When Harden was still in the Thunder, he led the team to 50 wins in the regular season with Durant and Westbrook, the team's old two, in his rookie year, and entered the playoffs for the first time, facing the team in front of him. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Harden remembers how the Lakers dealt with his brother Westbrook back then!

Lakers offense.

Liu Ren is like a sharp knife into the inside line of the Rocket, attracting the Rockets to shrink the defense, Liu Ren passed to Jeremy Lin, who was unguarded in the bottom corner, and Jeremy Lin hit the Rocket, and the hollow three-point shot.

Harden was disappointed with the game, and a feeling of not being able to win came to his heart, and he took a big step to the front court across the three-point line.

The ball smashes into the front of the basket and bounces into the hands of Whiteside, who judges where the ball will land.

Seeing the defensive intensity of the opponent, Howard also felt like Harden that he couldn't win.

Howard glanced at Lakers coach D'Anthony, who was talking and laughing with Kobe, and then looked at McHale, the anxious coach on his side, Howard regretted it a little.

In the next five consecutive rounds, the Rockets did not score in the athletic battle, and the Lakers launched a 12-3 scoring shockwave to stretch the score to double digits at once.

Seeing that the opposing main force has been beaten to the point of no fighting, Howard and Harden's minds are obviously not in this game, D'Antoni decided to completely defeat the opponent.

D'Antoni called a timeout and replaced Jeremy Lin, Korver, Liu Ren, Green, Whiteside, although Jeremy Lin and Green's outside three-point ability is not particularly strong, but it is accurate, especially Green's rapid progress, halfway through the season, the three-point shooting rate has exceeded 35%, and the progress is rapid!

With Liu Ren and Korver on the floor, D'Antoni's order was to shoot to the death from the outside, and Whiteside had to grab all the rebounds!

Whiteside, who held back a full half in the first half, was as fierce as a tiger out of the cage, and Howard had consumed too much physical strength to deal with Thackeray, Liu Ren, and Green in the first half.

The Rockets, who have been beaten to the verge of collapse, have not made adjustments to the opponent's substitutions at all, and it is surprising that McHale did not make a targeted response in the face of such a situation, in fact, he does not have the ability to adapt, and he is still hoping that the outside line can suddenly become accurate.

The Rockets are still shooting on the outside, shooting against the defense, and rarely hit.

Whiteside laughed at the rebounds, and the Lakers used the same style of play as the Rockets, shooting from beyond the three-point line.

The Lakers have learned the Rockets' style of play in the past two years, and sometimes D'Antoni is sighing that what the rookie coach thinks sometimes works really well! A Cole and a McHale are both big masters.

The Lakers' current style of play is the same as that of the Rockets, the difference is that the Lakers shoot very accurately, while the Rockets can't shoot, and Whiteside is crazy in the second half of the rebound, and Howard can't grab it!

In the third minute of the fourth quarter, the Rockets announced their surrender and replaced the main lineup, with a difference of 25 points.

115-90, the game went into garbage time.

With 3 minutes left in the game, the fans all left the court early, the Rockets could barely compete in the first half, and were completely broken down in the second half, Nicholson waved to the fans and left, this is his way of celebrating the Lakers' victory!

42 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, looking at his own data, plus winning, Liu Ren said that he was very happy.

Whiteside slashed 7 points and 22 boards in the second half, and the Lakers' rebounds in the second half were almost covered by him alone!

In the end, the Lakers defeated the Rockets 122-97, got their 11th win of the month, and got their 40th win of the season, becoming the first team in the league to win more than 40 wins!

……

The Lakers won, but there were a lot of questions after the game that kept fans and the media curious.

In the second half, the Lakers obviously had a crushing strength advantage over the Rockets, but why did they play so anxiously in the first half? Why didn't Whiteside, who had 22 rebounds in the second half, not play in the first half? Otherwise, it is possible to see another performance feast of 30 rebounds per game.

Also What was the reason why Gasol was substituted after playing two minutes?

And also......

That's why there are so many strange situations in the Lakers' game, and the media and fans are tired of asking why.

As for why, none of the Lakers players came out to explain because they didn't understand what D'Antoni was thinking.

"Why? Just for fun, do you believe it? D'Antoni thought to himself......

D'Antoni is such a romantic old coach......

Then, some fans began to say their own speculations.

"I think D'Antoni wants to use a small lineup to drain Howard's physical strength first, you see Howard didn't do anything about Whiteside in the second half, and Whiteside still struggled to deal with Howard when the two teams met for the first time this season."

"I think so, too, there is a Chinese fable called Tian Ji horse racing, and D'Antoni should have used this tactic."

"I think the Lakers' five-man lineup is also quite interesting, a bit of a mimic of the Warriors, trying to find a way to deal with the Warriors?"

"It's also possible that the Lakers' biggest opponent this season compared to the Rockets may be the Warriors, and there is still a big gap between the Rockets and the Lakers, but the Warriors are different, only losing five more games than the Lakers, except for November, the other two months The Warriors actually have a similar record with the Lakers, and the Lakers should be feeling the pressure and starting to find a way to deal with the Warriors."

“……”

“……”

D'Antoni dived into the water and watched the fans' speculation in the forum, he actually wanted to try the five-small lineup, but he didn't expect the fans to think so much about it.

But these fans seem to think well?

I can't think of a way to deal with the Warriors, so why don't I use the same offense as the Warriors? Like with Team Rocket's style of play? Other people's offenses are also worth learning from!

Thinking of this, D'Antoni couldn't wait to call Bickerstaff and discuss it......

……

After playing the Rockets, the Lakers rested for two days and hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers on the 28th.

This time, the Lakers are not as comfortable as they were playing the Pelicans, Rockets, Trail Blazers, etc.

Although the Cavaliers' record is not as good as these teams, it is the Cavaliers! In the second half of December until now, the Cavaliers have only lost two games in a month and a half! Played a nine-game winning streak! The record is already firmly in third place in the East, and it is starting to attack the Knicks in second place.

Even if you put all that aside, a team with James should not be underestimated!

James is the only active superstar who goes to whichever team he goes to, which team will become a championship contender, the ability to make a qualitative change in the team is rare in the entire history of the NBA, James has never been a player who has raised the team's ceiling, but which team he is in, which team's lower limit is at least the division finals!