Anthony Davis & LeBron James veto another Darvin Ham decision late 4th quarter vs Wizards

Despite their star players LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the LA Lakers were recently defeated by the Washington Wizards, who are currently one of the lowest-ranked teams in the league. As the Lakers strive to solidify their spot in the playoffs and avoid a play-in tournament, they faced a loss to the Wizards in a recent game that apparently had some intense moments towards the end.

Despite gaining an early advantage in the first quarter, the Lakers’ lead was reduced to just seven points by halftime. Although they started the second half with momentum, the Wizards ultimately outscored the Lakers by ten points in the fourth quarter, resulting in a 125-120 victory for the Wizards.

As the Lakers fought to prevent a late-game comeback, LeBron James and Anthony Davis took control of the situation. Despite their lead diminishing, James and Davis opted to re-enter the game themselves instead of letting Darvin Ham lead the team.

Davis addressed the situation in the locker room, speaking to members of the media after the game.

“[We] had a comfortable lead, both teams kind of pulled the starters and put the bench in. We give up 3 threes, turnover, they cut it to 5, 17 seconds, their ball. I don’t think Ham even asked. I got up, Bron got up. We’re going to get a stop…

“And if they foul, we make free throws… It’s a learning lesson, especially for our young guys, to just come in and stay ready.”

Examining LeBron James’ Decision to Veto Darvin Ham’s Coaching Scheme in February ‘Battle for LA’ Following Anthony Davis’ Comments

During the Battle For LA against the LA Clippers on February 28th, LeBron James shared a story on he and JJ Redick’s Mind The Game podcast that was similar to the situation described by Anthony Davis. In this instance, James expressed his dislike for Darvin Ham’s coaching strategies.

As Ham had previously mentioned, switching was incorporated into the defensive strategy for guarding Kawhi Leonard. As James elaborated, there were two issues with this approach on the defensive end.

Despite the Lakers’ attempts to switch other players onto him, Kawhi Leonard proved to be a challenging matchup due to his scoring abilities from all three levels. Additionally, LeBron James’ extensive knowledge of Clippers coach Tyronn Lue’s coaching style gave him an advantage in the game.

Due to the amount of time James spent playing under Lue in Cleveland, he believed he had a deep understanding of Lue’s coaching strategies. If the Lakers persisted with switching, Leonard would persist in forcing those switches until he found a favorable matchup.

Much like how Anthony Davis described after the recent game against the Wizards, LeBron took control of the situation in the Lakers-Clippers game. The only contrast between Anthony Davis and LeBron’s accounts was that the Lakers emerged victorious against the Clippers.

The team is now one game behind the Sacramento Kings in the Western Conference standings with only five games remaining after their recent loss to the Wizards.