Lakers Coach Darvin Ham Reacts To Game 2 vs Nuggets | May 18, 2023

Darvin not a typical night efficiency wise from LeBron and AD. I just wondered if you saw anything and some of the shots They were missing and how that built is the second half went on Yeah, we've missed some pretty good looks No, first of all, you know respect to them they did what they were supposed to do take care of their home floor hell serve You know now it's on us to fill our cups back up and go do what we need to do on our own floor Starting with game three. That's all we need to be concerned about is game three in terms of the efficiency, I Mean we were aggressive came out a whole lot better than we did in game one again The increments in which we're improving as this series goes on albeit. It's only been two games We did a lot of good things out there tonight. We had some lows that they were able to take advantage of Did a great job defensively in that first half majority of the third and then you know kind of Got out of rhythm offensively and they caught fire and that combination usually leads to your demise but You know Proud our guys they bounce back You address a lot of things that we said we were gonna try to do better Still got to be better in transition D but overall The energy was there. The effort was there. The urgency was there. We just caught a bad stretch In the shooting Denver was 7 for 25 from 3, but you know getting good looks in the first three quarters They hit those five straight What's what's the philosophy and trying to deal with the ball screens there and still think about Jokic can't relax off the ball You know, they're one of the better off ball offensive teams in the league And you cannot relax. They set those back screens and they're slipping out, you know I'm yoke is just giving the hand backs of green or whoever Gordon. We just can't relax off the ball You know, they draw a lot of attention in a half-court and then you know They had some other guys step up as well in terms of Michael Porter jr so it's Bruce Brown, it's Just got to be you know again tighten the screws continue to extract what we can From these games to help us be in a position to take care of business once we get home in game three Darvin two-part question one you change the starting group put Vando in for Dennis I guess that was the normal starting group you guys have been going with but how'd you decide on that and then second thing was Kind of changing the matchups down the stretch where you put LeBron on Jokic Rui on Jamal so you can kind of switch their two-man action just that decision as well. Yeah, I mean Just starting Bando just you know inserting some energy and some size and athleticism into the lineup And then as you mentioned that was our starting lineup for the you know remainder of the regular season and The only time it wasn't our Stein lineup was game six against Golden State. So and game one here and so Getting them back out there allowing him to you know, put the bigger body on Murray. I thought it was effective And as far as just running different guys at Jokic's, you know, we're gonna have to guard him by committee You know a D doesn't the best job he could possibly do in a one-on-one But again, you know Even when a is garden up straight up our guys off the ball have to have their antennas up be in a position to help and then close out effectively, you know not being undisciplined with their closeouts, but again Your Joker is just one of those guys. You got to change matchups You got to change coverages and I won't get into any details about what we plan to do Going forward, but that's just the way it is and in general terms like he's gonna make you work He's gonna make you go on your back of tricks and try to slow him down Tarvin with LeBron Spending so many possessions garden Jokic Do you think that had anything to do with with his shot selection in the fourth quarter? Taking threes early on in the quarter versus they're driving. I just thought he was trying to make a play for his teammates You know, he was open. They're playing off of him. He's a Highly capable three-point shooter. He let it fly You know with our team overall just wanting us to continuously play downhill That's something I really really want to harp on I think we You know went from 16 to 10 free throws and in the second half like we we have to continuously play with aggression and and again, like I always say love and live in the paint and That allow some of those three-point attempts to be that much more open and that much more in rhythm driving along those lines Do you think fatigue factored at all into your team's lack of a downhill? Sort of attacking the fourth. I mean they do a great job shifting on their side. They have a bunch of athletes Just have to make quick plays have to be quick decisions whenever you probe too long or you hold the ball too long It strengthens their defense, you know, they have long Athletic wings and obviously Joker is long Green Gordon those guys are super-duper athletic Hell MPJ Mike Porter jr. He's 611. So we have to just play offense with a pace both in the full court and a half-court This team's talked a lot about basketball IQ particularly after the trade deadline But two mistakes stand out there was LeBron and transition kind of going for a reverse and fumbling the ball pretty uncharacteristically and and Dennis three-point attempt at the end of the third that got blocked and triggered do those plays kind of signify like a Need for this team to tighten up and maybe a little bit mentally I mean you go through the course of a basketball game and you have unfortunate plays that happen I'm sure they can pick out something from their side So there's just you have to just have things happening during the course of the NBA game Especially a hotly contested one such as the Western Conference Finals in particular these two teams and so You just got to have a short memory in terms of when a mistake happens or a miscue or something like that you got to move on us and we've been preaching that since day one have a next play mentality and Can't you know, even if you make a shot you can't stand there, you know taking a picture with your follow-through You have to sprint back and get ready to play the next possession on defense So I just chalk it up now. I don't see that as being a reflection of our IQ It's just you know Unfortunate circumstance on those couple of plays Durbin. What did you see in the middle of that fourth quarter when they were hitting the threes? Were you guys? Relaxing what what was going on that you saw there? I mean we had a situation where we kind of cross matched and you know Again, they the best offense in the league So it's like they're gonna put pressure on you to guard them ball in hand or off the ball and again We'll go back and look at our off ball defense You know, you start out you're shifted against you as a joker. You're shifted off of Murray You're trying to take away their back doors, but they also have the capability to sprint uphill to get behind a three-point line and launch and so You have to be ready to guard a little bit everything and that's what happens when you're dealing with a championship caliber ball club It's like you got it You know, it's no one thing that that you're gonna be able to take away and it's gonna shut them down There are multiple ways to beat you multiple actions multiple players that can just get hot as we just saw and so our thing is to not get disappointed not get discouraged just Compete continue to compete at a high level and if they make the shot hotly contested Then we have to live with and go back and try to do the same Darwin two of your role players often we've seen they have really good games for you What did you make up how they play for you guys? Just told him to come out be assertive be aggressive. Don't think twice You know when we play with pace and we make quick decisions Well, we're you know, we're damn good ball club offensively whenever there's gonna be times We have to slow down and try to punch it into the paint But for the most part when the ball is moving changing hands I just think you know, we put ourselves in a good position to win I mean we had five players in double figures. So, you know, that's a telltale sign 26 assists we can get that up a little bit higher, but that's not bad either Only made eight threes. So again, we just have to continue to chip at the rock try to do a better job of taking taking care of the ball in certain moments and Continuously get better Darvana you guys haven't lost two in a row I don't think since maybe mid-march and you've taken control of every series by stealing one on the road What's the psyche of the team right now, you know just in the immediate aftermath Well, we you know, they're like us they're undefeated at home We knew it was gonna be a challenge a hard hard one at that And we said it before we even played one game. We got a you know buckle in and buckle up Buckle down and buckle up because this is gonna be a we plan for this to be a long series and so again hats off to them they held serve on their home floor and The more higher the level the levels you get to you're gonna face much much tougher teams No disrespect to Memphis or Golden State but this team has been at the top of the food chain for a reason not just this year, but the last few years so We definitely got our work cut out for us But we're gonna get better from this as we always do and we'll bounce back on our home floor Coach, what happened? LeBron toward the end of the game and it's there Any reason for a concern from physically going into the next game? Really speak on it right now. He's been being evaluated. So We'll see It'd be hard to keep him out of this mix though And after the game one loss you were relatively upbeat in fact your last words were we'll be alright trust me After tonight you still the same optimism. Yeah, it's the same thing I've been in a lot of these wars man both as a player and a coach and I'm not gonna get discouraged you know, I mean and you just got it again, it's it's they took care of business on their home floor and We have to go do the same but it doesn't matter where you win because if we don't want one here They'd be coming try to get game three So we just got to be prepared to do the same as they just did and protect our home court Just want to ask you about the kind of going for offensive rebounds versus getting back in transition What the balance is there for guys like Bando or ad with you know, how much Denver can hurt you going up down the court? Yeah, I mean if you we have a rule like if you're in a certain space on the floor on the weak side then you have the You have permission to crash as hard as you can but if you're up top above the break I mean, you got to sprint back on shot not when the ball hits the rim not When it lands or something if someone catches it as soon as you see your teammate the ball leave his hands You got to be back. And so that's one of the things that we'll try to be better at come game three Good