The rest is just noise

It's surprising that the Lakers can end the regular season with a record of 64 wins.

Although Louis is back and there is Benjamin Wilson at his peak, overall, the Lakers are still an "old, weak, sick and disabled" team.

Kevin Garnett is extremely talented, and the sky may not even be his limit, but it is unrealistic to expect him to shine in his rookie season.

However, even if Garnett's first season of his career did not stun the country, it was enough to make people believe that he has the opportunity to become a generational genius among Generation X.

With the Lakers, Garnett averaged 12.6 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.2 steals, 1.9 blocks, and 2.8 turnovers per game.

He is very comprehensive and can fill up the stat column, but it can also be seen from the number of turnovers that he is not so adapted to the professional game.

The tragic coach is still getting stronger. After four years of absence from the professional arena, he still averaged 15 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists per game as a substitute after returning.

But the Lakers have changed dynasties.

Their leader is Wilson.

This season, Wilson had the best personal performance of his career, playing in 82 games, averaging 34.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 8.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.5 blocks per game, and only 2.2 turnovers per game.

It can be said that he is the main reason why the Lakers were able to win 64 games.

Without Wilson, the Lakers' winning rate is only 50% at best, barely making the playoffs.

It is obviously satisfying to welcome Leader Lu into his first season after his comeback with such a record.

64 wins is not a record worth writing about for Louis, but it is meaningful for the accumulation of statistics in his coaching career.

After this season, Louis' career regular season win total reaches 697. Next season, he will reach the milestone of 700th career win.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Lakers' opponent was the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns have been a strong team in the Western Conference since the late 1980s.

But now, Brad Doherty has retired, and the Suns have brought in Chinese center Yu Tiancan.

Yu Tiancan has lived up to Yang Guan's trust, averaging 18 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks per game in two seasons with the Suns. Compared to Doherty, his offense is one level weaker and his defense is two levels better.

However, there was a lack of spark between him and Kevin Johnson.

KJ prefers Doherty's kind of inside who can pull out to shoot and move to attack, but Yu Tiancan is a very old-fashioned inside. Although he has excellent athletic ability for the same height, his playing habits are extremely traditional.

It couldn't be more traditional.

Therefore, although Yu Tiancan performed well, the Suns' internal and external cores were not in sync with each other, and the team's record was unstable. It has always been an inferior team in the playoffs.

Now that they are seventh in the Western Conference and challenging the Lakers, who are second in the Western Conference, the outside world's expectation for them is to win at least one game, right?

Game1

Louis didn't want to make a negative start, so he took the Suns' game very seriously.

The Lakers' starting lineup is Derek Harper, Ellis, Wilson, Garnett, and Ostertag.

This lineup combines offense and defense, with no shortcomings.

For the Suns, they start with KJ, Eddie Jones, Hornacek, Sam Perkins, and Yu Tiancan.

Likewise, the Suns' starters are both offensive and defensive.

The focus of Louis' defense against the Suns is mainly the three outside shots-KJ, Hornacek and Eddie Jones.

The positioning of Yu Tiancan and Perkins in the Sun is actually a bit functional.

Against KJ, Louis asked Harper to lead the defense the whole time, strike decisively, and don't be afraid of fouls.

For Hornacek, it is targeted and unlimited defense changes. As long as he calls for cover, he will change defense decisively without delay.

There wasn't much defensive design against Jones, just letting Benj suppress him one-on-one.

As the game progressed, KJ proved his strength and it was difficult for Harper to guard him, so Louis adjusted his defense again.

Let Garnett move from the left and right sides of the paint area to the high post, using his length and athleticism to radiate inside and outside.

As long as KJ bursts in, he will block the opponent's breakthrough line in time.

The help defense focuses on blocking and letting KJ shoot.

The Suns' answer to this was Perkins' shooting.

But Louis completely ignored his status. Of course Perkins can shoot, but not everyone's shot can kill people.

Even if he is given 30 points, Louis can accept it, but letting KJ break through a defensive line alone is absolutely unacceptable.

Perkins performed pretty well and scored most of his opportunities.

This is not enough.

Because the Lakers are not a team known for their defense, their focus is offense.

Louis hasn't asked the team to play the "shooting star" tactic yet. So far, everything is a regular play.

When Ellis scored a series of three-pointers, Wilson took the ball and hit a single to establish an advantage during a tactical breakdown, boosting the team's morale and suppressing the Suns' counterattack. The outcome of the game was decided.

113 to 99

The Lakers defeated the Suns by 14 points, defending their home court and also winning their first playoff game since Louis' return.

"Coach Lu, do you feel any different after leading the team to the playoffs again after two years?"

Louis smiled and replied: "It feels pretty good, it seems like nothing has changed."

"Do you think the Lakers have a chance to win the championship this year?"

"We're a 64-win team, and to me, getting to the conference finals is the bottom line."

"Do you think Kevin Garnett's performance in the first playoff game was outstanding?"

Louis has always had extremely high demands on Garnett: "Kevin? That's it, it's lackluster."

Please note that Coach Lu is evaluating Garnett, who scored 19 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 blocks in the first game of the playoffs.

Unlike Louis, the Los Angeles media couldn't wait to compare Garnett with Sampson, who made it to the playoffs for the first time 15 years ago.

They were pleasantly surprised to find that compared to the great Mr. One, Garnett was not to say a complete victory, but at least had a clear advantage.

"I just play ball! Really! I don't think about anything, I just play ball!" Garnett said in simple words, "Just do it!"

In Game 2 that followed, the Suns finally realized that it would be suicidal to leave Yu Tiancan's advantageous points untouched and focus on the outside.

So Yu Tiancan became the core of the offense.

Ostertag's physique and reach are enough to make him a high-quality meat shield and first-class rim protector, but Yu Tiancan is not a hard-hitting traditional inside man.

It can be said that he is very similar to Wake Forest's junior Duncan on the offensive end, but he does not have the agility of the latter.

After all, he is 2.2 meters tall, has average offensive speed, but has comprehensive skills.

In front of Ostertag, Yu Tiancan made the first 6 attacks tonight, each with a different finishing method, a big hook with his right hand, a small hook with his left hand, a step-back hook, a turn inside to lay the basket, a turn to shoot,

A slam dunk with a flick to the basket... He beat Ostertag, and it wasn't until Garnett came to defend him and blocked his seventh shot that the streak of 100% shooting was interrupted.

.

Ostertag has been beaten, but Louis cannot replace him.

Because looking at the Lakers' bench, there are only a few people who can replace Ostertag, and there is no one who can do a better job than Ostertag.

Ostertag is already the best tank-type blue-collar fifth position in the Lakers.

To relieve the offensive pressure brought by Yu Tiancan, the best way is to attack him through the offensive end.

Louis was about to call a timeout to ask Wilson to name Yu Tiancan for military training. As a result, the Suns inexplicably stopped passing the ball inside.

KJ has no brain and a quilt covering;

Jones missed a single shot;

Hornacek has some brains, but he is positioned as an off-ball shooter in the Suns. He needs others to feed him, and he will not feed the inside unless necessary.

Then this happened.

Yu Tiancan, who is currently in a hot state, cannot catch the ball, and his teammates on the outside turn into blind monks. This not only ruins his good state, but also squanders the score advantage he established.

The Lakers had a great time relying on counterattacks and fast breaks. In less than a quarter and a half, the Suns fell behind by 9 points.

This made their head coach Paul Westphal very angry. The famous coach called a timeout to replace KJ and Jones, let Hornacek play the one position, and then replaced Brent, the son of the famous general.

·Barry increases outside shooting.

The Suns are determined to play inside, but the Lakers' roll call tactics will uproot their inside advantage.

⑴In reality, KG’s rookie statistics are 10.4+6.3+1.8+1.1+1.6, considering that he played as a small forward in his first season with the Wolves, and as a power forward with the Lakers—sometimes as a center.

——Considering that there is a significant difference between the Wolves' disorganized style of play and the Lakers' "beautiful basketball", the former relies more on the players' personal abilities, while the latter has a systematic system to allow players to perform better. I think to a certain extent.

The data boost is reasonable.