"Are the Lakers going to end this game?"

When the third quarter of the game ended, looking at the score of 65-77 between the two sides, Kenny Smith in the commentary box was also in a trance for a while.

Although he had a hunch before the start of the third quarter of the game, as the Pacers made a strong effort in the third quarter, the Lakers were likely to be pulled away by the Pacers, but the Lakers were beaten 18-27 by the Pacers in the third quarter, which was obviously beyond Kenny Smith's expectations.

In terms of the overall strength comparison of the two sides, the Lakers are not inferior to the Pacers, and even the Lakers are still slightly superior in terms of the interior, but in the third quarter of the game, the Lakers' strong interior line has no room to play at all, because in many cases, the basketball cannot be passed to the inside, and the Lakers' internal and external combination is completely cut off by the Pacers.

As for the Pacers' defense, after Meng Xu began to take over the game, the Lakers did not have an outside defender who could limit Meng Xu, the offensive end was always unable to open the situation, and the defensive end had obvious shortcomings, so when the Pacers began to exert their strength in the third quarter, the score between the two sides was directly stretched to 12 points, according to the previous game experience, no team can reverse the game when they are more than 10 points behind the Pacers in the fourth quarter, so when the third quarter of the game is over, Kenny Smith has no hope for the Lakers, although everyone has been shouting that basketball is round, and anything can happen until the end of the game, but in front of the kind of team that has a high probability of winning as long as it establishes an advantage, even if the basketball is round, there is no way to change the final result.

"It's a pity that Ron can't play today, and if Ron can play today, the situation on the field will definitely not be like this." Just when Kenny Smith was still lamenting today's game, Barkley on the side was already looking for a reason for the Lakers to lose, of course, Barkley's move was just trying to exonerate himself.

Although Barkley often angrily scolds Ron Artest for being a brain-dead, but when it comes to who has the best defensive effect on Meng Xu in this league, Ron Artest is definitely one of them, otherwise the Lakers would not have bothered to trade Ron Artest from the Kings, but it is a pity that in the last game between the Lakers and the Pistons, Artest sprained his foot because he played too high, although before the game started, Ron Artest repeatedly applied to play in the game with the Pacers, But Phil Jackson still let him sit on the court to rest, and after Barkley mentioned Ron Artest, the broadcast camera of the scene also took advantage of the situation to the Lakers' bench, Artest, who was sitting on the sidelines in a suit, chewing gum in his mouth, with an obviously unhappy expression.

"Haha, Charles, do you think Ron can limit Meng when he plays, if Ron can play today, Meng's performance will definitely be even better than today." After Buck used Ron Artest as an excuse, Reggie Miller immediately came out to refute him, although Ron Artest is a top outside defensive player and was once selected in the top three in the selection of the best defensive player, but to say that he can limit Meng Xu, he is really a little unqualified, Especially after the end of the famous NBA War 2.0 in the United States, Artest has been shouting that he is not afraid of Meng Xu at all, and every time Meng Xu sees him, he will use his strongest strength to ravage him.

"Haha, Reggie, although what Charles said is a bit exaggerated, I still support his point of view, compared to other players of the Lakers, Ron's defensive effect on Meng is still obviously better." In today's game, the Lakers have used Kobe Bryant and Ramar Odom to defend Meng Xu, but the effect is not very good, Kobe's body is not as good as Meng Xu, when defending Meng Xu, he will always be crushed by Meng Xu with his body, Odom's body is strong enough, but when defending Meng Xu, his movement speed is obviously a little slow, and he is often beaten by Meng Xu, and compared to Kobe and Odom, Artest has both physical strength and movement speed, The important thing is that Artest's defensive awareness is much stronger than Odom's, and he doesn't have to be distracted like Kobe Bryant, so Barkley will say that Artest is the best person to defend Meng Xu, and Kenny Smith also supports this.

After Kenny Smith stood on Barkley's side, Reggie Miller smiled and didn't speak, although he also wanted to use Meng Xu's back singles to talk about things, but Reggie Miller didn't say it in the end, because he knew that Meng Xu's back singles were very strong, not to mention Artest, even Odom couldn't withstand Meng Xu's back, but in most games, Meng Xu rarely used back singles as the main offensive means, after all, compared to the face frame attack, back singles are more difficult and consume more physical strength.

Just when several commentators on the commentary bench were still discussing enthusiastically, and by the way, when they were teasing each other, the last quarter of the game also started on time, and the Pacers, who had already led by a large score, directly sent a group of bench lineups, and on the Lakers side, Phil Jackson obviously did not give up and continued to arrange Kobe Bryant to play.

"This guy is still the same." After the substitute lineups of the two sides started the battle, looking at Kobe Bryant who was crazy with the ball on the court, Meng Xu also shook his head helplessly, although when facing chasing points, Meng Xu would also choose to play alone with the ball like Kobe, but in most of the time, Meng Xu will let his teammates play first and save some physical strength for himself, especially when he is facing the bag, Meng Xu's first choice now is also passing, but Kobe is different, this guy's desire to play alone is stronger than himself, And it's still the kind of stubbornness that once you get up, I care about how many of you defend, I care if your teammates around you have a better chance, anyway, I just want to come by myself, when we were training together in the offseason, Meng Xu also persuaded him in a roundabout way, but he was scolded back by Kobe Bryant, I am not as convulsive as you.

Since then, Meng Xu has known one thing, before he defeats himself, Kobe Bryant is afraid that he can't do anything to change, because for the stubborn and competitive Kobe, Meng Xu can do it and he will do the same, Meng Xu can be 80+ in a single game, he also wants to be 80+ in a single game, Meng Xu can average 35 points per game in a season, he also wants to average 35 points per game in a single season, Meng Xu can win 3 scoring titles, he also has to win 3 scoring titles, Meng Xu can face the Lakers and cut 60+, he also has to score 60+ in the game with the Pacers, This is also the main reason why Kobe Bryant will score crazy points every time he faces the Pacers.

But if he doesn't change his style of play, Kobe Bryant has no chance to win himself, so everything falls into a dead loop.

In the end, at the end of this game, the Lakers, who played 90-97 on the road, lost the Christmas game, and the Lakers still continued their embarrassing record of not beating the Pacers on the road in the regular season.