CHARLES BARKLEY CRITICAL OF DARVIN HAM'S POSTGAME ANTICS AFTER LAKERS LOSS

After the Los Angeles Lakers blew a 20-point lead to the Denver Nuggets on Monday night, head coach Darvin Ham had to face the media following the embarrassing loss.

The Lakers played hard, but the Nuggets, behind a massive triple-double from Nikola Jokic, clawed back as Los Angeles played sloppy down the stretch.

Following the game, Ham made some controversial comments that left Charles Barkley, along with NBA fans in general, critical of the head coach.

Ham voiced his complaints with the officiating in the game, a bold move seeing as how he let a 20 point lead slip away.

"Some tough calls, some tough non-calls, but you can't use any of that as an excuse," Ham said. "You gotta go out there and be ready to make plays whether the whistle gets blown or not. It's getting real tricky. Go through the season, games being officiated one way and then you get in the playoffs and then it's like, I guess it's up to the interpretation of the three individual guys that's doing the job out there."

Unlike in the 76ers vs. Knicks game, the refs were not much of a factor in the Lakers' game, which Barkley made very clear during Monday night's episode of Inside the NBA.

"He (Ham) went down that road, Chuck," Ernie Johnson said to Barkley about Ham's risky decision to call out the refs.

"I didn't like that road," Barkley replied. "The officials had nothing to do with that game....This had nothing to do with the officiating, man. Give the Nuggets credit.

2024-04-23T05:35:32Z dg43tfdfdgfd