Thursday Insider

[Guest]

Are the Lakers beyond repair?

by Terry Brown

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Also Below: Crawford renews his complaints | Peep Show

Time of death: 8:15 p.m., PST, Christmas Day 2002.

"They are not close to the team we played in the playoffs," said Vlade Divac to the Sacramento Bee after the Kings defeated the three-time defending champs Wednesday night in Staples Center, 105-99. "It's much harder to play the Clippers. But if we play our game, we know we can beat anybody."

The Kings are now 23-8 and in first place atop the Pacific Division.

The Lakers are 11-19 with more loses than any other team in the Pacific Division and 11½ games behind their conquerors.

The Dallas Mavericks have an even better record than the Kings. Ten teams have a better record than the Lakers in the Western Conference alone. Twenty of the 29 teams in the NBA have a better record overall.

"I don't think he has as great of flexibility with his foot," said Phil Jackson of Shaquille O'Neal to the Orange County Register. "I don't think he'll ever have that dynamic explosiveness again."

Kobe Bryant and the Lakers are discovering that they don't intimidate anyone anymore.

Should we start the funeral pyre, now?

"There were some things philosophical I would disagree with," Jackson said of Kobe Bryant's play Wednesday night to the Press-Enterprise.

"I have philosophical differences with Phil, too," Bryant responded.

But it wasn't so much the fact that the Lakers lost another game in front of a home crowd on a nationally televised game. They lost in front of a home crowd on a nationally televised game while playing well.

"We took their best shot today," said King forward Chris Webber. "We were down 10 in the third quarter, we took their best shot. If anything, we showed that we're more composed."

"I thought the Lakers played well," Kings coach Rick Adelman said.

O'Neal scored 27 points and grabbed 17 rebounds and blocked three shots. Bryant had 27 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and two steals. Derek Fisher filled the role as third scorer with 15 points on 6 of 13 shooting. Samaki Walker nearly double-doubled with eight points and nine boards. Heck, one of the bench players nearly scored in double-figures as Devean George went 4-for-8 with a free throw.

The Lakers outrebounded the Kings 61-42 but in the end it didn't really matter.

"Tonight we played really, really well," Bryant said.

But the Lakers' ability to win games before they even start through sheer intimidation knowing that by the end of the contest they could will themselves to victory, simply isn't good enough anymore.

"For a team as qualified," Jackson said, "we're not doing the things that make basketball sense .... This is just a matter of players playing with some insecurities right now. Right now they're not confident they can do the job . . . We're just trying to eradicate a disease right now that has infected our team, and we're trying to get rid of it."

But should we call a doctor or, at this point, summon the priest?

After all the hype, Kings just play better

Ailene Voisin / Sacramento Bee

Lakers are dead men walking

Steve Bisheff / Orange County Register

Jackson, Bryant agree to disagree

Broderick Turner / Riverside Press-Enterprise

Kings for a Day, or the Kings for This Season?

J.A. Adande / Los Angeles Times

Kings Have Capital, for Now

Tim Brown / Los Angeles Times

Jackson thinks long term

Howard Beck / Los Angeles Daily News

Crawford renews his complaints

Different day. Same Bulls.

Jamal Crawford

Point Guard

Chicago Bulls

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

27 6.1 1.7 2.8 .366 .714

"I told my teammates I was sorry," said Jamal Crawford to the Chicago Tribune. "But I also told them that it could happen again."

Tell me when this starts sounding familiar.

This time -- well, it was the last time, too -- Crawford thought he wasn't getting enough playing time behind rookie favorite Jay Williams. In fact, he thought he shouldn't be getting any time behind Williams, because, well, after outplaying him in the preseason, he thought he should be playing in front of Williams.

You can substitute Tyson Chandler's name here, or Eddy Curry or Marcus Fizer or any number of players bunched up on the Chicago Bulls roster with nowhere to go but press row.

"And that situation won't go away unless Krause deals Crawford," writes K.C. Johnson, "which he has declined to do when able and repeatedly has said he won't do in the future."

It was a year ago yesterday that former head coach Tim Floyd vacated his post because of, shall we say, philosophical differences with management. After years of posting the worst record in the league, Floyd wanted to try to win with veterans. Krause, instead, wanted to develop young talent.

"Confrontation is part of basketball," Cartwright said. "Guys play at a high emotional level. Guys express themselves differently. I had an opportunity to talk to Jamal, and I told him, 'Nobody wants you to do as well as I do.' He'll learn. I'm not worried about him at all."

As a rookie, Crawford averaged 17.2 minutes per game. This season, he's averaging 17.5. In between, he averaged 20.9. Any way you look at it, he's either taking a time cut or, at best, running in place.

"I feel like nobody's really seen anything yet," Crawford said. "I'm not complaining, but I know I'm better than somebody who plays better minutes. I guess my true game will come out sooner or later."

Meanwhile, over on the court during a practice drill, backup center Dalibor Bagaric drives past assistant coach Bob Thornton for a thunderous dunk.

"How come you can't do that during a game?" Thornton yelled.

"Because I don't get to play," Bagaric snapped back.

Merry feuding, Bulls

K.C. Johnson / Chicago Tribune

Bulls looking to toughen up

Roman Modrowski / Chicago Sun-Times

Peep Show

Bobby Jackson

Guard

Sacramento Kings

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

30 19.5 4.3 3.7 .498 .859

Sacramento Kings: Bobby Jackson knows the agony of victory. After helping the Kings defeat the Lakers Wednesday night, he learned from X-rays that he had fractured a knuckle. "Shaq got me, that's what happened," Jackson told the Sacramento Bee. "How'd I get a broken knuckle? I didn't fall on the ground." Jackson was fitted for a splint with no word on when he can return to play.

New York Knicks: Patrick Ewing's No. 33 will be retired Feb. 28 during halftime of the Knicks' game with the Orlando Magic. "I am honored to have my jersey retired by this franchise," said Ewing to Newsday. "I have spent the majority of my career in New York and I will always consider myself a Knick. I will always cherish the memories that I've made in New York." Among other accomplishments, Ewing has scored more points and played more games than any player in Knicks history.

Houston Rockets: The Yao Ming bandwagon is getting crowded, the latest member being Knicks coach Don Chaney. "Unbelievable, remarkable improvement in what he's doing," Chaney told the New York Post of the 7-5 rookie. "He's improving from game to game -- not from week to week but game to game. ... When we interviewed him in Chicago, he couldn't speak one word of English. Now he's speaking English. So he's improving all around, not just one phase. He's becoming a very complete player and person."

Kerry Kittles

Shooting Guard

New Jersey Nets

Profile

2002-2003 SEASON STATISTICS

GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%

17 12.6 3.5 3.2 .491 .759

New Jersey Nets: How close is close for Kerry Kittles? "Kerry's pretty close now. He's really starting to work out pretty hard the last couple of days," New Jersey coach Byron Scott said. "He went through some things at practice yesterday. He'll go through probably a full practice tomorrow, [and] we'll see where he is. But Kerry's probably some time next week." Kittles hurt his knee Nov. 30.

Philadelphia 76ers: Kenny Satterfield has a second chance with a first rate team rather than the other way around. "The best thing about it is, I'm glad to go to a winner," Satterfield told the Philadelphia Daily News. "I'm going to try to come here and help as much as possible. There are a lot of guys around here I can learn from." Satterfield is expected to be in uniform for Saturday's game against the Jazz in Utah.

Golden State Warriors: The already lithe Antawn Jamison is going on a diet. The league's fifth-leading scorer is going to cut down on his 3-pointers. "I really made a conscious effort not to get anywhere close to the 3-point line," he told the San Francisco Chronicle. "I don't know what it is, but as soon as I cross that 3-point line, it's like I start to rush it or something," admitting that the shot has "hurt me and hurt the team." Jamison is scoring 24.5 points per game while shooting 22 percent from long range.

Now Kings must deal with Jackson's absence

Joe Davidson and Martin McNeal / Sacramento Bee

Add One More Number to Rafters: Ewing's 33

Jason Molinet / Newsday

Yao-Zah! Chaney Praises Ming

Mark Hale / New York Post

Kerry's Close To Returning To Lineup

Fred Kerber / New York Post

Newly acquired Satterfield teeming with enthusiasm

Phil Jasner / Philadelphia Daily News

Jamison about to go on a strict trey diet

Brad Weinstein / San Francisco Chronicle

Now Kings must deal with Jackson's absence

Joe Davidson and Martin McNeal / Sacramento Bee

[cyman3]

with their BENCH.

IMO, if Crawford was playing better than Williams during the preseason... the change is easy! insert Crawford as a starter instead of williams!

[Guest]

Easy? Easy?! Seriously man - with the number 2 pick and all the hype that JWill had coming out of college for TWO years, there was no way Crawford was going to get to start unless a) JWill just showed, consistently, that he wasn't ready, and b) Crawford wowed in training camp.

However, from all reports and box scores, Crawford only slightly outplayed JWill during preseason, camp, and the first few games...so they had to go with their new golden boy. It's that simple.

Krause has a lot of sway on that team and how it's run, not always for the best. It's why Floyd left and Cartwright is following in his footsteps (not playing the rooks enough) without quite the same fire - he IS playing Williams enough. Can you imagine how quickly he'd be gone if all three, Williams, Curry, and Chandler were playing less than 20 min a game and the team was losing?