The NBA playoffs are exciting, with 8 sets of matchups taking turns, and the specific results are as follows: Celtics 1-0 Heat, Cavaliers 2-0 Magic, Knicks 2-076ers, Bucks 1-0 Pacers, Thunder 1-0 Pelicans, Clippers 1-0 Mavericks, Nuggets 2-0 Lakers, Timberwolves 1-0 Suns. At the end of the three playoff days, no team in the league can upset the following! Although "winning away from home is the beginning of the playoffs", for many teams, what is more terrible than losing is the fear and despair of being dominated by their opponents, and this is the case with the Los Angeles Lakers!
Back in the playoffs last season, the Lakers started a counterattack with the No. 7 seed to enter the Western Conference Finals, but were swept out by the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals! This season, the Lakers reorganized the lineup and made a comeback, and they also started the playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the West, and the first round opponent was the defending champion Nuggets, and the road is narrow! In the eyes of many people, this series is a continuation of last season's Western Conference Finals, and it is also a good opportunity for the Lakers to take revenge with Zhan Mei's physical strength! In the words of Lakers player Vincent, the first-round match against the Nuggets is the matchup we all want, sooner or later!
Compared with last season, Zhan Mei is still healthy and in good enough condition, in addition to Reaves, Russell, and Hachimura, there are also new signings such as Prince, Dinwiddie, and Vincent, and the overall strength has indeed improved; on the other hand, the defending champion Nuggets, the championship starting five Tigers are indeed strong enough, but they have lost the two important championship puzzle pieces of Brunson Brown and Jeff Green, which more or less created an illusion for the outside world, including the Lakers- The Lakers are getting better, the Nuggets are regressing, the gap between the two teams will not be as big as last season, the Nuggets may not have the confidence to sweep the Lakers, and the Lakers may not have the slightest chance of winning! That's right, if you want to become a champion, you must have the courage and strength to beat the champion! But what is the result? After the first two rounds of the series, the Lakers' psychological shadow area is even bigger than last season!
In the series G1, the Lakers took the initiative to adjust the rotation time of Lao Zhan and Thick Eyebrows, and they once had a huge lead of 12 points in the first half, but they collapsed in the third quarter, losing by 14 points in a single quarter. The Nuggets went from strength to strength, leading by as many as 15 points at one point, and in the end, the Lakers lost 103-114 and suffered a 12-point comeback. In Series G2, the Lakers started with heavy punches, seized the opportunity of the Nuggets' shooter group to feel cold, and built a huge 20-point lead in one go. However, from the second half of the game, the Lakers were unable to maintain an efficient and stable offense, and the Nuggets relied on their size advantage to dominate the interior and erase the difference in just 14 minutes. The suspense of the game dragged on to the end, the Lakers were beaten by Murray, and the Nuggets completed a 20-point shocking reversal!
The Lakers were killed by the Nuggets, and it seemed that victory was within reach, but they actually fell into the trap of the Nuggets' "simmering slowly and collecting juice from the big fire". First of all, we have to admit that the Lakers' new roster can play an efficient offense, and they have become smarter and more flexible when defending Jokic, but Zhan's physical strength can't cover all four quarters of the game, and in the words of the elder James: playing against a championship team like the Nuggets, a 20-point lead is not safe. What's even more difficult is that the Nuggets' bench group is far from being as bad as expected, Braun and Watson dare to fight, on the other hand, the Lakers bench group is far from as good as imagined, and Dinwiddie, Vincent and others have a poor presence on the offensive end!
After the first two games of the series, Lao Zhan played an average of 39.4 minutes per game, contributing an average of 26.5 points + 7 rebounds + 10 assists + 1.5 steals + 1.5 blocks + 3 three-pointers per game, with a shooting rate of 54.3%, a three-point shooting rate of 54.5%, and a free throw shooting rate of 75%; thick eyebrows played an average of 41.7 minutes per game, averaging 32 points + 12.5 rebounds + 3.5 assists + 2.5 blocks per game, and the shooting rate was as high as 61.9%. I don't know if Zhan Mei can maintain such an efficient output throughout the series, but one thing is for sure, Zhan Mei gave everything at the same time, and the Lakers still couldn't shake the Nuggets, which in itself is a reflection of the overall strength gap between the two teams, especially after leading by 20 points but being beaten by the whistle, how much energy the Lakers still have to put a question mark.
The Lakers have suffered 10 consecutive losses against the Nuggets, which is also Lao Zhan's 6-game losing streak in the playoffs, setting a personal career record. According to the statistics of the NBA's official website, when one side fell behind 0-2 in the history of the playoffs, the final series was 33-416, with a promotion probability of 7.3%; when the Lakers fell behind 0-2 in the series, the final series was 2-20, with a turnaround rate of 9.1%! I don't know if Lao Zhan and Thick Eyebrows can lead the team to change their lives, but one thing is for sure, the defending champions are like a mirror, allowing us to see the gap between the Lakers and the championship. When the 39-year-old Lao Zhan is still the best player of the Lakers, the Lakers will only drift away from the championship! The Nuggets are the opponents chosen by the Lakers themselves, and no matter how hard it is to kneel, they will be finished! Fans and friends, what do you think about this? Come and leave me a comment to discuss.