Mike D'Antoni loses cool over question on Lakers defense

They never said it would be easy.

Mike D'Antoni coached his 12th Los Angeles Lakers game Tuesday night, and a 100-94 loss at the Cleveland Cavaliers put his record at 4-8. The stress manifested when he cracked during an interview session after the game.

The setting: D'Antoni is speaking with news reporters about the loss when one asks him if his team practiced defense before the game. The question was a bit of a setup, with the interviewer going through his understanding of the Lakers' pregame activities, which didn't include defensive drills.

"Hell, yeah, we worked for a half-hour on it," D'Antoni countered. "You're starting to piss me off. You're starting to piss me off because you're saying something that's not factually correct."

The interviewer was Los Angeles Times columnist T.J. Simers. Most recently, he asked UCLA football coach Jim L. Mora if he intentionally lost a game.

H/T The Big Lead for the story tip