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LA Lakers coach Darvin Ham hasn't been on the fans' good side for a while. With a Monday report that he'll likely stay in place for next season even with the team's season on the line in the playoffs, fans have expressed their desire for him to leave.
This is the second consecutive season that the Lakers have entered the postseason via the play-in tournament in Ham's two seasons.
Last year, they reached the Western Conference finals but were swept by the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets. This year, they could get eliminated in the first round by the second-seeded Nuggets, who beat the seventh-seeded Lakers 114-103 in Game 1 on Saturday.
However, it looks like the team doesn't plan on replacing Ham in the offseason even if Denver knocks out the Lakers in the first round, according to LA Lakers beat reporter Anthony Irwin.
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After fans saw that the Lakers could still retain Ham, here's what some said.
"Why does @JeanieBuss hate LeBron?" one fan commented.
"That’s why the lakers organization is the worst ran in pro sports," a fan wrote.
"How do you continue to willful employ a bottom 3 coach in the sport???? Makes zero sense," @_smarttakes_ wrote.
A few fans are in support of what Ham can do with the team.
"Well deserved. He’s an elite coach," a fan said.
"W for Darvin Ham," @WigginsWick22 wrote.
"They should extend him," one fan wrote.
It'll be interesting to see the team's decision depending on the outcome of their first-round matchup against the Nuggets.
Ham shares that the Lakers have more defensive strategies to guard Nikola Jokic
During Game 1, the Lakers started with an interesting defensive strategy against Nikola Jokic. Instead of putting Anthony Davis as the initial defender, the team had Rui Hachimura guard the two-time MVP. That left Davis being used more as a help defender. It wasn't as fruitful as hoped as the All-Star center finished with 24 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists.
"If we have to go to something else adjustment-wise, we do have a couple of more things that we can throw at them," Darvin Ham said. "We’re comfortable where we’re at."
In Game 2 on Monday night, it's expected that the coaching staff will try another defensive tactic to try to stop Jokic.
