Being able to take the lead so easily must be attributed to Thunder star Westbrook.
Although it has not reached the level of hip-stretching with the Lakers in the 2021-22 season, Westbrook's technical characteristics have caused him to enter the playoffs with strong defensive intensity, and after the breakthrough lethality decreases, the threat level begins to straighten.
decline.
Lack of stable long-range shooting ability is a very fatal thing for a point guard in the new small ball era. Especially this point guard's character is quite paranoid. He is the kind of person who knows that there are tigers in the mountains and prefers the tigers.
Shan Xing’s character traits.
Throughout the first quarter, Westbrook made 2 of 7 shots and scored 5 points on free throws, seriously disrupting the Thunder's offensive rhythm.
Due to Westbrook, both George and Anthony only took 4 shots each.
Under Wang Feng's defense, George made 2 of 4 shots and scored 4 points. Obviously, although before the start of the game, George put down harsh words and wanted to compete with Wang Feng in the game, and if he won, he could become the boss of the Lakers.
But when he came to the court, he did not continue to compete with Wang Feng. In several attacks, he ran without the ball and cut into the basket or relied on his teammates to attack the frame after picking and rolling.
This scene made Wang Feng's eyes flicker slightly.
It seems that George has no intention of going to the Lakers.
In the summer of 2017, George, who was still with the Pacers, preferred the Lakers. However, the two teams disagreed on the details of the transaction. In the end, the Thunder, who bid for Oladipo + Sabonis, fought out a draw halfway.
Stole George.
But in another time and space, at the end of the 17-18 season, George chose to renew his contract with the Thunder in the summer without even meeting with the Lakers management.
Now it seems that in this time and space, there is a forward like Wang Feng, and the Lakers' record has also improved accordingly. It seems that George is still not particularly attractive.
Of course, George's exact plans won't be known until the playoffs are over and the free market begins.
The focus right now is still how to win the game.
In the first quarter, Wang Feng took 11 shots against George and hit 5 goals, including 2 three-pointers. Including free throws, Wang Feng scored a total of 15 points, 3 rebounds and 1 steal.
In addition to Wang Feng, Ingram and Lopez also scored and performed well.
The Lakers scored 29 points in the first quarter, leading the Thunder by 6 points.
"Although the young players of the Lakers were a little nervous at the beginning, Wang Feng immediately took over the ball on the offensive end and took all the Lakers' points in the first few minutes, which also allowed his teammates to quickly calm down."
"On the Thunder's side, Westbrook performed very poorly. He failed to hit many open shots from the outside, which greatly slowed down the Thunder's offensive rhythm. If Adams hadn't grabbed three offensive shots in the first quarter,
In terms of rebounding, I’m afraid the score difference in the first quarter will go straight to double digits.”
"Now it depends on whether the Thunder can adjust in time in the second quarter."
…
Thunder head coach Donovan apparently also discovered the problem and used the rest time to rearrange tactics after the first quarter.
As the game started in the second quarter, the Thunder's offensive focus changed significantly, and George and Anthony began to take more shots.
George, in particular, frequently used off-ball pick-and-roll screens to isolate Wang Feng and cut inside to the basket, creating a one-on-one situation with Lakers center Lopez, and he succeeded in one-on-ones one after another.
But in terms of offensive ability, George may not be ranked high in the league at all. Many of the top scorers Wang Feng has faced, including Harden and others, are far better than George.
But George can play without the ball, or he can call his teammates to pick and roll to separate Wang Feng.
This is more troublesome. Wang Feng's main defensive badges, defensive shock and death coil are all badges for one-on-one defense of the ball handler. George ran without the ball and then cut inside to the basket, and was separated by a pick-and-roll screen by Thunder players.
Wang Feng could only watch helplessly.
"Hey, Paul, don't you want to have a good fight with me? This is how you fight? Run away from me?"
After a few rounds, Wang Feng said to George.
The latter shook his head and said: "This is a game, not a one-on-one duel. As long as I can score points and help the team win, then I will be the winner."
This is the truth, but in front of the directly opposing players and even the reporters watching the whole game, the situation is definitely not like this.
They would say that George did not dare to directly confront Wang Feng throughout the game, and avoided Wang Feng throughout the whole game.
However, he is not the first core leader of the Thunder. That is Westbrook. As the second in charge of the team, George's psychological burden is much lighter, and he does not necessarily need to compete with Wang Feng.
George, who let his hands go freely, made 5 of 8 shots in the second quarter, including 2 three-pointers and 2 free throws, scoring 14 points. Anthony made 4 of 7 shots and scored 8 points.
Relying on the performance of the two, the Thunder scored 28 points in the second quarter, but even so, the point difference was not shortened.
Because although Wang Feng can be avoided on the offensive end, the Thunder still cannot solve Wang Feng's problem on the defensive end.
In order to ensure George's offensive firepower, after the second quarter, the Thunder simply did nothing and let Corey Brewer guard Wang Feng while George was on one side ready to cover and double-team.
Corey Brewer is a standard defensive player. He is 2.06 meters tall and mainly plays the shooting guard and small forward positions. His height, long arms, quickness, outstanding feet and excellent jumping make him a high-quality forward defensive player in the league.
But even so, his and George's perimeter defensive capabilities are only on par with those of the best. Of course, it is impossible to guard Wang Feng, even if George is on the flank to help defend at any time.
In the second quarter, Wang Feng took more shots, directly increasing from 11 in the first quarter to 15, and he hit 8 goals. He scored 22 points in a single quarter, single-handedly destroying the entire Thunder team's defense.
At halftime, Wang Feng had scored 37 points, with amazing efficiency.
Relying on Wang Feng's superb performance, the Lakers still had a 4-point lead at 55:51 at halftime.
Wang Feng did not play in the third quarter of the second half.
With a physical fitness of 92, he is destined to be unable to play the entire game like James, and the large number of shots in the first half also consumed a lot of his physical fitness in advance.
In the third quarter without Wang Feng, the Thunder finally completely suppressed the Lakers, winning by 8 points at 29:21 in a single quarter, and entering the fourth quarter with a 4-point lead.
But in the fourth quarter, Wang Feng, who had rested for a whole quarter, reappeared. In just 2 minutes of the game, he made two consecutive three-pointers from the outside to catch up and take the lead.
Throughout the fourth quarter, Wang Feng made 6 of 12 shots and scored another 14 points. He scored 51 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, helping the Lakers beat the Thunder 116:112 in the first game and get off to a good start.