Darvin Ham and his Los Angeles Lakers are really up against it in their first-round NBA Playoff matchup against the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
Los Angeles finds itself down 2-0 in the series as it heads to Southern California for Game 3 Thursday evening. The Lakers lost in Game 2 on a buzzer beater by Nuggets guard Jamal Murray.
It represented a continuation of major struggles against the Nuggets. These Lakers have now lost 10 consecutive to Denver dating back to last season’s Western Conference Finals.
Things are also apparently spiraling out of control between Ham and the Lakers’ star players. Following Monday night’s loss, Anthony Davis told reporters that the Lakers “have stretches when we don’t know what we’re doing.”
This seems to be direct criticism of the Lakers’ game plan under the embattled Ham. It’s hard to look at Davis’ comments as anything other than that.
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Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham responds to Anthony Davis
Ham spoke to reporters on Wednesday, saying that he’ll take Davis’ comments as “frustration” and will “agree to disagree.”
Are the Lakers really having this type of drama take place in the midst of a playoff series against the defending champs? It really doesn’t seem to bode well for their chances moving forward. It also comes off a drama-filled regular season in which the LeBron James-led roster was seemingly not on the same page with Ham.
“A source told Hoops Wire that Lakers players wanted assistant coach Phil Handy to replace Ham earlier in the season. However, Los Angeles owner Jeanie Buss is a fan of Ham and she has never thought about firing him as coach, the source said.”
It seemed as if the Lakers were simply tuning Ham out late in the regular season. That was magnified during an ugly loss to the Golden State Warriors earlier in April.
Another ugly exit in the NBA Playoffs wouldn’t only spell doom for Ham’s tenure in Los Angeles, but it could also lead to widespread roster changes. That includes King James flirting with calling another NBA city home in free agency.
