Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni has had a rough year this season after not having an official training camp with his team and dealing with countless injury setbacks.
His latest challenge was figuring out how to run an offense without star Kobe Bryant. D'Antoni recently talked about the adjustments he made as a necessity for the team to keep their playoff hopes intact. According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLA:
"It's going to take a while to smooth things out and get things under control," D'Antoni said. "At the end of games, end of shot clocks, [Bryant] is the best in the business at it. That's where we have to figure out how to run plays and let the system do the thing.
"But Dwight will step up and go. Pau will do it. The system will do it. We'll just let 'em play and the ball will find whoever is open."
Good news for D'Antoni is that both Howard and Gasol have stepped up their games recently. The Lakers will look to close out their season on a high note with a win against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday, while Bryant watches on from his home as he recovers from a torn Achilles tendon injury.
Bryant recently tweeted praise of Howard after a dominating performance against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.
Since then Howard has shown much more of a commitment to the Lakers and his teammates. He recently posted an Instagram photo of teammate Jodie Meeks "passed out" while the two were on their way to visit Bryant at his home on Monday.
A few hours later, Bryant posted a photo of the three of them on his Instagram page:
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