It is said that Lakers coach Davenport Ham’s ability to cope with the situation is not strong. After the first two rebounds of the Western games G1 were exploded, coach Ham didn’t take out his “Plan B” until the fourth quarter-using eight villages to defend yokiki.
The Nuggets won the West decision G1 with 132-126 as expected. Jokiki, like the God of heaven, only used less than 3 sections, and then played the “three pairs” of 30 + “. Because the Lakers should be relatively slow, they didn’t approach the score until the fourth quarter and saw the hope of reversal. In the fourth quarter, the changes of the Lakers laid some foreshadowing for G2, at least for jokiki and Nuggets, the Lakers still retain a little confidence.
The eight village base was used to defend yokeki, which made the Nuggets a little overwhelmed, especially yokeki. He felt that he was not sure when he played eight villages. He squeezed out eight villages and forced the attack. Davis was waiting there. His passing suddenly became hesitant, so he made two mistakes. In the whole fourth quarter, yokiki played for more than 10 minutes, with only two shots, but he didn’t hit, that is, he didn’t score a goal in sports battle, and he only got 3 points on the free throw in the last half minute.
34+21+14, this is the sixth “three double” in the playoffs of yokiki this year “. Of course, “three pairs” is as common to him. He has 29 “three pairs” in the regular season, while he has only 13 “three pairs” in the shrinking season of the park in 2020 “. The Lakers are facing the actual MVP this year. I always think embide should have the MVP last year, and this year’s MVP should be given to yokedge because of his skills, control ability, the mind and other aspects have reached their peak.
He was only 25 years old in 2020, but now he is 28 years old. I have always said that 28 is the golden age of a center.
Since the Lakers did not fight with the Nuggets after the big deal, G1 was an encounter. Both sides were initially pending in terms of confrontation, strategy and on-the-spot performance, allowing mutual temptation. It is understandable that coach Ham started with the three defenders of “Schroeder + Russell + Reeves”, because it was the starting point of their G6 victory warriors. But after all, the Nuggets are not warriors, so “plan B” should be done fully, and after being contacted and found wrong, it should be changed in time.
The three defenders obviously couldn’t cope with the Nuggets’s tall lineup, especially the first quarter was even more horrible. The Nuggets not only scored 37-25, but also rebelled 22-6 and 9-1 in the front court. It is understandable that coach Ham finished the first half step by step, although the tragedy continued in the second quarter, Nuggets 35-29, rebounds 14-7, and rebounds 4-1 in the front court.
But at half-time break in the dressing room, I saw the Lakers rebound 13-36 on the statistics table, and the front rebound 2-30. Coach ham should start in the second half, whether it is to let Vanderbilt enter the starting line, or later, I used eight village bases to defend yokiki. Eight villages said after the game that it was part of the game plan to use him to defend against yokiki, that is to say, Ham and the coach team thought ahead of time that Davis might suffer losses against yokiki, set the eight village base as part of the plan.
Unexpectedly, coach Ham still started with the third defender in the third quarter. Russell and Schroeder played together for more than 8 minutes in the third quarter, and the effect was still not good. The reason why the Lakers won the third energy saving 38-34 was that, it was also because Reeves worked well with Davis, James, Lonnie Walker, eight villages and Vanderbilt. Davis played full in the third quarter and scored 13 points and 4 rebounds.
The Lakers can be said to be a complete victory in the fourth quarter. Reeves, Davis and James scored 27 points out of the 34 points in the team and did not let jokedge score a goal, obviously, this is directly related to the use of eight villages to defend yokiki. Davis didn’t have to face yokedge directly, allowing him to have more energy to guard baskets and restricted area near the basket.
If the Lakers can arrange and perform well in G2 as in the fourth quarter of G1, the Nuggets will still be helpless, then the Lakers will win and reach the finals in this series. Unfortunately, in order to fight for the first game, the Lakers have exposed Plan B in advance and have not won.
Now the Nuggets will carefully study the problem of the eight village base single defense yokiki, and think of a solution. If the Lakers don’t have more tricks, then G2 is likely to lose again.
Losing the first hand is very hard for the Lakers, because it is a strategic passive. Through the first round of Grizzlies and the second round of warriors, we can see that the Lakers will strategically arrange physical fitness and go all out, usually fighting G1, G3, G4 and G6, take the two away G2 and G5 as adjustment. This strategy is based on James’s age and Davis’s physical pressure resistance, and adjusts his physical fitness rhythmically, which helps James and Davis win four games in a full state.
Davis played for nearly 42 minutes, and James was still 8 seconds away from 40 minutes. One of them was full in the second half, and the mood of winning G1 was not hidden. Now G1 has not been taken down, and the status of these two in G2 may be discounted. But they can’t allow 0-2 yet, and the next game will still be a high-load battle, which will bring chain reaction to the following games.
Although the first two Nuggets played perfectly, the Lakers are not useless.
First of all, Davis’s personal attack was still invincible. He scored 40 points and 10 rebounds, with 11 free throws. Although he was helpless to yokiki, his status was similar to that of the playoff in the park in 2020 in terms of personal attack.
Secondly, James’s advantage in the front line is very obvious. He often calls the name to play Murray, who is relatively weak in defense and height. The effect is very good, and the individual wins 26+12+9, presumably, this will still be an important play in the later competition.
Third, Reeves is still an indispensable “wonder” for the Lakers. He assists 8 times, scored 23 points, scored 5 out of 9 in the 3-point goal, and helped the Lakers reverse the last two three points. Rivers still has a lot to dig out. He held the ball with Davis block and James, but this time he didn’t play much.
The reason why Reeves holds less Balls has a lot to do with the start of the third-place game, because these three defenders can hold the ball and control the tactics. Russell performed generally this time. Not only did 4 out of 11 score 8 points, but he didn’t score three points, and he often became the target of the Nuggets. Coach Ham hid Russell in the last section and did not let him play. However, Russell was not discouraged because of this. After the game, he took his younger brother Christie to practice shooting, which was worthy of praise.
The huge advantage shown by the Lakers in the west end of the park will never appear again this time, because jokiki is too mature and he has so many helpers around him.
So G2 became the last resort of the Lakers, and the Lakers should hope to win. However, even if 1-1 is in hand, the initiative is not in the hands of the Lakers like the first two rounds, because after James’s physical overdraft, it is difficult to keep both home games.
For the Lakers, this round may have to hit Mount Tianwang.
Su Qun column