The Lakers lost again! As strong as James, he could not lead the team to compete with the Nuggets. The total score of 0-3 seemed to indicate that there was not much suspense in the Western finals. In this game, James and Davis were still brave, and Reeves also stepped forward. However, Russell, who was highly expected by the team, once again dragged the team back. In 20 minutes, 1 out of 8 shots, 3 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 mistakes. In such a crucial Western final, Russell, as an important member of the Lakers, did not pass.
Frequent iron strike, opponents are not defensive
Playing Iron is the rhythm of Russell’s whole game. Although the first three-point shot was successful, it was also the only time he scored in the whole game. In the first quarter of the game, Russell handed over the answer sheet of 4 shots, which directly led to his second quarter being abandoned by the team and failed to appear. However, perhaps it was still a fluke for him. Lakers coach Ham ranked Russell in the first place in the third quarter. As a result, after scoring in assist Davis, he disappeared again.
In the game, Russell had no sense of existence, and the three points in the empty space could not be shot in without suspense. After The fengshui ball was launched, a pass was sent to the other side. Once there was a round in which the Nuggets ignored Russell and no one defended him: Anyway, he couldn’t vote in, so it was better to spend his energy on others! But for Russell, this may be a greater humiliation.
In fact, the Lakers played very tenacious in this game, and the score difference in the final loss was only 11 points. The difference between the two teams in the first three quarters was not big, and the gap was opened at the end. It can be said that if Russell was not too depressed, the Lakers would have a chance to win this game. Russell, who had no contribution from the attacking end, had no improvement in defense. The positive and negative values were as low as-12, it doesn’t work much. After the game, the entry of “Russell pulled again” appeared in the top of Weibo hot search. A word of “Again” also vividly illustrated his poor performance in the series.
The series is in the doldrums, and the attack and defense have not improved.
In this round of series, Russell seems to have a psychological shadow, and he can’t feel how he plays. In the first game, his 8 points and 3 assists could only be said to be moderate, but the hit rate of 11 shots and 4 shots was not too high, and downtown was even 3 shots and 0 shots; In the second game, russell got 10 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, which was already his best performance in 3 games. The hit rate of 8 shots and 3 shots was not high, but he still got 32.8 minutes of playing time.
What makes people even more speechless is that Russell not only performs depressed on the offensive side, but also makes no contribution to defense. In the first game, he played the positive and negative value of-25. As long as he appeared on the stage, the team would be passive; In the second game,-16 was still not outstanding. In these two games, the Lakers lost 6 points and 5 points respectively, which is quite different from Russell’s positive and negative values when he was present. Today, the positive and negative value of Russell-12 has been the closest to the score difference between his positive and negative value and the team’s loss.
Some media also summarized the net efficiency values of the Lakers’ different lineups in the first two games. As a result, people were surprised to find that as long as Russell was present, the Lakers’ data would become horrible. Moreover, as long as Russell is replaced by other players by controlling variables, the data will look much better. At least, from the perspective of this round of series, Russell’s damage to the Lakers is far greater than his contribution. In the process of eliminating the Grizzlies and Warriors, he also had the feat of 11 votes and 2 votes and 10 votes and 1, although there were highlights, the performance was not stable.
However, Ham seemed to trust Russell very much and basically gave him enough playing time in every match, even though he performed poorly. No wonder some netizens complained, “Russell must have mastered Ham’s handle.” After all, Russell’s performance can no longer be described in general.
The contract year is so big, can you still stay in the team?
In this round of series, Russell Ladies’ is actually predictable. After all, in the first two rounds, he also hit the iron many times, but he only played such a burst performance in three consecutive games, it is indeed a little unexpected. However, in the regular season, Russell’s role in the Lakers is actually relatively critical. He can contribute 17.4 points and 6.1 assists per game, and three-point shot percentage is basically reliable, it is an important scoring point for the team.
However, in the hard battle of the playoffs, Russell should be abandoned if he cannot make enough contributions. If the attack cannot be entered, the defense can basically be pass through easily by the opponent. Is such a player staying on the court as an audience? In Gong Xiaobin’s famous saying, it is “watching Russell play is really a kind of pain”. In the next game, although it has been cornered, the Lakers have not been completely out. If you want to change, maybe giving up Russell is the first step.
This year is also Russell’s contract year. Just this morning, the celebrity Woj revealed in his program that Russell had discussed the issue of renewal with the Lakers. Perhaps, from the performance of the regular season, Russell could have got a big contract with the Lakers, but he hurt the team in the playoffs continuously, I am afraid it is difficult to gain the trust of the management. Russell probably lost a contract that should be worth a lot of money with his own iron and defense. Where will he go in the future? If he can still keep the Lakers, maybe he really has something to do with the team.
(Supine support/strong Miracle)