On the 25th, the Christmas Focus Battle kicked off at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Before the game, D'Antoni was in the away dressing room to boost morale, telling his players to treat the game as if it were a playoff game and go all out to win.

The coaching staff sees the Lakers as an important hypothetical enemy in the playoffs, and at the current momentum, they are 80% likely to make it past the first round of the playoffs. Guo Xu also thinks so, and during the morning training, he discussed the style of play with Xiao Si, Roy and others, and wanted a more targeted attack.

He compared this Lakers team with the Rockets in the 2008-09 season in his previous life, and found that the Lakers were stronger overall.

The two teams also have the wing combination of Battier and Artest, and the Lakers also have Joe Johnson, Ellis, and Fisher on the outside, what does the Rockets have? Aaron Brooks, Kyle Lowry, Vaughan Weaver.

In addition to Adelman, there may not be a coach who will let Brooks, who is a defensive black hole in China's CBA, play as a starter, let alone arrange Lowry and Brooks double guards. Adelman is an extreme coach who can completely sacrifice defense for offense, and he later pulled out a black hole combination of Boo and Kevin Martin.

The Rockets' interior line is stronger, Yao Ming, Scola, Landry, Hayes, but the Lakers are not vegetarians, and the defense is not bad and the offense is slightly inferior.

The establishment of the Suns dynasty has started a race for reinforcements in the West, with multiple teams with terrifying rosters and more competition in the playoffs. The Lakers' lineup has the strength to compete for the championship, and it is not worth it against the Celtics' big three.

TNT Radio broadcasts the Christmas game live, and Barkley makes fun of Kobe. "I don't know if he regrets wanting to return to the Lakers now, the Lakers ran in well last season and played in the second round, although they were swept by the Suns, it was not useless, and now he has joined a team outside the playoffs."

Kenny Smith said, "If Kobe Bryant didn't scold the owner and manager, the Lakers wouldn't trade him. However, if he stays with the Lakers, he will have to rebuild, and Artest and Bogut have conflicts with him and don't want to continue working with him. ”

"Kobe Bryant is a little unhappy with Davis and Murphy now, I don't know if the Warriors will rebuild and exchange those two for the people Kobe likes." Barkley gloated.

Warriors management will hate these two commentators, and once other teams know about their trade intentions, it will become difficult to trade in the medium term, and other teams will definitely use Davis and Murphy as overvalued as a reason to lower their prices.

The players started after the warm-up, and the Suns five: Guo Xu, Roy, Anthony Parker, Haslem, and Stoudamire.

Lakers five: Fisher, Joe Johnson, Artest, Odom, Bogut.

Bogut jumped the ball to win, and the Lakers attacked first.

Fisher passed the ball to Joe Johnson, who didn't do so when it came to Roy's singles. He escorted the ball to the right side, and when Fisher ran to the bottom corner on the right side, he hit the ball to the ground and passed to Bogut, who was asking for the ball with his back in the low post, and he exited the three-point line himself, forming a strong-side triangle.

At this time, it is difficult for the opponent to contain Bogut, and the routine of the triangle attack can be played perfectly.

The Lakers welcomed Fisher back because his style is particularly well-suited to the triangle offense, and the task is simple, pulling away catch-and-shoot to ensure a shooting percentage. He was better than Ellis and Famar in this regard, so he was able to start.

Bogut leaned his back on Xiao Si twice and turned around and jumped up to the bottom line, squeezed the opponent with his broad body to force a shot, and scored a cricket kick from close range. 0 to 2.

The Suns attacked, the players pulled away, Guo Xu and Xiao Si played blocking and dismantling in the middle, and the breakthrough on the right side attracted Bogut to change the defense and Fisher to chase the defense, bringing it to 45 degrees and passing the ball to the middle, Xiao Si received the ball at the free throw line and hit it steadily. 2 to 2.

Barkley said: "As long as Jason and Amare play the pick-and-roll, the Suns have a good record, they are so skilled, they always remind me of Malone and Stockton." ”

"And Jason is a lot better than Stockton's individual ability, and Amare has shot 50 percent from the field for two seasons in a row, and they're an enhanced version of the pick-and-roll," Smith said. ”

The Lakers' offensive position was the same as just now, Joe Johnson protected the ball and passed to Bogut, who singled Xiaosi with his back, this time into the restricted area, received the ball and turned around and shook it in the middle.

Xiao Si didn't shake and jump, just raised his hands to interfere, but this didn't have much effect. Bogut was one size bigger than him, turned around and took a step forward to jump with all his might, and pushed Xiao Si to smash the ball with one hand. 2 to 4.

This time the attack was very domineering, and when he returned to the defense, Bogut clenched his fists and roared, and the home fans gave warm applause.

Smith said: "This season Bogut finally deserves to be the top player, his low post footwork is excellent, his style of play is tough, and the average center can't defend him alone. ”

Barkley said: "If the Suns let Smalls play against him all the time, he will be a heads-up opportunity to ensure a shooting percentage. ”

Smith laughed: "And Bogut doesn't just play hard, occasionally pull out to cover his teammates and also catch and shoot one, and he spent a lot of time practicing shooting in the first two seasons." ”

The two sides played well against Bogut last time out, scoring 22 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks. The arrangement of the Suns coaching staff is single defense, and a bag is even worse, some people throw three-pointers when they are divided, and the three-point shooting rate of the two points on the strong side is around 40%.

Can Bogut take on offensive duty? The answer is yes, he proved his talent during the draft test.

In Guo Xu's previous life, Bogut's physical fitness was very strong in the first few seasons of his career, and he began to decline after a serious injury in the 2008-09 season. After that, he was injured every year and missed several games and became a glass man. The 2011-12 season was the worst, playing just 12 games before being reimbursed for an injury and undergoing minimally invasive surgery on his left ankle.

Even so, there are still teams willing to gamble on Gut's talent. The Warriors wanted to trade Stephen Curry for Bogut in 2012, but the Bucks team doctor at the time didn't think Curry's ankle would hold up, erasing the deal.

Ellis later became a trade chip. The Warriors' willingness to send away the team boss at the time in order to get Bogut is enough to prove Bogut's value. It's a pity that Bogut was frequently injured after he arrived with the Warriors and became a pure blue-collar worker, and the team doctor who made the Bucks miss Curry was fired directly.

Now Bogut is at the peak of his body, with strong strength and good jumping, and he wants to play well.

The sun attacked, Guo Xu played the cooperation just now again, and broke through to the right side with the ball after blocking and dismantling.

Bogut was a little slower to change the defense this time, and Guo Xu rushed past him with the ball at full speed. Odom was also a step slower to retreat to the basket to make up the defense, and Guo Xu easily scored on the basket. 4 to 4.

The biggest weakness of the Lakers' starting defense is Fisher's speed, his overall defense is not bad, his body is strong and not afraid of confrontation, and the No. 2 position of the main defense can also stick to people. But his strong body limited his footsteps, and he was stretched thin in the face of "Scud", and he was slow to move both sideways and pursue.

Joe Johnson passed the ball to Bogut as the coach had arranged, and Haslem retreated to the basket to help Smalls pack and free up Odom on the left. It's a test of the ball carrier's passing sense, and if Bogut can find an open space to get the ball into the open space, Odom will have an easy shot.

Bogut isn't strong enough to make a good pass between the two inside lines, but Odom can run, and after two years of working together, Odom knows where to be easily seen by his teammates.

He quickly moved to the middle, received a pass from Bogut and shot a little further from the free-throw line, threw the ball out before Haslem came up and scored another one. 4 to 6.