Ham explains why he didn’t bench Russell in fourth quarter of Game 1

Darvin Ham explains why he didn’t bench D’Angelo Russell in fourth quarter of Game 1 https://t.co/56Y9U02HPl

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) April 22, 2024

“D’Lo is a huge reason why we’re in the first place,” Ham said. “I’m not going to bail out on my player just because he’s missing the shots he normally makes. Those same shots were going in against New Orleans and other teams he’s played and games he’s played in to help us get to this point. It wasn’t his night. Shooters are going to have nights like that.

“But I want him to remain aggressive. That was a good thing I saw, he remained aggressive. His energy remained great, he remained positive. We’ll go back and try to get better from the film and try to have a better performance in Game 2.”

For Saturday’s game, this was a decision that made sense for multiple reasons.