The Los Angeles Lakers’ run in the 2024 NBA Playoffs came to an end earlier than anyone had hoped it would. After defeating the New Orleans Pelicans in the NBA Play-In Tournament, they drew a brutal matchup in the first round having to face the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
The Lakers entered the postseason on an eight-game losing streak against the Nuggets, which includes a sweep during the 2023 Western Conference Finals. That streak would reach 11 games before Los Angeles was able to defeat Denver in Game 4.
On Monday night, it was the Nuggets coming away victorious again, winning 108-106 and sending the Lakers home packing. When taking a look at some of the numbers from the series, it is downright shocking that Los Angeles was eliminated in five games.
They played from ahead in a majority of the series, leading for more than 71 percent of the minutes played. In crunch time, they fell apart, which has a lot of people pointing the finger at head coach Darvin Ham.
One of the biggest criticisms of Ham was his lack of awareness of game situations. He would routinely not call timeouts to try and stop an opponent’s run and seemed to have lost the locker room based on how players responded in huddles.
With a few head coach positions already open around the NBA, people are wondering which job may open next. According to NBA insider Shams Charania, it could very well be the Lakers with Ham being fired.
“I’m told [Darvin Ham’s] job status is in serious peril, it is highly unlikely that he will be back as head coach of this team,” Charania said during a segment on Run It Back on FanDuel TV.
Ham has spent two seasons as head coach of the Lakers. In the opinion of several people, even that tenure was too long as Los Angeles was overmatched on a nightly basis when it came to x’s and o’s and game planning.
In his tenure as head coach, the Lakers have gone 90-74 in the regular season and 9-12 in the postseason. Against everyone other than Denver, Los Angeles has managed a postseason record of 8-4 under Ham.
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