The Los Angeles Lakers held shootaround in Boston ahead of their match up against the Boston Celtics, and Nick Young was present. He will not be on site during Friday night’s game due to a skirmish that took place in Phoenix, but Young was available to talk on Friday morning.
Due to that incident, Young and his Lakers teammates sat down for a heart-to-heart on how to handle a similar situation in the future. Young was not asking his teammates to come out swinging, but supporting teammates on the court is an unwritten rule in basketball.
"Nobody wants to get beat up on national TV," Young explained at the shootaround. “We all know what to do now in situations like that. Once we talked, we aired everything out. We’re all good.”
Kendall Marshall, who was photographed simply watching the incident from the outside, was apologetic about his post-game comments and understood that he should have come to his teammate’s defense. On Friday, Marshall took some blame.
For players like Marshall and Ryan Kelly, the skirmish and the aftermath are part of the NBA learning experience. Kelly is a rookie and Marshall is a second-year player. To be a part of a team in the NBA, there are certain unwritten rules. One of those rules states that defending teammates against the opponents is not an optional activity.
Even if Marshall and Kelly were not in the business of throwing punches--which they are not--their place on the floor required them to get involved and even out the situation. That did not happen on Wednesday, and it sounded like everyone learned a lesson.
Since there is a game to play in Boston, Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni answered the only question that had any relevance on the game that will go forward. The Lakers will stick with the same starting five that came out last game.
Pau Gasol, Jordan Hill, Wesley Johnson, Jodie Meeks and Marshall will start for the Lakers at the Celtics.
