NBA’s aging star system

The Rockets defeated the Bucks and the Lakers lost to the Magic. The records of the two teams reached the same number of wins and losses.

According to the head-to-head record between the two teams, with two wins and one loss, the Lakers are temporarily in the lead, so the Lakers still occupy the first place in the Western Conference, but they have become precarious.

And the Warriors, who are third in the Western Conference, are also chasing closely behind. The three teams are beginning to compete for the first position in the Western Conference.

After the game against the Magic, the Lakers moved to Denver to face the Nuggets.

Every time he comes to Denver to play away games, Su Tian feels short of breath, as if his neck is being strangled.

The Nuggets' devilish home court is well-deserved, and the Lakers' Ingram has been weakened due to injury.

The Nuggets' starting lineup is Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Will Barton, Paul Millsap, and Jokic.

The starting lineup for the Lakers is Ball, Su Tian, ​​Kuzma, Randle, and Lopez.

The Lakers have a vacancy on the front line, and it is estimated that Su Tian will be pushed to the third position for a while this game.

In the first quarter, the Lakers as a whole were still affected by the Denver plateau. Coupled with Jokic's advantage in the paint, the score reached 28-33 at the end of the first quarter, and the Lakers were temporarily 5 points behind.

In the second quarter, Su Tian came to the third position, and the Lakers entered a smaller lineup. On the one hand, they were short of forward manpower, and on the other hand, they wanted to catch up with the score difference quickly.

But everyone who came to the plateau seemed to have a somewhat affected hand. Su Tian spent half a quarter on the court but failed to catch up with the score.

Su Tian played for half a quarter and was replaced in the second half to rest.

At the end of the first half, the score reached 56-63, and the difference between the two teams reached 7 points.

During the halftime break, Su Tian observed that the players on the team were more tired than usual, and he even felt more physically exhausted than before.

In the third quarter, Su Tian and the main starting players continued to appear. This time Su Tian increased the proportion of his shots, hoping to use his personal ability to solve the problem.

But the Nuggets resolutely double-teamed Su Tian, ​​which suddenly made Su Tian a little overwhelmed. When Su Tian tried to assist his teammates to drive the team, his teammates' hands had already cooled down.

At the end of the third quarter, the score reached 80-90, and the Nuggets were already 10 points ahead of the Lakers.

If this game was played at Staples, Su Tian would not let the Nuggets take the lead at all. If the Lakers lineup was complete and Ingram was also there, Su Tian at least felt that he would not fall behind by a double-digit point difference.

In the fourth quarter, Su Tian came on the court directly from the beginning. Thanks to the bonus of the King of the Final Quarter, Su Tian's physical strength also recovered a lot.

After returning to the court, Su Tian succeeded in consecutive singles. Seeing that the score difference was about to be within 5 points, the Nuggets called a timeout.

After the timeout, the Nuggets returned to their entire main lineup, and the Lakers also replaced their starting lineup.

However, Lopez, who was supposed to be in this lineup, had some muscle tension due to the impact of the plateau and high-intensity competition, so Walton arranged for Nance to replace Lopez.

Compared with Lopez, Nance's advantage lies in speed and flexibility, but when it comes to defending the center's singles under the basket, Lopez is better.

Jokic saw that the Lakers were playing Nance instead of Lopez, and instantly saw the Nuggets' breakthrough point.

As a result, Jokic began to frequently play singles at the basket, and his shooting rate was quite high.

And when the Lakers wanted to help defend against double-team interference because of Jokic's advantage under the basket, Jokic began to pass the ball to assist his teammates.

Su Tian knew that Jokic's passing was more terrifying than the singles under the basket. His offensive attributes were undoubtedly extremely high. If the Lakers want to win, they must use their own offense.

After the Nuggets made another pass and scored a layup, Su Tian began to take over the ball and advance to the frontcourt with the ball.

At this time, Su Tian was guarding Will Barton. Faced with Barton's defense, Su Tian still called for a pick-and-roll, and with the help of the pick-and-roll, Su Tian held the ball and went to the basket.

Jokic and Button both headed towards Su Tian. Su Tian relied on his speed advantage to take the lead in reaching the basket and made a direct layup.

Su Tian successfully hit the ball, the ball was transferred, and it was the Nuggets' turn to attack.

After Murray advanced to the frontcourt with the ball, he gave the ball directly to Jokic in a key position inside.

After Jokic got the ball, he started a post-up play. Nance behind him kept guarding hard, but Jokic was still pushed to the basket step by step.

After reaching the basket, Jokic began to turn around, turning left and right, and shot directly for a layup.

Swah——

Nance has tried very hard, but the results are still not good.

In the next few rounds, Su Tian relied on the bonus in the final quarter to win consecutive singles, but the Nuggets also succeeded consecutively with their advantage inside, and the score difference between the two sides did not change much.

If you want to chase points, improve your offense, and defend well to limit the opponent's offense, it is indispensable. At this time, only Su Tian's side of the Lakers can guarantee a certain efficiency of offense, but the inside line cannot prevent Jokic's fierce attack.

Until the end of the game, the Nuggets still led the Lakers by 7 points. Su Tian tried his best throughout the game, but still could not complete the lead and was suppressed by the Nuggets for the entire game.

But this feeling of suffocation made Su Tian very uncomfortable, as if he was unable to do anything.

最终，湖人116-123落败，苏天全场拿到41分12篮板7助攻2抢断2盖帽。

It can also be seen from Su Tian's assist data that the Lakers' overall cooperation in this game was not good, and the overall shooting percentage was affected.

Of course, the biggest problem is the defensive problem inside. The Lakers were unable to put defensive pressure on Jokic inside, causing Jokic to play too easily, which led to the entire Nuggets team.

约基奇全场拿到了31分8助攻6篮板，此外保罗-米尔萨普也贡献了21分6篮板1助攻，掘金队的内线优势非常明显。

The defeat by the Nuggets brought the Lakers' record to 51 wins and 14 losses. Su Tian thought that after this game, the first place in the Western Conference would be taken away by the Rockets, because at the same time, the Rockets were also playing against the Raptors. .

But Su Tian did not expect that the Rockets lost to the Raptors 105-108. The Rockets' record also reached 51 wins and 14 losses. The two teams returned to the same record. The Lakers are still lucky to occupy the first position in the Western Conference.

After the game against the Nuggets, the Lakers finally returned to Los Angeles. Playing a game on the plateau was undoubtedly very exhausting. Only after returning to Los Angeles did the Lakers take a good rest.

On March 3, the Lakers welcomed the Cleveland Cavaliers at home.

James was very excited to see Su Tian again, and took the initiative to find Su Tian after arriving in Los Angeles.

"Su, you're doing well lately," James said, patting Su Tian on the shoulder.

"It's okay, LeBron, the team has some problems, but it's okay and it's still under control." Su Tian said.

"Okay then, do you have any thoughts on the playoffs?" James asked.

"Of course, now that the team is gradually getting on the right track, we still have expectations for the playoffs," Su Tian said.

"Well, then be prepared. You also know that the playoffs are completely different from the regular season. Many things are uncertain." James said.