The chant began in the final minutes of yet another lost season, guilt thundering from furious Laker fans in four sharp syllables.
“Dar-vin fire… Dar-vin fire… Dar-vin fire.”
O Lakers are on the brink of a second straight playoff disaster, and it’s becoming clear who can shoulder the responsibility.
In the wake of Loss in Thursday’s playoffs 112-105 to the splendidly coached Denver Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena, the smoldering wreckage apparently trapped a man.
Darvin Hamjust one season after being the toast of the town, it is in danger of becoming the toast.
See more information: Lakers disappear again in Game 3 loss to Denver, reaching the brink of elimination
His team failed to make the right adjustments and folded again in the third quarter on Thursday as they lost to Denver for an unreal 11th consecutive time overall and the third time in three games in this first-round playoff matchup.
No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, so the Lakers are essentially finished.
No Laker coach ever returned publicly questioning playerspublicly angry fans and a publicly embarrassing postseason, then Ham is also in danger of finishing.
It seems rashly foolish to fire a coach who took the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals in his only other season here. But that’s how the Buss ownership group has operated recently, showing great devotion to the stars and having little patience with coaches.
Just look at the most recent casualty list, which includes a coach who won an NBA title and another who ably facilitated NBA final seasons. Kobe Bryant.
Mike Brown just one year. Mike D’Antoni two years. Byron Scott two years. Luke Walton three years. Frank Vogel three years.
(Michael Malone of the defending champion Nuggets? Nine years. Just saying.)
It may not seem fair, but the seat under Ham is getting unsustainably hot after the Nuggets’ halftime adjustments on Thursday resulted in a 12-point third-quarter lead that stole what was left of what was once a lead. of 12 points from the Lakers and calmed down once. – noisy crowd.
Well, okay, the place didn’t go completely quiet.
Amid the Lakers’ four straight losses in that third quarter, the air was filled with boos.
See more information: Plaschke: Dagger! Lakers’ epic collapse against Nuggets could carry them into the summer
The Lakers have been outscored by 31 points in the three third quarters of this series. They have already lost three games in which they led by 12 points, 20 points and 12 points.
Thursday’s ugliness came to a head midway through the fourth quarter when Snoop Dogg made a big show of leaving the game early and was soon followed by scores of fans.
Meanwhile, at least one Laker was similarly scrutinized on the bench. D’Angelo Russell, who missed all seven shots on a surprisingly scoreless night, was seen sitting outside the huddle during a break while appearing to be eating.
These are not good looks. This is the kind of appearance that gets Lakers coaches fired, especially coaches who are already being widely criticized for poor rotations and unfocused strategy.
As much as Ham is personally liked by the organization – and by this columnist – the truth is that not only were the Lakers defeated by the Nuggets, but Ham was defeated by Malone.
“We’ve got to come here with competitive pride…that’s all we have to worry about, coming here on Saturday, having competitive pride,” Ham said Thursday.
That competitive pride in Game 4 will be challenged by competitive chaos. If they are swept, it could be Ham’s last stand, and the players certainly know that because all signs point to it.
Ham will be cited as the reason for this quote by LeBron Jameswho finished Thursday’s game with three turnovers and several other errors, while also looking tired in several long stretches.
“We come out of the third quarter without a lot of energy or we could lose control of the rotations and details that we had in the first half,” James said. “I think a lot of that contributed.”
See more information: Lakers are looking for the right adjustments and when to make them
Ham will also be cited for the reason behind this quote from James about one of the coach’s biggest perceived weaknesses, his lack of proper adjustments in the game.
“The regular season and the postseason are two different things, they’re different situations,” James said. “So what happens in the regular season, obviously you build those habits in the regular season, but the game totally changes when you’re in the postseason and you have to be able to make an adjustment.”
All this postseason noise actually started after Game 2, when the players didn’t react well to blowing a 20-point lead, with Davis openly upset with how the team is reacting to his coaching.
“We have stretches where we just don’t know what we’re doing at both ends of the track,” Davis said at the time.
Strong words, to be sure, and Ham responded the next day, saying he disagreed with Davis’ assessment.
“I mean, I just think sometimes when plays don’t go the way you think they should, frustration sets in a little bit,” Ham said. [from] we are not organized. I think I have incredibly talented coaches on my entire team. We pride ourselves, whether in training, a shootaround, a film session, a game or anything else, we pride ourselves on being highly efficient and organized. I just chalk it up to being frustrated. It’s an exciting game, the way it ended and everything. But I’ll agree to disagree on that.”
Delving deeper into the issues surrounding Ham, there is an old video circulating on social media. It’s a timeout strategy session from last season that finds him struggling to write something convincing on a greasy board. The video is old and out of context, but the perception is real, and this organization is all about perception.
It says here that the Lakers should relax.
It says here that they will never build a consistent championship contender if they keep changing coaches with every locker room complaint or petty brawl.
See more information: Plaschke: Lakers just aren’t good enough to beat the Denver Nuggets
It says here that players need to take the kind of responsibility publicly demanded by Austin Reaves on Thursday, when he said: “You can talk about adjustments, you can talk about this and that, but at the end of the day, we have to go and give the our best in basketball games. You can talk about everything, everything else outside of conversations about everything, but at the end of the day, you have to be a man and win.”
But no matter what they say, it’s also obvious that the Lakers are not in the same class as the Nuggets, they are as far away from a title as they have been in recent years and someone will have to pay.
Right or wrong, this bill could soon be addressed directly to Darvin Ham.
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.
