Lakers: LA Fans Annihilate Darvin Ham's Coaching Choices In Portland Loss

It's not... entirely unwarranted criticism.

Last night, your Los Angeles Lakers fell behind big to the Portland Trail Blazers in the second half of the game's first quarter, and basically never recovered. LA surrendered 23 triples to Portland and eventually fell 127-115, a final margin that was much more innocuous than the actual damage done in the game's meaningful minutes (basically its first three quarters).

Lakers fans did not take kindly to a lot of head coach Darvin Ham's decision-making throughout the game, starting with his dogged loyalty to minimum-contracted Dennis Schröder, who scored two points on 1-of-7 shooting in 29:40 while starting alongside D'Angelo Russell. Shooting guard Malik Beasley, a much better hypothetical fit alongside Russell, scored 22 points in 21:14 from the bench.

Darvin Ham treating a minimum contract guy like a superstar is nuts

— Juan 🇸🇻 (@LOLL________) February 14, 2023

Eagles center Jason Kelce's national anthem Super Bowl reaction was employed in response to Ham's double-point guard starting lineup choice:

Hearing Darvin Ham will start with 2 guard line up again https://t.co/TZ12tan0Z0

— ⚜️SSB⚜️ (@SSBKlutch) February 14, 2023

Other fans pulled no punches:

I mean this from the bottom of my heart

Darvin Ham is the WORST coach I’ve ever seen in my life.

— ²³ (@SpeakContext) February 14, 2023

Ham was specifically criticized for a total lack of defensive adjustments as Portland rained threes upon them (17 in the first half, to be precise).

Darvin Ham may be the worst defensive coach in the league. He literally never adjusted that entire half

— Kareem (@Kareem_is_it) February 14, 2023

It was all pretty darn befuddling.

His strategizing overall was questioned mightily, with a chuckle-inducing visual aide:

Darvin Ham putting together a game plan for the Lakers pic.twitter.com/VIyhx8mCYP

— 🐐☝️ (@ACZE80) February 14, 2023

Other fans have given up on Ham's reputation as one of the league's best assistant coaches and tacticians, which had been the word on the street before his hire this summer:

I’ve never been more wrong about anything in life than I was about Darvin Ham

— 🏆LakersGuru🏆 (@GuruLakers) February 14, 2023

A few fans drew their own conclusions about just how involved Ham actually was with the Bucks' title-winning team success:

So Darvin Ham was just on the Bucks giving Giannis and the team Gatorade

— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) February 14, 2023

A Rui Hachimura stan account (apparently such a thing does exist) pointed to Ham as the main cause behind the Lakers' woes.

Darvin Ham is the problem.

— RUI FANATIC (@therealselena23) February 14, 2023

The name of a certain unfairly booted ex-LA head coach was invoked tonight:

Frank Vogel > Darvin Ham pic.twitter.com/sXT0UFvdaJ

— Lakers Lead (@LakersLead) February 14, 2023

I must have overlooked this anecdote but, uh, it isn't exactly a ringing endorsement for Ham's ability to make second-half adjustments against the Trail Blazers (from a Dave McMenamin piece):

The last time the Lakers beat the Blazers was cuz Darvin Ham let LeBron coach the 2nd half. pic.twitter.com/nzMUqAHxFt

— KF (@klutchfamilia) February 14, 2023

Ham's strange commitment to de-prioritizing defense or size on the perimeter is certainly bizarre. Here's hoping he rethinks his rotation choices.

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