D’Antoni was supposed to make his Lakers coaching debut Sunday but was a late scratch as he continues to recover from knee replacement surgery. Apparently, coaches are now on the injury report as the third paragraph of Dave McMenamin’s story begins, “D’Antoni is day to day … ”
D’Antoni may yet to be a full-fledged coach, but he already is having an influence on the Lakers, conducting practices and meeting with the players before games.
From Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times: “That free-taco promotion needs to be amended. How many times will the Lakers win a home game and hold their opponent under 100 points? Not enough to plan dinner around two fast-food tacos. A hint of Mike D’Antoni‘s credo was shown in the Lakers’ 114-102 victory Friday over Phoenix. Score a lot of points, surrender slightly fewer than a lot of points. If nothing else, it’ll be entertaining. “My coaching already took over,” deadpanned D’Antoni, who carries a reputation as a poor defensive coach. The Lakers allowed 64 points in the paint, which is hard to do against the Suns. It’s hard to do against any team, to be honest. But they’ll take the victory, considering what they’ve been through the last week.”
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