The myriad injuries to key players and the frequent sniping with Pau Gasol may finally be cracking Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni's spirit in Los Angeles, as the frustrated coach took shots at Lakers fans who may be disenchanted with the current state of affairs.
"Why would I be discouraged?" D'Antoni said. "We're fighting with a bunch of good guys that played well before, and they'll play [well] again. If [the fans] are discouraged, then, you know, find another team to root for. I'm all right. We're not going to give up. Are you kidding me? Discouraged? That's not even fair to these guys."
D'Antoni has spent most of the season without Kobe Bryant, who started the year recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, made it back to the court for a handful of games, then fractured his knee knocking him out for at least another six weeks. Point guard Steve Nash has been in and out of the lineup since signing as well; Nash has had nerve problems causing irritation in his back and legs.
Dwight Howard left the team in the offseason, but he was no picnic for D'Antoni either. The absence of these stars has left the coach working with Gasol and a group of reserves-and Gasol is shooting the worst percentage of his career.
Still, D'Antoni has heaped praise on the players he does have, who've combined to make the Lakers respectable. "[Missing] the playmaking is a big deal, there's no doubt about it," D'Antoni said.
"But again, we're going to be fine. I don't want to keep harping. I know we have excuses. We're not going to hang our heads, and we're going to go out and we're going to battle Wednesday [against the Miami Heat on Christmas Day], and we'll get this done."
The angst of Lakers fans stems from L.A.'s recent road losing skid, dropping their record away from Staples Center to 6-9. "It's like, 'OK, we lost two road games,'" D'Antoni said. "We were 1-5 [on the road] at one time, right? It takes some adjusting. It takes some adjusting. We got to get somebody healthy. We'll be back. We're not going anywhere. We're going to fight, and we're going to try to stay above .500. We got a nice homestand coming up, and if anybody hangs their head, then they don't need to be on our bandwagon. We're going to fight, and we're going to be fine."
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