Thanks to their awful start to the season, the Los Angeles Lakers find themselves in a position where every single game down the stretch of the season matters immensely to their playoff hopes. One win or loss could see the Lakers rise or fall multiple spots in the standings and Darvin Ham’s team does not want to be on the outside looking in when the playoffs begin.
In his first season as an NBA head coach, Ham has had his ups and downs. But the goal of this team has been clear since the beginning and that is to make the playoffs and compete for a championship. The Lakers are right on the edge of a playoff spot and there is a lot of pressure on this team to make the postseason.
But that pressure is something that Ham relishes. Following the Lakers’ loss to the Houston Rockets, Ham says he loves the pressure that comes with the Lakers fighting for the postseason and won’t waste time thinking about what could’ve been, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“I mean it’s the NBA, if you not cut out for this you’re in the wrong business. I love it personally. Would I rather have a sound and secure spot in the postseason? Yea who wouldn’t. But our circumstances are what they are. And no way in hell that I’m gonna feel sorry for myself and start looking over my shoulder and what coulda, shoulda, woulda been or whatever the hell. No. It is what it is, the circumstances are what they are. Our job is to attack em and attack em with attention to detail, with more consistency on both sides of the ball and to make sure, again, we’re trying to improve every day whether it’s a game day or non-game day for the duration of the season.”
As Ham noted, anybody would prefer to have their playoff spot secure, but there is nothing the Lakers can do about that now. The team must simply focus on the task at hand and embrace the pressure that comes with the situation they are in.
It won’t be easy with so many teams lumped closely together in the Western Conference playoff race, but the Lakers have shown that they can compete with any team on any given night. If Ham can get the Lakers to lock in down the stretch they will find themselves exactly where they want to be.
Lakers’ LeBron James ‘not close’ to returning from foot injury
Unfortunately for Ham and the Lakers, they will have to continue make this push without their leader in superstar LeBron James. LeBron is continuing to rehab from a foot injury and is set to be re-evaluated soon.
However, it looks as if James is still a ways away from getting back on the court even though everything has gone according to plan thus far. The injury is not one that LeBron can just tough out and thus it will be on the rest of the team to step up and carry the Lakers to the postseason.
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