s_knight8
2003-11-11 16:20:08 UTC
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2003111029
``I really don't want to overstate these two losses, it's not like
it's a
dramatic point in the season,'' Kobe Bryant said. ``I think it's a
learning
curve, the more we understand each other -- our offense and the
defensive
tactics -- the better off we'll be. That's going to take some time.
``Kobe was right in my face,'' Battier said. ``I can't tell you it was
a
skillful shot because it was more luck than anything.''
``This is a good win, an uplifting win for us,'' coach Hubie Brown
said.
``Tonight was the first night we put everything together as a team.''
``I told them it was a so-so road trip,'' coach Phil Jackson said.
``The
formula in the NBA is to win three out of four at home and 50 percent
on the
road, but that's not good enough for this ballclub, not good enough
for
us.''
``They didn't turn the ball over by themselves, you know,'' Gasol
said.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-adande11nov11,1,4613936.column?coll=la-h
eadlines-sports
"I love the Lakers," said West, who is beginning his second season as
president of basketball operations for the Memphis Grizzlies. "I watch
all
of the drama that goes on out there and some of it you'd rather not be
part
of. But I will always be a Laker fan."
Phil Jackson sat Gary Payton for 21 minutes, including a 13 1/2-minute
stretch in the second half, and afterward Payton wasn't happy.
"I don't even want to discuss it," Payton said. "Just let me play,
that's
all..
"I ain't got too much to say right now."
Shaquille O'Neal was talking, and after a fourth quarter in which
Bryant
took eight shots to his three, if you read between the lines then
O'Neal
wasn't too happy either.
Have you ever played that game where you add "in bed" to the end of
every
fortune you read at the end of dinner in a Chinese restaurant? It's
like
that in the Laker locker room. You can just add "Kobe" to every point
O'Neal
made in this postgame statement and you'll get his message: "We just
have to
move the ball around and use the guys we've got and look for our
mismatches
and keep taking the high-percentage shots. It's a very simple game. We
just
have to make it simple."
"Sometimes you miss 'em, sometimes you make 'em," said Bryant, who
finished
with 19 points on five-for-15 shooting from the field, nine of 10 from
the
free-throw line. "But you'll never know if you can make 'em if you
don't
shoot."
"I don't have any comment on any of those things at all," West said.
"Absolutely none. That's for them to handle. It's not for us to
handle. I
think being in a media capital like Los Angeles, it's going to
escalate
everything. Some of the stuff that's said you wish weren't said, but
it's
said and they have to deal with it.
"I work for Memphis now. I have great respect for Kobe, great respect
for
Shaquille O'Neal, two players that I know well. They've got Mitch
[Kupchak]
there, who's done an unbelievable job. That's someone that they can
reach
out to also."
West also said he has not been in contact with Bryant concerning the
allegation of rape against Bryant, citing the NBA's tampering rules
for an
executive to talk with another team's players.
"I really don't have any comment," West said. "He and I have not
talked for
months. Have not."
West said he does not think Bryant's repeated declarations that he
intends
to opt out of the last year of his contract after the season have any
bearing on Bryant's future in Los Angeles.
"I don't know why you guys make such a big deal out of it," West said.
"Any
player in the league would do the same thing because he can make more
money.
It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen people talk about. I can't
believe it.
"He can get a lot more guaranteed [money] out there, that's for sure.
I
don't even know why anyone makes a big deal out of it."
"He started his career in Los Angeles," West said. "My best guess is,
he'll
end his career in Los Angeles. That's where he made his legend, that's
where
he'll continue to make it."
It was interesting that when Bryant was asked about the Grizzlies he
said:
"Jerry did a great job of putting this team together. They have a lot
of
young talent."
West said, "We have some nice young players here." But also said "We
need to
get a great player here."
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers11nov11,1,4534634.story?coll=la-he
adlines-sports
Asked if it were simply a matter of further integration of Malone and
Payton, O'Neal shook his head.
"Nah," he said. "We just got to move the ball, take care of the
basketball.
Basketball is still basketball. Most of the players in this league are
pretty much the same. It's all about moving the ball, taking
high-percentage
shots and limiting our turnovers."
Asked if Bryant's assertive fourth quarter were by design or of his
own
initiative, Jackson said, "I wouldn't choose either of those two
options. It
was not by design and I think he just felt he had to punch it up
there. He
just doesn't have the legs now for the three-point shots he was trying
to
take, so . "
"I'm not that concerned," Jackson said. "I think he needs some
strengthening
and he needs some game conditioning and he needs to find a rhythm in
his
game."
And, of Bryant's decisions in the meantime, Jackson said, "That'll
come.
That'll come when he gets strong enough."
"You never like to lose," Malone said. "But I've been around long
enough to
know when things get tough, it's easy to say it's somebody else's
fault.
It's been 19 years now, and losing still leaves a [bad] taste in my
mouth.
It ain't ever going to change. We all can learn something from these
games
and apply it to the next one."
Asked specifically about the fourth quarter, Malone said of Bryant,
"He's a
competitor. Trying, all of that, that's who he is.
"Am I surprised he tried to do more? Not really. We've all got to
realize as
the season goes on, we can make it easier for each other. When we
realize
that, it'll be better. It's growing pains."
"It's not time now to start saying, 'This guy, that guy.' How we
bounce back
is the key."
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakerep11nov11,1,1
595042.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-nba-lakers
Payton wasn't in much of a mood to talk afterward, only confirming
that his
ankle felt fine and adding, "We're just going to play. We've just got
to
play and try to work it out."
Jackson also changed his guards' defensive responsibilities against
Memphis,
opting to have Payton or Fisher on the ball - Jason Williams, most
often -
and Bryant off it.
"I don't think it's a big deal," Bryant said. "Some nights I'll be on
the
ball, some nights I won't."
Payton and Bryon Russell have a regular game of dominoes, and now
Bryant has
shown some interest in the game, though he's not yet skilled enough to
push
Payton or Russell. Honestly, Payton said, all of the bickering has
been
"family stuff," and now everybody seems to be getting along fine, or
at
least well enough to play basketball.
"It's a picnic," he claimed, his crooked grin filling the corner of
the room
and his voice filling all of the room.
The question put to Payton, then: What happens first - Bryant learns
dominoes or Payton learns the triangle offense? Payton laughed.
"He'll learn dominoes first," he said. "That triangle might not come
until
the playoffs."
Payton taped his left ankle against the Grizzlies, one of the rare
times in
his career he'd taken such a precaution.
He said he'd never so much as sprained an ankle in 13-plus NBA seasons
before Sunday's practice, when he rolled his left ankle on Devean
George's
foot.
Jerry West, in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, on championship
motivation: "I
know Karl [Malone] and Gary are tired of hearing how they haven't won
a
championship. I know I got so tired of it that I almost didn't want to
play
anymore."
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/grizzlies/article/0,1426,MCA_475_2418980,00.html
"It reminds you a lot of last year from the all-star break until the
end of the season," Griz coach Hubie Brown said of his team’s
fast-breaking, defense-driven performance.
Hubieball — in its totality — made its first appearance of
the season as the Griz snapped a three-game losing streak.
"We got back to the way we were playing in the preseason," said
forward Pau Gasol, who led the Griz with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
"We played with a lot of energy."
"Some guys try to push him and get the foul," Tsakalidis said. "I just
played physical, tried to score and went out there and did my job."
Tsakalidis made his first start and finished with 12 points, nine
rebounds and high praise for fending off O’Neal.
"He was kind of thrown into the mix. But he did his job," Griz guard
Jason Williams said. "What more can you ask? But the key was we were
getting to the hole and creating things. And for us to get out on the
break, we’ve got to get rebounds."
"You have to give it to Memphis," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
"They played great defense, forced turnovers and we weren’t
alert and sharp."
"I think they got their money’s worth," Posey said, referring to
the fans.
"We didn’t just settle for jumpers," Miller said. "The bottom
line is we have to show teams we can go to the hole and create. We
have to get up and down and play our style."
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/sports_columnists/article/0,1426,MCA_468_2419431,00.html
Oh, yeah, and they shut up those Laker fans!
"That’s what I loved," said Lorenzen Wright. "I can’t
stand them."
Wright noticed all the purple and gold jerseys during warmups. In his
town. In Memphis.
Wright took all this in and worked himself into a not-so-silent fury.
"I was yelling during warmups," he said. "I was yelling,
‘Let’s send those Laker fans home with a frown!’"
"Tonight," said Memphis coach Hubie Brown, "is the first time
you’ve seen us put the whole thing together."
"The position that did it for us," Brown said, "was the center
position."
"It takes two," Wright said, "because that’s how big he is."
``I really don't want to overstate these two losses, it's not like
it's a
dramatic point in the season,'' Kobe Bryant said. ``I think it's a
learning
curve, the more we understand each other -- our offense and the
defensive
tactics -- the better off we'll be. That's going to take some time.
``Kobe was right in my face,'' Battier said. ``I can't tell you it was
a
skillful shot because it was more luck than anything.''
``This is a good win, an uplifting win for us,'' coach Hubie Brown
said.
``Tonight was the first night we put everything together as a team.''
``I told them it was a so-so road trip,'' coach Phil Jackson said.
``The
formula in the NBA is to win three out of four at home and 50 percent
on the
road, but that's not good enough for this ballclub, not good enough
for
us.''
``They didn't turn the ball over by themselves, you know,'' Gasol
said.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-adande11nov11,1,4613936.column?coll=la-h
eadlines-sports
"I love the Lakers," said West, who is beginning his second season as
president of basketball operations for the Memphis Grizzlies. "I watch
all
of the drama that goes on out there and some of it you'd rather not be
part
of. But I will always be a Laker fan."
Phil Jackson sat Gary Payton for 21 minutes, including a 13 1/2-minute
stretch in the second half, and afterward Payton wasn't happy.
"I don't even want to discuss it," Payton said. "Just let me play,
that's
all..
"I ain't got too much to say right now."
Shaquille O'Neal was talking, and after a fourth quarter in which
Bryant
took eight shots to his three, if you read between the lines then
O'Neal
wasn't too happy either.
Have you ever played that game where you add "in bed" to the end of
every
fortune you read at the end of dinner in a Chinese restaurant? It's
like
that in the Laker locker room. You can just add "Kobe" to every point
O'Neal
made in this postgame statement and you'll get his message: "We just
have to
move the ball around and use the guys we've got and look for our
mismatches
and keep taking the high-percentage shots. It's a very simple game. We
just
have to make it simple."
"Sometimes you miss 'em, sometimes you make 'em," said Bryant, who
finished
with 19 points on five-for-15 shooting from the field, nine of 10 from
the
free-throw line. "But you'll never know if you can make 'em if you
don't
shoot."
"I don't have any comment on any of those things at all," West said.
"Absolutely none. That's for them to handle. It's not for us to
handle. I
think being in a media capital like Los Angeles, it's going to
escalate
everything. Some of the stuff that's said you wish weren't said, but
it's
said and they have to deal with it.
"I work for Memphis now. I have great respect for Kobe, great respect
for
Shaquille O'Neal, two players that I know well. They've got Mitch
[Kupchak]
there, who's done an unbelievable job. That's someone that they can
reach
out to also."
West also said he has not been in contact with Bryant concerning the
allegation of rape against Bryant, citing the NBA's tampering rules
for an
executive to talk with another team's players.
"I really don't have any comment," West said. "He and I have not
talked for
months. Have not."
West said he does not think Bryant's repeated declarations that he
intends
to opt out of the last year of his contract after the season have any
bearing on Bryant's future in Los Angeles.
"I don't know why you guys make such a big deal out of it," West said.
"Any
player in the league would do the same thing because he can make more
money.
It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen people talk about. I can't
believe it.
"He can get a lot more guaranteed [money] out there, that's for sure.
I
don't even know why anyone makes a big deal out of it."
"He started his career in Los Angeles," West said. "My best guess is,
he'll
end his career in Los Angeles. That's where he made his legend, that's
where
he'll continue to make it."
It was interesting that when Bryant was asked about the Grizzlies he
said:
"Jerry did a great job of putting this team together. They have a lot
of
young talent."
West said, "We have some nice young players here." But also said "We
need to
get a great player here."
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers11nov11,1,4534634.story?coll=la-he
adlines-sports
Asked if it were simply a matter of further integration of Malone and
Payton, O'Neal shook his head.
"Nah," he said. "We just got to move the ball, take care of the
basketball.
Basketball is still basketball. Most of the players in this league are
pretty much the same. It's all about moving the ball, taking
high-percentage
shots and limiting our turnovers."
Asked if Bryant's assertive fourth quarter were by design or of his
own
initiative, Jackson said, "I wouldn't choose either of those two
options. It
was not by design and I think he just felt he had to punch it up
there. He
just doesn't have the legs now for the three-point shots he was trying
to
take, so . "
"I'm not that concerned," Jackson said. "I think he needs some
strengthening
and he needs some game conditioning and he needs to find a rhythm in
his
game."
And, of Bryant's decisions in the meantime, Jackson said, "That'll
come.
That'll come when he gets strong enough."
"You never like to lose," Malone said. "But I've been around long
enough to
know when things get tough, it's easy to say it's somebody else's
fault.
It's been 19 years now, and losing still leaves a [bad] taste in my
mouth.
It ain't ever going to change. We all can learn something from these
games
and apply it to the next one."
Asked specifically about the fourth quarter, Malone said of Bryant,
"He's a
competitor. Trying, all of that, that's who he is.
"Am I surprised he tried to do more? Not really. We've all got to
realize as
the season goes on, we can make it easier for each other. When we
realize
that, it'll be better. It's growing pains."
"It's not time now to start saying, 'This guy, that guy.' How we
bounce back
is the key."
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakerep11nov11,1,1
595042.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-nba-lakers
Payton wasn't in much of a mood to talk afterward, only confirming
that his
ankle felt fine and adding, "We're just going to play. We've just got
to
play and try to work it out."
Jackson also changed his guards' defensive responsibilities against
Memphis,
opting to have Payton or Fisher on the ball - Jason Williams, most
often -
and Bryant off it.
"I don't think it's a big deal," Bryant said. "Some nights I'll be on
the
ball, some nights I won't."
Payton and Bryon Russell have a regular game of dominoes, and now
Bryant has
shown some interest in the game, though he's not yet skilled enough to
push
Payton or Russell. Honestly, Payton said, all of the bickering has
been
"family stuff," and now everybody seems to be getting along fine, or
at
least well enough to play basketball.
"It's a picnic," he claimed, his crooked grin filling the corner of
the room
and his voice filling all of the room.
The question put to Payton, then: What happens first - Bryant learns
dominoes or Payton learns the triangle offense? Payton laughed.
"He'll learn dominoes first," he said. "That triangle might not come
until
the playoffs."
Payton taped his left ankle against the Grizzlies, one of the rare
times in
his career he'd taken such a precaution.
He said he'd never so much as sprained an ankle in 13-plus NBA seasons
before Sunday's practice, when he rolled his left ankle on Devean
George's
foot.
Jerry West, in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, on championship
motivation: "I
know Karl [Malone] and Gary are tired of hearing how they haven't won
a
championship. I know I got so tired of it that I almost didn't want to
play
anymore."
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/grizzlies/article/0,1426,MCA_475_2418980,00.html
"It reminds you a lot of last year from the all-star break until the
end of the season," Griz coach Hubie Brown said of his team’s
fast-breaking, defense-driven performance.
Hubieball — in its totality — made its first appearance of
the season as the Griz snapped a three-game losing streak.
"We got back to the way we were playing in the preseason," said
forward Pau Gasol, who led the Griz with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
"We played with a lot of energy."
"Some guys try to push him and get the foul," Tsakalidis said. "I just
played physical, tried to score and went out there and did my job."
Tsakalidis made his first start and finished with 12 points, nine
rebounds and high praise for fending off O’Neal.
"He was kind of thrown into the mix. But he did his job," Griz guard
Jason Williams said. "What more can you ask? But the key was we were
getting to the hole and creating things. And for us to get out on the
break, we’ve got to get rebounds."
"You have to give it to Memphis," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
"They played great defense, forced turnovers and we weren’t
alert and sharp."
"I think they got their money’s worth," Posey said, referring to
the fans.
"We didn’t just settle for jumpers," Miller said. "The bottom
line is we have to show teams we can go to the hole and create. We
have to get up and down and play our style."
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/sports_columnists/article/0,1426,MCA_468_2419431,00.html
Oh, yeah, and they shut up those Laker fans!
"That’s what I loved," said Lorenzen Wright. "I can’t
stand them."
Wright noticed all the purple and gold jerseys during warmups. In his
town. In Memphis.
Wright took all this in and worked himself into a not-so-silent fury.
"I was yelling during warmups," he said. "I was yelling,
‘Let’s send those Laker fans home with a frown!’"
"Tonight," said Memphis coach Hubie Brown, "is the first time
you’ve seen us put the whole thing together."
"The position that did it for us," Brown said, "was the center
position."
"It takes two," Wright said, "because that’s how big he is."