April 28th: "He Has Lakers Banding Together"

 
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Phil
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:08 am    Post subject: April 28th: "He Has Lakers Banding Together"

He Has Lakers Banding Together
Wearing championship ring to remind them of possibilities, Jackson gets the team play he wants.
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
April 28, 2006

It's the time of the season when Phil Jackson slips a championship ring onto one of his fingers, a symbol of past greatness and a reminder of the possibility of future triumph.

He is now wearing his 2000 championship ring, the first of three he won as Laker coach, when a dynasty was in its infancy and potential was finally fulfilled after lingering uncomfortably for a few years.

The parallels aren't as strong with the current Lakers, who missed the playoffs last season and are seeded No. 7 in the Western Conference. But it was Jackson who wrote "15" on the locker-room board after they won in Phoenix to even their first-round series with the Suns at 1-1.

That many more victories would enable Jackson to claim another ring, and although nobody is saying that will happen this season, the increased media buzz at Thursday's Laker practice coupled with the what's-going-on quotes coming out of the Phoenix camp make one consider which way the series is tilting.
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Phil
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:10 am    Post subject:

Team effort bright spot against Suns

By KEVIN DING
The Orange County Register

EL SEGUNDO – Kobe Bryant sat behind the microphone after the Lakers' Game 2 victory Wednesday night in Phoenix and said, "Great team effort." Then he talked about "working together" and how the Lakers "played as a team."

It wasn't as interesting as breaking down an individual 81-point extravaganza. Yet as much as Bryant's personal drive was the impetus for Lakers victories early in the season, all the team talk reflects the state of the Lakers now.

It's a state of union, according to Bryant.

"The times that we played them," Bryant said Thursday, referring to games with the Phoenix Suns in the regular season, "we weren't ready to step up and play this kind of game. We're ready now. We're ready to attack them as a unit."
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Phil
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:12 am    Post subject:

Bryant Thrives With an Assist From Jackson

By Michael Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 28, 2006; Page E01

LOS ANGELES, April 27 -- Following Phil Jackson's blistering critique of the "uncoachable" Kobe Bryant in his tell-almost-all memoir, and Bryant's halfhearted response to Jackson's rehiring in a brief written statement last summer, the relationship between coach and player was expected to be an ongoing, dramatic story line for the Los Angeles Lakers. It's been just the opposite.

The two have coexisted peacefully -- at least publicly. As the season has played out -- and now in the playoffs -- the Kobe-Phil relationship no longer appears strained and has turned into a much-ado-over-nothing story. If anything, the two have worked to the betterment of each other, with Jackson relying on Bryant's expertise with his system and extraordinary offensive gifts to lift the team back into the postseason, and Bryant allowing Jackson to guide him back to his spot among the game's elite.
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Phil
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:13 am    Post subject:

On the NBA | Kobe Bryant, team player
The Lakers are in the postseason. And their biggest star's solo act is over.
By David Aldridge
Inquirer Columnist

PHOENIX - OK, all you budding Dr. Melfis, time to play junior psychologist.

Kobe Bryant's decision to change his jersey number next season from the ubiquitous, familiar 8 to 24 means... what? He's trying to leave his past behind? He thinks he's three times as good as before? He's a fan of Jack Bauer and Chloe?

No one knows, because Bryant isn't going to discuss why he's making the change until after the playoffs. We can hazard a guess, though.

Bryant made the decision before March, the deadline for players to change their numbers in time for next season. And that was when his Los Angeles Lakers looked ordinary and he looked like a soloist in a league where three-part harmony wins in June.

Now, though, the Lakers are in the postseason. And there's a sense of team that hasn't been there for a long, long time.

This may well be remembered as the year Bryant's career arc pivoted away from his stormy relationship with Shaquille O'Neal and his occasionally contentious one with Phil Jackson, away from the sexual-assault charges filed against him in 2003 (and dismissed in 2004), and toward a new, different future.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:23 am    Post subject:

Bryant's Teammates Deserve Bandwidth

By HOWARD BECK
Published: April 28, 2006

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., April 27 — It is an unfortunate consequence of the digital age that Kobe Bryant's soaring 45-degree dunk over Steve Nash will be forever embedded in QuickTime format and replayed a million times over high-speed Internet connections.


Unfortunate for the Phoenix Suns and Nash — the league's reigning most valuable player — because it was a deflating moment in their 99-93 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night.

Unfortunate for the underdog Lakers because if they pull an upset in the best-of-seven first-round series (now tied, 1-1), the temptation will be to enshrine Bryant's dunk as the signature image. That would obscure the real revelation of the series.

The Lakers, as it turns out, are not just the N.B.A.'s greatest one-man show. It seems that Bryant has teammates — albeit largely anonymous and precocious ones named Smush and Sasha, Kwame and Luke — who can play a little. But until Wednesday, the Suns might have mistaken the Lakers for the Kobe Show.
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:26 am    Post subject:

Odom Is Burning It Up
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
April 28, 2006

The keys to the Laker-Sun series were supposed to be Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, even Kwame Brown.

Lamar Odom's name was hardly mentioned, but the Laker forward is averaging 21 points, 10.5 rebounds, four assists and 63% shooting in two games.

He is also scraping the court for highlight-reel material, such as his floor-burn save of a rebound that he passed to Bryant for a dunk late in the fourth quarter of the Lakers' Game 2 victory.

"Plays like that are probably the plays that I'm most proud of as a player," Odom said. "A lot of people would think that my game is finesse and maybe sometimes weak if I don't always dunk the ball and I don't play over the rim.

"But if the ball is on the floor or going into the stands, or I have to pick somebody or have to fight with somebody, I don't mind doing it."

Odom has been a triple threat against the Suns, scoring, passing and rebounding with efficiency, perhaps propelling himself to a new level of recognition.

"People ask you who the best 15-20 players are in the NBA, my name probably won't come up in any poll," he said. "But I think everybody that I've played against in the NBA pretty much knows what I'm capable of, as far as moving from small forward to power forward to playing point forward on this team. I know what I bring every night to every team that I've been on."
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:27 am    Post subject:

Lakers: In Suns' glare, Odom shining
Overlooked Lakers forward gets attention with his play
BY ROSS SILER, Staff Writer

EL SEGUNDO - As long as Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki and Elton Brand make their home in the Western Conference, Lakers forward Lamar Odom will have to fight for recognition as an All-Star at his position.

After seven seasons as a professional, Odom has been selected for one Olympic team and invited to take part in USA Basketball's training camp this summer.

Yet he didn't even finish in the top 10 in All-Star fan voting this season.

"If people asked you who the best 15, 20 players are in the NBA, my name probably won't come up in any poll," Odom said. "But I think everybody I've played against in the NBA pretty much knows what I'm capable of."

If not, Odom made a statement in the first two games of the Lakers' first-round playoff series, outplaying Phoenix forward Shawn Marion - a three-time All-Star and one of the few players in the league whose versatility rivals Odom's.

Odom finished with 21 points on 9-of-12 shooting Wednesday night, leaving Suns coach Mike D'Antoni to say, "Lamar had a pretty amazing game."
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:30 am    Post subject:

Odom Has Been Solid All-Around

Broderick Turner

10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, April 27, 2006

EL SEGUNDO - Lamar Odom has been one of the best all-around players in the Western Conference playoff series between the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns.

Odom has scored from all spots on the floor, found open teammates and played stellar defense.

Odom's play is one of the main reasons the Lakers are tied 1-1 with the Suns in the first-round series. Game 3 is tonight at Staples Center.

Odom is averaging 21 points on a sizzling 63 percent shooting. He also is averaging 10.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game.

"If people ask who the best 15, 20 players in the NBA are, my name probably won't come up in any poll," Odom said. "But I think that everybody that I've played against in the NBA pretty much knows what I'm capable of, as far as moving from small forward to power forward to playing point-forward on this team. "

Odom has dominated All-Star Shawn Marion at times during the series.

Marion averaged 21.8 points per game during the regular season, but Odom has limited him to an average of 16 points in two games.

"The first thing you have to do to stop a player like that is keep him off the boards," Odom said. "You can't give up no easy ones to Shawn Marion. You have to stick to him. When the shot goes up, you've got to find him and put a body on him and keep him off the fast break."
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:32 am    Post subject:

Lakers' Brown accepts responsibility

No more finger-pointing

01:46 AM PDT on Friday, April 28, 2006

By BRODERICK TURNER
The Press-Enterprise

EL SEGUNDO -

They all heard how Kwame Brown blamed others for his shortcomings when he played for the Washington Wizards. They all read the stories about how Brown refused to be accountable.
2005 / The Press-Enterprise
The Lakers' Kwame Brown is averaging 13 points and 4.0 rebounds in the playoffs.

This season, Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw noticed those tendencies in Brown.

Shaw and the rest of the Lakers coaching staff had to put a stop to it.

Now, four months later, Brown finally seems to be willing to accept responsibility.

Shaw listened to Brown say things like "My arms hurts," when he dropped a pass, or "He didn't pass the ball right."

Shaw grew tired of it.

"At one point I said to him, 'It was everybody's fault in Washington,' " Shaw said. " 'Now you're here, and this is a fresh start for you. Nobody knows you here. We know that it's going to be a process, and we're willing to be patient. But you can't keep saying it's his fault. That's the same thing you said in Washington. So now, you've got to look in the mirror at some point and say, 'It's me.' "
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 7:35 am    Post subject:

One win not enough to be satisfied
BY STEVE DILBECK, Columnist

EL SEGUNDO - Easy now, guys. Don't get too pleased with yourselves. Don't go thinking you've accomplished something here.

Hey, Lakers, you've won one game. A very well played game. A hard fought and deserved playoff victory on the road in Phoenix. Congratulations.

It's just that it takes four of those to advance, and dare we even mention, 15 more for that shining gold ball.

With youth, with collective and individual playoff inexperience, there can be a tendency in these situations to get a tad too happy. To start believing you've actually got this playoff thing down.

It's not exactly that the Lakers should fear and odd overconfidence as losing their edge. Sometimes young teams can forget how hard they had to work to win. They're just get so excited.

"It's just a natural reaction," said Lakers coach Phil Jackson. "People are going to relax a little bit behind a first win. You just think you've got things solved, and you certainly don't.

"You've got to stay on it and on top of it. The Suns were within a basket (Wednesday) of making that game a heartbreak instead of a joy."
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