On February 26, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Lakers lost to the Suns 113-123 in a key matchup that ended earlier. This game also changed the pattern of the West, in which the Suns returned to the top six in the West, the Lakers fell to tenth, and the Warriors took advantage of it.
The Lakers publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with the result of this game, mainly because of the referee's blowing penalty, and this time they finally did not have an advantage in free throws, but fell into passivity. The Lakers didn't get a single free throw shot in the entire second half, going 8-19 on the free-throw line. In fact, this season, the Lakers ranked first in the league in total free throw advantage, but this time they did not make a profit, and they also publicly expressed their dissatisfaction after the game.
James said bluntly in the interview: We don't take 40 shots, 50 three-pointers every game, and we will go into the restricted area, and 8 free throws are not normal. This time, Lao Zhan's performance was still good, 12 of 19 shots, 3 of 6 three-pointers, and a quasi-triple-double of 28 points, 7 rebounds and 12 assists. Later, head coach Ham also angrily denounced the unfairness of the blowing penalty after the game, "The game is getting more and more difficult because of the inconsistent blowing scale." ”
This game is still very important for the Lakers, after all, the Warriors behind them are also constantly chasing points, but unfortunately they failed to withstand the Suns' offensive, and in the unfavorable situation of once falling behind by 20 points, they finally failed to complete the big reversal. On the other hand, the Suns managed to win and return to the top six in the West, which is also their goal, after all, this position does not need to play in the play-offs. If the Suns, Lakers and Warriors are all in the play-in zone in the end, then the league is still very reluctant to see it, after all, these three teams are all popular teams and are the key to traffic.
On the other hand, the Warriors are reaping the benefits, and as the Lakers lose the game, they lie directly in the ninth place in the West, which directly changes the Western rankings. The Suns won to move up to sixth in the West, the Lakers dropped to tenth, and the Warriors lay ninth, but the gap between the teams is still very small, and the rankings will change at any time, and it is estimated that it will wait for the final stage to be determined. The pattern of the west is also what the league wants to see, and it would not be interesting if the ranking was established early.