The Los Angeles Lakers have had a remarkable journey throughout the year to make an entrance into the playoffs. They successfully managed to enter the postseason and are playing a decent basketball game. It is an outstanding achievement looking at how this team began their season with a 2-10 in the league. But fast forward to now, they are playing Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semi-finals. It is all thanks to their two-star players and the new additions to the team during the trade deadline.
The Lakers also began the semi-finals in style, winning the first game at the chase center in front of the Warriors fans. A start that has already put Darvin Ham’s side at a great advantage in the seven-game series. For the upcoming games, the Warriors will have to travel to the Crypto Arena to play the next two games in the series. The story until now suggests a 1-1 in the first two games. But Coach Ham seems to be confident that their team will jump back into the game in the next fixture. The Warriors had the best of his team in game 2, winning the game with 100-127 points. Keep reading to know more about Ham’s ideology.
Head Coach Darvin Ham Sure Of Lakers’ Return
“I fully anticipate our team will respond the right way.” Darvin Ham expects the #Lakers to come out ready on Saturday’s Game 3 matchup. pic.twitter.com/P4MOMXrBjX
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) May 5, 2023
“I fully anticipate our team will respond the right way,” Coach Darvin Ham said in the post-game interview of Game 2. This was an appropriate response from Ham, as he knew his team had been doing the right things for a while now. One of his star players, LeBron James, played a better game than the other. James scored a decent 23 points in game 2 to give LA some base to stand. Meanwhile, Davis struggled on the offensive side, only giving his team 11 points. A poor performance according to his standards.
However, both Ham and LeBron James displayed an optimistic response of doing better in their home games. According to him, the Lakers will edge over the Warriors with their trademark defense. Although LeBron makes a fair point, there are other things also that the team will need to reconsider. With all the tall players, everyone expected LA to be a better side on rebounds. But the Warriors managed to win them on both ends of the court. This also signals how low effort the Lakers put in their last game against a contender-worthy team.
Curry Ran A Marathon, And Vanderbilt Did Too
In yesterday’s game, the two youngsters, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Dennis Schroder, were given the task of nullifying Stephen Curry. This turned out to be a task for a lifetime as Curry is one of the most seasoned players of the playoffs after LeBron. However, the two forwards did an incredible job of toning him down a notch.
“He’s a hell of a player,” Vanderbilt said of Curry. “He’s even more dangerous without the ball.” The 6 feet ‘9 made it very uncomfortable for the swift Curry to have any detrimental impact on the game. However, his experience led him to play as a facilitator leading him to set up for other players. This is where Klay Thompson rose to the occasion scoring a whopping 30 points on the night. But the Lakers now know that Curry could be controlled and kept under pressure.
