After watching four games from the locker room, D’Antoni is ready to make his coaching debut with the Lakers on Tuesday night against the Brooklyn Nets. According to Howard Beck of the New York Times via Twitter:
D’antoni says he will coach tonight
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeckNYT) November 20, 2012
It has been over a week since the Los Angeles Lakers chose Mike D’Antoni over Phil Jackson as the team’s new head coach. Since hiring D’Antoni, the Lakers have won three out of the last four games with a much faster-paced offense. Even though D’Antoni hasn’t been able to call the shots from the sidelines due to a knee replacement surgery from which D’Antoni is still recovering, the Lakers have been firing on all cylinders using his unique style to run-and-gun play that was implemented during practice.
Along with D’Antoni’s long-awaited debut with his new team, this match-up with the Nets will be intriguing to say the least.
There will be a few storylines coming into this showdown of NBA heavyweights, with Dwight Howard playing against the team to which he wanted to be traded, and an apparent beef between Dwight Howard and Deron Williams. Howard told the media that his relationship with Williams is not exactly the same as it used to be after Howard got traded to the Lakers.
Another storyline will be Howard going head-to-head against Brook Lopez. Former Laker Shaquille O’Neal believes Lopez is the better center and Howard might look to prove that statement wrong on Tuesday by being more aggressive than he normally is.