New coach Mike D'Antoni made a good start to life with the Los Angeles Lakers, guiding them to a narrow win over the Brooklyn Nets.
Kobe Bryant made his task a little easier, netting 25 points in a 95-90 win Tuesday night.
"With this team, there's no reason not to win every game," the Associated Press quoted D'Antoni as saying. "That's our goal. It's not, 'Let's get two out of three.'
"We can win every game we play. ... I feel like we're the best team in the league. We've got the most talent, so they can do what they want. We've just got to keep perfecting things."
D'Antoni was unable to walk properly, but showed enough energy to boost his team's morale.
"I was a little peg-legged, but it was good," D'Antoni said with a smile. "Adrenalin is a great thing. I'm good, (but) jumping is a thing of the past."
Dwight Howard added 23 points and 15 rebounds, whereas Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace had 17 points apiece. Gasol also contributed with 11 rebounds and seven assists.
"We're definitely playing with a better flow," Gasol said. "We're playing with more confidence, (we're) looser out there."
Bryant was all praise for D'Antoni. "It's the same as it's always been," Bryant said. "He's always very calm, but he still has an undertone edge to him. He's the same D'Antoni. ... We're just getting more in sync with each other.
"For the most part, we're doing a pretty good job taking care of the ball."
For the Nets, Brook Lopez had 23 points and seven rebounds while Deron Williams scored 22.
"It was definitely frustrating," Williams said. "We were right there and we battled the whole game. We had control of the game at one point, but we didn't make shots down the stretch.
"We had plenty of chances to tie it. We were getting the stops we needed, and put them on the free throw line a couple of times, but we just didn't make enough plays down the stretch and we didn't convert."
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.