Because of the existence of Batum and Barnes, plus Brewer can also play small forward, Nick Young has basically no status in the team, and Zubac has few opportunities to play in the Pelicans.

Of course, this was really just a small fight, and just as the team was about to lead to the first game of the new year, Walton made an important announcement.

The Lakers will continue to use a small lineup in the next games.

Somewhat different from the last time, Wharton's decision seemed much more natural.

Gasol is absent, and with the current state of the player, Landry can only go to the top, but Landry is short, and he might as well let Barnes go directly to the fourth position, which seems to be an option with no choice.

When Wharton announced the news, Tang Shuai even looked helpless.

The Lakers' first opponent of the new year is the Knicks, and the two teams have met in the previous preseason, when both teams were just formed.

Both teams have changed a lot from back then.

Needless to say, the Lakers are ranked fourth in the West with 17 wins and 7 losses, which is already quite good and even eye-popping.

However, compared to the Lakers, the Knicks' record is not bad at all.

Because they are in the East, and the league rules are 3 to 4 times in the same division, and 2 times in different divisions, this makes it easier for the Knicks and Eastern teams to meet each other more times, and it also makes it easier for them to get results.

So far, they have a 16-9 record and are in fifth place in the East, which is not much worse than the Lakers.

At the beginning, the Lakers played well under the leadership of Tang Shuai, and even led the score 16-8 at one point, but with Barnes's two assistant defenses out of position, the Knicks played a wave of 8-0 offensive waves to close the difference.

This is a microcosm of the whole game, the Lakers played the advantage, but they couldn't hold the advantage, and the game was extremely anxious.

And it is precisely because of this anxiety that Tang Shuai basically didn't take a break.

At the last moment of the game, Tang Shuai took over the game and led the team to win the game 128-122.

Tang Shuai played a season-high 45 minutes, smashing a luxurious statistic of 46 points and 11 assists, but he was also almost exhausted to the point of collapse, and sat on the bench for several minutes after the game before Stephenson helped him to the locker room.

With the win over the Knicks, the Lakers ushered in a six-game winning streak and further strengthened their fourth place in the West, but the players who had just won the game did not have time to rest, and they got on the plane to Memphis after blocking and won their second game in a back-to-back.

Tang Shuai was physically sore, and he was forced to rest after playing 5 minutes in the first quarter, and the Grizzlies and the two bears were on the inside, and Noll was taken by two people in turn, and he was saddled with 4 fouls in the third quarter, and the entire Lakers defense also collapsed.

Tang Shuai only played less than 25 minutes in the end, and the shooting percentage of 7 of 19 showed that he had a lot of physical problems, and he only scored 20 points and 9 assists in the end, and he failed to lead the team to continue the winning streak.

And this is actually just the beginning, after Gasol's absence, the Lakers' opponents began to frantically press Tang Shuai's defense, and even more, directly on the offensive end, the main Tang Shuai opposite players, in order to consume his physical strength.

After Gasol's fall, it was as if the entire league knew that as long as Tang Shuai was done, the Lakers would be done.

What's even more worrying is that Barnes was entrusted with a heavy responsibility, but his performance was mediocre, completely lacking the sharpness of the Warriors.

In the next game in January, the Lakers faced the Hawks, Spurs, Bulls, Timberwolves and other strong teams, and they only won one of them. Since January, the Lakers have won 2-6 and dropped from fourth to eighth in the West, which is similar to the previous performance.

Just as victory can mask some contradictions, defeat can also bring the hidden contradictions back to the surface.

Barnes averaged 12.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in January, which looked okay in terms of stats, but his shooting percentage was an outrageous 29 percent.

This performance also caused dissatisfaction among other players, although this time Wharton's choice of a small lineup was forced to be helpless, but because of the relationship between Barnes and Wharton, the players privately complained about Wharton.

And once this kind of voice appears, the tacit understanding established by the whole team will also collapse.

There was never a hurdle that could be crossed, and Barnes's problem was like that hurdle, covering it up, only delaying its eruption.

Tang Shuai is still far ahead in the All-Star vote, but because of the team's record, it has brought a lot of negative pressure.

The pressure of public opinion from the outside world is very great, and the internal atmosphere is also a mess, Tang Shuai has experienced the helplessness of being the core, and also experienced the rapidly changing situation of the NBA.

He and Gasol took the lead and led a meeting of players.

At the meeting, Tang Shuai promised to pass more balls and called on the players to regain the momentum they had at the start of the game.

The players' meeting played a role, and in the next tough battle against the Thunder, the Lakers played with absolute momentum, but lost Gasol, and the damage to the interior strength was too great, after Noll was sent off, Westbrook continued to impact the interior to make kills, and even he could not think about rebounding, because just in that period of time, the Thunder's two interior lines grabbed 3 offensive rebounds.

No matter how capable Tang Shuai was at the critical moment, it was useless to have no possession, and the Lakers tried their best in the end, but they still lost 111-115.

This result of trying their best to defeat was a devastating blow to the team's morale.

In the second half of January, the Lakers' schedule was much better than before, but the team's performance was not satisfactory, with 4 wins and 3 losses in 7 games, and the winning rate was barely more than half.

By the end of the month, their record had changed from 17-7 at the beginning to 23-16, ranking eighth in the West, barely missing the playoffs.

That's a big improvement over last season, but the expectations of the fans will change depending on the team's performance, and with the December record as the foundation, the team's performance in January is clearly not satisfactory.

Not to mention the fans, even the team's president Bass Jr. and general manager Kupchak are a little unable to sit still and start to try this and other teams to explore some potential trade options.

It was in this turmoil that the all-star voting for the 2016~2017 season finally came to an end.

Because of the team, Tang Shuai's statistics have decreased a little compared with before, but he was still elected as the All-Star vote king without any suspense.

Along with the results of the ballots, there were also the first shots from the east and west.

In the West, in addition to Don Shuai, who was elected the king of votes, Curry became his starting backcourt partner, and in the frontcourt, Westbrook, Towns and Durant became the first choice of fans.

It is worth mentioning that Tang Shuai and Towns also appeared in the same division for the first time since the NBA began to select All-Stars in 1952, and two sophomores became All-Star starters at the same time.

In addition to the starters, Harden, Thompson, Green, Paul, Griffin, Leonard, these outstanding players in the new season, have also successfully entered the Western Conference All-Star list through coach screening, in addition to Anthony Davis also successfully squeezed out of his old rival Lillard by virtue of the advantage of the host place and was shortlisted for the All-Star bench.

The Warriors also became the first team to have four All-Star selections in a season since the Hawks last season, but this feat is unprecedented in the West compared to the star-starless East.

In the East, James once again became the voting champion in the East, in addition to him, Irving, George, Anthony and Wade were all selected to start.

And on the bench, Horford, Lowry, DeRozan, Butler, Howard, Wo. All-Star regulars such as Er and Drummond were also selected to the bench through the coach's selection.

In addition to the main event, the All-Star organizing committee also sent invitations to the right players from other events.

Tang Shuai became the busiest person in this all-star, because of the all-round skills displayed in the competition, he received 4 invitations from the organizing committee at the same time.

He was invited to the Rookie Challenge, the Slam Dunk Contest, the Skills Challenge, the Three-Point Shoot, all events except the Masters Game.

After discussing with Duffy, Tang Shuai finally rejected the invitation to the rookie game, and agreed to the invitation of the other 3 events, plus the All-Star Game he was going to participate in, he also became the second player to participate in at least 4 All-Star events after Lillard in the 14~15 season.

However, when this result came out, those originally negative public opinion suddenly reached its peak, and some celebrities who didn't treat Tang Shuai very well were even more outspoken.

Barry Sr.: Don hit the rookie wall? Forgive my gaffe, I forgot that he is no longer a rookie, but the facts still prove that the Lakers can achieve where they are today are all because of Gasol, he is the soul and core of this team, and Don is just a player with good stats.

"Big O" Oscar Robertson: Don's performance is very similar to the previous Kobe, this is not a compliment, they are the kind of players who lead the team with a single core, the statistics are beautiful, but they can't bring victory to the team, I heard that when playing against the Bulls, he actually shook his teammates in the fast break and passed the ball off the court? It's really the same as his flashy passes, he's a flashy player.

Ron Hubble: Why did a player who outvoted Curry and James win for his team with more All-Star votes? Stop your hands, Chinese! Wake up, Alliance! It's time for a rule change!

…… (To be continued.) )