This was the headline that appeared most often in the Los Angeles Times sports section in March.
After defeating the Phoenix Suns in the away game, the Lakers and Phoenix Suns had the same record of 44 wins and 14 losses. With their win-loss relationship, the Lakers successfully overpowered the Phoenix Suns and moved into second place in the Western Conference. Especially after defeating the Suns
After that, the Lakers' schedule for the next period of time is relatively easy. The Lakers' opponents in the next five games include the Minnesota Timberwolves, Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento Kings, Philadelphia 76ers and Portland Trail Blazers.
, the Minnesota Timberwolves, Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers have made it clear that they are going to mess up this season, and they are all aiming to get the No. 1 pick next season. The Sacramento Kings are currently fighting for a playoff.
Struggling for a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Philadelphia 76ers are also fighting for a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. In the five games, only these two teams may cause trouble to the Lakers, but the Los Angeles media is still optimistic that the Lakers will win five consecutive games.
, taking the opportunity to widen the gap with the Phoenix Suns.
Because compared to the Lakers, the games that the Phoenix Suns will face in the next period of time are really difficult compared to the Lakers. Except for the Bobcats, Hornets, and Pacers, which are considered weak teams, from March
From October 10th to March 18th, the Suns will continuously challenge the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, and Denver Nuggets, the four powerful teams in the Western Conference playoff level, and will also face the Philadelphia 76ers, a powerful team in the Eastern Conference.
Have to challenge.
Judging from the schedule, although the Lakers will also face the Mavericks and Nuggets in the future, it will undoubtedly be much easier than the Phoenix Suns. Most people want to break out of such a schedule and achieve good results.
No one is optimistic that the Phoenix Suns can do this.
Therefore, the next game will be the best opportunity for the Lakers. It is also the best opportunity for the Spurs. The Spurs ranked fifth in the Western Conference before the All-Star Game, but the gap between them and the Rockets and Jazz is not big.
There are two wins behind them, three wins behind the Rockets, and six wins behind the Suns.
Everyone knows that the Spurs are a team that is used to working hard from the back. Although the Spurs' performance in the first half of the season has been a bit tepid, no one will underestimate the Spurs, a rock-solid team. The Lakers
Although they seem to have a big advantage over the Spurs at this stage, if they are not careful, the Spurs will catch up immediately.
In fact, they behave the same way.
After the All-Star Game, the Spurs won consecutive games against the Nuggets, Hawks, SuperSonics, Raptors, Magic, Rockets, and Clippers. Counting the fact that the Spurs had already won two consecutive games before the All-Star Game, the Spurs had already won rapidly after the All-Star Game.
The winning streak has been extended to nine games, and the winning gap between the Jazz and the Jazz has been successfully reduced to nothing. The Jazz only maintain the lead due to their record advantage against the Spurs in the first half of the season, but looking at the momentum of the Spurs, I am afraid that this will
It is difficult to maintain a slight lead.
The competition for the top rankings in the Western Conference is fierce, and in the second half of the Western Conference, including the ninety teams that are fighting for playoff spots, the competition is also fierce. The Kings, Warriors, Clippers, Hornets, and Nuggets are five teams.
The team formed a second group and fought hard for the three playoff spots at the bottom of the Western Conference.
The Lakers generals now have no time to care about the battles between the lower-ranked teams. After defeating the Suns in the away game, the Lakers were full of momentum and easily defeated two bad teams, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Milwaukee Bucks. The roaring Wolf King won
He scored 26 points, 17 rebounds and 8 assists, but still could not prevent the team from losing. After the game with the Suns, Kobe gradually revived from his silence. In this game against the Timberwolves, Kobe was crazy.
While scoring 40 points, he also grabbed 13 rebounds, pushing himself further towards the scoring title.
Adrian scored 20 points and 12 assists. He has been very diligent in assisting recently. In the list of individual players' assists per game this season, Adrian surpassed Jason Keys with 10.4 assists per game.
De, Chris Paul, Deron Williams and a series of star guards ranked second in the player assists per game list. The first place is the two-time MVP, the Suns star, Steve
Steve Nash. Steve Nash averaged 0.9 more assists per game than Adrian, averaging 11.3 assists per game.
Although the gap is a bit big, with more than a month left in the game, Adrian is not without a chance to compete for the league's assists title.
Of course Adrian wants to compete!
The honor of winning the assists title as a rookie is naturally dazzling. Even Adrian himself cannot resist such an honor. Of course, the more important point is the real benefits. You must know that the sneaker contract signed by Adrian is for Adidas.
Adrian has offered bonuses for various awards in the league. The finals mvp is naturally the highest, but with the current strength of the Lakers, it is estimated that it is unlikely to reach the finals. Regular season mvp and best defensive player are second. Then third.
These are the season honors of scoring, assists, steals, blocks, and rebounds. The last ones are the Best Rookie Award and the Best Team Award.
In short, these honors are money.
As for the scoring champion, with Adrian averaging 24.8 points per game, looking at the current NBA scoring charts with average points above 30, Adrian naturally has no idea. The same goes for the rebounding champion this year.
Howard stands out as the leader in blocks. Camby's average of 3.2 blocks per game is difficult to challenge.
After the game, looking at Kevin Garnett with a look of helplessness, pain, and even confusion, Adrian felt sympathy but also secretly warned himself in his heart, don't join a team that is doomed like Garnett.
The promising team is too involved, and that does no good except hurt itself.
Even if you are looking for a transfer, it is best to find a team that is strong or at least has unlimited potential. It is best to go to a big city. If you go to a big city, even if you cannot guarantee the record, you can guarantee the commercial value and income, such as
Los Angeles, such as Boston, such as the New York Knicks, such as Miami...
After defeating the Timberwolves, the Lakers flew to Milwaukee in the ice and snow to challenge the Milwaukee Bucks, who had maintained a weak base since losing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. This game was extremely easy, and Kobe Bryant only played 25 minutes.
After scoring 28 points, he sat off the court to rest. Adrian stayed on the court. He talked about his idea of competing for the assists title with Phil Jackson and Kobe and gained their support.
Phil Jackson also agreed to Adrian's request to increase his assist data and strive for the assists title without affecting the victory of the game.
In this regard, Phil Jackson's laissez-faire approach to players is unparalleled by many NBA coaches. In his opinion, as long as it does not affect the team's overall unity and tactics, it is no big deal for players to be a little more arbitrary and have a little free play. As long as they don't make mistakes
If some principles are wrong, Phil Jackson can turn a blind eye or close one.
This habit is largely due to the fact that Phil Jackson is a head coach who was born as a player. Compared with those academic head coaches, Phil Jackson, who was born as a player, understands the thoughts of the players better and understands the needs of the players better.
needs, so he is also better at maintaining a good relationship with the star players in the team. Otherwise, do you think that people like Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, O'Neal, and Kobe can really serve everyone well?
?
This also makes many academic head coaches look down upon them, ridiculing Phil Jackson who can only rely on superstars to win championships. But everyone knows that it is their ability to rely on superstars to win championships. If you are given the same superstar, you can win it.
Champion?
But if the coach of the Lakers was Larry Brown, Adrian would never dare to say these things. If he did, he would be suspended from the team.
Don’t believe it?
Think about how Milicic was such an intelligent young Serbian boy. Even the Cavaliers were tempted to give up LeBron to pick this big man with unlimited potential.
What's the result?
Just because of personal preference, Larry Brown completely destroyed Milicic. Can you still see the slightest bit of spirituality in him now? Larry Brown defended this as Milicic's own heart.
You have sex problems and can't stand the pressure. Damn it, if you average less than 5 minutes of playing time per game, God will make you a scumbag, not to mention that Milicic was only 17 years old!
In that game, Adrian scored a luxurious double-double of 27 points, 15 assists, and 5 rebounds for the Bucks, taking a step closer to the throne of assist king.
After easily settling the two major problems in the East and West, the Lakers faced the challenge of the Sacramento Kings at home. The Sacramento Kings have a pretty good record this season, currently ranking 27th with 27 wins and 32 losses.
Eleventh in the Western Conference, still not completely losing hope of the playoffs.
At the beginning of this season, the Kings sought transformation. They fired head coach Adelman and hired young coach Musselman, hoping to change the team's weak defense and transform into a defensive team.
After a season and half a season, the situation was not optimistic. The head point guard Mike Bibby didn't know what defense was. Old Miller still attacked the strong and defended the weak. Although Artest's personal defensive ability was very strong, as a player
As a personal defensive leader, all he can do is limit the performance of his own defensive goals. There is nothing he can do about the team's overall weak defense.
More importantly, in the past few years, Adelman's Princeton offensive tactics have been deeply ingrained in the bones of the Kings' generals. It is simply impossible to complete the transformation without completely overturning it.
The same goes for this game.
No matter how loud Musselman yells from the sidelines, the Kings players will still throw the defense aside when they get on the court.
Musselman's transformation did not improve the Kings' defense, but instead weakened the Kings' offense. (To be continued.)
