Darvin Ham seems to have had enough of Russell Westbrook’s attitude.
The Los Angeles Lakers hit a new low after they fell to 0-3 after Sunday’s disappointing loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Head coach Darvin Ham was asked about how he thinks point guard Russell Westbrook would react to being benched late in the game, his comments showed how much he does not care.
“We don’t have time for people to be in their feelings,” Ham told reporters.
Much of Portland’s comeback run happened when Westbrook was on the bench, but Ham brought him back into the game with under a minute left. With a one point lead, Westbrook took an ill-advised jumper early in the shot clock that missed and allowed the Blazers to get the ball back.
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Portland star point guard Damian Lillard would then hit a go-ahead three-pointer. Lakers star LeBron James answered with a game-tying dunk, but Blazers forward Jerami Grant hit a game-winning layup with three seconds left.
After the game, Westbrook said he was looking for a two-for-one opportunity when he took that jumper with 27.3 seconds remaining and about 18 seconds on the shot clock.
Ham backed his point guard to a certain extent, agreeing on the 2-for-1 decision but not on the shot selection.
“I just wish he would attack the rim,” Ham said. “Pat (Beverley) tried to set a little screen, Nurkic was in front of him coming back. In those moments, if you’re going to go 2-for-1, it has to be either you going downhill to attack the rim or you going downhill for a draw and a kick. I felt like he settled on that.
“You can make the debate to call timeout there or not. I’d rather not because, again, the 2-for-1 was at our advantage. But shot selection is something we have to work on, something we have to get better at as we move forward and understanding time and score and where you want to attack in those types of situations.”
