Gold Tooth Carl
12-27-2010, 05:41 PM
EL SEGUNDO — The Lakers needed a good practice to gear themselves up for one of the biggest games of their season (http://www.ocregister.com/sports/lakers-281671-season-game.html) Tuesday night in San Antonio.
They could use someone from their bench to perform consistently at AT&T Center, and that’s a strong possibility after the reserves beat the starters — including Kobe Bryant, who doesn’t often practice — in the scrimmage Monday afternoon. Ron Artest, one of the starters, came away with a small cut and swelling under his right eye, but he said he didn’t recall how it happened.
Bryant did step into practice once last week also, but Phil Jackson noted that Bryant’s presence in practice was as much of a statement as anything about his level of seriousness after the Lakers’ past two lopsided losses at Staples Center. Bryant chastised his teammates (http://www.ocregister.com/sports/triple-281662-double-fall.html) for lack of focus after the loss Saturday to Miami.
“That in itself was a little bit different,” said Jackson, who added about Bryant: “He just went out and played hard.”
About the practice session, Jackson said: “They got feisty with each other. That’s good.” About the reserves winning, Jackson said it was “always kind of fun” when that happens.
http://lakers.ocregister.com/2010/12/27/kobe-joins-scrimmage-but-bench-wins-anyway/45624/
They could use someone from their bench to perform consistently at AT&T Center, and that’s a strong possibility after the reserves beat the starters — including Kobe Bryant, who doesn’t often practice — in the scrimmage Monday afternoon. Ron Artest, one of the starters, came away with a small cut and swelling under his right eye, but he said he didn’t recall how it happened.
Bryant did step into practice once last week also, but Phil Jackson noted that Bryant’s presence in practice was as much of a statement as anything about his level of seriousness after the Lakers’ past two lopsided losses at Staples Center. Bryant chastised his teammates (http://www.ocregister.com/sports/triple-281662-double-fall.html) for lack of focus after the loss Saturday to Miami.
“That in itself was a little bit different,” said Jackson, who added about Bryant: “He just went out and played hard.”
About the practice session, Jackson said: “They got feisty with each other. That’s good.” About the reserves winning, Jackson said it was “always kind of fun” when that happens.
http://lakers.ocregister.com/2010/12/27/kobe-joins-scrimmage-but-bench-wins-anyway/45624/