Darvin Ham Calls Out Lakers; Fans Rip HC as Davis, LA Lose to Wolves Without LeBron
Darvin Ham wasn't happy after the Los Angeles Lakers' 110-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.
The first-year head coach told reporters the Timberwolves had the feel of a team "fighting for their lives as well and trying to get to the postseason," but the Lakers "looked like we were playing in mud."
This was the Lakers' third consecutive game without LeBron James since he suffered a foot injury. They have lost two of those three games and are 6-11 overall in 17 games without the four-time NBA MVP this season.
Even though Ham wanted to call out his players for what he thought was a lack of effort in the loss, Lakers fans aired some of their grievances with the head coach on Twitter:
Anthony Davis tried to carry the Lakers to victory. He finished with 38 points on 12-of-22 shooting, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks. The four other starters in the lineup combined to score 37 points.
Minnesota's bench went off against the Lakers with 38 points, including 15 from Naz Reid. The 23-year-old also had eight rebounds in 21 minutes.
Rudy Gobert, who was primarily matched up against Davis, had a fantastic performance with 22 points and 14 rebounds (five offensive). Anthony Edwards scored 19 points and went 5-of-8 from three-point range.
The win was Minnesota's second straight and got the team back over .500 at 33-32. Head coach Chris Finch's squad is back up to seventh in the Western Conference standings, just .008 percentage points behind the Dallas Mavericks for the No. 6 seed.
The Timberwolves will wrap up their four-game road trip against the Sacramento Kings on Saturday at 10 p.m. ET.
The Lakers (30-34) are one game behind the New Orleans Pelicans for the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference. They are off on Saturday before hosting the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
