Getty Darvin Ham of the Los Angeles Lakers. Ham discussed the Golden State Warriors' lack of rim protection, following their March 5 matchup.
Stephen Curry’s return to the Golden State Warriors lineup was spoiled by the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. The Lakers defended their home court and took care of the Warriors, winning 113-108. Golden State’s loss to L.A. snapped the five-game winning-streak that they rode into the March 5 matchup.
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham was proud of his squad’s effort against the Dubs. He had some tremendous praise for his opponents when chatting with the press postgame.
“This is a team that can also beat you up on the offensive glass, get those second or third opportunities and just make those threes,” Ham told the media. “They came out with a barrage man, 18 threes, that’s who they are though. They’re the world champs for a reason, my hat’s off to them. They have a hell of a ballclub over there. But, I’m truly proud of our guys, just coming out and staying locked in for the duration of the game.”
Ham later discussed the main weakness in Golden State’s defense and how he told his players to attack them.
“Golden State, they’re a very capable defensive squad. They’re always at the top year in and year out. They force you into different compromising situations with their lateral quickness and their ability to help off and help one another switch off the ball and switch on the ball,” Ham Praised. “But, they’re not so vertical, they’re not really a vertical defensive team. By that I mean shot blocking and I just told them don’t settle.”
Anthony Davis Sounds Off on Lakers Win Over Warriors
The Warriors had no answer for Lakers star Anthony Davis on Sunday. Davis poured in a game-high 39 points, while pulling down 8 rebounds and rejecting 2 shots.
He later sat down with reporters and discussed what it takes to beat an elite team like Golden State.
“We know this is an elite third-quarter-team, defending champions,” Davis told reporters. “They’re going to make a run, they’re going to make plays, make shots. Between Steph (Curry), Klay (Thompson), and Jordan Poole they’re elite shooters. I think we locked in defensively, they got away a couple times, but we continued to compete, even when they made their runs. We made a run of our own and closed the game out.”
Stephen Curry & Klay Thompson Remain Confident in Warriors
Despite the tough loss to the Lakers, both Curry and Thompson backed their squad. The star pairing had nothing but reassuring thoughts to share when discussing their hopes for the season.
Curry touched on the amount of injuries Golden State has had to battle through all year and called the Dubs a “tough matchup for anybody.”
“It’s a different challenge because I was out for four weeks before, four weeks this last time. Andre (Iguodala) has been chomping at the bit to get out there and play,” Curry said via NBC Sports Bay Area. “The way we’ve been shorthanded for a long time, these guys have been stepping up and playing at an extremely high level to give us even a little bit of life to be where we are in the standings and all of that. You know, there’s just a lot that we’re trying to deal with and still stay optimistic about where we’re headed. Until we get beat we feel like we’re a tough matchup for anybody. That’s the confidence that we have to have down the stretch and heading into the postseason.”
Steph believes the Dubs are still “a tough matchup for anybody” despite the their ups and downs this year
Thompson’s message was similar. He highlighted the final stretch of the season as an important one for the Warriors, explaining that they are still in control of their destiny.
“Our confidence is very high. I think I’ve stated this before, I’m never going to doubt this group or this franchise,” he told reporters via NBC Sports Bay Area. “We still have a lot of basketball left and we can put ourselves in a great position to finish the year the way we want to.”
Klay remains confident in both the Warriors and his own game 💪