The Los Angeles Lakers bench put up 76 points in the team's season-opening victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, the most for any Lakers' group of reserves since 1988. D'Antoni called the group "coachable" and "good guys" that rooted for each other in comparison to last season's team that he described as " sometimes cold" during his post-game press conference.
Mike D’Antoni calls Lakers’ reserves ‘coachable’ after dominant performance
Mike D’Antoni spoke highly of the Lakers’ reserves after they put up a dominant fourth quarter performance.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Spor
Here’s Mike D’Antoni discussing the Lakers performance after the game, courtesy of Lakers Nation:
Silver Screen and Roll: Lakers open season with thrilling victory
Good guys or not, they were the better guys for the Lakers Tuesday night. D'Antoni left a five-man lineup featuring Jordan Farmar, Jodie Meeks, Xavier Henry, Wesley Johnson and Jordan Hill in the game for all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter and watched the lead balloon.
The Lakers outscored (41-24), outrebounded (12-4) and outassisted (8-4) the Clippers through the fourth quarter. Chris Paul told media after the game that the fourth quarter "happened so fast." The lineup the Lakers used to closeout the Clippers put up a phenomenal net +/- of 17. The second-best +/- for a Lakers lineup Tuesday was 4 and the starting lineup drew even at 0.
Both of the Lakers’ leading scorers played off the bench. Henry put up a career-high 22 points while Farmar scored 16 points in his first game in the NBA since playing overseas.
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