If Los Angeles Lakers fans had their way, Game 4 of the team’s first-round playoff series versus the Denver Nuggets could be Darvin Ham’s final game as its head coach. There also is a growing desire for starting point guard D’Angelo Russell to be exiled out of the Southland.
After a very, very good first half in Game 2, Russell put up a bagel in Game 3. He missed all seven of his shot attempts and didn’t score. At one point in the game, he was booed by Lakers fans at Crypto.com Arena after he missed a wide-open 3-pointer.
Russell also played very poorly in last year’s Western Conference finals when L.A. was swept by the Nuggets. As a result, Ham benched him for Game 4.
But Ham said he will not do that this time around.
Via ESPN:
“I’m not changing my starting lineup,” Ham said Friday after L.A. had a film session in lieu of practice.
If there is one good quality Ham possesses, it is his tendency to publicly support his players and try to give an air of eternal optimism and a can-do attitude. He still sounded supportive of Russell despite his terrible Game 3 outing.
“You want to give your players a chance to make good for themselves,” Ham said. “There were questions about that after Game 1 and you saw what we did in Game 2. He got back in the gym, as he’s always done, and worked on his stuff. And he provided a great source of income in Game 2. Although we came up short, he was one of the reasons we were able to be in the game.”
Even if Russell goes into volcano mode in Game 4 on Saturday, there is a real chance it will be the last time he wears a Lakers uniform. He’s reportedly likely to decline the player option on his contract for next season, which would hurt L.A.’s ability to send him away in a trade to improve its roster.