Lakers: Darvin Ham Tries To Explain Tiny All-Guard Christmas Day Lineup
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham may have overthought things late in an already out-of-hand Christmas Day loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the fourth quarter, when he decided to go all-in on small ball with one of the tiniest lineups in league history for some reason.
With 6:44 remaining in regulation and Los Angeles already trailing 109-95 to Dallas, Ham made his move, subbing in Lonnie Walker IV for LeBron James and installing one of the shortest five-man lineups ever. 6'5" Austin Reaves was the tallest Laker on the floor, surrounded by 6'4" Walker, 6'3" Russell Westbrook, 6'3" Dennis Schroder, and 6'1" starting "shooting guard" Patrick Beverley.
The Mavericks predictably outscored the Lakers 6-3 during the 94 uncomfortable seconds this lineup was on the floor, before Ham mercifully brought LeBron James back.
6'10" rim-rolling starting center Thomas Bryant, filling in for injured star big man Anthony Davis, did not see the floor for one second in the game's fourth quarter. Overall, L.A. was outscored 20-12 with Bryant lineups in the prior quarter, which could in part explain why Ham overreacted and removed Bryant entirely down the stretch. His backup, slighter power forward/center Wenyen Gabriel, did see some run in the game's subsequent final frame, as the matchup proceeded to finally, definitively slip away from Los Angeles in Dallas.
After the fact, Ham tried to explain his thinking in going with this ineffective undersized lineup, despite having two perfectly competent frontcourt players (plus, you know, 6'9" LeBron James) at his disposal.
"Just trying to get more possessions in the game," Ham said. "Any of those guys [Reaves, Walker, Westbrook, Schroder, Beverley] can get the defense rebound and push [the pace on the other end]. It's just trying to play faster at the end of the day."
Christian Wood singlehandedly secured more rebounds than the entire all-guard lineup during its limited minutes on the floor. Let's hope we never have to bear witness to this lineup ever again.
