Lakers’ Darvin Ham must make these changes to make the NBA Playoffs
By Jason Reed
3. Darvin Ham needs to stop running LeBron James and Anthony Davis to the ground
This sounds counterintuitive, as the Los Angeles Lakers will only go as far as LeBron James and Anthony Davis are going to take them. Any time that LeBron and AD are not on the court the Lakers are a worse basketball team. That is how superstars work.
Ham has put way too much on this duo’s plate this season despite the risk factors with both LeBron and AD. In fact, the last game of the first half was the first time the Lakers won a game in which LeBron played fewer than 30 minutes (when he actually played).
There has to be more of that down the stretch for the Lakers to make the playoffs. Darvin Ham needs to put his coaching hat on and figure out a way to consistently win basketball games without asking his two star players to play 36-38 minutes per night.
Asking LeBron and Davis to do that is the easy way out and while it might win them some close games, in the long run it is only going to hurt. We cannot be confident that these two can hold up for the next three months without getting hurt, especially if they are being run to the ground.
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It would be great if the Lakers were in a spot in which they could take rest their stars a lot more but they can’t. They are in a situation where every single game means a lot down the stretch. But Ham still needs to consider the bigger picture and not get caught up in one particular game.