NBA: I am a master dealer

And this is not just at the fan level. Lakers veterans like O'Neal have spoken out, saying bluntly: Walton may think that the current Lakers are the same Warriors as last season. I can't see anything special about his tactical arrangement. .

In other words, Walton, who vowed to create a small ball storm during the offseason, has not yet made any moves to play small ball.

The major media outlets also denounced Wharton at this time.

Among them, "Sports Illustrated" directly compiled an article and criticized: The biggest war criminal in the Lakers' three-game losing streak - Luke Walton.

Without mentioning names, Wharton was also listed with a series of crimes.

First of all, in terms of lineup adjustment, Walton vowed during the offseason to create a Lakers storm.

The result is still the same traditional one, with Clarkson, Courtney Lee, George, Randle, and Larry Nance, with no innovation at all, and the position is still the same.

Although the Warriors' starting lineup is also more traditional, their regular style of play is small ball tactics!
Bogut is equivalent to a pseudo-starter.

Usually the main players are Curry, Thompson, Iguodala, Harrison-Barnes, and Green.

It is equivalent to directly replacing Bogut with Iguodala, moving the chasing egg to the center position.

The Warriors' lineup last season really combined a series of advantages in defense, three-pointers, passing and cutting, coordination, speed, and mobility, which allowed them to achieve an overwhelming 70-win record.

And what the hell are the Lakers now?

It's hard to paint the picture exactly. Larry Nance played for nearly thirty minutes, of which twenty-five minutes should have been spent endlessly running back and forth, unable to protect the frame, and unable to keep up with the offense.

If you are a big center like Cousins ​​​​and you can use offense to make up for defensive deficiencies and replace defense with offense, that's fine!

But the problem is, Larry Nance does not have such offensive ability!

The second is the tactical arrangement. After four games, George took the ball and launched an attack at the top of the arc, while the others were ready to move on both sides.

Cooperation, screening, movement, and blocking are simply rare, so little that they can be ignored.

Is this the pass-and-cut cooperation learned from the Warriors?
Just kidding...

It's just a stance.

Then when it comes to on-the-spot command, Walton is even more clumsy. He calls a timeout when he shouldn't, but doesn't call a timeout when he should. He always walks around expressionlessly with his hands folded.

I studied Cole, but I only learned its form.

The pretense is indeed very similar, and he has not changed his expression even after three consecutive defeats.

But otherwise, nothing was learned.

In the end, the players were not used well.

Each player has his own playing habits and characteristics, and his own playing style. The head coach's task is not only to arrange tactics, practice tactics, and arrange tactics.

But make the best use of everything.

Or to be more precise, the most important task of the head coach is to bring out all the characteristics of the players and maximize the advantages of the players.

And obviously, Walton's performance was terrible.

On top of that, there's a little bit more added.

Walton is still a big talker who doesn't know how to get along with superstars. He always talks in general terms, saying how he wants to lead the Lakers, and who of his two leaders has the best leadership ability?
Aren't you creating conflicts in the locker room?
Is this what a head coach should do?

As soon as the "Sports Illustrated" article came out, it attracted widespread attention, and immediately pushed Walton to the forefront.

The fans' saliva almost drowned Walton at this moment.

At this point when the entire Lakers remained silent, Xue Liancheng stepped forward.

He faced the media directly and said: "The new season has just begun. We cannot deny all the efforts of the coaching staff and players just because we have lost a few games. This is very unfair."

"That's how the game is. When the difference in strength is not big, one or two rounds can often determine the outcome of the game. This is a brand new team. From the coaching staff to the players, they need time to understand each other."

"I believe that the team will get better and better and eventually get on the right track. I have confidence in Walton, I have confidence in George, and I maintain confidence in all the Lakers players."

As soon as these words came out, the waves that had been stirred up were finally suppressed.

And I want to ask why Xue Liancheng did this?
Of course it is for the future of the team.

The new season has just begun, but it has been shattered to the point of losing all confidence. How can that be done?
of course.

The truth is, yesterday he had another systematic review, and the results were extremely bad. The signs of his soft tissue repair were very slow.

In other words, he may need to rest for a longer period of time, perhaps until next year.

This result really caught him off guard, and it also caught the Lakers off guard.

So in this situation, as a leader, he needs to stand up to maintain stability and give his teammates confidence, so that they can stabilize their record.

Don't let it go to the end. When he comes back, the team's record will go straight to the lottery area. It will be really thunderous...

This is the real reason why he came out to speak out.

And just on the cusp of the storm, the Lakers ushered in their fifth game of the new season, an away game against the Atlanta Hawks.

This is their last away game of four consecutive away games, but it is also the most difficult game.

Because this is back to back!

In addition, the Lakers have suffered three consecutive losses, while the Hawks have won three consecutive victories at the start of the season. The two sides are really on the same starting line, but their joys and sorrows are not the same.

Everyone believes that the Lakers will suffer a four-game losing streak.

Amid the downturn, the Lakers rose up and finally defeated the Eagles 123:116, stopping their decline.

After the game, George, who was elected the man of the match, was very excited.

George: "I said, I need to adjust my rhythm and state. Everything is under my control."

"The competition process was very difficult, but we overcame the fear in our hearts. Xue gave me strength in this aspect. He told me to let me go and fight. In the end, we will show the strongest body to compete for the championship."

"We are getting better and better, and I believe we will get better and better in the future."

George made 19 of 9 shots in this game and scored 23 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists. He performed quite well and was indeed getting better.

Clarkson scored 17 points. His impact and ability to fight are really great.

Randall had 13 points and 10 rebounds. He has great potential and played energetically on the court.

Larry Nance finally stopped starting this game. Walton boldly used Zubac, scoring 7 points on 4-of-9 shooting, and his performance was also eye-catching.

of course.

Not on the offensive end, but on the defensive end, Zubac's ability to help defend, cover, and even protect the frame is much better than Nance.

Although Zubac's reaction ability is not very fast, the effect on the field is indeed surprisingly good.

It may not be as good as those top centers, but compared to Nance, it is much better.

Courtney Lee scored 6 points, which is okay...

The most important thing is the performance of the substitute players, which is really top-notch. James Johnson made 13 of 8 shots and scored 18 points, and Marvin Williams also scored 18 points. Both of them provided considerable firepower support, especially three-point firepower.

Nance came off the bench and seemed to have found his position, specializing in offense. He also scored 8 points and 6 rebounds on 12-of-7 shooting.

Joe Johnson scored 4 points and Glenn Robinson scored 3 points.

Counting the entire bench, they scored a total of 55 points, which is almost half of the total.

The victory in this game can also be said to be the work of the substitutes, especially James Johnson and Marvin Williams, both of whom showed their starting strength.

After winning against the Hawks, the Lakers can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

At least the voices of criticism from the outside world have slowly dissipated.

but.

Before they had time to be happy, they had to return to their home court to face a powerful enemy.

That's right.

Their next opponent is none other than Universe Yong.

This is also a focus battle, but because of the lack of Xue Liancheng, it seems to lack a little flavor.

The media's pre-match predictions were also relatively pessimistic.

No one thought the Lakers could defeat the mighty Cosmos Yong.

But Xue Liancheng doesn't think so. In competitive sports, nothing is absolute. Although the Warriors are indeed very strong, they also need to adjust when inserting a dedicated singles player into the complete system.

The most important thing is that Chasing Green was suspended. The Warriors lost a pivot point and a support point. It was like a gear missing a link. This was their opportunity.

What's more, after five games, the Warriors also lost one game, that is, they were slaughtered by the Spurs 129:100 in the opening game.

It can be seen that the Warriors are not without shortcomings.

of course.

There is nothing to say about their offensive firepower. Durant, Curry, and Thompson can kill many teams with just that. Their strength is visible to the naked eye.

But once someone feels bad, it's also a negative feedback.

So before the game started, Xue Liancheng encouraged everyone in the locker room, "Are they very strong? There is no doubt about it, but I think no one is invincible. The Warriors who won 70 games last season are invincible. There is the same voice. But the final result is that I led the Knicks to defeat them and win the championship, so I want to emphasize here that we must maintain confidence, and confidence is the most basic condition for our combat effectiveness."

"I have some experience in dealing with Curry. Of course, the most important thing is that Luke knows his shortcomings. All he needs to do is to trap him as soon as he gets the ball, and his power will be greatly reduced."

"Durant's singles ability is very strong, but as long as the whole court challenges him and consumes his physical energy, by the fourth quarter, he will fall from the clouds to the ground."

"They are not as scary as you think, believe me..."

This painstaking meal finally had a miraculous effect.

The Lakers worked hard to defend their home court 117:97, and defeated the Warriors easily.

The main reason this time may be that Luke Walton listened to the advice and really double-teamed Curry throughout the game. At the same time, George was entangled with Durant throughout the game and continued to confront.

Another reason is that Luke Walton knows the Warriors so well that he specially arranged a contraction tactic to deal with the Warriors' passing and cutting cooperation.

Coupled with Green's absence, Curry and Thompson both feel frozen, so they can easily defeat the Warriors known as the universe level.

乔治14中7拿到了20分6篮板4助攻，主要的精力都投入到跟杜兰特的对抗中了，所以进攻欲望并不强烈。

Randall made 18 of 10 shots and scored 20 points and 14 rebounds. He already looked like a star. He was very powerful at the basket.

Clarkson also scored 17 points, continuing to show that he is a master of chaos and a strong transition attack.

Courtney Lee made 11 of 4 shots and scored 12 points. His performance on the offensive end was quite satisfactory, but his energy in tearing Curry apart on the defensive end is indeed worthy of recognition.

In addition to George, Courtney Lee also played an important role in winning the game.

Zubac only scored 2 points on 2-for-4 shooting and did not play much, only 16 minutes.

Wharton finally began to understand what the problem was.

Bench.

James Johnson once again provided stable offensive firepower, scoring 6 points on 5-of-14 shooting.

Joe Johnson scored 10 points.

Marvin Williams scored 9 points and his efficiency was 13 of 4. He was quite sluggish and his condition was still not stable enough.

Glenn Robinson scored 8 points, and Nance scored only 6 points on 1 of 3. Once again, he was stuck in a dead end and could not get out.

As for the Warriors.

Durant was still very accurate, scoring 16 points on 10 of 27, but when the team needed him to score, he failed to step up in time, which shows that George's defense was successful.

库里17中5得到13分，汤普森18中4得到10分，水花兄弟双双遇冷，生生把比赛胜利送给了湖人。

I don’t know the reason why the Splash Brothers accommodated Durant, or the reason why my hands feel smelly.

Anyway, the Warriors have a lot of problems to solve, especially when they lack the offensive starting point Green, they need to reorganize their tactical system, and they have not yet demonstrated cosmic-level strength.

After winning this game, the Lakers finally received some applause.

Wharton finally started to feel high-spirited.

press conference.

He said: "We suffered three consecutive defeats some time ago. It felt like the end of the world. Now it's finally getting better. I can take a deep breath."

"Actually, the essence of the fact is that our starting schedule is very difficult, it can be called hell. Let's count our opponents in detail, the Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, Indiana Pacers, Atlanta Hawks, Golden State Warriors, apart from the slightly weaker Pacers, who else is not a tough opponent?"

"The most important thing is that we have four consecutive away games and one back-to-back game. Such a difficult schedule is simply hellish."

"Coupled with our running-in problems, team tactical construction problems, chemical reactions, etc., we now have a record of 3 wins and 3 losses. I think this is particularly difficult."

"Now that we are finally on the right track, it's time for everyone to look at us with admiration."

"I still say that, we will continue to move forward and I will take the team to a new level."

That's right.

Wharton, who was full of confidence, once again put aside his arrogance.

Defeating Universe Yong can indeed make people feel confident.

The most important thing is that he had been suppressed for too long during the three-game losing streak. Now that he has gained momentum and the team has won two consecutive games, he feels that he is good again, which is natural.

But Xue Liancheng had a bad feeling.

(End of this chapter)