LAKERS UPDATE: MALONE 'NOT GOING TO STOP'.Byline: Ramona Shelburne Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer EL SEGUNDO El Segundo (ĕl sēgŭn`dō), industrial city (1990 pop. 15,223), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1917. Its products include navigation and computer systems, aircraft parts, office machines, telephone apparatus, and - Karl Malone ``It's disappointing but it's just one of those things that, well, I'll talk more about it when I'm finished,'' said Malone, who received the suspension Friday by the NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= for elbowing Dallas Mavericks  The introduction of this article is too short.To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, it should be expanded. guard Steve Nash Steven John Nash, OBC (born February 7, 1974),[1] is a Canadian professional basketball player who plays point guard for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nash was brought up in a family of sportsmen and he excelled in a variety of sports. on Thursday night. ``But right now, I have one goal and one goal only and I'm not going to disrupt the team and what our focus is. ``When I'm finished playing, you guys won't want to miss my going-away speech, that's for sure.'' Asked whether he was worried about the $16,666 the suspension will cost him, Malone replied: ``Please, I say why don't they take the whole salary and let me play like I want to play this year. ``I'd like to tell you guys this is the only (suspension) I'm going to get while I'm playing here, but it's probably not. ... I'm not going to stop playing the way I played for 18 years. That's my space and when I get the rebound, you're not getting the ball from me. But if I was trying to hurt (Nash), he wouldn't have come back in the game.'' Malone said he thought the suspension was precipitated by the remarks of Mavericks owner Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)[1] is an American billionaire entrepreneur.[2] He is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, an NBA franchise[3] and Chairman of HDNet, an HDTV cable network. , who demanded a suspension during a postgame interview with the Dallas Morning News. On Friday, Cuban criticized the league for not imposing a harsher punishment on Malone, who has missed seven games in his 18-plus seasons because of suspensions. Malone did not appreciate Cuban's comments. ``For that guy there to talk like that is kind of (messed up). He just has too much time and too much money on his hands,'' Malone said. Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (pronounced "shak-KEEL") (born March 6, 1972 in Newark, New Jersey), frequently referred to simply as Shaq, is an American professional basketball player, generally regarded as one of the most dominant in the National Basketball Association (NBA). defended Malone, saying: ``Karl's not that type of player,'' but added that he didn't have a problem with Cuban. ``I like Mark Cuban because he sticks up for his guys. I wish we had people like that here who'd stick up for our guys and call David Stern to try and get three-game suspensions,'' O'Neal said. ``But I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. , I guess he's a new-wave type of owner.'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said the incident is a by-product by·prod·uct or by-prod·uct n. 1. Something produced in the making of something else. 2. A secondary result; a side effect. by-product Noun 1. of officials not calling fouls on players who try to strip rebounders of the ball. ``The guy with the ball is under jeopardy and he wants to protect the basketball,'' Jackson said. ``(The league) is dealing with the incident rather than the problem. The problem is calling the fouls. At one time this league had a rule that a backcourt foul was a two-shot violation and that prevented this kind of thing from happening.'' Though Malone was disappointed at not getting to face his former team, it might have been even more disappointing to the Utah media, which was represented in Los Angeles by a playoff-sized contingent to cover the game. Many of those reporters changed their flights and returned home Saturday afternoon. However, Malone found the bright side. ``The NBA is about marketing so it'll make good for the first game back in Utah (on Jan. 24),'' he joked. ``I'll look at it like that.'' Ramona Shelburne, (818) 713-3617 ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): box Box: LAKERS vs. UTAH - Ramona Shelburne |
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