For all the adjustments Lakers coach Darvin Ham has made in the playoffs, he has remained committed to keeping D’Angelo Russell in his starting lineup, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic. Russell has been a starter since he was acquired from the Timberwolves in February, and Ham indicated that he’s likely to remain in that role even though he hasn’t played well in the first three games against Denver.
“Sometimes the greatest adjustment is just to play better,” Ham said at Sunday’s practice. “Play harder. Play better. Sometimes that’s the most key adjustment. It’s funny, (how) it’s almost becoming cliché. (People say), ‘What’s your adjustments, adjustments, adjustments?’ Sometimes you go in there, and you take a long, hard look at the film to clean up what you need to clean up, and you try to do what you’re doing better.”
Russell is averaging 7.0 PPG in the Western Conference Finals while shooting 29.6% from the field and 14.3% from three-point range. The Nuggets are also targeting him on defense to get easy scoring opportunities. While a recent report indicated the Lakers are concerned about the possible long-term effects of taking away Russell’s starting job, Ham said he still believes in his point guard, who was effective in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
“We know he can make those shots,” Ham said. “So the biggest thing is not to get depressed, not to get down, continue to be aggressive, continue to be assertive, and eventually that ball will go in.”
There’s more on the Lakers:
- Facing the nearly impossible task of winning a playoff series after falling behind 3-0, the Lakers have narrowed their focus to just getting a victory Monday night, per Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Historically, NBA teams with that deficit are 0-149, but Ham doesn’t want his players to believe the situation is hopeless. “We’re alive, man. The series is not over,” he said. “… The only thing we have to do is just focus on one game. We don’t have to be overwhelmed about the outside noise or the overall series. We just have to worry about one game, what’s exactly in front of us.”
- The Lakers may want to use Jarred Vanderbilt or another tall defender to slow down Jamal Murray, who has strung together two 37-point games, suggests Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. Zillgitt offers a few other strategy recommendations, including larger roles in the offense for LeBron James and Austin Reaves.
- James (right foot stress injury) and Anthony Davis (right foot soreness) are the only names on the Lakers’ injury report for Game 4 and they’re both listed as probable, Turner tweets.
Act like a coach and make LeBron rest for more than a couple minutes. Playing a 38 Y O player over 40 minutes a game is plain stupid. If you don’t trust role players you are not a good coach.
He took LeBron out for a minute in the 4th last game and it immediately all went down the toilet
1 minute is not the game. Lebron doesn’t shoot good in the 4th because of tired legs. LeBron is not a good defensive player so I doubt its because he was not in.
Kerr (loser) mentality: nope, you play Bron 48 in the playoffs if you have to, he can rest next month.
Players need rest (especially when 38 y.o). The Heat rested Butler for half the 4th quarter in game 2, with the Heat losing by ~10. Then Butler entered and took over the game. But indeed this involved a (very) good coach and a down-to-earth star, it’s not the same situation.
Except Kerr is stuck with an aging roster, and his players are allergic to defense. And couldn’t make it past these Lakers.
Rui needs to play more minutes than DLo
As unthinkable as this sounds… Signing Kyrie now makes more sense lmao. Make lebron the point guard and be the 3rd scoring option behind Davis and Kyrie.
How can they pay Kyrie is the problem. Why would he sign for minimum?
Sometimes you do have to just tell a player to play better but other times you have to use common sense and see who that player has been their whole career. There’s a reason D-Russell was available so easily. And there’s a reason Lakers let him leave the first time.
Start Reaves and use him way more. Use Russell way less. Tell AD to drink a Red Bull or whatever it takes for him to actually show up. And for the love of god LeBron and AD need to stop shooting 3’s. They’ve never been good outside shooters at any point in their career. Why they are even out there that often is beyond me.
AD has shown up. He’s averaging 28.7/14 a game and he’s only taken four 3s. Lebron’s only taken nine 3s.
AD is the best player on Lakers now. I am so tired of hearing LeBron gets no help when he has a lot of help.
There is more to NBA than scoring points. In this series, Anthony Davis has the 2nd worst +/- on the team, -10. Only D-Russell has it worse. He has been very non-existent on defense and a lot of the rebounds and 3’s allowed have been on his watch.
I am also not sure where you are getting your numbers from. Perhaps you are looking at per-game averages and interpreting them as total numbers.
Game 1: Lebron and Davis attempted 5 3’s (and made 1).
Game 2: 9 3’s (and made 1)
Game 3: 9 3’s (and made 3)
That’s a total of twenty three 3’s. Eighteen 3’s that missed.
Two of the games the Lakers lost were by margins of 6 points or less, meaning that if you replaced those shots with shots that are not stupid, at around a 48% success rate, the Lakers could have won both of those games.
I’ll give you LeBron, I was looking at the wrong stat line. 9 is how many he took in game 3.
Davis has taken 4 and hit two of them. Denver’s sticking to the game plan and drawing Davis out to the perimeter on defense. Jokic is picking them apart with passes to the cutters because no one’s back to protect the basket.
+/- is one of the worst stats. It make role players look better and stars look worse. Davis looks like he’s struggling on defense because he’s trying to defend the best offensive player in the NBA. If Davis sags off to help then Jokic shoots, if he gets in his face then Jokic hits a cutter. It also doesn’t help that Davis and Vandy are the only ones playing defense. It’s basically 5 on 2.5 (Reaves counts as half a defender) when the Nuggets are on offense.
Great job Lakers in beating the Warriors, who had a crumb of a chance against the Nuggets – really cool of the Lakers to get absolutely destroyed by the Nuggets – awesome result!!!
Seek help. This is unhealthy.
This Nuggets team would also obliterate the Warriors because the Warriors play small. The playoffs is all about match ups and Nuggets are big and well coached plus Playoff Murray is a beast. Even a healthy Kawhi couldn’t stop him.
Nothing makes me happier than seeing Mr. Kerr is devil, not being able to move on from his dynasty dying. Btw, you were a Harrison Barnes 3 away from it falling apart in the 1st round but go off on their chances against the Nuggets
This series has basically come down to Murray playing like prime Kobe and father time catching up with LeBron.
Ham’s quote wrt adjustments certainly does not inspire optimism.
2020 version of Lebron, this denver nuggets team won’t stand a chance, sadly he’s 38 now and playing injured!
Lakers should start Beasley or Walker I stead of D’lo…lebron, beasley/walker, reaves, vanderbilt, Davis
I would also strongly consider using Shaq harrison defensively against Murray