Anthony Davis had some pretty pointed criticism following the Lakers’ brutal loss on Monday and an NBA insider has revealed what the Lakers brass thought of it.
AD ruffled some feathers when he told the media, “We have stretches where we just don’t know what we’re doing on both ends of the floor”.
Darvin Ham responded to Davis’ comments and seemingly downplayed the significance of ‘disagreeing’ with one of his star players.
Now, TNT’s Jared Greenberg has reported how the Lakers brass really felt about the comments AD made.
“I can tell you from speaking to people within the Lakers organization, that they were upset and disappointed, quite frankly, by AD’s comments; publicly going out there and putting his coach out there like that,” Greenberg said on NBA TV. “Particularly because the Lakers clearly had a good enough understanding of the gameplan Monday to take a 20-point lead.
“Part of that 20-point lead was AD going 11-for-12 from the field in the first half. And then in the crucial fourth quarter, AD went 0-for-1. He just got one fourth-quarter shot and did not score any points. So the Lakers feel like they have a good enough understanding. … Hopefully, they’ll get things right tonight.”
Another NBA insider, Brian Windhorst, was discussing Davis’ comments and said that the big man clearly feels like Ham needs to be held accountable.
“You guys are dancing around your point, which is that Anthony Davis blamed Darvin Ham for this loss,” Windhorst said on First Take. “That is exactly what he did. He did that very clearly with those comments.”
Windhorst continued, “It really irritates Lakers fans, some of the strategy decisions Darvin’s been under fire from people from L.A. for a lot of this year. It drove them crazy that he ended that game where they blew a 20-point lead in the second half with two timeouts in his pocket,” Windhorst explained. “Anytime you have a loss like that … someone’s gonna get the finger pointed at them, and Anthony Davis pointed it right at Darvin Ham. And that is basically … taking public what have been some clear private tensions.”
Davis and Ham will need to put their differences aside on Wednesday to try and get a maiden win for the Lakers against the Nuggets in Game 3 of their first-round series.