And as you might imagine, Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni wasn't happy about it.
From the team's lack of commitment on defense to its detrimental reliance on Bryant's one-on-one scoring at the end of the game, D'Antoni was steamed. Lakers sideline reporter Mike Trudell chronicled the laundry list of D'Antoni's complaints, tweeting the following:
In a postgame rant that stacks up with any he's ever given, the Lakers coach buried his team, scoffing at the notion that an NBA title was even a remote possibility with the way the Lakers have been playing lately.
The Orange County Register's Kevin Ding and ESPN's Dave McMenamin both tweeted out D'Antoni's choicest sound bite:
The irony of a ringless coach lambasting his team and calling it unworthy of being in a championship discussion wasn't lost on everyone, as Marcel Mutoni of Slam Online pointed out:
Jokes aside, it's a little troubling that the man who's supposed to be in charge of fixing the Lakers' situation seems to resort to frustrated complaints whenever things look bleak. Pleas for improved effort or a hero to step up and say "enough's enough" don't really carry much weight coming from him.
Because he's the guy who's supposed to have the answers.
The Lakers' official feed captured D'Antoni's desperate sentiment:
Instead of lamenting his team's poor performance, it seems like there would be some value in D'Antoni looking at himself and asking whether there's something he needs to be doing differently. In this game alone, there were plenty of instances in which the Lakers coach made questionable decisions.
According to Darius Soriano of ForumBlueandGold.com, D'Antoni's got some explaining to do in areas ranging from...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
