<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">The Lakers moved into damage-control mode Monday, with Chucky Atkins insisting he harbored no ill will toward Kobe Bryant, and Bryant insisting Atkins' critical comments were a non-issue, and Coach Frank Hamblen musing that a little controversy hasn't always been such a bad thing for the franchise. As the Lakers hovered in 10th place in the Western Conference, three losses from a team-record 11th consecutive defeat, there were attempts to repair the fractures of a splintering season a day after Atkins created one of the deepest fissures yet. Atkins, who critically referred to Bryant as the team's general manager on Sunday, blamed the media for distorting his words and said Bryant was a friend, denying the thrust of a conversation before Sunday's game against the Philadelphia 76ers that began with one reporter in front of Atkins' locker and grew loud enough to draw the attention of others.</div> Source
