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Spurs finally ended their 18-game losing streak!No one would have thought that it would be a "benefit" from the Lakers. As the winner of the mid-season tournament, the Lakers were once considered one of the strongest contenders for the championship, so why did they lose this one?
The background of this game needs to be clarified first. The Lakers had a multi-rotation break, including Davis. As a result, there was a relatively large gap in the team's rotation, and there were great hidden dangers in the overall defense. At the same time, the opponent in the last game was also the Spurs, when James was resting, and Davis led the team alone, cutting 37 points, 10 rebounds and 4 steals, successfully withstanding the Spurs' 45-30 counterattack in the final quarter and winning by three points.
The two teams met again, and the Spurs continued the offensive resoluteness of the last quarter at the beginning of the game, whether it was Vassell or Johnson, they were very resolute, the two hit a total of 4 three-pointers, plus the Lakers' mistakes, the Spurs took a 42-22 lead in the first quarter. In the face of the Spurs in such a state, the Lakers obviously did not expect that James worked hard, but now he can't dominate the offensive and defensive ends like thick eyebrows.
Many fans will remember that after losing to the Nuggets at the beginning of the season, James publicly talked about his plus/minus of +7, which made the attention of this technical statistic skyrocket again. Then after the defeat to the Spurs, an embarrassing record about the plus/minus also broke into the field of vision of fans. According to statistics, in James's career 233 games with at least 20 points, 5 rebounds and 10 assists in a single game, this -28 has the lowest plus/minus. This was previously -19 in 2018 and -18 in 2004. Interestingly, all three games were played against Spurs.
Of course, we all know that positive and negative values represent the effect of a set of lineups on the field, and it is not objective and accurate to evaluate a certain player alone. In terms of splitting, James scored 12 points and 9 assists in the second quarter, and when he led the team to close the score, the plus/minus value in the single quarter was +13 points. However, there is another piece of data that shows that James really can't live without thick eyebrows. This season, there are games without James, and the Lakers have a 2-0 record and an average point difference of +4 per game5 points;And in the game where there are no thick eyebrows and only James, the team has a 0-2 record and an average point difference of -24 points per game.
On the whole, the conclusion is obvious, although the 39-year-old James still maintains a good competitive state, he can no longer do everything, more often than not, he sacrifices part of the consumption on the defensive end, and only passes the ball on the offensive end, so as to accumulate some strength and explode for a period of time. In this context, there is a great need for a teammate who can share the burden. In the past so many years, thick eyebrows have long proven his value to the Lakers, even if the offensive end collapses, but the defensive end has always been the best. So, although it is cruel, in fact, the height of the Lakers this season really depends on the state of the thick eyebrows Davis.
With the Lakers losing to the Spurs, their record has come to 15-11, temporarily ranking eighth in the West. However, on the whole, the second to tenth teams in the West do not have a big gap in their records, and there is a possibility of big changes in each round. The Lakers will face the Knicks and Bulls in the next two games, which is a good opportunity to maintain their record, because they will meet the Timberwolves and Celtics in the future. What are your thoughts on this?Welcome to the comment area below to communicate and interact with "DK Talk Sports".