Darvin Ham Details Message To Lakers After Extending Series Against Nuggets To Game 5

The Los Angeles Lakers were finally able to snap their losing streak to the Denver Nuggets, hanging on to beat them in Game 4 to avoid being swept for the second straight year.

This game followed a similar script as the first three as the Lakers jumped out to an early double-digit lead. This time though, they kept things up offensively in the third quarter to not allow Denver to make one of their classic comebacks, which head coach Darvin Ham feels was the difference.

“We knew they were gonna make a couple of runs, prideful championship teamDarvin Ham spoke with D’Angelo Russell before Lakers Game 4 win

One of the other main reasons the Lakers finally beat the Nuggets was that they got a strong performance from D’Angelo Russell. He went scoreless in Game 3 but bounced back in Game 4 with an efficient 21 points, hitting big shots specifically in the third quarter.

Ham appreciated that effort from Russell, who he talked to before the game to make sure he was aggressive.

“I loved it. I told him to ‘Go crazy; be confident. You’ve been doing this your whole life. Go crazy and be aggressive.’ He looked at me and his little nickname for me is Big Dog. He said ‘I got you, Big Dog. I got you.’ Shook my hand, gave me a hug and did what he did tonight. I’m so proud of that kid,” Ham said.

“Everything that we’ve been through as a team, on the court, off the court, injuries, everything, we deserved this tonight and we just got to bottle it up and really keep it pushing and really understand that it can be our time, why not us? So just push through to the next game, keep that focus, don’t look too far down the road, don’t worry about what just happened behind us. Just every new game is a new opportunity for us to be more competitive, more together and more selfless.”