Ham defends late Westbrook benching: No time for players 'to be in their feelings'

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham opted to bench Russell Westbrook for the final few possessions of their narrow 106-104 loss Sunday to the Portland Trail Blazers.

If Westbrook felt strongly about the decision, Ham doesn't appear interested in hearing about it.

"We don't have time for people to be in their feelings," Ham said postgame, courtesy of ESPN's Dave McMenamin.

The Lakers pulled Westbrook for Austin Reaves with 12.4 seconds left in the contest and immediately after Damian Lillard's 3-pointer gave Portland a 104-102 lead. Prior to the three, Westbrook had tried to capitalize on a two-for-one situation but could only find the rim on an uncontested mid-range elbow jumper.

LeBron James tied the game with a dunk after the change, but Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant drove for the game-winning layup on the next possession.

"I just wish (Westbrook) would have attacked the rim directly," Ham said, according to Swish Cultures. "That's the one shot that teams want you to take and want you to give up - long twos, contested twos, what have you. And with his ability to explode and get to the basket still being at a high level, I wish he had done that, especially with (Jusuf) Nurkic standing back there with five fouls."

He added, "You have to know which type of shot you're looking for, something at the rim or collapsing people to the rim, and kicking it out would have been my preference. But, again, we got 79 left, so we'll figure it out."