In a devastating blow to the Lakers faithful, the team suffered yet another loss at the hands of the Houston Rockets, and the team’s coaching staff has come under intense scrutiny from fans and critics alike for the loss.
Even though the Los Angeles Lakers outscored the Houston Rockets by ten points in the second half of their game, they were still unable to avoid a defeat and ended up losing 110-114 to the Rockets.
The Lakers were leading with a 24-point performance of Austin Reaves and an 18-point performance of D’Angelo Russel. It shows that they could actually grab the win without AD if they showcased team effort throughout the match.
Even the coach Davlin Ham blamed the players for the lack of energy, effort, and urgency on the court.
Darvin Ham said the energy, effort and urgency from the Lakers was "non-existent" at the start of the game tonight, and they let the Rockets dictate the energy and physicality. "You put yourselves behind the 8-ball if you don't come out the right way."
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) March 16, 2023
The Lakers have fallen back to being two games under.500 as a result of this heartbreaking loss, which puts their status as a play-in team in jeopardy. In the midst of their streak of poor performance in the league, they will compete against their most bitter rivals, the Dallas Mavericks.
Why are the Lakers fans furious over the coach?
Lakers fans were more upset that Anthony Davis was benched as a precautionary measure against further injuries than they were about the fact that the team had lost an easily winnable game, and they directed their criticism toward the head coach, Darvin Ham.
NBA Twitter fans bombarded the coach with mean tweets and completely held him responsible for not being in the third seed.
Darvin ham is the reason why we not the 3rd seed rn
— Reck💯💸 (@ReckyGz) March 16, 2023
Good morning to everyone expect Darvin Ham
— Kwabena Antwi 🇬🇠(@CapitalAndz) March 16, 2023
A fan was comparing Davlin Ham with Luke Walton and claiming the latter is better
Luke Walton>>>>>>>>>>Darvin ham
— UnderDawg🤘🤘🤘 (@youngballer80) March 16, 2023
A fan was claiming that Davlin only comes up with cool quotes and blames the players for his wrongdoings.
All Darvin Ham does well is come up with cool quotes & blame the players for things that he does wrong. Zero accountability as a Coach.
— HiNote. 🛸 (@HiNoteee) March 16, 2023
Some fans were even claiming to fire the coach in aggression.
Count your days darvin ham #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/WKKjZoAJSv
— HennyHardaway¢ (@JVNFERNEE) March 16, 2023
Fire fucking Darvin Ham right now gang of bastards
— GITANACO ROYALE (@GitanacoRoyale) March 16, 2023
@Lakers Fire Darvin Ham, he’s not a good coach! He shouldn’t be keeping A.D. out with just 13 games left. If this team doesn’t make the playoffs, then get rid of Ham!
— Baker49 (@Baker491Baker49) March 16, 2023
Before the match, the coach himself stated that he wouldn’t be resting athletes on back-to-back to ensure a playoff seed for the Lakers, but he couldn’t keep his word.
LeBron James will return to the field after a week. Anthony Davis managed to step up at the right time and ensured an incredible victory for the Lakers against the New Orleans Pelicans. But sidelining this key cog at the crucial match was indeed a bad move by the coach.
In a recent interview, the Lakers’ power forward disclosed that he, too, wanted to play as he wasn’t feeling pain in the foot anymore; however, the doctors and the team decided to bench him to let the injury heal properly.
Do you think that the coach’s decision was right? Tell us in the comments.
