A Little Less Contempt on Court

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Perhaps it's the passage of time, or lack thereof, that makes Kobe-Shaq IV seem less heralded than its predecessors, almost as if it sneaked up without warning, posing as just "another game on the schedule," as the main participants would have you believe.

Only 22 days have passed since the last time the Lakers and Miami Heat saw each other, hardly enough time to pad the hyperbole when compared with the 107 days between meetings last season.

Each team has dealt with its own reality of late ? the up-and-down Lakers are 20-17 and a game behind last season's 21-16 start, and the good-but-not-dominant Heat is fully aware that the Detroit Pistons aren't about to flutter at its feet ? all of which makes tonight's game more of a break from other distractions than a distraction itself.

"I don't think it's a story," Kobe Bryant said matter-of-factly. "The guy's in Miami. Who the hell cares anymore? You know what I mean?

"He's down there doing his thing, we're doing our thing here. It's a basketball game."

As for "the guy's" thoughts?

"I don't know what's going to happen and I don't care," Shaquille O'Neal said. "It is one of 82. I don't look at it as a do-or-die game to me. It doesn't mean anything."

They might be right, or they might be in denial, but Staples Center will be filled just the same, curious to see if the Lakers will win for the first time in four tries against the Heat since O'Neal was traded.

If Christmas Day in Miami was any indication, the Lakers are in the same ballpark.

Lamar Odom missed an open three-point shot with 41.9 seconds left and Bryant was well short on one with 2.9 seconds to play, and the Lakers lost, 97-92.

That Gary Payton scored 21 points was surprising; that he engaged in a trash-talking dialogue with Odom throughout the second half was not. Odom was so incensed afterward that he had to be pulled back from going after Payton at halfcourt.

Odom later used the phrase "extremely disrespectful" six times to describe what Payton had said, calling his words "horrible, atrocious ? but that's the way it is."

Reminded that they'll be sharing the same court tonight, Odom curdled.

"Don't ask me about that," Odom said. "It's nothing. It's nothing. He's a little dude anyway."

Payton, who called the earlier exchanges "having fun on the court," seemed to have forgotten whom he was having fun with.

"Me and Lamar Odom?" he said to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "I'm not even thinking about it. I don't have a rivalry with him. I don't care. It's over with. They're talking about it too much as it is. I've got nothing to do with that guy. It's over with me."</div>

Source

Shaq's new official nickname is "the guy"

 

I think both players have the past behind them for the most part, I think the media needs to let them put it completely behind them.

I don't care if they embrace or not, if they do, Good. If they don't, oh well, it's their choice.