On April 21, Beijing time, in the first round of the playoffs, the Lakers lost to the Nuggets 103-114 away, falling behind 0-1 in total. This is the Lakers' 9th consecutive defeat against the Nuggets, where did the Lakers lose in G1?
Defeat Factor 1: The Lakers' past shortcomings have reappeared
In the regular season this season, the Lakers' three-point shooting rate reached 37.7%, ranking 8th in the league. But against the Nuggets' G1, the Lakers' three-point problem reappeared. As the league's eighth-best team in limiting opponents' three-point shooting percentage, the Nuggets have deflated the Lakers' perimeter.
The Lakers shot 8-of-29 from three-point range and shot just 27.6 percent from the field. James still maintained a good touch from the outside, shooting 3-of-5 from three-point range, including a long-range three-pointer before halftime, but his teammates had a cold hand, totaling 5-of-24, and the worst was Russell, who shot 1-of-9 from three-point range.
The Nuggets weren't a team that emphasized three-point offense, but in this game, they made 15-of-42 three-pointers, seven more three-pointers than the Lakers.
Defeat 2: "Shuila" is also back
James played 40 minutes, got 27 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists, thick eyebrows played 44 minutes, 32 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks, Zhan Mei has tried his best, but Russell, as the third scoring point, pulled his hips again. "Water pull" is back.
In this game, Russell only made 6 of 20 shots, and 1 of 9 three-point shots, and only got 13 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Seeing a 30% shooting percentage and an 11.1% three-point shooting percentage, does it remind you of the "water pull" on the stage of the Western Conference finals last season?
In the four games of the Western Conference finals, Russell shot 32.3 percent from the field and 13.3 percent from three-point range, which was very poor, but the shooting percentage was still higher than he was today. This game was also the seventh game of Russell's playoff career in which he shot less than two percent from three-point range, and his team went 1-6 in these seven games.
It's not just Russell's poor form, Reaves is also underwhelming. "Magic" Johnson said that James Mei has done what they should do, and the guard is the key to whether the Lakers can beat the Nuggets, at least in the G1 game, the two starting guards failed to help, and only scored 26 points in total.
Defeat Factor 3: Mistakes are very different
The Lakers had a total of 12 turnovers in this game, which is actually not much, the Lakers averaged 14 turnovers per game this season, but compared with the Nuggets, the gap is there. The Nuggets had just four turnovers as a team, with Jokic and Murray diching out 17 assists and not committing a single turnover. On the Lakers' side, James had eight assists but seven turnovers.
In terms of fast break, the Lakers should have been the more dominant side. During the regular season, the Lakers averaged 17 fast-break points per game, ranking third in the league, while the Nuggets averaged 14.3 points per game, ranking 17th in the league. However, due to the difference in mistakes between the two sides, in this game, the Lakers scored 7 points less than the Nuggets (21 points).
Defeat Factor 4: The inside line is down
Thick eyebrows have scored 32 points and 14 rebounds, but the Lakers' interior line is still inferior, and their rebounds, interior scores, and secondary offensive scores are not as good as the Nuggets. In this game, the Lakers grabbed a total of 45 rebounds, 6 of which were frontcourt rebounds, while the Nuggets had 53 rebounds, of which 15 were frontcourt rebounds, the Lakers scored 54 points inside, while the Nuggets scored 64 points, and the Lakers scored 8 points on the second offense, while the Nuggets scored 18 points.
The Nuggets don't just rely on Jokic and Gordon on the inside, Porter and Murray are also impactful. The Lakers have at least five rebounds only with thick eyebrows and James, while the Nuggets have five players on the team who grab at least five rebounds, and their advantage is all-round.
More rebounds means more shots, and while the Lakers led the Nuggets 19-6 in free throws, the Nuggets outshot the Lakers (79) in 102 shots.
Defeat 5: Ham is just overdrawing the star's fitness
In this game, the Lakers adjusted the rotation to bring some variables to the Nuggets. James was one of those who played the full 12 minutes of the opening game, and it looked good (the Lakers led by 12 points at one point), but he also didn't have any fitness problems. James was visibly lackluster in the final quarter, scoring just four points in the quarter and committing two turnovers. You know, James was the scoring champion in the final quarter of the regular season, averaging 8.1 points per game.
Former national player Ma Jian posted: "Fat first is not fat, I felt hung after 12 minutes of LBJ at the beginning. What is needed to defeat the strong in the playoffs is patience, strategy, and physical support for the whole team for 48 minutes, which seems to be fierce, but the Nuggets are not a team that can be defeated in one quarter. The Lakers have no tactical changes at all, they can only overdraw the physical strength of the stars. ”
Now it seems that Ham's G1 change of tactics was a failure, and at the last moment, Lao Zhan was suspected of slipping due to physical exhaustion, which scared Lakers fans even more.
What effective adjustments should the Lakers make in G2 to have a chance to return to Los Angeles with a 1-1 aggregate score?