Since entering December's first game, the Wizards' fortune has been not very good.

Although the Wizards played well in the next few games, the opponents they faced seemed to be enlightened.

Especially in the game against the Mavericks, the Mavericks made 22 three-pointers in the game and broke the team record. Nowitzki, Carter and Mayo teamed up to score 86 points, giving the Wizards a loss unreasonably.

In addition, the Wizards' other games after entering December were not very smooth. As of December 10, the Wizards' record had reached 18 wins and 5 losses, successfully falling to the top and reaching the second place in the league.

Head coach Yang Fan didn't care too much about this matter. After all, although the ranking of the regular season is important, a season will be long, and a temporary advantage cannot explain anything.

It is also worth mentioning that Yao Ming has been in group confrontation with the team and is preparing for his comeback.

According to the advice given by team doctor Smith, Yao Ming can actually make a comeback, but Yang Fan considers Yao Ming's physical condition and the team does not need Yao Ming to make a comeback so urgently.

So Yao Ming was asked to rest for about a week during his original comeback time so that he could completely recover his ankle injury.

…………………

On December 17, the Wizards will challenge the Lakers away in Los Angeles, and this game is also the first time the Lakers and Wizards are the luxury battleships.

And according to Washington reporter Pell Franny, Yao Ming will also make a comeback in this all-around live game and return to the arena after a month to help the team compete with the Lakers.

Although the Lakers' lineup is very luxurious this season, the team's dominance is far less than exaggerated as people imagine.

So far, the Lakers have only 15 wins and 11 losses and are temporarily ranked sixth in the Western Conference.

In just over a month, the Lakers cut off Mike Brown and Bickstaff, and changed two coaches in a row.

The current head coach of the Lakers is Avery Johnson. That's right, he was the "Little General" who led the Mavericks to play first in the league and was finally defeated by the Warriors.

Although "Little General" Johnson's coaching ability in the playoffs has been criticized, it has to be said that Johnson's tactical philosophy is still relatively clear, but he lacks some adjustment ability at critical moments.

After all, in the 2005-06 season, "Little General" Johnson also won the honor of Best Coach, and his nearly 60% coaching winning rate in his career cannot be underestimated.

So after cutting off Mike Brown and Bickstaff one after another, the Lakers immediately reached an agreement with the young general and signed a two-year, $10 million contract.

It is worth mentioning that Johnson was the head coach of the Nets at the beginning of the season, but after 20 games, Johnson only led the Nets to a record of 10 wins and 10 losses, so Johnson was cut by the management and turned to join the Lakers.

As for whether Johnson can lead the team to counterattack after coming to the Lakers and wash away his coaching career, it depends on the subsequent running-in state between Johnson and the Lakers.

In addition, in terms of players, this season, the Lakers not only have a combination of Nash, Kobe, Gasol and Howard, but also have "defensive champion" Artest and champion veteran Jamison on the front line.

If you just look at the lineup configuration, then the Lakers are definitely the most luxurious team this season, and they are even more eye-catching than the Heat.

After all, putting aside other players, Kobe and Howard are the first point guard and the first center recognized by fans last season. However, after the two teamed up this season, the chemistry between Kobe and Howard was slightly worse.

Howard's average game data this season was 17.1 points, 12.4 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.1 steals and 2.1 blocks. Although it still looks as comprehensive as ever, all Howard's data has declined significantly compared to last season.

Whether it is scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocks, these data have all declined, so this has also made Howard complain, complain about his tactical status, and complain about Kobe's arbitrary behavior.

Howard even had an argument with Kobe on the court more than once. It seemed that the Lakers' luxury battleship had not yet traveled to sea, as if there was a problem inside.

In addition, since Howard and Kobe accounted for most of the Lakers' mobile phone opportunities, Gasol also sacrificed a lot this season.

Currently, the average score per game has dropped to 13.7 points, a full quarter of the game decline from last season. It seems that Gasol will definitely miss the All-Star this season.

Before the game started, Yao Ming and Kobe stood on the sidelines and kept chatting. The two of them were talking and laughing on their faces, and they looked very harmonious.

At least Kobe and Howard rarely smile like this when they are together. In most cases, both of them have a cold face and ignore each other at all.

Although Kobe and Yao Ming’s private relationship is not too close, the relationship between them is very good. Kobe even recruited Yao Ming at the beginning and asked him to join the Lakers to join the championship.

However, Yao Ming gave up this opportunity because he was too loyal to the Rockets and finally retired due to injury.

"Congratulations, Yao, you met a good coach who saved your career. I hope you can continue to fight so healthily." Kobe said with a smile on his face.

"Thank you, Young is a good coach, so do you think about coming to Washington? If you are willing to come, I think we can definitely win the championship."

Hearing Yao Ming's half-joking tone, Kobe waved his hand with a smile, "If it were the ones, I might have considered it, but now I'll forget it. I think Los Angeles is my destination."

The two stood on the sidelines and chatted for a while, and the game was about to begin.

After the game started, players from both sides stood in the middle circle and jumped the ball, and the first ball was first obtained by the Lakers.

The Wizards' starting lineup in this game are: Wall, Paul George, Bathir, Aldridge, and Yao Ming.

The Lakers are: Nash, Kobe, Artest, Gasol, and Howard.

In this game, Yang Fan chose to let Bathir serve as the starter, rather than Thompson.

Because Battier's defensive ability and awareness of defense are better than Thompson, and even reaching the top of the league, it will be more useful when interfering with Kobe.

No matter what, the player with the strongest offensive firepower of this Lakers is Kobe. Once Kobe's efficiency on the offensive end declines, it will be difficult to win the game by relying solely on Howard and Gasol.

As soon as the game started, the Lakers played their most familiar style of play. Although Nash is the starting point guard of this team, Nash will only dominate the ball in most cases when playing defensive counterattacks.

In positional battles, Kobe and Howard are the end points of the team, and Nash occasionally plays pick-and-roll with Gasol at high positions, but such scenes are rare.

Because Kobe and Howard don't like to act as supporting roles.

Facing Paul George, who was both offensive and defensive, Kobe used a pick-and-roll to directly pull out a jump shot at 45 degrees on the right side, but the ball was finally disturbed by Bathir, who came to assist in defense on the wing, and finally made a fuss.

"Bang!"

With Kobe's mid-range jump shot, Yao Ming locked Howard behind him, and then let Aldridge, who was beside him successfully took the rebound.

After receiving the rebound, Aldridge passed the ball to Wall immediately, and then Wall pushed the counterattack. After all, Wall's propulsion speed is definitely the only level in the league.

During the defensive counterattack, Wall buried his head and started to accelerate, quickly left Nash and others behind, and then formed a one-on-one fight with Artest in the frontcourt. While moving, he pressed against Artest's body and finally completed a basket pick with his right hand.

"Swish~"

2:0

Wall advanced very quickly and had already made great progress, so Artest did not make too many moves on the defensive end, otherwise it would be very likely that Wall would be beaten into two plus one.

After the ball hit, Yang Fan, who was sitting off the court, couldn't help but give applause to his disciples, because Wall has become more and more mature this season, and has made great improvements in both rhythm and experience.

Even though Wall's average data has not changed much compared to last season, this is mainly because the Wizards have too many players involved in the offense, and it is impossible for Wall to fight alone.

But Wall's control over the rhythm of the game has obviously become better, thanks to Kidd's words and deeds on the court.

In addition, this transition between offense and defense is a microcosm of the Wizards this season. Yao Ming stuck Howard tightly, making Aldridge easier to catch the rebound.

Then he handed the ball to Wall to push and fight back. The whole process was not dragged on at all, and it seemed so natural and used to it.

This is the terrifying thing about the defending champion Wizards. There is no need to think at both the offense and defense, and you can react subconsciously.

I believe that when Gasol Jr., Guy and others complete the running-in with the team, the Wizards' strength will be further improved.

In the next period of time, both teams showed all their abilities and did not reserve at all on both sides of the offense and defense, but in terms of rhythm, the Lakers and the Wizards were two extremes.

The Wizards' offensive rhythm is relatively fast. Even if Yao Ming can't keep up with the speed on the court, the Wizards will still push for a counterattack whenever they have the chance.

And at the same time, the Wizards made a lot of shots outside the three-point line, which forced the Lakers to further expand their defense range, giving Aldridge more comfortable offensive space.

"Little General" Johnson was really helpless about this, and he even understood why Aldridge was able to win the regular season MVP last season.

Because when the Lakers' defense focuses on Aldridge, the Wizards' outside shooters will make the Lakers pay the price.

But once the Lakers expand their defense range, Aldridge can better play singles, which is really unsolvable.

After all, Johnson has also coached Nowitzki, so Johnson knows very well that if a player like Aldridge wants to control him, in addition to double-teaming, the best way is to pray that his touch doesn't feel too good.

Throughout the first quarter, the score difference between the two teams has been hovering around five points. Even though the Wizards are obviously more dominant on the offensive end, it seems to be easier than the Lakers.

But the Lakers still held on to the score with their outstanding personal performance in the first quarter, and at the end of the first quarter, they were only 4 points behind the Wizards.

After returning from the second quarter, the two sides changed into rotation and started to compete. The Lakers' rotation lineup this season is actually not bad. Jamison, Mix, and Blake are all good players in all fields.

Especially the three-pointers of Meeks and Jamison are very destructive, and Blake can perfectly connect the attack of the second team, which also makes the Lakers very threatening at any stage.

After all, the four Lakers giants cannot end at the same time. At any time, there will be at least one core on the Lakers' field, which is really luxurious.

However, although the Lakers' second team is excellent, in terms of lineup depth, the Wizards really have no opponents in this league.

Kidd, Thompson, Ray Allen, Guy, Gasol Jr., as well as Green and Evans, this makes Yang Fan use whatever he wants. Even five or five can ensure that the Wizards are still competitive.

Especially Guy, Thompson and Gasol Jr., letting these three people play as a substitute is really useless and even a bit of a bully.

In the entire second quarter, when Kobe was off the court, the Lakers soon encountered trouble. After all, the Lakers were able to keep a close eye on the score in the first quarter because of Kobe's personal performance.

When Kobe got out of the field, the Lakers immediately fell into a stagnation, allowing the Wizards to play a dominant game.

Seeing this situation, "Little General" Johnson sat off the court and was a little embarrassed. He was originally very satisfied with the depth of the Lakers' rotation this season.

Even when he took over this Lakers, he had fantasized about leading the team to win the championship and clearing his reputation.

As a result, when compared with the Wizards in this game, Johnson wanted to find a crack in the ground to get himself awake.

As the Wizards widened the score difference on the court in a short period of time, this led to Kobe having to retake the game after only three minutes off the court, helping the Lakers try their best to stabilize the situation.

Otherwise, if the Wizards continue to play like this, no one knows how big the score difference will be.

At the end of the half, the Wizards had expanded their lead to 11 points with the advantage brought by the team's second team.

In the second half, the Lakers chased with all their might, led by Kobe and Howard. The two of them had a good shot in the quarter with one offense and one defense.

However, when Howard met Yao Ming on the offensive end, his offensive efficiency was obviously a little struggling.

After all, the lower limbs are insufficient, which makes it difficult for Howard to resist when meeting some tall centers, among which Yao Ming is the miserable of Howard's career.

Therefore, Howard's contribution on the court is more reflected in the defensive end, bringing a guarantee to the Lakers' penalty area.

But even though Kobe's performance was still stable in the second half, he could not beat four hands with both fists. With the Wizards' firepower in the second half, the Lakers quickly couldn't stand it, and even the score difference began to work hard for 20 points.
To be continued...