If Phil's correct, these Lakers have gotten their proper 8 hours of sleep
The amount of players hanging in front of their lockers before the game was considerably fewer than normal, so there's not much to report in the way of Laker roster folk news. Save a brief convo with Trevor Ariza (who'll be getting another update about his foot's status on Friday), didn't really see anyone around for more than a brief hey. I guess they put on their "game faces" on in the back rooms during the postseason. But Phil Jackson did his usual pregame chat with us scribe types and as usual, he wasn't hurting for one liners. When asked about his past observation that these Laker squads don't play well in early games, Phil quickly responded with, "No, Shaq's in Phoenix now."
Cue laughter.
PJ elaborated further. "There's some guys who just can't to bed at night. He was one of those guys." And Jackson feels that, for the most part, this crew doesn't suffer from the same night owl tendencies. He also talked about the difference in mindset of this team heading into the playoffs compared to the previous two seasons. Whether better health, the presence and influence of Derek Fisher, or the increased comfort of a guy like Vlad Radmanovic, Phil feels pretty confident these boys are considerably more ready to rock and roll during playoff basketball.
By the way, for those wondering, I only got about six and half hours of good sleep. We'll see if there are any adverse effects felt on the blog.
Phil Jackson: Download phil_jackson_denver_1pregame.mp3
Inactive Lakers: Trevor Ariza, Andrew Bynum, Coby Karl
Inactive Nuggets: Taureen Green, Bobby Jones
AK
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From ESPN
"The Denver Nuggets' bus caught on fire en route to their game with the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Half the team was on the bus, including players Marcus Camby, J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza.
No one was hurt but the players were on the side of the road awaiting the team's second bus.
The team was driving to the game on the Santa Monica freeway when the driver noticed smoke. When he pulled over, he noticed the bus was on fire."
Posted by: LAKER TRUTH | April 20, 2008 at 12:00 PM
The Denver Bus fire is symbolic of their playoff hopes going down in flame.
Posted by: LAKER TRUTH | April 20, 2008 at 12:01 PM
anybody got the game link?
Posted by: JusmanX | April 20, 2008 at 12:03 PM
Take some no doz AK....we need you out there lol.
Posted by: Faith | April 20, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Van Gundy sucks. Someone please fire that tool.
Posted by: J.W. Weatherman | April 20, 2008 at 12:07 PM
We'd better bring the defense todfay because the Nuggets are coming HOT
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3355619
Posted by: j. d. hastings | April 20, 2008 at 12:08 PM
We'd better bring the defense todfay because the Nuggets are coming in HOT
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3355619
Posted by: j. d. hastings | April 20, 2008 at 12:08 PM
Any link please????
Posted by: FrenchFan | April 20, 2008 at 12:18 PM
Lovin the effort right now!
Posted by: Faith | April 20, 2008 at 12:19 PM
Posted by: LAKER TRUTH
From ESPN
"The team was driving to the game on the Santa Monica freeway when the driver noticed smoke. When he pulled over, he noticed the bus was on fire."
Who was driving that bus; Cheech or Chong?
Posted by: MiloRambaldi | April 20, 2008 at 03:52 PM
Anyone know what bus company that was whose bus caught fire ?
Posted by: Ed | April 20, 2008 at 04:03 PM
Bus fire report turned out to be false.
It was later learned to be a bus full of Marijuana smoke from the players pre-game light up.
Posted by: Fairweather Fatty | April 20, 2008 at 05:59 PM