A super upset has re-opened Lakers fans with hope for a team reversal this season. Truth be told, when the Lakers experienced two consecutive losses on the road, even if the core players were all playing, few people believed that they could upset the Celtics, who had the league's best record on the road and had the Devil's home court (22-2 at home). As a result, the Lakers did it without James and thick eyebrows. Their overall offensive and defensive play is amazing, and this upset can even be called one of the biggest upsets in the NBA after entering 2024. 52.7 million, re-signing the Lakers, Ham should have paid attention to you a long time ago, and you can see the problem of the Purple and Gold Army most clearly.
The Lakers' upset win was due to a number of factors. First of all, the Green Army really didn't look up to this Lakers team, they were lazy and lazy when they came up, and they didn't even care about passing, the Lakers made consecutive steals, as well as 10 frontcourt rebounds, giving them more than a dozen additional shots, which led to the Lakers feeling raised, and the Green Army wanted to exert their strength later, but they couldn't hold it down. Secondly, the Lakers do have their own outside shooting touch, but it cannot be denied that their attitude is really positive, which can be seen from the scramble of the starters. However, there are many factors that contribute to all of this, but the most critical of them is, in my opinion, Vanderbilt's starting schedule.
James Thick Eyebrows was absent at the same time, and it was Hayes who replaced Thick Eyebrows as the starter, and it was not Hachimura who started in place of James, but Vanderbilt. It's likely that this was the previous Vanderbilt interview that played a role. After the loss to the Hawks, Vanderbilt had this to say: "We need to stay focused on both ends of the floor throughout the game, especially on the defensive end, and we need to keep the intensity up as soon as we come up, and we're a team that inspires offense defensively, finishes defensive rounds, makes steals, launches transition offense, and then we can get the opportunity to attack the rim and get more open shots, so our foundation should be on the defensive end, and we have a lot of players who can attack. So I think we should use defense as our signature. ”
Vanderbilt's words speak to the hearts of many Lakers fans, how did the Lakers win the Midseason Championship? It is to rely on tough defense, increase the intensity from the beginning, and break down the opponent in waves. Previously, the Lakers' starting backcourt combination could not play decent defense, which has nothing to do with effort, but with talent. After Vanderbilt got on the starter, the effect was immediate, even if the Lakers came up to shoot with a very average feeling, but they could not shoot and snatch the ball back, whether it was a rebound in the front court, or a steal, which could make the Lakers have more opportunities to shoot for no reason, and the feeling would naturally improve, but the key to establishing all this lies in defense and scrambling.
To be honest, the Lakers should have reused Vanderbilt a long time ago, Ham was able to start Reddish with a base salary in the first half of the season, but he couldn't re-sign Vanderbilt to the Lakers in the offseason, and the contract was extended to five years and $52.7 million to start, which is really unreasonable. No matter how you look at it, the strength of the comprehensive offensive and defensive ends, Vanderbilt is a player with more influence than Reddish, not to mention that Vanderbilt's offense is no longer a hole during this time, he has improved comprehensively, in terms of the starting position, Vanderbilt is very suitable, he is the player who should be used to match James's thick eyebrows.
Who should be the one who wins the starter? Reeves is the most suitable. In fact, the Lakers have already found the answer in the midseason, when they entered the knockout round and the starting lineup was the James Mei combination with Reddish, and the backcourt Russell and Prince teamed up to start. This lineup, Prince does not need to top the No. 3 position, he is a defensive guard, he can keep up with the speed, has an advantage in size, and can cover the opponent well, the Lakers' backcourt defense has no problems, the key Reddish can play a sweeping role, Reaves as a substitute, at that time he was the player with the lowest odds (the most favored) for the best sixth man, and the final was 28 points off the bench with the flu.
After winning the championship, everyone saw that the Lakers had the appearance of a champion, and as a result, this lineup, the Lakers basically didn't use it much, Reddish was injured, and Ham directly took Vanderbilt as the starter, such a simple copy of the homework, Ham didn't understand it, although Reaves ushered in an outburst this time, but if you want to really solve his defensive problem, take him to the bench, to deal with the opponent's weak offensive bench, the problem can be solved, And the Lakers' starting defensive problems can also be solved, the counterattack is played, the offense is not a problem, everything has a chain reaction, I just hope Ham can understand this aspect of the situation as soon as possible.