LeBron James was sidelined due to injury, while Anthony Davis, although on the stage, only played for 7 minutes before feeling sick to his stomach and quit the game. Without the two best players in the team, the Lakers can be said to be a mountain of defeat, and the Purple and Gold Army trailed by 22 points after the first quarter, and finally lost to the opponent. Although the injury of the Twin Stars has had a huge impact on the Lakers, it is undeniable that the whole team has many problems now, and some of them are even very difficult to solve.
First of all, except for Gemini, the Lakers do not have any stable scoring points. This time James and Anthony Davis equals no one can play, hope and pressure also fell on russell Westbrook's head again, the result is that he is really not angry, Westbrook once again dropped the chain, 13 shots in the whole game only hit 1 goal, got 8 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals, and 6 mistakes at the same time. Westbrook can't play, which naturally means that other teammates will be affected, so Anthony Davis, who only played 7 minutes, left aside, and the Three remaining starting players of the Lakers, Avery Bradley, Kent Bazemore and Jordan Jr., did not score in double figures, which is a fairly rare thing in the history of the league. The Lakers' starting five Tigers added up to a total of 24 points, which is really impossible to play.
And several substitutes are good, Anthony this time the efficiency is average, but still cut 12 points, 2 rebounds and 2 blocks, it is a best effort. Howard, Malik Munch and two-way contract player Austin Rivers also scored double-digits, but for the Lakers, it was still a drop in the bucket. After all, there are too few players with the Lakers' independent offensive ability now, even if LeBron James and Anthony Davis can play normally, most of the remaining people can only serve as an endpoint, doing some simple work of eating cake under the basket or receiving three points on the outside, and in the bayonet-red playoffs, opponents can easily limit them.
In addition to the difficulty of scoring on their own, many players in the Lakers now do not have the ability to pass, although there are three players in the official position of the whole team for the possession position, but Russell Westbrook has never been good at tandem offense, naturally needless to say. Originally, the Lakers and their supporters all pinned their hopes on the former championship point guard Lajan Rondo, his passing ability, ball quotient and big picture view are excellent, the problem is that with age, coupled with the accumulated injuries over the years, Rondo's offensive threat has been very small, and the other side has chosen to empty him a lot of times, and naturally it is impossible to create too many opportunities for his teammates.
The Lakers' remaining player on the No. 1 spot is Kendrick Nunn, who signed a two-year, $10 million contract with the team this summer. But because of injuries, Kendrick Nunn has not played for the Lakers in the regular season so far, and when he returns, he can naturally bring some help to the team. But Kendrick Nunn is a bit like a strengthened and young version of Beverley, his role is mainly on the defensive end, in addition to the outside line of the ball shooting, basically rely on tough confrontation to impact the basket and throw a hand. So don't look at Kendrick Nunn as a point guard in position, but his style is more like the number two position, and the ball is more concentrated in the hands of the likes of Jimmy Butler, Taylor Hero and Bam Adebayo during the Heat. After coming to the Lakers, the situation is estimated to have not changed much, so the lakers' lack of on-field commanders is still difficult to solve.
Finally, the Lakers' current lineup is basically in an undefended state, especially after Anthony Davis retired from injury. Looking at personal honors, the Lakers have former Best Defensive Player award winner Dwight Howard, like Lajan Rondo and Jordan Jr., who have also been selected for the Best Defensive Team, but we all know that these players have entered the twilight of their careers, and the performance on the court is inevitably inadequate. And many of the remaining players, at their peak, were not known for their defense, and now that they are older, their footsteps will certainly not be able to keep up with their opponents, which is a common problem in teams with most veterans.
But in the playoffs, in addition to the ability of the spelling stars to take over the game at key moments, defense is also very important, Lakers head coach Vogel is a typical academic coach, he has always emphasized discipline and defensive performance, but now the Lakers with the lineup, how high the defensive efficiency of you let these players play is really unrealistic. So the Impact of the Lakers' Gemini's failure to play is great, but if the management is still immersed in fantasies and feels that after they come back and get back to their state, they can solve these problems in one go, it is really a bit of a surprise.