Mike D'Antoni happy with Los Angeles Lakers effort

Mike D'Antoni has said that the Los Angeles Lakers' effort was "good" in their Christmas Day defeat to the Miami Heat.

The home side could not recover from a strong first-half performance by the defending NBA champions.

The head coach told reporters: "I thought we attacked them the way we wanted to. We can step it up a bit and be a little bit tougher, especially on the boards and places like that. Those things are irritating, but the effort is good."

The Lakers travel to the Utah Jazz tomorrow.