Former NBA head coach and commentator Mark Jackson analyzed the Lakers' Game 2 loss to the Denver Nuggets, identifying the rotational errors that Darvin Ham made as the Lakers blew a 20-point lead. Jackson criticized the decision to match Anthony Davis' minutes with Nikola Jokic's in the fourth quarter.
"I would have started the fourth quarter with Anthony Davis in the game. I'm not playing around. I know the Joker needs a breather, you take him out, I'm not biding my team, I'm looking to put you away and tie this series up. I think they tried to steal minutes by giving AD a breather, putting him back in, and then giving LeBron a breather. No. Let's win this basketball game and give this championship team the respect they earned and deserved."
Jackson went off on their use of D'Angelo Russell, criticizing the long periods he spent on the bench.
"They even gave D'Angelo Russell a long breather. I loved the defense played by the supporting cast, but I need the offense to continue to execute. So when LeBron James is not running pick-and-roll with Anthony Davis, I want D'Angelo Russell on the court and I want him to be in the P-n-R with Anthony Davis or LeBron James. But I want him on the floor."
Jackson wants more faith to be shown in Russell, even when he's making bad plays because of his quality as compared to the other Lakers guards.
"I'm not gonna overreact when D'Lo turns it over with a careless pass. I'm going to pull him to the side, I'm going to chastise him like grown folks do, tell him we need him to better, we need him to execute, and I'm going to send him back out. I'm not gonna leave him on the bench because he's too valuable on the offensive end of the floor."
Jackson is making comments directed at the decision-making of Darvin Ham without openly criticizing it. Many fingers are being pointed at Ham as the Lakers stare down the barrel of a possible back-to-back sweep elimination at the hands of the Nuggets.
Darvin Ham's use of D'Angelo Russell has split opinions throughout the season, but Jackson is right. Russell is best used alongside either LeBron or Davis, so the team should prioritize ensuring he shares the court with one if not both of them. He put up 23 points in the Game 2 loss, breaking a streak of cold performances against Denver.
The Lakers Don't Know How To Respond
The Lakers have been scrambling their heads looking for ways to beat Nikola Jokic. Rui Hachimura openly admitted after Game 1 that the Nuggets know the Lakers far too well for this to be an easy matchup.
"They watch us a lot. We’ve played them so many times in the last year, they know what we exactly do. We've got to do well as a team defense, they don't give us many options... I think we gotta play together more, I got to be more active, sharing the ball, and all that. I think that's going to help us this year."
Head coach Darvin Ham has openly talked about the team not knowing how to stop Nikola Jokic from having such a profound impact on proceedings as well. There are structural and tactical changes the Lakers could make to improve performance, but it's hard to say that Nuggets coach Michael Malone won't respond emphatically.
The onus of this series loss might fall squarely on Ham given the strong performances from the likes of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Unless something changes in Game 3, the Nuggets are headed for another one-sided series win over the Lakers.
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