After Monday’s loss against the Indiana Pacers, the Los Angeles Lakers have begun to do some soul-searching. The game was in the Purple & Golds’ hands, but the Pacers, led by Tyrese Haliburton, came back from down 17 points with a buzzer-beating shot by Andrew Nembhard to seal the win.
When discussing the late-game collapse in detail, Darvin Ham took responsibility for the Lakers not knowing how to play with leads and failing to execute down the stretch.
Another prominent Lakers member spoke out during the postgame interview about the heartbreaking loss in Anthony Davis. While grateful for Ham to take the blame, Davis is now shifting the responsibility to him and the rest of the team for their lack of execution.
“It’s not just on him. It’s on us too,” Davis said. “I mean, we got enough years in the league for the guys that were on the floor late game to execute. Obviously, he’s a coach, you take the blame. But it’s on us players to go out there and execute. We know what we’re doing. We’re talented enough and smart enough on the floor to win a basketball game like that. Even I think with 3.5 [minutes] left, we were probably up nine. So it’s not on him.
“We got some great minds on the court where we can figure it out on both ends of the floor. But we didn’t do it tonight so like I said, we’ll watch film tomorrow and figure out what happened.”
The leadership growth Davis has shown during his fourth year as a Laker has been an amazing sight to see. Even Ham commends the big man for his veteran leadership.
These type of instances where the Lakers themselves step up to the plate and receive responsibility for a tough loss, is a sign of a good culture being set by Ham and his coaching staff.
Ham credits Westbrook’s professionalism despite trade rumors
The start of the 2022-23 season was tough for both the Lakers and Russell Westbrook. After it looked like another year of the All-Star point guard not being a good fit on L.A., Westbrook has been thriving in his new sixth man role that he has embraced.
As the Lakers continue to find their rhythm in searching for a consistent winning ball club, Ham credits Westbrook for being a big contributor to the team and maintaining his professionalism in the middle of constant trade rumors.
Westbrook, who has significantly improved in all areas since October, has been a class act for just playing his best basketball despite the trade rumors.
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