The Los Angeles Lakers seemed headed for defeat on Tuesday night when they were down by 19 points midway through the fourth quarter to the Milwaukee Bucks. What followed, though, was an incredible comeback as the Lakers went on to win 128-124 in double overtime. In his postgame press conference, D’Angelo Russell praised head coach Darvin Ham for his role in the comeback.
“That was a huge, huge win for the team,” Russell said. “Everybody pitched in, Darvin was amazing, man. He drew up some great sets for us at the end of the game and gave us some good looks.”
(starts at 28:39 mark):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f-MOdHNZws
Ham has come under fire fairly often this season and he certainly would have appreciated Russell praising him publically. The 50-year-old has basically been blamed for every defeat in this campaign but never seems to get much praise when the team wins. I don’t believe Ham has done an incredible coaching job this season, but the criticism aimed at him has been a bit much at times.
As Russell, who had 29 points, 7 rebounds, 12 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block against the Bucks stated, he played his part in helping the Lakers pull off this win even with LeBron James being out. We have seen LeBron’s teams struggle massively when he’s not playing, but the Lakers have a respectable 6-4 record without him this season. While the players deserve a lot of credit for that, so does the head coach.
This was the fourth win in a row for the Lakers, who have now improved to 40-32 on the season. They are still ninth in the standings but are now just two games behind the Phoenix Suns, who are eighth.
With the Suns having a brutal closing schedule, the Lakers have a good chance of finishing above them. LA also has the tiebreaker and finishing eighth would mean two chances at advancing to the playoffs via the Play-In Tournament.
Darvin Ham And D’Angelo Russell Have Had A Rocky Relationship
Russell giving praise to Ham here might also be noteworthy because these two have not had the greatest of relationships. The first indication of that came from the guard himself, as Russell said he could not connect with Ham because of Dennis Schroder.
Ham was an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks when Schroder played for the franchise and the two had been close since then. Russell claimed that because of that dynamic, there was no real dialogue between him and his head coach.
It then emerged that Russell and Ham had clashed over the Lakers’ problems during a film session in January this year. After a loss to a short-handed Miami Heat, the head coach had criticized his players’ effort. In response, Russell called for better schemes to be put in place.
Ham spoke about his rocky relationship with Russell and claimed that after going through some hardships, everything was fine between them now. The guard’s comments after this win over the Bucks might indicate there is truth to that.
It’s difficult to say for sure what the relationship is like unless you’re in that locker room, but what we do know is that winning solves all problems. As long as the team keeps winning the way they are now, all should be fine.
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