Gameday: Lakers 99, Sixers 103

POSTGAME QUOTES

Mike D'Antoni:

On Dwight Howard and tonight’s performance:
“I thought he got a little tired probably, maybe frustrated, you’d have to ask him. It wasn’t a great night for him offensively. It’s funny, in every category from points in the paint, second chance points, fast break points, things that we talked about, we won. We just didn’t put the ball in the basket. There was the first half, we were missing lay-ups and (certain) stuff that got us in a hole again and then they hit some big shots and we couldn’t shut them down. ”

“We had some days, 3 days off so, this should not be a game where we should be tired at all. Everybody should have their legs.”

“I thought they had pretty good shots, obviously most of them in the paint, they just didn’t go in.”

On how surprised he was with the game and effort:
“Surprised. Sometimes with a 3 day layoff and New Year’s thrown in there, you come off, and I can understand the first quarter getting your bearings, we missed some easy shots. Okay I understand that, but I don’t understand how with like the second half we didn’t come out and just take control over the game and we didn’t do that. So, we’ll keep working at it, we’ll keep talking, keep trying things out but you know, it’s just not a good night.”

On Kobe Bryant shooting:
“Again, I think he feels the energy of the team and feels things and he’s trying to put us on his back. He played hard. He’s 14 for 29, pretty good compared to a lot of other stats so I’m not complaining. But I felt like when (Steve) Nash went out the ball did really get stuck and that caused some problems. But again, we just didn’t play well.”

Dwight Howard:

On if the ball needs to come into him more often:
“Well, we’ll figure out what we need to do as a team to win. The games we’ve won, blowing teams out, we’ve played a certain way. The games we’ve lost, we’ve played a different way; so we need to find a balance.”

On if the three days off affected the team:
“We just didn’t play together, especially on the defensive end. We had a lot of mistakes down the stretch. Nobody rotated fast enough, and that’s where we lost the game.”

On if the next two days off is a good thing or bad thing:
“It’s a good thing. We get to watch film, and get some rest. We have a big game with the Clippers coming up. I think they lost tonight, a very tough loss for them, so they’re going to be amped up to play us and we need to come meet the challenge.”

Metta World Peace:

On if the ball should have been thrown inside more often:
“Definitely, you always want to get the ball to the ‘big fella.’ At the end of the game I looked up, and seven shots, that’s not good.”

Steve Nash:

On losing to some teams they probably shouldn’t have:
“It’s frustrating. We’re in a tough position; we really have a lot of ground to make up. We’re not finding a lot of answers right now and we’re struggling a little bit. There’s just so little commonality, there’s so little common experiences between us. So many situations just seem new, and I think we’re struggling to find that little bit of connectivity that makes a team a team.”

On the difference for the 76ers having Jrue Holiday back:
“Obviously they’re a different team with him. We beat them at their place by 20 without him I think it was. He gives them a very talented player, but he also makes guys around him better. He makes it more difficult for you to guard [Evan] Turner, [Jason] Richardson, and their other guys on the perimeter. He’s a terrific player; he’s an all-star this year.”

Kobe Bryant:

On what happened to the team defense in the fourth quarter:
“They really hit some timely shots. They had kind of been in a rhythm all night, and then at the end of the game, even the shots that were contested, they were knocking down.”

On the play of Steve Nash:
“He’s been fantastic. He’s tough. He’s one of the guys that will push through being tired or being fatigued. He’s awesome.”

On how despite struggling for the first three quarters the team was able to get within two in the final minutes of the game:
“I don’t know. Steve [Nash] opens it up a lot for me because I just have to move without the ball and I get a lot of easy opportunities just off of him. But yeah, we had some easy opportunities we just missed.”

On the team’s upcoming game against the Clippers:
“We’ll be ready to go. When this building turns into the Clipper building it’s probably my second favorite place to play, after New York. They do a really good job. They have a lot of energy in the building. I’m looking forward to it.”

Doug Collins:

On tonight’s performance:
“The big thing was, Drew was playing with such a high level and I had to get him out of the game. When I rested him it was how are we going to do? Tonight Evan did a great job. Our bench came in and gave us good minutes. Spencer, Kwame, Dorell, all the guys gave us good minutes in that stretch so that we could rest both Thaddeus and Jrue. Lavoy picked up a couple quick fouls. Our big guys did a great job. We didn’t have to double team and we used our fouls wisely. We dodged it at the end. We missed 4 free throws and took a quick three when we should have used the clock. It’s a learning experience to say the least but it’s a great win for our team to start the New Year.”

On Jrue Holiday’s improvement:
“He is an incredibly hard worker. He wants to be great. He lets our coaching staff coach him. He’s playing with tremendous confidence. He’s a well-conditioned athlete and you have to be to play at the level he plays at every night to be in the most demanding position in the NBA at a point guard situation. We had to play four games without Jrue and I don’t want to have to do that again.”

On positive energy against the Lakers:
“The one thing I never talk about is missed shots. I talk about all the other things and I thought our concentration was good tonight. It thought we moved the ball well. We had 27 assists and 11 turnovers. Once again we saw at the end of the game what teams are going to do. They’re going to put their best defender on Jrue Holiday. Tonight it was Kobe and I thought Jrue orchestrated and made some beautiful plays. Evan hit a big three for us. We had a lot of big shots to keep them away from us.”

Jrue Holiday:

On the game:
“I think they had all their star power out there. We came out and played hard and really played together. I think it’s definitely big coming off of two losses.”

“I think we executed well. Knocked down some big shots. Spencer knocked down some big ones, J Rich [Jason Richardson] made some big plays, Evan got to the free throw line, again I think we were smart about our play today.”

“It feels awesome. It feels even better getting the win. This is actually my fist win against the Lakers so I can’t start off the New Year a better way. ”

On his dunk:
“I was hyped. I thought right there it was pretty much over. Evan came down and missed two free throws and then they got a layup and especially with the Lakers, and all the fire power that they have, anything can happen. But, I was up in there.”

On playing Kobe Bryant:
“That’s tough. I know I can speak for myself, I don’t know about my teammates, but when you think of that, you know what Kobe is going to do. Pretty much I thought he was going to make every shot he took. But, just make it hard for him. Have three guys there. I know there were times where he took tough shots with three-four guys right there. Make somebody else score.”

Evan Turner:

On the game:
“I think we executed well in the half court. I think we communicated well defensively. They love to get off to great starts and the beginnings of these halves and I think we kind of beat them out of what they do great in that regard. You know we beat them the first quarter and third quarter and that definitely helped to our success. We had a lot of guys step up and make big plays, make big shots, made big blocks, and we just rebounded and competed.”

“We missed Jrue and that kind of hurt our defense a little bit. Jrue is a great defender. I was able to slide own some times and help guard Kobe and sometimes guard Metta and get the rebounds. You know I think I did a good job of defensive rebounding today, but to have arguably one of the best point guards in the East, if you want to say the best point guard in the East, playing, that helps a lot too.”

“A win is always tough when you are on the road…but we’re just going to try to keep competing and make the other team feel uncomfortable and do what we do well.”

“Any time Kobe shoots 29/36 you kind of take that for what it is and when he beat is in the post that kind of hurt, but it worked out well for us tonight and we competed.”

76ERS-LAKERS PREVIEW

By JORDAN GARRETSON

Posted Dec 31 2012 10:27PM

The Los Angeles Lakers are slowly starting to resemble the team most thought they would be after headline-grabbing offseason acquisitions. The Philadelphia 76ers, conversely, are fading fast after a solid start.

The Lakers seek their seventh win in eight games and their fourth straight at home on Tuesday night when they face the road-weary 76ers.

After adding Dwight Howard and Steve Nash in the offseason, Los Angeles' expectations were lofty enough to send coach Mike Brown packing after a 1-4 start. Things initially didn't go much better for new coach Mike D'Antoni, who started off 4-9.

But with the Lakers' once stagnant offense gaining more fluidity, they are 6-1 since. Los Angeles (15-15) is averaging 107.1 points per game during that stretch.

The last four have seen Nash back from a seven-week absence due to a small fracture in his leg. He is averaging 12.3 points and 9.5 assists with 2.5 turnovers since returning.

Los Angeles is averaging 21.4 assists on the season, but 28.3 over the last four games with Nash on the court. He recorded 10 assists in 27 minutes in a 104-87 rout of Portland on Friday.

Howard also has five double-doubles in the team's last seven games and is averaging 17.6 points, 11.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots on the season.

"We're obviously still a new team," Nash said. "It's new to me. I'm new to the offense. We're trying to figure it out. I think we're growing more and more cohesive, but I've got a long way to go."

Kobe Bryant attributed the victory to the team's improved energy. Los Angeles matched a season high with 23 fast-break points.

"It was just energy," said Bryant, whose streak of 10 games with at least 30 points was snapped as he scored 27 in a season-low 30:40. His 30.1 scoring average still leads the league.

"We're playing really well. We've just got to keep it going."

The Lakers should soon find out exactly how much they've improved recently after Tuesday's game. Their next five games include matchups with the Clippers, Denver, Houston, San Antonio and Oklahoma City, teams with a combined 108-49 record.

Philadelphia (14-17) started the season 12-9, even without former Laker Andrew Bynum, but has lost two straight and eight of 10 after Saturday's 89-85 defeat at Portland. The 76ers also have dropped eight of nine on the road, which isn't promising with Tuesday's game being only the fifth of a season-high eight-game trip.

They actually outscored the Trail Blazers through the final three quarters, but a 30-23 deficit after the first had them climbing uphill for the game's remainder.

"We have to have a game where we're the team that jumps on early and survives a couple runs," Spencer Hawes said. "It takes more energy to be on the bottom side of a run trying to come back than it does to hold it."

Jrue Holiday continues to be a bright spot for the 76ers with career highs in points (18.6) and assists (8.9). The UCLA product missed the teams' first meeting in Philadelphia on Dec. 16 because of a left foot sprain. Nick Young scored a season-high 30 on 6-of-12 3-point shooting while Bryant had 34 in the Lakers' 111-98 victory.

Copyright 2012 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

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GAME NOTES

SEASON & SERIES NOTES; CONNECTIONS
The Lakers lead the season series with Philadelphia 1-0 after losing their lone meeting
with the Sixers last season; a loss that snapped a four-game win streak against
Philadelphia and marked the Lakers first loss at Wells Fargo Center since 3/9/07. This
will be the 269th meeting between the two franchises dating back to 1950 (187th in the
Los Angeles era) and the 161st since the Sixers moved to Philadelphia prior to the
1963-64 season. The Lakers are 8-2 against the Sixers in their last 10 overall meetings
and 10-2 all-time against Philadelphia at STAPLES Center. In Philadelphia, the Lakers
are 5-5 in their last 10 visits to the city of brotherly love. On 12/17/10 in Philadelphia,
the Lakers held the Sixers to 81 points, bettering the old series record of 82 points that
was set on Christmas Day of 2002. Kobe Bryant has played 30 games (26 starts)
against his hometown Sixers, averaging 23.2 points per game. In January of 2006 vs.
Philadelphia, Bryant established a new franchise record for three-point field goals
without a miss, connecting on all seven of his attempts (10th time in NBA history with a
minimum of seven attempts). He finished the game with 48 points, one shy of Jerry
West’s Lakers’ series record of 49 points established in February of 1968. Additionally,
Bryant earned the first of his four All-Star MVP awards at the 2002 All-Star Game held
in Philadelphia. Sixers center Andrew Bynum played his first seven seasons with the
Lakers, averaging 11.7 points and 7.8 rebounds over 392 games before being included
in a four-team trade that brought Dwight Howard to the Lakers this offseason. Sixers
center Kwame Brown played 136 games for the Lakers from 2005-08, averaging 7.4
points and 6.2 rebounds before being included in a trade that brought Pau Gasol to the
Lakers from Memphis on 2/1/08. Sixers guard Jrue Holiday (UCLA, Campbell Hall HS
(Studio City)) and guard/forward Nick Young (USC, Cleveland HS (Reseda)) both
played high school and college basketball locally in Southern California. Jodie Meeks
was traded to Philadelphia from Milwaukee during his rookie season in 2009-10, started
114 of 159 career games with the the Sixers and averaged a career best 10.5 points
with Philly in 2010-11.

LAST REGULAR SEASON MEETING
Playing the finale of a four-game East Coast swing as well as their eighth game in 13 days (seven road games), the Lakers converted a franchise record-tying 10 three-point
field goals in the first half, led by 10 points at the intermission, by as many as 18 points in the second half and never allowed Philadelphia closer than eight in the final 24
minutes en route to a 111-98 victory over the Sixers at Wells Fargo Center. Kobe Bryant led all scorers with 34 points on 12-of-21 shooting, four rebounds and a team-high
six assists. Metta World Peace posted his second double-double with the Lakers, totaling 19 points (6-10 FG), a career-high 16 rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
Dwight Howard (17 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks), Darius Morris (career-high 15 points), Chris Duhon (14 points) and Jodie Meeks (12 points) rounded
out the Lakers in double figures. Nick Young led Philadelphia with 30 points on 12-of-23 shooting (6-12 3FG). Evan Turner (16 points, 6 assists), Spencer Hawes (16
points, team-high 8 rebounds) and Thaddeus Young (14 points) all posted double-figures while Dorell Wright handed out a game-high nine assists for the Sixers in the loss

*Statistical research assistance provided by the Elias Sports Bureau

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