This was most likely a late-game coaching error by Ham. On Sunday, Russell Westbrook had a strong performance for the Lakers. His final stat line of 20 points, 14 rebounds, and 13 assists gave him his fourth career triple-double off the bench, which is a record. He performs admirably for the Lakers team. He accomplishes good things, but he’ll never mesh well with LeBron James.
Sadly, those positive things rarely occur under pressure because Westbrook is an impulsive wild-card player who can never be relied upon to control his arrogant confidence and move out of the way of himself and the Lakers.
In the game’s final play on Sunday, with the Lakers behind by one, Westbrook chose to face Joel Embiid one-on-one rather than pass the ball to James. It would be an understatement to say that the possession wasn’t successful. It was a catastrophe.
This is an indescribably bad possession. pic.twitter.com/isDj3P77PP
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) January 16, 2023
Let’s start by praising Westbrook. On the other end, he guarded Embiid, resisting Embiid’s attempts to push him aside and force a fadeaway from the foul line, which Embiid failed to make. The rebound fell to Westbrook. He had fulfilled his duties. James should have been the rightful owner of the last item.
Although LeBron was on the other side of the court as time was running out, he could have been more aggressive in grabbing the ball from Westbrook. Once he realized Westbrook would attack, he decided to avoid being seen. At this point, Darvin Ham ought to have called a timeout to stop the game and prevent Westbrook from defeating himself. Ham claimed later that he never thought about using a timeout because he enjoyed watching Westbrook and Embiid play.
“I’ll take that scenario every day of the week and twice on Sundays,” Ham said.
Without a doubt. That is a coach attempting to support one of his players while possibly defending himself. This possession was a disaster; you could watch it happen in slow motion. Ham may have loved the matchup at first, but after Westbrook dropped the ball, there was no chance of it working. Ham could have devised a strategy to get LeBron the ball and give the Lakers a decent shot at the basket if he had called timeout at that precise moment when there were still around seven seconds left on the clock.
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Coaches should not adore “matchups” as much as they do. Although much evidence supports this, there should also be an instinct or gut sense at work. Anyone who has seen Russ take decisive action in the circumstances like this understood what would happen. It was deteriorating predictably. Ham had a chance to halt it. He refused.
“I couldn’t get my hand up to shoot because [Embiid] was grabbing it.” Westbrook on the final play of the game and setting the record for triple-doubles off the bench. pic.twitter.com/ZiYKKJej4U
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) January 16, 2023
Westbrook might very well have a point about the foul.
Joel Embiid grabbing Russell Westbrook's wrist:pic.twitter.com/eGN7eCWCpG https://t.co/657IXBGEbR
— 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧' 𝐍𝐁𝐀 (@_Talkin_NBA) January 16, 2023
A closer look.
Embiid fully grabbed Russell Westbrook’s wrist on the final play. pic.twitter.com/BnPJJp8WkW
— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) January 16, 2023
Embiid appears to have fouled Westbrook during the play. After the game, Westbrook added that he knew this game wasn’t won by a single possession, not even the final one.
We’ll see when the Last Two Minute Report comes out on Monday. Fans of the Lakers have been tuning in frequently lately for that. However, in my opinion, a foul call would have justified the original poor choice. Still straightforward: Westbrook shouldn’t have been permitted possession of that ball.
When you catch the defense in transition rather than giving them a chance to set, it’s frequently a more intelligent move not to call timeout. You would create the play regardless if the player already had the ball in their possession. But in this situation, it wasn’t the case. The Sixers’ top player wasn’t in control of the ball despite having all five players back. Ham believes that Westbrook had an advantageous matchup on paper, but when it comes to scoring in a crucial possession, LeBron James is the player you choose “every day of the week and twice on Sundays” over Russell Westbrook.
For the second time in the past three days, Ham might have blown a late-game opportunity. With the Lakers up by three on Friday, he chose to play Luka Doncic one-on-one rather than blitzing or double him. The Lakers ultimately lost in double OT after Doncic’s game-tying step-back 3-pointer, which was almost entirely predictable.
“I’m kicking myself in the butt,” Ham said afterward. “I need to coach a little better in that instance. We should’ve blitzed [Luka]. Or at least forced him inside the 3-point line.”
Ham’s failure to use a double team to force the ball out of Doncic’s hands wasn’t his largest or first error in that circumstance. The Lakers ought to have fouled right away. Some coaches don’t believe in math because they allow opponents to try game-tying 3-pointers in the closing seconds rather than foul. Regarding handling up-three situations toward the conclusion of games, we say that coaches fall into two categories: evil and those who don’t. A euphemism, that. The intelligent group and the unintelligent group should be involved.
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In any case, Ham had a chance to give the Lakers at least a shot to win on Sunday by placing them in that position. LeBron was in that position with the ball in his hands. None of Westbrook’s. That does not imply that LeBron would have scored the winning basket or found a teammate to do so. Nobody can foresee the future. You merely use the wise odds. There ought to have been a timeout. Not at all. The Lakers also dropped. That’s actually how easy it is.
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