The Pelicans played the four major weaknesses of the Lakers, and the playoffs against the Nuggets were the key to three points
In today's play-off game between the Pelicans and the Lakers, relying on Russell's key three points and two free throws, the Lakers finally won 110-106. To be honest, this is the most unwise choice, the play-offs are a game to win or lose, the game between the Warriors and the Kings, I believe that more fans are optimistic about the Warriors, but the Warriors lost, so if they can go all out to win, the Lakers will inevitably dare not release the water.
Another reason is that the Lakers' goal is to impact the championship, as a championship team, what they have to do is to be invincible, not to be afraid of everyone, like this season's Bucks to pick opponents, it shows that they are afraid, such a team wants to compete for the championship is almost impossible, they just want to earn a little more ratings. The Lakers faced the Nuggets a total of 8 times this season plus last year's playoffs, and the result was 0-8, no matter how you look at it, it will be difficult for the Lakers to win the Nuggets.
And against the Pelicans, the two sides also played a playoff-level confrontation, the confrontation and defensive focus and execution of the two teams are very good, the Lakers have been played with many deficiencies in this game, and this may become the biggest obstacle for them to win the Nuggets, although everyone is not optimistic that the Lakers can defeat the Nuggets, but it is not without opportunities, let's talk about the weaknesses of the Lakers first, and then talk about the opportunity for them to win.
The biggest weakness of the Lakers is that they do not have a stable scoring core, seeing this, fans and friends may say, what are James and thick eyebrows? First of all, thick eyebrows must not have a stable scoring ability, there is no doubt about it, otherwise Lao Zhan would not have been able to give him the position of the first core in recent years. In this game, the thick eyebrows faced Wallan's interior guard, and as a result, he also wilted, scoring 20 points and 15 rebounds on 6-of-16 shooting.
Although James is very efficient in the regular season, it is difficult for him to play regular season performance and data in the playoffs in the face of high-intensity defense, this game he shot 6 of 20 from the field, 1 of 5 three-pointers got 23 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks, don't think this is his occasional inefficiency, in last year's playoffs James averaged 24.5 points per game, three-point shooting rate was only 26.4%, as for other players Shuila and Reaves are not up to the ability to compete with stars of Jokic's level at critical moments.
Then there is the loss in rebounding, not that the thick eyebrows do not work hard, he even won 6 frontcourt rebounds in this campaign, but the size disadvantage is too great, this season the thick eyebrows are not afraid of most of the centers, that is, they are afraid of the size and squatting position, he faces Jokic, Embiid and even said that Xiao Sa is very disadvantaged, because he can't better protect the rebounds, so the opponent got more opportunities for the second offense, the Pelicans won 10 offensive rebounds in this campaign, and the second offense got 11 points and rebounds and scored 50, all far more than the Lakers.
The third aspect is the choice of the outside, if the Lakers pair up with Xiaoli and Shuila, although the team's offensive space is better, and the ability to handle the ball is also better, but they have a problem, their defense is not good, how many points can they score, if the opponent has a top backcourt, they can even score more points on them, if Vincent and Dinwiddie are on the team, the defense of the two is indeed better, but their offense and the chemistry of their partner Zhan Mei are not so good.
The fourth aspect is physical fitness, James's physical fitness is obviously not good in the fourth quarter of this game, and in the high-intensity playoffs, his physical fitness will get worse and worse, and the thick eyebrows are because of the consumption of the tall inside line, as well as the defense of the outside line, so that he is also very consumed, and even increases the possibility of thick eyebrows being injured, through the perspective of this game, Zhan Mei may be difficult to hold on to 48 minutes of high-intensity games.
The Lakers' lack of a real center may be the key to all their problems, if the thick eyebrows play the sweeping 4 position at the No. 4 position, it can make the Lakers' defense stronger, and at the same time reduce his consumption, but the biggest problem for the Lakers now is that they don't have such a player, Hayes is also a small, fast center, let him carry Jokic, he is even more unbearable, but the Lakers are not without a chance to win them.
First of all, if the Lakers can open three-pointers, they will be very good, which has been proven before, as long as the team's shooters can shoot some three-pointers, then it will force Jokic to mention the line defense instead of crouching inside, if Jokic can pull out, then James has a lot of opportunities to impact the inside, and secondly, thick eyebrows can also reduce the physical confrontation with Jokic under the basket.
The Lakers were able to win this game thanks to their accurate three-point shooting, the Lakers shot 14 of 35 three-pointers in this game, with a shooting rate of up to 40%, and the lack of James won the Bucks game, the team shot 16 of 34 three-pointers, with a shooting rate of 47%, defeating the championship favorite Green Army, the team shot 19 of 36 three-pointers, with a shooting rate of 53%.