Lakers’ Week 10 in review

Week 10 was unkind to the Lakers as they started 2013 with three straight losses to drop to 15-18 (45.5%).

At the start of the week, the Lakers were actually climbing the standings. That stopped on Jan. 1 with a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, 103-99. Chris Duhon sat out with back spasms.

Before the game, Sixers Coach Doug Collins called Kobe Bryant a “basketball genius.” He also spoke highly of his former player Jodie Meeks.

Steve Nash was impressed by the 76ers starting point guard, calling Jrue Holiday an All-Star. He also noted that the Lakers are “running out of time.”

Coach Mike D’Antoni emphasized that his team needed to bring energy to the game every night. Amar’e Stoudemire took a shot at D’Antoni, saying he was never taught how to play defense. D’Antoni said he found the criticism “mind-boggling.”

After the loss to the Sixers, Bryant said the Lakers are old and slow. D’Antoni qualified that they’re “old-er” and “slow-er.”

As the Lakers readied to play the Clippers, Bryant said they’re championship worthy. He also said that Jamal Crawford should be sixth man of the year.

Duhon was cleared to play against the Clippers but Crawford sat out with a sore foot.

The Lakers charged back late against the Clippers but fell short, losing 107-102. Howard tweaked his shoulder in the game and was questionable for Sunday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets.

When Pau Gasol had initially returned from knee tendinitis, the team ran much of the offense through him in the high post. The Lakers seemed to go away from that in the previous couple of games, overlooking Gasol in the offense.

D’Antoni continued to shuffle the team’s rotation, moving Metta World Peace back into the starting lineup and trying different substitution patterns with the hope of finding something to break the Lakers out of their funk. Jordan Hill went from the odd-man out to part of D’Antoni’s regular rotation.

The Lakers lost their third straight, falling to the Nuggets, 112-105. Before the game, General Manager Mitch Kupchak told a select group of season-ticket holders that the Lakers are “not running on all cylinders.”

Bryant continued to lead the All-Star vote. Howard seemed a lock to join Bryant in the starting lineup in February.

Steve Blake is still out a couple of weeks but D’Antoni said he’s confident that he’ll be able to make a smooth return within the team’s offense.

The Lakers re-assigned Robert Sacre to the D-Fenders, where he scored 22 points in his first game since early in the season.

In other news, Bryant joined Twitter and Jeanie Buss got engaged to former-Lakers coach Phil Jackson.

Email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.