Mike D’Antoni Tells Lakers Players Their ‘Season Starts Sunday’

Things aren’t going the way they were supposed to for the Lakers this season. A record of 15-21 through the first 36 games of the season would have seemed unfathomable at the onset of the season, but that’s currently where this team is sitting. After the latest loss, an embarrassing blowout defeat at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder, head coach Mike D’Antoni gave his players some stark words, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles.

“I told the team that the biggest thing is that our season starts Sunday,” coach Mike D’Antoni said, referring to the Lakers’ home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. “We put ourselves in this ditch and we are the only ones that can get ourselves out.”

D’Antoni has been searching for answers ever since taking over the Lakers head coaching job two months ago. Thus far, he’s been unable to get anything working on a consistent basis for this team, and now they’re looking at the very real possibility that they will miss the postseason for the first time since 2005.

On Sunday the Lakers will take on the Cavaliers, a team that defeated the Lakers 100-94 back on Dec. 11th in Cleveland. After that they’ll take on the Milwaukee Bucks for the first time this season, followed by a matchup with the defending NBA champions – the Miami Heat. And, unless this team gets things together in a hurry, that game could look far too similar to what we witnessed last night with Oklahoma City.