Coach Darvin latest excuse for Lakers loss has fans scratching their heads

The Los Angeles Lakers suffered another loss, this time against one of the toughest teams in the West, the Phoenix Suns, with a 2-2 record between them in this campaign. With the new loss, the purple and gold head coach also returned to his excuses.

By losing to the Suns 123-113, LA dropped the team to 31-28 on the season, falling behind the Golden State Warriors but once again over them after they suffered a loss to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night.

Ham shared that big man Anthony Davis’ early foul trouble altered his plans for the rotation against Phoenix, making the fans scratch their heads at the excuse. NBA insider Jovan Buha of The Athletic wrote: "Darvin Ham says that Anthony Davis' early foul trouble altered the rotation and led to him playing Max Christie later than he had planned to."

Christie ended up playing just 5:10 of game time on Sunday, finishing the game with three points (1-for-2 shooting from beyond the arc) and one assist. It’s strange to see Christie play so little, as he had gotten over 10 minutes of playing time in each of the last eight games that he appeared in. The young Lakers guard only played more minutes than Skylar Mays and Dylan Windler among active Lakers players on Sunday.

Ham preferred to go with Spencer Dinwiddie over Christie

While Davis getting in foul trouble certainly wasn’t something that Ham planned on, it is curious that the Lakers coach struggled to find time for Christie when Davis ended up playing over 41 minutes on Sunday. Instead, Ham rolled with Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, and Spencer Dinwiddie as his primary guards in the rotation against the Suns. Dinwiddie struggled against Phoenix, shooting just 1-for-5 from the field and scoring three points in 23:26 of game time.