NBA: I am a master dealer

And this victory has brought the distance between the Lakers and the sixth-place Thunder closer again. It can even be said that they have come within shooting range.

Because the Thunder lost back-to-back games to the Trail Blazers, and then lost to the last-place Suns today, suffering two consecutive losses. In addition, they lost directly to the Lakers in the first game after the All-Star Weekend last month, which caused the Thunder's record to suffer a setback.

目前已经来到了34胜28负，跟湖人的33胜29负，仅有1个胜场差。

That's right.

Only one win difference.

Now it seems that it is entirely a matter of time for the Lakers to occupy the sixth position.

If it's quick, it might be in the next game.

If it's slow, it will only be after three or five games.

The fifth position in the Western Conference has also undergone earth-shaking changes.

Before today's game, the Clippers and Jazz had the same record, 37 wins and 24 losses.

Since the Clippers had the upper hand in the direct confrontation, the Clippers barely edged the Jazz and ranked fifth.

But as the Jazz defeated the Nets 112:97 today, but the Clippers lost 101:112 to the Bucks, everything changed.

After the Clippers lost this crucial positional battle, their record has reached 37 wins and 25 losses, and they can only settle for fifth place.

The Lakers have 33 wins and 29 losses, only 4 games behind them.

That's right.

We have reached the pursuit range.

But the distance is still not small, because a difference of 4 games means that in the next games, the Lakers need to win four more games, but the Clippers need to lose four more games, so that the record can be even.

This difficulty is still quite high.

But considering that the Clippers and Lakers have two direct matches, the four-game winning gap is not that big.

As long as the Lakers make good use of it and win these two direct matches, the Lakers' chance of catching up with the Clippers will increase.

This time.

The Clippers are really trembling.

Especially Rivers Sr., who vowed to resign if the Lakers catch up.

This time, he really shot himself in the foot.

If the Lakers really suppress their position, they will really be in trouble.

After the Jazz won this victory, their current record is 38 wins and 24 losses, with a winning rate of 61.2%, which is quite fierce. They have officially surpassed the Clippers and reached the top half of the Western Conference, which is the fourth position.

The Lakers are one step further away from them, with a total of 5 wins.

In other words, in the next twenty games, the Lakers have to win five more games than the Jazz to be able to equal this record.

In other words, when the Lakers are guaranteed to win, they also have to pray for the Jazz to lose, so that they can catch up.

The difficulty is still quite high.

After all, there are only 20 games left until the end of the season.

But no matter what, if the Lakers can reach this level, it is definitely worthy of the fans' praise.

Once third from the bottom, 13 wins and 26 losses, it was simply miserable.

Now, their record has reached 33 wins and 29 losses, sprinting to seventh place in the Western Conference.

And the distance between fourth and fifth is not so far away.

It is understandable that the fans chant the slogan "Championship". Recently, it is indeed the gods who block the gods and the Buddhas who block the Buddhas.

Not only were the fans confused, the Lakers generals also felt that they were unstoppable.

And it was with this mentality that their sixteenth consecutive victory was ended.

At home, Protopus lost to the recently popular Pelicans 97:105.

That's right.

It was the Pelicans who lost to this twin tower combination.

Their defensive coverage is really too wide. Whether it is Xue Liancheng, George, or Clarkson, there is no way to break in.

And the Lakers' insiders are simply not good enough.

Randall, Vonleh, James Johnson, and Marvin Williams also lacked space to cut and were pressed hard, so they could only shoot from the outside.

But the problem is that they have some three-pointers, but they are not that stable, let alone a sharpshooter, so naturally they cannot provide much firepower support.

As for Zubac and Larry Nance, they are simply the playthings of Cousins ​​and Davis and are not worth mentioning at all.

The flaws inside were really exposed all at once, and both the offensive and defensive ends were blown away.

As a result, the Lakers only scored 97 points.

It’s not over a hundred!

Only 97 points, definitely one of the team's lowest scores since Xue Liancheng's comeback.

One can imagine how bad the Lakers' offensive situation is.

Not only were the others bad, but Xue Liancheng's performance was actually average, 19 out of 9, which seemed pretty good. But if you remove the three 16% hit skills, it would be 6 out of 37.5, a hit rate of %. If this is not bad, Then there is no such thing as bad play in the world.

He only scored 24 points, 9 assists and 4 rebounds.

The assists directly broke double digits, which was also the first time since his comeback.

8 out of 4 three-pointers, excluding three 5% hit skills, it's only 1 out of , which is not that good.

He made 3 of 2 free throws and was not taken care of by the referee at all.

This game is definitely a masterpiece of his abnormality.

George was even more miserable, shooting 20 of 7 and only scoring 16 points. This performance is even more difficult to describe.

Randall was no longer magical. He only scored 7 points on 2 of 5, but he also had 12 rebounds and 4 assists, which was barely passable.

Zubac made 8 of 2 shots and scored 5 points and 6 rebounds. He was also ravaged beyond recognition.

Only Courtney Lee was slightly better, shooting 13 of 7 and scoring 16 points. He was the best among the role players.

Clarkson scored 9 points on 3-of-9 shooting.

Feng Lai scored 7 points on 3-of-8 shooting.

James Johnson scored 6 points on 2 of 6 shots.

Marvin Williams also scored 6 points on 2-of-4 shooting.

Glenn Robinson scored 3 points on 2 of 4 shots.

Larry Nance scored 3 for 0.

There were many players on the field in this game, but the most important thing was that none of them were able to play well. Not only was the efficiency not good, but the offensive end did not provide enough support.

So Mike Brown kept trying to rotate, but the results were far from consistent.

As for the Pelicans.

戴维斯22中10，爆砍31分9篮板4盖帽的顶级数据。

Cousins ​​made 21 of 9 shots and also scored a super double-double with 26 points and 15 rebounds. Although he only had 1 block, his + Davis coverage cannot be judged by blocks.

The two of them can be said to dominate the basket and have an absolute advantage in the paint area. The Lakers have nothing to do with them and can only keep trying to flank them.

This will make their efficiency drop a bit, but their advantage in blocking rebounds will also be magnified at this time.

At the end of the game, the Pelicans had 49 rebounds, 38 more than the Lakers' 11. It is no exaggeration to say that they were abused.

Losing this game exposed the Lakers' problems.

It's just that the inside line is weak and cannot compete with Davis or Cousins ​​at all, resulting in the loss of the basket and directly ruining the victory of the game.

but.

There is only one No. 1 center and only No. 1 power forward in the league. They are all gathered together in the Pelicans, and there is only one Pelicans team.

So this problem, strictly speaking, is not a problem.

What's more.

It's not just the Lakers who don't have internal countermeasures, but other teams don't either.

The Warriors will probably have to shed a layer of skin when they meet a top twin tower like the Pelicans.

certainly. The Pelicans are not invulnerable, or invincible.

They still have weaknesses.

That means you can't keep up with the speed. Especially when you play at a fast pace, you can directly drag two people to death.

If they met in a series, and both sides deployed targeted defenses and adopted targeted tactics, it would be uncertain who would live and who would die.

After all, in the regular season, no one will study others or target others.

And apart from that.

There is another factor in the Lakers' loss, and that is underestimating the opponent.

Sixteen consecutive victories have inflated everyone, including George, including Mike Brown, and Xue Liancheng is also very excited and full of self-confidence.

Therefore, during the game, their attitude, concentration, and fighting spirit were far inferior to the Pelicans.

The most important thing is the spirit.

After the Pelicans formed the twin towers, they are gritting their teeth and rushing for the playoffs, so they will naturally go all out.

It was when the Lakers relaxed, one was ebbing and the other was ebbing, and the spiritual level of both sides was not on the same level.

What is surprising is that the Lakers' winning streak ended without much ridicule.

Maybe they also understand how embarrassing it is to pop champagne at halftime.

They are waiting for the moment when the Lakers fall into the abyss.

But the Lakers' winning streak was ended, but they gained something mentally. As the saying goes, they can play in a better state without the pressure and baggage.

The away game against the Dallas Mavericks is proof of this.

In this game, the Mavericks' offensive firepower was actually very fierce.

Especially Nowitzki, I was like a teenager. He made 13 of 9 shots, 4 of 3 three-pointers, and scored 25 points and 11 rebounds. He felt like he was back to his peak.

In fact, since Nowitzki's comeback, the Mavericks' offensive firepower has indeed been greatly improved. Their record has also rushed from last to 12th, which can be described as another inspirational example.

Except for Nowitzki, the performance of other points is very balanced.

塞斯-库里18分，今年的落选秀费雷尔16分7助攻，马修斯投进5个三分拿到15分，新核巴恩斯14分6篮板，交易截止日从费城弄来的刮刮乐诺伦斯-诺尔11分10篮板，奎因-库克10分。

Their offensive and defensive rhythm seemed to pick up speed all of a sudden.

And the three-pointers were very explosive. The team took 34 shots and hit 17 goals.

Apart from the failure of the new core to take on the heavy responsibility, there are basically no major problems.

At the end of the game, they scored a total of 122 points, which was simply disappointing.

But they met the Lakers.

The Lakers' offensive firepower made them even more desperate.

That's right.

The Lakers scored much higher than the Mavericks, scoring a total of 132 points, which made the Mavericks lose their temper at all.

Xue Liancheng once again exploded with energy, scoring 15 points on 10 of 30 shots, plus a super triple-double of 21 assists and 11 rebounds.

An extremely explosive performance.

George was not bad either, scoring 20 points and 11 rebounds on 31 of 8 shots.

Randall regained his vitality, scoring 18 points and 8 rebounds.

Feng Lai also performed well, with 12 points and 5 rebounds.

Clarkson, James Johnson, and Marvin Williams all scored in double figures on the bench, and they transformed into bench gangsters.

It's just so magical.

After defeating the Mavericks, they did not stop. They attacked Phoenix in an away game and defeated the Suns 122:110, continuing their winning streak.

This victory is not surprising at all.

After all, facing the bottom of the Western Conference, if the Lakers lose, it will be an upset, and the probability is very low.

The next day, the Lakers returned to their home court and once again welcomed the weak Philadelphia numbers, and finally won the victory in a very sloppy way of 126:118.

But they were not happy at all.

Because during this period, the Lakers' defense obviously had problems.

Especially after the sixteen-game winning streak was ended.

While he scored high points, he also lost a lot of points, so the game process was very thrilling and frightening to watch.

Fortunately, the Lakers had a good schedule during this period, and the teams they encountered were all bad teams, which allowed them to barely get through the difficulties.

When problems are discovered, they naturally need to be corrected.

The next back-to-back game in Denver is a good opportunity.

of course.

It is also a huge challenge.

Although the Denver Nuggets were surpassed by the Lakers, they did not fall. They played quite well during this period, and their record even reached 30 wins and 36 losses, still firmly occupying the ninth position.

The main reason why they can play so well is that their offensive firepower is really fierce.

The Lakers want to verify their defensive capabilities, so aren't they up to the challenge?

result.

Bang bang slapped in the face.

Mike Brown's defensive arrangement seemed to have failed.

wrong.

Not only was it a failure, it actually gave the Nuggets a boost, allowing the Nuggets to score a crazy 129 points throughout the game.

If it weren't for Xue Liancheng's 100% hit skill to protect his body, this game would have been decided here.

And even if Xue Liancheng had such a golden thigh to hold him, he only won by 3 points.

At the last moment, the Nuggets even had a chance to equalize, but unfortunately... they missed it.

It's a pity that we failed.

After the game.

Xue Liancheng was in an extremely bad mood when being interviewed.

When a reporter asked: "What is your evaluation of the team's performance in this game?"

Xue Liancheng fired directly: "We played too rubbish and our defensive attitude was too sloppy. They entered our paint area as if they were back in their own garden. I am very, very disappointed. Really, extremely disappointed. That's it." With our defensive attitude, we will be swept in the first round, let alone a championship.”

Lost 129 points!

How the hell can this not make people angry?

What's even more annoying is that since losing to the Pelicans, they haven't lost a game by less than 110 points, averaging 119.7 points per game, which can be directly judged as having no defense.

With such a defensive attitude and defensive efficiency, it is already clear what the consequences will be if we play in the playoffs.

It's really rubbish.

The reporter was stunned. He did not expect that Xue Liancheng would bombard his team when the team won four consecutive victories: "Xue, you mean, you are disappointed with the Lakers' performance?"

Xue Liancheng: "Yes! Very disappointed."

The reporter reacted and became excited, "Where is the disappointment? Is it the team's defense?"

Xue Liancheng had a sense of humor: "Even you can see the problem, which means that this problem is so serious that it is not incredible."

He did not disclose that before the start of the game, Mike Brown implemented targeted defensive tactics and also vaccinated others, emphasizing the need to defend well.

result.

I'm crazy...

The points lost increased instead, with a total of 129 points lost.

This is absolutely inexcusable.

(End of this chapter)