D'antoni: I can live with losing

[Bane.]

The Rev. Jesse Jackson (http://www.latimes.com/topic/social-issues/racism/jesse-jackson-PEPLT007437.topic) is in the Lakers' locker room after the Knicks win, 116-107, but I don't know enough about his religious practices to know if he's here to perform last rites.
The Lakers are dead, and I'm telling D'Antoni he's getting killed in Los Angeles.

"I don't care," says D'Antoni, and so fans can curse, scream and carry on like there is no tomorrow.

"I don't care. If you hadn't told me I'm getting killed, I wouldn't have known."
You might want to curse, scream and carry on a little louder. Or start chanting, "Phil, Phil, Phil."
"I don't read and I don't listen," D'Antoni says. "I don't watch anything but tape. I think about the team and I live my life. Then I'll have a nice dinner and a glass of wine.

"I'm pretty secure in what I do. I don't need public approval. I try as hard as I can and if it works out, great. If not, I tried."

What is this, rec basketball, where everyone gets a ribbon for doing their best?
"Listen, half of the people want to see me die whether I die or not, and that's the half that are killing me," he says. "I don't blame them. Right now they're right. But my objective in life is to prove them wrong."
How's that going so far?

He says he's healthy enough to do his job, although it doesn't always appear to be so. He says he's drained after games but fine in preparing for and coaching them.

Two nights ago in Cleveland he breaks down, his team collapsing and D'Antoni losing his focus and cool.

"I can live with losing," he says, while apologizing for the other night. "Most of the time you lose in life anyway, so I can handle it. I don't like it, but it's not going to destroy me. Me flipping out on you guys had nothing to do with me feeling the pressure. I'm tired; I couldn't beat my opponent, so I beat up on you guys.


The other night he gets testy when he's asked if he's embarrassed, well on his way to hearing the same question Thursday night with the Lakers losing after the first quarter, 41-27.
"I took offense to that," says D'Antoni about being asked the question in Cleveland. "I would be embarrassed if I was running around on my wife and I got caught or if I was not doing the job as hard as I can do it.

"I only get embarrassed if I'm lazy, but if I'm working as hard as I can go I'm not embarrassed. I'm disappointed and I'm thinking I'll get it next time. I should have said that; that was my mistake."


"It's almost like walking a high wire, but I got a safety net," says D'Antoni. "What's the worst that's going to happen to me — go play golf the rest of my life?"

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

"I would be embarrassed if I was running around on my wife and I got caught or if I was not doing the job as hard as I can do it."

Stealth Kobe call out or is he really just that stupid?

[100%duncan]

:lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao :lmao

[djohn2oo8]

D'antoni...Not the hero L.A needs, but the one it deserves.

[Sportcamper]

Stealth Kobe call out or is he really just that stupid?
D Antoni always seems nervous and uncomfortable addressing the media…He needs to slow down…

[DMC]

So funny how it's a crisis when the Lakers are losing. Any other team in the league, no problem, but something has to be done if the Lakers are losing. It's so engrained in the NBA fan psyche that even fans of other teams feel it. 40+ years of NBA welfare has caused a paradigm of Lakers entitlement that's felt across the league. Oddly enough the NFL has no such thing.

[DMC]

D'antoni...Not the hero L.A needs, but the one it deserves.

bam

[dunkman]

5M / season, I could live too.

[lefty]

Of course he can live with losing



He is used to it

[Raven]

D'antoni...Not the hero L.A needs, but the one it deserves.

nice one :lol

[HI-FI]

So funny how it's a crisis when the Lakers are losing. Any other team in the league, no problem, but something has to be done if the Lakers are losing. It's so engrained in the NBA fan psyche that even fans of other teams feel it. 40+ years of NBA welfare has caused a paradigm of Lakers entitlement that's felt across the league. Oddly enough the NFL has no such thing.

fucking nailed it. I was reading USA TOday while on the can, and the main article was "3 Ways to Fix the Lakers". I couldn't believe that shit, because I'd argue anyone outside of LA and who isn't a bandwagoner has been enjoying this more than anything, we want to see this implosion that's been delayed for a long time. Yet it's so ingrained in the NBA League Office and the media that basketball can't survive without a great Lakers team. no wonder their fans act like fat spoiled children, at the slightest sign of trouble it's time for the establishment to start printing more cash.

[Dex]

Has D'Antoni always been a dunce in interviews, or is this just the meds causing him to talk out of his ass?

Then again, this is the guy that got shown up by a bottle of Dasani:

http://www.spurstalk.com/coachowned.jpg

[Cry Havoc]

So funny how it's a crisis when the Lakers are losing. Any other team in the league, no problem, but something has to be done if the Lakers are losing. It's so engrained in the NBA fan psyche that even fans of other teams feel it. 40+ years of NBA welfare has caused a paradigm of Lakers entitlement that's felt across the league. Oddly enough the NFL has no such thing.

Well, the Lakers currently have a roster that's 12 million dollars higher than any other team in the league. If Boston had made those big moves and collapsed, we'd see it everywhere too. But when Boston got their big 3, they won a title. The Lakers arguably have a big 5 and they can't get it done. If they resign Howard for next year for the max, his salary after penalties will eclipse that of entire team's at the bottom of the league's payroll. If you spend like that and have a history of winning, there's going to be a backlash.

[DMC]

Well, the Lakers currently have a roster that's 12 million dollars higher than any other team in the league. If Boston had made those big moves and collapsed, we'd see it everywhere too. But when Boston got their big 3, they won a title. The Lakers arguably have a big 5 and they can't get it done. If they resign Howard for next year for the max, his salary after penalties will eclipse that of entire team's at the bottom of the league's payroll. If you spend like that and have a history of winning, there's going to be a backlash.
If they didn't sign Howard and still sucked, the reaction would be the same. It's always "why is LA losing?" if they are, and "LA wins again" if they aren't. That won't change unless the entire league, including fans, ignore LA's woes. Hard to do that, it's so fun watching them flail around in their own shit.

[Cry Havoc]

If they didn't sign Howard and still sucked, the reaction would be the same. It's always "why is LA losing?" if they are, and "LA wins again" if they aren't. That won't change unless the entire league, including fans, ignore LA's woes. Hard to do that, it's so fun watching them flail around in their own shit.

True, but I think the acquisition of the league's best center in a team that was already seen as a title contender is really what pushed this season to new heights of expectations. Even Laker haters thought they were going to be tearing it up this year.

[Reck]

Does he know what winning is? Of course he can live with losing since that's the only things he's known all of his coaching "career."

[Koolaid_Man]

fucking nailed it. I was reading USA TOday while on the can, and the main article was "3 Ways to Fix the Lakers". I couldn't believe that shit, because I'd argue anyone outside of LA and who isn't a bandwagoner has been enjoying this more than anything, we want to see this implosion that's been delayed for a long time. Yet it's so ingrained in the NBA League Office and the media that basketball can't survive without a great Lakers team. no wonder their fans act like fat spoiled children, at the slightest sign of trouble it's time for the establishment to start printing more cash.

I can only imagine what this place gonna look like when Kobe hoisting up number 6....this place gone go nuclear...with all the jeering and cat calls being thrown at us --- Karma will end up being a muthafucker to Spur and and Mav fan at the end of the season

[djohn2oo8]

I can only imagine what this place gonna look like when Kobe hoisting up number 6....this place gone go nuclear...with all the jeering and cat calls being thrown at us --- Karma will end up being a muthafucker to Spur and and Mav fan at the end of the season

Your team should try and pass the perennial last place Rockets first before you run ya mouth lil n!gga.

[Clipper Nation]

I can only imagine what this place gonna look like when Kobe hoisting up number 6....

In which uniform? Heat? Thunder? Maybe he'll end up begging the Clippers for a spot, Terrell Owens-style? :lol

[Malik Hairston]

:lol the Steve Nash of coaches, tbh..

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

:lol the Steve Nash of coaches, tbh..

He's going to court to make sure the Suns don't come to the Staples Center?

[HI-FI]

I can only imagine what this place gonna look like when Kobe hoisting up number 6....this place gone go nuclear...with all the jeering and cat calls being thrown at us --- Karma will end up being a muthafucker to Spur and and Mav fan at the end of the season
c'mon Extra_Koolaid_Security, you could argue this is karma in effect. Your quasi team the Lakers are basically the Goldman Sachs of the league, and the league office is like the Federal reserve, both corrupt and connected. It doesn't matter how badly Goldman Sachs is with their investments, they are considered TBTF, therefore you can expect the Establishment to bail it out. Karma would be to let it implode under its own overly inflated weight before the Lakers shittiness consumes the rest of the league.

[Latarian Milton]

_'antonie doesn't even have any idea how to defend himself tbh