50-round analyst-level review: After a disastrous defeat against the Thunder, what areas can the Lakers improve on?

121:92, the Lakers lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The bubble of 8 wins and 3 losses has been burst. Although the data has long told us that it is difficult for the current Lakers to beat the Thunder, losing in such a rout still caused a huge psychological gap.

"There is a reason why they can become a championship team." Doncic said after the game.

This is Luka's worst game this season - he averaged 38 points in the previous 7 games, but only 19 points tonight, and his shooting percentage was 7 of 20 (35%).

But he then said: "But everything must start with ourselves."

Before the start of the game, JJ Redick set the motto of the Lakers this season: "Champion's physical fitness, champion's habits, champion's communication."

They may think they have done it, or they know that they have not fully achieved it - but today, the Thunder showed them what the real "champion's physical fitness, champion's habits, champion's communication" looks like.

Failure is not terrible. The failure in November was even more so. The key is what you gain from failure.

So - even though I know that not many people will have the patience to read an article after a loss, I still want to do today's review with my most serious attitude:

I really want to know where they lost, and where they can improve and do better. Then next time we play against the Thunder, I want to take this article out again to see if they correct the problem - and then we will know what kind of team this Lakers is - not from the lineup, but from the spirit.

Next we enter the round-by-round review - there are about 50 GIFs, including most of the meaningful rounds in the first quarter. Let’s break it down piece by piece and then make a summary.

As for why you chose the first verse? I'll talk about it below.

The score in the first quarter was 18:30; the score in the second quarter was 20:40.

The Lakers' defeat began to show signs of defeat in the first quarter, and began to collapse in the second quarter.

The reason why the first quarter is selected for detailed review is because the first quarter is a quarter where Luka plays a full game and the game plans of both sides are executed relatively strictly. It is actually a "key game point". When the Lakers lost this key game point by a large score, facing a team like the Thunder, they had basically lost hope of winning.

Most of the reasons for the defeat in the second quarter were actually reflected in the first quarter. Those "unreflected reasons" can be summarized in a few very simple words. Let’s talk about it last.

Let’s follow the order of the game - no matter the good or the bad, we will present them one by one (I hope everyone will be as patient as possible to watch):

The Lakers’ first offense of this game.

is a very common tactic they use this season: "Chicago" (or zoom). The Lakers chose to use Hachimura and Ayton as screeners, involving the Thunder's two big men in this tactic.

The Thunder chose to force a delay on the second screen - that is, a strong delay against Ayton's Harten. At the same time, Carson Wallace also tried his best to squeeze through the screen without changing defense.

We can see that Carson Wallace's defense is very powerful - first of all, he does not take the screen. At the moment when Luka and Ayton are handing over, the gap between him and Hatten is very small, and Luka cannot pass between the two.

He was also very smart in his subsequent defensive position selection. He did not go up with Harten to surround Luka, but took the initiative to choose a stepped position in tandem with Harten - the purpose was still to prevent Luka from easily passing through the two defenses.

So Luka made a choice - he realized that he had completely pulled the two of them to a high position (this is also very common in Slovenian games), so he used his long passing ability to start manipulating his teammates 4-on-3.

Between Hachimura and Ayton, he chose to pass the ball directly with both hands through the middle, using the shooter as bait to go straight to the big man.

In the European Championships, this trick often worked, but this time he underestimated Chet Holmgren's frame protection - or, this is the horror of Chet Holmgren - Chet cracked Luka's "two bottles of poison" with a free throw line position: The moment Luka read Chet's position, he felt that the pass to Hachimura could be blocked by Chet, so he chose to pass Ayton.

But Chet said that I can actually block both.

To be honest, I don’t doubt that Hachimura can also block this pass (we can see it below). How can we relieve our worries in this round? Only LeBang.

Let’s look at:

The Lakers’ retreat went wrong.

Smart and Luka both pointed to the bottom corner, but Hachimura and Kosato just wanted to take care of the person in front of them first, leaving a big gap, but the Thunder did not enter.

It's the Lakers' turn to convert.

This round is a good "drag" screen in transition - Hachimura helps Luka block the position advantage, rolls out himself, takes away Holmgren, and Luka goes directly to the layup.

The Thunder used an "Iverson cut" + "zoom" tactic, and the Lakers defended it very well - they successfully bypassed/squeezed through all four screens. Considering that Hachimura, Luka, and Reeves were chasing the screen, this was not easy - I speculate that this tactic is a common tactic of the Thunder. Redick should have shown the players the start and subsequent development of this tactic before the game.

In the follow-up, the Thunder could only let Chet and Harten play pick-and-rolls at positions 4-5. Ayton switched defenses and relied on his wingspan to interfere with Chet's shooting.

The defense was pretty good throughout the round.

Return to the offensive end. The Lakers once again played Luka's "Double Drag". In the first round, Chet's defensive coverage was too scary, so this round the Lakers switched to Smart + Ayton to cover..

The purpose of Smart's screen may be to help Luka prevent the dislocation of Mitchell or Hatten, allowing the Thunder to choose one of the two. However, the Thunder defended very well in this round again - the Thunder did not switch defenses on both screens. Instead, Mitchell did not follow Smart and stayed directly in the middle. He made the first delay, and then Hatten also came out from the side of the center to make the second delay.

This was not what the Lakers expected. Luka actually had a chance to pass between Smart and Ayton, but he was not prepared, so the opportunity was fleeting, and Chet on the weak side crossed a distance equivalent to the entire baseline early to help prevent Ayton's pass.

The Thunder's defensive pace is terrifying. Luka actually has the ability to pass the ball directly to the weak side corner, but he is still reading the Thunder's defense against him, and for a while he did not figure out the best way to pass the ball.

The last method he thought of was to pass Reeves - because he saw SGA defending one against two, and wanted to attract SGA to Reeves and then transfer.

There's nothing wrong with this idea - but Chet is too fast. His huge wingspan spread out, covering Hachimura like a big bird flying over - I have already mentioned the issue of Hachimura's shooting speed. Once he is not confident enough, he will choose to swing into the mid-range. But Chet executed the close out perfectly, and Hachimura's mid-range shot was interfered with.

Does Luka have a better choice this round? Yes, but it's difficult. This level of difficulty makes even a bold player like Luka hesitate - so the defense defeats Luka.

Against Xiaoli in the SGA transition - the Lakers actually implemented a "Pack line defense" here - shrinking the middle to prevent the opponent from breaking through the middle:

They actually did it. Hachimura's assisting defense forced SGA to stop its breakthrough and chose a mid-range shot, but missed.

Continue watching:

Looking back, Xiaoli also singled out sga. The Thunder retreated quickly, and Hatten stepped back to protect, but Ayton, who followed up with Xiaoli's assist, made a mid-range shot. At that time, I didn't expect that this was Xiaoli's only highlight in this quarter.

After the 4:0 start, the Thunder failed to attack twice in position battles - they decided to play something "concise and effective" that may not be in the Lakers' arrangement: such as Mitchell picking and rolling Hachimura.

Hachimura was passed by in one step, and as expected, the Lakers were not prepared for this. Ayton did not do any protection in this round - according to last season's mixed defense system, Ayton should go to the strong side breakthrough route here, with Luka blocking Harten, inducing the breakthrough player to pass to the bottom corner and then rotate.

Continue watching:

The Lakers' "Ram stack" is a common tactic, but it is slow to initiate. By the time Ayton picks up, there are only 12 seconds left, and the defensive pressure from Carson Wallace is great. Not only did Luka not find a chance to get through the delay (Hatten performed a 'flat' delay in this round), but he was also almost intercepted while dribbling - the Lakers' tactics were once again broken by the Thunder's individual defensive capabilities.

And we can see in this round - the Lakers' "stack", Ayton and Reeves do not actually form any real screen, they just cross each other - the advantage of this is that there is no need to "wait" for each other. If Luka attracts double-teams and the ball is not hindered, then when Reeves takes Ayton out, Reeves' defender must choose one of the two, and the opportunity will arise.

But this is the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Wallace's defensive ability allows the Thunder to avoid aggressive double-teaming, and Harten's mobile ability is enough to return after a delay - Luka even has no time to take care of himself under Wallace's quick hands.

As a result, the Lakers' strategy, which relied entirely on Luka's personal containment and ball-playing ability, became very bad. (This is something they can improve next time they play against each other)

But fortunately, this round ended with Luka attacking Carson to find the bottom corner, and Hachimura hitting a three-pointer.

Look, Chet is not invincible. His range still has an upper limit. As long as Luka grasps the speed of the ball and fleeting opportunities, and Hachimura takes confident shots - they can defeat the defense.

But the premise is that they must be prepared and do these things more confidently.

Luca was passed by Carson. It was another one of those "hits you didn't expect" rounds - certainly reflecting the improvement in the capabilities of the Thunder's role players. But the question remains:

Why didn’t Ayton provide protection?

In a regular man-to-man position, Smart should indeed shrink for protection in this round, but Smart is facing SGA, and Ayton is facing Harten. Who is more threatening from beyond the three-point line, Harten or SGA?

Ayton was blaming Smart after scoring in this round, but this round actually required him to react on the spot and help defend - the on-the-spot response may have been too much for Dunbao. Then the coach needs to record this round for him to see and tell him what to do in advance.

Look at what DFS did last season:

Of course the positioning in the round is different. But it’s good that everyone understands the meaning.

I know that putting higher demands on Luka is the first reaction of many people - but why can't he do it? Just like Jokic is unable to protect the frame in many physical games - then you can only protect him. Because you need him offensively.

Continue watching:

Xiaoli converted and singled out Mitchell, who made a mistake and was stopped by a team.

Considering that he was playing with groin soreness today, let’s forget about it. There will be three more games against the Thunder, including against other strong defensive teams. I hope he can prove himself.

Next, the Lakers made what I consider to be a more "conservative" adjustment.

In the previous rounds, Redick or Doncic may have felt that the double screen was not effective, so they chose to change it to the No. 4 screen - the No. 4 screen. It is true that Luka will not be forced to play the ball, but is Chet a good choice for one-on-one switching defense? Moreover, Luka did not choose to break out in this round, but directly faced Chet and shot a three-pointer.

Although I scored in this round, it already gave me a bad premonition at the time..

It is because of rounds like this that I question Luka's choices sometimes and say that the Lakers can do better - because they really can do better.

The Thunder played "Iverson+zoom" again, and the Lakers still defended this tactic very well. (It can be seen that it has been arranged. Even if he comes on the bench, he can immediately identify the tactics)

But in the end, Mitchell directly singled out Laravia to score - you have to accept this.

A player like Mitchell would be a terrifying addition to the Thunder. When a team reaches a certain critical point, a straw can break the camel's back (league), let alone a guard who averages 17 points per game...

The Lakers once again used double coverage.

This time the Thunder defended better than before - Luka's route to Ayton was completely blocked. The three Thunder players are on the passing route, and there is Chet's long arm in front of Luka - this round is indeed difficult, but I think there is actually a better passing route: for example, when Alexander "tags" Ayton, give it to "Shake" Laravia.

Luca's mind was still looking for Ayton and he didn't see it. In the end, he chose a more general choice, giving it to Hachimura, who was not empty, and then Hachimura made an even worse choice-giving it to Laravia, who was no longer empty. This round ended in failure.

Playing against the Thunder is so troublesome - you have to get the core right in one step. Otherwise, it will be completely impossible to let the role players handle it for a second time. (Just like the Indeterminate Flying Ring meets the Golden Bell)

SGA switched to pick Laravia. Mixed defense position protection at Bacun Station. SGA missed the shot.

Luka once again overestimated the ability of his teammates - quickly passed to Laravia, but Laravia missed the passing window to Ayton (he really couldn't grasp this window and had to wait for LeBron), and then faced Chet with a confused look on his face: "I'm going to challenge Su Nuo alone?"

could only return the ball to the line. Continue to watch this round:

Laravia returned the ball to Hachimura. Hachimura didn't know how to deal with it. He wanted to pass it to Luka, but Luka chose to cover him. Hachimura hesitated for two steps and passed it to Luka. Finally, he hit the ball and hit the mid-range to solve the problem. It started with a quick ball, everyone was confused, and it was an extremely chaotic round.

In a round like this, you can say you need LeBron. But in fact, LeBron cannot guarantee that he will solve the problem in this round every time - the Lakers must have "champion communication and champion habits" - which of course also includes on-the-spot adaptability and confidence.

They also need a deeper understanding of their own motto - just like the Thunder.

The Thunder's very well-designed "Zipper+stagger" - the Lakers defended very well again.

The Lakers had a characteristic in the first quarter of this game - they defended very well with well-designed tactics, but they often lost points when facing the opponent's on-the-spot changes and were "bleeded with a knife." We can't say that Redick's preparation was not good. You can see that he emphasized a lot of things on the defensive end and should have made a lot of preparations.

But. Is there a balance between defensive and offensive setups? Have we missed the point? Consequentialism makes little sense. Let's just see if they can do better next time.

In the follow-up, the Lakers once again stood in an obvious mixed defense formation - the Thunder made a targeted arrangement for this: they added an off-ball screen to the shooter after rolling on the weak side. You can clearly see this when comparing the DFS round above - but Carson Wallace still failed to make a shot.

The Thunder's weakness lies in the quality of their shooters.

We can see that this mixed defense formation is quite effective against the Thunder. This has been the case from last season to this season.

Luka and Ayton picked and rolled. At this time, the Thunder replaced Jaylin to face Ayton - Luka seemed to have missed an opportunity to pass the ball to Ayton over the top. He chose Hachimura - not bad, but unfortunately Hachimura failed to make the shot. (From this round we can see Chet's weak-side coverage ability again)

Looking back, the Lakers made a mistake in anti-ghost screening-they were too afraid of SGA, and Hachimura did an unnecessary favor.

once again reflects what I said - you can defend against complex tactics, but simple tactics often make mistakes. The Thunder pulled to double digits.

Luka became impatient again, reckless, and did not know the so-called offensive options.

Fortunately, the ball was returned to the Lakers. Doncic played "Zoom" and handed Ayton hand-in-hand - a beautiful overhead pass to Ayton. If in the above rounds, you doubted that the "overhead passing route" I mentioned does not exist at all, then this round is a proof:

That route certainly exists. Although it looks difficult, Luka can definitely do it.

In the next round, after the offense scored, the Lakers also defended the Thunder's double screen very well.

In the follow-up, they again relied on mixed defense to defend SGA.

But the Thunder still had the ball, and the Thunder once again played the wing "Zoom" in the round when Carson was blocked by Ayton - this time Carson honestly gave it to the misplaced SGA.

The Lakers were protected by mixed defense, and SGA was forced to score points - the defense was good up to this point, but something went wrong in the end:

Hachimura wanted to "contribute" too much. He intercepted the route to the bottom corner and took away Laravia's job. Instead, no one was taking care of it at the top of the arc. Luca was supposed to be able to take care of it, but Xiaoli didn't feel good in this game and had been relying on him to initiate. He really couldn't run anymore.

Looking back, the Lakers committed an offensive foul, and the Thunder used a ghost screen. The Lakers made another miscommunication on whether to switch defenses. Fortunately, Vanderbilt protected the rim and defended Caruso..

Luka made a personal transformation.

SGA points to Luka and misses a three-pointer after retreating.

Debiao was too direct on the ball and was almost intercepted by Caruso, and the follow-up screen was not smooth - I actually don't understand why he should be used to cover instead of Hayes in this lineup. Maybe Redick thinks Carlson is easier to play than Jalin? Then you can set up a double screen...

Forget it, I still have to praise Caruso for this round. Good interception.

This transition clearly showed that Luka was tired. Caruso made the shot and he could only watch.

Luka converted to a drag three-pointer, but was interfered by Caruso - he was obviously out of energy;

In turn, SGA shot Laravia three-pointer in the face.

Vanderbilt reacted very slowly to cover again. Luka still couldn't pass the ball. The final pass to Laravia had the meaning of "breaking the pot" - if this round, the screener was replaced by LeBron or Laravia's role was replaced by LeBron, would it be much better? Of course it will.

The Dong/Li combination means that both of them have to lead the team alone for a long time. Facing the Thunder, this is very painful.

Redick couldn't stand it anymore and replaced him with Reeves.

Reeves and Vanderbilt picked and rolled, but the ball couldn't go in. Moreover, Reeves "gave up resistance" and passed a safe ball back to Doncic, playing Caruso alone.

Then why are you here?

Hayes could only come up and play the side pick-and-roll, but this position was very bad. Jaylin delayed and blocked the sideline to prevent Luka from breaking through. Van Der Biao was in the weak-side corner, and Carlson directly left the position to protect the frame-Luka could only attack and throw, but missed.

In the last attack of the first quarter, Hayes finally switched to cover. Vanderbilt took advantage of his opponent's ability to open up in the slot. He first let the down center center attract the opponent to shrink, then cosplayed with Westbrook, received the ball and made a second breakthrough transfer - allowing Reeves to break away from the defense and score in the bottom corner.

A good tactic, but it came too late.

Summary

The above are almost all valuable rounds in the first quarter.

As for the second quarter - looking at Reeves' state, I don't need to review what happened during Luka's break. All Redick can do is to get Doncic early - but Doncic has no physical strength, forcing him to play will not help, and the team's morale has already collapsed, and eventually plummeted.

Frankly speaking, if LeBron is here, it will definitely be easier for Reeves to play well - many rounds above, I have explained the difference if LeBron is there. But if Reeves wants to get 40 million, he must prove that he can support the team in a game of this intensity without LeBron.

From the above reviews, I don’t think his slump today was completely “forced” – his groin may still be affecting him. Of course, you can also say that I'm making excuses. In any case, time will tell what level of player Reeves is.

After reviewing the entire first quarter of the game, I don’t know if everyone has the same impression as me:

The Thunder are indeed very, very strong. But I feel that the content of the Lakers' game is not as negative and desperate as the final score difference shows.

Don’t they have anything to adjust? Don't they have anything they can improve by watching the footage? I think it's obvious that there is.

This is not to say that they will definitely be able to beat the Thunder after adjustments - I just mean that their gap should not be like it is today.

And today, they gave me the feeling that "they are not ready to face the Thunder".

Luka's decision-making must be better, he must trust his teammates more, be bold when he should be bold, but don't handle the round hastily;

Reeves has not performed at all, he needs to find himself, I still say the same thing, be cautious with groin injuries, such as If it doesn't work, then rest;

Redick said after the game that he took measures on the defensive end, but still allowed SGA to score 30 points. He said that some defensive mistakes were the problem with him-but I think he still missed the point-the Lakers are a team that drives defense with offense. Look at the team’s mentality when they don’t score. When you only score 38 points at halftime, do you still expect these guys to be able to defend the Thunder?

He needs to make more targeted arrangements on the offensive end. Instead of following the routine, leave full power to Luca.

"The physical fitness of a champion, the habits of a champion, and the communication of a champion" - the motto cannot be just a loud slogan. The Thunder on the opposite side has already done a good job for you.

In my opinion, one gainful loss is greater than ten absent-minded and stumbling games.

Remember today’s game.

There is a wise saying in China, which is "Know your shame and then be brave".