The Los Angeles Lakers suffered their second loss in three outings since the All-Star break and their second game in a row to the Phoenix Suns with a 123-113 loss on Sunday afternoon. A massive first quarter deficit sealed their fate, but head coach Darvin Ham had other reasons for frustration after the game.
The Suns shot 19 free throws compared to eight for the Lakers. And although free throw discrepancy rarely tells the full story, it pointed to a larger trend for Ham that he has grown frustrated with. And that involves the consistency of whistles and the amount of contact it takes for the officials to call a foul.
He spoke about this after the loss, not specifically referencing the Suns game, but rather the whole season up to this point.
“Yeah, I think, it seems that the whistle for us is quick,” Ham said. “We are playing defense, or we play good defense, and someone falls down because they missed a shot, as we are getting the rebound, the whistle goes off. I am not one to use referees as an excuse, but it is becoming increasingly tough because of the inconsistency.
“I am seeing our guys get the same contact on them as we are supposedly committing, and the whistle is not getting blown. That is something we focus on; trying to win the free throw line every game. That is tough when I am telling my guys to drive downhill, trying to love and live in the paint and you are not getting calls. I see guys with their hands on our guy’s ribs or swinging and swiping at their heads trying to block the shot, not getting the ball but getting the piece of the body. It is not being called, as simple as that. We have to figure out ways to not let that be a problem. But it is tough, and frustrating when there is so much inconsistency.”
Ham even admitted that the Lakers were fouling too much during a first quarter that saw the Suns propel themselves to a 45-28 lead. Even while criticizing officials for quick whistles, he gave some blame to his own team.
“For us, defensively, fouling. Too many fouls,” Ham admitted. “I think they had nine free-throw attempts in the first quarter alone. Offensively, we were a little indecisive. But you cannot give up 45-point quarters. You are going to be playing behind the eight ball the rest of the way if you, in turn, do not get hot or get stops. We were able to put together a couple defensive quarters in the second and the third, specifically. Again, coming out a little slow, fouling, bad fouls, giving up offensive rebounds in the second quarter.
“But again, our guys competed, they competed hard. We tried to play downhill as much as possible. Only eight free-throw attempts, I guess it was not good enough. We were not playing as physical as we normally do, which in my mind I thought we were.”
Another major issue for the Lakers in the loss was the rebounding margin, as the Suns outrebounded L.A. 51-34 for the game.
“They put a lot of pressure on you with the lineup that they have,” Ham said. “They are going through some injury issues as well. But they have a big and physical lineup. The lineup of Book (Devin Booker), (Royce) O’Neale, Bol Bol, KD (Kevin Durant), and Nurk (Jusuf Nurkic). That is a huge lineup and that is very skilled as well. Trying to tighten up and play guys a little bit longer. A (Anthony Davis) got in some early foul trouble, so we had to mix and match some pieces. But all in all, just trying to slow them down, those two heads of the snake, in terms of Book and Durant.”
Ham manages to speak his mind about officiating without placing the blame on them for the loss, which should be standard among coaches. In the future, Ham would certainly like to see his team get an even whistle when it comes to the amount of contact that rises to the level of a foul, but he also needs to see the Lakers play better basketball without that.
LeBron James: Lakers need to attack paint
The Lakers as a team only went to the line eight times, which was a season-low, compared to 19 free throw attempts for the Suns.
LeBron James was clearly frustrated with the lack of calls and also admitted that the Lakers aren’t built to be a high-volume 3-point shooting team.
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