Playoff Fever at Staples? Don't Bet On It I'm not sure it'll get any more exciting than this for Laker fans, playoff basketball Monday at Staples Center, Utah and Los Angeles going head to head for that all-important eighth spot. Goose bumps! It's 5:30, two hours before game time, and Craig Hodges, the old Craig Hodges who used to play for the Chicago Bulls, is warming up. I'd feel a lot better if it were one of the Lakers who is going to play in tonight's game. This might be Devean George's only chance to make a basket. -- Los Angeles Times The Experience Is Wearing Thin During his first season as coach of the Chicago Bulls, Phil Jackson had three rookies on the roster in Stacey King, B.J. Armstrong and Jeff Sanders, each of them a first-round draft pick of general manager Jerry Krause. But Jackson said he couldn't remember ever dressing four rookies for a game, as he has with Andrew Bynum, Von Wafer, Devin Green and Ronny Turiaf the Lakers' past three games. "You have to sometimes play inexperienced players in need situations," Jackson said. "If we're playing Devean George as a guard, playing Luke Walton as a guard, that's OK. Our offense can stand that and work with that. But defensively, it does hurt us a little bit at times." -- Los Angeles Daily News Kwame's Game Is Jekyll and Hyde Phil Jackson was asked if he was surprised that Kwame Brown's game could be so drastically different from one night to another. "No, I wasn't surprised," Jackson said, raising his voice as he talked. "I wish I could count on Kwame for more consistency. But that's like the alter ego. He was the Jekyll tonight and Hyde on Saturday, or whatever. Which was the mad scientist in that group?" When told that Hyde was the bad person, Jackson laughed and walked away. He didn't have to explain. -- Riverside Press-Enterprise
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Rumor Central: Lakers dealing Lamar Odom to NY?</div> -ESPN.com Is this link on ESPN what you've already posted here?
