The Los Angeles Lakers got back to work on Thursday following an embarrassing defeat to the Los Angeles Clippers.
"We'll see how they respond tomorrow," Lakers coach Byron Scott said. "That's the biggest thing is how they respond--not necessarily how they respond in practice--but how they respond for the next game. After you get your brains beat out physically, where a team just dominates you, it's always interesting to see how you react the next game."
The Lakers trailed by as many as 43 points on Wednesday, and Scott repeatedly referred to his team as "soft" after the contest.
"It's almost like walking up to another man and slapping him," Scott said when asked about how insulting it was to be called "soft" as a basketball player. "I was looking at a team that was just having a good time at our expense, and we had nobody out there to do anything about it."
Scott said Ronnie Price's absence due to the flu hurt the team tremendously. Scott said, "[Price] is really the guy that dictates how we play defensively."
Luckily for the Lakers, Price returned to practice on Thursday and appeared in line to play on Friday. However, the point guard will need to wear a mask to protect his nose.
"I hate it. I hate this thing. It's the worst," Price couldn't contain his animosity toward the mask. "It protects me, but it's not very comfortable from a point guard standpoint when you got this thing sitting right here on your face, but I got to get used to it."
Price said he kept the mask on during the whole practice to grow accustomed to the feeling, but he was hopeful that his time with the mask would be short-lived. With regards to sitting out, Price made it clear that a 103-degree fever had forced the point guard to miss Wednesday's game. He would not be missing any time due to the broken nose or the 11 stitches that came with it.
Although Price completed practice, Nick Young sat out the session with a sore knee. Young said he slipped, fell and hurt his knee in the second quarter of Wednesday's game. He considered his status to be day-to-day, but the shooting guard was hopeful of playing Friday night against the Orlando Magic at Staples Center.
Ever the optimist, even Young had a difficult time not sounding down when talking about the recent defeat. "Embarrassing" was the word Young used to describe the loss to the Clippers.
Young added, "We can't continue to hang our heads."
Note: Kobe Bryant did not practice (rest)
