With their heartbreaking Game 5 loss to the Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Lakers were officially eliminated from the postseason for the second straight year in disappointing fashion.
Now, the spotlight shifts to head coach Darvin Ham and if he is going to be around when the the 2024-25 season kicks off.
With all the noise surrounding his future, it seems Ham had to go out and try to extend the series to keep his job safe. But once again, the game script played out the same way as L.A. got out to an early lead only to lose it in the third quarter.
In similar fashion as Game 2, Jamal Murray iced the game with a go-ahead jumper that ultimately became the shot that sent the Lakers home. Ham spoke to how tough it is to see Game 5 play out that exact same way.
“It’s tough. It’s tough, man,” Ham said. “Some unfortunate circumstances. AD getting hurt. Not having to leave the game per se, but just threw off his natural rotations, normal rotation. They make that run…we’ve already challenged the call earlier in the game, tried to hang on to timeouts just in case we need to challenge again, we may have an extra. It’s one of those games. It’s helluva team. They’re defending champs for a reason. I’ve been saying it the entire year, the entire series. They know how to gut out wins, they’ve been there before.
“But I couldn’t be more proud of our group despite everything that happened. Obviously the series didn’t go in our favor, didn’t start out the way we wanted it to but to win that one at home, to fight tooth and nail to try to get this one…our guys showed a lot of guts, a lot of character and their resilience to continue to to fight. But the intangibles, they got us again. Missing free throws, giving up some second-chance points late. It is what it is. You just have to learn from it, grow from it, be better mentally, spiritually and physically.”
With now Ham’s second season as coach finished, he reflected on the season ending by the hands of the defending champion Denver Nuggets once again.
“It’s tough,” he said. “The completion of my second year in this seat, it’s a lot. This is from where the year started last year to us getting to the deadline and making the moves we made try to make a push on the fly which we’re able to do. Fell short to the champs, the same team. Tried to maintain our core, some continuity in the summer which we were able to do. And then the injury bug hit us and it just seemed like it wouldn’t get off of us for the first third, maybe half of the season. Once we start hitting rhythms, it seemed like every time we hit a rhythm a key piece would fall out of the lineup.
“But it is what it is. I’m not gonna feel sorry for myself or ourselves. It’s an unbelievable franchise to represent. Couldn’t ask for a better governor and president of ops in Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss. But I’ve seen a lot in my first two years in this seat, so I’ll continue to work, get better and control what I can control.”
A roller coaster of a season for the Lakers is finished and changes are expected to be made. The first structural change that may be made is the dismissal of Ham after being unable to get the Lakers over the hump in his two seasons.
Darvin Ham ‘highly unlikely’ to return as head coach for 2024-25 season
Shortly after Game 5, multiple reports were released and indicated that Darvin Ham is ‘highly unlikely’ to return as the head coach of the Lakers for the 2024-25 season.
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