April 22nd: "Lakers: Brown, Odom get ready for big time" "Kobe Plans to Get His Shots " "Redemption for Kwame?"

 
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Phil
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:47 am    Post subject: April 22nd: "Lakers: Brown, Odom get ready for big time" "Kobe Plans to Get His Shots " "Redemption for Kwame?"

Lakers: Brown, Odom get ready for big time
BY ROSS SILER, Staff Writer

EL SEGUNDO - One arrived with a shell-shocked look in the aftermath of the Shaquille O'Neal trade. The other was in desperate need of a fresh start in a new city, his name almost ruined in NBA circles.

It is important to remember, after all, the circumstances with which Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown came to the Lakers before considering how far they can prove they have come in the playoffs against the Phoenix Suns.

After so often comparing playing for the Lakers to playing for his hometown New York Yankees, Odom finally has the chance to live up to the standard he set for himself as the featured player acquired in return for O'Neal.

Brown, meanwhile, has the chance to put what happened in the first round of last year's playoffs - when the former No. 1 overall pick was suspended by the Washington Wizards - in the past once and for all.

"It's big just to finish (the playoffs)," Brown said. "My playoffs were very short-lived last year. But the excitement was still there. So hopefully I can feel that excitement much longer this time."

As much as the playoffs will be about Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson for the Lakers, they also will be about Odom and Brown, both of whom finished the regular season impressively and will play crucial roles in the first round.


Last edited by Phil on Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:53 am; edited 2 times in total
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Phil
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:52 am    Post subject:

Kobe Plans to Get His Shots

Broderick Turner

10:00 PM PDT on Friday, April 21, 2006

EL SEGUNDO - Despite the Lakers' plan to attack the Suns inside in their first-round playoff series, there was no suggestion that it would mean fewer shots for Kobe Bryant.

But, Bryant was told, Coach Phil Jackson said it would be better if Bryant didn't average 45 points in the best-of-seven series that starts Sunday in Phoenix.

"First of all, that sounds crazy," Bryant said of the number. "Seriously."

He rolled his eyes.

"Obviously we want to be able to read their defense and figure out ways to attack it with Kwame (Brown) and Lamar (Odom) ... and then me picking my spots and taking over the game," Bryant said Friday.

Jackson talked about how Bryant didn't shoot a high percentage against the Suns, particularly in the three losses this season.

But Bryant shot 45.8 percent from the field against the Suns -- 46.3 percent in the losses. He averaged 42.5 points in four games.

Redemption for Kwame?

In many ways, Brown is looking for redemption in the playoffs.

When he played for the Washington Wizards last year, Brown was suspended during the playoffs and missed the last seven games.

Brown said he missed a practice because he was sick. Turned out Brown admitted he wasn't sick; he was upset with Coach Eddie Jordan for not playing him and teammate Gilbert Arenas for allegedly encouraging Jordan.

Brown's actions paved his way out of Washington in a trade last summer.

"I do think that he's extremely keyed up for it," Jackson said of the playoff series. "He knows that there is a lot of pressure on him."

Brown has been playing well, averaging 12.8 points and 8.6 rebounds this month while shooting 56.7 percent. But he has struggled against the Suns, averaging five points on 34.7-percent shooting.
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Phil
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:55 am    Post subject:

With right inside man, Lakers aim to steal series

FIRST-ROUND PLAYOFFS: LA plans to attack the Suns in the post, with Brown, Odom and Kobe.

12:41 AM PDT on Saturday, April 22, 2006

By BRODERICK TURNER
The Press-Enterprise

EL SEGUNDO - The theme for the Lakers in their first-round playoff series against the Phoenix Suns?
AP photo
Coach Phil Jackson spliced scenes from "Inside Man" into the Lakers' game film.

Pulling off a heist.

The subplot deals with how the Lakers hope to accomplish this feat: by going inside.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson laid it all out for the Lakers during a film session, with clips from the movie "Inside Man" spliced into game clips.

It is a ploy Jackson always turns to during the playoffs, partly to lighten the mood during laborious film sessions and partly to get his points across.

"Inside Man" is about a bank robbery in which the robbers actually get away with the goods. By bringing their best effort, the Lakers hope to pull an upset in taking the best-of-seven Western Conference playoff series that begins Sunday in Phoenix.

"Hopefully we can steal the series," forward Lamar Odom said Friday. "No one has us picked."
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Phil
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:57 am    Post subject:

Bell won't back down from Bryant
By Jerry Brown, Tribune
April 22, 2006
In reality, Raja Bell has proven his NBA worth. He's earned a long-term, guaranteed contract. He's a starter and leader on a 54-win team. He's in the midst of the best season in a career that continues on the ascent.
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But in his own mind, once Bell steps on the court against Kobe Bryant — actually, the process begins long before game time — none of that matters. He's still on a 10-day contract in Philadelphia, still playing for his life, still feeding a need to prove he belongs.

Mentally, Bell is transported to 2001, when, in the space of a few months, he went from playing pickup ball against weekend warriors to locking horns with Bryant and the Lakers in the NBA Finals. He was on a wire, with no safety net and the eyes of the world upon him.

That sense of desperation, discomfort and the need to prove himself — specifically to his highly decorated opponent — continue to be Bell's best weapons against Bryant. That won't change Sunday as the two meet in the playoffs for the first time since Bryant pushed the Lakers past the 76ers for the championship.

"At that point, the only way I was going to play in the playoffs was to get out there and get in somebody's (face)," Bell said in an interview before the Suns met the Lakers in Phoenix on April 7. "He was my job. I think people blew it out of proportion because it wasn't personal for me, and I don't think I was on his radar.

"Since then, we've had some pretty heated physicals. . . so I would tend to think he knows me now."
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:59 am    Post subject:

He Could Also Try `Interiors'
By Mike Bresnahan, Times Staff Writer
April 22, 2006

It has been a Phil Jackson specialty over the years, inserting movie scenes into game film to lighten up moods and get across a point or two come playoff time.

He hasn't gone back to the well yet with "Shrek," which he used before the Lakers' improbable Game 5 victory over San Antonio in 2004, but the Laker coach interspersed clips of "Inside Man," a Denzel Washington film with a bank-heist plot chosen by Jackson more for its symbolic name as the Lakers prepare for Phoenix.

The Lakers are hoping to slow the Suns by pounding the ball inside to Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm if he's healthy enough, Lamar Odom at times, and even Luke Walton and Kobe Bryant.

"That's how we're going to play," Odom said. "We're going to go inside and get the job done."

Of course, "Inside Man" is still in theaters and not exactly available for public use, which led Odom to smile when a reporter lightheartedly used the word "stolen" to describe how the Lakers might have obtained it.

"Hopefully we can steal a series," Odom said, "because [probably] nobody has us picked to win."

The Lakers are 1-7 against the Suns the last two seasons, their lone victory taking place last Sunday as Sun guards Steve Nash and Raja Bell (combined output: 33.5 points and 13.1 assists) sat out.

The Lakers don't seem overly concerned, paying respect to the team that won nine more games than they did but also insisting there's no lack of confidence.

"I don't think we have any trouble with that," Jackson said. "We're not at all doubting ourselves."

They think they can beat the Suns?
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 7:01 am    Post subject:

NBA's smaller players bringing big games
Gradual changes in the rules have helped them come to dominate.
By David Aldridge
Inquirer Staff Writer

LeBron James has been blessed with an adult's body since he was, oh, 12 years old. He also had the good fortune of being born at the right time.

Making his human debut Dec. 30, 1984, James escaped the punishment that was doled out in NBA arenas in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The grabbing, pushing, shoving - and occasional punching - that was a part of the pro game then was mostly gone by the time James turned pro.

If he'd played in the '80s or '90s, "I'd probably have to be in the weight room at least five times a week," the Cleveland Cavaliers' prodigy said last week.

"I do some weight work now, but with those [fouls] back in the day, you come to the hole and [if] you're scoring easily, you're going to feel it," he said. "I'd have to have a whole different mind-set."

Indeed. As the NBA playoffs begin today, the league looks quite different than it did just a few years ago. The pro game, by design, is in the midst of transitioning itself to being dominated more and more by smaller, quicker players.

For the first time in 24 years, and just the sixth time in league history, three players - the Lakers' Kobe Bryant (35.4 points per game), the 76ers' Allen Iverson (33 ppg.) and James (31.4 ppg.) - averaged better than 30 points a game.

They were closely trailed by Washington's Gilbert Arenas (29.3) and Miami's Dwyane Wade (27.2).
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