The timing of James’s comeback was a little sudden. Previously, some media had reported that he would return in the last three games, but James denied it. He was unwilling to let the media control his return time. The sudden comeback so early also proved that James was very worried about the current results of the Lakers. He was a little careless, not only could not reach the top six, but also might be kicked out of the play-off circle. Just one day before playing the bull, the Lakers adjusted James’s combat status to “become suspicious”, which is also an important sign that players who have suffered injuries for a long time may play the next game.
However, James’s return will definitely affect the chemical reactions already produced by the Lakers. Before that, the Lakers had just completed a three-game winning streak, defeating Magic, sun and Thunder one after another. James made an emergency comeback before five consecutive away games. He also wanted to take advantage of the bull home court advantage to strengthen his running-in with his teammates and get familiar with the new routine so as to increase his grasp of winning away games.
In order not to break the original chemical reaction, James fought from the bench rarely, which was the second time in more than 1400 games in his career, the last time he played for the Knight in 2007, his famous ceremony of spreading magnesium powder with both hands was also rare when the second section was just half played.
When James appeared. The Lakers also took a small lead by two points. Troy Brown played well at that time and Reeves just made a good layup. But coach Ham replaced Reeves with James and Troy Brown with Beasley. The Lakers changed from being in conflict to falling behind, and they went against the wind all the way, starting from this substitution.
Because of his desire to win, coach Ham made a big adjustment to the bull game. Before that, the Lakers won three consecutive victories, and almost everyone made contributions, especially Reeves, Davis, Troy Brown, Schroeder and so on. Even the substitute center Gabriel performed well, in the recent Thunder, Lonnie Walker also began to perform surprisingly.
However, after the big deal, the Lakers had a controversial figure in the lineup, which was “Brother pug” Vanderbilt. I have always believed that Vanderbilt should be treated in two ways. His vitality and passion on the court really helped the Lakers to improve their rebounds and defense. He could defend from 1 to 5, which made his opponent feel headache. However, Vanderbilt’s attack was very unstable and the means were single, especially because he didn’t have the ability to tossing, which led to too little space for the Lakers, which often affected Davis.
Van der Bilt scored very badly in this game, and he only scored 1 point in the last game against Thunder. Therefore, coach Ham changed van der Bilt when he saw that the attack was not smooth, in this way, the court became one big and four small, and James played number 4 again. This replacement once made the Lakers narrow the score difference to 8 points, but it didn’t last long. The Second Bull pulled the score difference to 20 points again.
After James came back, the lineup changed a lot and there was a certain sense of strangeness. The whole team made up 18 mistakes, which made the Bulls get 34 points through mistakes. They had a lot of offensive and defensive changes, the score of fast attack is 15-5.
James’s return will inevitably affect another person’s performance, which is Reeves. During James’s absence, he replaced part of James’s role. From 1 to 3, he participated in all 13 games of James’s absence, winning 8 wins and losing 5 losses, with an average of 17.8 points, the assists were 6.0 times, especially the total of 44 free throws in 3 games. In contrast, Reeves played 43 games before James’s absence, with an average of 10.6 points and 2.2 assists.
Reeves has been adjusted to the starting point in the last three games. His actual position is No. 1, which is responsible for the tactical initiation of the team. Schroeder played No. 2. After James returned, part of Reeves’s duties were handed back to James, but the Lakers especially needed his ability to create scoring opportunities on the court. When he couldn’t open the situation, he needed to break through the foul.
Coach Ham hoped to find a balance between James and Rives, especially after he changed to a senior and a junior, James played number 4 and retained Reeves to play number 3 on the court, but Reeves couldn’t have played with the ball as calmly when James was away. Although he scored 13 points in this game, there was only one free throw in the game, and the breakthrough was significantly reduced.
In order to play a senior or senior, the game pitcher Beasley played for more than 27 minutes, which was incomparable during the previous three-game streak. Beasley finally scored 18 points, 6 out of 14 three-point goals, but 4 of them came from the last section. In the first half, his performance was still Disaster-level, with only 3 points in two sections, half-time positive and negative value-18.
The above is the impact of James’s comeback on the team’s chemical reaction. Some players who do not perform well are personal ability problems, but Davis and Reeves are not as effective as before, which also shows that everyone needs to re-run in, start a new chemical reaction.
James reappeared in the No. 4 position of the first senior and fourth Junior. I believe this is a backup move prepared by coach Ham for the playoffs, or a unique move of store at the bottom of a suitcase. It is not a critical moment or a crisis moment, this combination is not necessarily used.
In the fourth quarter, it was less than two minutes, and the Lakers fell 20 points. At this time, coach Ham changed into Schroeder and Troy Brown, and replaced Beasley and Gabriel, and the field became five small teams, vanderbilt played center, James played 4, Reeves played 3, Brown and Schroeder played outside. This lineup once reduced the score difference of 20 points to 13 points, but it couldn’t catch up any more. Two mistakes went on, and the score difference returned to 21 points.
The final lineup of the Lakers is Davis, James, Reeves, Brown and Schroeder. This lineup has nothing to do with big deals. Except Russell, others are not trusted by the coach.
James’s comeback certainly has positive significance. The first is to boost morale and make the ideal lineup in the playoffs have core leaders. After he came back, he could strengthen the grasp of the rhythm on the field, greatly speed up the promotion of offensive and defensive conversion, increase the coordination with Davis, and have many chances of low-position dislocation, this game also scored the highest 19 points in the team, but in the end it still depends on whether Davis can flip the river under the basket.
In this game, Davis faced two centers with different styles, vachevich and Drummond. His performance was relatively sluggish, especially when he played a small squad in the last section, the Bulls did not go to Drummond, vachevich was also sent out for a long time. Davis played the last half of the ball, but he didn’t make any shots at one time, let alone scoring. He seemed tired.
I played the Bulls twice in a row. I believe coach ham will make great adjustments to the Lakers’ playing style and lineup in the next game. In the second game, he won the Bulls in Chicago.
But next, there will be two key card-position battles, both on the road, for the Timberwolves and the Clippers respectively. Fortunately, they are similar to the Clippers and the home court. If these two games are not grasped, it is difficult for the Lakers to enter the top six. Whether they can stay in the play-off circle has become a big question.
The key is that James cannot be regarded as a lifeline. Davis must be hardened.