Darvin Ham calls for LA Lakers to have sense of urgency for a playoff push
Darvin Ham, LeBron James and Anthony Davis have been preaching that it takes time for the LA Lakers to find their groove and chemistry. They have a new head coach running a different system than the previous years and the supporting cast was also revamped.
A few games past the midway point of the season and the Lakers are nowhere near where they want to be. They own a 20-25 win-loss slate, which places them 13th in the tightly-contested Western Conference playoff spots.
Here’s Darvin Ham on what his team should be doing as the games really start to count:
“We’re sitting here 20-25, we have 37 games left to play to try to get things right. But we just can’t keep doing it the first week of February or the first week of March.
“No, it has to start now. We’re gonna pick ourselves up, fill our cups and look at it, see what we did well and try to sustain that and see what we didn’t do so well and try to correct that.
'We gave them too many second chance points early on." Darvin Ham on tonight's loss and LeBron's workload. https://t.co/FLlwD8FX8h
The longest winning streak the LA Lakers have had this season was a stretch of five straight victories. Unfortunately, they also have two five-game losing skids. To say that their season has been up-and-down is nearly the nutshell of what Ham’s squad has been going through since October.
The horrific struggles earlier in the season were due to their poor chemistry and inability to hit shots from behind the arc. At one point, they were on track to become the historically worst three-point shooting team in NBA history.
LeBron James bemoaned a few days into the season that they don’t have lasers but vowed to keep fighting. The shots from deep started to improve and so did their play. Injuries, however, are something that they can’t seem to shrug off.
Darvin Ham can only shake his head almost every time Anthony Davis misses a game due to an injury. The superstar big man has already missed 20 of the LA Lakers’ 45 games. AD’s return is supposedly sooner rather than later, but until he plays again, Ham’s squad will almost always be at a disadvantage.
LeBron James has been relatively healthy, missing just 10 games via a myriad of injuries. He has been on a tear, particularly since Davis’ injury, to keep the Lakers’ season afloat.
Darvin Ham’s call for a sense of urgency can only do so much if he can’t have two of his best players consistently healthy.
Darvin Ham fears the LA Lakers are wearing down LeBron James too much
LeBron James has been playing like a house on fire, especially because he doesn’t have Anthony Davis to count on. He also previously vowed never to miss the playoffs again, which is where the LA Lakers are headed if they can’t turn things around.
But as the four-time MVP gallantly carries the team along with Russell Westbrook, things could end up being worse than where they are now.
Here’s Darvin Ham on James’ load, particularly without Anthony Davis:
“I feel bad about that [James’ playing time]. He’s playing at an amazing level but we can’t run him into the ground. It is a concern. … He’s in these games and he wants to win, we want to win and you kind of lose sight of the minutes until you come back and see the stat sheet.”
"No matter what is going on with me personally with bumps, bruises and fatigue, my job is to go out there and still perform at a high level and put ourselves in a position to win a ball game." @KingJames on how he's handled the workload. https://t.co/J8Uo7rBpue
The LA Lakers can only pray that they don’t lose LeBron James to an injury just as Davis becomes available.