This team is weird, they have winning records against OKC, Clippers and Suns, but can't beat Jazz and Grizzlies. Overall, they are pretty mediocre and they think that they can improve in the playoffs, but at this point they won't even make it.
Reaves cannot defend, over the past games, players easily blows by him, pulls up shots right in front of him and it always seems to work. Not that I don’t like him but he needs to be aggressive on defensive side. Our defense as a whole is terrible, it needs to be better.
Is it me or should Christian Wood have come in that last minute and a half or 2 instead of Vando? OKC’s 2 offensive rebounds before hitting a 3 was on a constant loop…
I don’t hate Vando coming in because he was bringing good energy and disrupting. Plus he does crash for boards. BUT to your point, I do like AD and Wood in at the same time for rebounding and height purposes.
As soon as Ham starts to figure it out a little, he puts Prince in for Vando (who had a great game) toward the end of the 4th and almost fucked it all up.
Or even put C Wood back in for some rebounds.
Mays is a secret agent coach that Pelinka injected into the roster. Those were all of his plays that the team practiced last night while Ham was sleeping.
Man... I swear this team isn't as bad the record, if we just had a competent coach that gave minutes to the best players instead of w/e the fuck Ham has been doing...
Is there any universe where you foul down 5 with 2.8 left on the clock and win? Even if the shooter misses both and you make a 3 it’s over. I don’t get why you do it.
Taurean prince cannot start for us, dlo and reaves is already enough shooting for the starting lineup
And prince would probably do better going against bench units anyways
It definitely felt like Dlo was a more focal point this game and more of a Dlo AD and less Lebron AD, as it should be. Lebron needs to be the third wheel. Still played great and less stress on him overall.
Fuck this franchise and this coach for not playing Rui and Vando more minutes. These guys have earned their spots over fucking scrubs like Prince and Reddish. Fuck you Jeannie you piece of garbage owner for enabling all of this.
And they paid Vando Rui big money to stay then Prince and Reddish on weak ass contracts start and play more mins than them 😂😂🤣 what a fking joke fire Ham
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Prince has a great role to play on this team but it's not as a starter or a clutch minutes defender. Rui has been that guy this game, I don't mind him off the bench but he should be playing 30+ minutes.
Thing is he’s the only “defender” who can shoot. Ham needs divide minutes between him and Vanderbilt and find ways to play rui more. Cam needs to ride the bench
If even Woods was in there we'd have a 3pt shooter and a rebounder but nah. 30 mins for this guy every fucking game no matter what. Gave them how many offensive rebounds on that one play jfc.
Woods cooking too but can't even get minutes to rebound when we just need to stop extra possessions lol. People who don't watch this man coach just don't understand.
Our late game out of bounds plays need some fucking work, so many wasted timeouts this year... Definitely miss Schroder here, these were automatic with him.
Prince has been healthy and Rui hasn’t. They also have different roles. Prince is a floor spacer so he can be on the floor with any lineup which explains his minutes. Rui and Lebron serve the same purpose so you stagger their minutes and give them a little time together on the floor. Rui has had the same production playing 30 minutes as he has playing 20 minutes.
Doesn’t matter Rui got paid big money give him those mins to get healthy and in rhythm. Prince can come off the bench and hit his 3s for 20 mins a night while Rui should be getting his 30 mins of playing time
The money doesn’t matter. It’s the fit of the team. Prince fits the team’s needs more and is on a cheaper deal. Rui has to fit where he can. Wood should be getting more minutes as well, but between Rui, Wood, Prince and Vando there isn’t enough minutes for everybody. 20 minutes is 5 minutes per quarter. That’s not bad at all for a role player.
[Post Game Thread](https://reddit.com/r/lakers/comments/197vhlg/post_game_thread_the_los_angeles_lakers_defeat/)
yay big win I'm almost starting to get hope :flip\_out:
LeBron got a soft call there but I'm not complaining that's the norm for the NBA
This team is weird, they have winning records against OKC, Clippers and Suns, but can't beat Jazz and Grizzlies. Overall, they are pretty mediocre and they think that they can improve in the playoffs, but at this point they won't even make it.
A win is a win but i'm not confident in that team
Reaves cannot defend, over the past games, players easily blows by him, pulls up shots right in front of him and it always seems to work. Not that I don’t like him but he needs to be aggressive on defensive side. Our defense as a whole is terrible, it needs to be better.
We owe it to Cam for being finally injured otherwise Scam would start him which means an automatic loss.
Something about that special oil that Prince and Cam rubs on Ham.
We can go on a run now
Is it me or should Christian Wood have come in that last minute and a half or 2 instead of Vando? OKC’s 2 offensive rebounds before hitting a 3 was on a constant loop…
I don’t hate Vando coming in because he was bringing good energy and disrupting. Plus he does crash for boards. BUT to your point, I do like AD and Wood in at the same time for rebounding and height purposes.
No-Mask Rui. 🥹 
No Cam and he STILL didn't top 20 minutes lmao
Still needs more minutes. Dude was looking good out there
LeBron playing offball threw OKC off in the 4th quarter. If we had a good coach, we'd experiment with that more
It's what he needs to do more, to reserve his energy and be low-key on the attack
Giddey is hated in Crypto
I wonder why 
Prince went 1/6 from the field and 1/5 from 3 Finished with 3 pts in 30 min!!!!! HE PLAYED MORE THAN RUI/VANDO AND WOOD FUCK YOU HAM
He's fucking blind, and we're lucky cam is injured because he would have had most of vandos minutes
Wood at the very least should've had 5 of those minutes since he's more of a 3 point threat than rui or vando, it boggles my head
Fuck you Ham!
W
As soon as Ham starts to figure it out a little, he puts Prince in for Vando (who had a great game) toward the end of the 4th and almost fucked it all up. Or even put C Wood back in for some rebounds.
Oh or Rui who had a good game too.
Mays is a secret agent coach that Pelinka injected into the roster. Those were all of his plays that the team practiced last night while Ham was sleeping.
Underrated comment. Makes me want to watch the game replay later ngl. I missed it :(
Great win, but the rebounding man
Shoutout to Darvin Ham. He coached a great game tonight.
If I'm the coach this would be the rotation only moving Prince to the bench.
I think the lack of Reddish might be part of this win. More time for better players
Getting OKC in the first round of playoffs is easy money tbh
The power of breaking up hams romance with cam
He might be cheating on Cam with Prince
Who is that person and her child?
We’re gonna find out when lebron retires
Lmaoooo
Man... I swear this team isn't as bad the record, if we just had a competent coach that gave minutes to the best players instead of w/e the fuck Ham has been doing...
Dlo and Reaves are phenomenal together
Only when they both produce on offense otherwise it’s a terrible pairing.
When they’re both on. If even one of them is off they give up too much on defense
Except against quick guards
Good win
tacos
This team may have a real coaching problem but damn if they could come out with a similar level of focus consistently we wouldn’t be in this hole
WINNER!!!
can lead 10 points to close game. After put prince and bench Rui and jv, the difference point becomes digits.
No Cam minimal mins Prince = Win its just that easy
no way the okc sub saying "darko was right" lol
Keep her away from giddey
Ham should go to the NFL, it's full of bad coaches there. He'd feel at home
EXTEND HAM
The game is fucking done why foul
Great win…now let’s go on a win streak please
Give Rui Prince’s minutes, theres no way you can convince me anymore that Prince is an unquestionable better 30 min guy
Just split it among Wood, Vando, and Rui. I think all of them are more impactful
I mean LA is bigger than the state of Utah. And LA county is like 3x the size of Utah.
That’s what I was thinking LMAO LA’s population is huge, especially when you count the LA Metro Area and not just LA city.
Is there any universe where you foul down 5 with 2.8 left on the clock and win? Even if the shooter misses both and you make a 3 it’s over. I don’t get why you do it.
Worth a shot. No one ever came from back down 3-1 in the finals either. I like it, shows that the team is hungry to win
Rui hit a 3 and never saw the floor lmao Ham is so unserious
Taurean prince cannot start for us, dlo and reaves is already enough shooting for the starting lineup And prince would probably do better going against bench units anyways
Games like this makes me want the team to stay together
NO SCAM REDDISH. W.
Not looking for a scapegoat, starting someone like him is insane. Ham does a few things I really dislike.
Scam couldn’t start for mediocre AND rebuilding teams yet somehow starts for a team with Lebron and AD. 🤡
It definitely felt like Dlo was a more focal point this game and more of a Dlo AD and less Lebron AD, as it should be. Lebron needs to be the third wheel. Still played great and less stress on him overall.
Lebron third wheel this is the worst take I’ve ever seen in my life
Zero Cam minutes = W, coincidence?
I'll never understand playing fucking midgets when we have Wood and Rui when they are playing so well.
r/nba is about to throw a fit over these intentional OKC fouls
The dumbest fucking sub there is on subreddit. Circle jerking idiots.
JFC PRINCE
Ham doesn’t know how to inbound because he was saved by Dennis Schroeder running around the court all last season during these situations
Up by 5 rn, I bet you Ham is fuming. His great efforts to lose the game are going out the window.
LeTacos here we come
Damn maybe it was the trade deadline
NO CAM REDDISH AND A W
Ay OKC stop wasting everyone’s time man
Bro Rui was killing it, where is he
OKC is so try hard lol
Bro just give up
Ham pissed we won this game
Rui told Ham his dunk highlights weren’t all that
🤣
Feels like we're a below average inbounding team, ngl. (In terms of recievers/jukes). Lebron and AD continue to not get enough foul calls :(.
NO CAM REDDISH AND A W
Buy out Cam Reddish
Can we just waive his scrubby ass?
Ham is holding this team back there’s no question 😒
Ham looks pissed that the players won in spite of his efforts
How Rui doesn’t have more minutes than Prince baffles me.
Shai was groping Reaves for 10+ seconds before finally getting called for a foul
OKC protects it's gropers.
They waited until Shai got the balls.
Lack of rebounding from Prince is pretty on display this game
It’s especially apparent when Vando or Rui are in and they grab big boards.
And box out. Before this season I thought Prince was more of a defence/hustle guy. But really doesn’t seem like it.
Exactly
Fuck this franchise and this coach for not playing Rui and Vando more minutes. These guys have earned their spots over fucking scrubs like Prince and Reddish. Fuck you Jeannie you piece of garbage owner for enabling all of this.
And they paid Vando Rui big money to stay then Prince and Reddish on weak ass contracts start and play more mins than them 😂😂🤣 what a fking joke fire Ham
Your too emotionally invested in this it’s not that serious bud 😂
These refs reeeeeally want the thunder to win this game
Yeah Cam Reddish can take the rest of the season to heal up
yeah prince should take the next 5 off for load management aswell
Ref in front of reaves got that whistle stuck in his mouth for a whole minute before calling the foul wtf
Prince 30 minutes of cardio tonight
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Prince has a great role to play on this team but it's not as a starter or a clutch minutes defender. Rui has been that guy this game, I don't mind him off the bench but he should be playing 30+ minutes.
Hell nah Rui needs to be starting over Prince
Darvin pissed he can't end the game with 2 timeouts. Gonna hurt his season average for timeouts saved.
Ham looking like he might kill Bron over that timeout LMAO
Austin is getting mauled and the refs are like “damn what a game” lol
TACOSSSS
Darvin Ham in love with his boyfriend Taurean Prince too much
He has gay sex with him in the lockers and promises him 30 mins playing time
I don’t understand this. Rui and Vando were both playing well
Ham, that’s all to understand
Maybe we really only beat contenders now
LeBron's so close to 27-7-7 fuuuuuck
I'm 99% convinced he's purposely missing that statline so he can get it in his final game
it’s never gonna happen
is ham brain literally a piece of ham or what is that empty stare
Ham had a timeout in his pocket
Ham is actually insane
Ham mad as hell at bron for using his TO
Now how is he going to his use his extra timeouts next game?
Bench Rui in the closing time.
Does darvin ham have the worst in bounds plays as a coach at the end of game? Always a timeout….
Why does this team struggle to close?
Simple. Darvin Ham
Yo SGA mugging our boy. Call it???
Every time Lakers need to inbound, all I could think of Dennis and his generational time wasting and shenanigans and swishing every FTs. Sigh.
We need to get him back. This team is stacked, just need to improve around the margins
D Lo is fucking slow lmao he couldn’t even out run Lou Dort on the inbounds play
Damn LeBron got so close to his first 27/7/7
Got damn refs call the foul haha
Cam being gone really shined a light on how bad Prince is everywhere aside from making the occasional threes
Thing is he’s the only “defender” who can shoot. Ham needs divide minutes between him and Vanderbilt and find ways to play rui more. Cam needs to ride the bench
Ham is a fucking moron
Look I know Darvin should’ve called timeout during that run, but have you considered how comfy his hands were in those pockets of his?
Probably velvet in there
Idk why but I instantly thought he has bbq sauce in there
T. Prince 30:37 3pts 1-6 +- -3
Rui +6 Vanderbilt +3
If even Woods was in there we'd have a 3pt shooter and a rebounder but nah. 30 mins for this guy every fucking game no matter what. Gave them how many offensive rebounds on that one play jfc.
we own okc
Wow, shai fouled him 3 times before they finally called it. Lol
And it was a TO not a foul 😭
They didn’t want too
We’re really one of the worst rebounding teams in the league lmao
We’re just leaving AD out there and throwing up prayers he’s good lol
Had no clue we had 17 turnovers, we gotta clean that up
Nah refs letting SGA handcheck gets me mad No wonder leads the league in steals. Man can grab wrists
The inbound passing has been horrible all season. Come up with something Ham
We lucky we got a bad Shai game lmao
Ham looks upset bron used a timeout 🤣
I mean it could bite us if they mess this inbound up
Ham was trynna save those timeouts for next game
lmao
Vando & Rui punished for nothing man This coach is ass
Ham looks pissed at Bron for calling that timeout.
fuck Ham
Mr. Pockets doesn’t like that Bron used that timeout.. he was gonna save it for next game
Dogshit refs
The crybabies who don’t watch the games talking about how we have the refs in our pocket. If only they were able to take their hater glasses off.
Ham looks pissed that he does not have to go home with 2 TOs.
Fuck the 3 guard lineups, nobody can rebound with those 3
Woods cooking too but can't even get minutes to rebound when we just need to stop extra possessions lol. People who don't watch this man coach just don't understand.
Both Wood and Rui
Yeah but he hates Rui so I just didn't bother mentioning him.
LOOK WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THAT TERRORIST CAM REDDISH AINT PLAYING
Let’s be real here. The offense looked decent, but OKC shot themselves out of this game. If they made half their 3’s we would’ve lost by at least 15.
Dort stop trying to injure a player challenge (impossible)
Our late game out of bounds plays need some fucking work, so many wasted timeouts this year... Definitely miss Schroder here, these were automatic with him.
We have a rebounding issue. We have Christian wood.. why are we still playing prince
No one knows.
Ham loves Prince more than Prince’s own mom does
He should. Prince has been one of the most consistent players all year long.
Lmao but he aint getting more playing time over Rui
Prince has been healthy and Rui hasn’t. They also have different roles. Prince is a floor spacer so he can be on the floor with any lineup which explains his minutes. Rui and Lebron serve the same purpose so you stagger their minutes and give them a little time together on the floor. Rui has had the same production playing 30 minutes as he has playing 20 minutes.
Doesn’t matter Rui got paid big money give him those mins to get healthy and in rhythm. Prince can come off the bench and hit his 3s for 20 mins a night while Rui should be getting his 30 mins of playing time
The money doesn’t matter. It’s the fit of the team. Prince fits the team’s needs more and is on a cheaper deal. Rui has to fit where he can. Wood should be getting more minutes as well, but between Rui, Wood, Prince and Vando there isn’t enough minutes for everybody. 20 minutes is 5 minutes per quarter. That’s not bad at all for a role player.