Lakers/Spurs quotes 12/2/03

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=211&xlc=1093440

"If we play like we played the other night," Malik Rose said, "we'll
get our butts kicked again.

"We better come out ready. They're playing super basketball."

"Nobody's going to give us any sympathy," Rose said. "Whether it's
Timmy being out, injuries, new guys, whatever — we still have to
compete. On top of all those things, everyone is aiming at us because
we're the champions."

"Teams who play championship seasons have a very difficult time
recovering and coming back and playing another level at full
strength," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said last month.

"He's a leader, a tough-ass individual," Popovich said of Malone. "He
walks the walk.

"They'll dance to his tune. It won't be the other way around." 

"It doesn't matter losing a game, losing a couple games, but we need
to play as a team," Manu Ginobili said. "Sometimes we don't share the
ball as we should. The rotations are not there. Those are the things
we have to worry about. Not playing the Lakers. Or the Clippers. Or
whoever."



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"It's been fun," O'Neal said. "Guys are working hard, hanging out.
It's
going to be a memorable year."

"It's a different group of guys," said O'Neal, whose dour periods have
generally shortened. "We're all so funny. We sit and look at each
other and
laugh at each other."

When free agents Jason Kidd and Jermaine O'Neal spurned the Spurs in
July,
and with Malone already having verbally committed to the Lakers, the
Spurs
made several calls to Malone's agent, Dwight Manley. Malone would not
bite,
though he admitted the prospect of playing beside Tim Duncan was
attractive.

"You're intrigued with certain guys," Malone said. "Playing with Shaq,
though, that's not too shabby at all.

"It worked out for the better."

O'Neal said he was looking forward to the trip.

"I love it a lot," he said. "Because it's us against the golden boys."

The Spurs? Golden boys?

Apparently, it had something to do with Duncan's being suspended for
only
one game for "pushing" a referee Saturday night in Oakland.

"If I'd have done that," O'Neal said, "I would have got 10 games."

Fox said Tuesday he simply wanted to help.

"Honestly, this is the biggest challenge," he said, pointing to his
left
foot. "When and where he plays me, how he plays me, that is not an
issue for
me."

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Even opposing teams' scouts take pleasure in watching the Lakers use
the
entire floor and the entire roster to score.

"I love it," advance scout Gene Littles of the Seattle SuperSonics
said. "I
love it."

"Right now, the Lakers and Sacramento are the two best passing teams
in
basketball," Indiana Pacer Coach Rick Carlisle said. " I never thought
anybody could ever rival what Sacramento does, but the Lakers are
right
there. Their sharing of the ball and their scoring off a lot of cuts,
things
like that, it's making them very hard to play.

"They're also very deep, and they've become a better transition team
too. So
there's a lot more situations you've got to deal with, along with a
couple
of extra great players."

"A lot of guys feel they're open in this game and the [feeling] is, if
I'm
open, it must be a good shot," Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. "Whether
it's
at the three-point line or inside, it must be a good shot, I'm open.
But the
rules of the game and the dictates and the momentum of the game and
the way
the game is played [demonstrate] that the rhythm has to be
established,
which is probably what dictates good shots beyond anything else."

When Kobe Bryant checks out the struggling teams around the league, he
comes
away with one impression.

"They look young," he said. "They really do."

"It's increased drastically," Bryant said. "You can see my
explosiveness
isn't there, but I can still be just as effective. That just comes
from
knowledge of the game, understanding of the game and how to use other
players out there on the floor."

"You play with a guy like that, it's contagious," Malone said. "You
get to
the point that you want to pass. I don't mind scoring. It seems like,
over
the years, when everything is behind the back, between the legs with
the
basketball, people are starting to appreciate the pass a lot more than
even
the basket.

"You've got to want to [pass]. You've got to say, 'Yeah, I want to
score,
but I want to pass as well.' "

"He's just having fun, smiling, laughing," Littles observed. "I've
never
seen him that way. All the years they won in Utah - they won a lot of
games - but here he just seems to be having fun."

Shaquille O'Neal can go an entire half without a field goal, as was
the case
against San Antonio on Friday night, and not brood during timeouts.
"When
you're up by 20, 25 points it doesn't matter," he said.

"It's a well-balanced attack," Bryant said. "Everybody's a feature
focus in
our offense. Everybody's a threat. It hasn't been like that since I've
been
here. It's really tough for teams to play."


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"It could have," Malone said Tuesday, before the Lakers embarked on a
trip to San Antonio and Dallas.

In fact, a Spurs-Malone marriage easily could have happened. 

"Everything pointed toward it," Malone said. "It would have been
closer to home (Arkansas), more outdoorsy, so to speak. So, oh yeah, I
would definitely say that they had the upper hand in the beginning.
But as I met with Mitch (Kupchak) and everything, I realized what the
Lakers were doing, and they (the Spurs) were going in a different
direction. And I accepted that."

"Coach Pop (Gregg Popovich) was very honest with me," Malone said.
"And then they got more aggressive at the end, instead of the
beginning. ... If they would have came at me a little harder, it
probably would be a little different. But it didn't. And it worked out
for the better here."

The Mavericks, who reportedly had tried to trade for Malone several
times in the past, virtually ignored him.

"I was very surprised. ... They wanted a guy, I guess, that didn't
(disrupt) the locker room," Malone said with a grin.

"He's got such a big body that he can hold the post, and that's really
important," coach Phil Jackson said. "And then he's got speed, and if
he has to play off him and come back to him in a screen-roll, he's
quick enough to recover."


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"Obviously the Spurs will be extremely intolerant of us coming to
town," Derek Fisher said. "We put it on them here at home and we had a
tough game with them there without their key personnel. So it'll be a
great contest, a good game, probably better than the one we had here
on Friday night, and we're all looking forward to it."

The Spurs are struggling, having lost their third in a row Monday to
the lowly Clippers.

"I definitely don't feel sorry for them," Malone said. "Better them
going through it than us."

http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=69671&section=SPORTS&subsection=PRO&year=2003&month=12&day=3

"We know what this month ahead of us is - a lot of open opportunities
on our home court, light travel schedule," Jackson said.

"It's an opportunity for us to step ahead and really get a lead on
some teams that are right behind us - Sacramento, etc. We want to make
the most of this month, and this trip stands as one of the obstacles
to really having a great month."

Forward Karl Malone called the next two games "unbelievable tests." 

"Good teams bounce back from adversity," Malone said, "and I'm sure
they will."