Los Angeles Lakers Blog – Page 85 – NBA Blog

Steve Nash health update may come today

There’s no one more eager for Steve Nash’s return than Kobe Bryant.

The reasons are obvious.

“I won’t have to bring the ball up as much. I like facilitating, but I like to score a lot more,” Bryant said. “When he comes back, he’ll make my life a lot easier.”

It remains unclear when that will happen.

The Lakers plan to re-evaluate Nash’s fractured left leg sometime today.

Nash has yet to perform any running exercises. The guard also recently expressed doubts he’d play when the Lakers (7-7) host the Indiana Pacers (6-8) on Tuesday at Staples Center. It’s possible Bryant could find some relief since Steve Blake might play against Indiana after a lower abdominal strain kept him out for the past seven games.

— Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News

Kings upset listless Lakers, 113-97

The Los Angeles Lakers had talked about bringing Showtime back to the franchise when they hired Mike D’Antoni to implement his fast and flashy offense.

The curtains are still waiting to be raised on that act.

Kobe Bryant scored an efficient 38 points but Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol struggled inside, and the lethargic Lakers lost 113-97 to the struggling Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night to snap a three-game winning streak.

”If we’re going to play Showtime, my God, they just closed the whole theatre on us,” D’Antoni said. ”Showtime, are you kidding? It was Muppet Time.”

Marcus Thornton scored 23 points and Tyreke Evans had 18 to pace Kings, who had lost five straight games. Jason Thompson added 13 points and 10 rebounds to help Sacramento run away in the fourth quarter and cement the latest Lakers setback…

Bryant finished 11-of-20 shooting and Jodie Meeks had 15 points off the bench as D’Antoni lost for the first time on the Lakers bench. A night after beating Brooklyn in Los Angeles, the Lakers might’ve been bad enough to give D’Antoni a headache to go with the pain still throbbing in his surgically replaced knee.

— Reported by Antonio Gonzalez of the Associated Press

Gerald Wallace wanted Kobe to shoot with his eyes closed

Gerald Wallace is rapidly becoming a cult hero amongst Nets fans, and here’s a cool example of why.

With the game on the line Tuesday night and Kobe Bryant at the charity stripe, Wallace began jawing with the Laker great.

What was Wallace talking about?

“I was trying to get him to close his eyes to shoot.”

— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News

Metta World Peace calls the Nets floppers

The Lakers forward went on a Twitter rant on Tuesday night about the flopping Nets, referencing two flops by Gerald Wallace and one by Reggie Evans.

Here’s World Peace’s timeline:

“what was the best flop tonight? out of the three?i am so happy the nba charges $5000 per flop……”

“the two gerad wallace flops were crazy..lol i am on the court like”what in the world”!!! it is crazy because i am still strong but quicker.”

— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (Blog)

Dwight Howard doesn’t care if D-Will is upset

Dwight Howard lost a lot of friends and supporters during his curious ride out of Orlando. But if one of those severed relationships was with Deron Williams, Howard – the man who wanted to please everybody — doesn’t care.

“It’s my life so if he’s upset because I made a decision for me, so be it,” Howard said. “If he doesn’t want to be friends because I’m on another team, then so be it. There’s no need to smooth things over.”

The two All-Stars plotted to play together in Brooklyn, but Howard essentially killed that possibility by waiving his right to become a free agent last March. Howard has said the decision was based on his desire to keep everybody happy, even though it forfeited his opportunity to sign with the Nets in the summer.

Instead, Howard was dealt in August from the Magic to the Lakers, who host the Nets on Tuesday. The center declined to discuss his desire to play in Brooklyn and whether it’s still alive.

— Reported by Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News (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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