On October 15, Beijing time, the Lakers once again ushered in a battle with the Kings. This was the second match between the two sides in the preseason. At that time, Lakers lost to the opponent by 30 points in the first preseason game. Now they want to complete revenge and regain their face. However, the Lakers did not play in the game with a complete lineup, and Davis was absent due to back pain; not only that, Westbrook appeared on the court again as a substitute after many years, which is a great attempt by the Lakers. Under the leadership of new coach Brown, the Kings face the Lakers with their main lineup, and this game is also worth paying attention to.
The starting list of both sides is as follows:
Kings: Fox , Monk, Barnes , Oakpara , Sabonis ;
Lakers: Reeves, Beverly , Christy , Jian Mus , Jones;
The first quarter starts. Even though the Lakers' new lineup has better space and can stand stalemate with the Kings for half a quarter, it is only to maintain this short period of time. In the second half of the first quarter, he thought Westbrook would make the team's offense unstoppable after the appearance, but he left the court with injury. Then the Lakers were beaten by the Kings with a "17-5" offensive climax. At the end of the first quarter, the Lakers were 13 points behind the Kings 23-26, and it seems that this change of formation did not achieve better results.
After returning from the second quarter, the Lakers' defense in the penalty area had no deterrence at all, allowing the Kings' Holmes, Barnes and Fox to play like fish in water. Many players joined forces to widen the gap to the outside 20. However, James still resisted very tenaciously, using his breakthroughs to score continuously at the basket again and again, and the Lakers' score difference was about to return to within 20. Unfortunately, the Lakers' defensive quality is average, and the Kings still led the Lakers by 21 points 65-44, and the score difference has never been narrowed.
The third quarter was staged, Fox scored first with a point guard's throw, and James also broke through with the ball to cause damage, and the two leading stars led the way. Without Davis' defense, the Lakers' penalty area was sieve, and Monk even taught his former club a lesson with a dunk. Because they could not defend their opponent's attack, their score was average. The Lakers trailed the Kings 33 points 72-95 at the end of the third quarter, and there seemed to be no hope of winning the game.
comes the last quarter, and after seeing that there is no hope of winning, the Lakers lose their defensive enthusiasm. This is one of the biggest problems for this team at the moment. Facing the fierce attack of the Kings, the Lakers have lost their power to resist and eventually defeated their opponents 86-133 with 47 points. Coupled with the big defeat in the first game of the preseason, the Lakers have been double-killed by the Kings, and have achieved a bleak record of 1 win and 5 losses in the preseason.
Although James scored 12 points, he was still a drop in the bucket and could not smooth out the huge score difference with his personal strength. Judging from the game, the Lakers only persisted for half a quarter of the game, and lost the vitality of both offense and defense in the second half of the first quarter, and were then attacked by the opponent for several waves. As the new head coach, Ham put Westbrook on the bench lineup is also an innovation, and the effect of the variable formation cannot be concluded so easily. After all, Westbrook's injury and departure seriously affected this test.
However, the problem reflected by the Lakers in this game is not the matching of the lineup, but the offensive and defensive enthusiasm of the role players. As strong as defending champion , the Warriors , even if the game has lost hope of winning, the role players still cherish every opportunity to play on the court and try to improve their abilities through the game, so they can play many games that have hope of reversals and turnovers. And today's Lakers' role players, what we see is more of a stagnant pool of water, without the desire to win and vitality.
From the data point of view, the Kings were able to win 47 points in a single game, mainly because of the Lakers' average defensive ability; the Kings made 20 of 29 three-pointers in the game, with a shooting percentage of up to 61.3%, which soon extinguished the Lakers' fighting spirit and passion.We can also see that the Kings' offensive success rate in the penalty area is also very high, which is the reason why the Lakers' lack of protection in the penalty area. At this point you can understand that the Lakers' outside defense is average, and the penalty area defense is too dependent on Davis, which is likely to increase his pressure on defense in the penalty area, which may increase his risk of injury.
So far, the Kings achieved 4 wins and 0 losses in the preseason, and they have some shadows of the Warriors in their three-point shooting, all thanks to the two former assistant coaches of the Warriors. With the Warriors' tactical philosophy as the basis, coupled with Fox's strong impact and dominance ability, as well as the team's excellent shooters, the Kings' offense will explode in the new season, and this team has become a big dark horse in the preseason.
Competition in the West is fierce every year, and the rise of the Kings is expected to become a disruptor, so the Lakers must continue to cheer.
