LOS ANGELES – Three starters are already missing in james lebron, Anthony Davis and lonnie walker enter the game and see a fourth player, Troy Brown Jr.premature discharge due to a left quadrilateral strain, Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham felt the need to protect Denis Schroder of himself after the point guard rolled his right ankle midway through the fourth quarter on Wednesday.
“He walked into the group and I was like, ‘Man, if I see you limping, I’ll take you out,'” Ham said, describing the Lakers timeout with 5:41 remaining in the fourth quarter while following the miami heat by three points. “He said, ‘No. Let me in the game. It’ll be fine, Coach. I’m well.
I said, ‘Well, be wise.’ And then he said, “I’m not going to be good, I’m going to be awesome.” Those are his exact words to me.
Schroder stayed in the game, working on the pain caused by stepping on it Bam Adebayooff the foot and approached the free throw line to immediately drain two foul shots, cutting the Lakers’ deficit to one point. One possession later, he hit a 3 from the corner to put LA ahead by two.
The Lakers never hung around again, winning 112-109. Schroder led the team with a season-high 32 points along with four rebounds and four steals.
“I just try to be there for my teammates,” Schroder said. I felt pretty good after [turning the ankle]. Of course, it was painful and it hurt. But I know my limits.
Ham, who was an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks When Schroder entered the league as a rookie in 2013, he credited the veteran guard with gutting him.
“A lot of times when your adrenaline is going up like that, you don’t feel it,” Ham said. “But I’m sure later tonight or tomorrow morning he’s going to feel that way. Kid is just a fireball of a competitor. And he showed that tonight.”
The win took LA to 4-1 in their last five games and 5-5 on aggregate since Davis came off the line with a broken bone spur and a stress reaction in his right foot.
Schroder was one of many Lakers to have strong performances, with Thomas Bryant (21 points on 9 shots in 11, 9 rebounds), Russell Westbrook (21 points, 9 assists, 8 rebounds, 3 steals), austin reeves (11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists) and Wenyen Gabriel (10 points on a 4-for-6 shot) also contributing to this.
“I just think different guys are settling into their roles, getting more comfortable with more reps, more minutes,” Ham said. “When we get our big dogs back, whether it’s Bron, AD, the two back – Lonnie too – it makes us even stronger, much deeper, because now the guys have confidence. They have the ultimate confidence because ‘they got the reps.’
LA is now a game behind Utah Jazz for the 10th seed in the Western Conference, which could put the Lakers back in the playoffs thanks to the last play-off spot.
While not the basketball mark equal to the 17 championships the franchise is known for, the Davis-free streak showed the Lakers had a relatively successful offseason when it came to signing decisions, Schroder, Bryant and Brown all finding consistent success despite only being tied to minimum contracts.
Schroder, who is back with the Lakers for his second stint with the team, said Ham’s presence weighs heavily on his choice to return.
We’ve been talking for like, I don’t know, three to four years, [saying that] when he becomes head coach, I want to be his PG,” Schroder said. “He trusts me. I remember summer league my sophomore year; he was the head coach there, and he just let me be me.
And right now he keeps telling me to be aggressive even when Bron and AD are around [and] Russ: ‘Be aggressive and do your s—.’ That’s what he always says. So, I will continue to be aggressive, continue to find my way. And I have to shout to him that whatever he said before I came here, he respected it. So I love him.”
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