The rest is just noise

Jerry West sat in the forum and reviewed in detail the Lakers' two consecutive road defeats.

Among them, there was a huge defeat by double digits, and a narrow defeat by only 1 point.

Big losses are usually nothing to study, and West focused on the close loss to the Pacers.

West noticed something on the stat sheet.

The Lakers led by 15 points in the first three quarters.

But in the fourth quarter, they were outscored 36-20 by the Pacers.

What is even more noteworthy is that the Lakers made 11 turnovers in the first three quarters and 9 turnovers in the fourth quarter.

In terms of big data, the Lakers averaged 20.2 turnovers per game this season, ranking first in the league, 1.8 more than the Dallas Mavericks, which averaged second place in turnovers per game.

The Mavericks are ranked last in the Western Conference and are a member of the tank corps.

The Lakers belong to the first group of teams in the Western Conference. They are not close to competing for the championship, but they are definitely a top team.

It is unreasonable to have so many mistakes.

Moreover, the teams Louis coached in the past generally averaged at the middle level of the league in turnovers per game.

Neither high nor low. Why can't I control my mistakes after joining the Lakers?

This can be regarded as West's first review of the Lakers game this season.

Everything was normal in the first three quarters. If they played at that pace, the Pacers probably wouldn't be able to beat the Lakers.

But the fourth quarter...

Wilson's counterattack long pass was thrown out of bounds, starting a nightmare where the Lakers made 9 turnovers in a single quarter and were reversed by the Pacers.

In hindsight, Wilson's mistake turned out to be the Lakers' most normal mistake in the fourth quarter.

Other mistakes gave West a strange feeling of "He made a mistake?"

First of all, the Lakers' tactics in the fourth quarter were completely different from the first three quarters.

For some reason, they abandoned the conventional tactics that had given them an advantage and adopted new, high-risk tactics.

There are five people involved in every play in the fourth quarter.

Moreover, this tactic was actually used from beginning to end?

After making a mistake in the first game, Louis didn't react at all and just let the players continue playing.

The second time, there was obviously a problem with the handover of the ball.

The third time, the strategy was finally completed.

It was also this time that West felt the mystery of the new tactics.

Wilson’s cut is beautiful;

It's even more exciting when Garnett completes the screen and then moves to the high right wing to get an open position;

Ellis flashed out of the bottom corner;

Laettner appears at the top of the key;

The tragedy was that there were four scoring opportunities at a glance, and the Pacers' defense was completely in disarray.

The Pacers' defense was confused, and the tragedy maker gave the ball to Wilson who was cutting in for stability. At the moment of receiving the ball, Wilson threw it from behind to Ellis in the corner, who also opened the ball with a steady shot.

The three-pointer helped the Lakers score.

"Beautiful." West said with emotion, "If we can control our turnovers and make every offense as smooth as this one, I really don't know any team that can guard us."

Mitch Kupchak said seriously: "The problem is, you can't control the mistakes."

"This is Leader Lu's new system. He named it 'Beautiful Basketball.' There are four tactics in this system. Currently, the players have only learned the first and most basic tactic."

West asked unexpectedly: "Such a complicated tactic is just the basics?"

"Yes, and I don't think players can master it. Even a smart person like Erwin has made repeated mistakes because of this new tactic. His average number of turnovers per game now has exceeded the peak of his career."

West fell silent.

He continued to watch the game tape.

Halfway through the fourth quarter, the Pacers were already catching up.

But West has discovered that Louis doesn't care about winning or losing this game.

Louis made up his mind to use this game to test whether the team could play the new tactics for a full quarter.

The result must have hit him hard. He committed 9 turnovers in a single quarter. Although it is unreasonable to convert this into 36 turnovers in the whole game, few teams can win the game after making so many turnovers in a single quarter.

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In order to test the new tactics, the Lakers squandered the lead established in the first three quarters and were eventually defeated by the Pacers.

Does this count as a failure?

Rather, this is just the beginning.

West did not stay in the office to continue discussing with Kupchak whether the new strategy would suit the Lakers.

Because no matter whether it suits him or not, Louis will stick to it.

Instead of debating how compatible the new strategy is with the team, see how you can help.

West walked out of his office and planned to visit the president's office.

West walked to the door of the office, found the door open, and walked in.

It turned out that the Louis man was not there, but that dandy Jim Bass was sitting on the president's throne with his feet up on the table.

Jim almost fell off his chair when he saw someone coming.

"Jerry...Jerry!" Jim asked respectfully after standing up, "Who are you looking for?"

West asked in confusion: "Isn't this the president's office?"

"Ah, yes, that's right, it's the president's office. The president is not here, so I'll help look after it..."

So you just look at his office with the ugliest posture in the world?

What West didn't know was that that was the most common posture Louis used in the office, and Jim was just learning and using it now. Even if Louis caught him, at most he would just blame the dude for sitting on his chair without a cushion.

"Where are the others?"

"I went down to supervise the training. You don't know, Jerry, Coach Lu is very diligent!"

"Then you continue to look at his office here."

"Of course, this is my duty!"

West shook his head in disgust.

As long as he thought that this young man might sit in Louis' position in the future, he would feel uneasy.

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Of course, he may have retired by then.

But it's also possible that he chose to retire because he didn't want to see that happen.

West prefers Jenny to Jim.

Unlike the dandy, Jenny was promoted based on her own performance. Although she may not have much talent, she is definitely much better than this dandy who is strong on the outside and works hard on the inside.

West saw Louis' location at a glance.

It was Court No. 3, and Garnett was receiving one-on-one training from Bird.

They were practicing in full swing, but they heard West say: "Does this have any training effect?"

"Hey, Jerry, why are you here?"

"Come and see." West asked with a weird smile that Louis had never seen before, "You won't welcome it, right?"

"No way, I'm asking for it, and you can also give me some advice." Louis looked directly at Garnett, "Do you think there is anything that needs to be improved in that kid's technique?"

West stated the obvious.

"If he was playing the No. 3 or No. 2 position, I would say his basic skills are very good." West shook his head and said, "It's a pity that he is too tall."

Louis smiled and said: "So, I asked Larry to help get rid of some of his bad habits."

"Haven't you ever thought about having Kevin play like Danny Manning at small forward?"

"There is only one Danny Manning." Louis said, "And Jasmine is nearly 10 centimeters taller than Manning. This is a different concept. Basketball is a very realistic sport. Being 10 centimeters taller and 10 centimeters shorter can make a difference.

What they do is completely different. Jasmine can't be Manning, but Manning can't be Jasmine."

After talking about Garnett, West got down to business.

"What can you tell me about 'Beautiful Basketball'?"

Louis smiled and said: "You can go to my office to find Jim and ask him to give you the tactical blueprint of 'Beautiful Basketball'."

"Exactly, I also need some advice from you. Our recent actual combat experiments have not been effective, and the number of players' mistakes remains high."

After hearing this, West left directly.

He came to the president's office.

This time, Jim's sitting posture was much straighter.

"Jerry, didn't you find the president?"

"I found it, but what I want is in the office. Do you know where the tactical blueprint is?"

"I know, Coach Lu said that you would have to ask about it sooner or later, so you have been asking me to keep it in check."

West took over the tactical blueprint of "Beautiful Basketball" from the dude, "Then you continue to look at the office."

"This is my duty!"

Did he think it was important to look at an office that was almost devoid of any valuable documents or valuables?

West brought back the "Beautiful Basketball" playbook and cleared out his office before watching.

He requires absolute silence in the office.

When West turned the first page, he was attracted by the "Zihuatanejo" described by Louis. After that, he was like a 57-year-old innocent man who fell in love for the first time, addicted to it and unable to extricate himself.