HoopsHype.com Rumors

Kobe's heavy minutes (45.7 mins over his last six games) aren't an issue for the Lakers ... "He’s been feeling fine," Pau Gasol said. "He’s not complaining. So, why would we? Right? That’s the bottom line. He’s experienced enough, he’s been through enough that he can handle it. He can handle himself. So, we’re not worried about anything at this point. We all try to give it our best and he’s doing his part." Added Mike D'Antoni: "He said he’s fine. There’s no effect. He feels good and he’s ready to go." Sulia

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Mike D'Antoni, Injuries 

Ramona Shelburne: DAntoni on Pau: "earlier he was hurt..the system was screwed up & we were trying to figure out what we were doing" Twitter @ramonashelburne

Los Angeles Lakers, Pau Gasol, Mike D'Antoni 

Mike D’Antoni’s exit from the Big Apple was unceremonious at best, but the former New York Knicks head coach may have the last laugh if he’s able to get his asking price for his estate in Rye, NY. Roughly five years since he inked a 4- year, $24 million contract with New York and nearly a year removed from his resignation (and with his new team, the Los Angeles Lakers, fighting for their playoff lives), the coach fondly known as “Pringles” is finally getting around to selling the suburban New York home. D’Antoni and his wife, Laurel, purchased the seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom Colonial in late 2008, shortly after joining the Knicks. The couple is said to have paid $5.75 million for the 7,142-square-foot estate, which was built in 2004, but look to make a considerable profit on the home after listing it for $6.95 million. Realtor

Los Angeles Lakers, Mike D'Antoni, New York, Real Estate 

Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni knows the risk of playing Kobe Bryant as many minutes as he has during the past four games. He also knows the risks of not using the Lakers' best player as much as possible as the team frantically tries to make the playoffs. "We're playing a little bit with fire," D'Antoni said of Bryant, who has played 46 minutes a game the past four games. "We wouldn't like to but we put ourselves in the position we have to. "We're short-handed right now and we're playing it very tight. Normally this wouldn't happen but we put ourselves in a hole and Kobe is our best bet going forward to win games. He said he's going to retire after a year so we're going to get our money's worth for two years. I don't know what to tell you." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Mike D'Antoni 

D'Antoni said Sunday he felt the Lakers needed to win all five of their remaining games in order to ensure they'd make the playoffs. That was an opinion, not a fact. But with the Jazz holding the tiebreaker -- meaning the Lakers need to finish a game ahead of them -- it might not be far from the truth. "The bottom line, we need to win five straight," D'Antoni said. "We've got ourselves to where we need to win five in a row and we get in the playoffs and that's what we want to do." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Mike D'Antoni 

Here's what Jeff Van Gundy had to say about Lakers Coach Mike D'Antoni - interesting perspective Van Gundy credits Coach Mike D'Antoni for guiding the Lakers through a challenging year. "He's never looked to lash out and say, 'Are you guys nuts? I was thrown into this situation and you're going to blame me?''' said Van Gundy. "He's resisted that temptation because it is nuts when you think about it." Sulia

Los Angeles Lakers, Coaching, Mike D'Antoni, Jeff Van Gundy 

Instead, the Lakers have a chance to make the playoffs despite the injuries, coaching changes and chemistry issues. "They go about their business," said Van Gundy. "They haven't lashed out as they were earlier in the year, pointing fingers of blame. I think they've really conducted themselves very well and I think that, in a large part, has to do with then even-keel demeanor of Mike D'Antoni." "The easiest thing to do when a team struggles or a team doesn't have the number of wins that their fans expect them to is to start pointing the fingers of blame at coaches," he continued. "That's easier to stomach than just to say, 'We're in a little bit more of a down period. We don't have a real good team this year.' I think that's where the Lakers are." Sulia

Los Angeles Lakers, Coaching, Mike D'Antoni, Jeff Van Gundy 

Eric Pincus: "Mike Conley has turned into a premier point guard" - Mike D'Antoni Twitter @EricPincus

Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, Mike D'Antoni, Mike Conley 

Dave McMenamin: D'Antoni on the 'We want Phil!' chant: "He only won 58 rings, why wouldn't they?" Twitter @mcten

Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson, Coaching, Mike D'Antoni 

Monday, Mike D'Antoni said Shaquille O'Neal "changed basketball," and explained it this way: "Everything you do, if you're preparing against his team, you talked about Shaq 90 percent of the time. You have to prepare for how not to leave his body, when you're going to double team. Are you going to hack him? Are you going to do this, are you going to do that? There's very few guys you spend the whole scouting meeting talking about, and he was one of those guys." Sulia

Los Angeles Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal, Mike D'Antoni 

D'Antoni, who coached Shaq in '07-'08, said he enjoyed the experience. "He was good for us," he said, before relaying his most vivid memories of O'Neal. "Him running around the locker room, crazy. Funny. Him driving the big semi-trailer cab and blowing his horn all over the place. He just does everything at a grand scale, and he was fun to be with. He was good." "One of the best ever." Sulia

Los Angeles Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal, Mike D'Antoni 

One former NBA player, now an analyst for a rival team, talked of a mismatch between D'Antoni's preferred style of play. "Systems have to fit your personnel," he said. "It's fools gold to think that Kobe, Steve, at this stage in his career, can run the D'Antoni system." The coach, in other words, need to adapt to his players, not vice versa. "Dwight Howard is a low-post player, you've got to find a way to get him the ball inside," this critic said. "Pau, same thing with him. ... I don't know what they need to run, but Steve Nash is a pick-and-roll guy, half court, and you can't be discombobulated at this stage in the year as to what you're going to be running offensively. The game is instinct and when you go out on the floor and you're wondering what to do, you don't have a chance." NBA.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, Mike D'Antoni, Dwight Howard 

D’Antoni signed a four-year, $12 million deal with the Lakers, which hold a team option for his final season. The Lakers’ front office has publicly supported him. Has D’Antoni been told otherwise? “I don’t know anything,” D’Antoni joked. “As a matter of fact, that could be the problem.” Los Angeles Daily News

Los Angeles Lakers, Mike D'Antoni 

Steve Kyler: RT @kalaker1: do u see dantoni coming back as coach next season? ---> Maybe. He's owed a lot of money and hasn't had a healthy roster Twitter @stevekylerNBA

Los Angeles Lakers, Coaching, Mike D'Antoni 

Mike D’Antoni had plenty to say in his postgame press conference, but stayed away from a pointed question where the response would have clearly been to blame Bryant for the team’s late-game staleness offensively. The question was something to the effect of, what did he attribute to the ball sticking on offensive possessions late in that fourth quarter. You can see D’Antoni’s response here, and it’s pretty hilarious. “Oh, I don’t know, that’s a good question,” D’Antoni said, extremely sarcastically. “I wish I knew.” NBCSports.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Mike D'Antoni 

D’Antoni’s expression told us that of course he knew. But there was no way he was going to say it. “What, are you going to throw me a piece of dynamite,” he said, after a hearty laugh that suggested we were all in on the same joke. NBCSports.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Mike D'Antoni 

In a season in which the Los Angeles Lakers have pushed the reset button seemingly a half-dozen times already, Friday's 103-100 loss to the Washington Wizards left coach Mike D'Antoni sounding like he'd prefer to reach for the off switch at this point. "This is a good team that just for whatever reason can't collectively mentally get stimulated to [play hard] every time," D'Antoni said after the Lakers wasted an 18-point first-half lead. "I told them today, we put our hands in [the huddle], and you guys have probably seen it, we say, 'Championship,' and go out [on the floor]. That's laughable. Championship? You got to be kidding me. Nobody understands the importance of every possession offensively and defensively. Every time they got to come out with some kind of determination to be a good basketball team, and [until] then, we're just, we're fooling ourselves. Right now, that's what we're doing. We're just making a 'sham-mockery' out of it." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Washington Wizards, Mike D'Antoni 

"There's no explanation for it," D'Antoni said. "I can't explain it, but every time we get up 16 [points], it's like, 'Well, we're really good and we don't have to play hard,' and we start messing with the game. You start messing with not moving the ball. You start messing with, 'I'm just going to go one-on-one every time.' You start messing with the basketball gods, and they get you. ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Washington Wizards, Mike D'Antoni 

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni had toyed with the idea of bringing Gasol off the bench as he rounds himself back into shape after being out since Feb. 5 with a torn plantar fascia in his right foot but said after shootaround Friday that the four-time All-Star would play with the first unit. "The reason being he'll warm up. He feels better when he gets warmed up and gets going instead of sitting over there for about 10-20 minutes and then playing," D'Antoni said. "He's more comfortable that way, and that's what we're going to end up anyway, so we might as well go ahead." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Mike D'Antoni 

D'Antoni said Gasol would be limited as he gets his "wind and legs" back but said there would be no restrictions on Bryant as he returns to the lineup after missing the last two games with a severely sprained left ankle. Tweeted Bryant after shootaround Friday: "Ankle was a lil sore from practice yesterday but should be good to go tonight #mambaface." ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Mike D'Antoni