Just a few hours before the start of the regular season Tuesday, all was not well in Lakerland.
Coach Phil Jackson fined Kobe Bryant an undisclosed amount for his highly critical comments about teammate Shaquille O'Neal, and the team met for 20 minutes to discuss a rift between the two superstars that had escalated into a full-blown feud.
"There were no signs or indications that it would snowball the way it has in a matter of 36 hours, so we'll see what happens from here," teammate Derek Fisher said.
Bryant was not in uniform for the season-opening 109-83 victory over the Dallas Mavericks after he said he didn't think his surgically repaired knee was strong enough to withstand the rigors of a 48-minute game. The Lakers had expected him to play until hearing otherwise Monday on ESPN.
The other thing hurting Bryant was his feelings, and it appears there's no easy way for the Lakers to soothe them.
Bryant castigated O'Neal during a telephone interview with ESPN, calling him "childlike," "unprofessional," "selfish," "fat" and "jealous." He also accused the 2.1m player of overstating the severity of his foot injury last season when he reported to training camp overweight.
Bryant's comments came a day after O'Neal said the Lakers were "my team," adding that Bryant needed to be more of a team player -- an observation based on two exhibition games.
"We're cool. We talked this morning. He said what he said, I said what I said. We put it behind us," Bryant said after the Lakers' victory. "Shaq and I are going to move on, be teammates and help this team to a fourth title."
At practice Monday, Jackson ordered the team not to discuss the dust-up with reporters. He fined Bryant for defying that order by talking to ESPN later that day.
"We felt we had an agreement yesterday and he didn't uphold that," Jackson said. "I think this is something we've asked our players to work out on their own and in private if they have personality conflicts."
Bryant made an appearance at the end of the third quarter, emerging onto the court after watching the game from the players' lounge. Bryant received a loud ovation from the sellout crowd at Staples Center when he was shown on the scoreboard, and he began the fourth quarter sitting next to O'Neal on the bench.
The conflict between O'Neal and Bryant has been simmering throughout their seven seasons together, but their public potshots have never been as personal as the most recent ones.
"My thought is to say `Kids, cut it out.' It's a guy thing. You say this, I say that. You say that, I say this and here we go," commissioner David Stern.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but