In the first quarter of the game, the Clippers' Leonard scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, while James also scored 8 points and 3 assists on 3-of-7 shooting.
The Clippers relied on their dual-core performance to score 29 points in the first quarter, but the Lakers scored 34 points in the first quarter.
Wang Feng made 5 of 4 shots, including 3 of 4 three-pointers, scoring 12 points and dishing out 5 assists.
Butler made 4 of 6 shots and scored 10 points, while Ingram and Lopez scored 6 points each. There was a clear gap in offensive firepower between the two starters.
In the second quarter of the game, in order to prevent the point difference from widening too much, the Clippers replaced two substitute players, Lou Williams and Harrell, in advance.
Although these two men came off the bench, they are even more outstanding in terms of offensive ability, especially Lou Williams, who has the top speed of a defender and is also quite good in outside shooting ability.
With the help of the two, the Clippers stabilized the situation, but they were unable to narrow the point difference, because even if Lewis and Harrell were on the field, the strength of the lineup was inferior to that of the Lakers, especially the strength of the two.
Although their offensive ability is very strong, they are notoriously weak defensively. It is even more difficult for the Clippers to defend the Lakers' offense.
The two teams fought to 36:35 in the second quarter. The Lakers won by 1 point in a single quarter and expanded the point difference from 5 points to 6 points. Both sides were satisfied with the result.
For the Lakers, being able to take the lead on the court and suppress the Clippers' top dual-core performance is considered a success.
From the perspective of the Clippers, when the starting lineup is weak, it is enough to maintain a score difference within double digits at halftime. They can wait until the substitute players come on the field and use the depth of the bench.
The score difference was recovered, and then the game was ended by the performance of two superstars in the last quarter.
Both sides have their own wishful thinking, and the game continues.
At the beginning of the second half, the main players of both teams were resting off the court. The Clippers relied on the depth of the lineup on the bench to successfully equalize the difference. However, in the playoffs, the substitute players did not appear on the court for a long time. Most of them
Under such circumstances, it is still up to the main force to take the lead. Even if the playing time is longer than in the regular season and the physical fitness is a little weak, they will still be able to hold on and win.
Just like Wang Feng played almost the entire game in the first half, he only took about 5 minutes of rest in the third quarter before coming on immediately. This was to prepare for the following games, which basically did not take a break and played the entire game for more than 40 minutes.
For the Lakers, Butler is similar to Wang Feng and is prepared to play at least 40 minutes.
As for the Clippers, Leonard may be able to handle it, but James cannot.
The current James is no longer the peak James who played casually for more than 40 minutes in previous seasons and was still active.
So far in the playoffs this season, James has averaged about 36 minutes per game, and his current physical fitness can only support him to maintain a high efficiency during this period of time.
So when Wang Feng, Butler, Leonard and others began to appear on the court, James was still resting off the court.
The original intention of Clippers head coach Rivers is to let James rest for a while. Leonard has Lou Williams and Harrell to assist on the left side, so there should be no major problems in a short time.
But he thought wrong.
When Wang Feng and Butler came on the court, they teamed up to score 8 points in a row, 4 of which came from counterattacks and fast breaks.
The score difference that was finally equalized suddenly seemed to be widening again.
Rivers had to call a timeout urgently and let James come on the line to stabilize the situation.
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"The Lakers' offensive firepower was very strong. After three quarters, the Clippers were always behind. They only briefly tied the score at the beginning of the third quarter, but the Lakers soon took the advantage.
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"However, the Clippers did not let the point difference widen too much. It has always been maintained at around 5 points. The third quarter is about to end, and the two teams will enter the final quarter with a 5-point difference.
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"It can be imagined that the last quarter of the game must be a fierce battle between dragons and tigers."
As Director Yu said, both teams regard the final fourth quarter as the moment to compete for victory!
At the beginning of the game, the Clippers accelerated their offensive pace. James faced Wang Feng with the ball, used his teammates' pick-and-roll to go straight to the basket, forced a layup and successfully scored 2+1.
Wang Feng can now handle ordinary pick-and-rolls, but this time James used an extreme move like a double pick-and-roll.
After successfully scoring, James came to the inside to catch the ball, beat Wang Feng in a post-up, and hit a fadeaway shot, scoring 5 points in a row.
On the other side, Leonard also made a mid-range shot against Butler's defense from the mid-range.
The Clippers, with their two stars working hard at the same time, evened the point difference and even went ahead by 2 points.
But the Lakers did not sit still. Wang Feng immediately fought back. With the help of his teammates' pick-and-roll screen, he hit a long-range three-pointer one step away from the three-point line, and then broke through Leonard's defense with the ball and rushed to the basket.
After attracting the Clippers to double-team the defense, he passed the ball and assisted Lopez for a dunk.
With a stamina of 99 and the physical consumption reduction effect of the powerful terminator badge, Wang Feng still has plenty of stamina even in the fourth quarter of the game.
"Damn it, isn't this guy tired?"
On the sidelines, Clippers head coach Rivers looked at Wang Feng, who was sprinting across the court without losing any speed, and couldn't help but curse inwardly.
In fact, this was not the first time he had encountered this situation.
A few years ago, when he was coaching the Big Three of the Boston Celtics, James played like this.
Especially in the years with the Heat, whenever he faced the Celtics, a powerful opponent, James would play at least 44 minutes per game in the series. Calculating, he would only rest for 1 minute in each quarter, which made him anxious when encountering the game situation.
There were times when he played the entire game for 48 minutes.
How many years have passed, LeBron, who was full of physical strength and could fly into the sky, has now become his general, but because he is nearly 36 years old, he is no longer as impressive as before.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, James stood up slightly and scored 5 points in a row. However, under Wang Feng's defense, his offensive efficiency quickly dropped.
There was no way around it. In the first three quarters, more than 70% of the Clippers' offense was supported by James, and on the defensive end, they were forced to pick and roll to guard Wang Feng, which consumed a lot of physical energy.
And even so, so far in the game, James has already scored a triple-double of 28 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists. At this time, there are about 5 minutes left before the end of the game, and he can definitely score 30+10+10.