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Kentavious Caldwell-Pope didn’t mention Darvin Ham.
He most likely wasn’t even thinking about the former Lakers coach.
But comments KCP made on Wednesday’s episode of Draymond Green’s podcast unintentionally brought back some painful memories for L.A. sports fans who hold Ham responsible for the Lakers’ shortcomings last season.
Caldwell-Pope was speaking about his recent playoff run with the Denver Nuggets, the team with which he won an NBA title with in 2023. This year, however, after defeating the Lakers four games to one in the first round, the Nuggets got knocked out by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference semifinals.
The veteran guard was trying to make the point that the Nuggets had exerted so much energy in a tight race for the top seed in the conference — eventually finishing at No. 2 behind the Oklahoma City Thunder and ahead of Minnesota — that they had nothing left in the tank for the postseason.
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“You know how like towards the playoffs, guys get their rest?” said Caldwell-Pope, who signed with the Orlando Magic as a free agent this month. “Well, I feel like that’s where we spent most of our energy and time trying to get that first place, playing catch-up. And then we get to the playoffs, we have no gas. We felt like the Lakers should have beat us. Like we was down every game — at least 10 to like highest maybe 20-something?”
The Lakers led the Nuggets by at least 12 points in each of the first four games — including a 20-point third quarter lead in Game 2 — and held a nine-point lead in the third quarter of Game 5 but were only able to hang on to win Game 4. L.A. also led at halftime in every game.
Green emphatically agreed with Caldwell-Pope that the Lakers should have won that series.
So did many fans on X (formerly Twitter), almost all of whom went a step further to blame Ham for the Lakers’ inability to hold onto a significant lead in every game. One fan tweeted, “KCP basically said the Lakers didn’t beat them because of Darvin Ham.” Another wrote, “My hate for Darvin Ham just reignited in a…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kentavious-caldwell-pope-triggered-darvin-210144693.html
Author : LA Times
Publish date : 2024-07-24 21:01:44
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