The Los Angeles Lakers have already surpassed expectations by getting this far after such an abysmal start to the season. Even so, the Lakers were fighting for a win on Wednesday harder than they have all season long.
In the second half, with the Lakers pulling themselves back into the game, Darvin Ham made sure to keep the team’s intensity going with some inspiring words during a timeout break.
“We said this wasn’t going to be easy. This is playoff basketball. Don’t get discouraged, have a next-play mentality. We don’t want it easy. All the sh*t we’ve been through this year, we rise to the occasion. Let’s get ready to do so.”
"We rise to occasions. Let's get ready to do so."
🔊 WIRED: Darvin Ham
📺: TNT | Game 5 | LAL Leads 3-1 pic.twitter.com/udOhIyOjEC
— NBA (@NBA) April 27, 2023
It was a simple message from Ham: now is not the time to fold. In the first half, the Grizzlies gave the Lakers everything they had, and it led to a huge lead early in the game that got the entire arena going.
But the Lakers hung around, and they fought back with moments from LeBron, Anthony Davis, and D’Angelo Russell. Considering how the Lakers fought to save their season for months, nobody should really be surprised that they are playing with so much life now.
Can The Lakers Stay Healthy For Postseason Run?
No matter what happens moving forward, we’ve seen enough from this Lakers team to know that they can go toe-to-toe against anyone. The only question for them, at this point, is the health of their two stars.
“Guys, AD is just not right,” reported Chris Haynes on the broadcast. “In this last timeout huddle he was away from the team at the end of the bench, he was just rubbing that right hip and he was just shaking his head back and forth.”
At 38 years old, we cannot count on LeBron to avoid injuries for the remainder of the playoffs, and we all know the extensive injury history of Anthony Davis. In truth, it would be bold to trust that they’ll be 100% until the very end.
Still, Rob Pelinka has done a great job adding enough talent around those two to offset some of the injuries, and Darvin Ham seems to be the perfect coach to make the most out of the guys they have.
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