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Los Angeles Lakers point guard Dennis Schroder and head coach Darvin Ham have hit back at Steve Kerr after the Golden State Warriors coach claimed they had been flopping in the wake of Game 4.
After the game, which the Lakers won to take their series lead to 3-1, Kerr said that he “thought they took some flops and were rewarded.”
Unsurprisingly, neither Schroder nor Ham agreed. When probed about the comments, Schroder said: “If they set illegal screens, sometimes you gotta show them that they are moving on the screen.”
Darvin Ham was on the surface a little more diplomatic, though there was certainly an edge to his comments too.
“I just control what I can control, which is coaching my team,” Ham said. “I don’t go down the rabbit hole of blaming officials.”
The back and forth provides an extra dynamic to this second round NBA Playoff series heading into the win-or-go-home Game 5 for the Warriors, particularly given that foul calls have been a point of contention throughout this high-profile series.
The Lakers led the league in free throw attempts over the course of the regular season, drawing 26.6 per game, while they also conceded the least. The Warriors, in contrast, were dead last in free throw attempts with just 20.2 per game, and gave up the sixth most in the league. That suggested there would be a significant discrepancy in trips to the line this series, and that’s certainly come to fruition, with the Lakers averaging 25.8 over the first four games and the Warriors sitting at a measly 12.8.
Game 5 will be played at the Chase Center, and the always-vocal Warriors home crowd will be at fever pitch with the series on the line. If this discrepancy continues, they’ll no doubt make their displeasure known, and it will be interesting to see whether the Warriors find themselves on the receiving end of a few more calls on Wednesday night.