Mike D’Antoni Will Make or Break the Los Angeles Lakers’ Season

Believe it or not, it has now been 27 games since the firing of Mike Brown took place back in November. Since then, the Los Angeles Lakers have managed to pull together a 14-13 record and are sitting way back in the standings at 11th place in the Western Conference. Lakers fans, however, have remained optimistic about the team's chances of making a late run heading into the playoffs—for understandable reasons.

Kobe Bryant is having one of the best statistical seasons of his career, averaging 30.3 points alongside 5.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game, and Dwight Howard—despite his bad back—has still managed to post 17.3 points along with 11.9 rebounds on the season. You may look at the Lakers' record and immediately count them out of the playoffs, but the season is far from over.

The most important thing for this Laker team will simply be to make the postseason. Due to the low chances of gaining home-court advantage at this point in the season with their current record of 15-17, the Lakers must face the reality that they will have an uphill road test waiting for them in the playoffs if they manage to make it.

But aside from their bad record and inconsistent play, the Lakers still have a bigger problem which may be unresolvable—and that lies with coach Mike D'Antoni.

Even before the Lakers—or should I say Jim Buss—decided to hire Coach D'Antoni, there were many doubts about how he would fit in with this aging Laker team. And, not surprisingly, it hasn't been a good fit at all. 

After they lost to the Los Angeles Clippers last night, 107-102, it was evident that the Lakers were in desperate need of major coaching adjustments. Forget Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace combining for a total of four points and focus more on the late-game strategy of Coach D'Antoni.



It seemed like Bryant was taking every shot down the stretch, and though it was working again...