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Darvin Ham Defends Decision To Not Call Time Out And Let Russell Westbrook Iso Against Joel Embiid In Final Possession

The Los Angeles Lakers had to suffer yet another close loss last night. This time, they dropped a 113-112 decision to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Especially the Lakers’ final possession was highly controversial, as Russell Westbrook went one-on-one in iso against Joel Embiid, which eventually cost the Lakers the game.

CHAOTIC ENDING IN LA

SIXERS WIN pic.twitter.com/BPjYzFLyOm

— NBA (@NBA) January 16, 2023

Westbrook wasn’t able to get a shot up and explained after the game, that he was fouled by Embiid, who held his arm down on the possession.

“I couldn’t get my hand up to shoot because he was grabbing it,”

Russell Westbrook explained in the postgame locker room that he was attempting to shoot the game-winning shot and had his arm pulled down by Joel Embiid – a foul that was not called, he thinks. “I couldn’t get my hand up to shoot because he was grabbing it,” Westbrook said.

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) January 16, 2023

He’s 100% right. Another blown game by the refs. pic.twitter.com/31E5DIqsy0

— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) January 16, 2023

Even though a foul call could have been legitimate, fans nonetheless were angry with Westbrook for not passing the ball to LeBron, which also is understandable even given the mismatch, due to the way James had performed throughout the game.

Fans were also mad at head coach Darvin Ham for not calling a timeout before the possession in question, even though, the Lakers had two time outs remaining. Ham however defended his decision by saying he would take the mismatch ‘every day of the week, and twice on Sundays’.

“I’ll take that scenario every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”

Darvin Ham said “no, not really” when asked if he considered calling a timeout on the final play, saying he liked Russ vs. Embiid 1-on-1.

“I’ll take that scenario every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”

Ham said Westbrook just needed to finish the play.

— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvoNBA) January 16, 2023