33 + 10 + 8, the true shooting rate of 57.1%, Westbrook handed over the best ball to the Lakers, the thick eyebrow sent out the Pelicans version of the data of 35 + 17 + 4 + 4, in the absence of LeBron, the Lakers got the second victory of the season in overtime, which was rare.
Did Westbrook break out unexpectedly?
Not surprising.
LeBron doesn't fight, so I said on Weibo that I predicted that Westbrook would play well this time. Is it that Westbrook and LeBron are used together, and Westbrook is bound to play badly? Not necessarily. But the current situation of the Lakers and Wei Shao determines that it is necessary to have a game with only Wei Shao and no other big core with the ball, so that he can fully recover his personal state.
Looking back at the previous game, Wei Shao basically switched back and forth between these two situations:
LeBron held the ball and Westbrook played without the ball. Who am I? Where am I? What am I going to do? Westbrook is too difficult to integrate in this positioning, at most as a Lakers version of Bruce Brown, to the big guy as a cover, he did this kind of work during the Rockets period, but what space environment does the Rockets have? What is the spatial environment of the Lakers? In this positioning and environment, the game can be played, because LeBron is strong enough, but Wei Shao is a side effect, what is the meaning of this 40 million? As for the use of Wei Shao and Rondo together, this alliance probably has no more incompatible combination than Rondo and Wei Shao;
Westbrook holds the ball and LeBron has no ball. Playing like this, Wei Shao is much more comfortable. LeBron this season is close to 50% of the three-point crosshairs, top 3D to open up space, no problem. Ke Wei Shao also played badly with the ball, the more he played, the more impetuous he became, the more he played, the more confused he was, why?
Wei Shao is not a microwave type player, the ball has to be hot in the hand to have a feeling, go up to the two zombie jump shots, and then lose two mistakes, this is The regular operation of Wei Shao. The Lakers are a team with reasonable playing style, it is impossible to let him play alone, even if the big guys around him do not say anything, Wei Shao himself is also vain. The ball to the big guy can score, the contrast is stark, are you still embarrassed to make a decision? Once there is some concern, hesitation, it is more difficult to play at a normal level.
Over the years, everyone should get used to it, Wei Shao's game is like a bowl of Noodles from Uncle Yu, don't pick so fine, pull horizontally into the mouth, cry and spit out the finishing meal, should leave work, should meet the meeting, you don't let him be willful, he doesn't know how to play.
Wherever Wei Shao goes, it will become a "Wei Shao team", and the technical and tactical playing style and the distribution of ball rights will inevitably tilt toward Wei Shao. In the Thunder, whether it is with Durant or with George, he has the high ball. Go to the Rockets and send Capela away to make room for him. At the Wizards, Beal hasn't held the ball for half the time he has.
The Lakers are no exception.
Westbrook needs to play his own, from freedom of possession to mental stretching. Dashing flick a shot super far three points, hit back, angry? Irritating. But this is bound to his bold decision-making and hard work. This wave of release, Vogel and James on the sidelines can also see that if you want to use Wei Shao, you must fully accept his shortcomings in order to enjoy his advantages.
So the question is, give the decision-making power to Wei Shao, is the Lakers' ceiling high?
The reason why Wei Shao went to the Lakers' deal was generally not optimistic by the ball critics, is not the upper limit that everyone is worried about?
Wei Shao did not project, came up with a state and must iron a few, anti-ball too aggressive, anti-no-ball only rebounds, these problems are not a day or two, nor can they be corrected. But the road is step by step, the season is long, you need to worry about the playoffs, and that's still a few months away. If the Lakers can't solve the original run-in between Westbrook and the team, then there is no point in talking about the ceiling.
This game also reflects this very clearly - the team configuration has huge limitations, and there is no perfect game plan, how to choose?
Both Vogel and Popovich had this trouble. There is a point of contention in this game - should the Lakers use twin towers or single towers?
There is no standard answer to this question.
If you switch your perspective to the Spurs, you'll see that the Spurs have similar questions:
First of all, the Spurs are not a team with good space. Starting forward Kelden Johnson has yet to shoot a three-pointer this season, and his tough shooting style is typical of the head iron when he meets the strong team guarding the basket. Two guards, Murray and White, are unreliable from beyond the three-point line, and center Pollertel does not have more range than the throw zone. So the Lakers feel like they're panicked, and so are the Spurs, except that the Spurs have a signature shooter, McDermott, and Vassell and Walker on the bench shot well, making the Spurs look a little more threatening;
The problem is that the Spurs have a hard time putting all the shooters on the table, and they have to think about defense. Like the Lakers, the Spurs don't have many forwards to use. With the Lakers playing without James, Ariza and Tucker, the forward is left with Anthony, and the Spurs have Kelden Johnson, Diop, McDermott and Thaddeus Young. But Yang is now basically an inside line, Popovich does not seem to want to use him, the knife brother can not defend, KJ defense is OK body size anti-thick eyebrows or pull. Although Diop's ability is not outstanding, it has become the greatest common denominator of the team's forwards 3 and D.
Popovich doesn't need KJ in the back, he can't attack, and the anti-thick eyebrows are just fantasies. At the end of overtime, Murray + Vasell + Walker + Diop + Peltel remained on the field, which is the Spurs' lineup today that is relatively balanced in projection and defense. As a result, the final projection did not work, but was exploded by the Lakers.
Are you saying popovich used the wrong person?
It's hard to say that. With just these cards in hand, it is impossible to want everything.
The Lakers are also a truth, there is no offensive and defensive forward in hand, only the inside line and the guard, so what to do?
Swinging twin towers, no space, from the past few scenes, the double towers blocking the space Wei Shao is too uncomfortable;
Swing single tower, three guards + Anthony, the inside line of defense to expand out, as long as the Spurs can give the ball in, immediately puncture, or lose rebounds.
Vogel must be very uncomfortable, because his defensive system is required for all players' ability to assist in defense, and single defense cannot be too bad, at least leave time for teammates to assist in defense, and the Lakers' current configuration cannot do this. Vogel can't tolerate the little Jordan-style pure squat pit, and the Lakers have no excellent squeeze cover performance on the line, so the Lakers can only defend well and defend poorly, which is not Vogel's incompetence, but the configuration is not in place.
Thick Brow and Peltel were the two most tired players of the game because the task of assisting the defense was too heavy. The Lakers have many weaknesses in single defense, the Spurs suffer losses in alignment, and the strategy of defending Wei Shao is also wrong - the Spurs did not resolutely circumvent the defense, and the result of squeezing the cover is that they are often dismantled by Wei Shao to suppress a position under the basket. But thick eyebrows and Peltel are also the coolest players in this game, because the opponents have more misalignment points, fewer forwards, more defenders, and they have a great advantage under the basket, so their respective statistics are also extremely brutal.
Vogel finally chose a small lineup to end, sacrificing height, being exploded rebounds, and preserving space. Judging from this game, this almost became a defeat. But the root cause is that the configuration limits Vogel's operation, and he can only make trade-offs between defense and space. In the long run, not giving Wei Shao space will make it worse. Wei Shao can still see the power by using space to enter the basket, and the Lakers cannot not think about activating his skills in this regard.
The integration between the Lakers and Wei Shao is still continuing, and it is certain that the spatial lineup does have an effect on releasing wei shao's energy, but Vogel has no unique solution between the big and small lineups, and needs to adjust the employment according to the situation, which will be alleviated after the return of the Lakers injured.
After LeBron returns, how to make Westbrook play comfortably without wasting LeBron's stronger ability to hold the ball will become a more difficult topic for Vogel. This is also the ultimate problem for the Lakers this season, determining how far the Lakers can go.