At 95:85, the Lakers didn't let any accidents happen, and the rockets won the Halloween night victory.
Truth be told, there's nothing to be proud of beating the Houston Rockets, they're just a young team with a 1-5 win this season, so there's no need to over-interpret this game.
However, the game is the game, leaving aside the Rockets' 25 brainless mistakes in this game, the Lakers' bright performance at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends of this game is really a lot, especially the defensive end, the half-court limits the opponent to only 35 points, and the whole game allows the Rockets to only get 85 points, which is the best they have done this season, and far exceed the average performance of the season.
Why did the Lakers' defense suddenly "return to the top" today? There are doorways. Let's pick up some of them first – let's talk about the game to start, lead Jaylen Green, and let Jaylen Green score 7 points on 2-of-8 shooting.
Obviously, the biggest change in the Lakers' defensive end this game is to start and abandon Jordan Jr. and Munch Jr. and take Avery Bradley.
Understand that choosing a guard partner next to James, Westbrook, and Thick Brow is not an easy task.
First of all, this defender must be able to shoot. Because Zhan Wei was present, the space was already very congested, and then a stuffy head of Horton Tucker and the like, the opposite direct five strong men blocked the forbidden area, really beautiful painting does not look;
Secondly, the defender has to be able to defend. Now the Lakers' point guard is Wei Shao, Wei Shao is not suitable for the opposing offensive arrow, nor is it suitable for chasing the opposite no-ball shooter around the cover to run all over the field, so someone needs to help him take on the job, so that Wei Shao has the physical strength to attack. Defensive ends like Munch are also confused and have to be prepared to be cut by 30 points per game by opposing defenders (Morant, Alexander, Murray).
Finally, this defender also has to have some experience. At present, the Lakers are in the run-in stage, there are already two mistake machines on the field, Westbrook and James, and the fault tolerance rate given to the guard is very low, and it is more important for the Lakers to make mistakes than to play beautiful data.
So, under these conditions, Vogel went around, tried Munch, Tucker, Rivers, Jordan Jr. in the preseason and these regular season games, and finally found that it was still the old acquaintance of the 2020 season, Avery Bradley, who was the best to use.
See how Bradley defended.
In this game, Bradley's main task is to keep an eye on the opposing offensive arrow Jaylen Green. In the face of the young and crazy eye show, Bradley, who was once the best defensive team winner, taught the youngsters a lesson - the signature kraft candy sticker, tightly wrapped around JG, not giving him the space to dribble and start, and squeezing the cover in advance Is really beautiful, Wood's blocking can be said to have not made Bradley's footsteps a little slow, and then press down the center, see the timing, and directly face to face jaylen Green.
There are many people who say that Jaylen Green has no superstar appearance and does not dare to attack, in fact, to a large extent, bradley, young people in this kind of national live broadcast is a holiday game, originally the pressure is great, once in one-on-one finds that he can not take advantage, the mentality is easy to imbalance, not to mention this face-to-face is broken, presumably this game will also impress JG - to deal with AB, a fast and tough defender with a low heart, he must strengthen his dribbling and dry pull jump shot skills.
The ball was also chased against Jaylen Green's final steal.
Chris Wood and Theis came up to give Green no-ball cover, but still couldn't shake off Bradley half a step — Bradley slowed down early before hitting cover, quickly adjusted his pace, and then slipped over the cover, always staying close to Jaylen Green — it seemed simple, but it was actually a technical job, Bradley was definitely at the top of the league in terms of technology around the cover, and if it was replaced by Matthews last season, it was likely to be the complete opposite.
Bradley's technique around the cover, or the defender's technique around the cover, is actually an important part of Vogel's defensive system. Only if the defender successfully squeezes through the cover, the interior and flanks of the front line of the defense can form a front and back, which is the essence of the Lakers' defense in the 2020 season - if the defender is directly blocked by the cover man, the problem is completely left to the players who make up the defense, even if it is a thick eyebrow, it is easy to lose sight of each other when facing the top guard's throwing threat and the air connection threat behind the inside line.
The last Bradley "Thousand Mile Run" destroyed the Rockets' conversion fast attack.
The ball was all about positivity and competence, and looking at how quickly Bradley started from the backfield, despite initially trailing Kevin Porter Jr. by 3-4 positions, he desperately caught up with Porter and managed to reach Porter's passing route to destroy the pass.
This season, the Lakers' defense has been a big problem, after trading away Kuzma, Pop, Caruso, the Lakers have significantly declined in the size and athleticism of defensive players, and the most significant of them is reflected in the retreat, James, Westbrook, Anthony, Jordan Jr. A group of old arms and legs, plus the thick eyebrows after weight gain, the Lakers' defense has suddenly changed from last season's moving rabbit to one or two people retreating to other people to see... Mistakes rose, retreats fell, and the result was that the Lakers once lost 116 points this season, the 22nd in the league.
Bradley entered the starting lineup today, to a certain extent to alleviate some of the Lakers' defensive pressure, his speed, enthusiasm, discipline and defensive selection is what the Lakers urgently need at present, but if you want to completely solve the Lakers' defense problem, a Bradley may not be enough, can only hope that Horton Tucker, Nunn can learn more from him after the comeback.