The Lakers’ new coach put his team into the winning column Sunday.
On Sunday, new Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham secured his first-ever win as a head coach with a successful 121-110 effort against the visiting Denver Nuggets. With the victory, L.A. moved to a lackluster 1-5 record on the year, but there’s plenty of reason to expect the team to somewhat right the ship in the weeks to come.
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Ham’s Lakers players commemorated the victory with an enthusiastic postgame shower for their coach:
Ham spoke with reporters postgame to discuss the victory, and what it means to him.
Here are Ham’s thoughts on how his team came together to secure this triumph:
“I just think guys just got tired of going through the same motions for the last four games, five games, whatever, where we’d be highly competitive and [in] some kind of way fumble the ball, end up on the wrong side of the game, get an L. So I just saw a different type of focus, guys really just [digging] in, [coming] together… Tonight, we needed to prove something to ourselves. Not to the world. Not to the media. We had to prove it to ourselves — and I felt great about how we responded throughout the game.”
Ham also discussed the team’s solid three-point shooting, and how much he thinks the team will be able to replicate its 13-for-30 (43.3%) long-range shooting performance in coming games:
“Well I just think the ball had a little pop to it. Guys were penetrating, kicking, finding open shooters, and guys didn’t hesitate. Made quick decisions, whether it was a secondary drive, or another swing pass, or, again, just being ready to shoot on [a] catch… I’ve been saying this since day one: ‘Our offense is going to catch up to our defense.'”
Finally, he reflected on the feeling of nabbing his first NBA win as a head coach:
“It’s great. Having started here as a coach [he was an assistant from 2011-2013], to come from where I come from, and to be sitting on that sideline… this is a phenomenal building, our fans were awesome tonight. They’re always awesome, Laker Nation is strong. So I just really wanted to give them something to be loud and proud about… It’s a beautiful thing to be a part of, and I’m just thankful I was chosen [to be the team’s head coach this season].”
