Jovan, why doesn’t the media call out Ham questioning him directly at press conferences? He’ll always say we when referring to what the players did wrong but he’ll never say me when he screws up! He’s in the second year of his rookie season costing the team big losses when they’re right there needing a solid coach to bring the win..
Cause you are better off with Davis doubling, when possible, while also patrolling the paint and stopping cuts that end with layups off Jokic passes.. Also, AD aint stopping Jokic one on one
Because the greatest defensive player of his generation gets cooked all the time. And in the playoffs, they "discovered" the magic solution to stopping Jokic was Rui.
Lebron's next goal is Chris Paul. 700 assists behind 38 yr. old Paul. Anybody notice Reaves ran the offense to start the game. Seven assists in a quarter the Lakers led by 6 points. I get starting with Rui on Jokic to start the game, but in the fourth AD has to take the assignment. Watching Reaves getting bounced downhill by Jokic while AD is watching the play was painful to watch. Jokic has AD's number. Cam was chasing in the fourth quarter. No Vando, No ring.
They had him figured out in 2020 with two 270 lbs centers. But ham wanted skinny “athletic” centers. So all the offense does is run in transition. That way he doesn’t have to run offense. Lazy coaching.
@@MercyMore-m9e2020 Jokic was such a different player. He was far skinner and less strong. He’s reached his ideal body for his style. Heavy and strong for post ups but not so heavy that he gets gassed easily.
@user-jw8kr5hc8b That roster didn't have Gordon and MPJ was still working himself back from back issues. Joker has made big improvements since that Bubble season. They couldn't run the 2 big lineup against Denver anymore. Though I did like allowing AD to roam and they've done it this season, you still are too spaced defensively with whatever group Malone puts on the floor.
This type of game is always lost by the coach. In this game that was magnified with Darvin Ham. Bad at rotations and timeouts. The Max Christie thing is unacceptable taking him out of the rotation when T Prince, Spencer D and Cam Redish are playing poorly and with no production. Max Christie is better on defense than T Prince and Spencer D and the differential on defense with Cam Redish is small with Max Christie being a better scorer and rebounder than all of them.
Yes, I really pray Darvin plays Harry in the Sacramento Kings and Bucks game this week. We desperately need a big to play along side AD! I really hope he ends up being a very good pickup for us!
Darvin is a major component as to why this team can't win. Overreliance on TP, Cam and (now) Dinwiddie is costing games. REFUSES to take accountability for his inability to adjust during games. Cam was getting cooked. Max is a good rebounder and a decent screen navigator at least TRY him on Murray to see what happens. But no, lets not fix the rebounding issues. Just more minutes for his people, not what's best for the team 🙃🙃🙃
I wonder if the FO will realize that they should of given what ATL wanted in order to get Murray. DLo is alright but not consistent enough, especially against a really good team like DEN.
. If your defense can't stop their 3rd guy in Porter from scoring like that, it's a tough night for an already well=criticized defense. A tad ironic but when it was Winning Time, Lakers came up short again, and again
No offense, only way he reaches 45K is to continue to play no defense and more Laker losses for the fans and love of the game. Scoring a lot of points is cool but the trade-off is no defense for the sake of LeBron getting what he wants. Playing at high level constitutes playing both sides of the ball and he hasn’t sniffed an 2nd team defense since 2014, and this is a guy who finished twice as the DPOY runner up. I’m a Laker fan and we want to see wins, scoring all these points are not championships. Denver clearly understand that and they are winning.
Where did 30ppg AD go? I am starting to think he is nursing some injuries as usual....it is a war of attrition out there...DLo is back to his inconsistent self, no way to beat Nuggets without somebody going into hero mode....no way
LeBron guarded Murray a bit last year in the playoffs and didn’t give up any buckets. I was like 3-5 straight possessions, not sure which game it was though
This is the only way the Lakers beat Denver is in crunch time Lebron take on the matchup of guarding Murray. I believe if Vando come back he can help defend Murray along with Gabe I’m praying. However this is a horrible matchup for Dlo because they will just attack Dlo in the 4th. Lebron is the lakers only hope in the playoffs to guard Murray down the stretch
@@mauriceanderson1583 no one person is stopping that action. It has to be one of the guards (DLo or Reaves), AD, Bron, Rui, and either of Vando or Wood. Size is huge against this team. But if that size isn’t there just play the 2 guards together and excel on O and hope AD can patch things up. Ham isn’t good enough tho, he’s just a little too inexperienced. He’ll be a good coach eventually
Lakers front office has one year time to not add anything for Denver match up 😂 Lebron remind them during the trade deadline but Rob and Jeanie are dumb dumb…. Lebron last few great years wasted in a dysfunctional franchise
Nothing is going to change with this coach. That's it. Line up needs to change. DLo, Max, Vando/Cam, LeBron and AD. Reaves, Rui get big minutes off the bench then alongside Hayes, Gabe/Dinwiddie and Prince. Better offense / defense combinations. You can't stop Jokic. You need to stop MPJ, KCP on the perimeter and then keep Gordon off the offensive glass. You beat Denver by stopping the other guys. Darvin is by far the worst head coach in the NBA right now
The face of the Lakers is also the Turnover king with 177 turnovers also is the NBA history leader in turnovers with 5140 turnovers. Nobody will ever pass Lebron in turnovers
We can target certain players on them too 😂we don’t have enough as I been saying all year what to people expect AD outplayed by all international players and Dlo hides on defense ham out-coached reaves tries too hard Prince no show and pelinka didn’t do his job. Literally said he copying Denver title run and look 👀🔥
Darvin doesn't have the fortitude nor the mental capacity to go blow for blow with a great team like Denver. There are too many details that go into breaking down championship caliber teams over 48 minutes. Malone knows where Darvin's weaknesses are and it's easy for them to exploit.
@@JonathanNelsonOfficial lol. I agree with that. Ypu are better off with a young college coach ala Brad Stevens. BUT players have to make clutch plays too on both ends. LeBron cant do that consistently against superior teams anymore and Anthony Davis is one of the most overrated players ever (some insist hes more skilled than freaking Giannis when he can only do one thing better, mid range/floater range scoring)
@@Edd_LShore They're not making plays because they don't know where to be at what time. They're running situational sets that don't correspond with what's happening in the moment. That's why you saw that pick and roll lob to end the game with Denver. They know how to play because they've been coached. The Lakers are mining for gold hoping to pull something off.
neither lebron or davis can close games as scorers they can score alot during the course of games but when the games get tight and the paint is packed and you need to use skill to score they simply dont have it.
That’s why you need a 3rd star to beat denver. Enter Kyrie Irving. His Kobe mentality puts teams away in the 4th quarter. Not only that but the lakers need a closer
Lebron just closed out the Clippers the other day. Lebron has been closing out teams his whole career. it’s AD that needed to assert himself today but dude gives half ass effort. Jokic was doing whatever he wanted on offense and defense but AD pfff
Brother pls how can u lie so easily jus days ago lebron closed out the clippers in the battle of LA Nuggets just require major attention to detail. With a one mistake costing u the game. Just need to find a way to lock in
“Lakers were in control” Nah denver never wins until the second half of the 3rd I’m a denver fan we just kinda warm up the first 2 quarters Lakers were never in control no one I know was even nervous at any point
Yeah I'm a nuggets fan also and we do this every game we go about 40-50% in the 1st half while the other team is going around 70% and then we turn it up to 90-100% going into the 3rd while the other team is a bit tired from the 1st half we takeover in the 3rd and 4th I wasn't nervous 1 time during the game even when we were down by a bit in the 1st half and when the 4th hit and we were down by a few before jokic came in I knew we were going to win as soon as he stepped on the court because malone rests him at perfect times during the game you need to be beating the nuggets by 10+ with 6 minutes left before jokic comes back in to even have a chance at winning jokic and murray just takeover around that time every game
So true! So many times I watch the Nuggets take on a team and the other team is leading in the 2nd or 3rd quarter. You watch the players on the other team high-fiving each other and jawing, etc. They foolishly think they got the game won. When crunch time comes and the Nuggets put the squeeze on - it's over! You watch the opposing bench and they're just like: what in the world just happened? These Nuggets are the most clutch team in the nba right now, bar none. They don't flinch, they maintain their poise, and execute their game plan to the "T".
We played a solid 3 quarters. We just gotta put it all together down the stretch. I took a lot of positives from that game .We’re heading in the right direction. Denver defense was nice down the stretch. They made quick work of our bad possessions.
I've discussed the importance of NBA head coaches, illustrating that 71% of of the NBA titles won since 1980 were by 8 coaches. Regular season vs Post season is checkers to chess. I would argue the Lakers advanced to the WCF in spite of Darvin, similar to the Cavs advancing to the 2015 Finals in spite of David Blatt. Lakers don't have the coaching chops to deal with Mike Malone and that well-oiled machine he's coaching. Darvin's deficiencies are MAGNIFIED when he faces Mike Malone.
Malone was Darvin just one year ago. In Denver Malone has been hated for the last 7 years. Terrible rotations, terrible time managment, Malone doesn't even run and his team plays in Denver. All coaches are trash until they win a chip.
Malone doesn’t get enough credit even now As a denver fan the difference between George Karl’s nuggets and Malone’s nuggets is night and day, like 11 players deep on the roster
@@cjp1599Malone is basically beloved like *beloved* going on 5-6 years But even the early years we were only skeptical of the jokic draft lol he’s amazing we love LOVE *LOVE* Malone and always have We hated *Geirge Karl*
Lord, you & Jason leads the Austin Reaves fan club! Have you forgot about the Boston Christmas game when the Celtics literally targeted Austin every play in the 4th quarter. He played great last night but let’s not act like he’s been perfect this year.
Around the clock bro. They’ve been constantly heralding Austin as the 3rd best player and now that stats continue to disprove it, they turn to something else. Austin has a worse +/- and defensive rating than DLo this year. They’ll never mention it. Jovan even said Austin is a better shooter than DLo. Just horrible takes. Makes you wonder why 🤔
Unfortunately, Austin shot 7/10 from 3 against the Celtics in the now infamous "No AD, No Lebron" game a few weeks back so he is being overrated even worse. He played WAY over his head like a few of the other Lakers that day. They shot almost 53% from 3 that game and many were contested. The Lakers are getting way too much credit for that win.
Boring for you Laker fans/media-not for us Denver fans at all.For decades-the Lakers were our horror show.(like many Western Conference teams vs the Lakers) So it's as perfect as could be to have the Lakers number now.As you mentioned-the games are almost always close,& look very similar. Ive said all along the Lakers played us tougher last playoffs in a sweep-than Phoenix did in a 6 game series. But while I'd love our chances in another playoff series-I don't assume it's just automatic if we play again.The West is as deep as I can ever remember,& I really think every playoff/play in team in the west-will have at least a punchers shot to win the whole conference.That isn't even close to the case in the East-my opinion.
As a Laker fan... I love the way the Nuggets team roster is constructed. Enjoy the ride! I got the Nuggets/Celtics in the Finals this year and I will be rooting for Denver wholeheartedly to win back-2-back :) for obvious reasons. lol
Why can't the lakers game plan. AD has to play joker straight up. No help, no dig in's, no traps. Play everyone else underneath outside of pick & roll. Take away backdoors and duckins. Why haven't ham did. AD suppose tobe DPOY. Superior athlete again a non athletic big. Give body space, then attack his ball hand. Smh
Hey Jovan! Thanks for the content, great stuff as always! Unfortunate loss at the end again, it seems like trend nowadays against the Nuggets. I am from Europe, huge Bron fan since 03, just got to LA last night, got tickets against OKC and Sac as well. Would you have any tips on what time should I arrive to catch some warm ups as well etc? :) looking forward to maybe seeing you as well(probably from a far) thanks man! Go lakers!
You've been telling us Darvin Ham is the problem as discreetly as you can.....i wish the other beat writers were like you willing to call out the Stupidity of Ham sometimes....
I like the idea of Lebron and AD guarding / switching the Jokic - Murray 2 man game in crunch time, but without Vando you have to have Max guarding MPJr. without helping. Max not playing significant minutes now (so he can play through mistakes and gain confidence) is managerial malpractice in my opinion. In any event, it is probably a moot point given our position in the standings.
Denver completely took over in the 2nd half. Not just in the 4th. Lakers aren’t even close to their level. When Denver decides to step on the gas, they take over. Easy matchup for them. Jokic is way better than Bron, Murray out plays AD in these matchups when it matters. Their role players are better. Their coach is much better. It’s not even close.
Honestly Denver has been playing with house money for a while let’s keep it real all the games are close and Denver has hitting a lot of lucky shoots. Soon that luck will run out and things will turn around I really deep down inside feel like we can beat Denver in the playoffs with everybody healthy
Lakers desperately needed to find a 3 and D starting caliber guy this past offseason and never did, now they are stuck with darvins poor decision making of not playing max christie who is the best resemblance of a 3 and D guy but even so, this offseason they need to find that guy who can slot in at the 2-3 cause yeah ruis been playing well in the starting lineup, it still heavily hurts the bench rotation with the lack of scoring as of now, the team desparately needs to find a starting caliber guy to slot in the starting lineup, or else whatever "star" move they do will be moot imo, as these issues will continue to haunt them going forward if they do not.
A much higher usage rate, ball dominant point guard that's an even bigger defensive liability than AR and DLO combined...........oh and no need to guard him straight up. Just run zone and force him into a low percentage shot and a turnover.
@@giftedimagesllc All that sounds good - if Trae is still playing for the Hawks. With LeBron & AD as his teammates - not so much. You know what kills zone defense? Penetration & size. Pause. This is an offensive league, my boy..if your expensive PG can’t turn the corner against quality NBA caliber athleticism, you have a problem. Lakers tried to solve it at the trade deadline, but nobody wants an expensive, slow point guard who’s virtually unplayable if he’s not hitting shots. The #1 way to deal with star talent in this offensive league today is to make those players defend..same reason everyone wants AD to go at Joker offensively..to make him work defensively. To get him a few fouls. Etc. 🎓
The lakers are never learned, especially ham.. 8 game i a row thy never won...only davis are big in every game thy played..in time of vogel..2 bigs are there whene thy meet the nuggets i remember howard..bully jokic..no match thats why in wcf in bubble 4-2 standing...thy won 2030 nba champ..
Taurean prince needs to be taken out of the rotation. He's not helping the team at all. And that sequence where he just kept taking shots and missed a bunch of shots in a row killed all of the momentum. Somebody has to beg darvin ham to get that guy out of the rotation
Another great postgame Jovan, always look forward to your and Jason's pespective on the games! Just wanted to chime in on the D'Lo part because I kinda disagree with your take. Calling him unplayable when he scored 17pts including 13 pts in the fist half alone is really debatable. Yes he was not as good in the 2nd half but even AD, for at least the second time against Denver, had 2pts for the whole 2nd half. It's clear to me that this team is never gonna lock Denver up so they need all the offense they can get, and benching D'Lo makes no sense in that regard. The D'Lo vs Austin debate is also pretty confusing to me. D'Lo has been consistently better than Austin all year, whether in critical moments or against bottom seeded teams. Austin played better in like 2 IST games and a couple of meaningless games in December (a good chunk of which the Lakers lost, so not even that impactful). Austin has been really inconsistent this year, especially shooting wise. I honestly think he has taken a step back, whereas D'Lo, on the other hand, has clearly taken a leap from last season
Please Free Max! Kerr would've had him in the rotation all this time since he's improved in the system. Might've been him defending Murray in the clutch instead of AR15...Spencer...>Reddish. How can one starve with so much Ham??
Great Analysis, LeBron on Jamal is the way to go, at least it takes away the post up game from Murray. In that case, you have to put Vando in, to guard MPJ and cover for other mistakes on defense.
Jovan would it be better for the Lakers to have Kyrie Irving for this specific matchup to beat the Nuggets given his ability to take over ball games in the 4th quarter and put teams away? Hypothetically speaking if the Lakers had a super team that consisted of AD, Kyrie & Bron as their big 3, would they beat Denver? You already talked about the scenario the Lakers need to have happen (Dallas losing in the play-in, first round, missing the playoffs again) in order to get Kyrie should he become available but what would a possible trade package look like to get him in the summer assuming you have the 3 first round picks?
Lakers need 2 big 3/D wing players, and a big body backup center. None of which are on the roster, so Denver had a perpetual mismatch. It's like George Foreman vs Joe Frazier. Total mismatch.
45k seems improbable, 50k impossible imo. He'd have to average 24 over 82 games to get 2000k points, he aint even playing 82 again so his average would have to be closer to 26-27, very very unlikely.
45k is pretty much a lock since he's going to sign a 3 yr contract extension. with he lack of effort lebron plays with defensively he should be able to avoid major injuries moving foward. 50k is actually possible.
@tyresejones3535 I don't think anything is a lock when you're coming into your 40's as an elite athlete, one bad injury, anything, he could do it but odds are he won't imo.
@@nachooooo7019 it’s a lock sure he’s about to be in his 40s but when you train as hard as Lebron and invest millions into your nutrition and training and recovery along with the power of science aka peds his 40s is gonna look like early 30s. He’s playing another 6-7 more years could be longer. He’s going to show us how far science can extend a career.
@@ian_ford Cam was clearly not 100%. He couldnt guard Murray at all and was a liability offensively. This was Max’s matchup. I cant believe Spam didnt play him at all. Also Nuggets got a 9-0 in clutch and no timeout from Spam. Him being the head coach is a disgrace.
@@detective_h_for_hidden Your “ 3rd best player “ was being shopped on the trade market for a reason. He’s simply unplayable against athletic teams if his shot isn’t falling. Same thing every team finds out when they bring him in..benched in Minnesota, benched in Brooklyn, benched with the Lakers. Blame all those coaches for benching an unathletic guard who’s consistently outclassed by NBA caliber athleticism? 😅
bruh....if you're gonna sacrifice DLo's offense for Cam's defense in crunch moments when y'all DESPERATELY NEED points, CAM BETTER STOP SOMEBODY. He was getting cooked and you already handicapped yourself on the offensive side of the floor. Ham should've put Dlo back in way sooner than he did.
@@giftedimagesllc Cam actually didn’t get cooked. He got screened off and his help failed him - which would happen to any of the top flight perimeter defenders. And let’s just say that Cam’s job wasn’t made any easier since the cone DLo was letting Murray get loose beforehand - while DLo was simultaneously shooting Denver back into the game on the other end. Your boy DLo is still a ZERO..bound to be benched for the FOURTH TIME in the playoffs.
It’s not hard to see ham and his rotation are the problem, also cam shouldn’t even be playing he’s not a good defender and can’t score, max should get those minutes
