LETHARGIC IN PHILLY MINUS PAYTON, LAKERS HIT SEASON BOTTOM PHILADELPHIA 96, LAKERS 73.Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer PHILADELPHIA - Gary Payton's glare met Joey Crawford's quick temper Noun 1. quick temper - a feeling of resentful anger irascibility, short temper, spleen bad temper, ill temper - a persisting angry mood Thursday evening, and it was probably the worst possible eventuality for a Lakers team that had arrived here depleted de·plete tr.v. de·plet·ed, de·plet·ing, de·pletes To decrease the fullness of; use up or empty out. [Latin d , bedraggled and thoroughly exhausted. Payton was gone by the three-minute mark of the first quarter, leaving a weary 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). and the usual mishmash mish·mash n. A collection or mixture of unrelated things; a hodgepodge. [Middle English misse-masche, probably reduplication of mash, soft mixture; see mash. of stand-ins, aging vets and minor-league callups to contend with Allen Iverson <noinclude></noinclude> Allen Ezail Iverson (born June 7, 1975, in Hampton, Virginia[1]), nicknamed A.I. and The Answer, is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association. . The Lakers, coming off an overtime game, had been stuck on a Cleveland tarmac for two hours early Thursday morning, hadn't arrived at their hotel until about 4 a.m. and canceled their usual shootaround just to give everyone a chance to sleep. Then Payton checked out early, O'Neal missed a dozen free throws and it all ended the way such things usually do. The Lakers suffered a 96-73 rout at Wachovia Center
, their worst loss of the season, and everyone did their best to shrug it away. ``We just had dead legs tonight, guys,'' coach Phil Jackson said. ``It was obvious that we just didn't have any zip out there at all. We had some kids that came out and tried to play hard but didn't have the tools to do it.'' O'Neal finished with 17 points and eight rebounds in 31 minutes. He made 3 of 15 free throws - the worst percentage of his career in games with at least 15 attempts. The Lakers set season lows in field-goal percentage (.341) and free-throw percentage (.423) and fell to 2-2 on this seven-game road trip. On a night when nothing went right, even Rick Fox's postgame Philly cheesesteak The cheesesteak, known outside the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area as the Philadelphia cheesesteak, Philly cheesesteak, or steak and cheese is a sandwich principally of thinly sliced pieces of steak and melted cheese on a long roll. was found to be lacking. ``They were better at the Four Seasons,'' he muttered, tossing the sandwich to the side. Lately O'Neal had spoken of wanting the ``mean Gary'' to return, figuring Payton is at his best when he's at his most vocal. It sounded like a good idea until about nine minutes into Thursday's game. While Iverson shot a pair of free throws, Payton jawed jawed adj. Having a jaw or jaws, especially of a specified kind. Often used in combination: slack-jawed; the jawed fishes. Adj. 1. at referee Bennie Adams, who had called Payton for the foul. Crawford, the lead referee and famously irascible i·ras·ci·ble adj. 1. Prone to outbursts of temper; easily angered. 2. Characterized by or resulting from anger. [Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin , shouted at Payton to settle down, which caused Payton to chuckle. Crawford whistled the technical foul. Payton responded with a profanity Irreverence towards sacred things; particularly, an irreverent or blasphemous use of the name of God. Vulgar, irreverent, or coarse language. The use of certain profane or obscene language on the radio or television is a federal offense, but in other situations, profanity . Crawford called the second technical and waved his finger toward the tunnel. ``And the hits keep on coming,'' Horace Grant quipped at courtside court·side n. The area immediately bordering the official court of play, as in tennis or basketball. . It was the third ejection for Payton this season, the second in the past week. Payton explained himself to Jackson before heading to the locker room. During the timeout, Jackson spoke at length with Crawford. After the final buzzer, Jackson cocked his head and stared down Crawford, who offered a sarcastic glare in return. ``I'm not going to talk about it. It's too irritating to talk about it,'' Jackson said. ``There wasn't any reason for that, that was ridiculous.'' But he won't take his case to the league. ``I usually don't like to do that. I'm not vindictive, like some people are in the league, and just let it go,'' Jackson said. ``Because I think Joey knew after he'd done it that it just put us in an extreme disadvantage to play the game. And this is sports and entertainment after all, and that game wasn't entertaining.'' Payton and O'Neal both left without speaking to reporters, which considering O'Neal's track record this week probably was the prudent thing. Howard Beck, (818) 713-3613 howard.beck(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos, 2 boxes Photo: (1 -- color) From left, Shaquille O'Neal, Rick Fox and Derek Fisher watch from the bench during the Lakers' loss Thursday. (2) Shaquille O'Neal hit 3 of 15 free throws against the 76ers in Thursday's 96-73 loss. Miles Kennedy/Associated Press Box: (1) LAKERS DRIED UP (2) GAME RECAP |
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