After a day off on Saturday, the Los Angeles Lakers had a full practice on Sunday in preparation for a new year of games. In the upcoming week, the Lakers host the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, and ‘travel’ to face the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday.
Not surprisingly, not a single question was directed at Tuesday’s opponents, the Philadelphia 76ers. Instead, the only opponents the media was interested in discussing were the Los Angeles Clippers.
When discussing the Clippers, head coach Mike D’Antoni put the cross-town rivals in the same sentence with Oklahoma City and Miami, last season’s NBA finalists. D’Antoni went onto say, “They’re real good, and they’re having a great streak.” He continued, “They’re kind of setting the bar of where we got to get to.”
Lakers star Kobe Bryant was also asked about the Clippers. He went in-depth about the Clippers’ bench, voicing his respect for Jamaal Crawford. Bryant likened the Clippers’ scoring sixth man to James Harden with the Oklahoma City Thunder last season. Bryant also made a point to express his love and respect for former Lakers Lamar Odom and Matt Barnes, who are both contributing members of this season’s Clippers.
However, when asked if he wanted the Clippers to extend their winning streak into Friday’s game so that the Lakers could snap the streak, Bryant responded, “I really don’t give a s#&@.”
That ended the Clippers talk at Lakers practice for Sunday.
With the game only a week away, talking about the Los Angeles Clippers should grow more tiresome than talking about Steve Nash did shortly after D’Antoni took the Lakers’ job.
With five more days until the Lakers and Clippers lace ‘em up, this is just the beginning.
