On the evening of the 17th, the Lakers also played a key game at home, and the opponent happened to be the Utah Jazz.

Since the NBA All-Star Game has begun to fade away from the concept of center, the traditional center matchup has become a very rare scene in the league, and in the Lakers' home game against the Jazz, the Howard-Jefferson matchup is very eye-catching.

Howard had 14 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in the entanglement with the opponent, and the offensive firepower was suppressed by the opponent.

Jefferson was extremely efficient on 9-of-15 shooting, scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, and he knew how to use skill to take on Howard.

The Jazz did not take the initiative to foul and grind with the Lakers a little bit, but only adopted the "shark cutting tactic" in the fourth quarter, which increased the smell of gunpowder on the court.

With 7 minutes and 44 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Kobe Bryant passed directly into the interior, Howard jumped high to catch the ball, and the Jazz immediately had two players pounce on the defense, and Hayward slapped the past for a foul. Perhaps because he had been too depressed in the previous game, Howard elbowed Kante back and almost caused a clash.

Just look at the offensive means, Jefferson is much stronger than Howard, and the Warcraft is still a rough brother until now, and there will be two hits under the basket, relying on explosiveness, the opponent has passed without keeping up, and keeping up may be a half-hook to hit the iron. The opponent didn't foul, and Howard was not able to score from outside the box.

The key to deciding the outcome was from the outside, and in the final moments, Foye hit two three-pointers in a row to seal the victory for the Jazz.

Kobe Bryant is really not good, and he can't prevent Foye one-on-one. On offense, he had a clear height advantage against Foye, scoring 33 points and 5 assists. It's a pity that the Lakers lost the key game and were overtaken by the Jazz and fell to ninth.

The Jazz only made 14 fewer free throws than the Lakers, and there was no more exaggerated scenario of the Lakers winning by free throws.

After the game, the focus was not on the outcome of the game, but on the Lakers' infighting.

Who would have thought that the Lakers' big four in the offseason would lose all in the preseason? Who would have thought Mike Brown would lightning out of class? Who would have thought that the person who took over was not a Zen master? There are so many things the Lakers have had this season that they can't think of.

The Lakers lost to the Bulls last time out and are now on a two-game losing streak. Speaking after the game, McMillan said: "It's torture to watch this kind of game, our offense is ugly, it's really bad. ”

"Let's take a look at the technical stats of the game. Why we lost, the technical statistics are very clear. Howard said very dissatisfiedly after the game. Although he didn't say it explicitly, everyone knew that he meant that Kobe Bryant shot too much, more than he and Gasol combined.

When asked by a reporter how Howard should get more shots, Howard's reply was, "It's simple, start inside." ”

Howard's predicament with the Lakers can be seen by everyone. As the previously recognized No. 1 center in the league, he is definitely entitled to complain, but the boss Kobe Bryant doesn't buy his account.

Kobe Bryant immediately refuted Howard's words. "I've been trying to feed him the ball, even sacrificing my way of playing, and sometimes I feel like I'm going to be a fool. Because when I jumped into the air and was about to shoot, I was actually trying to find him, but he really thought I was going to shoot and turned his back to me, and I kept trying to get him to get the ball more. I've done everything I can to help him, even sacrificing my own rhythm, but that's fine, as long as I can help the team, I'm willing to do it. ”

Howard almost fainted when he heard this, and he couldn't wait to step forward and slap Kobe a few times. You can insult my personality if I rub it, but you can't insult my intelligence. Nima, you've jumped into the air, why don't I grab the rebound yet? High school students know that jumping up and passing the ball is a big taboo! So you're averaging close to 4 turnovers per game, and you have to blame me for letting you jump like an SB?

Kobe Bryant and Howard have obvious differences in personality, resulting in neither being able to tolerate certain actions from the other. On the court, Howard can no longer enjoy the privileged treatment of the magic when he was next to Kobe; And Kobe Bryant couldn't tolerate Howard giggling in the locker room. In the end, with the decline of the record, the contradiction between the two finally became public. Everyone could see that they were not on the right track.

That's not all the Lakers contradictory. Another star inside big Gasol, his conflict with McMillan is also well known, the two of them have also eaten the Hongmen banquet, and the ban has been secretly done, and now Gasol has been relegated to a substitute, all of which makes Gasol at a loss, and he can only accept it.

In McMillan's system, Gasol is only responsible for blocking and dismantling high posts and doing the work of the Trail Blazer Aldridge.

The person next to the Trail Blazers back then was Roy, who was happy to give the ball to Ade. Gasol's target for blocking and dismantling is Kobe, and he basically stands in a high position to watch after the game, and he can't break through again until Kobe Bryant is so sudden that he rarely passes it to him. Even if Kobe Bryant jumped up and passed, he was looking for Howard, and then the opponent happily counterattacked, and Gasol misplaced the defender and became a "hole" on the defensive end.

Nash, the only good old man in the Big Four, is the only one who has stayed out of the infighting, and probably no one cares what he says. He could only be depressed when no one knew about it after returning home, regretting that he was blind and chose to go to the Lakers to "hug his thigh". Now it seems that there are no thighs here, just jumping into the fire pit with a big contract.

At the end of the season, Howard was a complete free agent, and it was very difficult for the Lakers to keep him, and in order to avoid the hefty luxury tax, the Lakers had to seek a trade, and they were done.

Seeing the current situation of the Lakers, Zhou Xuan sighed. When a team falls or rises, sometimes it happens in a season or two. Who knows if the Knicks will have the Lakers in the future? That must be painful. In order to avoid this day coming early, they have to do a good job of replacing the old with the new, just like the Spurs.

On the 18th, the Knicks challenged the Clippers away.

It was also a major event, broadcast live across the United States.

When the players were warming up, Barkley was still commenting on yesterday's Lakers game, and said: "I know a lot of people like the Lakers, but they're really done, and even if they make the playoffs this season, I don't think they can make it past the first round." ”

CCTV5 is more concerned about the duel between Zhou Xuan and Paul.

Yu Jia said: "I hope the Clippers can also make it to the finals. They are the most beautiful in the West, with more dunks and more open catches, which the Spurs and Thunder can't compare. ”

"But the Spurs play more reasonably, and the players have a lot of experience, I think they have a hard time getting past the Spurs," Zhang said. The Thunder are also good, although the tactics are relatively simple, but the individual ability of the star is very strong. ”

Knicks starters: Zhou Xuan, Matthews, Leonard, Scola, Chandler. In order to resist Griffin, the No. 4 position must be a strong man. With Parsons or Anderson on the main defense, Griffin could play super stats.

The Clippers fielded Paul, Willie Green, Battier, Griffin, Jordan. Battier stepped into the starting lineup to increase defensive intensity, and Butler's second lineup and Crawford came off the bench to ensure more attacking power and three-point shooting. Butler has a strong confrontation ability and can also play a small ball tactic directly in the No. 4 position.

Jordan Jr. jumped the ball to win, and the Clippers attacked first.

Paul hoisted the ball to Griffin, who formed a bag between Chandler and Scola, forcing Griffin to get the ball to his teammates. Scola quickly retreated and followed Jordan Jr. out to defend the pick-and-roll.

Jordan Jr. covered high, Paul broke through, and Scola changed the defense in time. Paul took the ball and pulled out, and Scola followed. Paul's crotch dribble abruptly changed direction and the breakthrough was successful, and Chandler let go of Griffin's defense. Paul tossed the ball lightly to the other side, and Griffin jumped up and scored with both hands in the air. 0 to 2.

This is a typical clipper-style fit. If Paul is supplemented by defense, it is easy to have gaps, and if he does not make up for the defense, the success rate of his misplaced inside line is not low, and the breakthrough is sharp. That's how a point guard should play.

The Knicks attacked, the two pulled out the outside line, Scola covered Zhou Xuan in the middle, Zhou Xuan got rid of Paul and went to the left side, facing Griffin to take the ball frame.

Paul didn't chase and went around to Scola. In the opening game, the Clippers didn't want to directly wrap up Zhou Xuan, he preferred to let his teammates attack after misplacement in the first quarter, attracting the bag and he would pass, and Scola's mid-range shot was more confident.

No one chased after him, so Zhou Xuan immediately singled out Griffin. At the same time, Matthews ran to the right side, turning the left side into the weak side. Zhou Xuan retreated twice with the crotch dribble, holding the ball in his right hand and approaching with his left hand. Griffin didn't step forward, but lowered his center of gravity, judging that he was a feint, and as a result, Zhou Xuan made a quick shot at 45 degrees and wiped the board before the opponent came up to block and score. 2 to 2.

The Clippers attacked, Jordan Jr. pulled to the perimeter to cover and was cleared, and Paul split the ball to Battier, who in turn hoisted to Griffin.

Chandler defended alone, Griffin dribbled two steps with his back, first dangling to the middle, and then turning to the baseline to shoot the board. Chandler didn't jump, raised his hand to interfere, kept his body in contact, and the ball bounced out of the frame.

Jordan Jr. cut in the middle to grab the frontcourt rebound, grabbed the basket with both hands, and almost made up for the dunk, but unfortunately the ball bounced off the spot, Leonard picked up the rebound, and the Knicks counterattacked.

Matthews received the ball and passed it to Zhou Xuan on the left side, Paul wanted to make Zhou Xuan foul on someone, and stood up when he was about to touch it. But Zhou Xuan's combat boots were carefully built by Nike, and he stopped at once, but his back lightly hit Paul, and then he turned around to get rid of it in the middle, and grabbed the shot before the three-point line at the top of the arc.

Paul was passed, chased from the side and it was too late to block, the ball went in. 5 to 2, Zhou Xuan scored 5 points in a row.

The Clippers attacked, and after a few passes, Paul played a block with Griffin on the periphery, drew the bag and passed the ball to the middle. Griffin threw a shot in the middle of the box, but the ball didn't have the power to grasp the power and bounced out of the frame.

Chandler and Jordan Jr. competed for the rebound, took the ball down with both hands, the two had physical contact, Chandler did not stand still when he landed, staggered and sat on the ground, and the basketball passed to nearby Scola and covered his knee.

The referee hurriedly called a timeout, and Chandler appeared to be injured......