EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Dwight Howard knows a great team when he sees one. Players cheer for each other on big plays, pick each other up after bad ones and play with a chemistry you can't force. He saw a team such as that Friday night in the Lakers' 107-102 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers.

"Those guys on the Clippers team, they really enjoy each other off the court and it shows," Howard said Saturday after Lakers practice.

And how about the Lakers? Do they have that chemistry?

"It's something we have to do to get better," he said. "We have to play like we like each other. Even if we don't want to be friends off the court, whatever that may be, when we step in between the lines or we step in the locker room or the gym, we have to respect each other and what we bring to the table.

"It really starts off the court. I think you have to have that relationship and that chemistry off the court for it to really blossom on the court. It takes time to develop that. You just don't come together and then expect to be best friends right away. It just doesn't happen like that."

The topic came up because of Howard's complimentary comments about the Clippers after Friday's game, and a strange play in which Lakers forward Jordan Hill injured his ankle, rolled around in pain on the ground, but none of his teammates came over to check on him.

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said he addressed the play involving Hill with the team at Saturday's practice, but didn't think the Lakers lacked chemistry.

"I think it was a lapse. I don't think it was meant," D'Antoni said of the team's lack of a reaction to Hill's injury. "It's something we addressed and talked about.

"I don't know if anybody has the formula for making the chemistry right. But I know if everyone takes personal responsibility and plays hard, it will work itself out. It's amazing how you quit talking and pointing and rationalizing and playing as hard as you can play. We'll be fine.

"We need to play hard. We need to take accountability, each one of us. 'What's in it for me?' We need to get that out of our vocabulary and wonder what's best for the Lakers."

D'Antoni said if the Lakers' chemistry was lacking, it's simply from lack of time together. For instance, he said the relationship between Howard and point guard Steve Nash on pick and rolls is "not there yet."

"I don't know if it's because of a lack of training camp, or a lack of Steve being with us from the beginning, but the relationship between Steve and Dwight's got to get a lot better," D'Antoni said. "It's not creating the easy shots that we need."

The Lakers' coach also questioned the basic premise that players need to be close off the court to play well together on it.

"I don't know. I played on a lot of teams and I never really hung out with guys all the time," D'Antoni said. "I don't think you have to love each other. But you have to respect each other with what they do on the court."

Whenever a superstar Lakers center starts talking about chemistry, or a lack thereof, the conversation usually turns back to the tumultuous but ultimately wildly successful eight-year run of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant that resulted in three NBA titles.

When asked to compare the still-developing dynamic between himself and Howard to the run he had with O'Neal, Bryant laughed.