, who was on fire with both hands, which gave others another chance, Hachimura scored five consecutive points with an inside and one outside, and LeBron completed the takeover by first breaking through to make free throws, and then hitting two consecutive three-pointers in the bottom right corner to allow the Lakers to reverse the margin to double digits (65-55), and the game was just over a quarter and a half!

After that, Reaves continued the fire, scoring 12 points as the Pelicans chased the points, and the Lakers finally went on an 87-74 high score at halftime.

scored 51 points in a single quarter, creating the second terror output in team history.

In the second half, the Pelicans fought back, with three consecutive three-pointers from Ingram, Jones and McCollum to cut the deficit to single digits. As a veteran of the Lakers, Yingge's mid-range shot once returned to 94-98. The Lakers seem to be facing another "three-quarter collapse" encounter.

But Zhan Mei's streak of kills allowed the Lakers to stabilize their position, and the Pelicans accumulated four fouls in a single quarter, causing the defensive intensity to decline. James assisted Hayes to eat cake in a row, and Russell hit two more three-pointers before the end of the quarter to bring the difference back to 115-102 and withstand the Pelicans' last wave of rebound.

In the fourth quarter, Zhan Meilila was still steady on the offensive end to drive firepower and take turns to win, although today's defensive end could not "freeze" Zion and Yingge like in the midseason, but the fluency on the offensive end gave the Lakers the confidence to control the game steadily.

The Lakers kept the margin at double digits, and with two and a half minutes remaining, the Lakers had a 132-117 lead, and the two sides of Mingjin closed the main force to replace the main team, and finally the Lakers took the Pelicans away with an offensive storm at 139-122 at home.

He shot 14 of 31 three-pointers from the field, with a shooting rate of 45.2%, and all five starters scored 20+. Russell hit nine three-pointers to score 30 points and 5 assists, and Bush Brow had 20 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Reaves scored 27 points and 4 assists, LeBron easily commanded traffic with 21 points and 14 assists, and Hachimura also contributed 21 points.

The Lakers, who are over trade rumors and have no distractions, are so powerful that people feel strange.

At the same time, this does not mean the end of the team's recruitment, and there are still a large number of players in the league who are facing buyouts to "treasure and find".

During today's game, Dinwiddie, who had just been traded to the Raptors, did it directly with general manager Pelinka. In order to save him more than 1 million in easy bonuses, the Raptors have decided to buy him out, and Dinwiddie is choosing between the Lakers and the Mavericks.

If we can get this big-hearted guard who is good at "catching the pot", the Lakers' backcourt problems will be further solved.

Trading Russell and Murray for one may be confusing, but if you can "prostitute" Dinwiddie, it will be 100% sure.

Before the Indiana All-Star, the Lakers still have two games, Vs Pistons (home) and Jazz (away), and they have officially begun to sprint to the playoffs, and there is no reason for them to make the mistakes they made again.