Darvin Ham had his reasons for playing his superstars deep into the final minutes of the fourth quarter in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 125-118 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.
“Just try to give them a chance to compete,” Ham told reporters after the defeat. “We talked about it in that huddle, saying ‘we wanted to give it a couple of minutes before we pull the plug to see if we can make a dent into the deficit.”
The head coach said the move was discussed with the side during the timeout. With the side trailing by 18 points and six minutes left in the quarter, the discussion on whether they had to throw in the towel was on.
He added that it was a collective “group decision” to make one more attempt to pull things back. The duo, including D’Angelo Russell, didn’t come out until 27 seconds remaining in the final stretch.
"We did what we had to do to give ourselves a chance to win not only tonight, but to keep our players in good standing healthwise moving forward."
Darvin Ham on Kawhi Leonard playing 43 minutes and limiting LeBron and AD 🗣pic.twitter.com/0znseYRJvy
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 6, 2023
In the end, the Lakers did fall short by seven points. James finished his evening with 33 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists despite a sluggish start, while Davis had 17 points and 11 rebounds to show for in the 32 minutes he played.
LeBron James Explains The Reason Behind The Lakers Loss To The Clippers
While the Clippers had a good four days of rest coming into the Wednesday matchup, the Lakers were in action playing the Houston Rockets and the Utah Jazz — with their second back-to-back heading into overtime, and the 38-year-old winning it for the LA with a stellar game-winner.
And James attributed the loss to the Clippers to tired legs owing to the schedule. “It was tough… comin’ off the road trip and gettin’ back late night after our overtime game,” the veteran said. “It was a tough game for us. It was one of those ‘scheduling conflicts.”
The loss puts the Lakers in seventh place. They could still make the sixth seed if they end up winning their remaining two games, but would also need other results to go their way.
The Lakers play their last two games at home. They take on the Phoenix Suns on Friday and end their regular season with another skirmish against the Jazz.
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