In the first round of G1, the Lakers lost to the Nuggets 103-114 away.
In this game, the Lakers led by one and a half quarters, and at one point led by 12 points at most, but they were tied by the Nuggets at the end of the second quarter, relying on James's ultra-long three-pointers, and the Lakers led by 3 points at halftime;
In the third quarter, the Lakers resisted for more than half a quarter, and were hit by the Nuggets on a 13-0 run before the end, and never caught up after that.
To be honest, the Lakers played really well in the first half, but the defending champion is the defending champion, and the starting five are not stable, making two efforts at the end of the second quarter and the end of the third quarter, once to erase the gap and one to open the difference;
A similar plot has also appeared in the seven meetings between the two teams in last year's Western Conference and this year's regular season, giving people the feeling that the Lakers must be very accurate and accurate to lead, and the Nuggets can win the game with a little effort, this sense of pressure is especially obvious after the Lakers are overtaken, and it feels like they can't catch up.
Nuggets star, Jokic once again delivered a good game, playing 39 minutes, shooting 15 of 23, scoring 32 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 steals, of which at the end of the fourth quarter, Jokic made a steal and a fast break, a cut dunk, and both balls were crucial.
It is worth mentioning that Jokic did not have a single turnover in this game, and the control of mistakes was an important reason why the Nuggets were able to reverse this game, they only had 4 turnovers in the whole team, while the Lakers had 12 turnovers in the whole team, including James alone had 7 times.
7 turnovers are definitely not deserved, but objectively speaking, James played 41 minutes in the game, shooting 10-of-16, 3-of-5 three-pointers, 4-of-5 free throws, and scored 27 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists.
It can be seen that James really wants to win this game, but he is 39 years old after all, and he is obviously physically exhausted in the fourth quarter, and the two rounds have become the epitome, one consecutive front board but the basket hook hand is not entered, and one breakthrough directly slips.
The same situation applies to thick eyebrows, who did their best in this game, only rested for 3 minutes and 30 seconds in the whole game, shot 12 of 23, scored 32 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 blocks;
But at the end of the fourth quarter, Thick Eyebrows also had physical problems, James grabbed the pass behind the front board, Thick Eyebrows bypassed Jokic, and undisturbed layups brushed out of the frame.
So, Zhan Mei can say that he tried his best, but Russell...
In the whole game, Russell played a total of 37 minutes, shot 6 of 20, 1 of 9 three-pointers, and no free throws, scored 13 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, including 3 of 15 in the second three quarters, and only scored 7 points.
Russell was seriously aberrated against the Nuggets last year, when four games:
- G1, shot 4-of-11 from the field and scored 8 points
- G2, shot 3-of-8 and scored 10 points
- G3, shot 1-of-8 from the field and scored 3 points
- G4, shot 2-of-4 from the field and scored 4 points
Counting this game, Russell and the Nuggets played five times in the playoffs, with a total of 16 of 51 shots, 3 of 24 three-pointers, and only averaged 7.6 points per game, shooting 31.4% from the field and 12.5% from three-point range.
First of all, Russell's performance in the regular season this year is really not bad, averaging 18.0 points and 6.3 assists per game, and his three-point shooting rate is a career-high 41.5%, and he also threw in 5 three-pointers and handed over 21 points and 6 assists in the play-off game against the Pelicans.
After returning to the start, Russell averaged 20.8 points per game, shooting 45.0% from the field and 43.0% from three-point range, and the Lakers had a 27-14 record in the games he played during the period, which is an absolute top three standard.
However, some things are very metaphysical, Russell just can't shoot the Nuggets - the Nuggets' defense is one thing, but Russell's 9 three-pointers in this game, 7 were open or big open three-pointers, and he only made 1 shot, which is definitely not a normal level.
Russell said of his aberration: "I took 20 shots, I don't remember the last time I shot 20+, 20 shots, I can't say all good chances, maybe 5-6 of them were not good chances, I know what I'm capable of, I'm excited about G2 because sometimes it's just the ball that doesn't go into the basket. ”
Ham was also different from last year's Western Conference finals, and he made it clear after the game that he would continue to believe in Russell: "Russell is a big reason why we can make the playoffs, and I won't give up on him because he didn't hit the goals he usually can score tonight, tonight is not his night, every pitcher has this kind of bad hand." ”
The so-called "playoff mode" is magical, some players explode in the playoffs, such as Edwards next door, who played 302 career regular season games, only 66 games of 30+, but 6 of the 12 games in the playoffs were 30+;
For example, Butler, who played dead in the classic regular season and hit hard in the playoffs, and Jamal Murray, who was 0 All-Star in the regular season and an absolute superstar in the playoffs.
However, Russell's "playoff model" is very different, playing well in the regular season and wilting in the playoffs, especially against the Nuggets - including last year's Western Conference finals, five meetings, none of which were satisfactory, is also quite rare.
In the case that Zhan Mei has tried his best, the Lakers still lost to the Nuggets by double digits, to be honest, this situation is hopeless, but from another angle, Russell scored 13 points on 20 shots, and it didn't take to play so badly, as long as they play normally, it seems that both teams can play a dozen?
For Russell himself, this year's situation is very similar to last year, he also played well in the regular season last year, but the playoffs beat his value from 30 million to 17 million, this year's Russell still has a chance to prove himself, I hope this is just an aberration, otherwise, he will probably not wear the Lakers jersey again next season.