The Los Angeles Lakers were enjoying a brief period of optimism after winning consecutive games following 5 losses to start the season. The Lakers had struggled mightily to start the season, with three-point shooting and defense being a problem for the team but seemed to find a good balance in their 2 wins. Russell Westbrook going to the bench also helped, but despite his mini-resurgence, they couldn’t make it 3 in a row on Friday night.
The Lakers lost to the Utah Jazz, who have excellently shocked the NBA world to start the season. They hung around with the jazz until the 4th quarter, but the opposition shooting lights out from three-point range proved to be too much for the Lakers.
Russell Westbrook poured in a team-high 26 points for the Lakers and even got MVP chants, but LeBron James and Anthony Davis both having subpar games didn’t help the cause. As far as Head Coach Darvin Ham is concerned, though, scoring points is not the problem.
Darvin Ham Identified The Issue With The Lakers After The Jazz Loss, And It’s Not The Offense
The responsibility to figure things out for the Lakers this season is on the shoulders of Darvin Ham, and he hasn’t managed to be that successful in starting his career. But while many have questioned if the Lakers have the firepower to truly play winning basketball, Ham is insistent that the problem is on the other end.
Darvin Ham says he’s not worried about the Lakers’ offense because “we have 60,000 points in that locker room.” He said the Lakers’ defense Friday – which gave up 130 pts to UTA on 50/40/90 shooting – was “inept at best”
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 5, 2022
“Darvin Ham says he’s not worried about the Lakers’ offense because ‘we have 60,000 points in that locker room.’ He said the Lakers’ defense Friday – which gave up 130 pts to UTA on 50/40/90 shooting – was ‘inept at best.'”
The 60,000 points that Ham is talking about are majorly thanks to LeBron James, who is starting to look like he’s slowing down. Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook also have incredible tallies, but AD struggles with injuries and Russ have been declining for a while. So it’s hard to see how that point works for the Lakers as well as Ham seems to be suggesting that it does.
The second part of his statement rings true, though; it’s hard to win for any team if they’re giving up 130 points. The Jazz have been in form, but they’re not exactly packed with stars, and this is a bad sign for the Lakers. The defense is the only aspect of the game they can hang their hat on this season with their current roster, and that’s something the Purple and Gold will need to figure out quickly.
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