The Los Angeles Lakers are currently in a dire situation after blowing a 20-point lead in Game 2 and falling short 101-99 thanks to a Jamal Murray buzzer-beater. For the Purple and Gold, nevertheless, there is yet hope. The Nuggets only had to defend their home floor because the first two games were played in Denver.
If the Lakers win all of their upcoming games, which are scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, the series will resume at game one. But even though they performed almost flawlessly in Game 2, the Los Angeles team still lost, so they will need to improve in Games 3 and 4.
Gilbert Arenas, a former All-Star guard for the Washington Wizards, believes that head coach Darvin Ham should be the one to make the most change because he is still coaching as though it is the regular season. Gil claims that despite the fact that clubs need their best players to be on the court as much as possible at this point in the season, Ham is still using a 10-man rotation.
LeBron James in action against the LA Clippers
Arenas said,
“He’s probably the only coach that’s trying to sub 5 players in the game,”
“This is the playoffs. TV timeout and everything is a little bit longer so you need to really focus on getting your stars in the game.”
Too many substitutes and players
In the second game, Ham spent fifteen minutes as Gabe Vincent and ten as Dinwiddie. Despite their combined 0–3 shooting and lack of scoring, they each had 1 rebound, 2 assists, and 3 steals. Then, in the final 22 minutes, Ham utilized his “favorite,” Taurean Prince, who scored 6 points.
When you include AD’s backup, Jaxon Hayes, the Lakers employed a nine-man lineup.
Arenas believes that since the Nuggets are in the playoffs, the rotation ought to have been reduced to six or seven players. In addition to overusing players, Ham also overused substitutions, which hurt his team’s efficiency. Even worse, Ham removed LeBron James from the game when the Nuggets were called for a foul. Arenas added,
“There’s no time to come out of the game. If they wanna sub their best player I get to come and eat? Let’s do that. But either Anthony Davis or LeBron or both gotta play 45+. This is the playoffs. You got three players who shouldn’t think about it unless they’re in foul trouble. Don’t even think about subbing them out of the game,”
