Any inkling of momentum that the Los Angeles Lakers had heading into Saturday night was completely halted. The Lakers had a great opportunity to come away with a big win against the defending NBA Champions but yet again, the Lake Show came up short against the Denver Nuggets.
Just like every other matchup between these two teams over the last calendar year, the Lakers hung with the Nuggets as long as they could but ultimately could not match Denver's execution. An eight-point halftime lead turned into a tied game after the third quarter, which led to a fourth quarter that saw the Nuggets outscore the Lakers by 10 points.
It was an eye-opening reminder that the Lakers are not on the same level as the Nuggets, and that LA's coach is probably holding the team back. Ham, once again, deployed some questionable lineups in the game that included benching D'Angelo Russell for a long stretch in the fourth quarter.
And yet again, Ham failed to take any accountability after the game. Instead of offering a reasonable explanation on why the Lakers fell short against the Nuggets, Ham went the route of saying that the team just has to keep trying hard.
Darvin Ham on defending Nikola Jokic: "You just have to fight as hard as you can for as long as you can and hope he misses. Hope he misses. ... You just have to keep throwing stuff at him."
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) March 3, 2024
Lakers fans are beyond fed up with Darvin Ham
This sounds like something that a coach says to a youth basketball team that is still learning the fundamentals of the sport, not a professional sports team that has one of the greatest players of all time leading the way.
All season Ham's answers to these questions have been about effort. He has never explained logistically how the Lakers can improve their play other than just trying harder. It would be one thing if he was saying this to the media and actually putting together a gameplan but that has not been the case at all. The Lakers have looked like a poorly-coached team that doesn't fully know what it is doing all season long.
There was already reported animosity between Ham and the locker room earlier this season while the Lakers were in their worst stretch of play of the year. According to Anthony Irwin of Lakers Daily, sources inside the building have indicated that Ham's lack of accountability, and often turning the blame over to things like effort, is causing a rift with his team.
It does not take a rocket scientist to see that Ham is simply not a great head coach. While he was a beloved assistant in Milwaukee and Atlanta, being a head coach is not for everyone. The job of a head coach is to do more than just tell your players to try harder, and Ham seemingly has not received that part of the job description.
Barring some kind of miraculous turnaround and deep run in the NBA Playoffs, it would not be surprising in the slightest if Ham's tenure as Lakers head coach ends after just two seasons.