"Darvin Ham couldn’t even use his first" - Ex-Lakers coach catches strays as LeBron James unleashes furious take on retaining reviews 

LeBron James' frustration with officiating rules has continued despite heading home long back after a first-round exit against Denver. During Wednesday's Game 1 of the Western Conference finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves, James was infuriated after the Mavericks couldn't challenge a call despite being successful on the previous two occasions during the game.

"Have to change that challenge rule! No way you have 2 successful challenges and can’t anymore for the rest of the game!" James wrote on X. "Makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE."

According to the rules, a team loses a challenge if it's unsuccessful the first time, gets a second if the first was successful, but loses it the third time if both previous calls were overturned. It's one of the controversial rules in the NBA that has drawn plenty of flak as it puts the team making the right calls at a potential disadvantage during a pivotal moment.

While LeBron James shared his two cents regarding this issue, Lakers' fans happened to throw shade at their former coach Darvin Ham, who got fired after the LA's first-round exit against Denver.

Ham perennially struggled with taking challenges at the right time, hesitating to use his coach's review on countless occasions. Several fans pointed that out in comments under James' tweet as one user said:

"Tell ‘em King! Darvin Ham couldn’t even use his first challenge:

Another fan referenced Ham as "pockets" to diss him as the former coach often stood on the sidelines with his hands in his pockets.

"facts even tho we didn’t have to deal with that problem since Pockets never used his challenge"

A fan expressed how shocked he was with Ham's refusal to use challenges timely, saying:

"The fact that Darvin Ham never used challenges is still crazy to me"

Another fan said he was still wondering why Ham was so reluctant to use reviews:

"still trying to understand why Darwin Ham never used challenges"

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LeBron James once lost it after Darvin Ham and Lakers' coaches refused to take a challenge

Akin to Lakers fans, LeBron James couldn't hold his emotions once when Darvin Ham refused to challenge a call despite his vehement request. The incident occurred during Game 4 of the first-round series between the Lakers and Nuggets. The Lakers were fighting to stay alive in the series with their season on the line.

During the third quarter, with the Lakers up 15, James and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hustled for a 50-50 ball, which eventually went out of bounds after the latter touched it. However, the refs ruled the call in the Nuggets' favor.

Having already lost the past three games with big leads because of coaching errors like this, LeBron James completely lost it over Ham and the coaching staff after they refused to challenge the call.

The Lakers would win the contest and stretch the series to five games before losing in Game 5 in Denver. That call didn't have much impact, but it was one of the many examples of how Ham missed taking challenges that could have been crucial to the grand scheme of things.