Darvin Ham says 'cowardice' cost Lakers in loss to Kings: “Comes down to just playing harder”

Darvin Ham stood almost in shock as the LA Lakers wilted under the Sacramento Kings’ barrage on Wednesday in Los Angeles. After conceding a 19-point first-quarter lead, the Kings overwhelmed the Lakers on both ends of the floor. Sacramento overturned a 37-18 deficit with a minute left in the first frame to a 72-57 halftime advantage.

The Lakers, who couldn’t seem to miss in the early going, struggled to score points as the game progressed. When the offense went south, the defense soon followed. They couldn’t stop De’Aaron Fox and it only got worse once Malik Monk and Davion Mitchell joined the scoring spree.

When asked in the postgame conference what happened to his team, Darvin Ham said (via Lakers Nation):

"Frustration makes cowards of us all. … You try to get something back, you start going out on your own, you get preoccupied with something you can't control like officiating. … A lot of times it comes down to just playing harder."

While a portion of the blame does fall on the players, Ham’s rotation was also called into question. Once he took out D’Angelo Russell for Spencer Dinwiddie, LA’s starting unit that built the huge lead never played again together until the start of the third quarter.

Anthony Davis’ two quick fouls may have contributed to Darvin Ham failing to use his starters for most of the game.

Behind LeBron James, Darvin Ham’s squad mounted several runs in the next three periods to try and rally to victory. De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and Malik Monk, however, kept the Lakers at bay with several key plays.

Sabonis didn’t score a lot but he finished with a monster line of 16 points, 20 rebounds, 12 assists and two steals. The Lithuanian caused Anthony Davis all sorts of trouble without putting up a ton of points.

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Darvin Ham explains what the Lakers could have done differently

Darvin Ham credited the Sacramento Kings for their tenacity and clutch play. He said that their opponents could have folded after a poor start but instead, the lackluster beginning only spurred the Kings on.

Still, the LA Lakers coach felt that his team could have done much better to prevent the amazing comeback:

“The sense of urgency, we just have to be able to maintain that in terms of possession by possession by possession, good, bad or indifferent. We’ve been talking about the next play mentality.”

The former NBA journeyman also added that the Lakers allowed the officiating to bother them. Anyway one sees it, it was a stunning collapse from a veteran team with two superstars. If LeBron James and his teammates produce more performances like this, LA can kiss its title aspirations goodbye.