The Los Angeles Lakers have not been in good form lately, after entering mid-December, the Lakers suffered a wave of four consecutive losses, and then suffered two consecutive defeats, a total of 16 games in December, the Lakers lost seven of them, a win rate of only 60 percent, the worst season in the same period in the past few seasons.

Obviously, the Lakers have some problems, first of all, Abdul-Jabbar's further aging, since 1984, some people have disliked Abdul-Jabbar for being too old, and as a result, every year Abdul-Jabbar will slap those doubters in the face with his performance.

However, this year Abdul-Jabbar himself is sure that this will be his last season, and this year Abdul-Jabbar's hair has finally completely fallen out after he has struggled for many seasons, from Lou Alcindor who entered the league with thick hair, to Karim Abdullah Jabbar 20 years later, the great giant's gas tank is finally running out.

On the defensive end, his aging body has not allowed him to send out big hats as often as he used to, and the weakness of defensive rebounding has surrounded him for many years, you must know that since 1982, Abdul-Jabbar has never averaged more than 10 rebounds per game, and this season it has dropped to less than 5.

Offense is the biggest reason why Abdul-Jabbar has been able to dominate the league for so many years, but now playing basketball is like playing volleyball and is in contact with the body, in the NBA, where the muscleization of the interior is becoming more and more obvious, the average score per game has plummeted to 10 points, and his scoring is mainly concentrated in the first half when his physical strength is better, and his energy disappears quickly in the second half.

Secondly, the Lakers' unusually deep bench in the past seems to be much weaker this season, Michael Cooper is still the Lakers' best sixth man, and Mitchell Sampson is 34 years old this season, and like Abdul-Jabbar, he doesn't have much energy in his body, and he failed to win the championship in the Finals last year, which is a big psychological blow to the veteran, he is not like a young player who can start over, he has not much time.

Even, Mitchell Sampson has already begun to consider whether to return to the Trail Blazers next season, where the championship dream may be the best option.

Finally, the Lakers are also plagued by injuries, and a direct cause of the poor record in December is the team's top scorer last year, this year's second scorer Byron Scott missed most of the games in December due to injury, the interior attack is not good, and the second scoring point is missing from the outside, and the burden of the Lakers' progress is placed on Magic Johnson.

If it weren't for Gan Guoyang's performance being too dazzling and the Trail Blazers' record being too impressive this season, Magic Johnson would have been the first focus in people's eyes.

As a point guard, Johnson, who is entering his tenth career, has also reached the peak of his individual ability, whether it is scoring, passing, rebounding, Magic's ability and skill have reached the point of perfection.

In terms of game experience, help to the team, and control of the situation, Johnson has reached the realm of doing whatever he wants, as long as he is on the court, no matter who the Lakers are missing, what Abdul-Jabbar looks like, the Lakers have a top-level offense.

During Scott's absence, Johnson took on more scoring responsibilities in the game, and he scored high points in many consecutive games, including three consecutive games with more than 30 points, although such scoring explosiveness and continuity still seemed a little thin in front of Gan Guoyang and Jordan, but Johnson also sent more than a dozen assists per game, helped his teammates score, and grabbed more than a dozen rebounds by the way.

Moreover, the role of the Magic is far from being explained by the data, so to speak, Pat Riley's Lakers are a battleship with Johnson as the only engine, the Trail Blazers are without Gan Guoyang and Drexler, the Bulls can be on top without Jordan Pippen, and the Lakers will fall apart without Johnson.

Even though Johnson's individual ability is at its peak, his ability to lead his teammates is unmatched, but he can't play for his teammates after all, and the team's overall poor form forced the Magic to play in a more tiring way, but the team still couldn't win.

James Worthy is relatively monolithic in terms of play and function, and his outburst is mainly in the playoffs, and he is qualified as a low scorer and fast breaker in the regular season, but he can't share the other pressure of the Magic except for scoring, which is the problem that the Magic will face after Abdul-Jabbar ages.

For the magician, it seems that what he has done is not enough.

………………

On January 4, the Trail Blazers visited Los Angeles, at this time the Trail Blazers had a staggering 27-1 record, and after 17 consecutive wins, they ushered in a 10-game winning streak, and most of these victories were relatively easy, and there were few games that were deadlocked until the last minute, which shows that the Trail Blazers are in full swing.

Because of this, Los Angeles' supremacy in the West has long been in jeopardy, and for the first time since arriving in Angel City, the Trail Blazers have a sense of "conqueror" rather than challenger, and the Trail Blazers have already conquered Los Angeles once this season, and obviously they want to do it again.

Compared to the game at the beginning of the season, the Lakers lost Byron Scott, and the Trail Blazers replaced Sabonis, the biggest winner in the first game, with the start of the game, and the gap between the two sides seems to be even bigger, and Buck Williams is also back strongly, and the Lakers fans who went to the Great Western Forum Arena to watch the game also seem to have a trace of worry on their faces.

Their worries are not unreasonable, the Trail Blazers are just too strong, and they have the feel of the 1985 Los Angeles Lakers, the 1986 Celtics, or even more.

However, it was not Gan Guoyang, Sabonis, or Buck Williams who came off the bench to give the Lakers a blow tonight, but the glider Drexler.

In fact, since mid-December, Drexler's performance is not much better than Gan Guoyang, to a certain extent, he was also covered by Gan Guoyang, in Gan Guoyang's blue-collar games, Drexler has assumed the main offensive responsibility, his fast down, breakthrough and basket air cut is a strong guarantee for the Trail Blazers' offense, 30 points and 40 points in consecutive games, which also made Drexler jump to fourth in the MVP rankings, second only to Gan, Magic, and Jordan.

Compared with the past few seasons, Drexler's skills have further matured, except for the shooting is still a bit of a pit, his other offensive methods have reached the top level, and there is Gan Guoyang as the pillar of the team to support him, he is much less under pressure as the team's second leader, so he plays more relaxed and excellent, and can often steal the scene in some games, with wonderful dunks and beautiful breakthroughs to cause the audience to cheer.

Tonight, Drexler faced Magic Johnson on both offensive and defensive ends, and with the support of strong teammates, he played very well, playing at a very high level in the offensive and defensive confrontations, and he was not inferior to Magic at all.

The Magic did not have the support of Scott on the outside, Abdul-Jabbar did nothing on the inside under the encirclement and suppression of Gan Guoyang and Sabonis, almost all of the Lakers' offense had to be launched from the Magic's side, and the Magician couldn't conjure up so many tricks even if he was a real Magician, and he was also guarded by the Trail Blazers on the defensive end.

The Magic hit only 6 of 15 shots in the game, and although he handed out 15 assists, he only got three rebounds - Gan Guoyang grabbed too much of a beast in the inside rebound, and he scored another 20 rebounds in this game.

The glider, who was opposite the Magic, played a Magic performance, with a triple-double of 33 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, helping the Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 131-119 on the road, and the winning streak extended to 11 games again.

After the game, Pat Riley was furious in the Lakers' locker room, and of course, this outrage was carefully prepared by Pat Riley as in the past, and this calculating "god operator" calculated not only the opponent, but also the players under him.

Before this game, Riley had expected that it would be very difficult for the Lakers to compete against the overwhelming Trail Blazers in their current state, so Riley simply didn't think that he could win this game, he just waited for the team to lose this game, the more ugly the loss, the better, and the more he lost, the more room he had to play.

In the locker room, Riley scolded all the players with the rhetoric that had been prepared for a long time, plus his own on-court performance, and the Magic was not spared, Riley took out a schedule from the drawer in front of the Magic, and nailed it to the table in front of the Magic, with five red circles drawn on it, all of which were the dates when the Trail Blazers and Lakers would meet.

The next game against the Trail Blazers is exactly a month away.

"We lost to the Trail Blazers a month ago, we lost to the Trail Blazers at home a month later, and now we have a month to go, and we're going to face them again! They used to be our challengers, but now they have trampled us under their feet, and I don't know how you can endure such humiliation! "Riley is always so good at fanning players because he's a competitive maniac himself.

In the face of the Lakers' low-profile all-out blocking, how will the Trail Blazers respond?