The Los Angeles Lakers lost their momentum from a two-game win streak on Wednesday night, as they got tripped up by the Sacramento Kings in a 120-1076 road loss to their Pacific division rivals. After the game, Los Angeles head coach Darvin Ham revealed what he told LeBron James and the rest of the Lakers about the loss and the advice he gave them (h/t Lakers Nation).
Darvin Ham says on @SpectrumSN that he told his team postgame that they can’t “skip details” and need to have a “next play mentality.”
“You have to recalibrate and try to play the right way and do it as a unit, not individually try to get yourself going.”
Darvin Ham gives Lakers advice after loss to the Kings
The Lakers were not in their top element which they needed in order to bring down a team like the Kings. Although Austin Reaves had 28 points to lead the Purple & Gold, the Lakers’ top two players, Anthony Davis and LeBron James had subpar performances. Davis had 22 points on 18 attempts from the field, while the four-time league Most Valuable Player mustered a total of 18 points on just 6-for-16 shooting from the floor.
Making it worse for the Lakers was their failure to contain Sacramento’s big guns. Domantas Sabonis went off for a triple-double of 17 points, 19 rebounds, and 10 assists, while Harrison Barnes woke up on the right side of the bed and dropped 23 points on the strength of an impressive 7-for-11 shooting from behind the arc.
Based on what Ham said, he was not satisfied with how his players approached the game. He felt the Lakers could have done better involving each other on offense. For what it’s worth, the Lakers had 38 field goals made on 25 assists, while the Kings produced 46 field goals and dished out 30 assists.
The Lakers spent the majority of the second half trying to catch up on the Kings. That led to some poor decisions, with Los Angeles constantly looking for quick fixes on offense on the floor instead of developing rhythm by moving the ball around.
With the loss to Sacramento, the Lakers dropped to 36-31, four games outside of the top six in the Western Conference standings.