The NBA's regular season was still in full swing, with the Lakers losing 122-138 at the Hawks' home court, marking their second consecutive road loss. At this point, the Lakers' record has been updated to 24-25, and although they still hold on to ninth place in the West, their losses have fallen to 11th in the West. Facing the Hawks, who are ranked 11th in the East and have a 19-27 record, why did the Lakers suffer such a painful defeat? Digging deeper into the data may reveal the answer.
In this game, James's performance was undoubtedly showing fatigue. The 39-year-old, who has endured three thrilling battles in just four days, first 48 minutes of double overtime and then a showdown with the Rockets, is clearly a little lacking, even if he wants to lead the team to victory on his own. Throughout the game, James shot 7-of-17 from the field, 2-of-6 from beyond the three-point line, and 4-of-9 from the free throw line, contributing a team-high 20 points and grabbing 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. However, in the absence of thick eyebrows, although James is tenacious and unyielding, the impact of physical exhaustion is significant, and he cannot get enough support. After the Lakers lost their thick eyebrows, the defensive end was like a piece of sand, and although today's fiasco is regrettable, it is not unexpected by most people.
Reaves was one of the few offensive highlights in this game, shooting 10-of-19 from the field and 3-of-8 from three-point range, scoring a team-high 28 points and diching out six assists and two steals. However, Reaves Jr.'s shortcomings on the defensive end have been exposed, and both Bogdanovic and other opponents have chosen to attack him, intending to drain his physical strength, and at the same time, he has repeatedly tried and tested because of his high success rate. Despite Reeves' best efforts, he was limited by his own talent, and he was always difficult to avoid being the breakthrough of the opponent on the defensive end, which made his efforts seem a little inadequate.
Russell's form in today's game was sluggish, as if he had returned to the stage he used to be nicknamed "Water Pull". He couldn't find his groove on the offensive end, shooting just 3-of-11 from the field and 1-of-5 from beyond the three-point line, and ended up contributing just nine points and five assists, along with two turnovers. What's more noteworthy is that his playing time in this game was limited to 27 minutes, which is a visual reflection of Russell's dismal performance in this game. Since entering 2024, Russell has performed quite well overall, but in this battle with the Hawks and Murray, who is the subject of trade rumors, his performance has been completely suppressed by his opponents. Many commentators have even speculated that Russell may have deliberately underperformed in order to reduce the Hawks' interest in trading him so that he can stay with the Lakers.
The other two starters, Prince and Hayes, had a lackluster performance, with a combined annual salary of less than $7 million, but combined to contribute only 13 points and eight rebounds, while shooting barely average. Hachimura on the bench became a bright spot in the Lakers' lineup, and he efficiently shot 7 of 11 and 2 of 4 three-pointers, helping the Lakers barely maintain the suspense of the game. In addition, Vanderbilt's outstanding performance is also one of the few points of comfort for the Lakers, he made all 6 shots, scored 12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, and performed well on both offensive and defensive ends.
To sum up, in the absence of thick eyebrows, the Lakers' interior defense seems to have lost its backbone, and the existing outside defense problems have been further amplified. Once the opponent sets up cover on the outside and the Lakers guard can't effectively keep up, the interior rotation defense will instantly collapse, and the Lakers are very helpless about this. No matter how they adjusted their roster, the Lakers were never able to solve their basic defensive problems. Coach Ham's coaching performance is still worrying, especially after he arranged for Hayes to replace the thick eyebrows in the first game, Wood also updated social ** to post a meaningful "laugh to death (lol)" dynamic. As the season enters the sprint stage, the Lakers don't seem to show any signs of improvement, and the road to the playoffs has become a serious challenge for them.