Xavier Henry emerged on Sunday after a
spirited 15 minute battle & he was then all
smiles. He was working out with the Lakers
for the first time since injuring his right
knee 2 weeks ago. He reported that he
felt very little pain and more looseness.
In fact he even went so far as to say that
he possibly could return tomorrow to play
when the Lakers host the Cleveland Cavaliers.
There are evidently still a few issues to
contend with but he is close to being back and
extend his workload with the impromptu pickup
game and a contingency that included the
Lakers assistant Mark Madsen.
Henry said it was a chance to validate a
few things about the knee. He tells us that
he is not one of the slow-paced spot-up shooter
kind of guy and that when he does get out
there to play he runs and cuts and crosses
over. He moves a lot trying to get to the basket.
This then is the type of play that Henry likes
and in light of our current standing of losing
the last 10 out of 11 games, the mental
note that seems to be happening right now is of
defeat and slumping of the shoulders which
is not the way to react, said coach D'Antoni.
Nick Young made the comment that it does
seem to be happening to them and even
with Kobe on the sidelines trying his best to
coach and give speeches helping during
the game and at halftime, it still needs the
requirement of the entire playing team to make
the attempt to pick themselves up and carry on.
Another cloud, if you will, that is hanging
over us all is about Pau Gasol and the
February 20th date regarding a possible
trade which most of us do not want to happen.
If in fact this actually materializes, could we
get enough young talent and a draft pick
for his expiring $19.3 million contract as a
centerpiece? This will not take affect if it
just involves shaving player salary and
luxury tax money off the team's ledger sheet.
There is speculation too if D'Antoni will
stick around to coach the Lakers.
His flimsy job security has been quickly
batted down in seconds. Kupchak has
recently said he would consider D'Antoni's
coaching ethics and patterns to be sterling.
It is also necessary to keep in mind that
our coach is under contract next season
for a guaranteed $4 million.
The Clippers game left egg on our faces.
Last time we played them we won but sadly
that was certainly not the case with this game.
Riddled with injuries, our players took such
a beating with the ending score: 123-87.
It appeared our players were not one bit
enthusiastic which we all wondered about.
In fact they actually seemed lazy and lackadaisical.
Even Pau had a terrible time to get into the
swing of it. His game efforts were way off.
Our defense too was nothing to note this game.
We must do far better in our attitudes, our
unity playing and in our overall game play.
Let's just hope that will perhaps be the case
for our game then coming up for us Tuesday.
BABS WELLS
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