A 20-point defeat and a five-game winning streak ended! The Lakers exposed their biggest hidden danger, they really need James so much

Although I had thought before the game that the Lakers' five consecutive road trips would not be easy, and I also thought that they might lose to the Hawks, even though the Hawks are currently missing players including Trae Young, Porzingis, Jaylen Johnson, and Alexander Walker. Facing such a disabled Hawks team, the Lakers should be guaranteed to win, but what is the NBA? Anything can happen. Don't be too surprised even if the Lakers lose to the Hawks, but in the end the Lakers lost 102 to 122 by 20 points.

After losing this game, the Lakers ended their five-game winning streak and are currently ranked fourth in the Western Conference with a record of 7 wins and 3 losses. The good news is that without James, the Lakers ended the first 10 games of the season with a record of 7 wins and 3 losses, which is generally satisfactory. However, the bad news is that in the next four away games, the Lakers will only face more difficult situations. If they are still in the same state as today, they will be greeted by a wave of disastrous defeats.

It can also be seen in this game that Doncic is still too reluctant to lead the team with a single core. Doncic played 26 minutes in this game and made 7 of 17 shots, including 4 of 10 three-pointers and 4 of 6 free throws. He scored 22 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists and 1 steal. Without James and Reeves, Doncic is still too easy to target alone. More importantly, the loss to the Hawks completely exposed a major hidden danger of the Lakers' season so far, that is, their fast break is really bad.

In the post-game interview, Hawks player Dyson Daniels said: "The fatigue is more of a psychological level. The Los Angeles Lakers are not fast-paced, and they do not play many fast breaks." Lakers center Ayton said: "We may have underestimated our opponents a little and did not take advantage of them. They really paid attention. But this is the NBA. They hit some key shots today, which is a little frustrating. That's the way the NBA is, you have to be fully involved in the game and we were slow in their transition tonight. They played very fast. Great, we are a little overwhelmed. "

In the entire game, the Lakers only relied on fast breaks to score 8 points, while the Hawks scored 22 points on fast breaks. So far this season, the Lakers have only averaged 11.2 points per game on fast breaks, ranking second from the bottom in the league. To put it bluntly, the Lakers are currently the best in the league. The team that is least capable of fast breaks, but in today's basketball concept, three-pointers and fast breaks are very important components. They are powerful means to change the rhythm of the game and set off an offensive climax. Due to the lack of fast break capabilities, the Lakers can only play positional battles most of the time. This not only consumes the players' physical energy more, but also makes them easier to be targeted by defense.

This is why, although many sunspots clamor every day that the Lakers don't need James, Doncic and others have repeatedly expressed that they miss James very much, because James' ability to switch offense and defense and his ability to play fast breaks are still among the best in the league. When James is on the court , with his quick play and Doncic's passing, the Lakers can instantly disintegrate the opponent's defense, not to mention the presence of James, who can provide better defense inside. In this game, the Lakers were scored by the Hawks on various cuts, and the inside was extremely empty. At this time, Redick must have missed James' inside defense.