“Not going to be a cakewalk”: Darvin Ham isn’t overlooking Suns despite injuries to Devin Booker and Bradley Beal

Darvin Ham and the LA Lakers are set to take on a shorthanded Phoenix Suns team on Thursday. The Suns will be without stars Devin Booker (foot) and Bradley Beal (back). However, Ham and the Lakers still aren’t overlooking Phoenix.

During an interview ahead of Thursday’s game, Ham spoke about how despite their injuries, the Kevin Durant-led Suns are still a very talented team. So, the Lakers still need to play with maximum effort to ensure they get a win:

“They’re still pros, they still have very capable players over there,” Ham said.

“We talk about, obviously, KD, Eric Gordon, Grayson Allen, who I had the pleasure of coaching, Jusuf Nurkic. I mean, they have a lot of firepower still over there. So, this is not going to be a cakewalk by any means. We have to go out and make sure we take care of our business, and that starts with bringing energy and effort.”

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The Lakers (0-1) will be looking to bounce back following their season-opening loss to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Suns (1-0) will be looking to win their second straight game following their season-opening victory over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.

Darvin Ham says Lakers need to focus on bettering themselves

LA Lakers coach Darvin Ham

Later in his interview, Darvin Ham was asked about the dangers of playing shorthanded opponents.

Ham spoke about how the Lakers need to ensure that they don’t let their guard down. He added that the team should instead focus on bettering themselves, as they still have a lot of room for improvement early in the season:

“You know, just the tendency to exhale before the tipoff even happens,” Ham said.

“So, the way we try to negate that is by focusing on ourselves, being at the second game of the season. We’re in the process of trying to establish a mentality and establish our defensive identity, and so, going into the game, it has to be about maximum effort and maximum energy on both sides of the ball. It’s as simple as that.”

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The Lakers got off to a very slow start last season before turning things around midseason and finishing seventh in the Western Conference (43-39). So, if the team wants to secure playoff homecourt advantage this season, they will have to take advantage of games against shorthanded opponents.