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Lakers fans are calling for Darvin Ham’s head after ugly Clippers loss

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 29: Head coach Darvin Ham of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts against the Chicago Bulls during the first half at United Center on March 29, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 29: Head coach Darvin Ham of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts against the Chicago Bulls during the first half at United Center on March 29, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

The Los Angeles Lakers lost the most important game of the entire season on Wednesday night to Russell Westbrook and the Los Angeles Clippers. With the teams tied heading into the matchup, the Lakers would have given themselves a great chance of climbing out of the Play-In Tournament.

Now, with the team one game behind the Clippers and not having the tiebreaker, the Lakers are unable to usurp the Clippers in the standings. LA’s only hope is the Golden State Warriors, who are also one game ahead of the Lakers but do not have the head-to-head tiebreaker. Golden State plays the Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers to finish the season.

While the Lakers have a chance to be a top-six seed still and have at least clinched a spot in the play-in, fans are not happy with the coaching display they saw from Darvin Ham. This has been a common trend this season as the first-year head coach has showcased some pretty noticeable flaws.

Lakers fans are going in on Darvin Ham.

Los Angeles has a winning record but it definitely is worth asking what the team’s ceiling could be if Ham had better rotations. While he had to deal with a pretty bad roster for most of the year, Ham has made a lot of questionable rotation decisions throughout the year.

One of the common trends for Ham is his reliance on point guard Dennis Schroder. When Schroder is good he is good but when it is not working it can be a disaster. It does not matter which version of Schroder shows up on any given night. Ham plays them all the same.

That was the same situation on Wednesday and it is safe to say that Lakers fans are over the sweet spot that Ham has for the German point guard.

https://twitter.com/MaskedInLA/status/1643433123408134145

Schroder was not the only questionable player that got minutes in this game. Mo Bamba was upgraded to available for this game and was set to give the Lakers a much-needed boost near the rim.

He didn’t play. Instead, Ham threw Wenyen Gabriel to the sharks. Gabriel really struggled in this matchup, posting a not-so-great -16 in his 16 minutes of action. LA will use Bamba’s injury as an excuse but Ham hardly played him before he got hurt.

And of course, fans are already looking ahead at who could be the team’s next head coach. Former Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka was in attendance for the game and there are fans on Twitter that have not been shy about their desire for Udoka to coach the Lakers.

Coaching better than Ham has this season is not a high bar to cross and if anything, this just rings home the fact that Frank Vogel should have never been let go in the first place.

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