Lakers/Pacers quotes 11/29/03

http://www.indystar.com/articles/2/097779-9982-036.html

All this fuss over just one game seems like overkill to Indiana Pacers
forward Jermaine O'Neal.

"We understand it's a long season and we're only 16 games in," O'Neal
said. "We don't want to pull out the champagne bottles right now. But
for us to get the respect we think we should get, we have to go out
and beat some of these Western Conference teams.

"We've always been a team on the outside looking in and we're tired of
looking in. We want to be the last team standing, the team that
everybody's talking about."

"I don't see it as a statement. I see it as another game," Ron Artest
said.

"It's going to be a true test to see where we're really at," Al
Harrington said. "If we go out and win most of these games, we'll be
sitting pretty good and our confidence will be there. It will let the
whole league know we're a good team and we're ready to get after it."

"It's the Lakers, man," Anderson said in his trademark thick New York
accent. "They're the cats that everyone else gets compared to. They're
the measuring stick for the rest of the teams in this league and
everybody knows that.

"But what I think is even more important than that is how we handle
the challenge. This is all really about us, how we're going to respond
to the challenge. We've been playing so well, it's time to see who's
going to try and knock us down and how we're going to respond to being
knocked down."

You'll have to forgive Carlisle, though, for not getting caught up in
the hype.

"It's certainly going to be a gauge for us," he said of the game
against the Lakers. "Not to take anything away from what we've done to
this point, but there's really nothing (less) significant than your
record in November in my mind.

"We're playing this season to go into the playoffs and have playoff
success. Good starts are great, but being able to sustain is more
important."

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusspt/apmegasports11-29-163826.asp?id=13&spt=nba

''To make it eight (in a row) would be great and that's our plan,''
Pacers coach Rick
Carlisle said. ''We're going out there to win.''
 
 

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakerep30nov30,1,2
315940.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-nba-lakers

"This is the first year we've run this type of a break [in Los
Angeles],"
Jackson said.

"I've used it with other teams, but I probably haven't used it in 10
years.
I thought with Gary's ability to push the ball, as forceful as he is,
it
would give the other players more space to operate."

The key to making the break work, Jackson said, is a quick outlet pass
from
either a rebound or an out-of-bounds play.

"Karl is great at that, having played all those years with [John]
Stockton.
Shaq has been great at throwing the outlet pass."

"We have guys who like to pass the ball. And Karl and Gary have really
helped players who like to play off the ball," Jackson said. "When you
have
movement, and guys know they're going to get the ball if they're open,
it
can accelerate things."

"Phil has told me to push the ball," Payton said. "Now that everyone's
seeing what I'm doing, everybody's getting to spots. What I tell them
is,
'Get open and I'll find you.' Kobe's getting a picture of it now,
Devean's
doing the same thing and Karl's always running.

"Now they're all 'reading' me. If I go real deep into the defense,
then they
stay out. If I'm at the top of the key, slowing down, they know to
keep
running. We're starting to get a real good feel for each other, and
it's
been good for us."

In 16 games the Lakers have averaged 12.75 fastbreak points a night.
They
have scored as many as 27 fastbreak points (against Washington) and as
few
as five (against Detroit). Neither Phoenix nor Miami scored a
fastbreak
point against Los Angeles while the Lakers had eight and 14,
respectively.

"Michael Cooper could take people out, [James Worthy] would do the
same, and
Byron Scott got the easy outside shot," Payton said. "Kurt Rambis was
good
at [the break] too. If Kurt and them were open, Magic would get them
the
ball.

"I'm trying to bring it back to that."

"Artest is a very strong, physical player who's had some success
[guarding]
Kobe in the past," Jackson said. "I think you have to honor him as a
defensive player. But ... there's always a level where a defensive
player is
troubled. Sometimes it's off the ball rather than on the ball. There's
always a way to beat somebody, and you have to pick that."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-adande30nov30,1,4118719.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-nba-lakers

"I wanted to put distance between myself and every center," O'Neal
said. "I think I've done that on a basketball level. But on a
real-life level, I never understood why [Mourning] came back after
something so life-threatening. The game doesn't become so important.
But some guys stress winning so much that that's all they know. He's
one of those guys that always wanted to win. But he has a beautiful
wife, beautiful kids, he should enjoy that…. When it's all said
and done, nothing's more important than that."

O'Neal, on the possibility of hip-hop moguls Jay-Z and Sean Combs
(a.k.a. "P. Diddy" and "Puffy") buying NBA teams, as both have
expressed interest in doing:

"I think it would be good having rappers own teams to showcase their
business talents. I think [Commissioner David] Stern, he's probably
going to stay away from young, energetic billionaires. He likes
[Dallas Maverick owner] Mark Cuban, but I'm sure he doesn't want
another Mark Cuban. He probably wants an old, analog billionaire,
rather than a new, digital billionaire.

"This game is just so old in its ways, it's going to take a miracle
for it to change."

The Gary Payton Foundation distributed 200 Thanksgiving dinners at the
Challenger Boys and Girls Club.

"This is very important to me, because I'm trying to give back to the
kids, the needy kids," Payton said. "I grew up in the streets of
Oakland, which is … not that great….

"Some people don't have an opportunity to go buy a turkey or canned
goods or dressing or pies. My opportunity is to come back to these
kinds of neighborhoods and help the people who need help."

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/wire/sns-ap-bkn-malones-feat,1,2788497.story?coll=sns-ap-lakers-headlines

"I'm glad to be here," said Malone, the second-leading scorer in NBA
history. "Hopefully they're glad to have me."

"He is a great passing forward," Payton said. "He rebounded the
basketball and made points and he passed the ball really well. He did
a great job."

"We have a full thrust. Last year, it was a 1-2 punch. This year, it's
just a wave. And that's how we play," Bryant said. "I mean, it's not
only myself, Karl, Gary and Shaquille. It's also Devean George,
because he's featured in our offense."

"These games we've got now are a big test for us," Malone said. "We've
got another big one Sunday."

The Pacers have won eight straight games overall, and they're 7-0 away
from Indianapolis -- the only team that's unbeaten on the road this
season.

"They've got to come see us," Bryant said. "They're playing extremely
well, and we're playing extremely well, so we're going to fight fire
with fire and see what's what."

George said he very much looked forward to the game. 

"The Beast of the East," he said of the Pacers. "We're waiting for
them."

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~29583~1799640,00.html

"Oldest player in NBA history with a triple-double," Rambis shouted to
Karl Malone as he went into the Lakers' locker room after practice
Saturday.

"Yeah, that's because I'm still playing," Malone shouted back at
Rambis, 45, who retired in 1995 and is a Lakers assistant coach.

"I get that all the time from Kurt," Malone added. "It's nothing new."

"Karl is a real professional. He does everything he has to do to play
without a complaint," Lakers trainer Gary Vitti said.

"It's the first time I went into a season that I wasn't thinking about
30 points a game. I was just thinking about doing whatever it takes to
help us win," Malone said. "Even though in Utah (the offense) often
went through me a lot, I like this as well because when I don't have
the ball I can cut and do some other things. ... I think that in the
flow of the triangle, I get more opportunities to pass the basketball
because I handle the ball a lot more."

Malone never averaged more than 3.3 assists in his first seven
seasons, but said playing with future Hall of Fame point guard John
Stockton has rubbed off on him.

"Playing with a guy like that a lot of years, it's contagious. You get
to the point where you want to pass," he said. "You have to look to
score and pass to be a good passer."

Shaquille O'Neal went through morning practice and said he felt "fine"
a day after playing for the first time in a week.

"Shaq didn't want to leave the floor today, understandably," Rick Fox
said.

Fox played in his first five-on-five full-court scrimmage since having
surgery to repair a torn tendon in his left foot seven months ago.

"I made shots and that's a good sign. I was more concentrated on
running up and down and trying to speed up the activity level, change
directions, stop and go, deceleration, acceleration," he said. "But
yeah, I'm encouraged."

"Devean (George) and Kobe (Bryant) are the two primary guys who run
and your two lane runners have to be the force that's behind
transition. But Gary's been out ahead of those guys many times during
the course of the year," Jackson said.

"I've shown some tape of them lagging behind when they're supposed to
be 10-15 feet ahead. Once you get those guys ahead, then the lane
opens up for the guys going down the middle of the court. Right now
they can jam it up because there's nobody out there on the wing that's
a threat."

http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=69269&section=SPORTS&subsection=PRO&year=2003&month=11&day=30

"They're starting to pick it up," Jackson said of his players and the
new fast-break style. "All of them."

The strategy is for Karl Malone or Shaquille O'Neal to grab the
defensive rebound and hit Payton with an immediate outlet pass.

"Karl is great at that, having played with (John) Stockton all those
years," Jackson said. "Shaq has not been great at that."