SAN FRANCISCO — Was that some shade from Darvin Ham?
During an in-game interview with TNT after the first quarter of Wednesday’s Warriors-Lakers Game 5 matchup, Ham inserted a small dig at Kerr’s assertion that his team flops for fouls.
“We don’t teach flopping,” Ham told Chris Haynes. “We teach our players to play downhill and attack the paint and be forceful.”
For reference, here’s what Kerr told reporters after the Lakers held a 37-17 advantage in free throws in Game 4.
“The Lakers -- they're a team that plays with a lot of gamesmanship," Kerr said. "They understand how to generate some calls. I thought they took some flops and were rewarded."
You could argue that Dennis Schroder and Austin Reaves still had some flop-like displays on Wednesday night, but it wasn’t such a big storyline in Game 5. In the end, the Lakers and Warriors both attempted 15 free throws. In the Warriors’ Game 3 victory, the free throw margin was close (Lakers held a slim 17-16 advantage), but Los Angeles has held an 86-35 lead in free throw attempts in its three combined wins. The Lakers led the league with 26.6 free throw attempts per game in the regular season.
After Wednesday's loss, LeBron James answered a question about Kerr's "gamesmanship" with the flopping comments.
"I just know that our coaching staff and us players, we don't work on flopping," LeBron said. "That's not even a part of our game. Our game is to attack, attack the paint. We don't mind physical contact. We actually like the contact. We don't shy away from it.
"We're just not a team that goes out there looking for flopping opportunities. That's just not us. It's actually never been any team that I've played on in my 20 years where we've been a flopping team. It is what it is. They have their right to say what they want to say, but the game is always won between the four lines, and we've got to be better on Friday for sure."
All things considered, it hasn’t been that thorny of a series with a lot of extracurriculars between the two franchises. Draymond did some chirping with Anthony Davis throughout the game, but nothing out of the ordinary. Even the last series between the Kings and Warriors seemed like it had a higher intensity and more drama. Ditto for the NBA Finals last year with the Boston Celtics, or even the second-round Memphis Grizzlies series from 2022.
“I've seen it way worse,” Curry said of the chippiness. “But the more you play a team, the more stuff comes out. And the power of this microphone and the gamesmanship back and forth. Like it's all a part of it."
