The Los Angeles Lakers’ terrible performances in Houston this season continued as they were dominated by the Rockets in the second game of their Grammy road trip. Coming out of the game, however, much of the discussion will be on head coach Darvin Ham’s decision to play LeBron James in the fourth quarter while Anthony Davis remained on the bench for the final 12 minutes.
The Lakers went into the fourth quarter trailing by 24 points and to the surprise of many, Ham chose to re-insert James into the game and he would remain in until there were just over two minutes remaining. Meanwhile, Davis sat out the entire fourth even as the Lakers made a run and cut the lead down to 10.
Afterwards, Ham spoke on his rotation decision, noting that it was a tough position to be in as far as deciding whether to rest or play his two stars down the stretch, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“It’s tough. That’s the toughest position to be in. When the game gets away from you but you also have a lot of time left, you know you’re taking that chance of trying to cut the lead down, which we did. That group of I think it was DLo, Max, Rui, Bron and Jaxson, they really played some good minutes. But the deficit is so huge at that point that you’re chopping it down and you basically got to play perfect basketball. I think we spotted them like the first 25-30 minutes, I mean we made some shots up to that point, but we didn’t offer much resistance in terms of stopping them and controlling the ball, keeping the ball out of the paint. The zone helped us a little bit, that helped us chop down some of that deficit, but at the end of the day, when you get down 30, again, you almost have to play perfect basketball to finish off the game.”
Of course, Davis dealt with hip spasms on Saturday night and that combined with some solid play from Jaxson Hayes led to Ham’s decision to keep the Lakers big man on the bench:
“It’s a combination of both. You find a group that’s playing well, I had a couple timeouts to play with and wanted to see how far we could dig into the lead. They made some plays at the tail end of that run that pretty much secured them the win. Then plus knowing that [Anthony Davis] is dealing with some physical issues so being really careful and cautious, precautionary about putting him out there.”
Another factor likely at play was the fact that the Lakers were on a first night of a back-to-back, so getting some rest for Davis, who is dealing with injuries, should be a priority. Although that same argument could be made for James as well, who played 10 out of 12 minutes in the fourth.
The Lakers actually making a run in the fourth quarter would seem to have justified Ham’s decision, though they never were able to get the game within single digits. But if LeBron especially is unable to go in Atlanta on Tuesday, the questions will begin in earnest.
Darvin Ham likely to remain Lakers coach for remainder of season
Darvin Ham’s job security has been called into question at different points throughout this season, but despite some disappointment in the team’s performance overall, it looks as if he will remain on the sidelines at least for the rest of the season.
Recent reports state that Ham is likely to remain the Lakers’ head coach for the remainder of the 2023-24 season. Unless things completely spiral out of control, expect for Ham to have the chance to turn this season around and lead the Lakers on another potential playoff push.
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