Since the Los Angeles Lakers started struggling in earnest in December, a large number of fans pointed the finger at head coach Darvin Ham and practically begged for him to be fired.
At the time, he was still a young head coach looking to grow into himself. He had gotten the Lakers to overcome a poor start to reach the Western Conference finals last season. This year, they won 28 of their last 42 games in the regular season, and appeared to be surging again.
But now, they’re staring at a total playoff collapse after blowing double-digit leads and losing both of the first two games of their first-round series versus the Denver Nuggets. In both games, they abandoned what had gotten them the lead, especially offensively, as time went on.
Los Angeles’ execution was abysmal late in Game 2 on Monday. Even though it ranked very high in several offensive categories after the All-Star break, many people have pointed out that Ham’s offense simply wasn’t anything special.
There were numerous instances of poor execution and incorrect reads on Monday, and the video below from YouTube user Awful Coaching breaks down just some of them.
When a team doesn’t execute its offense properly or effectively, it is the job of its coaching staff to point it out and hold its players accountable during a game. Perhaps that isn’t happening right now for the Lakers.
Although there have been reports suggesting Ham could be fired this offseason if the Lakers were to close the season out poorly, it is unknown if his job will truly be in jeopardy if they lose this series in four or five games. But he certainly seems to be making the case for his dismissal so far, far more than he did at midseason when they were struggling.
