Los Angeles Lakers Blog – Page 85 – NBA Blog

Mike D`Antoni coaching debut for Lakers coming soon

In their first game after Mike D’Antoni got to town, the Lakers reached the 100-point plateau with 9:26 still left in the contest Friday night against Phoenix.

In the follow-up Sunday night, the Lakers got there with 11:16 to play in their 119-108 victory over the Houston Rockets at Staples Center.

Just imagine all the garish point totals and lopsided victories once D’Antoni actually coaches a game. Or Steve Nash’s leg heals.

Lakers fans certainly can start thinking about how good this will get with their team at 5-5 after starting 1-4 under Mike Brown.

D’Antoni decided about three hours before tipoff Sunday to give his reconstructed right knee more time to heal before his Lakers debut, probably Tuesday night against Brooklyn.

— Reported by Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register

Dwight Howard looking forward to playing against Nets

Dwight Howard had just come off a 28-point, 13-rebound, three-block detonation against the Rockets Sunday. And he announced that A) he and Kobe Bryant — who had a triple double — still are not on the same page and B) he still is only at 75 to 80 percent health following back surgery.

Good luck, Nets.

“They have a great point guard and a pretty good team, so we just have to play hard,” Howard, leading with Deron Williams, said of the Nets who visit Staples Center here Tuesday night.

And then Howard turned his attention to Brook Lopez.

“He’s tough. He knows how to score,” Howard, who has averaged 17.1 points and 12.9 rebounds in 28 career games against the Nets, said of Lopez. “They look for him a lot in the offense, they have a lot of great plays.”

— Reported by Fred Kerber of the New York Post

Lakers beat Rockets for 4th win in 5 games

After just two practices and two games together, Kobe Bryant already can see Mike D’Antoni’s ideas and schemes improving the Los Angeles Lakers.

Although a triple-double isn’t usually part of Bryant’s game plan, he happily picked it up along with another win for a team that has been revitalized before their new coach has even taken the court.

Bryant had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for his 18th career triple-double, and the Lakers ran past the Houston Rockets 119-108 Sunday night for their fourth victory in five games since firing coach Mike Brown.

Dwight Howard had 28 points and 13 rebounds, and Pau Gasol scored his 15,000th career point among his 17 as the Lakers returned to .500 by running away from their second straight opponent since D’Antoni took over their practices. Although D’Antoni and his surgically replaced knee haven’t even appeared on Los Angeles’ bench yet, his new team is already playing with passion and fluidity it hadn’t showed during a miserable start to the season…

Chandler Parsons scored 24 points and James Harden had 20 for the Rockets, who have lost six of eight. Coach Kevin McHale missed his fourth straight game during a leave of absence to deal with a family matter.

— Reported by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press

Lakers hire Dan D`Antoni as assistant coach

The Los Angeles Lakers have hired Dan D’Antoni to serve as an assistant coach, it was announced today by Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak.

The older brother of Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni, Dan joins the team after spending the past four seasons with the New York Knicks, where he served as an assistant coach on his brother’s staff. Hired by New York on June 20, 2008, D’Antoni helped the 2010-11 Knicks to their first winning season since 2000-01. Prior to his time in New York, Dan served as an assistant coach during Mike D’Antoni’s final three seasons with the Phoenix Suns, helping the team to Pacific Division titles in 2006 and 2007.

Before joining the Suns in 2005, D’Antoni spent three decades as head coach of Socastee High School in Myrtle Beach, SC, where he compiled over 500 wins. D’Antoni, who led the 1968-69 Marshall team in scoring (17.5 points per game), graduated from Marshall in 1970, served as an assistant coach for Marshall’s varsity team during the 1970-71 season and earned a Master’s degree in Principles of Guidance from Marshall in 1972. D’Antoni was later inducted into the Marshall University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990.

Andrew Bynum reportedly hurt while bowling

The Philadelphia 76ers fear All-Star center Andrew Bynum might have done additional damage to his knees while bowling, according to sources close to the situation.

Multiple sources told ESPN on Saturday that Bynum suffered an unspecified injury this month while bowling. On Friday, Bynum revealed that — on top of the issues with his right knee that could keep him sidelined until January — he also had suffered a “setback” with his left knee.

“I had a little bit of a setback, and we’re just working through some issues with the right knee,” Bynum said before the Sixers beat the Utah Jazz on Friday night. “I kind of have a mirror thing going on with my left knee. I don’t know what’s going on, but the doctors are saying pretty much that it’s a weakened cartilage state.”

There are several activities that are prohibited in standard NBA player contracts, but bowling is not one of them. Bynum is known to enjoy bowling.

— Reported by Brian Windhorst and Chris Broussard of ESPN.com

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Steve Nash injury update: Out at least one more week

Lakers guard Steve Nash was examined this evening by Lakers team doctor Steve Lombardo. Nash will be out at least another week and will be reexamined next weekend.

Nash was originally injured in the second quarter of the Lakers October 31st game at Portland. Results of an MRI performed on November 3rd showed a small non-displaced fracture in the head of his fibula (left leg).

Mike D`Antoni takes over the Lakers while on crutches after knee surgery

Although Mike D’Antoni is still on crutches after his recent knee surgery, he’s already at work with the Los Angeles Lakers.

D’Antoni coached his first practice with his new team Thursday, four days after the Lakers hired him to replace Mike Brown.

The former Knicks and Suns coach had knee replacement surgery earlier this month, delaying his arrival to take over the star-studded roster that got off to a 1-4 start to the season. Los Angeles has gone 2-1 since Brown’s firing.

— Reported by Greg Beacham of the Associated Press

Phil Jackson denies seeking to skip coaching road games for Lakers

Lakers decided to hire Mike D’Antoni, not Phil Jackson

On Sunday, a person familiar with the situation, speaking anonymously because the deal wasn’t complete, said the Lakers were 95% certain Jackson was their choice. By game time, the certainty had dropped to 70%, and the rest quickly disappeared in the next few hours.

Jackson laughed at media reports that said he had wanted to skip road games and demanded to have final say in personnel decisions.

“There’s nothing about that,” he said. “Jimmy [Buss] and I had an agreement when I came back for the second tenure that there would be complete transparency in personnel decisions. I did bring up there were a couple things that went by me that time and I would be part and parcel of such a thing this time.”

Jackson said Kupchak told him during the late Sunday phone call that the Lakers thought D’Antoni was the best coach for the team. Kupchak, Jim Buss and Jerry Buss were not available for interviews.

— Reported by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times

Lakers officially hire Mike D`Antoni as new head coach

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed Mike D’Antoni to a multi-year contract as head coach, it was announced today by Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak. Per multiple reports, it is a three-year deal for $12 million, and the Lakers have a team option for a fourth year.

“After speaking with several excellent and well-respected coaching candidates, Dr. Buss, Jim and I all agreed that Mike was the right person at this time to lead the Lakers forward,” said Kupchak. “Knowing his style of play and given the current make-up of our roster, we feel Mike is a great fit, are excited to have him as our next head coach and hope he will help our team reach its full potential.”

D’Antoni, who becomes the 24th head coach in franchise history and 20th in the Los Angeles era, owns a 388-339 (.534) overall NBA head coaching record in 10 seasons with Denver, Phoenix and New York.

Prior to joining the Lakers, D’Antoni most recently served as an assistant coach under Mike Krzyzewski on the gold medal-winning US Men’s National Basketball Team during the 2012 London Olympics. In what was his second stint with the Men’s Senior National Team, D’Antoni was also an assistant coach for Team USA’s gold medal run at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Hired to become the 24th head coach in Knicks franchise history on May 13, 2008, D’Antoni guided the 2010-11 team to their first winning season since 2000-01 and concluded his four-year tenure in New York with a 121-167 (.420) overall record. In each of his three full seasons on the Knicks bench, his teams finished in the Top 10 league-wide in scoring (4th in 2009, 9th in 2010 and 2nd in 2011).

Prior to joining the Knicks, D’Antoni spent five seasons with the Phoenix Suns (2003-08), compiling a 253-136 (.650) overall record. In his four full seasons as head coach in Phoenix (2004-08), D’Antoni was named 2004-05 NBA Coach of the Year after leading the Suns to a franchise record 62-20 (.756) mark, posted four straight 50-plus win seasons (two 60-plus win seasons), won three Pacific Division titles and a recorded a 232-96 (.707) record over that span.

D’Antoni, who also spent four years in the NBA as a player and another 13 playing in Italy, made his NBA head coaching debut with the Denver Nuggets during the lockout shortened 1998-99 season. After posting a 14-36 (.280) record in one season with Denver, he moved on to Portland, where he served one season as an assistant coach (2000-01). Returning to coach one final season in Italy (2001-02), where he had previously coached for seven years from 1990-97, D’Antoni came back to the NBA as an assistant coach with the Suns in 2002 and served in that capacity until assuming head coaching duties 21 games into the 2003-04 season.

No Andrew Bynum for Sixers until mid December at earliest

Andrew Bynum health update: He’s still not healthy

No Andrew Bynum for Sixers until December, or beyond

The Philadelphia 76ers continue to be cautious in projecting an on-court date for the return of Andrew Bynum, and are carefully listening to the team of medical professionals who are closely monitoring the healing of Bynum’s knee.

In mid-September 2012, Bynum suffered a bone bruise of his right knee. He was examined at that time by Dr. David W. Altchek of New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery, Bynum’s longtime personal doctor who is acting as the lead orthopedist in caring for Andrew’s knee. It was initially communicated to the Sixers that Bynum should refrain from basketball activity for a period of four weeks to allow the knee to heal. His knee was re-evaluated on October 22 by Dr. Altchek, who extended by an additional four weeks to November 19 the time for Andrew to refrain from basketball activity.

Andrew received a fresh MRI and was seen again by Dr. Altchek this past week on Monday, November 5.

At that evaluation, Dr. Altcheck extended Andrew’s return date for a second time by an additional three weeks. However, in what the Sixers believe is an optimistic sign, Dr. Altchek also indicated that Andrew could immediately resume low impact exercise. Low impact exercise for a period of two weeks is to be followed by three weeks of conditioning on an anti-gravity treadmill. The doctors and the team will be closely watching how Bynum’s knee responds during this five week regimen. Upon successful completion, Bynum is expected to be able to resume normal basketball activity.

If the current prognosis holds unchanged, Bynum would be cleared to resume normal basketball activity by approximately December 10. In addition, the team estimates that Bynum in turn will need an additional 1-4 weeks thereafter for conditioning, training and practice before being able to resume game play with significant minutes.

Tony DiLeo, the 76ers General Manager said, “We know that Sixers fans are eager to see Andrew Bynum play and shine in a 76ers uniform. We also know that no one is more eager to see Andrew play for the Sixers than Andrew himself. He fully realizes the key contribution he can make to the team. Hopefully, that day is coming soon.”