When the Los Angeles Lakers got off to a 2-10 start in the regular season, there were a lot of questions surrounding the franchise. One of them undoubtedly centered on head coach Darvin Ham and whether he had what it takes to run his own team, or whether he was more cut out to be an assistant.
But throughout that start, Ham continually came out and spoke about the process and the grind and the challenge of figuring this out and how he was looking forward to it. Now, the Lakers find themselves four wins away from the NBA Finals and Ham is a big part of that.
Second-year guard Austin Reaves was asked about Ham following the Lakers’ Game 6 victory over the Golden State Warriors and had a ton of praise for his coach and the energy he came to work with when things were rough.
“Obviously 2-10 isn’t fun, you always want to win, but as you said he always had a good attitude coming to work,” Reaves said Friday night. “He’s said many times we’re employed by the Lakers, the best organization in basketball, so as tough as it is on the court it could be way worse. So shoutout to him for sticking through it.
“It’s hard. You’re getting criticism from everybody, it’s his first year head coaching job so for him to stick with it and gut it out with us is special. You can’t say enough about him and like you said he was genuinely happy to be at work every day even when we were 2-10. And when you have energy like that, and consistently build good habits you wanna be around guys like that. So big shoutout to him.”
Oftentimes, the impact of a coach can be overlooked. But Ham and the Lakers coaching staff deserve a lot of credit for this run in the postseason. At every turn, the Lakers have made the tweaks and adjustments necessary to get on the right track and it is clear that all of players on this team have love and respect for Ham.
It isn’t always about Xs and Os, but sometimes it is about relationships and having the right feel for the team. Ham has been able to bring this team closer together and have everyone supporting each other regardless of their own personal place in the rotation. And now the Lakers are on the brink of an NBA Finals appearance because of it.
Reaves admits being happy he doesn’t have to guard Curry & Thompson anymore
Reaves had a lot on his plate against the Warriors both offensively and defensively. The guard spent a lot of time defending both Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson and while he again praised the coaching staff for their adjustments, he admitted at being happy he doesn’t have to chase those two around anymore.
“Steph plays a lot more off the dribble than Klay does, but if you give Klay, or either of them, any space at all it’s going up and it’s got a really good chance of going in,” Reaves noted. “But I can’t lie I’m happy I don’t gotta guard them two any more.”
Now the focus turns to the Denver Nuggets and while they aren’t Curry and Thompson, the group of Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope provide their own challenges for Reaves and the Lakers guards defensively.
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