On February 4, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Lakers lost 110-111 to the Clippers in the Los Angeles derby. In the final moments of the game, Clippers player Reggie Jackson staged a beautiful "one-three" offense, he broke through the bag of Westbrook and Reeves, rushed to pick the ball in before Munch's defense, and then the thick eyebrow brother failed to kill, and the Lakers could only regret the defeat.
After the game, both James and Lakers coach Vogel talked about the Lakers' defense. James praised Reggie's layup on social media, but also regretted that the Lakers were "only one successful defense at a critical moment." Vogel believes that the Lakers' final defensive failure is bad luck, whether it is Reggie Jackson's layup or the difficult three-point shot of Morris Jr. in the previous round, the Lakers are "only one finger away from the cap.".
But is this really the case? Morris Jr.'s three-point shot, the Lakers did defend in place, but Reggie Jackson can play three successfully, which is enough to show that the Lakers' defense still has problems. However, after the game, some people think that they should blame Reeves for not defending Reggie Jackson, and some people think that they should blame Westbrook, who failed to prevent steals, so who should carry the pot on both sides? We might as well start from scratch and carefully review the round.
After Westbrook helped fly the thick-browed brother to catch the dunk, the Clippers sent the ball to Reggie Jackson, and Westbrook, who was in position with him, chose to retreat without delaying Reggie Jackson's rapid advance. This defensive strategy is considered by some to be wrong, but frankly, Westbrook's response was not wrong.
At that time, there were 12.5 seconds before the end of the game, the Clippers had plenty of time to finish the offense, and the Lakers were already full, if Westbrook chose to press forward, once directly flashed by Reggie Jackson, then the Lakers could not establish a complete defense line, the problem was even greater. Therefore, this ball chooses to retreat first and defend the position once, which is the right choice.
The real problem with the Lakers is their defensive choices after entering the position. At that time, the Clippers played a blocking and dismantling coordination, Reggie Jackson misplaced to face Reeves after the dismantling, and Westbrook did not directly change defenses, but chose to pursue the auxiliary defense, trying to form a pinch with Reeves.
In fact, this choice is also correct in terms of thinking, and Reggie Jackson is indeed in danger of being forced into the corner. But the problem is that the clamping cooperation between Reeves and Westbrook is obviously not tacit enough, Reeves stuck to the bottom line and gave way to the upper line, but the direction and angle of Westbrook's pinching attack were problematic, did not adduct inward, but ran to the sideline to pounce, resulting in the "door" on the line not locked, leaving enough room for Reggie Jackson to turn. Westbrook had no choice but to try to make a steal, and the result was unsuccessful.
Not delaying Reggie Jackson's full-court defense was not Westbrook's fault, but Westbrook should bear most of the blame for this failed pinch defense. After all, in the case of seeing Westbrook chasing after the defense, Reeves chose to defend the bottom line and let go of the line, which is a very normal choice, and although Westbrook has the intention of pinching, the action is not fast and resolute enough, and the direction and angle are wrong, which exposes the problem that his defense is not fine enough.
Similar problems have appeared many times this season, Westbrook is not unwilling to defend, his single defense ability is actually quite good, but once the opponent is blocking and dismantling or no ball transposition, his brain is prone to "crash", make wrong defensive choices, or simply stunned.
And if it is the lakers in the past, because there are a large number of defensive masters on the flanks, and there are also a combination of Howard and thick eyebrows on the inside, even if Westbrook has some defensive problems, teammates can help him "wipe his ass". But now the Lakers' outer wing lacks defensive masters, while the main small lineup, once the thick eyebrow brother is pulled out, the inner line is equal to no defense, in this case, Westbrook's defensive problems will naturally be amplified.
From the current situation, the Lakers have a hard time solving this problem, even if Vogel is a defensive coach, he does not have enough defensive resources to give up Westbrook. The Lakers can only rely on the hard work of the players, rather than the system and strategy to defend, which is why their defense this season is always up and down, good and bad.