Today, the Lakers beat the Clippers in a game on the road. The game was a clear morale boost for the Lakers, who played extremely well today, making 18 three-pointers on 48.6% three-pointers, and limiting the Clippers to just 97 points, a game that was won defensively. After today's game, Redick also bluntly said that today's game fully demonstrated the Lakers' defensive ability.

Maybe many attentive fans have not noticed some adjustments in Redick's last two games, although today is still the starting center of Hayes, but strictly speaking, Redick has used a five-small lineup for a long time on the court in these two games. Because Hayes is also not a very experienced interior lineman defensively. Redick emulated the Warriors' system in those two games. It's no secret that Kerr is a coach who is very fond of using small lineups. And the reason why Kerr uses the five-small lineup is because he likes the mobility of the five-small lineup.

And today's game, the Lakers also used Reaves, Finney Smith, Hachimura, James and Vanderbilt's five-small lineup for a long time, and the effect was very good. The Lakers have lost a lot of games this season because they have unclear substitutions, and the Lakers have often been unclear in their previous substitutions when blocking pick-and-rolls, resulting in their frequent leaks. And it doesn't seem to be the case with their five-man lineup. Today you'll find that the Clippers have defenders interfering in front of every shot, and that's the direct effect of the five-man lineup.

Although there are no big interior players, everyone is involved in the task of grabbing rebounds when the Lakers grab rebounds. On the offensive end, they played to their mobility advantage, but showed the advantage of speed. And the reason why the Lakers have the ability to play a five-small lineup is that two people play an extremely key role. Without these two people, the Lakers simply don't have the capital to play a five-man lineup. The two men are Vanderbilt and Finneysmith.

Both players are more than two metres tall and they can technically play as a number four or even a five. And they move very fast. It's the solid defense provided by these two that allows them to score with their speed advantage on the court and play to James' fast-break advantage. And Finneysmith is a very accurate shooter with a very strong three-point grasp. Strictly speaking, this is the trend of modern basketball, there are five players on the court who are about 2 meters long, and they can fight both offense and defense.