The Lakers ended a three-game losing streak on Friday thanks to Darvin Ham’s decision to alter his starting lineup, according to Da Wonike of The Los Angeles Times. Woike revealed that Ham decided to replace Austin Reaves with Cam Reddish in order to improve the situation for both players. LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and D’Angelo Russell are able to handle most of the offense since Reddish doesn’t require the ball as much. With the second unit, Reaves has more creative freedom, which he demonstrated on Friday by making all four of his shots in the second half and handing out five assists in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t think, in my mind, it’s a demotion. Because in my mind, I believe in what I do. And I believe that I will finish games and play the right way,” Reaves said. “But I think if I came out and was playing fine or shooting the ball fine, I don’t think any of this would’ve happened.”
A string of dreadful early-game performances led to Ham’s move. Before Friday, L.A. had been outscored by 74 points throughout the first quarters so far this season. Ham said the idea for a change came to him following Wednesday’s blowout loss in Houston, and he told Reaves the next day, promising a plan similar to what Manu Ginobili used to do in San Antonio.
“He said all the right things. And I totally believe him. But he’s a prideful dude,” Ham said. “He’s been our starting two guard. It’s an adjustment. But I told him, one, it’s going to balance us out. And when you come in, you’re going to have your own crew. The ball’s going to be in your hands and you’re not going to have to take turns with Bron, D-Lo, and AD. Number two, your minutes are not going to go down. … And number three, you’re going to finish the games for us. You’ll be in at the end.”
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Ham didn’t say how long the new starting lineup will last but noted that he’ll have more rotation decisions whenever Jarred Vanderbilt and Gabe Vincent return from injuries, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic. In Buha’s view, the team needs to stagger the minutes for Reaves and Russell, who are similar players and weren’t effective together in the starting five.
James is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against Portland after suffering a left calf contusion late in Friday’s contest, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. The injury occurred when his shin collided with Kevin Durant‘s knee on a drive to the basket. “It never loosened up,” James told reporters after the game. “It was pretty much locked up right then and there. So I tried to keep my composure, make sure I was OK, try to keep it stretched out and as loose as possible, and play the game and be effective. Pretty sore right now. Obviously, because the adrenaline is calming down and iced it, now it’s pretty sore.”
Davis said he felt good in his return to the court Friday after sitting out Wednesday’s game with left hip spasms (Twitter link from Spectrum Sports Net). “It took some time to kind of get into the game just with the shots and stuff, kind of just trying not to aggravate it,” Davis said. “But as the game kind of got going, I just stopped thinking about it and started playing. I felt it a couple of times throughout the course of the game, but for the most part, it felt good.”
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