The Los Angeles Lakers fell to a costly loss tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers. Even though the Blazers were without Jerami Grant and Jusuf Nurkic, the Lakers couldn’t close the win out after an impressive performance against the Golden State Warriors in their last outing.
LeBron James was sidelined due to a foot injury that was possibly aggravated by rookie head coach Darvin Ham playing James for 40+ minutes in multiple close losses this season. Without James, the Lakers looked very bad tonight.
Darvin Ham defended the way his team played today despite them giving up 127 points to the Blazers. He said that the Lakers’ defense on shots had the highest defensive quality according to the analytics they referred to during halftime.
When asked if he thought the Blazers were getting an abundance of open looks tonight, Darvin Ham says: “We checked the analytical data at halftime. And, according to that data, our defensive shot quality we would have been #1 in the league.”
Full answer here: pic.twitter.com/d5mAl6oSlt
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 14, 2023
“We checked the analytical data at halftime. And, according to that data, our defensive shot quality we would have been #1 in the league. They were contested, they moved the ball. Some of it was by design, certain guys we shifted more off the ball, but they made shots tonight. 17 threes in a half? That’s incredible.”
In lieu of anyone being able to verify what Ham was claiming, fans are mocking the coach who Laker Nation have been very sour on.
Per Darvin Ham’s own words, he said an analytical review at halftime revealed that the Lakers defensive shot quality in the first half would have been the best in the league.
I have packaged all 17 first half made Blazers threes here for an eye test review. pic.twitter.com/fcwafodEnx
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 14, 2023
— keif (@60thB) February 14, 2023
— 𝙒𝙤𝙠 (@IonRunlt) February 14, 2023
If Darvin Ham can land an NBA coaching job so can we!
— 🗽 (@sprinkoe) February 14, 2023
The Lakers analytics intern on the plane ride home pic.twitter.com/HvjGQt0xQl
— Xavier (@Xavier__V) February 14, 2023
https://twitter.com/sandeepchandok/status/1625381181327032320
But Russell Westbrook was the problem 🤔
— Matt Sinatra 🤌 (@TheMattSinatra) February 14, 2023
lakers before and after trade pic.twitter.com/Qbrgr0mbez
— 🫗 (@tonkainspired) February 14, 2023
https://twitter.com/c_z_z_/status/1625368592471707648
He said: pic.twitter.com/DSDvZPt7HJ
— Dustin Brewer (@dstnbrwr) February 14, 2023
— Trav. (@travismuse09) February 14, 2023
bro is literally a box score watcher as an NBA HEAD COACH😭😭😭
— LVVKEY (@LVVVKEY) February 14, 2023
Giving up 62 points in a half is good enough for #1 for defensive quality in the league?? Damn how is this data analyzed exactly lol
— Sergio Balderas (@steezyserg) February 14, 2023
— LAvsEverybody (@LAvsEverybody) February 14, 2023
— Confused Houston Fan 🙃😕😐 (@Snyphe) February 14, 2023
bro don’t know what he doing lmfao
— † (@HoodiHachimura) February 14, 2023
How bro wanted the reporter to react after bringing up useless statistics and analytics pic.twitter.com/MVPAGOFwB0
— Herbert 🇲🇽 (@Herbert_LAC) February 14, 2023
Analytics can fool everyone and whatever data the Lakers looked at definitely fooled them. They did bring the reins of the game back into their hands in the fourth quarter, but it was too late for them to really make a comeback at that point, losing the game by 12.
Is Darvin Ham The Wrong Fit?
Lakers fans have been suffering buyer’s remorse on the summer acquisition of Darvin Ham as their new head coach. It’s clear now that Frank Vogel was scapegoated last season and stuck with a poorly fitting roster that ended up underperforming. With Ham most likely going to see the season through, how can the Lakers fix this aspect?
There have been bright spots in Ham’s tenure, with a massive comeback win against the Blazers earlier in the season being one of them. The inconsistencies of a rookie head coach are hampering the Lakers at times, but they have to hope their new-found talent along with LeBron James can bring them into the playoff picture.
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