The Lakers triumvirate broke out, James + thick eyebrows + Russell, broke out together, and easily defeated the Cavaliers at home. The Cavaliers' two-guard pair Garland and Mitchell didn't play well, especially Mitchell, who was distracted by the Lakers guard group. At the end of the game, the Lakers defeated the Cavaliers 116-97 and scored 19 points. After beating the Nets, Raptors, Wizards, and Cavaliers in a row, the Lakers won four consecutive victories, and the record also surpassed the Kings and jumped to eighth place in the West.
The Lakers have started high and gone low this year, with a high-profile performance during the midseason tournament, successfully winning the championship, and then sinking all the way, and only recently started to explode. The biggest problem of the Lakers this year is that the stability is not enough, the ability of James and Davis, needless to say, is very strong, and several guards, Rivers and Russell, are quite capable of playing, each with its own characteristics, Hachimura has a strong ability to displace, young and strong, Prince is a qualified 3D player, and the Lakers added Dinwiddie in the middle of the season, a tall guard, is also an offensive starting point, and the defense is also strong, and the configuration is very balanced. And the Lakers also have a Finals guard Vincent who didn't play, he has been recovering from injuries before, and now he has just returned.
So, in terms of strength on paper, the Lakers are really strong, and it's really very difficult for a team to beat the Lakers four times in a series. However, the stability of the Lakers is really not enough, Lao Zhan is old, and the thick eyebrows have some nemesis, such as Sabonis, such as Jokic, and the body of the thick eyebrows is not completely healthy. However, in this game, facing the Cavaliers, the Lakers still showed dominance. James finished with 24 points, 5 rebounds and 12 assists on 10-of-18 shooting, but also had 5 turnovers, which were a bit too much. Davis scored 22 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 6 blocks and 0 turnovers on 7-of-11 shooting! Davis's performance in this game was perfect, and the 6 blocks actually covered a little doubtful life.
In addition, Russell also exploded today, he shot 11 of 17, 6 of 12 three-pointers, and scored a game-high 28 points, plus 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, but also had 6 turnovers. Russell is the kind of hand that no one can do, but if the hand is not good, it will drag down the team's players, because his defense is really poor. In this game, the Lakers' Big Three combined for 74 points, and the offensive firepower is absolutely no problem, and Davis's defense can also be called a pillar of optimism, very domineering. In addition to these three people, Prince, a 3-and-D player who came off the bench for the Lakers, also played well this game, shooting 7 of 9 and 4 of 5 three-pointers, scoring 18 points, and the team won by 26 points when he was on the court, ranking first in the team in plus/minus!
28 points + 24 points + 22 points! The Lakers won four consecutive victories, overtaking the Kings to enter the top 8, and there were unexpected surprises! As for the Cavaliers, although they are ranked third in the East, their absolute strength is not very strong. In this game, Mitchell was entangled by Vincent, Rivers, and Vincent, which gave him a lot of headaches. Mitchell finished with just 10 points, seven assists and five turnovers on 4-of-13 shooting. Garland was also average, scoring 26 points on 11-of-25 shooting. The Cavaliers are obviously still on fire now, they met the Knicks in the first round last year, losing to the fifth in the fourth place, and they don't seem to be getting stronger this year, especially Mitchell, who is easy to get on when it comes to key games, and this problem has not changed.
Just like today, the Lakers used Vincent to defend him, Vincent squeezed through the cover many times to defend him, pestering him very uncomfortable, but he still played all the way to the black, and finally made a difficult shot, and couldn't shoot at all. Therefore, from this point of view, although Vincent's offense has not yet opened, there is no score in this game with 2 shots and 0, but his defense is commendable, netizens joked, after all, it is the draft that the Heat came out of, he knows very well how to defend, how to seize the opportunity, the training intensity in the Heat is higher than the intensity of this game, Vincent of course can not be broken by Mitchell casually. So, the Lakers reaped surprises, Vincent's tough defense, coupled with Dinwiddie's defense, the Lakers' guard line is finally no longer a broken drum.