The Los Angeles Lakers suffered another painful defeat on Friday night and it feels like time is starting to run out for them.
Anthony Davis posted 38 points but that wasn’t enough for the Lakers, who fell 110-102 to the Minnesota Timberwolves at home.
Following the game, head coach Darvin Ham let his displeasure be known.
Darvin Ham on the Lakers lack of effort tonight: "We can't be locked in for 2.5-3 hours? Out of a 24-hour day? … We do basketball for a living. Someone shouldn't have to tell you to be locked in … We get paid millions of dollars to do basketball for a living."
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvoNBA) March 4, 2023
Darvin Ham went off on the Lakers' lack of urgency, energy, and effort: "Someone shouldn't have to tell you to be locked in. We do basketball for a living… We're not digging ditches all day."
— Cooper Halpern (@CooperHalpern) March 4, 2023
As quoted by NBA writer Cooper Halpern, Ham let his team hear it on Friday night, saying, “Someone shouldn’t have to tell you to be locked in. We do basketball for a living. We’re not digging ditches all day.”
Ham didn’t sound too happy with his team and their lack of drive and energy on Friday night.
"Too many times, I felt like our energy was off. Our effort was off in certain plays. We didn't seem to have any urgency… They had that urgency, we didn't." Darvin Ham on his takeaways from tonight's loss. pic.twitter.com/SJ4WIwg5qQ
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) March 4, 2023
Sure enough, the box score was filled with athletes who just weren’t doing enough.
While Davis was good for his 38 and Malik Beasley was solid with 15 of his own, there was only one other player in double-digits: Lonnie Walker with 10.
Everyone else was just in the single digits.
Friday night’s performance from LA looked like the Lakers from a few months ago when they lost their whole identity and determination without LeBron James on the court.
There was far too much reliance on Davis and few other players stepped up to help him out.
This is not the right time for the team to be slipping because they need to secure a number of wins over the next few weeks if they wish to make the play-in games.
They are currently the 11th team in the West, which means that every single game counts now.
Ham will have to repeatedly hammer home the points he made on Friday night if he wants his team to get back on track.
NEXT: Former NBA Player Makes His Opinion Clear About Anthony Davis
