Although he missed most of the Sixers' last two games with a sprained left ankle and wasn't expected to play Tuesday night against the Lakers, the 6-foot-9 [Louis Amundson] had 16 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks in Friday's opening win over the Spurs and grabbed nine rebounds in a total of 23 injury-limited minutes during the Sixers' two losses.

"I think every team needs a player like him," said [Sixers] vice president of basketball operations Tony DiLeo in a conference call Tuesday. "He's just relentless. He takes chargers, hustles, dives on the floor. We want to be an aggressive defensively and improve our rebounding. He's good in those areas. We really like his progress. If he continues to play like he has, that's a spot that'll really help us."

"The jury's still a little out on him," DiLeo said. "We think he can be a good point guard in the league. We think he's right on course. He's learning to pick his spots when he has to take over the game and when to get other guys involved."