The Lakers' strategic loss still exposes the team's biggest pain point

With the care of the Lakers, the Spurs finally ended their losing streak to 18 games. With the Spurs scoring double-doubles for all seven players, James' contribution of 23 points, 7 rebounds and 14 assists was still not enough, and he finally hated away.

However, the Lakers don't have to care about this loss. Because, this is the loss they expected, even a strategic one. With the team just winning the midseason tournament, the Lakers have become the team with the most busy schedule at this stage. They have 15 games to play throughout the month of December and are in the running of seven games and six away games. So from the last game, the Lakers began to rotate and rest. First, James was rested in the last game, and then this one directly let three starters: thick eyebrows, Russell, and Reddish.

Do you want to ask, the Spurs are all rotten like this, and it is really impossible to play if you let go of three starters? In fact, the gap between NBA teams is not as big as imagined. To make a simple data comparison, the 76ers, who have the highest average points per game this season, have more than 9 points, and the Spurs, the least, have -11.6 points. In other words, the difference between the best team and the worst team is 20 points per game. The influence of the thick eyebrows on the Lakers this season is 8.5 points, and James is 17.8 points. It can probably be understood this way: the gap between the best and the worst teams in the NBA may be one James.

Of course, the complexity of the game is far from being simply comparable to these few statistics, but the lack of a key point in the team will indeed greatly affect the use of tactics. For example, without the inside and outside defense of Bushy Eyebrows and Reddish, the Spurs played the most fluid offensive efficiency of the season, shooting 43% from three-point range, while the Lakers' side saw a sudden reduction in outside space, making their three-point shooting rate only 31%.

So, the Lakers knew that there was a high probability that they would lose by letting go of three starters, but they did it anyway, which can only be explained as: this is the team's strategy. It's better to lose to Spurs than to other competitors. Losing to the Spurs, losing is losing, the Spurs' poor record, having withdrawn from this season's competition ahead of schedule, would not have posed a threat to the Lakers. But if it is a loss to a direct competitor, then losing 1 game is actually losing 2 games, which is more important, I believe the Lakers have their own considerations.

At the end of the day, the Lakers still have confidence in themselves. It's like they started in the play-offs last year and made it all the way to the Western Conference Finals. And in this season's new mid-season tournament, they also won the championship. If you really want to do a series with the Lakers, there are really not many who can win steadily. So, all the Lakers care about is a playoff qualification, and the ranking really doesn't matter that much.

It's just that with three fewer starters, the Lakers' system is a bit unplayable, which still shows the problem of the team's system. The real system can not depend on the individual, and the best representative is the Spurs under Popovich back then, who rotated the four major powers collectively and played with the Big Three Heat to the decisive moment, which is an excellent team.

The team can rely on the stars, but if they rely too much on the stars, if there is a little injury or off-field factors, then it immediately becomes uncompetitive. It's a fact. Fortunately, the Lakers still have hole cards now, after all, the newly signed Vincent has not really integrated into the team because of injuries, and after he is enriched into the backcourt, then the Lakers are the last Lakers to take shape.

Get through this toughest schedule, and the Lakers will be very comfortable in the coming days.