The Lakers lost another game by double-digit margins, experienced never-ending injuries and offered non-existent offense. But Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni scoffed at any mention that the Lakers' struggles prompted their fans to feel discouraged.
"If they're discouraged, then find another team to root for," D'Antoni said in an agitated tone after the Lakers' 117-90 loss Monday to the Phoenix Suns at U.S. Airways Center. "We're not going to give up. Are you kidding me? Discouraged? That's not even fair to these guys."
Plenty of Laker fans expressed on Twitter and in the comments section of Lakers-related articles that D'Antoni's comments weren't fair to them, either. But following Tuesday's practice, D'Antoni apologized and called himself a name plenty of Laker fans had done already.
"I was an idiot last night. I was out of my mind," D'Antoni said Tuesday in preparation for the Christmas Day game between the Lakers (13-15) against the Miami Heat (21-6) at Staples Center. "I was ticked off. We didn't play well. I thought it was a game we could've won and we didn't do it. So I said some stuff. That's me. I just made a mistake."
Instead of telling Laker fans to root for another team, D'Antoni has now asked for them to stay.
"To me, the meaning is this: We have a team that needs to overachieve, we have a lot of injuries and we're in a tough state right now," D'Antoni said. "We need everybody to be pulling with us. It's going to take a whole village to get this done. I just said it wrong. It came out wrong because I was agitated. I apologize and we'll move on. We need everybody to be behind these guys. They're going to play as hard as they can play."
Farmar returns
Jordan Farmar will play in the Lakers-Heat game, a nice stocking stuffer after staying sidelined for the past 10 games because of a stained left hamstring. An ultrasound Tuesday showed that his injury fully healed.
For the past seven games, the Lakers have played without a traditional point guard. They first assigned the duties to a previously healthy Kobe Bryant. Following his injury, the Lakers split those responsibilities to Xavier Henry, Jodie Meeks and Nick Young, all whom never played the position during their NBA careers.
"I just noticed without somebody taking control, there was no sense of purpose," said Farmar, who averaged 9.2 points and 4.4 assists in 18.9 minutes per game. "There was just random basketball they were playing."
D'Antoni will likely play Farmar more minutes as the team's starting point guard considering the absences of Bryant (left knee), Steve Nash (back) and Steve Blake (hyperextended elbow). But D'Antoni said Farmar will play in short bursts so he can catch up on his conditioning.
"I understand the philosophy behind it. They don't want me to get tired," Farmar said. "They don't want my legs to be fatigued. It's hard at the end of the game. Just play through it. Hopefully it won't be too big of a problem. We'll have a dialogue in how I feel and we'll go from there."
He said it
Nick Young on what he'd get former Laker and Time Warner SportsNet analyst James Worthy for Christmas: "Rogaine."
(c)2013 the Daily News (Los Angeles)
Visit the Daily News (Los Angeles) at www.dailynews.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
Related
Before You Go
