Darvin Ham finds Steve Kerr’s flopping comments ‘lame as hell’

Lakers coach Darvin Ham is a two-time NBA champion. He says he has never been gifted anything in his life or career.

When Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr publicly accused the Lakers players of flopping during the teams’ Western Conference semifinals series this spring, Ham took it personally.

During an appearance in the#thisleague UNCUTOn the podcast earlier this week, Ham likened Kerr’s words to “playing chess, playing poker, whatever you want to call it, guys trying to give themselves every chance they can to come out of a situation in any way they can.” ”

When told that Kerr was following the lead of the former Chicago Bulls and Lakers coach Phil JacksonHam, who often used the media to plant an idea in officers, replied: “That’s lame as hell.”

A Warriors spokesman told the Times that Kerr had no comment on Ham’s comments. The Lakers did not immediately respond to further questions for Ham.

During the first four games of the Lakers-Warriors series, LA attempted 103 free throws while Golden State were awarded just 48 such shots. Speaking to reporters on May 9 following the Warriors’ Game 4 loss: said Kerr of the Lakers“I thought they did a couple of flops and got rewarded.”

He doubled the next day, tell media representatives he made a “personal request to the NBA.”

“I think we can do better to eliminate the failure,” he said. “In the meantime, I give the Lakers credit for the plays they were able to sell.”

A day later, in Game 5, the Lakers and Warriors each attempted 15 free throws.

“We play a physical type of basketball. “We don’t teach flops, we don’t teach headsnaps,” Ham said that day. “See Bron, he’s got a thousand scratches on his arms, same goes for AD, same goes for Austin Reaves, same goes for Lonnie Walker. It’s unfortunate it’s coming to this but we haven’t made it all year and we’re quite sure we won’t start now but will be looking for a third party to step in and help us.”

Two nights later, the Lakers secured the series win. However, more than two months after the fact, Ham is still visibly upset by Kerr’s comments.

“When I hear different sounds and see the game being played within the game in the media and so on, I’m not thrilled with it. I want nothing to do with it,” Ham said on the podcast. “I’m sorry, excuse my language, but nothing has been easy for me, neither in terms of crossing the T-points and in terms of puncturing the I-points, nor in the context of my career, whether I’m a player or a coach was. …

“I’ll be damned if I let anyone else try to manipulate the way we approach our game, the competitiveness that we bring, like we’re trying to disguise and dupe someone . No, we’re coming out, we’re playing smash mouth basketball. This is how we teach it, this is how we preach it, and this is how we will practice it when the lights come on.”