POSTGAME QUOTES



Mike D'Antoni:

On Kyrie Irving’s impact on the game:
“He’s tough. When you get him in dire straits he will hit shots you can’t guard. Irving is good. He hits a couple of very hard shots and guess what? You lose the game.”

On Lakers’ recent struggles:
“We play at a slow-pace and we struggle. It may be a mindset. We’ve got to search hard for some heart and play harder.”

On Cavaliers building an early lead:
“We lost that game in the first half because we didn’t defend with the energy we had in the second half. In the state that we are in, that’s inexcusable.”

On the loss tonight:
“It seems like Groundhog’s Day. It’s the same thing over and over as far as giving a team life. This team (Cavaliers) has been struggling without a lot of their guys and they came out and made eight out of ten (shots). It’s gut-check time. We have to look in the mirror and fix some things.”

On improved play in second half:
“We’re a good enough team that we should be doing this for a full 48 minutes. We have yet to put together a good effort for a full 48-minute game.”

On the game tonight:
“Defensively tonight, we were great. For 48 minutes we played some of the best defense. As I told the guys after the game, that’s how we have to play. We have to be aggressive, be physical, and if we play that way, we can be a pretty good basketball team.”

On Kyrie Irving returning to the lineup:
“It was good to have Kyrie back. I thought he played great but we had so many other good contributions from so many guys. Tristan rebounding the ball and defending, Andy being Andy, and C.J. really starting to step up his game and playing extremely well. Even though Kobe scored 42, I thought Alonzo did a terrific job of challenging every shot. It really doesn’t matter who you put on that guy. He’s just that good.”

On Kyrie’s play late in the game:
“He just loves to play basketball. He loves the competition. He likes being put in the position of having to deliver. Again, he’s just a special young man… I think from a confidence standpoint, our guys feel pretty good. Guys were excited to see Kyrie back on the floor. You saw that from practice on Monday and it carried over into tonight’s game. We’ll see how it goes from this point on. I didn’t think I was going to play him 37, 38 minutes tonight. I was just going with the flow of the game. Tomorrow is the biggest test. It’s his first back-to-back in a month. We’ll see how he deals with that.”

On putting C.J. Miles in the starting lineup:
“I started him because he was playing really well the last three or four games, and I thought his confidence was coming back. The second thing was that he’s been taking good shots, not trying to do too much, and letting the game come to him. He’s been doing a really good job in practice of setting people up, making hard cuts and taking shots when they’re given to him. When he plays that type of role, he can be really effective for us.”

On how he felt on the floor tonight:
“I felt good. I thought we competed on both ends of the floor. Obviously, Kobe (Bryant) will do what he does, but we dug deep for a full 48 minutes.”

On if his finger affected his play at all:
“I felt that I rushed my shots a little bit, especially in the second half when they started shadowing me on the ball. My teammates did a great job of slowing me down. We were really together tonight and that’s why we got the win.”

On if he waited for this particular game to come back:
“No, I was just waiting for the doctors to clear me. I’m thankful they did and I got to get back out there tonight.”

On his passing tonight:
“I was just staying aggressive the entire game and finding my teammates. I worked with the bigs in practice yesterday and told them what spots to be at and that I’d find them.”

On the impact Kyrie made tonight:
“He comes out there and he makes plays for himself and others. There’s a lot more space for the guys off the ball because he requires so much attention. He made some big shots and helped set the tempo well. He did what we needed him to do and he was who we thought he was.”

On his confidence level:
“I’m just playing hard and am going out there and staying within the system. My teammates have been the biggest supporters of me; setting screens and giving me open looks. I can’t do anything without them.”

On why he was shooting so well tonight:
“I got a lot of good looks, especially in the beginning of the game. I would catch the ball and guys would be three steps away instead of one, and that’s the easiest shot you can get. I had more time to square myself, which made it easy.”

LAKERS-CAVALIERS PREVIEW

By JORDAN GARRETSON

While the Los Angeles Lakers' offense has improved since Mike D'Antoni took over as coach, those strides seem to be coming at the cost of a defense which continues to struggle.

The Lakers are still searching for answers as they begin a four-game road trip Tuesday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, who hope Kyrie Irving's return will help them snap a five-game skid.

Los Angeles (9-12) has dropped two straight and four of five, and is 4-7 since D'Antoni took the reigns after Mike Brown was fired. Brown's termination was partially due to the Lakers' offensive struggles, which D'Antoni has seemingly helped. They're averaging 103.0 points with D'Antoni at the helm after putting up 97.8 per game under Brown.

The offense hasn't been the problem, though, as Los Angeles averaged 106.5 points in its last four losses. The Lakers allowed opponents to average 112.8 points and shoot 47.2 percent in those games.

Los Angeles limited opponents to 95.2 points per game under Brown but has given up at least 100 in seven of D'Antoni's 11 contests, including a 117-110 home loss to Utah on Sunday.

"I just don't think we've had a gut-check moment yet," D'Antoni said. "At some point we're going to draw a line in the sand and that's it, you have to fight. It seems like things happen on the court that get us down. Are there possessions we just throw away? Yeah. We have too many guys who will take a possession off."

Teams have especially exploited the Lakers' transition defense. Utah outscored them 19-4 on the fast break and they've been outscored 76-42 in transition over the last four games.

"Our half-court defense is OK, just giving up too many transition points," said Kobe Bryant, averaging a league-best 28.6 points.

Cavaliers (4-17) will likely present a bigger challenge than initially expected, as Irving is expected to play after missing the last 11 games with a fractured finger. Without Irving and his team-leading 22.9 points per game, Cleveland lost nine times, the last four of which were also missed by second-leading scorer Dion Waiters (15.2 ppg).

Waiters is out because of a sprained left ankle and didn't practice Monday, but Irving's return should be a big boost for a team averaging 83.5 points over its last four.

"I think all the guys are looking forward to having Irving back out there because he does make most of our guys' job a lot easier because he creates so much for himself and for his teammates," coach Byron Scott said. "I'm sure the guys will be happy to have him back out there."

Cleveland got another scare in a 104-97 home loss to Detroit on Saturday. Anderson Varejao exited in the second quarter with a bruised left elbow, but X-rays were negative and he finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds while playing with the elbow wrapped.

Pau Gasol (knee) has missed the last four games for the Lakers, while Steve Nash has sat out 19 with a small fracture in his left leg. D'Antoni said both could return during the trip.

Bryant scored 42 points in a 97-92 home win against the Cavaliers last season. Los Angeles, 2-6 on the road, has lost six of its last seven trips to Cleveland.

SEASON & SERIES NOTES; CONNECTIONS
The Lakers won their lone matchup with the Cavaliers last season, after splitting the 2010-11 season series with Cleveland 1-1. This will be the 101st meeting between the two teams with the Lakers holding a 59-41 series advantage. In their last 10 overall meetings, the Lakers are 4-6 against the Cavaliers. The Lakers are 10-3 all-time against the Cavaliers at STAPLES Center while in Cleveland, they have gone 3-7 in their last 10 visits to Quicken Loan Arena. In a game against the Cavaliers 1/11/11 at STAPLES Center, the Lakers defeated Cleveland 112-57. The 55-point margin of victory is the third largest in team history, while the 57 points allowed are the fewest by a Lakers opponent in the shot clock era. In 29 games against the Cavaliers (26 starts), Kobe Bryant is averaging 23.0 points per game. Bryant scored a series record 47 points 1/30/01 at Cleveland, but has faced a variety of health-related issues when facing Cleveland in recent years. On 2/8/09 at Cleveland, Bryant played through the effects of flu-like symptoms. In the prior meeting on 1/19/09, Bryant suffered a dislocated ring finger on his shooting hand but continued to play, marking the 3rd time Bryant has been injured against the Cavs. In 2004, Bryant suffered a sprained right shoulder that limited him to 17 minutes, five of which came after injuring his shoulder in the final seconds of the 1st quarter (1/12/04). Bryant tallied 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, playing five 2nd quarter minutes predominantly left handed. The following season, Bryant suffered a severely sprained right ankle after landing on Ira Newble’s foot with 5:39 remaining in the first period (1/13/05) and did not return until the Lakers/Cavs next meeting that season. Cavs head coach Byron Scott played 11 seasons for the Lakers including his final NBA campaign in 1996-97 with then rookie Kobe Bryant. Lakers forward Antawn Jamison played 146 games for the Cavs from 2010-2012, averaging 17.3 points and 6.7 rebounds. Cavs forward Luke Walton won two championships as a member of the Lakers, averaging 4.9 points and 2.9 rebounds in 493 games with the team from 2004-2012.

LAST REGULAR SEASON MEETING
Kobe Bryant scored 40-plus points for the third consecutive game while Andrew Bynum (15 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks) and Pau Gasol (19 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists) both posted double-doubles as the Lakers, who led by as many as 19 points on the night, scored just 15 points in the fourth quarter but were able to hold on down the stretch and defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 97-92 at STAPLES Center. Bryant, who last posted three straight 40-plus point games in March of 2007 as part of a five game run that included four straight 50-plus point games, finished with 42 points on 15-of-31 shooting. Matt Barnes was the only other Laker in double-figures, scoring 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Derek Fisher recorded his 15th career 10-plus assist game, finishing with 10 assists and a game-high tying three steals in 30 minutes. Kyrie Irving, the first overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, led four Cavaliers in double-figures with a team-high 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Anderson Varejao posted a doubledouble with 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Ramon Sessions came off the bench to score 12 points for Cleveland, more than tripling the entire Lakers bench output for the game (4 points). With the win, the Lakers won the season series with the Cavaliers as they do not travel to Cleveland due to the lockout shortened schedule.