Darvin Ham accepted responsibility for the unexpected Lakers loss to the Pacers on Monday after stealing victory from his grasp.

On Monday, an Andrew Nembhard 3-pointer gave the Pacers an unlikely victory over the Lakers at the buzzer, making it one of the funniest and most frustrating Lakers games in recent memory. It happened despite the Lakers controlling the game almost entirely and having a 17-point lead heading into the final minutes before losing the game.

For the Lakers to lose, a lot of things went wrong. Following a 101-84 lead, the offence scored just 14 more points while the defence allowed 32 points and six 3-pointers.

Following the game, Darvin Ham accepted responsibility for the mistakes that were made, particularly on offense, that resulted in the puzzling defeat.

According to Ham, via Spectrum, “I think we’re not taking advantage in terms of continuing to go downhill, play with force, and continue to move the ball. “It’s just one of those situations where, when you build a lead like that, you can keep it thanks to the free throw line. We could have played faster, with greater aggression, organisation, and ball movement if we had been much more aggressive. That is my fault. That is my fault. I’ll be accountable for that. I need to do a better job of organising us offensively during those stretches.

The figures from the last 9:26 of the game supported a number of Ham’s arguments. The Lakers attempted 27 free throws and made 22 of them up until that point in the game, but they only made four trips to the line in the remaining three quarters, making just two of them.

While Ham can be blamed for not being coordinated and moving the ball, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis have far too much court time under their belts for them to not know what to do in that circumstance. To his credit, AD admitted as much following the game.

While AD’s 1-2 record at the charity stripe mirrored his performance from the field as well, the return of an issue that has dogged him and the Lakers all year, LeBron played the entire duration and went to the line zero times. Russ and LeBron didn’t do much better when shooting the ball at the end of the game, going a combined 4-12.

Ham taking responsibility in this situation is great and likely the right move, but you don’t waste a lead like that due to a single factor. Monday was a collective team failure.