The Los Angeles Lakers have struggled with inconsistency all year as at times they have looked like one of the best teams in the league while at other times they have looked like a team that is capable of missing the playoffs.
That is even true within games sometimes with a recent loss to the Sacramento Kings being a good example. The Lakers got off to a hot start and led by as many as 19 points in the first quarter. The Kings completely flipped the script from there though and before the Lakers knew it, they were actually down 20 and would go on to suffer the loss.
During those long runs, it’s up to the coach to use timeouts in order to try to stop it to get his team back on track. There are also other examples of coaches who prefer not to use timeouts in that scenario though, allowing his team to figure it out on the floor together. Lakers legendary coach Phil Jackson is a prime example of that.
Current Lakers head coach Darvin Ham has fallen into both categories at times and discussed his philosophy when it comes to using timeouts.
“I try to trust my players to the highest level,” Ham said. “It’s sometimes predicated on how a team is making a run against us. If we’re committing careless turnovers or just something that is self-inflicted, then yeah, obviously you want to try to let your team figure that out. Sometimes they’re just scorching and the other team is just going crazy from the 3-point line or just getting downhill constantly, then yeah, we’re trying to regroup. Just like the OKC game, they jumped out on us early and we stood by our guys and we were able to work it out.
“So sometimes there’s no one correct answer. I think you have certain coaches that when a team scorers two baskets in a row, they’re immediately on it. But me, I just feel like you got to trust your guys and give them a chance, again, according to the circumstance.”
Ham’s timeout usage has been under scrutiny with the Lakers giving up a lot of big runs throughout the course of the season.
While having trust in your players is a good thing for a coach, sometimes it can be taken too far and it can become a detriment. While Ham knows the pulse of his team, there definitely have been times where the Lakers could have benefitted from a quicker timeout to stop a run, or where an opposing coach has taken a quick timeout to stop L.A.’s run.
Ham is only in his second season of being a head coach though so is surely still learning on the fly. With each game from here on out being extremely important though, hopefully Ham and the Lakers can lock in and put a win streak together to get into postseason contention.
Anthony Davis discusses how Lakers can overcome inconsistent play
One player who recognizes how inconsistent the Lakers have been this season is Anthony Davis and he recently discussed ways they can overcome it.
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