“Darvin Ham was soft” - Lakers fans hail coach JJ Redick’s maniacal preparation for Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets

The Lakers finally ended their regular season losing streak at Ball Arena against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets under coach JJ Redick's leadership. The Lakers went winless under Darvin Ham in eight consecutive games on Denver's homecourt, including three regular season games and five in the playoffs between 2022 and 2024.

The Lakers emphatically snapped that streak on Saturday with a 123-100 win. Luka Doncic had a breakout performance in the Purple and Gold jersey with 32 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and four steals. LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura had 20+ points too.

The Nuggets were outplayed on the court and outcoached. Denver's coach, Michael Malone, conceded that in his post-game availability. It was all worth it for JJ Redick, especially after the maniacal preparations that led to his team's success.

"I pretty much haven't slept since we walked off the court in Portland," Redick said after the game. "I spent a lot of time on this game, our staff spent a lot of time on this game. I envision our guys playing hard, they played harder than I could've envisioned. They battled tonight and those were the two things that stood out."

The Lakers played against Portland on Thursday, making it two sleepless nights of game-planning from JJ Redick.

After this revelation by the rookie coach came to light, a few of former coach Darvin Ham's infamous quotes also resurfaced online. Ham once said he was clueless about how to stop Nikola Jokic, who the Lakers limited to 12 points on 2 of 7 shooting on Saturday despite playing small for most of the night.

Lakers fans instantly compared the two and hailed Redick for his over-the-top efforts. One fan said:

"Mentality is everything, Your players analyze you more than you think. Darvin Ham was soft."

Another added:

"JJ really gonna be a Pat Riley type coach huh😂"

Comments on JJ Redick and Darvin Ham

Fans on Lakers Twitter also weighed in as one X user wrote:

"DON'T EVER COMPARE JJ REDICK TO DARVIN HAM"

Another tweeted:

Another said:

"I can’t believe I had to watch darvin ham basketball for 2 years bro"

One fan added:

"Hard work prevails. Was always going to be an issue with darvin ham. Not with JJ. Guy is truly insane for how hard he works but that’s what you want if you’re trying to win an nba championship"

---

JJ Redick leads Lakers to a top-four spot after win against Nikola Jokic and Co.

The LA Lakers are top four in the West standings in February for the first time since the 2020-21 season. They improved to 34-21 after beating Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets. Meanwhile, the Rockets lost to Utah and dropped to 35-22.

For the last four years, LA has been in the play-in bracket or lower and generally made a late push in the season to get to the playoffs. JJ Redick has changed that entirely despite facing significant adversity and changes in his first season.

He began the year with a weakened roster amid Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood's injury-related absences after the Lakers didn't bring reinforcements in the offseason to the team that lost in five games to the Nuggets in the 2024 playoffs.

Redick has also had to make a massive adjustment after the Lakers changed their roster dynamic with Luka Doncic's addition in exchange for their All-NBA star, Anthony Davis, who was the team's centerpiece.

At the same point last year under Darvin Ham, the Lakers were 29-26 in the bottom half of the standings.